In a depression, voters want populism. If they can find potent New Deal economic populism, they will vote for it every time, as US elections between 1932 and 1944 show without a shadow of a doubt. But if they do not find economic populism, they can easily fall prey to the cynical demagogy of cultural populism. That is what has happened in Massachusetts.
The only way to be an economic populist is the shift the cost of the world economic depression and the tax burden generally onto Wall Street financial interests, that is to say onto the malefactors of great wealth who created this crisis in the first place. That is the recipe for winning elections in a depression.
Most Democrats appear to be too far gone on the road to plutocracy to learn that lesson. It therefore may well be time to create a new party to represent the one major political current in American life which is not represented by either of the two big parties of the day. In other words, we desperately need, one way or another, a New Deal economic populist party to lead this country and much of the world out of the world economic depression.
The Escalating Ties between Middle Eastern Terrorist Groups and Criminal Activity
Original Online Source
Featuring David Johnson January 19, 2010
Ambassador David Johnson is the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In this position, Ambassador Johnson advises the president, secretary of state, related State Department bureaus, and other relevant government agencies on international narcotics and crime. In addition, he has served as deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in London and as U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
My friends who served in the military speak of the pride with they performed what they viewed as their duty. This duty included the obligation to act with honor, including, above all, following the Geneva Conventions when handling detainees and prisoners of war. My friends tell sadly of the despair they felt in seeing this obligation shredded during the Bush administration as word came down that they should do “whatever it takes.” Some of them resigned in disgust. Others resisted what they viewed as moral decay from within.
A new story by attorney Scott Horton at Harpers reveals yet another very disturbing episode of dishonor. Horton reveals strong credible evidence that three alleged “suicides” at Guantanamo in June 2006 were really homicides. The official story is that during the night of June 9, 2006, three prisoners were found hanging in their cells in Alpha Block of Guantanamo's Camp 1.
1) US Intelligence Community does not actually “know” where Iran is on nuclear, where Yemen is on Al Qaeda, where the Taliban is on Afghanistan….the list is long.
2) CIA and DoJ ares out of control on assessments and investigations–or they are consistently politicized. One or the other, which is it?
3) Terrorism is still the crutch for those unable or unwilling to comprehend Grand Strategy and a more mature appreciation for all of the threats, all of the policies, all of the information, all of the time. The USA remains government by uninformed sound-bite.
4) India matters, so we are told, as a recipient of expensive U.S. war-fighting technology and as a partner against terrorism. Never mind the deeply shared problem of poverty in America and India, a problem quickly addressable by the redirection of a fraction of the Pentagon budget toward “peaceful preventive measures.”
Herewith, then, is an all-inclusive guide to the scandal of the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case, based largely on documents unearthed by The Washington Times, along with other original reporting – and why it is important:
The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.
The Christmas Day episode highlights three critical points. First is how much progress U.S. intelligence has made. . . . Second, the Christmas Day plot demonstrates that much of what passes for security is a waste of time and money. . . . Third, the public furor over the foiled plot shows that more perspective on terrorism is essential.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican and ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an interview that “they wrote a political document in 2007 to embarrass President Bush which everyone uniformly agrees was a piece of trash.”
That said, there are still more opportunities for closer cooperation that will allow us to share technology and increase the flow of information and expertise. . . . Perhaps the greatest common challenge India and the United States face is terrorism.
NIGHTWATCH Afghanistan: Multiple news services reported today’s bold Afghan Taliban attacks in Kabul. The coordinated multiple attacks killed at least 15 and injured 62, as reported in this Watch
Four militants also were killed, including two suicide bombers who detonated their explosives, and Afghan forces were searching several other areas in the city for more attackers, a government spokesman said.
It was the biggest attack in the capital since 28 October when gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff, killing at least 11 people including three U.N. staff.
The attack coincided with the investiture of those Cabinet members in the Karzai government who had been confirmed by the Parliament. A majority of his choices have been rejected twice.
Blackwater/XE behind terrorist bombings in Asia and Africa?
ByWayne Madsen Online Journal Contributing Writer
Jan 18, 2010, 00:25
WMR’s intelligence sources in Asia and Europe are reporting that the CIA contractor firm XE Services, formerly Blackwater, has been carrying out “false flag” terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Somalia, the Sinkiang region of China, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, in some cases with the assistance of Israeli Mossad and Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) personnel.
Fingers are being pointed at Blackwater/XE and Mossad operatives for the motorbike bomb in Tehran that killed Tehran University nuclear physicist Dr. Moussad Ali-Mohammadi.
Gen Richards' views come ahead of a defence review and potential cuts
A “radical” shift in defence spending is needed, the head of the British army has said.
General Sir David Richards said priority should be given to troops working on the ground on winning over hearts and minds.
He told the International Institute for Strategic Studies there was too much emphasis on cutting-edge technology and not enough on cheaper troops and staff.
The UK was behind its enemies in being prepared for modern warfare, he added.
‘Minds of millions'
Gen Richards said current and future conflicts would focus on using communication to drum up support and would need more British troops to work among populations such as that in Afghanistan.
In his speech in London, he said: “If one equips more for this type of conflict while significantly reducing investment in higher-end war-fighting capability, suddenly one can buy an impressive amount of ‘kit'.
The United States attorney in Manhattan is merging the two units in his office that prosecute terrorism and international narcotics cases, saying that he wants to focus more on extremist Islamic groups whose members he believes are increasingly turning to the drug trade to finance their activities.
Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has ‘Always' Added New Testament References
By JOSEPH RHEE, TAHMAN BRADLEY and BRIAN ROSS
Jan. 18, 2010
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Note: the below report, which appears to be well sourced, does not rebut the Global Warming hypothesis per se, but it highlights the shoddy political character of the IPCC, together with its bias to hype the threat of global warming.
It also makes the revelations in the hacked emails all the more salient to the GW debate, especially those emails which reveal the organized efforts of suppress the opposing views of those scientists labeled disparagingly as “climate deniers” (an obscene, almost subliminal, reference to holocaust deniers) in peer reviewed journals.
