The War For “Peace,” Dalai Lama at White House, Friday Morning Update

February 19th, 2010 - by: danny

MARJAH MUDDLE
WALL STREET HUSTLE
NEW POLL PLUMBS POPULAR DISSATISFACTION

SATURDAY MORNING: Former Secretary of State Al “I Am in Charge Now” Haig, Colonel upped to General who carried water for Richard Nixon, has died at age 85.

It was a blogger’s nightmare. You wake up to check on and update early in the morning and then the software goes one way while you go another. One second, it’s there with a few typos to be fixed and then, damm, its all gone. Vanished into cyber space or wherever rogue posts go.

I remember writing about Aghanistan where the offensive is a form of mili-tainment designed to impress US viewers and leave Washington in a stronger position with more of what the Israeli’s call “Facts” on the ground for the peace talks that are on the agenda as the only way to “win” a war we are losing. It It will come to no good.

I also wrote about the Dalai Lama’s “downplayed” hush, hush visit to the White House which Tibeten supporters of course made a big deal of with demonstrations worldwide calling on President Obama to press the Chinese (with whom he has decreasing leverage) to encourage the Beijing to negotiate with his Holiness. Fat chance of that happening.

Juan Cole – Informed Comment: The Texas Plane Bomber

“If you hate the US government for collecting taxes from you and are
willing to fly a plan into a Federal building, you just might be a
terrorist.

“But, nah, not if you’re a white guy.

“Some Tea Partiers, who likewise are outraged at paying taxes, are
eager to adopt this domestic terrorist.

“If he’d been a Muslim or a member of another minority group, they’d be
calling for his beheading.

Matt Taibbi’s latest Piece on The Wall Street Hustle

Naked Capitalism.com: New Poll from Rasmussen – only 21% believe government represents people

“Only 21% Say U.S. Government Has Consent of the Governed Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ Those with the Lowest Incomes are the Most Skeptical”

A new Rasmussen poll finds:

The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.
***
Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters now view the federal government as a special interest group, and 70% believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.That helps explain why 75% of voters are angry at the policies of the federal government, and 63% say it would be better for the country if most members of Congress are defeated this NovemberÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that the American people are “united in the belief that our political system is broken, that politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers.” He adds that “the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and the politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.”
***
Sixty percent (60%) of voters think that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. Thirty-five percent (35%) say Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people.

Nearly half of all voters believe that people randomly selected from the phone book could do as good a job as the current Congress.

It is not surprising — given the following — that this is largely viewed as a class issue:

The poor have disproportionally suffered from unemployment

PhD economist Dean Baker said that the true purpose of the bank rescues is “a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives”

Two leading IMF officials, the former Vice President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, and the the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City have all said that the United States is controlled by an oligarchy

Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and many others have called our current system “socialism for the rich”

PhD economist Michael Hudson says that the financial “parasites” are “sucking as much money out” as they can before “jumping ship”

Warren Buffet said a couple of years ago: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

As Rasmussen notes:

Those who earn more than $100,000 a year are more narrowly divided on the question, but those with lower incomes overwhelming reject the notion that today’s government has the consent from which to derive its just authority. Those with the lowest incomes are the most skeptical.

Attention Tea Partiers: Get Ready To Burn Those Elton John Records

Matthew Chapter 4 Verse 19: “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers for men.”

(Sir) Elton John says ‘Jesus was Gay!’
By Pete Samson – The Sun UK

“The singer makes his controversial claim about the Lord in a new US interview that will enrage America’s bible belt.”

Haiti: Promoting Accountability

How to Fix Haiti’s Fixers
BY Paul Collier – Foreign Policy

Aid groups in the earthquake-battered country are inefficient and
unaccountable. Luckily, there’s a solution…

“Part of the problem is accountability, a serious issue in a country
with such a weak central government and so many well-funded NGOs. Even
before the earthquake, NGOs provided most of Haiti’s health care and
education, yet they have been accountable neither to users nor funders.
Donors have been schizophrenic about the dominance of NGOs, trying
instead to build Haiti’s public sector in the image of a 1950s European
state, with government ministries planning and financing all the
country’s clinics and schools and directly employing all the medics and
teachers who staff them. Their concern about a key role for the state
is well-founded; without it, NGOs would be unaccountable and
uncoordinated, and ordinary Haitians would continue to see their
government as irrelevant. Yet even before the earthquake, building a
European-style state was a forlorn ambition. So alongside rhetoric
about shoring up Haiti’s government, donors have bypassed it altogether
by funding the NGOs.”

[SNIP]

“To ensure a decisive break from current public-sector culture, the new
NGO agency should be co-managed with donors. Not only would this give
the donors the confidence to increase funding to the level needed to
transform Haiti’s social services, but it would also gradually build
and entrench the good practices that would become essential for
viability. As the agency became more professional, the donor presence
could gradually be withdrawn.

“Professional monitoring of NGO performance would be good for everyone.
New information technology could be harnessed to empower ordinary
users. For example, users of the NGOs’ services could send text
messages to the new agency to rate the impact and quality of what they
have received. Money could be poured into those NGOs that demonstrated
efficiency, encouraging them to expand from boutique operations to
scalable organizations.

“Of course, such a scheme will be resisted: Current practices are there
because they suit everyone except ordinary citizens…”

Broadcasting & Cable: FCC Wants Federal Buildings Used As Anchors For Broadband

The News Dissector