Chuck Spinney: Secession of the Rich–Abandoning the State and Its People

Attached is a withering critique of UnAmerican Plutocracy in the American Conservative, written by my close friend and colleague, Mike Lofgren. Readers wanting to learn more about Mike’s argument should read his new book, The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted.  This book ought to be must …

Chuck Spinney: James Fallows on Paul Ryan’s Lie-Filled Convention Speech

Paul Ryan and the Post-Truth Convention Speech By James Fallows The Atlantic, Aug 30 2012, 11:43 AM ET Paul Ryan’s speech was well-written, well- delivered, and well-received. All of that was evident to anyone watching on TV. It had a number of nice smilingly vicious hit lines — starting with the masterful “staring up at …

Chuck Spinney: Egyptian President Trumps Egyptian Military; Egypt, Turkey, and Iran Will Trump NATO Militarism

It is trite to say big things are happening in the Middle East: The biggest, IMO, may turn out to be that Israel has overplayed its hand by hysterically fomenting the Iranian crisis.  There are incipient signs suggesting that Netanyahu’s smarmy efforts to manipulate American presidential politics to Israel’s advantage and to the detriment of …

Chuck Spinney: How Hot is Hot? Case Study in Government Misrepresentation

Below is a very important 2 part analysis of the meaning of the recent heat wave in the US and and the nature of reported temperature increases in general, and whether or not they can be attributed to increases in CO2 concentrations. The author, John Christy, is a highly regarded climatologist, albeit a skeptical one. …

Chuck Spinney: USGS Intelligence with Integrity on Climate Change

Below is a USGS press release describing some fascinating geological research into the effects of climate change — a huge drought — on the demise of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom around 4200 years ago.  This is one extreme climate event occurred well before man contributed significant CO2 to the atmosphere.  It is also a interesting example …

Chuck Spinney: Smart Iranians, Neutral Americans, Fearful Jews, Idiot Zionists….

The hysteria coming out of Israel regarding the need to attack Iran raises a question  of whether or not Netanyahu is overplaying his hand.  Perhaps he is serious. Perhaps he is bluffing in the hope that he can squeeze a huge increase in the annual US aid budget to Israel; perhaps he thinks he can …

Chuck Spinney: USA Elections 2012 – Three Snapshots Right, Left, & Neither – Bring On the Wrecking Crew (Andre Barnett, the Reform Party, and the Electoral Reform Act of 2012)

TWO-PARTY THEATER — Puppets to the Oligarchs High Stake Outcomes Over Non-Issues Oligarchs at the Gate PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, Counterpunch, 14 August 2012 The election of the next puppet president of the “world’s only superpower” is about two and one-half months off, and what are the campaign issues?   There aren’t any worthy of the …