Tuesday, March 25, 2008

OUR FAILED SYSTEM IS ALIVE, AND AS SICK AS EVER, DEAR AND GENTLE READER. A DEEPLY INSIGHTFUL & ENTERTAINING ARTICLE THAT'LL MAKE YOUR EYES BULGE...!

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Happy Anniversary, America!

How Lethally Stupid Can One Country Be?

By David Michael Green

Watching George W. Bush in operation these last couple
of weeks is like having an out-of-body experience. On
acid. During a nightmare. In a different galaxy. Continue

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America’s Next 9/11

By Paul Craig Roberts

There is so much that Americans do not know about
secret schemes serving undeclared agendas. Those
who have attempted to clue in fellow citizens are
invariably frustrated, because Americans have been
trained to dismiss the messenger who brings news of
“false flag” events as a “conspiracy theorist.” Continue

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In case you missed it

The Crucifixion of Christ, American Style

By Jerry Ghinelli

Lower Manhattan was virtually shut down as millions
of the faithful and curious flooded the streets to get
a glimpse of the second coming of their lord and
savior. Continue

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America’s Ruling Clique

By Charles Sullivan

Neoconservatives derive much of their political strength
from the portrayal of big government as the enemy
of the people: a belief that plays only too well in America.
Continue

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When America Can’t Handle the Truth

By Pierre Tristam

The word, attributed to the late writer Saul Bellow,
is “angelization” — willfully putting someone beyond
blame. Angelizing America is the common tongue of
all national politicians, the oath candidates implicitly
take when running for president. It’s what the most
sentimental people on Earth expect. Continue

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Friendly FeudalismThe Tibet Myth

By Michael Parenti

Along with the blood drenched landscape of religious
conflict there is the experience of inner peace and solace
that every religion promises, none more so than
Buddhism. Standing in marked contrast to the
intolerant savagery of other religions, Buddhism is
neither fanatical nor dogmatic--so say its adherents.
Continue

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"Today, I Weep For My Country"

The speech given by Sen. Robert Byrd

Exactly five years ago, on the afternoon of March 19, 2003,
mere hours before bombs began falling in Baghdad,
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., gave a speech on the floor
of the U.S. Senate condemning the use of military force
in Iraq. As soon as Byrd was finished speaking, Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., delivered a response defending the
Bush administration's decision to go to war. Continue

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There Is No Such Thing As A War For Free

By J. E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes

President Bush talked about the enormous financial
problems facing Social Security, saying that drastic
reforms—even privatization—were needed. Well, for
one-sixth of the cost of an Iraq war, one could put
Social Security on firm financial footing for at least
the next 50 to 75 years. Continue

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US economist calls financial crisis worst since 1930s:

The current financial crisis is the worst the world has
seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the
US Federal Reserve move to cut interest rates will
not make much difference, the Nobel Prize winning
economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Wednesday

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I Prayed

By Layla Anwar

I prayed that you all become exiled, displaced... I
prayed that you lose all your belongings, your
livelihoods, your homes, your parents, your children,
your families, your loved ones... Continue

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The Fed is just an Extension of the Banking Establishment;
The Bear bailout proves it

By Mike Whitney

Direct intervention into supposedly “free markets” is
less defensible when it is merely a matter of saving
an over-leveraged banking system from its inevitable
Day of Reckoning. And, yet, that appears to be the
reason for the White House confab. Continue

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Trusting in America

US elections 2008: By appealing to the intelligence
and decency of the American people, Obama placed
his fate in their hands

By Michelle Goldberg

We can have the civilised, intelligent debate that
Obama somehow thinks this country is capable of.
He is remarkably close to winning the Democratic
nomination, and to the presidency, and he has staked
it all on a belief in American decency. If that's not
patriotism, what on earth is? Continue

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The Collapse of American Power

Paul Craig Roberts

In his famous book, The Collapse of British Power (1972),
Correlli Barnett reports that in the opening days of
World War II Great Britain only had enough gold
and foreign exchange to finance war expenditures
for a few months. The British turned to the Americans
to finance their ability to wage war. Barnett writes
that this dependency signaled the end of British power.
Continue

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America Was Conned - Who Will Pay?

By Larry Elliott, economics editor

The crisis will only end when house prices stop falling
and banks stop racking up huge losses on their loans.
Doing that, however, will require the US government
to intervene directly in the real estate market to end
the wave of foreclosures. Ideologically, it is ill-equipped
to take that step and, as a result, property prices will
fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on.
Continue

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"Bernankerupted”

Bear Stearns Fire-sale sends Global Markets Plunging;
Dollar Routed

By Mike Whitney

Bear's travails are just the beginning of Wall Street's
woes. Now there's talk of Lehman Brothers going
under. According to the Wall Street Journal: Continue

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Too Big to Bail The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma

By Pam Martens

Americans learned two new truths last week from
the Bush Administration's version of Life's Little
Instruction Book: if you're a Wall Street miscreant
you're thrown a lifeline; if you're a Wall Street crime
fighter you're thrown a land mine. Continue

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The Emperor Cult

By Tim Case

Preceding the U.S. entry into WWI, America’s president,
Woodrow Wilson, set the stage for one (of many) of
the Federal government’s most profane periods
in American history. Continue

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U.S. Chief Auditor Leaves, Giving Dire Warning About National Debt

By David S. Broader

As the head of the Government Accountability Office, the
auditing arm of Congress, Walker has been perhaps the most
outspoken official in Washington warning of the fiscal train
wreck that awaits this country unless it mends its ways. Continue

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Today We're All Irish: Debt Serfdom Comes to America

By Dr. Ellen Brown

The Irish were driven to America by debt, and they are
leading the Western world in household debt today. The
London Daily Telegraph reported on March 13, 2008
that household debt in Ireland has reached 190 percent
of disposable income, the highest in the developed world;
and that the Irish banking system is suffering such acute
strains from the downturn in the housing market that it
may have to nationalize its banks.1 The same may soon
be happening in the United States, and for much the
same reasons. Continue

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Three Easy Pieces

The Dollar, Paulson, and Carlyle Capital

By Mike Whitney

The subprime meltdown just got a whole lot bigger.
As the massive cycle of deleveraging continues for
the over-extended hedge funds; Triple A assets will
be sold for merely pennies on the dollar sending the
faltering banking system into a last, lethal swan dive.
Good riddance. Continue

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Dean Baker: Financial Meltdown

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Late Night Political Jokes - Late Night Jokes Updated Daily

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY NOVELIST F. SCOTT SINCLAIR

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A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

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