Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Al-Qaeda Unlucky Again in Cargo Plane Bombing Attempt / Politics / Al-Qeeda
The Oct. 29 discovery of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) inside two packages shipped from Yemen launched a widespread search for other devices, and more than two dozen suspect packages have been tracked down so far. Some have been trailed in dramatic fashion, as when two U.S. F-15 fighter aircraft escorted an Emirates Air passenger jet Oct. 29 as it approached and landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. To date, however, no other parcels have been found to contain explosive devices.
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Tuesday, November 02, 2010
U.S. Saudi Arms Deal is About Iran / Politics / Middle East
This month the US Administration notified Congress that it intends to complete one of the largest arms sales in US history to one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Saudi Arabia has been given the green light by the administration to spend $60 billion on some 84 new F-15 aircraft, dozens of the latest helicopters, and other missiles, bombs, and high-tech military products from the US weapons industry.
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Tuesday, November 02, 2010
US Myth Of The Two Party Political System / Politics / US Politics
Cindy Sheehan Would America look much different if Republican John McCain had beaten Democrat Barack Obama to become president?
"The two-party system has given this country the war of Lyndon Johnson, the Watergate of Nixon and the incompetence of Carter. Saying we should keep the two-party system simply because it is working is like saying the Titanic voyage was a success because a few people survived on life rafts."—Eugene J. McCarthy, 1978
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Monday, November 01, 2010
Video Proof that Obama's Economic Stimulus Has Worked / Politics / US Politics
For months you've heard GOP blowhards repeat over-and-over again that Obama's stimulus was "a waste of money" and "did nothing". And--all the while--administration wussies have hemmed-and-hawed trying their best to sweep the stimulus under the rug terrified that it would cost them precious votes in the upcoming midterms.
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Monday, November 01, 2010
Should the Cost of War Include Interest Payments? / Politics / US Politics
When tallying up the "total costs" of a government operation, proponents will typically include only the most obvious items, whereas opponents will throw in the kitchen sink. The obvious motivation is to make the operation look relatively cheap (for the proponents) or horribly expensive (for the opponents).
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Monday, November 01, 2010
Russian View, the Japanese Islands Are Our War Trophy / Politics / Russia
Japan set out a protest to Russia in connection with Dmitry Medvedev's visit to a Russian region. Medvedev became the first Russian leader to have visited South Kuril Islands. None of his predecessors - neither communist rulers, nor Russian presidents - visited the Kurils before.
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
Interpreting Daily Show Jon Stewart's Politics / Politics / US Politics
Any criticism of Jon Stewart must begin with enthusiastic praise: his Daily Show is where millions of people go for important news that is purposely ignored by the mainstream media. Consequently, both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have become icons of the political Left.
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Saturday, October 30, 2010
American Politics is a Cash And Carry Business / Politics / US Politics
New York: We live in a country in economic distress. Millions are out of work and cutbacks in public services are pervasive at the city and state levels. The ‘great recession’ is deep and could go deeper. Most families are tightening their belts and in some cases at the breaking point because their benefits have run out and money is so hard for many to find.
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Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Global Monetary System is in Crisis / Politics / Global Financial System
The recognition of currency war, which has been going on for years, reflects the failure of international cooperation and the failure the G-20 to find a solution of the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of almost every nation. The result has been growing geopolitical dislocation, which G-20 has yet to find a solution for. These efforts, until recently, were turned upside down by the failure of the Copenhagen Summit in the summer of 2009, when it was discovered that global warming was a giant scam.
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Saturday, October 30, 2010
Economic Law Dooms The Police State / Politics / Social Issues
I am perceived by many readers as a pessimist. I am not a pessimist. I am an optimist beyond your wildest imagination. I am an eschatological postmillennialist. There are not many of us. I am also a believer in the free market social order – not just in its superiority in theory, but in its inevitable triumph in history. I believe that Leonard E. Read's book title is correct: Then Truth Will Out.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
Time for a New Theory of Money / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
The reason our financial system has routinely gotten into trouble, with periodic waves of depression like the one we’re battling now, may be due to a flawed perception not just of the roles of banking and credit but of the nature of money itself. In our economic adolescence, we have regarded money as a “thing”—something independent of the relationship it facilitates. But today there is no gold or silver backing our money. Instead, it’s created by banks when they make loans (that includes Federal Reserve Notes or dollar bills, which are created by the Federal Reserve, a privately-owned banking corporation, and lent into the economy). Virtually all money today originates as credit, or debt, which is simply a legal agreement to pay in the future.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
French Economy Crippled as Millions Strike and March Against Pension Cuts / Politics / Social Issues
Kumaran Ira and Alex Lantier writes: Millions of workers and students took to the streets across France Thursday to protest final approval by the National Assembly of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension “reform” bill. The French economy was still crippled by gasoline shortages due to ongoing refinery and port strikes.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
U.S. Army Prepares for Martial Law in United States / Politics / US Politics
James Corbett writes: Earlier this month, the United States Coast Guard upheld its self-declared status as a 'special' branch of the military with the ability to prosecute civilians in military tribunals. This startling declaration, unreported in the media, came in a Decision on Appeal related to the case of Lieutenant Eric Shine, a commissioned Naval officer in the Merchant Marines and a graduate of Kings Point Military Service Academy, and was penned by the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard. The decision can be downloaded and read here.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
Inflation, Food Crisis, Climate Change, The Rising Cost of Survival / Politics / Social Issues
Socio-economic turmoil - lawlessness, poverty, lack of adequate medical facilities and attention, low to no employment, low wages, disease, no clean drinking water or water for irrigation and shortages of food or unaffordable food can all cause socio-economic pressure to build in many countries that were once stable environments for investment.
In 2007 and 2008 roughly 40 food riots occurred - two of the more publicized examples were when people took to the streets after rising corn prices made tortillas very expensive in Mexico and skyrocketing food prices in Haiti led to the overthrow of that country's Prime Minister.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
The Shifting Financial Sands of Wealth Distribution / Politics / Social Issues
1913, the Federal Reserve Bank was created and the 16th amendment to the constitution was passed. This amendment provided Congress with the legal authority to tax.
At that time, the share of income earned by the top 1 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.01 percent were 18.5 percent, 10 percent, and 4.4 percent, respectively. In 1980, these figures were dramatically reduced to 9 percent, 1 percent, and 0.5 percent, but by 2007 they increased significantly to 23.5 percent, 8.5 percent, and 3.0 percent (at or above 1913 levels).
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
The West Panics as China Extends Rare Earth Metals Export Ban / Politics / Metals & Mining
Jason Simpkins writes: China for months has blocked shipments of rare earth metals intended for Japan in retaliation for a regional dispute. Now, China appears to have expanded its rare earth embargo to include Western countries - a move that has U.S. and European authorities scrambling to formulate a backup plan.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
How to Fix the U.S. Budget Deficit and End the Bush-Tax-Cuts Debate / Politics / US Politics
Martin Hutchinson writes:
Dear Mr. President and members of Congress:
In the months that follow Tuesday's midterm elections, and into the New Year, you all face three very significant challenges. You must:
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Globalization Creates Unemployment, American Job Losses Are Permanent / Politics / Employment
Now that a few Democrats and the remnants of the AFL-CIO are waking up to the destructive impact of jobs offshoring on the US economy and millions of American lives, globalism’s advocates have resurrected Dartmouth economist Matthew Slaughter’s discredited finding of several years ago that jobs offshoring by US corporations increases employment and wages in the US.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
U.S. Threatens Iran with 'Safe' Nuclear Weapons / Politics / Iran
Last weekend the Pentagon lost communication with 50 intercontinental nuclear warheads, it was made public after a former US Air Force officer tweeted the news.
This mistake happened as members of the Obama Administration have been preaching about the importance over safe and secure nuclear programs. Michel Chossudovsky the Director of the Center for Research on Globalization believes the worst case scenario is when politicians are threatening to use these weapons in conventional warfare.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
US Government Agency Faulted in Nuclear Power Abandonment / Politics / Energy Resources
If you are heading north on the Chesapeake Bay, just above where the Patuxent River enters it, and you will see the Cove Point liquefied natural gas terminal and gas processing plant."
Journey on, about three miles, and you will see a superbly landscaped industrial installation that, unlike the gas terminal, blends into the cliffs of Maryland. This is the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, which has been making electricity quietly, efficiently and abundantly since 1975."
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