U.S. Soldiers Being Held Virtually Incommunicado by Own U.S. Military

In an outrageous usurpation of authority and in violation of the Sixth Amendment, at least two U.S. soldiers are being held in prison with little contact with the outside world. Let me emphasize these are American soldiers being held by our own military for, in one case, refusing to deploy to the battlefield due to reasons of conscience, and in the other, for going AWOL in order to support his family. Read more about these abuses at the link below. (You may also click on the title of this post above.)


http://www.truthout.org/092809A?n

Sorting Through the Hubris

We are living through a concerted effort on the part of the modern-day robber barons to convince everyone that the financial crisis is over, and that even the "recession" has bottomed-out and the economy is "recovering." This is similar to every other so-called recession I can remember. As soon as possible, we begin hearing reports that the worst of the recession is behind us and that before you know it, all will be well. This time, however, the propaganda has been harder to put across, as the average American remains terrified of losing his or her job and then one's home. Not only that, but there continue to be significant discordant voices from nearly every source.

Somewhat surprisingly, the major media continue to report on various problems. A case in point is a major article (not the first) on the housing crisis in Florida which appeared only a few weeks ago. As I write this I am listening to "This American Life" on my local National Public Radio station. This excellent edition, told in breezy tones, is a revisiting of a broadcast originally presented in 2008. Soon (because this is a replay of a program I have already heard in part), various individuals who appeared on the original broadcast in May of 2008 will reappear and tell of their current situation. Some are doing better. Others are in the same position they were in a year and a half ago.

We can see that the narrative which would have us believe all is rosy is not selling very well. This has huge political repercussions. Exactly what it will mean in electoral politics is unknown, although there is some evidence that Democratic office-holders may be improving their position. (I will try to provide my source for this information later.)

In a strange way it is hopeful that Americans are not so easily fooled this time. They know in their hearts that all is not well. Perhaps this time, the truth has more of a chance to cut through the propaganda.

Michael Moore: We Have Now the End of Capitalism

Soon, movie-goers will flock to theaters everywhere to watch a film with an amazing premise: capitalism is evil and is on the way out. To my knowledge there has never been a film like Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. At the link below you can watch Michael Moore speak about what is really happening in our economy now. While I have not yet seen the film, what Michael Moore is saying off-screen is more riveting than the trailers for the film itself.

Regular readers of this blog know I have been saying repeatedly over the last three years that the profit system was failing. This view was never simply my own, but was based on the work of prominent others. Now, however, we have an impending major film from the country's best-known documentary film maker which says essentially the same thing.

In coming days I intend to spend more time on Michael Moore's web site "fact-checking" his film. Such an allegation most definitely needs to be backed up. Whether from Michael Moore or from other sources, the data backing up the claim of the dying of capitalism should be readily accessible to any honest researcher.

In any event, it is time to say good-bye to the greed-based and ever-so-hurtful profit system!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlMYzLlQ0n4&feature=channel

Michael Moore Prescribes Common Sense for the Automobile Industry

In an interview with Larry King Michael Moore talks about the future of the transportation system in this country and the needed conversion of capacity in today's automobile manufacturing industry. These comments made late in 2008 are still pertinent now. Michael Moore, who has close ties to auto workers, knows whereof he speaks.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0bbOZ-nkJs&feature=channel

Michael Moore: A Love Story

Michael Moore's new film, Capitalism: A Love Story is set to blast its way into the hearts and minds of Americans in theaters everywhere. With typical good-humor and a wealth of facts, Moore launches an assault on the very tenets of capitalism. All this according to a new article by reviewer Mark Weisbrot, himself an economist. As Weisbrot says, to have a film seriously question capitalism itself is almost unheard of in American media. Just today I heard that a New York Times reporter has just written a book with a title something like The Financial Markets and Why They Matter to You. I thought to myself, "They matter all right, but for their essentially negative effect on morals and the underpinnings of our financial and economic systems."

In our daily world financial markets are but one salient example of greed run rampant, of ethics sickened by a pernicious and deep selfishness magnified a million times by souls simple and powerful who seek a measure of gain off the work of others.

The review of Moore's film is itself a work of art. The ringing prose sounds out its own alarm in cogent and passionate text which calls forth both one's inner whimsy and one's conscience out into the light of day. Here the self can look at the evil which is the profit system full on, without disguise or distortion.

Plaudits, then, for Michael Moore for what appears to be a major accomplishment -- calling into question the very appropriateness of capitalism in the America we love.


(Copying of this post either in whole or in part except brief passages for purpose of review, is prohibited. All rights reserved.)

For Mark Weisbrot's excellent review click the title above or cut and past this web address:

http://www.truthout.org/091509F?n

Prosecutor with a Conscience

It is refreshing to know there are men and women in government with a conscience. Such a person is Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch. Lt. Col. Couch refused to prosecute a man accused of conspiring to commit acts of terror on Sept. 11, 2001, because he discovered the man had been tortured. This is the kind of patriot we need in our country now.

See video of this extraordinary person at the link below or by clicking on the title above.

(It goes without saying that true terrorists are to be condemned. Yet is not torture itself a kind of terrorism? -- TMP)


http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/536/guantanamo-justice.html


Note: My apologies for the recent lull in posting. Things have been busy with a Labor Day week-end intervening as well. I hope to be back on track with more frequent posts.