Grateful Dead - High Time - 3 24 86

punditman says...

You told me goodbye
How was I to know
You didn't mean goodbye
You meant please don't let me go
I was having a high time
Living the good life
Well I know

The wheels are muddy
Got a ton of hay
Now listen here baby
'Cause I mean what I say
I'm having a high time
Living the good life
Well I know

I was losing time, I had nothing to do
No-one to fight, I came to you
Wheels broke down, leader won't draw
The line is busted, the last one I saw

Tomorrow comes trouble
Tomorrow comes pain
Now don't think too hard, baby
'Cause you know what I'm saying
I could show you a high time
Living the good life
Don't be that way

Nothing's for certain
It could always go wrong
Come in when it's raining
Go on out when it's gone
We could have us a high time
Living the good life
Well I know

Fakes Left, Goes Right: Obama's Crossover Dribble on Marijuana Policy

punditman says...As with most issues under this "new" administration, it looks like not much is changing when it comes to US pot laws, even though there is some kind of stated "policy change." It seems AIDS patients, hepatitis patients, cancer patients and basically anyone with chronic pain and illness are just out of luck when it comes to getting their medicine. Those who use these marijuana dispensaries are predominently poor too, and they don't own land to grow homegrown or know people who own land who grow it.

By FRED GARDNER
www.counterpunch.org

Executive summary: Obama fakes left, goes right. Passes to Holder at the head of the key. Holder holds the ball, looking for a cutter. Looks in to Brown posting up, then swings it over to Russoniello on the wing. The Warriors veteran finds Obama behind a screen from Holder. Obama launches from beyond the arc... Off back iron. Rebound, Sibelius.

It has been business as usual for the Drug Enforcement Administration since Barack Obama took office. Attorney General Eric Holder has decreed a "policy change," and some PC (as in Pro-Cannabis) lobbyists and lawyers have hailed that "policy change" as a major victory. But try explaining it to workers at any of the six dispensaries that have been raided by the Obama-era DEA.

"I would have let them in if they would have showed me something," said John W., 35, who came to the front door of Emmalyn's on Howard St. in San Francisco on the afternoon of March 25. "They were dressed kind of like me," according to John, who was garbed in a football jersey. "Once they actually got in I could see that they had bulletproof vests that said DEA on the back. But I couldn't see that from the door. The only thing I could see was a person with a gun. I asked for a search warrant or a badge but they didn't show me either one, they just battered down the gate.

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Ottawa takes on Facebook, Punditman takes on too much

punditman says...

Punditman noticed the following article this morning in the Globe and Mail: Ottawa takes on social media giant for violating Canada's law. Punditman is not a member of Facebook. Punditman spends an awful lot of time on the computer already for work and for Punditmanish reasons and doesn't need yet another reason to be virtual instead of real. Besides, it appears Facebook has come under a lot of criticism and litigation already. Sounds shady.

Punditman has heard reports from other trusted sources that Facebook can be a kind of creepy experience. Why does punditman need to connect with people he hasn't seen in thirty years? What if he didn't like some of his highschool classmates to begin with? Why does he need new "friends" whom he will never meet? What will these people do for Punditman? Punditman's life is hectic enough. If Punditman gets one more social engagement, online or off, Punditman may one day wig out and hermitize himself. Punditman says that punditman sometimes takes on too much.

Punditman realizes he has no privacy and lost it a long time ago, along with everyone else in the digital age. Some people don't realize it; others don't care. Punditman cares. Just last night at the pub, Punditman succumbed to overwhelming social pressure and was part of a group picture taken for a brewery's website. Luckily punditman was wearing sunglasses and so was peacenik. Who knows what nefarious forces might do with those images? Punditman wasn't particularly happy about it.

Why lose your privacy further by joining some frivolous social media site, says Punditman? There are other ways to get in touch with old buddies. I think. There are other ways to network with new people. I think. So the Canadian government is going after Facebook for privacy violations? Is this a step in the right direction? Or is this a joke, considering the far more insidious encroachments on liberty that have been accumulating in the post-9-11 world? Punditman thinks one commentator on the Gloabe and Mail article has a good point:

So we are worried about Facebook allowing the collection of personal information. What about the US Government? I would like to know how, with no authorization under law in Canada, mutual fund companies can collect personal information from clients that are US citizens and forward that information to the US government. And, if the client refuses to provide the information, the fund company can confiscate 30% of the client's money (not just earnings mind you, but capital too) and turn that over to the US government. Same thing when one company buys out another and some of the registered shareholders are US citizens.

Punditman does not have time to fact-check the above claim, but assuming it is true, Punditman is not the least bit surprised. Encroaching fascism is coming at us in many forms.

On the other hand, Facebook may be a great Canadian company. Punditman could be wrong.

Canada will have enough flu vaccines to share

This morning someone from the Ontario Campers' Association was on the news saying that summer camps were safe for campers. Peacenik thought for a moment that he was watching a rerun of Jaws when the mayor of Amity refuses to close the public beach for fear of ruining the town's tourist industry.

The summer camps are a warning of what will happen when schools reopen in the fall, just when the fall flu season arrives. Will the teacher even show up for work? Do school boards have a plan? Will bus drivers show up for work? Will a vaccine be ready? Will it work? Will anyone take it? So many questions. And Peacenik has no sense that society will be ready for a new and improved swine flu pandemic tomorrow, or in the fall.

Gloria Galloway

Ottawa — From Friday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Friday, Jul. 17, 2009 09:08AM EDT

Canadians will have a better chance of getting vaccinated against the pandemic influenza than people in many other countries, including the United States and Britain, thanks to nearly a decade of planning for the disease's arrival.

“We're actually in a fairly unique position of having domestic capacity, of having planned for that in Canada now for many years,” David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail Thursday.

In 2001, the federal government began a 10-year agreement with a drug company that was eventually sold to GlaxoSmithKline. That contract obligates the giant pharmaceutical manufacturer to provide vaccine to every Canadian who wants it in the event of a pandemic.

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Orwellian Comments - Vice President Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

This article by Mish is interesting for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is the Vice President of the United States raising the spectre of the U.S. going bankrupt. That should really help consumer confidence.

But it was the history about William Calley that really got Peacenik's attention. Peacenik thinks war crimes should be prosecuted. It's called deterrence and justice. But look what happened to William Calley of My Lai infamy. Two days in jail. Three years of loose house arrest. And a lifetime of celebrity status on the right wing hate circuit. 30 years later the U.S. can barely be bothered investigating war crimes. And the right wing hate circuit dominates public discourse.

Orwellian Comments - Vice President Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’



My Lai Massacre

Inquiring minds are flabbergasted over the latest comments from Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.

“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

Read on...

July 16, 2009: Desensitization

As Peacenik walked to the bus this morning Peacenik noticed swarms of little red ants on the sidewalk. They seemed aimless. Peacenik wondered if these were the new European fire ants. What did they know?

Then on University Avenue Peacenik saw swarms of people, also seemingly aimless. What did they know? World leaders, and the leaders of Wall Street look at people the way Peacenik looked at those ants. 500,000 more unemployed people in the U.S. this week. 500,000 more people who won't be buying new cars or new tv's this week. The leaders don't care. Is society, and peoples' economic well being, and peoples' health as fragile as the ants Peacenik saw this morning? Everyday people choose which information to act on or to ignore. Why did Peacenik notice the ants this morning. Were they a sign? Is a storm coming? Were the ants a warning? People ants. Ants people. Have a good weekend.

by Ilargi

Unknown Hit me baby February 13, 1922
Washington, D.C. Ingenious Prohibition-era fashion accessory, the cane-flask.
Foreclosures. I’ve never been foreclosed on. I can only imagine what it must feel like, be like. Having to tell your little children that they will never see their home again. That they will now live with grandma, or in a smaller place, or a tent.

"More than 1.5 million properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in the six months through June, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said today in a statement. That’s a 15 percent increase from the year earlier. One in 84 received a filing."

Annualized, that's 3 million homes, or one in 42 U.S. households, which directly affects some 10 million people, and indirectly perhaps as much as a third of the population, with neighbors, suppliers, family etc etc. tossed in.

We’re threatening to become blind and immune to numbers. "Trillion" is a household term, where it never was until 2 years ago, like almost no-one would have known what a tsunami was until one happened, and now everybody thinks they do. The effect of billion and trillion becoming so normal in our daily language, what does it mean to those of us not directly impacted that 10 million of our fellow citizens are under threat of losing their homes?

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The full US/UK spin on events in Iran

punditman says...What's happening with the domestic Iranian situation lately? Seems to have fallen off the radar these past few days. I think.
Punditman came across an interesting bit of analysis over at Joe Bageant's website, and Joe has been kind enough to allow me to republish, in full, his correspondence with one of his readers on the situation. Punditman didn't ask for Matt's permission (the emailer), but presumably Matt, a self-described "fellow working class (landscaper) lefty in dying rust belt Michigan," doesn't mind a little web fame. Punditman is in agreement with the general ideas contained in the exchange. Are you?

(email sent on June 28, 2009)

Hi Joe,

Am I the only one not celebrating the violent turmoil and chaos in Iran? To me it has the same feel as the phony "color revolutions" that were engineered by the "National Endowment for Democracy", a benign sounding organization that in fact masks a cadre of spooks working to enrich corporate interests by destabilizing governments that don't toe the neo-liberal corporate globalist line.

It appears very much like the neo-cons on the march again, only this time the well meaning naïve "liberals" aren't going to say anything about U.S. imperialism because they are entranced by the super slick public relations machine Obama has. This worries me because at least Bush was awkward enough that many people could see through his malicious schemes, it seems this time around that 90% of the population is going to swallow the endless imperialist interventionist Kool-Aid.

I voted for Obama, and now I very much feel I owe Cynthia McKinney a giant apology.

In your opinion, am I onto something here, or have I read one too many "conspiracy" books? It's very lonely questioning both the "left" and "right" on their celebrations of Iran's nascent uprising, but something just doesn't feel right about it to me, it feels too slick and well timed to be a true spontaneous uprising against the admittedly somewhat odious Ahmadinejad.

Sincerely,

Matt,
a fellow working class (landscaper) lefty in dying rust belt Michigan

------

Matt,

I too suspect the US propaganda machine at work here. Some native Iranian friends tell me the incumbent could very well have won the election because he has massive support from people outside the two major cities -- that millions of Iranians live on farms, in villages and large towns we've never heard of, and support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because he has built roads, health clinics and infrastructure in rural and village areas. They tend to be conservative and more religious, like our heartland American voters that got Bush elected.

In Tehran and Mashhad more people tend to be educated in the western sense, especially the women, and wish for more western style civil liberties. However, these cities are also home to most conservative Muslim immigrants to Iran. One Iranian woman here, married to an American, said she thought Ahmadinejad probnably won (and she dislikes the guy) but the stupid fucking system overstated the margins way too far because, like all theocratic states, they just don't get it asbout the democratic process, just don't know when to quit.

So I dunno. And truthfully, I do not care at this point. Just as the average Iranian doesn't think much about the US, (despite what we are told) I don't think much about Iran -- despite that the media yabbering antagonistically in both countries. We are are among the little guys of the world, misled by the big guys, and much too busy with the struggles of daily life to obsess on political details and day to day machinations of the powerful. I am more concerned with my own people, not the "American people," but the plain old working human beings in this country, and their fate, and global solidarity among them.

One thing for sure, we're getting the full US/UK spin on events that are much more complicated than we are led to believe. For instance, the so-called "Twitter Revolution," wherein Twitter was supposed to have brought hundreds of thousands together in the demonstrations. According to communications researchers, There were less than 1000 Twitter communications during the mass demonstrations, and most of them were the same silly shit we see here. Doubtlessly our agents there are at work, doncha think? Just as theirs must be at work here in some dark corners of the Empire. Or maybe openly in certain mosques.

Anyway, I think nearly all the world's governments are corrupt (some just give the people more for their money), so I'm never much interested in the official version of anyone's news. Including ours.

In art and labor,

Joe

Clinton: US Won’t Hesitate to Use Military Against Iran

punditman says...She's at it again. Everyone's favourite iron lady. As the article notes, the IAEA has pointed out no evidence for the accusation exists, and America’s own National Intelligence Estimate says they don’t believe Iran has an active weapons program either. But facts don't matter. Hilary wants to kick some mullah butt and most sheeple will go along with it, because they are too lazy and stupid to look into issues past the shallow, biased, sycophantic reporting in the mainstream media. Damn, I feel like I'm in a worse mood than Peacenik today. But at least I didn't swear.

Not a Threat, It's a Promise, Secretary of State Tells CFR

In a high-profile policy address before the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that the US wouldn’t not hesitate to use its military to “defend our friends, our interests, and above all, our people” during the segment discussing Iran.

She elaborated on the declaration with “this is not an option we seek nor is it a threat; it is a promise.” Clinton also warned Iran that the US offer to hold talks, which she had previously said she didn’t expect to work to begin with, would not be open-ended and that “our willingness to talk is not a sign of weakness.”

Today’s comments are the latest in a long line of bellicose rhetoric coming from the Secretary of State. Last month during a television interview she said that Iran was risking the possibility of a US invasion, citing the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq as a model.

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It's Wasn't Only Cheney Who Had Assassination Programs: Clinton Did It, and Obama Does It, Too

This article makes a good point. The whole fucking U.S. government is evil top to bottom. If a spy satellite sees a tall Arab in Afghanistan, or Pakistan or who knows where else, they send in the drones. And no one cares about collateral damage. The U.S. has turned the Middle East into a turkey shoot. And unfortunately Canada is complicit. Peacenik says it is time to bring the troops home now.

By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports. Posted July 16, 2009.

Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the "secret" CIA assassination program that former Vice President Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress.

But this program -- and the media descriptions of it -- sounds a lot like the assassination policy implemented by President Bill Clinton, particularly during his second term in office.

Partisan politics often require selective amnesia. Over the past decade, we have seen this amnesia take hold when it comes to many of President George W. Bush's most vile policies. And we are now seeing a pretty severe case overtake several leading Democrats.



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US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime

I guess this is how you do it. A coup that is. Peacenik guesses that Manuel Zelaya doesn't have a hope in hell of returning to power. Not with Lanny Davis greasing the skids for the Honduran military. The oleaginous Lanny Davis was a primary media defender of Bill Clinton's blow job. He also was a big defender of George Bush and Joe Lieberman. oh, did Peacenik mention that Lanny was George Bush's roommate in university. Oh yeah and they're all Skull and Bones guys. Peacenik wonders why society even bothers with the pretence of democracy. It doesn't exist.

US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime



Supporters of the coup in Honduras have begun hiring advisers and lobbyists with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an attempt to strengthen support in Washington for the coup. A Honduran business group has hired lobbyist Lanny Davis, who served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton. The coup government has also hired Bennet Ratcliff, a public relations specialist with ties to former President Bill Clinton. [includes rush transcript]

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Doctors to issue 'fast track' death certificates for swine flu

When Peacenik first started monitoring the bird flu there were fear mongering stories that the funeral industry would not be able to keep up with a surge of flu pandemic fatalities. There would not be enough caskets. There would not be enough funeral homes. There would be mass graves. Looks like doctors, in the early stages of the swine flu pandemic, can't even cope with regular death certificates. This does not bode well. Peacenik doesn't want to be buried casketless in a mass grave.

Doctors to issue 'fast track' death certificates for swine flu

Doctors are to be allowed to issue "fast-track" death certificates under Government plans to help the health system cope with the workload at the height of the swine flu pandemic.

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, confirmed the planned move in an interview on BBC's Newsnight.

"We want to try and reduce as much as possible the burden of work on doctors and we're considering all sorts of things which wil help with that," he said. "It's one of a number of things that we hope at the height of the pandemic - which we may see in the autumn and winter - will reduce the burden of paperwork for doctors."

Read on...

The Man Who Knew Cheney's Secret

Reading this story about Cheney's assassination squads, caused Peacenik to remember what good movies the Bourne trilogy are. Peacenik wants to go home and watch a Bourne movie right now. But unlike the movies, Peacenik doesn't think there will be any justice for Cheney's assassination squads. Congress cheered when George Bush referred to some executive terminations. Everyone is complicit. The Bush administration, Congress, the media and the sheeple. Everyone liked living in a episode of 24. It took everyone's mind off their problems. They could ignore their rapidly evaporating standard of living. Dick's daughter will probably get elected as president some day. You heard it first from Peacenik.

The Man Who Knew Cheney's Secret



Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh raised eyebrows back in March when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that Dick Cheney ran a secret hit squad that he kept hidden from congressional oversight.

"Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on," Hersh said at the time. He added: "Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."

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Ontario to offer $10,000 electric car incentive

Peacenik keeps asking why Ontario is any different from the bankrupt California. Ontario, Canada's new have not province, is trying to revive the housing bubble and the dead automotive industry. Ontario owns some portion of GM. Peacenik can't remember how much. But a deficit ridden Ontario is going to go all in on electric cars? Is going to give non-existent tax dollars to the public to buy electric cars? Here's what Jim Kunstler had to say about electric cars:

"From a purely practical standpoint, the electric car is absurd. If they were produced on a mass basis, they would crash the electric grid -- assuming that the masses could afford to buy them, which assumes a lot. We simply don't have the electric generating capacity to run even one-quarter of the current car fleet on volts, and building the necessary nuclear or coal-fired power plants in five years is also an absurdity. (Don't expect wind, solar, biomass, or anything else to pick up the slack.) If electric cars were produced as just a niche product for the elite (e.g. Goldman Sachs employees), they would soon provoke the resentment of the non-elite left to the mercy of the oil markets."

Peacenik wonders how desperate Ontario is. This is lunacy. This is Social Credit redux. Who in Ontario, other than the bankrupt government, wants to buy a $40,000 electric car? Ontario can't even keep air conditioners running ferchrissakes.

Ontario to offer $10,000 electric car incentive

Ontario's government will announce a plan Wednesday to offer purchasers of electric cars incentives of up to $10,000 in a bid to make the environmentally-friendly vehicles more accessible to the average consumer.

The plan is part of the province's attempts to boost the struggling auto sector and position itself at the forefront of the emerging technology, sources told The Canadian Press.

"It's clear that cars are moving in this direction," a government source said.

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Drifting Downward

punditman says...Cogent writer Mike Whitney pulls no punches in this detailed account of what is happening with the US economy. He talks about how the Republicans are trying to sabotage the Obama stimulus plan. He talks about how Liberal economists have done a lousy job of explaining the need for more stimulus (just as the first stimulus is starting to have some positive effects). He talks about how stimulus is not a panacea but a bridge to take up the slack in demand, but it does not work without the political will to re-regulate. He talks about how inflation is the bogeyman that doesn't exist (for the time being). He talks about how the future is deflationary.

Punditman further says that deflation is bad unless you have a stable job, (especially if you have wage increases), no debt, a cash reserve and you don't want (or need) to sell your house anytime soon. As prices drop, such people will laugh all the way to the one pub left in their town, where they will sit around and drink with themselves as they ponder where all the people have gone. But how many people fit that profile? To avoid the worst case scenario, Punditman says certain things need to change starting with wages and a move away from the financialization of the economy, which has caused so much mayhem. Maybe things have to get a lot worse in the US than 18% real unemployment before people's consciousness turns? Punditman hopes for a change in consciousness.

The Deflating Economy
By MIKE WHITNEY

There should be a modest uptick in GDP in either in the 4th quarter 2009 or the 1st quarter 2010. This will mark the end of the current 20 month-long recession, but not the end of the crisis. The blip in growth doesn't mean that the troubles are over or that the economy is on the way to recovery. It simply means that Obama's $787 billion fiscal stimulus is beginning to kick in, giving a boost to consumer spending and generating short-term economic activity. Regrettably, when the stimulus runs out, the economy will slide back into negative territory. That's because the US consumer has crossed an important threshold and no longer has the ability to drive the economy through debt-fueled consumption. The data indicates a critical change in consumer behavior which portends a shift away from the current model for economic growth. It's a whole new ballgame.

From the mid-1980s to 2007, the ratio of debt-to-GDP rocketed from 165% to to over 350%; more than doubling in that same period. The build-up of personal debt follows the exact same trend-line as the aggregate profits of the financial sector; they're opposite sides of the same coin. Financial institutions increase profitability by expanding credit and inflating asset bubbles, not by allocating capital to productive enterprises. Their business model is inherently flawed. Speculative bubblemaking is Wall Street's method of shifting wealth from workers to the investor class. It never fails. It's the reason why 42 states are now facing budget shortfalls, unemployment has risen to 9.5 percent, and $45 trillion has vanished from global equity markets. Financialization has created a global crisis, crushed consumer demand, increased systemic instability, and put the economy into a nosedive.

In the last decade, the shifting of wealth from one class to another has greatly accelerated due to deregulation and the Fed's low interest rates. Stagnant wages have forced reluctant participants into the market seeking a better return on their savings, while lax lending standards and easy credit have seduced workers into increasing their personal debt-load. All of this has been done by design to ensure the profits for the few over the well-being of the many.

Keep Reading...

WHO warns of worldwide vaccine shortfall for coming flu season

Peacenik knows not everyone is a big fan of vaccines, and not everyone is a big fan of hoarding, and not everyone thinks swine flu is going to be a big problem. But this story in the Globe and Mail and similar stories in other papers are ramping up a sense of concern. School closures this fall are almost a given. And who gets the vaccine if it is available is a huge issue. A couple of weeks ago there was concern about compulsory mass innoculations. Today there is a concern about vaccine availability. If the vaccine is available. And if Peacenik had access to it. Would Peacenik take the vaccine. Peacenik doesn't like needles. But Peacenik would get innoculated. Would you?

A nurse fills needles with flu vaccine at a clinic in Victoria.

Caroline Alphonso and Gloria Galloway

Toronto and Ottawa — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009 05:38AM EDT

The worldwide supply of a pandemic influenza vaccine will take twice as long to manufacture and countries could have barely half of what they need for the fall's flu season if current production problems persist, the World Health Organization revealed Monday.

Canadian health authorities admitted that not everyone will receive the vaccine at the start of the flu season, as they scrambled to prioritize which groups would move to the head of the queue. Pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline Inc. is under contract to produce enough vaccine for all Canadians who wish to receive it, but it's unclear how quickly the vaccine will be rolled out and even if most will be vaccinated in the event the virus returns with a vengeance this fall.

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How did Dr. David Kelly die?

punditman says...Remember Dr. David Kelly? He was that British expert in biological warfare and former UN weapons inspector who appeared on Britain's Today Programme with journalist Andrew Gilligan and discussed the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. This later caused a major political scandal. He turned up dead July 18, 2003, just days after appearing before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee which was investigating the scandal. The subsequent Hutton Inquiry ruled that he committed suicide. Not everyone buys that theory. In fact, 13 doctors are now demanding an inquest into Kelly's death. Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker, author of The Strange Death of David Kelly, certainly thinks otherwise. Give it a listen:


***

***

The myth of the "surge"

punditman says...Oh yeah, Iraq. All is not well. As this article points out, the surge always had that obvious propaganda value attached to it.

With the level of violence rising and the Kurds pressing for a level of autonomy that borders on independence, can we finally dispense with the myth that the 2007 "surge" in Iraq was a success?

The surge had two main goals. The first goal was to bring the level of violence down by increasing U.S. force levels in key areas, forging a tactical alliance with cooperative Sunni groups, and shifting to a counterinsurgency strategy that emphasized population protection. This aspect of the surge succeeded, though it is still hard to know how much of the progress was due to increased force levels and improved tactics and how much was due to other developments, such as the prior "ethnic cleansing" that had separated the contending groups.

The second and equally important goal was to promote political reconciliation among the competing factions in Iraq. This goal was not achieved, and the consequences of that failure are increasingly apparent. What lies ahead is a long-delayed test of strength between the various contending groups, until a new formula for allocating political power emerges. That formula has been missing since before the United States invaded -- that is, Washington never had a plausible plan for reconstructing a workable Iraqi state once it dismantled Saddam's regime -- and it will be up to the Iraqi people to work it out amongst themselves. It won’t be pretty.

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Anecdotal Observations and Utter Conjecture

punditman says...
Punditman is back from his holiday and his partial media blackout, and to his total amazement the world is still chalk full of problems. I guess ignoring stuff doesn't make it go away. My God, even Dick Cheney is back in the news, with more of his crimes being exposed.

Back in May, Peacenik speculated that the lack of mosquitoes on his sojourn into the wilderness meant that the total collapse of the food chain was imminent. Punditman can attest to the fact that this was utter conjecture and has many bug bites to prove it. However, one thing that punditman has noticed is that his allergies occurred later this year. And they are worse. Punditman had allergies as a kid, but he had thought he had largely out grown these seasonal annoyances. Usually Punditman gets a little allergic during June and then his aversion to ragweed and pollen and grass cuttings goes away. Punditman can't recall being this allergic in July since he was a little tyke.
On top of that, we have thus far had a very cool summer (Global Warming deniers will make hay of this). So even though Punditman wasn't particularly hot, Punditman went swimming while at the cottage. A fellow wader bitched about the cold summer, commenting, "Global Warming? Bring it on, I say."

What does it all mean? Punditman has been developing a theory lately, as follows: the seasons seem to be pushing forwards. But first, Punditman must point out that apparently Spring is arriving early lately, as this study indicates, which blows Punditman's theory away before he even gets started. But since this is punditman's blog, punditman will ruminate anyways. If Spring is so damn early, why has punditman freezed punditman's buttox off in late May the past few years at kid's soccer games? Sorry, Spring seems late as of late, at least when it comes to temperature. Meanwhile, summer (for what it's worth lately), does seem to go well past labour day doesn't it?

Then there is the famed Canadian winter. I seem to recall skating outdoors long before January in years past. Not anymore. Yet winter (by that I mean snow and ice and cold, not the sucky assed rain and drizel and haze that passes for early winter lately), keeps on chugging along well into where Spring should be ("When will it end"?) Not by April, that's for sure. Of course Punditman could be completely wrong and delusional. Conventional global warming theory has it that overall, summers are getting hotter and longer and winters are getting wetter, warmer and shorter. Of course there are lots of other theories out there too.

Another anecdotal question: are we experiencing more extreme, abrupt changes in temperature, rather than a gradual turning of the seasons, like Punditman recalls from Punditman's youth?

Punditman is not a scientist and thus has nothing to back up his anecdotal observations. To be clear, Punditman does believe there is a solid scientific case for anthropomorphic global warming, unlike left radical writer Alex Cockburn (surprisingly) over at Counterpunch.org. But Punditman prefers the term "climate change" over global warming because he thinks it is a more honest term, no matter where one positions one's self in the discussion. So why did Peacenik not get any mosquitoe bites back in June? Why does Punditman have allergies in July? Geez, Punditman's head is swirling and he is starting to sound like an economist! Something is messing with Punditman's head.

Tuna, Toilet paper, and Timing

When Peacenik read about Wave 3 being on its way, Peacenik's thoughts immediately turned to planning for the consequences of Wave 3. Peacenik already has a portable toilet. Peacenik already has some supplies. Then Peacenik read this article about intergenerational equity. Peacenik has never thought (Peacenik thinks) about intergenerational equity before. But Peacenik finds it reassuring that someone is thinking about it. Maybe there will be a way forward. After Wave 3.

by Nate Hagens

Concern about global resource depletion, at least in certain circles, is generating individual hoarding behavior - I don't know how prevalent this is, the potential advantages it will ultimately confer, or any of the subtleties of the'must have' list. This brief Campfire essay is a (somewhat disjointed) exploration of the short term translation of financial capital into basic goods, from the perspective of long term timing and social trajectories. (I expect it will generate some good discussion, especially following Luis' piece on Sustainability)

Read on...

Is the Bear Market's Most Violent Decline Right Around the Corner?

Peacenik was scanning the news this morning and was thinking about posting something about Dick Cheney or about swine flu, or about Iran or about Honduras or about CIT or about Sarah Palin. But then Peacenik saw this article. When Wave 3 hits, all other worries will be dwarfed, and washed away. When you and Peacenik no longer have a pot to piss in, you and Peacenik will be totally focused on surviving. Wave 3. Is it coming?

Is the Bear Market's Most Violent Decline Right Around the Corner?
7/10/2009 11:00:00 AM

Is the most powerful of all waves right around the corner?

The short answer is "YES."

The long answer will help you anticipate where and when

First, let's describe wave 3.

If wave 3 was a superhero, he'd probably be The Flash (though he could be The Hulk).

Like The Flash, there's no mistaking wave 3's characteristics:

* It gets to where it's going in a hurry.
* It usually catches everyone by surprise, and
* You'll know it when you see it.

Read on...

Busted

Peacenik has been asking this question of Peacenik's self: Could Peacenik be wrong? Garth Turner is wondering the same thing. The crazy thing is that Canada may have escaped the worst of the housing bubble but in a desperate effort to re-inflate the bubble economy the powers that be are going to insure that Canada follows the U.S. and the U.K. and Spain, and everywhere else, right down the toilet. Canada already has a huge deficit. Canada already has had to bail out Canadian banks. Canadian pension plans are already woefully underfunded. Canada already has record unemployment. Is this present housing bubble going to pop? Garth thinks so. So does Peacenik.

by Garth Turner

My, my. Could I be wrong? Just a bearded broken-down piece of meat? (If you saw ‘The Wrestler’ imagine me now with flowing blonde locks, a bursting heart and tights.)

After all, my words of caution to those people rushing into real estate deals seem to be falling on deaf ears. According to the MSM, we are on the cusp of recovery and hot property is all the proof necessary. So, this week’s new housing report was heralded as wonderful news, even though starts are down by a third nationally, and have been squished by half in Ontario. Big Bank economists have been lining up at microphones, saying since car and house sales are the first things to crash when recession hits, it makes sense they’ll soar when recovery noses out of the earth.

But, car sales are still dismal. The preponderance of real estate sales are to inexperienced buyers. And today’s jobs report shows the economy’s still a dangerous thing. But, whadda I know?

Read on...

Swine flu deaths in UK double as country now has third highest number of cases in the world

Peacenik was just reading about influenza sudden death syndrome when Peacenik came across this story from England. Peacenik finds it worrisome that the swine flu continues to spread throughout the summer, before the fall flu season arrives. Peacenik finds it worrisome that healthy people are literally dropping dead soon after getting swine flu. So while many experts thought the swine flu would burn itself out for a while, the swine flu seems to be strengthening and becoming more dangerous. Peacenik doesn't get any sense that Canada is properly prepared for a huge uptick in swine flu this fall. Peacenik says don't count on the government. Start prepping and planning. Now.

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 9:51 AM on 10th July 2009

The number of Britons who have died after contracting swine flu has almost doubled in two days to 14, officials said yesterday.

London is days away from an epidemic with the West Midlands not far behind.

Britain has the third highest number of confirmed cases of the virus in the world, just behind Mexico - where the outbreak began.
Swine flu vaccine being prepared in a laboratory in Brisbane, Australia

Swine flu vaccine being prepared in a laboratory in Brisbane, Australia, will arrive in Britain in August. But the country already has more than 9,700 cases

As the shocking figures were released a leaked internal memo warned last night that the NHS is not ready to deal with a swine flu epidemic because of 'muddled' emergency plans and time-wasting bureaucracy.

A senior trust executive condemned some crisis measures as 'contradictory' and 'a complete waste of time'.

Read on...

Tehran Street Photos – “The Genie is Out of the Bottle”

Here are some pics from Iran. Looks like the protests may not be over. Here is the link to more pics. Peacenik

by Al Rodgers

Share this on Twitter - Tehran Street Photos – “The Genie is Out of the Bottle”

Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 02:53:43 PM PDT

Miss Obama's peacenik T-shirt sends a message to G8 leaders

Peacenik posts this story without comment.

By Charlotte Spratt
Last updated at 9:35 AM on 09th July 2009

Her father had just won agreement from the Russians to cut back on the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

And Barack Obama's eldest daughter was obviously keen to make her own statement on the issue - even if it was merely a fashion statement.

Just 48 hours after the U.S. President signed agreements with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to reduce weapon stores, 11-year-old Malia Obama was spotted wearing not one, but two T-shirts with an anti-nuclear message.

Read on...

The Economic Free Fall Is Over

Peacenik has followed Bonddad's coverage of the financial crisis for years. Peacenik has quoted Bonddad as the economy sank into depression. So, in the interest of fairness, Peacenik will post this article by Bonddad saying basically that the economy has bottomed out. But Peacenik doesn't really believe Bondad. And if you read the comments to his piece a lot of others don't believe him either. And what if this isn't the bottom? What if there is no uptick? What if Bonddad is wrong? What metrics do you measure a turn around by?

The Economic Free Fall Is Over

Gloom and doom is the way of blogs lately. Nothing is good; everything is bad. Unfortunately, lost in this translation is a set of monthly trends that shows the worse is over. Now -- this does not mean everything is roses. Far from it. As I have mentioned in the past the recovery will be weak with slow growth and high (7%-8% minimum) unemployment for the better part of a year. But the data indicates the worse is behind us.

Before I begin, let me make a few observations.

1.) There are two predominant ways to present economic data: year over year and month over month. Year over year removes seasonality. Here's an illustration. Suppose you are looking at the retail sector's employment trends starting in September and you see in increase in hiring. A logical conclusion is things are looking up because companies are hiring more. However, this excludes the possibility of a seasonal effect; namely that retail typically hires more people as the holiday season approaches. As a result, it's better to compare this September to last September -- this removes "seasonality" from the equation.

Read on...

What If Iran Got the Bomb?

What if Iran did get the bomb? What if Iran already has the bomb? Peacenik would be happy if no one had the bomb. But the bomb exists. And so far MAD (mutually assured destruction) seems to work. Peacenik thinks there is a lot of hypocrisy about the bomb. Neo cons are using the bomb to drum up support for a war that they have wanted for over 30 years. Just today there is another fear mongering story about Iran and the bomb. It was George Bush who unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Peacenik says it is time to grow up and deal with reality. Engage Iran. And get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

BY ROBERT FARLEY | JULY 7, 2009

The political survival of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has moved the question of Iran's nuclear program back to the center of U.S. diplomacy. Iran, it is argued, cannot be allowed to build nuclear weapons because its leaders say crazy things, wear funny hats without ties, and believe that God will reward them with virgins and whatnot for consuming friendly countries in a nuclear firestorm. Iranians, in short, are so different, weird, and threatening that they cannot be trusted with the bomb. Fortunately, no such state has ever successfully developed nuclear weapons...except for the People's Republic of China (PRC). And this historical analogy holds a highly relevant lesson for today.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the PRC embarked on a crash program to develop nuclear weapons, ultimately testing a device successfully in October 1964. Even its own allies believed China's communist leaders to be reckless and dangerously casual about the threat of nuclear war. The regime's ideology precluded the notion of an afterlife (and thus of eternal damnation), and its leaders had demonstrated a willingness to kill millions upon millions of their fellow citizens in the service of utopian goals. (Also, Mao conspicuously refused to wear a tie.) There was every reason to believe that the Chinese leader could push the button without remorse.

Read on...

Obama: 'Absolutely' no green light for Israel to attack Iran

Peacenik wonders what goes through Joe Biden's skull some days. Peacenik read Biden's interview on the weekend when Biden appeared to give Israel the green light to attack Iran. Now Obama says no way. Peacenik doesn't know who to believe. Correction. Peacenik doesn't believe either of them. Debating something that should be sacrosanct creates the possibility that it might happen. There should be no debate about the wisdom of starting World War Three. But idiots govern the world.

JPost.com

US President Barack Obama strongly denied that the United States had given Israel an approval to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, in an interview given to CNN television on Tuesday.
US President Barack Obama...

Asked by the network whether Washington had given Israel a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Obama answered: "Absolutely not."

In the interview, which was broadcast from Russia, where Obama is on an official visit, he added: "We can't dictate to other countries what their security interests are.

Read on...

Party like it’s 2007

The argument always seems to be that things won't be as bad in Canada as they will be in the U.S. Who is pushing that meme? Not Peacenik. California has collapsed and California has a smaller deficit than Canada, and a bigger economy. Credit Card payments in Canada are now more in arrears than they are in the U.S. The U.S. is Canada's number one trading partner. The automotive industry in Canada is about to become extinct. Peacenik is hanging on, hoping Peacenik can have a summer vacation before.... what? Peacenik is hoping Punditman isn't reading these posts while Punditman is on vacation. Punditman would be disturbed.

by Garth Turner

I swear. Some days.

Commodities tanked Monday, taking the stock market with them. Serious doubts are rising about the reality of a broad-based global recovery. Merrill’s new hot-shot girl economist (HSGE) rattled Bay Street with a warning Canada’s economy will likely swoon again after it plumps a little. Thirty-six people have died from swine flu in this country. Lots more to come with unknown economic consequences of a new pandemic. And Ottawa’s budget cop is warning us the feds are walking us into huge jobs losses and $156 billion of new deficits over the next five years.

So what topped local newscasts in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver?

Read on...

July 6 2009: Inflation, the least of your worries

Yesterday Peacenik felt a flicker of summertime fun. Today Peacenik read Ilargi. Ilargi is talking about the scourge of deflation. Ilargi says it is imminent. Ilargi says everything is coming apart now. Ilargi has freaked Peacenik out. That flicker of summertime fun.....gone. Ilargi says it is time to gather your family. Peacenik will still be heading into the wilderness later this summer. But Peacenik wonders what will greet Peacenik when Peacenik returns.

Ilargi: All I really want to say today is: "Watch out people, the whole thing is falling apart. Assume that it will, and act accordingly. The risk of not doing so is simply too great." I'm not talking about money, or only about money at least. It's time to take a good look around and see where you are. Where is your family, where are your friends? Can you bring them closer to you, can you wake them up? What can you provide for yourself in you present setting? Can you feed yourself, your kids, your parents?

For those of us who follow the economic news it must be clear by now: there are no green shoots. And there never have been, as I've consistently maintained throughout. It was all just make believe from the get-go. The Obama administration never believed their own stories either (they're not that "thick"), they were just playing for time. If the polls tell you that the truth will take away the grip on power you worked so hard to achieve, you steer clear of the truth. It's called politics.

Read on...

On Holiday

Punditman is going on his actual holiday today. In the meantime, Peacenik is in charge of the blog. Will Peacenik rise to the occasion? Punditman says Peacenik can handle it.

Same Old Globalizers and Torture School Grads

punditman says...The crisis continues in Honduras. Will the progressive left survive as a viable political force in Latin America? As the article points out, the military is allied to the globalizing business elite. Punditman says there is a lot at stake.

Honduran Coup to Venezuelan Coup
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
www.counterpunch.org

What political and social forces are at the heart of Sunday’s coup in Honduras? Let’s start by looking at the role of Roberto Micheletti, the man Hugo Chávez loves to hate. The former head of the National Congress, Micheletti declared himself Honduras’ new President on Sunday. He replaces President Manuel Zelaya, a politician who had been moving towards more politically and economically progressive positions in recent years. A member of Zelaya’s own Liberal Party, Micheletti studied business administration in the United States and worked as the CEO of Honduras’ state telecommunications company Hondutel in the late 1990s. While he was CEO of the firm Micheletti sought to privatize the firm.

As a believer in so-called “neo-liberal reform,” Micheletti found himself at odds with the Zelaya regime which came to power in early 2006. After he left Hondutel, Micheletti sponsored legislation in Congress which would have cut Hondutel’s rates. Zelaya and Hondutel condemned Micheletti’s provisions, arguing that they would further erode the company’s revenues. For years, long distance profits had provided a lucrative source of income for the government. Over time Hondutel had been subjected to deregulation and had lost its absolute monopoly on long distance calls, fixed lines and telex service. As part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement or CAFTA, Honduras was obliged to reform its telecommunications law which would allow Hondutel to attract private business partners. Observers believed that telecom reform would represent the first step towards outright privatization. Zelaya was one of the most fervent opponents of telecom reform, declaring that it would benefit the private sector and gradually weaken Hondutel’s control of long distance service.

Micheletti formed part of the influential business elite which had grown increasingly disenchanted with the government’s progressive drift. In Honduras, powerful businessmen are the main contributors to political campaigns. They are so powerful and linked to the political system that it can be said that they handpick presidents and dictate the news agenda in the media. Speaking to Inter Press Service, one Zelaya presidential adviser remarked that the country’s economic groups were “insatiable, they make one request after another…in a meeting with President Manuel Zelaya, they told him that in the 1980s, the most important political decisions were put to consultation in the military barracks, but that now they were here, the businesspeople and the media.” In the meeting the businessmen reportedly sought to put Zelaya in his place, remarking “You are only temporary, while we are permanent. We want to be consulted about decisions, we want contracts and to participate in the public tenders, we want to express our opinions on some appointments of public officials, and we want official advertising contracts.”

Keep Reading...

The Free and the Dead

Peacenik thinks this little essay by Jim Kunstler is appropriate as summer holidays arrive. Images of the lake and boats and kids having fun on tubes. Peacenik has read all the economic doomsday predictions. Kunstler says American's are in a dreamworld...partying on...while their society collapses. But Peacenik admits Peacenik is thinking about summer frivolity as well.

It may not be very realistic, but summer is short in Canada. And Peacenik acknowledges that everyone, including Peacenik, needs a little R & R. As George Bush used to say it is tough work worrying about everything. So Peacenik looks forward to some holidays, and doesn't begrudge people their last chance at a bit of a golden summer. Harsh reality will come soon enough. Have fun, why fight it?

By James Howard Kunstler
on July 6, 2009 6:34 AM

I was out on a big Adirondack lake in a canoe this weekend while the American economy was dying -- but you wouldn't have known it for the fleets of giant power boats dragging children back and forth across the water on rubber tubes, and the giant camping vehicles crammed into every bare spot. How do people pay for these things, I wondered. For not a few, installment loans, no doubt -- though that still begs the question. The sheer programming of American life runs wide and deep. We are, apparently, a people born to drag children behind hundred-and-fifty horsepower two-stroke engines, so that's what we do, no matter what is really going on in the world. Alas, mindless programming is the sort of thing that kills societies.

Watching the summer panorama on an Adirondack lake is like reading a history of the post World War Two decades, because almost nothing on view there now existed before 1945 and we'll be stunned to see how swiftly it all terminates. The fantastic prosperity of these postwar decades killed the wildness of these once-remote lakes. Fortunes were made -- like everywhere else in the USA -- carving up the landscape and deploying graceless houses made of cheap, fabricated materials. All the diabolical genius brought to engineering the New Jersey and Long Island suburbs was eventually turned loose on the Adirondack wilderness, with predictable results. The lakes themselves, stuffed with all those sleek plastic power boats, are like the Long Island Expressway minus the painted lanes.

Read on...

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday (live 02JUL09 @ Camp Nou, Barcelona)

punditman says...U2 gives support to the Iranian people. Note the farsi script as it appear on the overhead screen.

Iraq a failed imperialist venture

punditman says...On this 4th of July, it seems appropriate to pierce through all the nonsense on TV about spreading freedom around the world and reflect on what the US has wrought in its criminal invasion of Iraq. Is anyone ever going to be held accountable?

Still, all the evidence in the world that this war was a deception turned dissaster will not convince some. When you click through this link and read all the comments associated with the article, it is clear there are still a lot of wingnuts out there who remain incapable of putting aside their biases and seeing things from the point of view of the victims of US aggression. They flounder around looking for excuses, they criticize author Haroon Siddiqui, they rewrite history. They look for goodness in the American invasion because they are incapable of seeing its essential evil.

by Haroon Siddiqui

American troops were not welcomed with flowers in Iraq but their departure from cities and towns has been.

Iraqis celebrated National Sovereignty Day Tuesday as U.S. troops were yanked out of populated centres and put into remote bases.

In time, even that hidden presence will begin to grate on the Iraqis, just as a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia had spurred Osama bin Laden and others.

Yet this limited troop pullout is being hailed as a triumph. One is reminded of Richard Nixon's 1973 boast of "peace with honour" in Vietnam. The 1973 Paris treaty that led to the U.S. troop withdrawal was a face-saving formula.

In Iraq, too, the U.S. has little choice but to get out.

Not only did the Iraqi invasion and occupation prove the limits of military power, it also exposed how incapable America has become at nation-building. Its postwar incompetence was stunning.

America plunged Iraq into chaos, shattered the infrastructure and destroyed the society, reducing human beings to their basest instincts. They turned on each other and found safety only in family, tribe, clan and sect. Shiites and Sunnis, who had lived together for ages, ethnically cleansed each other's neighbourhoods, which to this day remain separated by barricades, walls and checkpoints.

Keep Reading...

Swine Flu Vaccine: The Race Is On

Peacenik has been reading a couple of interesting articles lately. This one by Robert Rapier asks the question: What if I'm wrong? This got Peacenik thinking about lots of what ifs. What if Peacenik is wrong about financial and societal collapse? (7 more banks were closed in the U.S. yesterday). What if Peacenik is wrong about Peak Oil? (Rapier's article discusses this possibility). What if Peacenik is wrong about swine flu?

It seems that swine flu will get more serious in the fall. It is a huge problem in Argentina right now. It is winter in Argentina. 40 percent of hospital workers are refusing to go to work right now for fear of catching the flu. And there are discussions about mass innoculations in the U.S. They are racing to make a vaccine that works. They may not have time to test it. What if Peacenik is wrong? Peacenik will put away his medical masks, and hand sanitizers, and aspirin, and Peacenik will be ready for the next pandemic. No harm done. Are you ready for swine flu? What if you are wrong?

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

June 26, 2009 -- The United States is racing to make huge supplies of swine flu vaccine -- and trying to figure out who needs it most -- even as the pandemic sweeps the globe.

At least one of the five vaccine makers supplying U.S. swine flu vaccine already has bulk vaccine coming off the production line. The others soon will follow.

Clinical tests will begin within days as researchers struggle to answer basic questions about whether the vaccine works, how big a dose is needed, whether protection will take one shot or two, and whether the vaccine seems safe.

Read on...

Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya NOW!

International Action Center / Centro de Acción Internacional
Founded by / Fundado por Ramsey Clark
5C - Solidarity Center - 55 West 17th Street - New York, N.Y. 10011
- fax 212-633-2889
actioncenter@peoplesmail.net; En Español: IAC-CAI@peoplesmail.net www.IACenter.org

Donate | Sign Up for Action Alerts | IAC on Twitter | IAC Books and Resources

Condemn Honduran Coup and Restore Honduran President Zelaya NOW!

Sign the Emergency Petition!

To: President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

CC: Vice President Joe Biden, Congressional leaders, U.N. General Assembly President d'Escoto-Brockmann, U.N. Secretary General Ban, and major media representatives including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and Reuters.

I demand that the Barack Obama administration and the U.S. Congress unequivocally condemn the unconstitutional and anti-democratic military coup in Honduras and insist that the military regime and the newly appointed but illegitimate president of Honduras restore President Zelaya to office, free all the imprisoned popular leaders and remove the curfew. I further demand that the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras be recalled immediately until such time as President Zelaya is restored to office.

Sincerely,

(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form)

Sign the Petition Online

STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The U.S.-based International Action Center, founded by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, condemns in the strongest terms the Armed Forces of Honduras’ criminal coup d'état against the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and the Honduran people.

The incident occurred today, Sunday, June 28 at dawn, on the date when a referendum was scheduled so that the people could freely decide if the question of calling for a Constituent Assembly would be included during the upcoming November elections. This Assembly would draft a new constitution in accordance with the current needs and aspirations of the Honduran people.

Today’s referendum represented a threat to the oligarchy and its corporate partners, who after several days of threats used the heavily armed military to cowardly invade the Presidential Residence and kidnap President Zelaya, taking him to Costa Rica by force.

We also repudiate the kidnapping of Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas and the abuse against the ambassadors of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela when they went in an act of solidarity to assist Rodas.

We join the voices of the international community in demanding the immediate liberation of Rodas and the safe return of President Zelaya to his country so that he continues to carry out his presidential functions.

We in addition want to express our solidarity with the Honduran people’s just demands.


Signed,

Teresa Gutierrez and Sara Flounders,
Co-Coordinator of the International Action Center
National Office

Berta Joubert-Ceci,
Director, Philadelphia Chapter of the International Action Center

Sign the Petition Online

Obama Administration Backs Bush White House on Cheney Interview

Obama's justice department recently drew up a justification for indefinite detention. Obama's justice department has delayed the release of the CIA's torture report. And now Obama's justice department is continuing to use Bush rationales to further secrecy in the Obama administration. Peacenik guesses that Obama is discovering openness and transparency is a little messy. Peacenik guesses that Obama is becoming very comfortable in an imperial presidency. And Peacenik guesses that Obama is looking at his own, and his administration's behaviour in the various financial bailouts, and is thinking a little bit of secrecy might help in case there is any criminal liability. But Peacenik doesn't know why Obama is bothering. The U.S. stopped being a country governed by the rule of law long ago.

by David Corn

WASHINGTON - When it comes to the Bush White House's decision to withhold from the public Dick Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the CIA leak case, the Obama administration says its predecessor did the right thing. And it's fighting hard to do the same.

On Wednesday night, in another move that puts the administration on the side of secrecy over openness, Obama's Justice Department filed a memo supporting its ongoing opposition to a lawsuit requesting the release of the Cheney interview. This memo included a declaration from Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who said that if the Cheney interview is made public it could cause public officials in the future to not cooperate with criminal investigations.

Breuer, who heads the department's criminal division, noted:

Read on...

Time for an Israeli Strike?

As if the Washington Post and the New York Times didn't do enough to push the Iraq war, we now have the Post giving column inches to John Bolton the crazy former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. By the way, Bolton was never confirmed by the Senate, Bush had to use a recess appointment to get him the job.

Bolton always wants to attack Iran, and in this goofy essay he suggests that after the attack a public diplomacy campaign could be successfully directed at the Iranian's currently risking their lives to protest the elections. That is the few who survive. Peacenik is sure a public diplomacy campaign waged in the midst of nuclear fallout would work just fine.

By John R. Bolton
Thursday, July 2, 2009

With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.

Iran's nuclear threat was never in doubt during its presidential campaign, but the post-election resistance raised the possibility of some sort of regime change. That prospect seems lost for the near future or for at least as long as it will take Iran to finalize a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.

Read on...

Covering (up) the coup in Honduras - the BBC does its bit for the Empire

punditman says...Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Some things never change. Punditman once wrote a thesis about media bias and conflict in Central America. In this regard, it seems Big media still understand their assigned roles.

by William Bowles

The devil lives in the small print, the devil in this case being the BBC in its coverage of the coup d’etat that ousted President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras on 27 June, 2009.

Take the following para from a BBC piece titled ‘US treads careful path on Honduras’ (30 June, 2009)

“So while Washington's reaction has been strong and swift, when it comes to statements, its actions have so far been measured.

Now you may wonder why the BBC chose the word ‘measured’ to describe the US’ response to the military coup d’etat? Not only why but how? The following para explains,

“This is a signal that Washington is not keen to use its clout to help Mr Zelaya return to power, shying away from any action that could be seen as interventionism in a region where the US has a long, complex history.”

But ‘measured’ is not a word that describes the US administration’s response. Obama simply stated that the Honduras coup is "not legal." And note that the US interventions, both direct military and covert over the years, for example, US support for the Contras in Nicaragua, the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile, the attempted overthrow of Chavez in 2002, are described by the dissembling BBC as “long [and] complex [sic], which is the BBC’s standard method of covering up the crimes of Empire.

In a related BBC piece with the title of ‘'Mistimed coup' in Honduras?’ we read,

“Recent events in Tegucigalpa, with hundreds of protesters chanting the president's name have proved that he has his fanatical supporters.”

Keep Reading...

Massive US Assault to Seize Taleban Heartland

Peacenik thinks this surge is delusional. Memories of Vietnam. No one in all of history has tamed Afghanistan. The supposed plan is to stabilize the country before presidental elections in August.

How do you stabilize a country that is composed of different areas ruled by war lords? The current president can't even control Kabul, the capital. Let's accept the fact that the US is in Afghanistan for geopolitical reasons, not humanitarian reasons. If a strongman existed, any strongman, who could control the country, the US would support that person. Why is Canada still supporting a US imperial misadventure. Why did I forget that question mark? Bring the Canadian troops home now.

by Tom Coghlan

Thousands of US Marines stormed into an Afghan river valley by helicopter and land early today, launching the first major military offensive of Barack Obama's presidency with an assault deep into Taleban-held territory.

Operation Khanjar, which the Marines call simply "the decisive op", is intended to seize virtually the entire lower Helmand River valley, a heartland of the Taleban insurgency and the world's biggest heroin producing region.

It is the biggest operation launched by the US Marines Corps since the retaking of Fallujah in 2004 and seeks to break the grinding stalemate between Nato forces and the Taleban in the province.

Read on...