Gaither Stewart

In Rome, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who long ago decided
that Parliament is unnecessary continues his trip toward Fascism.

(Rome-Paris) Four parties and movements of the quarrelsome and divided Italian Left have allied for the European parliamentary elections next June. That is good news. Communist Refoundation, Party of Italian Communists, Socialism 2000, and United Consumers have agreed to unify their meagre forces in order to surpass the 4% electoral barrier so that Communists, with their red flag with the hammer and sickle emblem, can again sit in the Assembly of the European Union.

For many years now such unity on the Italian Left has been painfully absent, its former voters, bewildered and confused, wandering from center-left to right, in an electoral diaspora. Running separately in national elections in 2006, the two parties using the name Communist garnered a total of 10% of the vote. In comparison to today’s numbers those were the good old days. For during the breakdown of Left unity, proletarians in the Rome periphery even voted for the neo-fascist National Alliance and workers in north Italy cast their votes for the rightwing Northern League. Communists now hope to win back their traditional Left vote that once—though today almost a political relic—counted one-third of the nation’s electorate.

Full story »

Mary Shaw

During last year's presidential campaign, one of the many reasons why I supported Barack Obama so strongly was because I believed that he could multitask. A U.S. President has a lot on his plate.

I think back to when Republican rival John McCain canceled an appearance on the David Letterman show at the last minute last fall, alleging that he was hurrying back to Washington to save the economy, when in reality he chose instead to appear on air with Katie Couric. McCain clearly does not know how to multitask. If he is unable to juggle Letterman, Couric, and the economy -- two of which are relatively easy and straightforward -- then he most likely would have trouble dealing day-to-day with the multitude of issues that currently face the nation.

Full story »

eileen fleming

Pope Benedict announced that he would visit the Holy Land this May to pray "for the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and for all of humanity," but he would not be going to Gaza.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Vatican custodian of the holy sites stated, "This visit is aimed first and foremost at encouraging them to remain in this country."

Prayer without action is hypocrisy and faith without works is dead.

Full story »

David Kendall

It seems ridiculous to speculate about what Dr. King might say to Barack Obama when we have a published record of what King actually did say to his government immediately before they had him assassinated. [1]

"Humanity is waiting for something other than blind imitation of the past. If we want truly to advance a step further, if we want to turn over a new leaf and really set a new man afoot, we must begin to turn mankind away from the long and desolate night of violence. May it not be that the new man the world needs is a nonviolent man? Longfellow said, "In this world a man must either be an anvil or a hammer." We must be hammers shaping a new society rather than anvils molded by the old. This not only will make us new men, but will give us a new kind of power. It will not be Lord Acton's image of power that tends to corrupt or absolute power that corrupts absolutely. It will be power infused with love and justice, that will change dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows, and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. A dark, desperate, confused and sin-sick world waits for this new kind of man and this new kind of power." [2]

Full story »

by chycho

Click images to enlarge and expand, and visit the referenced sites for
additional photos and information.

While reviewing the following information about child labour, let’s take a look at some photographs of what child labour looked like in the United States at the turn of the last century, and what it looks like in some parts of the world at present. Regarding the photographs, to the left are photos of child labour in the United States from 1908 to 1912 by Lewis W. Hine, and to the right, photographs of present day child labour in Bangladesh by G.M.B. Akash.

Full story »

Mary Shaw

But not for the reasons that Senator Specter would think.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has released a newly declassified report that details the history of the Bush administration's torture policy.

Full story »

Mary Shaw

I am writing this on April 22 -- Earth Day. And I am thinking about how many Americans still take home their groceries in plastic bags.

Every time I go to the grocery store and most other stores, I take along my reusable canvas shopping bags. They're easy to find, and they're inexpensive. Most grocery stores in my neighborhood sell them for about a dollar, and I see them reasonably priced in a lot of department stores, too. One supermarket chain here even gives customers a 4-cent discount on each shopping order when you bring your own bags. There, the sturdy canvas bags eventually pay for themselves.

Full story »

Stephen Lendman

So writes Philip Augar in an April 13 Financial Times (FT) op-ed. He's a former UK investment banker/broker and author of The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism, The Greed Merchants, and most recently Chasing Alpha: How Reckless Growth and Unchecked Ambition Ruined the City's Golden Decade. More on his newest book below.

He quotes Nicolas Sarkozy, a questionable choice, at the G 20 summit saying "The all-powerful market that is always right is finished," then on departure adding "a page has been turned." For Augar, that depends on whether a "free-market" successor is constructed, something "entrenched interests in America and Britain would be well-advised to encourage if they wish to remain centre stage."

Things unraveled after Bretton Woods collapsed - the post-war monetary system of convertible currencies, fixed exchange rates, free trade, the dollar as the world's reserve currency linked to gold, and those of other nations fixed to the dollar. Absent that, Chicago School economists "persuade(d) the Reagan and Thatcher administrations to adopt laissez faire policies and deregulation." We then printed money freely, spent and lived beyond our means, and created an illusion of prosperity and wealth that led to the current crisis.

Full story »

Joel S. Hirschhorn

There are no headlines or pontificating pundits, but the real news that has become crystal clear to any but the most delusional and distracted Americans is that President Obama has no commitment to applying the rule of law where it counts. Certainly, not applying it to the large number of rich and powerful people that have violated our Constitution and plunged the nation into economic disaster.

Again and again we hear the flimsy argument from Obama and his top advisors that he wants to look forward and not backward. This is tortured logic when it comes to delivering justice in a nation supposedly cherishing the rule of law.

Full story »

Stephen Lendman

First the father, Richard J. (mayor from April 20, 1955 - December 20, 1976), now the son. To Chicagoans - "Hizzhonor," and for some - "Hizzhonor Da Mare." Authors Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor called the elder an "American Pharaoh." For former Chicago columnist, Mike Royko, he was "Boss" in his 1971 book by that title. When he died on December 20, 1976, Royko wrote:

"If ever a man reflected a city, it was Richard J. Daley," for better or worse. He was "strong (and) hard-driving" with Texas-sized ambitions, but also "arrogant, crude, conniving, ruthless, suspicious, intolerant, raucous, hot-tempered, devious, big and powerful." He was Chicago.

Full story »