Diane at Cab Drollery thinks public opinion may be at a tipping point because the middle class is understanding just how thoroughly it’s been duped. Maybe so. I cannot say, since we are a little behind the trends here. But I will say: if this is what a tipping point looks like, be very, very thankful.
You should read the whole thing because it says some things about Los Angeles closing their tent city, and about homelessness in this country, that really need to be heard. And this is what I call thinking in the right direction:
Instead of pouring trillions into failed companies and their loser executives’ pockets, Congress and President Obama just might want to consider bailing out local governments so we can get people back on their feet. Now, with most Americans appalled at the unbounded greed of the “haves and have mores”, is the right time to start shifting the focus to the “have little and have nothings.”
And here is something I missed from earlier this week. The Fed is going to buy U.S. Treasuries now. $300 billion over the next six months. That may be a tipping point of a different sort.
Tristero is correct. It is past time for “immediate, serious, careful, and comprehensive regulation and oversight of our criminally corrupt financial institutions.”
Our policy options are narrowing by the week, if not by the day now.
Lots to think about today. Hope to do some posting at the usual places later this afternoon.
If we can’t prosecute executives of companies who knowingly and willfully sell poisoned food to our citizens for murder and put them on death row, WTF good is the death penalty doing us? (h/t MadStat)
On my teevee: Jamie Gangell tells me Barack Obama’s had a terrible week and his “charm offensive” isn’t working very well. Then spends two minutes talking about how “Madison Avenue is just crazy for him.” I only watch the broadcast news for laughs, these days.
Avedon is right about the newspapers. Having worked in that industry for nearly a decade, I can assure you it’s more about greed and stupidity than about not being able to turn any profit whatsoever.
Medical marijuana! In Alabama! Good luck with it, peeps. I’m really pulling for you to get this done. Also, Redeye has a good post on the economy.
Must read Must read! U.S., U.K. spar over evidence of torture at Guantanamo.
Filed under: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Iraq, Politics, war | Tags: May Day
All Out.
I’m not spending any money today. How ’bout you?
Today is also Mission Accomplished Day
Photo via Think Progress
More at After Downing Street
Filed under: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Iraq, Politics, war | Tags: John Yoo, torture, war criminals
John Quiggin has some technical questions about prosecuting Bush administration officials for war crimes. I don’t have much legal training, but I’ll gladly offer some opinions. I think his analysis is about right, if he’s talking about cabinet officers and higher officials being prosecuted by another state. If prosecutions outside the U.S. happen at all, I think it’s going to be in an international court, and it’s going to be a deputy-assisstant-something or other. And that’s an outside chance.
Since prosecutions don’t seem to be likely, it wouldn’t hurt to file a grievance against John Yoo with the PA or D.C. bar.
Blue Girl has a must-read about the IDF killing a children in Gaza.
It’s alleged that Karl Rove tried to get Patrick Fitzgerald fired during the Plame affair, and guess whose trial this information emerged from?
John Kerry has a long list of questions for the GAO about the Pentagon propaganda pundits.
Hard-Boiled Dreams of the World has video of a former DEA chief admitting on 60 minutes that the CIA imported cocaine into the country. AND a link to a Rolling Stone article from last year about E. Howard Hunt admitting involvement in the Kennedy assassination.
Filed under: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Iraq, Politics, Progressive, war | Tags: activism, organization, peace
Googlepages has apparently disabled the page where the original ILWU announcement was posted for violating a policy. I snagged their graphic from FDL and blew it up in case anyone wants to take me up on my suggestion. I couldn’t get the small print at the bottom to come out clear. Here it is:
Filed under: Civil Liberties, Community, Human Rights, Iraq, Progressive, war | Tags: activism, peace, solidarity, unions
The longshore workers are shutting down all the ports on the West Coast for 8 hours on May 1. I’ll have a longer post about this tonight, I hope. Please pass this on!
Filed under: Economy, Environment, Human Rights, Politics, war | Tags: collapse, energy, food crisis, hunger, peak oil
Just not up for very much blogging today, but here’s a roundup of items related to food, economics, and politics. This is a sort of follow-up to a post I wrote for Left in Alabama yesterday on the threat to food banks posed by food shortages (and see my two long comments to that post, as well). I don’t think we should wait to see how bad things really are before we begin to make preparations for the possible food shortages we could face this year. If we prepare and it turns out that there aren’t significant shortages in the U.S., we haven’t lost very much. I, personally, think we’re about to see a period of rapid transition in our society.
This is just an opinion, and I could be wrong. But soon, I think, the gap between wages on the one hand, and the price of food and fuel on the other, is going to be so great that a lot of people are going to have to find some way of feeding themselves other than going to work. Maybe not this year, but sooner than most people realize.
Here’s a very comprehensive article about the problems we’re seeing with the way captialism organizes food production. It also has some interesting information on the underground food movement. via Sideshow.
The Big Picture says Fed policies may be to blame for the food shortages we’re seeing around the world. I think this is what Spengler was referring to when he wrote that the U.S. is trying to inflate it’s way out of the economic crisis.
Joseph Stiglitz says the recession we’re in is going to end up being our worst since the 1930s.
And here’s an article on the collapse of capitalism I picked up from comments on the Feral Scholar post. I think the article runs the risk of making the collapse seem more certain and more imminent than it actually is. But I find it interesting that it echoes many of the themes from several posts I’ve linked to over the last couple of months:
Natasha at Pacific Views: Global Suicide Pact
Ian Welsh at FDL: The Age of Light
Peak Oil Crisis: Load Shedding . . . (peak oil, climate change, and instability); and
Food Shortages Everywhere . . .(food shortages, mass migrations, famine, and war)
Update: Fuel shortage in Great Britain threatens to become a crisis. This is at the top of Monkeyfister’s blog right now, but I’m adding the permalink for future reference.
Filed under: Human Rights, Iraq, music, Politics, war | Tags: Republican war on human decency
No Man’s Land, aka Green Fields of France.
Written by Eric Bogle. Performed by Dropkick Murphys.
Don’t Forget about that Responsible Plan to end the occupation of Iraq.
Here are some facts about the Iraq war I put togther a couple of weeks ago.
I’m rescuing this from comments to my post on the global food crisis with thanks to mdking for the links.
Youtube on the food crisis:
An easy (and fun! and educational!) way to contribute to efforts to feed people.
