World news and foreign policy matters.
Back in the day, banking was a service industry founded on trust. Today banking is a wealth extraction industry founded on deceit. So it was refreshing to see the Royal Bank of Scotland declare their true intentions by running up the Jolly Roger. Sorry, no. A little honesty is too much to ask of the…
Sad Paradox: Democratic Presidents provide Republicans cover for the most egregious Neocon policies. Dan Carlin offers a modest proposal – “neighborhood safety sweeps” in his Common Sense Show 214 – The Bitter Harvest of Fear (podcast mp3) that highlights the dangers of the National Defense Authorization Act. Carlin suggests that Democrats, who are passive and…
I’m a Capitalist against CRONY capitalism. A flood of corporate money – much of it gushing forth from the bailed-out banks on Wall Street – has overwhelmed our political system and stolen the voice of 99% of us. I’m going to Wall Street to take back my voice. The captured status of our government leaves…
Spotted at The Guardian, UK: David Millar: Cycling is such a stupid sport. Next time you are in a car traveling at 40mph think about jumping out – naked. That’s what it’s like when we crash. Yes, but it’s the bit about getting the ...
Suddenly Afghanistan is closer and more dangerous At lunch I bumped into an old bike racing buddy, who tells me over a parting handshake that he is leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow to take a job with a defense contractor. The recession has devastated his small business. “Good money, I hope?” “Oh yeah,” he smiles. “Money’s…
Taiwan switched from US-style private health insurance to Canadian-style single-payer system, increased coverage from 60% to 99% and cut cost. Back in 2009 the Anne Underwood writing for The New York Times interviewed William Hsiao, a professor of economics at the Harvard School of Public Health, who advised the Taiwan government during their 1990′s health…
Worth a listen: In his latest podcast of The Breakdown, Christopher Hayes talks with Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army about the evolving US fight against terrorism and how the killing of Osama bin Laden might affect the fight. Here’s Scahill on Democracy Now Jeremy Scahill discusses…
Tim Geithner is surely the biggest mistake of President Obama’s administration. I guess when Goldman Sachs is your biggest campaign donor, you’ve gotta throw ‘em a bone: Timothy Geithner. I think Mr. Obama took the wrong meaning when campaign manager Jim Messina said he needed to “fire up his base”: Geithner Pries Away $30 Trillion…
Just Because You Have the Right to Be an Obnoxious Moron Doesn’t Mean You Have To Be an Obnoxious Moron The violent “Muslims” who reacted to Jone’s infantile act by killing 8 and injuring 61 – mostly Muslims – and burning an Afghan girls’ school are even bigger morons and haters than Terry Jones. Rioting…
I believe that President Obama has done a masterful job handling U.S. involvement in Libya so far. By exercising patience and deliberation that his predecessor lacked, the President has shot the gap between two likely bad scenarios. Had he cowboy’d it and and acted unilaterally and shot from the hip, as George W. Bush likely…
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