< Archives: 2006 November

Oops, Hello, I Must Be Going…

November 30th, 2006 - by: danny

Oops, Hello, I Must Be Going…


FROM THE ONION: Iraq Now Longer Than WWII

“The Iraq war may last longer, but I guarantee you that both wars will end the same way: with the complete destruction of the Japanese.’

Helen Wright, Meat Packer

BUSH FLIES TO JORDAN, AL-MALIKI FLIES COOP
THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
THE PERSONAL DEBT CRUNCH

Who can make this stuff up? The American President, our president and supreme commander, flies half way around the world to Jordan for a meeting with the Iraqi leader. On the day of the meeting, a memo from the President’s national security advisor appears in the NY Times trashing that very same Prime Minister.

The article also insists that the US supports Mr. Al-Maliki. Mr Maliki is not pleased. He cancels the meeting before Air Force One even lands. Could you imagine the scene on that plane. Oh, the humiliation, oh the heads that will roll. The press is all over it. The meet-up was rescheduled for today. What the Emperor wants, the Emperor gets.

CNN Reported:

“The abrupt change was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. There were conflicting explanations about what happened.

But then they meet this AM and what does our fearless leader say? BBC reports: “US President George W Bush has pledged to keep American troops in Iraq until “the job is complete.” He didn’t say how many. Let the games begin, or did they ever end?

BUSHEVIKS WANTED TO SHOW W IS “IN CONTROL”

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/bush-team-wanted-massive-press.html

AL SADR PROTESTS, STUDY GROUP TO REPORT

In Iraq, AP reports: Six Cabinet ministers and 30 legislators loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr decided Wednesday to boycott Parliament and the government to protest the Iraqi prime minister’s summit with President Bush. (Note that this is a Shite group opposing a Shia PM)

In Washington, the so-called Iraq Study Group has reportedly reached a consensus which they will announce next week. Don’t hold your breath. The Times reports today they are recommending a limited withdrawal, “a gradual pullback of 15 brigades but stops short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal.” CNN says: “The Iraq Study Group will recommend that a “gradual but meaningful” reduction of U.S. troops begin “relatively early in the New Year.”

CHENEY IN SAUDI

While the press focuses on Bush in Jordan, W’s Vice, Mr. Cheney is sidling up to the Saudis, largely out of media view, allegedly to get them to lower the price of oil to undermine Iran. Oh, the games they play.

WILL SAUDIS PROTECT SUNNIS?

As the economic powerhouse of the Middle East, the birthplace of Islam and the defacto leader of the world’s Sunni community (which comprises 85 percent of all Muslims), Saudi Arabia has both the means and the religious responsibility to intervene.

CAN WAR ON IRAN BE STOPPED?

http://www.stopwaroniran.org/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15768.htm

And Colin Powell in Dubai said he believes there is a civil war underway in Iraq.

IRAN APPEALS TO AMERICAN PEOPLE

Al Jazeera reports:

“The Iranian president has in an open letter urged the American people to demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and reject what he called the US government’s “blind support” for Israel.

For full text:

http://freddevan.com/wordpress/

CNN: MORE TRACES FOUND

British Airways says small traces of radiation have been found on two of its aircraft by investigators looking into the death of a former Russian spy, wire services report.

Russian media downplays problem:

http://www.freemediaonline.org/

COUP IN MEXICO HAPPENING WARNS AL GIORDANO

http://www.narconews.com

“MAYBE, ITS OBAMA” Sings Neil Young. Maybe not, argues Cyrano’s Journal.

http://www.cjonline.org/glenFordBarackObama.htm

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Media Update and Debt Watch

November 30th, 2006 - by: danny

Media Update and Debt Watch

AT FIRST AMENDMENT DINNER, NEWT DUMPS ON FREE SPEECH

The Manchester Union Leader reports:

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism. Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a “different set of rules” may be needed to reduce terrorists’ ability to use the Internet and free
speech to recruit and get out their message. “We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade,” said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP’s takeover of Congress in 1994.

Gingrich spoke to about 400 state and local power brokers last night at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner, which fetes people and organizations that stand up for freedom of speech.

http://tinyurl.com/ynx7mj

Question: Didn’t we already “lose an American City,” the one called New Orleans?

WASHINGTON POST TO RATE REPORTERS

Seattle Times: Take control of YOUR airwaves by Michael J. Copps, FCC Commissioner

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003451881_copps29.html

NOW THEY HAVE DONE IT: MCWORLD VS JUCHE

U.S. bans sale of iPods to North Korea – Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_go_pr_wh/nkorea_ipod_diplomacy

ISRAEL’S NEW GLOBAL MEDIA OFFENSIVE

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1952099,00.html

RADAR REPORT: BLOGGING ARMAGEDDON– DEBKA WEBSITE

http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/11/debkafile_qa.php

Battle for Internet Freedom Moves to the States

Josh Silver of Free Press explains:

While this past year, AT&T and Verizon pursued both national and state legislation, they now seem determined to focus on state legislation as a way to bypass Net Neutrality requirements. We need to break the phone/Internet duopoly.

http://action.freepress.net/ct/AdwOYqM1TuZh/

DISSECTOR DEBT WATCH

Lou Dobbs yesterday on CNN:

DOBBS: Not good news for our middle class homeowners tonight. The value of their largest asset, their home, is down. Millions of Americans with adjustable rate loans are also finding their mortgages more and more expensive these days.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/28/ldt.01.html

WALL STREET LOSES COMPETITIVE EDGE

http://www.nysun.com/article/44368

ARMY: DEBT A NEW ENEMY

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Like the other branches of the military, the Army is seeing a marked increase in the number of troops stripped of their security clearances because they are so deep in debt, according to military data obtained by The Associated Press.

Soldiers need security clearance when they work with secret information and sometimes when they are sent overseas. The Pentagon says financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason.

ECO CRISIS WARNING FROM A EUROPEAN THINK TANK

This can get even worse that I though, Here’s part of a scary prognosis from LEAP, a European think tank, Read it closely:

“For more than five years the American consumer has been the “cash-cow” of US growth, contributing more than 70% to the resulting progression of the United States economy. Stimulated by the easy money policy promoted by the US Federal Reserve in order to avoid a catastrophic recession feared after the explosion of “internet bubble”, the US consumer rushed into a frenzy of purchases of consumer goods. Encouraged by banks and the whole US financial system, he exceeded his own financing capacities and plunged since 2004 into generalized debt (7) and into a situation not seen in the United States since the dip of the Great Depression post 1929, namely a negative saving rate.

The Federal Reserve, the Bush administration and the republican Congress, as well all the financial and banking sectors of the country then fed the fiction of a continuous and fast enrichment via the development of the “real estate bubble” which convinced the majority of the country’s middle class, including its least ‘well off’, to rush into a strategy of purchase, and often of speculation, in real estate. In parallel, the very strong growth of real-estate prices made it possible for the financial sector to offer loans for household consumption, linked with the “value” of the real estate (9). Because of these operations relating to more than 2,500 billion dollars since 2004, these same lenders and other banks have in same time increased considerably their results, gaining the admiration of stock markets by their extraordinary success, whereas these same assessments were potentially seen to be depending more and more on the future evolution of the real estate market.

Indeed, the obvious risk of this strategy of the banking sector was due to the possibility of an inversion in real estate trends. In the event of a strong and sustained fall in the prices and volumes of the real estate market simultaneously on the whole of the US territory, the “magic circle” of individual enrichment and the collective growth would become an “infernal spiral” of personal debt and generalized recession. Indeed, households in debt would suddenly become insolvent because of the collapse in the price of the real estate guaranteeing their loans, while the whole of the banking sector would be found in a double trap with on one side an increasing share of the loans not refunded due to personal bankruptcy, and on the other a financial assessment quickly down-grading because of the depreciation of the value of the guaranteed loans (namely the real estate .

For the LEAP/E2020 team, it is from now on time to remove the ‘conditional’ from this scenario. It is currently happening throughout all the United States and constitutes a catalyst of the impact phase of the global systemic crisis. The US consumer, i.e. the US middle class, basically becomes insolvent (11), victim of overwhelming debt, a negative rate of saving, the bursting of the real estate bubble, the rise of interest rates and the collapse of US growth. All these elements are dependent, and mutually reinforcing, to plunge the United States, starting from the end 2006, into an economic, social and political crisis without precedent .

http://www.leap2020.eu/December-2006-Dollar-Real-Estate-Stock-Markets-US-consumer-s-insolvency,-a-catalyst-of-the-impact-phase-of-the-global_a233.html

DOLLAR COULD COLLAPSE, WARNS FINANCIAL TIMES
Sorry no URL

Christmas shopping in New York is usually thought of as an expensive indulgence rather than a bargain hunter?s dream. But this year, there are savings to be had if one is spending euros, sterling or yen. With the dollar suddenly sliding against all the main currencies, shoppers in Europe and Asia are being told they can get their iPods, Nintendo Wiis and Armani suits cheaply if they buy them in the US.

Anyone tempted to make the trip a week ago will be even more tempted now, the dollar went on to register its worst week since June, falling 2 per cent against the euro and 1.9 per cent against sterling. Yesterday it hit a 20-month low of $1.3180 against the euro and a two-year low of $1.9465 against sterling, meaning it has fallen 10.8 per cent against the European single currency and 12.4 per cent against the pound this year….”

FROM THE INSURANCE JOURNAL

In a decision that could cost insurers many more billions of dollars than they have already paid out in Hurricane Katrina claims, a federaljudge in New Orleans has ruled that ambiguities in certain homeowners policies leave open the possibility that flooding due to “man-made” acts could be covered, despite widespread water.

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FORUM:The Personal Politics of Debt

November 30th, 2006 - by: danny

FORUM:The Personal Politics of Debt

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE OF THE DEBT CRISIS

Shebar Windstone argues passionately that debt has become a means of social control and personal pain:

“This issue has been flitting on the fringes of my consciousness for a long time; that piece by Parenti just brought it into focus. It’s something important that’s gotten little, if any, attention domestically. (We’ve seen how it works abroad.) If consumerism is the force that invades & conquers our lives & dreams, then debt is the occupying power, overseer, slavedriver, prison warden & torturer — ensuring/enforcing our obedience, compliance, complicity, cooperation & fear.

Students’ debt burdens force them to seek jobs as soon as they graduate (or to give up on hopes of ever graduating), rather than protesting, dropping out, exploring the world, working for nonprofits or doing all the creative things that young people used to do. Workers are forced to stay in unsatisfactory jobs, endure (or succumb to) unsafe working conditions & abusive bosses & coworkers, & are detered from organizing unions, demanding higher/living wages & better working conditions & benefits. Unhappy couples stay together because they can’t afford to live separately. Abused partners continue to suffer abuse because they can’t afford to escape.

Families stay together out of necessity rather than love, so busy working or shopping or worrying that there’s no time or energy left to do the things that keep love & families alive. Tenants shut up & put up with whatever they’re stuck with, & small landlords & businesses don’t have it much better. Faced with mounting debts for medical care, people with chronic or serious illnesses too often find the cure worse than the disease, so they’re the last ones who could protest or organize to change our life-threatening healthcare & insurance industries or the government agencies that prop up these corrupt & criminal monopolies.

Whole communities are kept so busy scrambling to keep up with interest rates, fees & taxes that they have no time to think about social, political, economic & ecological issues. & the politicians who could change the laws & regulations that keep this system in place are in hock up to their ears!

The costs & benefits of debt cannot be measured in dollars alone. Indeed, one might argue that dollars are the least important part!

PROBLEMS WITH ME AND THE WEBSITE

W M writes about his frustrations which I share. First let me explain that we are in the middle of building a new content management system that will help readers communicate and participate. We have done a redesign but the back end is being finished. PLEASE BEAR WITH US including those of you who are unable to subscribe or unsubscribe. I believe he overstates the link problem and believe he is generalizing, but so what? His perception is his reality. I copy links fully. One suggestion, go to the website. It maybe an email issue of some kind.

As for the Links, I use the ones that are sent to me. I agree they should be accurate and sometimes the problem is that I am rushing and don’t check them. (I am only one person pumping out 3000 words a day. Sometimes the people who send them screw them up. Whatever the reason, I agree this is unprofessional and I will try to do better. We are very underresourced and need help in editing and research. Any takers?

So it happens again. As much as I appreciate the work you do with your research and the Dissector, there remains one significant problem that has been ongoing, and in fact has gotten worse the last couple of days. I’m talking about your links to news rticles. Both yesterday and today, none of the links you’ve provided in the email version of the Dissector are in fact ‘linked.’ example:

“BUSH LOSES A BIG ONE

Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups – Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com”

What article, I ask you, does that non-link lead to? This is not just an one-time mistake. Every issue of the Dissector that I receive has almost no functional links. Sometimes I can take the time to figure out where you had intended for it to lead, but most (like the example above) are worthless, or as has been the case the last two days, they aren’t even links to begin with.

This problems is very serious for two reasons. First there is the (arguable) damage to your reputation as a fact-checker, as it makes it nigh impossible for readers to do any verification or follow-up of our own. Second, the information you so vehemently argue that is important to bring to the attention of a wider audience is locked away behind shoddy work resulting in broken or complete non-links. This only continues to keep the public in the dark.

In fact, someone who wears a little more tin foil than myself might even be inclined to believe this to be evidence that you are in fact a solid source of mis- and dis-information. Please, take the extra 5 minutes to double check all your links before sharing them. Even if your intentions are good, the current result is little better than Faux News making their usual unsubstantiated claims.

I don’t intend this as an attack on your journalism, which IMO is top-notch, just some of this information I hear about nowhere else, and if I can’t follow a link, I continue to hear about it nowhere else but from your keyboard.

Keep up the good fight!

Frustrated In The Search For Truth…

PS. The contact form on your website didn’t think my email address looked valid. I hope you aren’t filtering all yahoo email.

I am not sure its truth you are after.

BILL MOYERS TO WEST POINT CADETS

Tom PAINE.COM Message To West Point
by Bill Moyers, TomPaine.com

?Before heading to Iraq, graduates are asked to consider the kind of country they are serving.”

http://ga3.org/ct/h1NLpbK1omhy/

And finally if the debt won’t get us, the environment might. Reuters reported:

Apocalypse on the installment plan….

SCIENTIST PREDICTS PLANETARY WIPE-OUT

LONDON (Reuters) – The earth has a fever that could boost temperatures by 8 degrees Celsius making large parts of the surface uninhabitable and threatening billions of peoples’ lives, a controversial climate scientist said on Tuesday.

James Lovelock, who angered climate scientists with his Gaia theory of a living planet and then alienated environmentalists by backing nuclear power, said a traumatized earth might only be able to support
less than a tenth of it’s 6 billion people.

“We are not all doomed. An awful lot of people will die, but I don’t see the species dying out,” he told a news conference. “A hot earth couldn’t support much over 500 million.”

And on that reassuring note that makes “An Inconvenient Truth” seem mild, I bid adieu.

Please check out the new video on the homepage of Mediachannel.org on the new News Trust project.

Please give the gift of Media and Democracy. Resubscribe to MediaChannel. Help us sustain this work. Tax deductible checks to The Global Center 575 8th Ave #2200 NY NY 10018. Make payments to Mediachannel and date January 2007.

Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org

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