Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday 31 May 2013


Daily Headlines

By Paul Craig Roberts
The Social Cost Of Capitalism
In order to keep the deregulated financial system afloat, the Federal Reserve has monetized trillions of dollars of debt over the last several years. Real interest rates have been driven into negative territory. Retirees are unable to earn any interest income on their savings and have to draw down their capital in order to cover their living expenses.

Comey will run the FBI alongside Obama's chief of the CIA, John Brennan, who spent the Bush years advocating multiple torture techniques and rendition. The Agent of Change reaches deep into the bowels of the Bush National Security State and empowers them to run two of the most powerful agencies.

Western hypocrisy is the bane of secular democrats everywhere.

Voters are concerned about the recent "scandals" surrounding the Obama administration, but they remain far more concerned about the economy, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University. By a 73 to 22 percent margin, voters think the economy and unemployment should be a higher priority than investigating issues including Benghazi, the IRS focus on conservative groups and the Department of Justice's subpoenas of reporters' phone records. Only 24 percent of independents and 34 percent of Republicans want investigations to be given precedence over job creation.

By Lawrence Davidson
Endless War -- An Analysis
With the government's wholehearted embrace of targeted assassination, as well as modern surveillance technology and the precedent of offshore prisons for "enemy combatants," one wonders if, from now on, the recovery of rights will ever be fully equal to their loss.

Foreign policy, American style, has evolved over the decades to the point that it bears little to no resemblance to what it once was. The art of diplomacy and negotiations has been replaced by the doctrine of "You're either for us or against us" with no room for any gray area. The focus seems to be, why waste time with painstaking negotiations when force is so much easier and effective?

By William Boardman
Reagan's Chickens Home to Roost?
The threat that former Reagan administration officials might be held accountable for genocidal policies of the Reagan administration increased on May 10, when a Guatemalan lower court convicted the country's former president, Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, 86, of genocide and crimes against humanity for his part in the killing of thousands of Guatemalan civilians.

Gallup poll has stunning proof that Republicans are easily manipulable.

By Andrew Schmookler
National Review Pitch Points to America's Political Pathology
The National Review sent out a pitch to its potential right-wing base, declaring: ""RESIST! He may have won the election. But he hasn't won the fight." That pitch shows us why the American political system is broken, and what true conservative patriots should be doing to restore our ability as a nation to meet our challenges.
Some fine points to consider from The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation from ebook free for limited time.

Anyone not familiar with Rocky Mountain Institute is likely to become happy by getting familiar with it. It appears to me that some of the brightest minds in the world work here, and, imo, it may well be our country's most valuable resource. Pick any article and check it out...

Over 2 million people participated in the Marches Against Monsanto in 436 cities across the globe. Yet television coverage by the corporate media was nearly non-existent. Since most people depend on television for their news, as far as they are concerned, these events never happened.

For people of faith- everyone of the 20 massacred children of Sandy Hook School are today angels in heaven. Guidepost featured the story of one of them - Catherine Hubbard. Her mother did a great job at Guideposts describing her angel when she lived.

Each of us grows up in a home with a distinct history and a distinct perspective on the meaning of larger historical events. Our parents' stories shape our historical consciousness, as do the stories of the ethnic, racial, and religious groups that number us as members. We attend churches, dubs, and neighborhood associations that further mold our collective and individual historical selves.

By David Swanson
An Anti-War Blockbuster
Starting in June, a remarkable anti-war / pro-journalism film will be showing -- even more remarkably -- in big mainstream movie theaters.

I interviewed Dmitry Itskov on April 4, 2013, to discuss the conference he has organized with the goal of creating technology that will allow people to become immortal. I was VERY impressed by the calibre of the conference speakers.

In celebration of National Short Story Month, authors Naomi Benaron, Adrian C. Louis, Debra Magpie Earling, Matt Pine & Jody Thompson answered five questions for me.

Please stand for Bradley Manning on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at Fort Meade, MD, He traded his own freedom for our freedom to know. Truth is NOT a crime.

While many in Egypt fully understand that finding a dignified and lasting resolution to the humiliation experienced by Palestinians in Gaza is a must, as they remain confined to a tiny space with no political horizon in sight, some media pundits are callously fanning the flames against the Gaza population and their government.

Despite some modifications which the labor movement pressured the Administration into making (another unsung victory for the labor movement), the tax still punishes plans more for including sick people than it does for anything else. It punishes people for decisions made by their doctors, not them. It even punishes people for living in the wrong area.

Unapproved genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field, a potential threat to trade with countries that have concerns about genetically modified foods. The Agriculture Department said Wednesday that the genetically engineered wheat is safe to eat and there is no evidence that modified wheat entered the marketplace. But the department is investigating how it ended up in the field, whether there was any criminal wrongdoing and whether its growth is widespread.

Large multinationals are becoming more powerful than nation states. Google's Chief Executive repeats a Freudian slip while defending his corporate tax- dodging scams.

GMO wheat find threatens exports, stokes consumer fear
Maybe playing God isn't such a good idea? At least somebody seems to care!
The crisis of the so-called rebels and the reversals the Islamist militias have suffered recently in combat with the Syrian army have only served to escalate the US and Western European preparations for direct intervention. Washington and its allies are determined to pursue their war for regime change as part of a broader strategy for redrawing the map of the entire region to serve their own predatory interests.

By Burl Hall
A Slight Blow to Monsanto: Jury Finds Peaceful Farmer Does Not Need Licenses
Raw Dairy Farmer received 3 not guilty counts and one guilty regarding feeding their communities through direct private trade
By Robert Reich
Reframing The Debate
The means of most Americans haven't kept up with what the economy could and should provide. The economy is twice as large as it was three decades ago, and yet the typical American is earning about the same, adjusted for inflation. All the gains have been going to the top.

If Obama wants to win back deserting and hostile progressives, he will have to do more than cut back on his drone murdering campaign. Standing up for Social Security would be a real test says TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff

By Tom Engelhardt
Michael Klare: A Future in Arms
Imagine for a moment that in 2010, China's leaders had announced a long-term, up to $60 billion arms deal with an extreme Islamic fundamentalist regime in the Middle East, one that was notoriously repressive to women and a well-known supporter of the Taliban.
By Dave Lefcourt
Redundant CIA Drone Strikes Won't End The Resistance
So much for Pres. Obama's speech last week where he announced new restrictions on drone strikes. Yesterday's CIA drone strike in Pakistan killing a suspected Taliban leader should put to rest any truth to his words. These redundant drone strikes, even the killing of insurgent leaders won't end their resistance against us. It'll just steel the resolve of that resistance.


Latest Articles
Short Story: "Kendrik House" (5th in a series)
The city's OWS has been transformed through adversity: Councilman Flange is stumping to create a virtual district to represent the 99%, the owner of their encampment site has built a community center for them so they can share it with other distributed communities. But Flange is notorious for going off on people in character, and he's just done it in public. But that's not the worst of it...
Benghazi, IRS, Leaks -- WHAT ABOUT JOBS??
The nation's media are transfixed with obsessive coverage of Hillary Clinton's role (there was none) in the talking points on the Benghazi deaths, IRS oversight of Tea Party groups' tax deductions (the same way they asked liberal groups including the NAACP), the Justice Department's demand for AP's phone records concerning leaks. WHAT ABOUT JOBS? That's the real problem that will define our future success as a country.
Intellectual property-related claims and disputes are on rise. Part of this is due to growing awareness about IP rights and part due to the commercial benefits of IP exploitation.

Bye Bye to Bachmann's House Of Cards: a house built on cluelessness and gullibility. From Glenn Beck to Tony Perkins to Frank Gaffney, Bachmann will be missed.


Best News Links from the Web
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee credited U.S. President Barack Obama with inspiring him to join the Democratic Party, a stance that his peers said put the son of former governor more in line with voters in the state. Chafee, who a decade ago served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican and later changed his affiliation to independent when he ran for governor, appeared at city hall in Warwick, where he lives, to fill out the one-page form to change his affiliation.

Authorities intercepted a threatening letter addressed to President Barack Obama that was similar to ones sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Secret Service said on Thursday. Letters sent to Bloomberg and his gun control group contained material believed to be the deadly poison ricin and contained a reference to gun control, New York police said on Wednesday. A Secret Service official said the White House letter was similar but did not elaborate.

Less than a week after President Obama outlined a new direction for the secret drone wars, Pakistani officials said that a C.I.A. missile strike on Wednesday killed a top member of the Pakistani Taliban, an attack that illustrated the continued murkiness of the rules that govern the United States' targeted killing operations. In the days since the president's speech, American officials have asserted behind the scenes that the new standards would not apply to the C.I.A. drone program in Pakistan as long as American troops remained next door in Afghanistan
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 10:08