Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Movie ‘300' supports false basis for ‘war on terror' / Politics / US Politics
By: Adam_Tenney
The new movie “300” is based on a graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics that retells the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states. King Xerxes of the Persian Empire continues the work of his father, King Darius, in trying to expand his empire into Europe and crush the Greeks. King Leonidas, the ruler of Sparta, is forced to muster 300 Spartans to fight off the Persian army that numbers in the hundreds of thousands.
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Monday, March 26, 2007
Iran Crisis and the War of Blackmail - Crude Oil could go to New High / Politics / Iran
By: Money_and_Markets
Martin Weiss here with an urgent update on the breaking Iran crisis and its potential impact on your money.
On Friday, precisely when the United Nations was preparing to slap new, tougher sanctions on Iran, President Ahmadinejad's gunships captured 15 British sailors and marines on a routine patrol off the waters of southern Iraq.
And just in the past 24 hours, Iran's leaders have unleashed the most venomous diatribes against the West since their capture of U.S. embassy hostages nearly 28 years ago:
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
NHS - GP's ignore patient symptoms as 66% of GP complaints due to failures by GP's in making accurate or timely diagnoses / Politics / NHS
By: N_Walayat
Watchdog urges NHS to learn from "raw feelings of patients" in report on 16,000 complaints.
Commission to inspect local complaints handling in first national audit
The Healthcare Commission is urging NHS trusts to do more to learn from patients' complaints and to handle the issues raised “quickly, efficiently and locally”.
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Friday, March 23, 2007
The British state is at war – on terror, poverty, manufacturing and light bulbs... / Politics / UK Tax & Budget
By: Adrian_Ash
FAT TONGUE placed firmly in cheek, the British chancellor – Gordon Brown – pulled off his greatest feat of magic in 10 years of trickery at Westminster on Wednesday."Abracadabra," he shouted for 54 minutes...and poof!
Nothing had changed except the detail – and the press coverage. He got the headlines alright. Even the press knows to watch his sleight of hand these days.
Now that's magic!
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Dreaming of Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
What is this thing called democracy? So easy to talk about, so difficult to make real. Pure democracy is not what our Founders gave us. Who would want a simple majority to control the minority? Instead, America was given a representative democracy within a constitutional republic where laws that protect all people trump majority rule.
Standing between majority-won elections and government power are elected representatives: writing, overseeing and implementing laws. But when you can no longer trust the elected representatives what happens to American democracy? It becomes an oxymoron.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
BBC News poll: Optimism fades in Iraq / Politics / Iraq War
By: John_York
A nationwide opinion poll in Iraq conducted by BBC News suggests that people feel more insecure and increasingly pessimistic about the future of the country since a similar poll was conducted in 2005.
However, most do not believe that there is civil war in Iraq and only 17% of households polled had family members who were direct victims of violence.
Some key findings are:
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Monday, March 19, 2007
UK Supermarkets to Open GP Surgeries in Stores - Start of a Trend / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
UK Health Minister, Patricia Hewitt is expected to announce later today that GP surgeries are expected to open in supermarkets and high street stores, due to many areas of the UK experiencing unreliable GP services and access.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Doctors Protest, whilst patients suffer due to NHS Out of Hours Fiasco / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Junior doctors protest in Glasgow over the recently introduced recruitment tests for specialist training posts. Effectively making the tests harder than in years gone post so one would assume that only the more capable would be selected for the posts.
Because of this junior doctors are protesting in an attempt at trying to trivialise the tests due to the extra depth covered during the testing process.
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The State of the Earth - War, Debt and Poverty / Politics / Emerging Markets
By: Anwaar_Hussain
In 1 AD, we humans were estimated to be around 300,000,000. In 1850, we first passed the 1 billion mark. We were 3.9 billion on January 1 of 1970 and today we number 6.9 billion. Our plunder of mother earth and our mutual murder has increased by a direct proportion to the increase in our numbers over the eons.
War talk is on the wind once again. The feverish frenzy to kill each other is soon going to overtake us. Man will exult in the blood of man in the mad race for the left over resources in the innards of the earth.
It is time for a State of the Earth report.
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Case of the Meddling Iranians in Iraq / Politics / Iran
By: Anwaar_Hussain
For more than 18 months now, the George W. Bush administration has periodically raised the charge that Iran is meddling in Iraq . US defense officials recently displayed “Explosively Formed Projectiles” and heat sensitive detectors allegedly required for their remote detonation. To further buttress the ‘meddling' charge, the Americans also claimed to have arrested some ‘Iranian provocateurs', including two diplomats.
That, sirs, is not meddling.
Iranians share close to a thousand miles long border with Iraq , have fought a 9- year long bloody war with that country and with whom they share not just a problematic past but the chief religion of their citizenry too.
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Monday, March 12, 2007
Britain's NHS - One of the the worst health services in Western Europe - How it can be fixed / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
A tripling in annual NHS budget to £110 billions, and Britain is still inflicted with the worst health care in Western Europe. Even the BMA admits that 2006 was a bad year for the NHS, and with budgets increasingly being allocated from patient heath care to pay NHS employee pay rises, 2007 looks set to be an even worse year.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Global GeoPolitical Realignment and the Decline of the USA as a Superpower / Politics / Iraq War
By: Mike_Whitney
The United States has been defeated in Iraq. That doesn't mean that there'll be a troop withdrawal anytime soon, but it does mean that there's no chance of achieving the mission's political objectives. Iraq will not be a democracy, reconstruction will be minimal, and the security situation will continue to deteriorate into the foreseeable future.
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
The United States of Apathy - Less than half of eligible voters, vote in US Elections / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
American: So you mean that if you Australians don't vote, you get a fine?Australian: Yeah, and when you Americans don't vote you get George W. Bush.
As surely as politicians lie, citizen apathy produces democracy atrophy. Much more than a right – in a democracy voting is an irrevocable civic duty. No mental gymnastics can help you jump over this ugly reality: Voter turnout over all American elections averages markedly less than half of eligible voters. This disgrace must be fixed.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Operation FALCON - The USA is turning into a Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
On 29th June, 1934, Chancellor Adolph Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Wiesse, where he personally arrested the leader of the Strum Abteilung (SA), Ernnst Roehm. During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse. Many were shot as soon as they were captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his past service to the movement. However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Roehm should die. At first Hitler insisted that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men. (Spartacus.schoolnet.co)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
US Class War - Slavery through Consumption & Debt to Serve the Elite / Politics / Social Issues
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
The motto of the United States of Consumption is “In More We Trust.” The contribution of American culture to humanity is consumption obsession. Our epidemic of obesity, our land gluttonous suburban sprawl, our monster-size environmental footprint, our ravenous automobile addiction, and our heartless greed are symptoms of a deep-seated, sick mental state that keeps the economy humming. And it keeps increasing economic inequality and apartheid. Mass consumption is also a distraction from the self-inflicted defeat facing working- and middle-class Americans in the class war they are losing. Americans are enslaving themselves with their spending and delusional prosperity. The rich and super-rich in their McMansions, luxury cars, yachts, swank spas and private jets surely are laughing at how easy it is to manipulate the 80 percent of the population that keeps enriching them. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 26, 2007
Barack Hussein Obama - The Democratic Messiah? / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
What a wonderful political distraction is Senator Barack Hussein Obama. Perhaps a good part of his attractiveness is that he is in so many ways the complete opposite of George W. Bush. Yet, what amazes me is how our bipartisan obstacle to true political competition continually creates illusions of change and reform. Thus it keeps a grip on Americans' hope for the future, and preempts public support for more profound political change. Is Obama just another example of how our corrupt political system ingeniously creates candidates to keep hope alive? Is the self-professed progressive Obama the real thing? Is he something other than a conventional politician? I have read many of his speeches and other statements. I applaud his upbeat rhetoric, but few policy details are given. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Iran launches rocket into Space - As risks of a US attack against Iran increase / Politics / Iran
By: John_York
Iran flexed its muscles following Iran's objections to the UN Security Councils declaration of 21st Feb concerning Iran's nuclear programme, by launching a rocket into sub-orbital altitude. Iranian State television reported that the rocket had achieved an altitude of 94 miles before falling back to earth. The internationally recognised boundary between the atmosphere and space is some 65 miles.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Foreclosure USA - US Housing Bust, Debt and Democracy Lost / Politics / US Housing
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
We the people once owned our democracy. We elected "representatives" to run it for US. Have you noticed? Somewhere along the way we lost our democracy. It was foreclosed by wealthy and power elites that corrupted our "representatives" who literally sold us out. Our homeland was foreclosed right in plain sight. Sure, we citizens still reside in the USA, but we no longer own our democracy. We pay rent through our taxes. But we no longer have any equity. Our democracy is owned by the rich, and their partner foreign elites and governments, which is why in a strict sense it no longer is a democracy, but rather a plutocracy. Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Save our NHS from Privitisation ..... Why ? / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
In a week when statistics of deaths from NHS hospital infections continued to soar from a number of 'Super Bugs'. They may be super bugs in the UK, but do not even appear on the radar in many other countries.
Deaths in UK NHS hospitals from so called super bugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile continue to soar by nearly 70%, totaling over 5,400 deaths in 1 year. The NHS is well on the path to becoming one of Britians biggest killers.
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Friday, February 23, 2007
Economic Inequality in the USA Reaches New Extremes / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
Rising American economic inequality has received attention by Senator Jim Webb, presidential candidate John Edwards, CNN’s maverick Lou Dobbs, and others. The middle class has not shared in rising national prosperity, because the nation’s wealth has been siphoned off to the richest Americans. Some elites are nervous. They have attacked what are pejoratively called “neopopulists” – people who say the middle class is under siege.
Surprisingly, the attack and economic propaganda have come from the relatively unknown Third Way group that is associated with the Democratic Leadership Council. Why would self-proclaimed progressives and centrists put out a report that says the whole economic inequality story is bogus?
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