If Voting Changed Anything, They Would Make It Illegal*

Litmus Test: If you find the claim made in this article-America's elections rigged-difficult to believe, then you have no idea how the world works; who controls the process; and just how unscrupulous, often lethally so, they are.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/To-The-American-Media-Tim-by-Jonathan-Simon-110408-959.html

*Emma Goldman

Oakland Teachers Shut Wells Fargo Branch

It's becoming increasingly obvious that teachers and their unions are leading the fight against draconian austerity measures. So I guess there is something to be gained from the imprimatur of establishment respectability and the undeserved legitimacy it confers after all...

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/05/18676405.php

Michigan Teachers Mull Strike

http://www.labornotes.org/2011/04/will-michigan-teachers-walk

Protesters spend night inside Washington state Capitol

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/04/06/1607333/protest-to-go-all-night-inside.html

The World Bank's War On Africa’s Family Farmers

Great article by Joan Baxter.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/72302

"Ohio bill would allow recall of governor, lawmakers"

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/07/ohio-bill-would-allow-recall-of-governor-lawmakers/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=78eaac6c66-4_7_114_7_2011&utm_medium=email

*THE UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT & THE WOMEN’S SOCIAL FORUM MARCH FOR TOILETS THIS FRIDAY*

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/72398

Texas Company Exploits Mentally Ill For Decades

Ain't Capitalism Grand?
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/06/2979831/texas-company-sued-for-abuse-of.html

How much longer?

The Ghosts Of Puppets Past

 Saddam's Ghost in Tripoli
by Gado















http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/72400

ABC Journalist Was FBI Informant

This story may not be entirely accurate. It paints the journalist as turning over his source to the FBI. I think it is more likely that he was the recipient. The Center for Public Integrity may have been snookered, or is misnamed.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/3112/

Ohio Sues Company To Which It Gave Charter School Contract

http://www.propublica.org/article/charter-schools-outsource-education-to-management-firms-with-mixed-result

Interview With The Great Arundhati Roy, Gotta Be Seen To Be Believed

It's all here in a nutshell. All of it! If there is anyone out there who still believes that the large, international media are the fourth estate; that they are independent of government or class loyalty; that they serve the interest of the public; that they try to convey the truth such as they understand it; then you need to see this video. As you do, please note how the loathsome interviewer, Sagarika Ghose, Senior Editor CNN-IBN, the military-industrial-media complex' woman in Delhi, tries to bait Roy with captious, facile, and tendentious questions. Please note further that at the end Ghose mischaracterizes Roy's answers in a dismissive, condescending tone intended to discredit. This is slander of an outspoken, uncowed activist undertaken by the media on behalf of its bourgeois patrons. Ghose makes no effort to conceal her hostility, nor does she ask a single question which might elicit an ingratiating response. Everything Ghose put to Roy was an attempt to get the latter to say something that could be used against her. What occurs in this interview has nothing to do with journalism. It is defamation directed against a woman who has become a thorn in the side of the ruling class. This is Macchiavellian! It is as close to good versus evil as one can come where human beings are concerned.

Fortunately, Ghose was in over her head in this case. It is clear to anybody with two IQ points to rub together that the interviewer was eclipsed in courage, intelligence, originality, and humanity.

Maine Legislature Considers Weakening Child Labor Laws

Excellent editorial with brief history of the subject.

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/dont-weaken-child-labor-laws_2011-04-01.html

Shocking Article About Multinational's Strategy To Deny Benefits To The Disabled In England

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24468

The Cult Of Capital

Capitalism depends upon apathy. The elite, its beneficiaries, must keep the masses, its victims, in the abeyance of indifference. That one should own the factory and be enriched by its revenues while the workers who create that wealth pass their lives in poverty and insecurity, is in conflict with the morality of a high percentage of the world's population. Consequently it is the task of the ruling class to inure its vassals to injustice to such a degree that they no longer recognize it, and accept it as natural or necessary or endemic when they do. Hence the most liberatory, redemptive thing we can do is to care about one another. It is the sina qua non of emancipation.

Here's a brilliant article which deals, as I read it, with this theme.

http://inteldaily.com/2011/04/financial-totalitarianism/#comment-14847

The International Banking System, Birthplace Of Poverty

"The Federal Reserve is committed not to the health and wealth of citizens, but to that of the international banking system. New information on lending programs reveals the depth to which this is true.

"Today we begin with the Rothschilds. The following is taken from a London letter, sent to the Rothschild's New York operators on commencing business in the U.S.:

"The few who can understand the system will be either so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while, on the other hand, that great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that Capital derives from the system, will bear its burden without complaint and, perhaps, without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."

Humanitarian Oil Concession

CIA-led Libyan rebels export oil.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-05/libya-rebels-ready-to-export-oil-as-qaddafi-forces-advance.html

Yemen's Saleh Killing Civilians, Why No Humanitarian Intervention Here?

"Saleh has clung to power, saying Yemen will sink into chaos if he goes."

Well, at least he has a sense of humor.

http://www.13wham.com/news/world/story/Yemen-opposition-appeals-for-international-help/-mT-4_BPS0izUGCH-rBuzg.cspx?rss=105

General Strike In Daraa, Syria

"the residents of Daraa want more than a switch in governor".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110405/wl_mideast_afp/syriapoliticsunrestdaraa

Bahrain firms fire hundreds of strikers in crackdown

"It's illegal in Bahrain and anywhere else in the world to just strike. You have to give two weeks' notice to your employer," said one executive who did not wish to be named...Bahrain has increased its arrests of bloggers, activists and Shi'ites, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing since last month's crackdown on the pro-democracy protests."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/bahrain-idUSLDE7340DA20110405?rpc=401

The West-backed elBaradei Launches His Presidential Campaign In Egypt

Shameless, spurious pandering to the legitimate anti-Zionist sentiment of Egyptian voters. If he gets elected, one can be sure that he will quickly find an excuse to renege on this promise to confront the Israelis in Gaza.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/207810

How Powerful Is The Zionist Lobby?

They've managed to convince Goldstone to retract his report of several hundred pages. What a humiliation for him! He now has to claim, or admit depending how one looks at it, that he's an absolute idiot.
http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=03c5e15a2152f210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

Counterrevolution Continues In Egypt

http://www.afrol.com/articles/37624

Zambia's Chinese-owned copper plant workers strike

Communism Chinese style!
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE72O0BO20110325

Condom Recycling

Poverty is not an accident, or irremediable inherent condition, or a necessary evil (as the evil say), or unfortunate unintended consequence of technological progress, it is a policy. It is the contrivance of the international plutocracy who, through the debt-based monetary system, ensure their perpetuation as an elite and our eternal servitude to them by creating a scarcity of money. One of the many horrendous effects of this criminality is the inability of third-world nations to halt the spread of preventable diseases.

Capitalism, ladies and gentlemen, has got to go.

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92309

A statement from the Revolutionary Socialists of Egypt on foreign intervention in Libya issued on the 20 March 2011.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24398

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Sociopath

What is so striking about Brzezinski is his candor. There's not even a wisp of prevarication in anything this "moderate" says. He makes it plain: The US has commercial interests in the region and it should do whatever it must to retain control thereover. There is no talk of supporting the Libyan rebels because their cause is just, nothing so quaint or prosaic as that, only the sang-froid of self-interested calculation. One would think he would at least pretend to have a conscience, but no!

Anarchism, Political Violence, And The London "March For The Alternative"

http://countercurrents.org/fryett030411.htm

Top Lies, Distortions, Prevarications, Obfuscations, Obviations etc Of The War On Libya (thus far)

In no particular order

1, It's a "no-fly zone."
   It's an airborne assault which has targeted tanks, schools, hospitals, broadcast facilities. It is an air campaign like any other--savage.

Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald Brags About Busting Unions

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/29/wisconsin-gop-senator-boasts-we-have-broken-the-power-of-unions/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=d552486361-3_30_113_30_2011&utm_medium=email

Potential For Referendum In Ohio To Overturn Union-busting Bill

"It bases raises on management-controlled performance measures, not seniority, prevents public workers from striking, mandates much higher health costs for workers, and allows a decertification vote if 30 percent of members sign a petition. Contracts can be declared null and void if a town or school district declares financial emergency.”
http://www.labornotes.org/2011/03/ohioans-can-overturn-anti-labor-bill-through-referendum%E2%80%94again

Republican Tom Marino (PA) Has A Question For The President About His Libya Policy

"Marino asked.... 'Where does it stop?' he said. 'Do we go into Africa next?' I don't want to sound callous or cold, but this could go on indefinitely around the world."

Not to worry Congressman, you don't sound "callous," just stupid.

Quote O' The Day, 4/2/11

The truth shall set you free, but first it's gonna really piss you off.
Dylan Ratigan

Union-Busting Bill Passes House In New Hampshire As Thousands Protest

"Today, the New Hampshire House will vote on a budget so heartless in its approach to the poor, the disabled and the mentally ill as to be immoral. Should it become law, New Hampshire will be a different state, one that under the guise of "personal responsibility" replaces the social compact with the survival of the fittest."
[http://www.concordmonitor.com/print/248603]

The Committee meeting became a bit contentious:

A Light To The Nations

Why is their political strife in Palestine? Because Palestinians are xenophobes!

You just can't make this shit up.

First law of propaganda: Assert the opposite. Warning: Even as Zionazis go, David Horowitz is particularly vile. I felt as though I needed a shower after listening to this.

And to think, he used to be a left-wing radical. One can only marvel at the reversal...and wonder whose interests he served in those days.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/david-horowitz-spreading-kosher-hatred-brooklyn-college.html

Egypt, The Empire Strikes Back

Strikes and protests to become illegal and female activists given "virginity tests."

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/126329/20110324/egypt-protest-mubarak-army-gag-media-ban-protest-strike-criminalize-military-generals-emergency.htm

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/03/egypt-military-forced-captured-female-protesters-into-taking-virginity-tests.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BabylonBeyond+%28Babylon+%26+Beyond+Blog%29

New Wrinkle In The Foreclosuregate Scandal

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/we-can-track-widespread-insurance-fra

Brits Revoke Scholarships Of Bahrainis Who Took Part In Protests Against The Bahraini Regime

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24391

Humanitarian Intervention?

Libyan rebels establish new central bank and national oil company.
http://inteldaily.com/2011/03/wow-that-was-fast-libyan-rebels-have-already-established-a-new-central-bank-of-libya/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inteldaily%2Ffeeds+%28Inteldaily.com%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12875810

Public Transit Workers In Egypt Establish Independent Union

http://libcom.org/news/egypt-public-transport-workers-establish-independent-union-25032011

Statement Against Intervention From Libyan Anarchist

http://libcom.org/library/signs-defeat-libyan-revolution

(Photo unrelated to article)

Union Activist Professor Loses Academic Freedom Case

http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/23/ruling-against-free-speech

George Calloway, Telling It Like It Is

News Porn, Cruise Missiles And Cleavage

http://www.countercurrents.org/fryett220311.htm

The Republicans Don't Want To Outlaw Poverty, Just The Poor

You can't make this shit up:
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/3/15/minnesota-republicans-say-poor-people-money-should-be-outlaws

The Struggle In Poland

Polish nurses occupy gallery in the Sejm (legislature) and housing activists crash the Warsaw City Council meeting:
http://libcom.org/news/warsaw-nurses-occupy-sejm-tenants-disrupt-city-council-18032011

The Council action, organized by the Polish anarchist organization ZSP, was provoked in part by the murder/immolation of housing activist Jolanta Brzeska, which some suspect was an act of state terror:
http://www.zsp.net.pl/jola_en

Superb Interview With Syrian Anarchist About Middle East

Many still see Gadaffi as a socialist and an anti-imperialist... is this true?

This is a very misleading and deluded statement, created by the authoritarian left before and still alive now. And this is due, partly, to the revival of this authoritarian left by figures like Chávez.

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/18923

What's At Stake With Education Cuts: "In Milwaukee We Are Third World."

The palliative lie we've been fed by our overlords in this latest round of class war is that the economic collapse was organic, and the merciless budget cuts and other austerity measures are the unfortunate but necessary consequence. Wrong on both counts, of course, but how frustrating a thing it is to try to convince people of this obvious truth. The essential bit of state mischief which holds us back is the canard that the government can be trusted, and acts in the best interest of the people. And whenever it fails it is because of incompetence or adverse circumstance. The basic fact of our existence--that we are divided into classes whose interests are irreconcilably antithetical--is absurdly difficult to demonstrate to the average American. Simply trying to present the facts is futile when the they are denied by government, ignored or obstructed by media, and marginalized to the point of fetish by the anodyne mythologies presented as history in schools. In my case, I regret to say, I've more often succeeded in making myself quite unpopular than in liberating people from their state-sponsored delusions. A few victories, but many more defeats...so far.

So why is it that people find it so hard to believe that what is happening is what was intended? It starts in the education system, where we are taught what for the ruling class are indispensable fictions: The US is a democracy; its government is altruistic; it is spreading democracy around the globe through a benevolent foreign policy; it is keeping us safe in a dangerous world from those who would do us great harm. Starting at the tender age of six, American children are taught to be credulous and compliant, and, most importantly, docile.

George Carlin agrees. Wisconsin teachers and students are interviewed in the second video. I found it quite affecting. Both videos are.

Teachers At 63 UK Universities Set Strike Dates

http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5371

"Tear gas, buckshot, and petrol bombs" Used Against Protesters In Bahrain

An Evaluation Of Moammar Gaddafi

I wrote this: http://countercurrents.org/fryett150311.htm. The best part, I must admit, is a reader's comment at the bottom which insists that I am a Libyan insider. The poor man! I've been laughing about this for a day now.

Should I add my own comment and divulge that I am but a humble trolley driver in Seattle? Naaaaaaaah! Who knows, this could work out for me. I could write a memoir about my maverick days in the Brother-leader's inner circle. Better yet, it could be an anonymous tell-all: Moammar and Me, as told to Judith "the Germ" Miller, formerly of the New York Times. (She'd be necessary as she could "independently corroborate" that I am a top dog in the Libyan government.) Soon to be a major motion picture starring...Charlton Heston, back from the afterlife for the role of a deathtime. Co-starring Yulia Tymoshenko as his Ukrainian "nurse" and the Rat City Rollergirls (http://ratcityrollergirls.com/)" as his Amazonian bodyguard...

You will have to indulge me, I've never been this important before, nor this mysterious...shaken, not stirred.

"A caravan of Teamster trucks circled the Indiana State House."

http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/14/indiana-labor-pushes-back

http://peoplesworld.org/video-union-power-erupts-in-indiana/

Indy Rally March 10-2011 from Scott Marshall on Vimeo.

Bahrainis Resisting American Interference

Message from the Bahrain Freedom Movement:
http://www.countercurrents.org/bfm140311.htm

The Struggle In Michigan (You Gotta Read This )

What the hell is happening in the Midwest!

Michael Moore: "* Gotten the House and Senate to pass bills giving him "Emergency Management" powers such as the ability to appoint a corporation or a CEO who could literally dissolve town governments or school boards, fire the elected officials, nullify any local law and run your local governmental entity. That company then would have the power to immediately declare all collective bargaining contracts null and void."

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-My-Fellow-Michig-by-Michael-Moore-110315-471.html

"This is England,"* 5K March On Liberal Democratic Party Conference In Sheffield

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24192

* Title of Clash song, lyrics by the late, great Joe Strummer:



This is England
This knife of Sheffield steel
This is England
This is how we feel

Time on his hands freezing in those clothes
He won't go for the carrot
They beat him by the pole
Some sunny day confronted by his soul
He's out at sea, too far off, he can't go home

This is England
What we're supposed to die for
This is England
And we're never gonna cry no more

Black shadow of the Vincent
Falls on a Triumph line
I got my motorcycle jacket
But I'm walking all the time
South Atlantic wind blows
Ice from a dying creed
I see no glory
When will we be free

A Call For A General Strike From Wisconsin

http://pstransitoperators.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/wisconsin-labor-leaders-call-for-general-strike/

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/03/10/18674289.php

Brilliant Articles About Egypt

I yield the floor to the great Mary Lynn Cramer:
http://www.countercurrents.org/cramer110311.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/cramer02252011.html
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62260.shtml

Students In Boise Walk Out In Protest Of Budget Cuts

http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2011/02/28/borah-students-walk-out

The War On Social Security

http://www.peoplesworld.org/gop-budget-would-close-social-security-office/

University Lectures In UK Vote For Strikes In Protest Of Austerity Measures

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24102

Libya After Gaddafi, A "People's Capture" Of History?

http://countercurrents.org/fryett030311.htm

[Blogger's note: I've been writing for Countercurrents.org much longer than I've been blogging. Out of gratitude and respect for that website, and as the editor, Binu Matthews, has allowed me to write whatever I've wanted about whatever I've wanted, I will not post here what I post there, hence the link.]

Great Analysis Of Events In Libya

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375

It Isn't Just About Collective Bargaining For Republicans

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_ea754cc2-438e-11e0-819e-001cc4c002e0.html

Great, Uplifting Article About Madison

Thanks Leia:
http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/01/justice-is-in-the-air

Why Can't The US Make Up Its Mind About Gaddafi

There are two schools of thought:

1, The US and its allies have wanted to oust Gaddafi all along and have initiated the turmoil in Libya, or, at the very least, is pleased and hopes to capitalize on it.

2, The US is terrified by the prospect of Gaddafi's fall and is inveigling to control the aftermath.

I yield the floor to Hillary Clinton:
"I am very pleased to welcome Minister Qadhafi [ son of Moammar ] here to the State Department. We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya. We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation. And I’m very much looking forward to building on this relationship. So, Mr. Minister, welcome so much here." April, 2009

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/04/121993.htm

Egypt Has A Message For Madison

This note was read aloud in over the "people's mic" in the Capitol building in Madison:

To our friends in Madison, Wisconsin: We wish you could see firsthand the change we have made here. Justice is beautiful, but justice is never free. The beauty in Tahrir Square you can have everywhere, on any corner, in your city, or in your heart.

So hold on tightly and don't let go, and breathe deep Wisconsin! Our good fortune is on the breeze, in the Midwest AND in the Middle East. Breathe deep, Wisconsin...because justice is in the air! And may the spirit of Tahrir Square be in every beating heart in Madison today.

WorldCantWait 's Philadelphia March In Support Of Planned Parenthood

CNN's War

"Do you want him dead?" This was the last query Ze'ev Barak, better known to viewers of cable news broadcaster CNN as Wolf Blitzer, demanded of his guest Muhammed Shalgan, former Libyan Foreign Minister. The deepening coarseness of the reportage one hears from CNN and the rest of the media wolfpack is a measure of how alarmed the Lords of Capital are with the groundswell of rebellion sweeping across the Maghreb. There are revolts all over the Islamic world, but it is upon oil-laden Libya and its embattled "Brother-leader", Colonel Moammar Gaddafi, that the media has compressed the world's attention.

As with Tunisia and Egypt, the anti-imperialist, anti-neoliberal ethos of the protests are being camouflaged and the uprisings attributed to the smug indifference and craven corruption of the head of state. What makes this revolution different is the dictator in question is seen as an enemy of the West. The media slant, accordingly, has been merciless from the start.

The rats are abandoning Libya's sinking ship of state to appear in broadcast studios. The very same functionaries who administered Gaddafi's oil fiefdom, like Shalgan, are now renouncing their lucrative sinecures to condemn the man who elevated them to wealth, power, and international prestige. In addition to the usual harangues against Gaddafi--megalomaniac, authoritarian, sponsor of terror, martinet-- we now hear junkie, freak, senile. Most scandalous of all, we are informed that he consorts with a woman who is (brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen) Ukrainian! A non-white man and a fair-haired, fair-skinned girl from the home continent of the fair-gened? Jim Crow has found a home in the Twenty-first Century, and it is CNN.

In a moment when all pretense to journalistic objectivity and integrity were left behind like a lame camel, and the subinfeudation of media to ruling class interests was laid bare, CNN confided that they had "reports" that Gaddafi was headed to Venezuela. Both nations denied the story and Venezuela, through its state radio, issued unequivocal support for the insurgents. Yet CNN continued to broadcast this absurdity saying that their "sources" were from high inside the Gaddafi government. The attempt to link the maverick statesmen and portray the Bolivarian republic as a haven for state criminals splices most conveniently two veins of imperial censure. The better informed will observe that the premise is also specious as both Gaddafi and Chavez have an all-too-cozy relationship with international finance capital.

Reporters were there to greet the ferry carrying American evacuees from Tripoli as it docked in Valletta, Malta. They tried valiantly to dramatize the event, but the banality of bored, luggage-toting travelers trying to find their way proved too great an obstacle even for CNN's accomplished infotainers. They did manage to bring two young women before their cameras. They did not tell their viewers that Yusra Tekbali, an American of Libyan descent, was a journalist who had written for, among others, CNN. In fact, this bit of essential information was recorded on tape but was edited from the version which aired. The wordsmith-cum-evacuee trained her eyes on the camera as she described a rapidly deteriorating environment: "Libyans have always known what this regime is capable of, now for the first time the world is seeing it." Ms. Tekbali was followed by Joan Polaschik, Charge d'affaires from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. She testified to "very serious gunfire" and a "fluid and dangerous situation". "We were lucky to get out" she added.

I leave it to you, dear reader, to divine what, if anything, it suggests that the only two people to get off that ferry and be interviewed on camera were a journalist and a diplomat, a CNN contributor and an employee of the U.S. government, both of whom were quite comfortable in the role. In any case, no American has been injured during the revolution.

In an interview with the Islamphobe Pete Hoekstra, the former ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Wolf Blitzer called for the Libyan leader's murder: "Couldn't we assassinate him with a drone or something like that before he kills thousands of people?" A noble thought perhaps, but the former AIPACer has never issued a fatwa against any Israeli leader despite the countless thousands of Palestinians who have been killed by Zion. It must be confusing being binational. Whatever his motive, it is clear that he has no regard for journalism or justice, nor do his employers who seem undisturbed by their host's dystopian cry for extrajudicial blood.

Between segments detailing Gaddafi's nefarious history, CNN's viewers have been treated to reports suggesting that the revolution in Libya is going to cost Americans a lot of money. Gas may reach $5/gallon if it goes on much longer, we are told. Prices of foodstuffs and other essential commodities are going to skyrocket as the cost of transport will increase with the price of a barrel of oil. And there are mysterious "reports" that Gaddafi plans to set his oil wells ablaze as Saddam Hussein did in Kuwait. The implication is one of dire consequences if a "humanitarian intervention", as Blitzer termed it, does not occur soon.

In recent years, and perhaps for quite longer, Gaddafi has shamelessly done the bidding of Western imperial interests, enriching himself drinking from their trough in the process. His posturings to the contrary are nothing more than empty words. Capital doesn't want to remove him, not now that he conforms to their wishes, but as in Tunisia and Egypt, the people are interfering with their plans. The efforts of the oligarchy to quell the burgeoning discontent, thus far, have been ineffective. Imagine the fear as control slips from their hands, as the institutions of oppression in which they have straight-jacketed the working people of the world now crumble before their eyes. Their man in Tripoli falters, barely holds on. The old lies are not working anymore, the old admonitions fall on deaf ears. The ploy of fomenting internecine conflict likewise surrenders to the fellowship of shared subjugation, of common cause and conviction. The servants have overcome their ancient prejudices and now focus their anger on their masters. That which enriched the few has galvanized the many. They now choke the streets with their indignation and roil the sweet desert air with their demands. The palaver of the empire's advocates rings shrill and desperate, and is quickly overwhelmed by the clamor rising from the multitudes. Imagine the anxiety as our overlords look down from their commanding heights, down across the Mediterranean and see the rebel campfires growing in number evening after evening, growing and growing, proliferating across the Maghreb and beyond, until their glow merges with the first rays of a new day.

The Struggle In Indiana

http://www.peoplesworld.org/right-now-1000-workers-sit-in-and-block-indiana-state-senate/

The Struggle In Montana

http://www.peoplesworld.org/montanans-protest-republican-assault-on-working-families-environment/

Wisconsin Update

General strike planned if union-busting bill passes:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_64c8d7a8-3e8c-11e0-9911-001cc4c002e0.html

Transcript of Governor Walker's phone call with blogger impersonating David Koch. When asked about the prank at a press conference, he said that he routinely takes lots of phone calls. This absurd lie reveals the extent to which Wisconsin, like all the other states, is controlled by capital.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/article_531276b6-3f6a-11e0-b288-001cc4c002e0.html

Wi-Fi access to opposition websites blocked at Wisconsin's Capitol
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/22/wisconsin-capitol-blocks-pro-union-website/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=7fd5487b1a-2_23_112_23_2011&utm_medium=email

Opposition Leader's Rebuttal To Governor Walker

Wisconsin Protest Slideshow

Voices Of Wisconsin

The Great Tariq Ali On Egypt, Suleiman, And Modern Arab History

Fox News Reverses Poll Results

The first rule of propaganda: Assert the opposite.

From Cairo To Madison

First the Middle East, now the Midwest? The imposition of austerity measures on public-sector employees has loosed a wave of resistance now cascading across the nation's heartland. Wisconsin's ambitious governor, Scott Walker, is championing a bill which would strip public workers (save the police and fire unions, which supported his campaign) of the right to collective bargaining. Without this right, unions would cease to exist in any meaningful way.

Federal public employees won the right to organize with the Lloyd-LaFollette Act of 1912. President T. Roosevelt placed a gag order on postal workers which prohibited any communication with Congress. The latter, then brimming with progressive spirits, most notably Robert "Fighting Bob" la Follette, Sr. (of Wisconsin), passed the pro-union legislation in response.



Private-sector employees won the right of collective bargaining in 1935 when FDR signed the National Labor Relations Act (aka Wagner Act). However this legislation made it clear that such rights did not extend to employees of the federal government. That right was won in 1962 when JFK issued Executive Order 10,988 thereby extending to federal employees the same rights as private-sector employees.

While it is impossible to predict how the standoff between the public-sector employees and the government will end, so far it appears that the Republican Governor has his work cut out for him. Some of Wisconsin's Democratic legislators have left the state thereby denying a quorum and effectively blocking passage of the union-busting bill. Protesters, including representatives of the same police and fire unions which supported Walker's gubernatorial candidacy, have occupied the statehouse attracting a good deal of national and international media attention. Worse still for the embattled governor, the revolt is spreading to other states. Indiana Democrats, taking a page from the Wisconsin playbook, have fled their state thus making the passage of similar legislation impossible in that state. In Ohio, demonstrators marched on the statehouse in Columbus and tried to occupy it but were prevented by the authorities. Smaller protests are happening in other capitals around the country.



What we see unfolding before our eyes is aggressive class war waged by an agent of the plutocracy, and a groundswell of burgeoning popular opposition. Walker has the usual allies at his side. The media, which is owned by the ruling class in the same way that you own the socks you are wearing, has been bending over backwards to be "fair" in its reporting of the conflict. The major cable news programs have given equal time to anti- and pro-Walker factions. Commendable except when one considers that the opposition outnumbers supporters of this bill at a ratio of about twenty to one. One would get a very different impression watching CNN or MSNBC. As one protester was complaining about exactly how much money she would lose per month if the bill were enacted, across the crawler at the bottom of the screen came "protesters compare Governor Walker to Adolf Hitler." Indulging the absurd for a moment, even if somebody did make such a comparison, and further that said person wasn't a plant of some kind sent to discredit the protesters, one can only wonder as to relevance. Does the public-employee worker's case have less validity because some unidentified person made an attenuated analogy?

Walker has let the genie out of the bottle. It remains to be seen whether the ruling class can contain the rebellion they have precipitated with their remorseless war on working-class families. As I write the revolt that began in Wisconsin is spreading across the Midwest and beyond. Expressions of solidarity are rolling in from all over the globe. Some of the protesters in Madison have cited the revolt in Egypt as inspiration, and from Liberation Square the favor is returned:

"We Stand With You as You Stood With Us": Statement to Workers of Wisconsin by Kamal Abbas of Egypt's Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services.

Anarchism In Chicago

The Balm Of Hope

"How beautiful the revolution. Even in its most barbarous aspects it is beautiful." Mariano Azuela

Counterrevolution 101

CNN's headline: "EGYPT IS FREE, MILITARY IN CHARGE."

The counterrevolution has begun. The carefully stage-managed anti-Mubarak palliative has reached its climax and is quickly declining into denoument. American media are describing the transfer of power to the Army as a "people-power revolution." Major broadcast media are in agreement, "now that the revolution is over," it's time for the military to step in and "restore order." Democracy has been won, the Army is in charge. Long live the Army! It's time for the demonstrators to return to their two-dollars-a-day misery.

The masters of criminal statecraft know how to do counterrevolution. It's essential for their survival. First, they have their marketing wing, the mass media, define the goals of popular uprisings in such a narrow way as to make them compatible with their commercial interests. This was done quite successfully vis-a-vis Tunisia and Egypt as viewers of cable news broadcasts, where most get their information, heard that these rebellions were prompted by the corruption of the respective ruling families. These men, Ben Ali and Mubarak, are expendable. They were highly paid CEO's who will continue to be well compensated for their service to capital as they live out their days enjoying the largesse of their corporate patrons. Identifying them as the problem makes their removal the solution. As Orwell wrote: "People believe what they are told that they believe." Keep telling the people in the streets ( and watching around the world ) that what they will be satisfied by Mubarak's ouster, maybe they will believe it.

From the moment Obama announced that he supported the demonstrators, his media assets began to describe Mubarak as a tyrant. Not a single "analyst" or think tank "expert" deviated from the script. For twenty-four hours a day we heard nothing but criticism. However well deserved it was, the demonization of the reigning factotum focused attention on him and his recalcitrance. The rebellion became a personal narrative, the Hosni Mubarak saga.

CNN reported that the "anti-terror" squad of the U.S. Marine Corps had arrived at the embassy in Cairo and the following day the pro-Mubarak forces emerge. From the minute they appear they are described as "hired thugs" and "goons." In an astonishing stroke of luck for American broadcasters, they seem to target English-speaking Egyptians. Many of whom would later appear adorned in bloody bandages to tell their tales for the benefit of Anglophone media.

We also received a report of pro-Mubarak forces "firing automatic weapons indiscriminately" into anti-Mubarak forces amassed in Liberation Square. MSNBC host, Tamara Hall, then added parenthetically that there was one fatality. These hired thugs are not good shots.

Most peculiar of all was the attack on CNN reporter Anderson Cooper. One would think that these pro-Mubarak goons would have been instructed to leave journalists alone for fear of a bad press. Yet they not only pummeled the celebrity broadcaster but did so on camera ( or rather, slightly off ). Cooper himself told us that he was punched in the head ten times. He was unmarked though. Mubarak's hooligan's are not very good punchers either.

Later that day Cooper broadcast from "a secret location." The battered reporter informed us that he had to keep the lights off for security's sake. He no doubt hoped we wouldn't notice that he was illuminated by flood lights. Apparently Mubarak's goons will not fire into hotel rooms from which live news feeds are being broadcast, even hired thugs have their etiquette.

Another curiosity is how pollsters managed their business in the middle of a revolution. In recent days "experts" from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Heritage foundation and other rightist think tanks have appeared on our television screens offering the results of "scientific" surveys. It is all the more remarkable when one considers that nearly ninety percent of Egyptians have no access to the internet, and more than half have no phones. How did they conduct these polls, and how accurate could they be? None of the "journalists" interviewing these experts saw fit to ask. The quoted numbers passed unchallenged.

Much of the spin seemed to involve Cooper. Launching the Pentagon's trial balloon, CNN's superstar reporter asked the shill Mohamed El Baradei, newly annointed by same as "the opposition leader," if he would consider running for President. "Only if it were a fair election" he replied, delivering his line with the required conviction. Who wishes to run for office as an opposition candidate in an unfair election one might wonder, but no matter, mission accomplished. The mere presence of the former IAEA chief as a candidate will now imbue that charade with undeserved authenticity.

The El Baradei psy-op came on the heels of the failed Omar "extraordinary rendition" Suleiman alleviant. It is he whom Those Who Own prefer to see enthroned. Suleiman is the Lavrenty Beria of modern Egypt. His appointment to the Vice Presidency by Mubarak, if indeed that decision was the dictator's, was doomed from the beginning. "I know [him]," former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, told Fox news. "He's a good man, a solid guy. He's an excellent choice to head up the new government." Unfortunately for Bolton and his bosses, the people of Egypt know Suleiman too. He is universally despised in his homeland. He is the COO of the world's most oppressive security state. It is under his direction that this ancient, sacred land was transformed into the world's torture facility. Whenever civil rights laws become a nuissance for security services around the world, they "render" their more troublesome cases over to Omar and his house of horrors on the Nile. Outsourced torture has become an Egyptian specialty, and Suleiman is hated for it.

Various organs of capital chipped in with timely contributions. The Director of the CIA, in the hours before Mubarak's speech, stated that there was a "strong likelihood" that the capital's puppet would step down. For America's head spook to issue such a statement is quite unusual, and a break with established procedure. The mystery deepened when Mubarak did not resign. Risibly, the egg-faced Director claimed that he had based his prognostication on media reports. The reason for this ruse may have been more than merely heightening the Mubarak drama, clearly he had some ulterior motive as his explanation is an obvious lie.

After Mubarak's departure, Switzerland, in a break with time-honored tradition and the letter of its own law, announced that Mubarak had 3.5 billion dollars in Swiss banks and that his accounts had been frozen. That nation's raison d'etre is to launder money. It exists to safeguard the profits and privacy of the world's criminal rich. Many a prosecution has been stymied by Swiss refusal to provide even the most basic information regarding deposits and depositors. That they were so forthcoming in this case speaks forcefully.

Next to certifying the Pentagon-brokered transfer of power from one military officer to another as a revolution, the biggest deception is the reporting we've been getting on the Egyptian Army. It was apparent that the directors of this made-for-TV melodrama intended that power should remain in the hands of the military. From the very beginning they were lauded. We have been treated to an endless stream of favorable images: soldiers sitting atop their tanks and hangin' with the protesters, soldiers thwarting pro-Mubarak violence, military brass honoring the fallen. We have been told that the institution in Egypt which the people respect most is their Army.

The Army has ruled Egypt since 1952. Since 1970, when Gamal Abdel Nasser died under mysterious circumstances and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, Egypt has followed the neoliberal path mandated by the forces which put the new head of state in office. From that day to this the efforts of the Egyptian people to free themselves from the ravages of free markets have been obstructed by the military. The army is the institution that has kept Mubarak in power. Egypt has been under martial law for thirty years, this is what has led to the unrest. The Army isn't the solution, it's the problem. For there to be a real revolution, it must be overthrown.

While the plutocrats seem thus far to have held the Egyptian rebellion in check, it has been at some cost. The vile, racist filth to which we are subjected in the West about Arab "backwardness" will henceforth be useless. Middle East "experts" will no longer be able to contend that Arab culture is "tribal," and "primitive," and "pre-Enlightenment," and that without the presence of U.S. military bases in those "unstable" lands the Arab savages would soon kill each other off in an orgy of sectarian violence.

Imperialist elements are already taking credit for the revolution. They claim it is a result of the [George W.] Bush Freedom Agenda; that the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein is what emboldened the Egyptian masses to revolt. Comical as it is, we'll be hearing it quite often in the next few years. This apparently will be the new canard for continued occupation.

The Owners of our imprisoned planet have selected General Muhamed Hussein Tantawi to be their new viceroy in Egypt. The task of this human prophylactic, much like Barack Obama's here in the U.S., is to create the chimera of change while seeing to it that none occurs. A lot of inspiring rhetoric will ensue; monuments will be built to the martyrs; the non-compliant will quietly disappear; some meaningless reforms will be enacted. The revolution will be foiled not by suppression, but by etiolation.

But yet there is something in the air these days. The contagion of hope is wafting out of Egypt and sweeping across land and sea. I had occasion to be in downtown Seattle this morning. There was an unmistakable feeling of victory. Everyone was talking about revolution. A locally famous beggar sported a flower in her hair, as I reached into my pocket for the usual contribution, I asked about it. "Egypt," she snarled, "of course." Later my girlfriend and I went to our favorite spot in Chinatown for dim sum. Our waitress, who struggles with English, asked me for the latest news from Cairo. "I happy for them. Next maybe Hu Jintao."

For those who work for justice, the people of Egypt have given us the thrill of a lifetime. It is not likely that the new government of Egypt will be much different from its predecessor, but that doesn't mean that the efforts of our Egyptian brothers and sisters have been in vain. The wretched of the Earth have seen what is possible. Power has been shown to be powerless in the face of determined mass opposition. And in every corner of our world the immiserated rejoice, because they know the day of liberation draws near.

Pyramid Envy

Don't know about you, but I got it real bad.


















Socialist Worker's Party's John Rees




Statement by Revolutionary Socialists of Egypt:
http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/1581

More strikes:
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=23875

Some background on the revolution:
http://libcom.org/news/roots-egyptian-revolutionary-moment-04022011

Call for help from Egyptian Anarchist:
http://libcom.org/library/egypt-unrest-interview-egyptian-anarchist

Statement Of The April 6th Movement In Egypt

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/579/statement-of-the-april-6-movement-regarding-the-demands-of-the-youth-and-the-refusal-to-negotiate-with-any-side

{On April 6th a large strike took place.)

Extraordinary Rumination On The Tunisian Revolution

Brilliant!
http://www.countercurrents.org/marrouchi020211.htm

Statement From Egypt's Socialists

http://socialistworker.org/2011/02/07/call-from-egyptian-socialists

Class War Alert: Inflation

When they allude to "money printing" in the video and "asset buying" they are referring to quantitative easing. It might be helpful to read my post on the subject:
http://saveourcola.blogspot.com/2010/10/quantitative-easing-and-what-it-means.html

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Media's Role In The Egyptian Rebellion

{Blogger's note: No time to write but here are my notes if anyone is interested.)





If it's true, as Frank Zappa insisted, that government is the entertainment wing of the military industrial complex, then media is its marketing apparatus. What we are seeing on cable news broadcast is a carefully staged passion play whose goal is to...

facts:

been going on for months, no coverage

mubarak's supporters fired shots indiscriminately into crowdbut only killed 1 person. these guys not very good shots

anderson 'vanderbilt' cooper punched ten times in head but unmarked- not good boxers either

"coop'" broadcasting from hotel room [apologizes for it] says been told to keep down and keep lights off. he says this with key and flood light trained on him.

john king says egyptians trust the army. army is the fulcrum of the protests. mubarak is the army. incredible lie! even if king is ignorant and utterly vapid, he has research people who could tell him how ridiculous that is. he was ordered to make this point ands he did. and in preparation for a possible military clampdown. media saying army acting as 'peacemakers.'

american woman tourist played on loop saying they cant get out. planes arrive to take them out but who got off those planes in cairo?

prez barak obusha finally says he supports rebels

american 'antiterror' Marines arrive, violence/terror ensues the next morning

pro-mubarak people immediately described as goons, thugs, paid provocateuers. no doubt they r, but r working for washington and were probably trained by people from the school of the americas etc.

el baradei described as 'opposition leader' then 'the opposition leader.' nobody save perhaps the WAFD accepts him. nobody gets to head IAEA if he's not kosher to capital. muslim brotherhood, the communists, and tarammu [labor party] hate him.

launching the pentagon's trial balloon, vanderbilt asks him if he'd consider running for prez. he says only if it were a fair election. who wants to run as an opposition candidate in an unfair election? this was obviously scripted

mubarak's speech a fraud, he knows he's going but washington hopes that if mubarak resists the protesters might b sated when mubarak does go. there's a chance in a trilion that mubarak is resisting...

nile tv broadcaster interviewed after she allegedly resigns in protest of 'intimidation.' her picture is posted on screen, she's strikingly, exquisitely beautiful--straight from central casting.

news a political product.

meanwhile, tunisian rev being subverted out of public focus.

wikileaks says washington acting clandestinely with opposition groups for years to bring down mubarak. this or king's lie the biggest.


new contender for biggest lie: from fox news, john bolton, responding to question about whether egyptian people will accept veep sulaiman if mu' steps down, 'we donno know really know what the egyptians want, we dont have sufficient polling data.'
dont know what egyptians want?????????????????? a million people gather to ask for regime change and bolton says...

cnn ticker rep0orts 2000 americans have 'fled' egypt. then, a minute later, the ticker says 'americans being beaten in streets of cairo.' heavy spin mode in preparation for possible american intervention.

sulaiman top guy in egyptian espionage underworld. he ran the extraordinary rendition program with torturers reporting directly to him, and he reported directly to washington.

msnbc's 'the ed show' reports white house in negotiations to get rid of mu' and replace him with torturer sulaiman. [story about sulaiman:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/30-2]

War On Labor And Other Activists

http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/25/dont-let-them-intimidate-activists

Please consider signing the petition:
http://www.stopfbi.net/petition

Blogger's Note

re The Revolution In Tunisia: Nawaat means 'the core.' [ Thx Sam ]

Tunisia

If you are interested in the revolution in Tunisia you must read this:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article168224.html

The Revolution In Tunisia ( part two )

To illustrate how universal the hostility to the so-called unity government is, here's an article from Khalil Amiri, London investment banker. Below it is his bio from the "about" section of his blog:
http://cafesocialist.wordpress.com/

About

Khalil Amiri is a financial strategist in Capital markets in London. He is a former assistant professor of Computer Science at Imperial College and worked as a researcher at IBM (NY) and HP Laboratories (CA). He holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. He likes to debate and write on politics, economics and technology, especially as they relate to Tunisia. He is a firm believer in free markets and in the value of and need for rewarding individual enterprise. But he is also an advocate of the essential role that governments ought to play in social support programs, education and healthcare to all citizens. He has therefore been branded by friends as a “cafe socialist”, as they claim he espouses “socialist” values in over-coffee debates while working in investment banking during the day. While he thinks this criticism is unfounded and unfair (wa saoufa you7asaboun, bikolli 7azm), he paid tribute to their wittiness by naming the blog after it.

The Revolution In Tunisia

Here's a great article from a great website:
http://nawaat.org/portail/2011/01/23/tunisias-transitional-government-a-page-from-the-ben-ali-playbook/

[Unfortunately most of the material at Nawaat is in French, a language I can read fairly well but in which I lack fluency. If anybody can translate something from that website ( or any other for that matter ) I will be only too happy to post it here. Also, if anybody can translate "nawaat" from the Arabic for me I'd be grateful.]

Thus far I've been watching the rebellion in Tunisia with guarded optimism. Quite often these uprisings are the work of misanthopes at the IMF or World Bank who wish to dislodge a government because they disapprove of its policies, or they wish to gain control over some industry or resource. If this is the case, then it's much more likely the latter as the deposed lackey, Ben Ali, was most amenable to the merciless "free market" policies crafted by the international banking mafia. However, if there is something in Tunisia which the Lords of Capital covet, I have been unable to identify it. I've scoured the trade/industry sites for any mention of Tunisia and have found none. As far as I can tell, the revolt is autochthonous, that is to say a genuine, uncontrived, uninduced event. But whether it is autochthonous or the predatory machinations of capital, The people of Tunisia are winning, and that's worth celebrating.

Please do not believe what you are reading/hearing in the Western press. Here's a handful of their lies:

First, they are trying to convince the public that it was a release by Wikileaks that caused the rebellion, this despite the fact that it was over a month old before the "leak." In fact, the leak occurred two days after Ben Ali fled the country. This is a fairly desperate attempt at damage control.

Second, our media is telling us that the opposition leader, Moncef Marzouki, is a popular figure among Tunisians whom they wish to head the new government. CNN ( CEE No News ) aired video of Marzouki landing in Tunis and being mobbed by the adoring crowd. When one reads the Tunisian press one gets a very different picture. Here's a video ( scroll down ) in which Marzouki tries to participate in a street demonstration and is attacked by by-standers. I don't know what's being said as the exchange is in Arabic ( presumably ), but the caption says that he was subjected to insults and accused of being an agent of the West:
http://24sur24.posterous.com/tag/sidibouzid

Third, we are told that the people of Tunisia support the so-called unity government. It is difficult to find any support, even mainstream, for this idea. Everybody in Tunisia is calling for an entirely new government. In fact, not only are most opposed to the "unity" government, many are calling for these hangers-on from the Ben Ali Regime to be prosecuted. Here's an excellent article typical of what one finds perusing the local press. It's in French, the title says something like "RCD ( Ben Ali's ruling party ) out? All the parties have to go!" This one is more radical than most, but the contempt for the unity idea is representative:
http://nawaat.org/portail/2011/01/26/rcd-degage-tous-les-partis-politiques-degagent/

Fourth, our subverted media is insisting that the rebellion is subsiding. It's escalating. The largest union in Tunisia has called for a new round of strikes and the number of demonstrators clogging city streets is increasing now that the police have been thoroughly tamed.

I would love to tell you that the revolution in Tunisia is an anti-capitalist one, but it doesn't appear that a majority of the populace yet see the need for direct democratic control over those institutions which affect their lives. I'm not optimistic that that will change. Nevertheless, the people have rid themselves of the wretched, soulless little man who betrayed them to capital, and now have their oppressors running scared. So I say vive la revolution! Le pouvoir au peuple Tunisien!

Class War Alert: Demonization Of Public Employees In New York Continues

In the city where the economic collapse of '08 was planned and executed, there the richest denizens, the titans of capital, are demanding that public sector employees take cuts in pay and benefits. It is the exorbitant wages earned by those at the bottom of Gotham's income spectrum, such billionaires as media mogul Mort Zuckerman insist, that are bankrupting the city and state of New York and inhibiting an economic recovery.

Creating animosity within the working class, in this case between public and private employees, is an old strategy. It goes back at least as far as the Roman Republic and the Gracchus family, probably much farther than that.

Ask the average working-class American if he supports free enterprise and he will most likely affirm. Ask the same person how he feels about Wall Street and you might hear invective. Would that I could live long enough to see the day when people figure out that they are the same thing.

http://socialistworker.org/2011/01/24/billionaires-for-the-working-man

The Struggle Against Austerity Measures In New York

Labor Notes editor Mark Brenner interviewed on WBAI ( major progressive radio station on the East Coast ).

Worldwide State Terror Against Labor Continues

Please consider signing the petition.
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=846

The Grand Deception ( part six ), Matter And Anti-matter

MBS were thousands of loans cobbled together and sold as bonds, collateralized debt obligations ( CDO ) are bundles of MBS, or bundles of tranches of MBS.

A CDO might sound like a loan secured by some type of collateral, it's nothing of the kind. When the housing market could no longer keep up with Wall Street's demand for MBS to sell, the investment banks began to combine tranches from multiple MBS, usually the most risky, and sell them as bonds. The marketing angle was that while each piece of the CDO was high risk, together they would be less precarious as it would be considerably less likely that they would all default. What this did for the banks, beyond giving them new product, was to enable them to take the lower-rated tranches of MBS and raise their rating. This made them easier to sell ( or so the argument goes, more on this later ) as most bond buyers avoid junk. These CDO followed they same tranching and redemption regime as the underlying MBS.

So mortgage lenders made loans; sold them to Wall Street; the banks bundled them into bonds and then when demand outstripped supply, they repacked and repackaged and repackaged. Inevitably, some market speculators began to understand that these mortgages upon which the new business model was based were not likely to be repaid, and they began to look for ways to short the housing market. Fortunately for them, our friends at Goldman Sachs had invented something called a credit default swap. A CDS is an insurance policy on an investment. Even more fortuitously for prospective shorters, JPMC went one step further and invented the naked credit default swaps. This enabled speculators to buy insurance policies on investments in which they played no part. With a NCDS, one didn't have to own the CDO to buy a policy against it. A NCDS is simply a wager on whether a bond will be redeemable.

Like any insurance policy, one has to pay a premium. For speculators shorting CDO, timing is especially important. Say you have a ten million dollar policy against a CDO default, and that your premiums are a million per year, if the CDO busts a year after you bought the policy, then you made nine million: you paid one year's premium ( a million dollars ) and got ten million from your policy. If the collapse happens two years after you took out the insurance policy, then you make only eight million, and so on.

So why were the investment banks so keen to get repackage tranches of MBS to get better ratings? There are bond buyers who prefer non-AAA rated bonds due to their higher yield, it should make no difference to the bank as they make as much from the sale of BBB as AAA bonds. What I can allege and what I can prove are different things, but here are some factors to consider:
While riskier bonds have better yields and may be a better investment, if one is considering shorting them then lower-rated bonds present the thorny problem of higher premiums. Obviously, it costs more to insure high-risk bonds. Using the example above, if the ten million dollar policy has yearly premiums of 1.5 or two million dollars, the NCDS is considerably less profitable.

So why would the banks care about this as they only sell the CDS and are not themselves at risk? The answer is proprietary trading. Banks not only buy and sell financial instruments on behalf of their clients, they can, within certain ( woefully insufficient ) limits, engage in investing themselves. Indeed, the larger banks and the hedge funds they own are the largest investors of all. JPMC and Goldman Sachs, the largest brokers of MBS and CDO, were also the largest buyers of CDS. While they were selling CDO and MBS to their clients who would later sue them, they were buying insurance policies against those same investments. Yes, that's right, they were creating financial vehicles, telling their customers that they were worthwhile investments, and then placing bets with their own money that these bonds would go belly-up.

If you are starting to think, dear reader, that the investment banks pimped these CDO to their unsuspecting customers, then bought CDS at just the right time, and got out of the CDO business just before the crash occurred so that they had no liability on their books, well, guess what? You are right. That's precisely what did happen.

One of the greatest myths of the collapse was that JPMC and GS were in danger of collapse. Their only problem was that the insurers who had written CDS for them would not be able to pay. Fortunately for them Hank Paulson did his infamous face-boite and decided not to buy up toxic assets, which is what Congress allocated the requested bail-out money for, but instead to use the embezzled funds to pay off GS's CDS on behalf of AIG and other insurers. How good for them.

One last thing to ponder: It was suggested that the bail-out money be used to pay off the mortgages that were in default, and make other arrangements for defaulters to pay the government. After all the argument was that the credit crunch which brought the economy to a standstill was due to the lack of money coming from mortgage borrowers. The government lending money directly to home-owners would resolve this problem. Again, what I can say and what I can prove are different, but if this had been done the banks would not have been able to keep the bankrupted properties, and the insurers who issued CDS would not have had to pay on these policies. These would be great outcomes for the public, but less lucrative for those who held CDS policies.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Despite how it might appear, the reason our overlords in high finance periodically sabotage our economy is not the short term profits they harvest from its ruins--that's just a perq'--the principal motive is class war. The poorer and weaker we are, the stronger they are.

Isn't it odd that during all those years when MLK campaigned for racial equality, for the right of black wage slaves to live in parity with white wage slaves, there was not a single attempt on his life? It was not until the last years of his life when he spoke out against war, became a spokesman for organized labor, and called for more equitable distribution of wealth, that he was killed by a "lone nut." It makes no difference to the Man where His servants sit, so long as ride in His bus, over to His factory or office, and fatten Him with the fruits of their labor. Disputes in the servants' quarters are of no concern to the lord of the manor, so long as production continues apace. On MLK Day, it's important to remember that it's not about race, it's about class. Dr King understood that when he attempted to fashion a "poor people's army," we should too.

http://peoplesworld.org/martin-luther-king-jr-and-the-attack-on-public-workers/

Home Sweet Gone

Think of how profitable this has been for the banks. When they "lend" money for mortgages, there is no actual transfer of funds from the lender to the borrower, new money is created and credited to the borrower. It doesn't cost the bank a cent, and they get the property if the borrower defaults. In each of these foreclosures, the bank collected at least some payments, perhaps several, from the borrower, none of which are they obligated to return. And when the borrower is unable to keep paying, the bank gets the property free of charge. As Al Capone once astutely observed:
"Wall Street is the crookedest street in America, what a fucking racket they got."

Class war coming to your living room.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates

Is There Really A Budgetary Crisis?

Public and other employees have to take pay and benefits cuts but there's enough money for increasing the Pentagon's budget:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet_department_defense/

Hey Union Worker, Do You Know Exactly How Far Your Sphincter Muscle Will Stretch? You Are About To Find Out.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/6/crackdown_on_organized_labor_states_call

Just in Case You Thought You lived in a Democracy

Our role on the plantation? Sometimes we're the slaves, and sometimes the cotton.

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/66383

Guns and Butter -