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Supercommittee Strikes Out
By Stephen Lendman
On November 20, New York Times writer Eric Lipton headlined, "Lawmakers Trade Blame as Deficit Talks Crumble," saying:
Hours away from their self-imposed deadlined, "Congressional leaders conceded Sunday that talks on a sweeping deficit agreement were near failure and braced for recriminations over their inability to reach a deal."
Republican aides said lawmakers will end their negotiations with a whimper, not a bang. Expect no final news conference, just a quietly issued joint statement and follow-up comments.
By law, automatic $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years will start in 2013. They're to be equally divided between defense and domestic programs. Don't bet on it.
Expect sustained military spending at the expense of what people value most. Either way, lost purchasing power means less spending, fewer jobs, and greater public anger than today's high levels.
MF Global Looted Customer Accounts
By Stephen Lendman
Wall Street's business model is grand theft. Jon Corzine was MF Global's CEO. Earlier he headed Goldman Sachs, America's premiere racketeering organization.
He also was one of legions of corrupt politicians as US senator and New Jersey governor. His extreme, longstanding criminality warrants putting him in prison for life. No restitution can reverse his harm. It's true also for many others like him.
Before its collapse, MF Global (MFG) faced a run on its holdings. On October 31, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
On November 19, Reuters said the firm "moved hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money from its US brokerage unit to Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in August, just months before filing for bankruptcy...."
In other words, MFG lawlessly looted customer accounts. It used client money for its own purposes to speculate, as well as cover debt obligations and losses. At issue is grand theft.
In fact, it's one of the most brazen acts in memory in a business notorious for outrageous criminality. What ever's gotten away with incentivizes Wall Street crooks to steal more. Why not! At most, they're slap on the wrist punishments mock rule of law justice.
Occupy Revolution
Joel S. Hirschhorn
History tells us that it is nearly impossible to know in real time whether some kind of national, grassroots public protest ends up being the beginning of a true revolution against a ruling government system. This is true for the earliest beginnings of the revolt against the British that produced the successful American Revolution and the creation of the US. The British at the time surely thought that they could retain power and control. More recently, the revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya certainly could not be accurately perceived in their earliest stages as likely to topple well established dictatorships wielding incredible and cruel power. Even now, the rebellious actions in Syria are not widely seen as surely resulting in successful revolution.
Egyptian Military Power Grab
by Stephen Lendman
Last February, euphoric celebrations followed Mubarak's ouster. Across the Middle East and North Africa, people rejoiced.
Activist Saed Karazon told AFP:
"What happened in Egypt is not only for the Egyptian people, it is for all Arabs. The whole Arab world is going to change."
A month earlier, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia following weeks of violent protests. A Tunis student said, "It's wonderful. Two dictators have fallen in less than a month."
In Cairo, Egyptians waved flags, held banners, and chanted, "Yesterday Tunisia. Today Egypt, and tomorrow Yemenis will break their chains."
Israel Steps Up Police State Crackdowns
by Stephen Lendman
Israel never embraced democratic values. More than ever today that's true. Many Jews understand. As a result, they're voting with their feet and leaving.
Gideon Levy remarked that "(i)t's really an irony of history, because Israel was established to become a shelter to the Jewish people. Now Europe becomes a shelter for the Jews living in Israel."
So does America. New millennium exodus has a whole new meaning. Last year, Haaretz writer Bradley Burston headlined, "I envy the people who hate Israel," saying:
"....this is not the same country I moved to, so long ago. I learned when I first came that Israel was not the country I'd thought I was moving to."
Now it's worse than ever because "Israel at its highest level has taken an executive decision. Unable to beat the forces who want to see Israel as one of the world's primary pariah states, it has resolved to join them" and succeeded.
With its paymaster/partner America, it's out in front leading. Growing numbers know it, Jews and non-Jews alike. A 2008 Menachem Begin Heritage Center survey showed 59% of Israelis consider leaving by inquiring about foreign citizenship and second passports. Growing numbers hold them.
Occupy With a Vengeance! Change is a Messy Affair, But it Has to be Done
By Vincent L. Guarisco
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
~~Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Is it just me?...Or is it getting crazy out there? I guess if you want honest press, you have to own one? If it weren't so painful to see our nation gutted in all sectors, it would almost be laughable to hear our lap-dog media say the Occupy movement has not made any clear demands. Or how disorganized we are. But this is how today's media gas-bags operate. Pure and simple, they blatantly twist, distort and outright lie. It's the same old propaganda tactic used time and again by corporate media that, woefully, is owned and operated by the same financial gluttons we are fighting.
Eurozone Doomsayer Got it Right
by Stephen Lendman
Eurozone economies are cratering. Every fix tried so far failed. Combining 17 dissimilar countries under one monetary/fiscal system assured disaster waiting to happen.
British economist Bernard Connolly knew it before the euro's 1998 introduction. His 1995 book titled, "The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War for Europe's Money" called it a harebrained idea doomed to fail.
Saying it cost him his job. Maybe he should be running failed economies to fix them one by one. Even laymen can do a better job than current and past officials who wrecked them and ordinary households to pay bankers. More on Connolly's book below.
Another New York Bomb Plot: Real or Fake?
by Stephen Lendman
Post-9/11, America waged war on Islam. Innocent victims are targeted for political advantage. They're called fundamentalists, extremists, terrorists and fanatics.
Why Muslims when, in fact, Islam teaches love, not hate; peace, not violence; charity, not selfishness; and tolerance, not terrorism.
Who knows though in today's climate of hate and fear at a time America wages global wars on Islam, including at home.
Perhaps Jose Pimental (aka Muhammad Yusaf) is the latest entrapped Muslim in a plot he never planned or intended. So far, it's unclear.
Born in the Dominican Republic, he's a naturalized US citizen convert to Islam. Except for five years in Schenectady, New York, he lived mostly in Manhattan.
OWS: Too Big to Fail
by Stephen Lendman
An idea whose time has come resonates globally. November 17 marked two months since beginning in New York. Earlier Middle East and European protests inspired it. Now it's spreading everywhere across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
In America within weeks, hundreds of large and small cities in all 50 states got involved. Protesters weathered snow, rain, cold, pepper spray, tear gas, beatings, arrests, and evictions. Police confrontations, in fact, inspired larger turnouts.
Coming: Big Austerity Cuts
by Stephen Lendman
The congressional August Budget Control Act of 2011 established the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction - aka Supercommittee.
Doing so was extralegal. The Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 explains congressional powers. None of them include supercommittee authority to resolve America's debt crisis.
Article 1, Section 8, Sub-section 18 lets Congress "make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution (of its other listed Powers), and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department Officer thereof."
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