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Heat Wave Washes Away American Ideals: LeBron James, the Media, and the American Soul
by Walter Brasch
Millions of Americans had pleaded with basketball superstar LeBron James to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and come to their city when he became a free agent. Bloggers, media pundits, and reporters of every kind seemed to devote much of their lives to figuring out what team James would be a part of for the 2011 season.
The speculation ended, Thursday, July 8, when ESPN opened a full hour of prime time for some pretend-journalism and an interview with James, who 28 minutes into the infomercial announced he was leaving Cleveland and going to the Miami Heat. Floridians were ecstatic. With multimillionaire James joining multimillionaires Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, they were sure the Heat would once again win an NBA championship, something that had eluded James in Cleveland. The day after the ESPN show, the man known in Cleveland as "King James" held court with Wade and Bosh in Miami's American Airlines arena, surrounded by 13,000 screaming fans, all of whom watched South Beach and Miami city officials give the three superstars keys to their cities. Two days after the announcement, Miami Heat fans began buying replicas of James jerseys, with his new number, 6, stitched across the back. Most NBA jerseys sell for about $50; these were priced up to $150.
Allow them to own a home? La, Abadan! (No, never!) No “implantation” of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon!
Part VII of a series on the Case for Palestinian Civil Rights in Lebanon
Franklin Lamb
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, Beirut
The explosive issue of Palestinian civil rights in Lebanon will move to center stage under the Parliamentary spotlight this week, with meetings of parliamentary committees and a legislative session now scheduled to consider late breaking proposals by the March 14 alliance, led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The main holdouts, as predicted, will be the right wing Christian Phalange party and its allies and former Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has been tasked this week with getting them on board.
The Washington DC-Beirut based Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, not heeding the admonition of the late Mahatma Gandhi, who when following various pre-Independence reports of ‘progress’ with representatives of Her Majesty the Queen, Bapu told the assembled media: “Promises are made and fools rejoice!.”
Corporations gone wild (as Jefferson warned us)
Mary Shaw
Today we live in historic times, and I don't mean that in a good way.
First of all, we are suffering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And why? Because the financial industry was permitted to run amok.
Under the relaxed regulations of the Reagan and Clinton administrations, the banks did not prove themselves trustworthy to do the right thing for the economy and for the customers they served. They only cared about profits. Alan Greenspan himself admitted that he had "put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of wanton [i.e., unregulated] mortgage lending."
Nevertheless, the wealthy ruling class of Wall Street, largely unpunished, is doing just fine with its multi-million-dollar bonuses. But middle-class and working-class Americans continue to suffer through home foreclosures and long-term unemployment. And small businesses can't get loans to stay afloat.
Who's The Boss?
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Katie Couric's interview on CBS News on July 7 leaves little doubt that she considers Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister as the boss and that President Obama is irrelevant. Couric, descendant of Jewish immigrants from Germany, anchor and chief managing editor of CBS news, makes it clear that it is more important for Netanyahu to "trust" Obama and his decisions than for the the American people to trust the judgment of their elected Commander-In-Chief. What are the implications of CBS's message?
Couric, eager to learn if Netanyahu was somehow "disappointed with Obama", asked if Netanyahu would advocate on Obama's behalf and make the American president popular among the Israelis. Clearly, Couric believes that Obama's popularity among Israelis takes precedent over the continuing violation of international laws, the assault on a NATO member by Israel, and the demeaning attitude towards President Obama's selected officials including his Vice President -- Joe Biden. Couric, the managing editor of an American news channel appears to place the opinion of Israelis above the Americans.
Talking with Joshua Frank on the U.S., Israel and Middle East
Kourosh Ziabari
Joshua Frank is an American progressive journalist and noted anti-war columnist. His articles and commentaries have appeared on CounterPunch, Z Magazine, AntiWar.com, Truthout and Alternet. He is author of "Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush" and co-editor with Jeffrey St. Clair of Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland.
Joshua took part in an interview with me to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prospect of Israel-U.S. relations, the recent controversy over the Freedom Flotilla attack and the media propaganda against Iran. Here is the complete text of our interview.
Let Them Eat the "Higher Pie"
by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy, Doug Drenkow, Communications Specialist
The U.S. right wing consistently mistakes bigger slices of a smaller pies for growth! In fact, wealth is the product of labor. Therefore, real growth creates larger pies, larger slices. Real growth is, by definition, egalitarian or not at all! America's ruling elite amounts to just one percent of the total population and they own more than the rest of us combined. When I am charitable, I suspect that their perspective is myopic in the extreme. More realistically, I suspect that they just don't care.
Since 1900 the U.S. has 'experimented' with 'robber baron economics', 'supply-side economics', 'trickle down theory' and assorted 'stimuli' that also put the fat cats and so-called 'investor' class at the top of the pecking order with often tragic results --the Panic of the late 1800s, Hoover's Great Depression, Ike's 'Recession', Reagan's 'Tent City' Depression of over 2 years! Anyone not seeing the pattern is just not paying attention.
India's "Hearts of Darkness"
by Stephen Lendman
An earlier article about the National Labor Committee's (NLC) work explained what's repeated below, relevant to this article.
NLC puts "a human face on the global economy," saying in its mission statement that:
"Transnational corporations (TNCs) now roam the world to find the cheapest and most vulnerable workers." They're mostly young women in poor countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Haiti, and many others working up to 14 or more hours a day for sub-poverty wages under horrific conditions.
The BP Gulf Oil Gusher Represents: An Historic Failure of Government And Industry, A Tragic Violation Of The Public Trust And Social Contract
Oil Spill Solution
For all of us who live on and near the Gulf Coast of Mexico, we exist in a state that alternates between exasperation and incredulity, between anger and grief, between shock and awe at what this oil spill has come to represent. Where do we start? How do we begin to express our collective disillusionment with so many instances of betrayal and letdown? As well as the relentless falling short of what used to be considered reasonable expectations of government and corporate social responsibility.
Is it unreasonable to expect our governments – federal, state, county – to ensure that industry (Oil & Gas in this case) complies with the laws of our land. Should we be concerned that basic regulatory oversight, put into place to protect people, property and environment, were completely ignored, suspended and not enforced? Do we accept that such disasters occur through a highly unlikely series of human errors, bureaucratic mistakes, equipment malfunctions and technological breakdowns? How can everything go wrong, at the worst possible time, in the perfectly wrong place, unless … … …
KAGAN HEARINGS A FARCE
Allen L Roland
The Kagan hearings are a farce and everyone, including Elena Kagan herself, knows it. It's Kabuki theater at its best ~ an elaborate stylized judicial dance-drama that fools no one except the American public who long ago settled for less than substance in their leaders.
Elena Kagan is Obama's Harriet Miers, with an Ivy league education, but no judicial experience or judicial philosophy for that matter. It was Kagan who once wrote in a 1995 book review "When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public." But here are some meaningful legal issues that were never asked at her confirmation hearings ~
Holy mackerel! Christians must love and defend Israelis, preaches church mission
Stuart Littlewood
Ever heard of the CMJ (the Church's Ministry among Jewish People)?
Neither had I until I saw a parish magazine recently announcing a talk by the CMJ's Director of Advocacy to a local Church of England study group about "God's purpose for the Jewish people and Great Britain's involvement in the formation of modern Israel".
Apparently the CMJ has a proud 200-year history and is a worldwide ministry sharing with Jewish people its belief that not only is Jesus the Saviour of the world, He is the Jewish Messiah. CMJ is "propelled by devotion to God and the fulfillment of His promises to His people Israel", and it feels a need to provide in-depth teaching on the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.
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