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America's Lackluster December Jobs Report
by Stephen Lendman
Headlines belied its weakness. Economist John Williams reengineers economic data based on reliable decades earlier modeling.
U-3 unemployment rose 0.1% to 7.8%. U-6 is broader. It's 14.4%. It includes:
(1) Marginally attached workers wanting jobs but not actively looking in the past 30 days. They looked unsuccessfully in the last year. They include "discouraged workers." They gave up in frustration within, but not exceeding, the past 12 months.
(2) People looking for full-time work but forced to take part-time or temp jobs to be employed.
Based on how unemployment was calculated in the 1980s, Williams reported 23%. It's a "new (post WW II) high," he said.
11 years later, Gitmo injustice continues
Mary Shaw
January 11, 2013, will mark the 11th anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In 2009, just two days after taking office, President Obama issued an executive order calling for the Guantanamo prison to be closed within a year, and for detainees to be given fair trials in U.S. federal courts. But, since then, he has repeatedly signed Congress's defense bills that keep Gitmo going, even while blaming Congress for his failure to keep his promise.
Technology Servitude
Joel S. Hirschhorn
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high tech devices, while driving, while walking, while shopping, while in groups of friends, while in restaurants, while waiting in doctor offices and hospitals, while sitting in toilets – everywhere. While connected electronically, they are inattentive to and disconnected in physical reality.
People have been steadily manipulated to become technology addicted. Technology is the opiate of the masses.
Another NNC Lendman Interview
Stephen Lendman
NNC's Iman Soleimani conducted this and earlier interviews. Each raised major world issues.
NCC is one of Iran's largest media operations. It works collaboratively with major TV and News services.
Questions and answers are below. Editing was done as needed. Final comments follow.
NNC: Why will Obama appoint a new Secretary of State? Do US foreign policy issues alone matter? Is personal character considered?
Netanyahu's Warning
by Stephen Lendman
Netanyahu represents lawless rogue leadership. He belongs in prison, not high office. Pre-election polls suggest he'll retain power.
Israelis aren't smart enough to spurn him. Palestinian suffering will continue. The new year began like 2012 ended. More on that below.
On December 22, Netanyahu warned he'll hit Hamas "with a heavier blow" than Pillar of Cloud. He spoke on Israeli television. "I suggest Hamas not celebrate," he said. Israeli state terror remains ongoing. "We inflicted a very heavy blow," he added.
Year in Review: 2012 in U.S. Trade Reform
Ian Fletcher
Previously negotiated U.S. free trade agreements went into effect with Korea in March, Colombia in May, and Panama in October.
President Obama continued to push for the unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership.
He also continued to refuse to designate China a currency manipulator, despite his Treasury Department’s own economists verifying the truth of this allegation yet again. China’s currency continued to slowly rise, though not nearly enough to eliminate the problem.
The major Republican candidates for president ran the gamut in terms of the trade positions they expounded during the primaries.
Fiscal Cliff Postmortems
by Stephen Lendman
Congressional profiles in courage are sorely lacking. Pretenders usually vote party line when asked or pressured.
No House or Senate member explained what constituents most need to know. Fiscal cliff hype reflects doublespeak duplicity. Previous articles explained.
America's social contract is targeted. Bipartisan complicity wants it eroded and destroyed. Heavy lifting comes later. Eleventh hour legislation ducked tough issues. The battle of 2013 awaits.
Expect something greater than August 2011's debt ceiling crisis. Version 2.0 will demand more pounds of flesh. Republicans have Obama where they want him. They conceded on extending most expiring benefits. They settled for half the mandated $1.2 trillion sequester.
American Politics and the Innocent Children Killed
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD
“Americans need to look at how their society has increasingly become a psychopathic culture of death over many decades. Americans need to realize how their hallowed capitalist ideology of the putative American Dream is in practice nothing but the destruction of communities and millions of individuals on the altar of elite profit-making. Think about the glib, common parlance used to describe the process of human destruction. Investors “make a killing”; workforces are “liquidated”; society is facing a “fiscal cliff”.
(Finian Cunningham, “Killing Children Is the All-American Way.” Dissident Voice: 12/22/2012).
Guns do not kill, people kill people. The crux of the problems which most politicians avoid seeing the mirror. War is killing people. America has the unparallel sophistication, know-how and the mindset to maintain this “business as usual.” Killing others transforms the American politics into a dehumanized global strategy being actively pursued by the institutionalized military-industrial complex in Washington - the political lobby and force behind warmongering. There is no pain or anguish in obsessed insanity using the feeling less war machines anywhere and against anyone. Politics is a game of pretension and superficial acting on stage, and all politicians master the Machiavellian statecraft. The underpinning passion for political obsession is to get elected and nothing else. All other grandeur claims of being honest or doing good for the public are fake illusions evolved to boost the political image to impress the electorates who have paid dearly in advance for political pains. Political minds are always self-centered, greedy and problematic. They need problems for self-actualization and relevance in a given societal culture. The overwhelmingly war hysteria brings home to America what is irrational and insane in human terms.
The Real Murders Of Children
By Dr. Elias Akleh
The whole US was shocked when armed with automatic assault weapons 20 years old Adam Lanza murdered 20 first grade students in Newtown, Connecticut, yet very few, if any, Americans get shocked when their presidents murder thousands of similar children of other nations but call them heroes and defenders of freedom and democracy.
I was not chocked but heart broken when I heard of Lanza’s crime. Such crime is more common in the American culture than one would think of. Following the daily news one can find many reports of murder in every American state. They range from family violence against wives and children, gangs drive-by shooting, and school/university mass murder among others.
Flim Flam Fiscal Cliff Legislation
by Stephen Lendman
Senate members met, debated, negotiated, passed stopgap legislation, and largely delayed deficit cutting for later. On Tuesday, the House followed suit. Obama will sign it into law or may already have done so. Media reports announced it. The New York Times headlined "Senate Passes Legislation to Allow Taxes on Affluent to Rise." Members voted 89-8. The Washington Post said "Obama, Senate Republicans reach agreement on 'fiscal cliff.' " The Wall Street Journal headlined "US Budget Compromise Deal Reached."
A New York Times editorial called it "A Tepid Fiscal Agreement." As this is written, House up or down follow-through awaits. Expect House Republicans to back strong party-line Senate support.
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