Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Business of Evangelism Religion, Money, Money, Money / Politics / Religion
By: BATR
Theologians preach that religion is based upon faith, while economists depict that the world runs on money. Many confess that ministries repeatedly lose their way, while no one really disputes churches operate as business enterprises. The actual purpose of such churches varies with different dominations, but organized religion frequently functions more like a "PC" soapbox than a congregation of moral values. Often, it is all about the money, because they operate their worldly business, even if they profess to be a spiritual mission. The vast temple empires of modern day evangelism ignore the bible verse that talks about "we are in the world, but not of the world".
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Government / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
On June 12, 1987, in a speech near the Berlin Wall to commemorate Berlin's 750th anniversary, US President Ronald Reagan famously said to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The destruction of the wall would serve as a symbol of Gorbachev sincerely trying to increase freedom throughout the Eastern Bloc.
Today, August 13, marks the anniversary of the day the building of the Berlin Wall began. In honor of that sad day I say, "Mr. Obama, tear down this government."
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Monday, August 12, 2013
Is the U.S Losing the War of Terror? / Politics / War on Terror
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
How’s the global war on terror (GWOT) going for the U.S.? That’s easy. The U.S. is losing.
One sign is that the GWOT is 12 years old. The U.S. hasn’t licked terror yet.
What else?
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Monday, August 12, 2013
Ron Paul - Why Are We At War in Yemen? / Politics / War on Terror
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Most Americans are probably unaware that over the past two weeks the US has launched at least eight drone attacks in Yemen, in which dozens have been killed. It is the largest US escalation of attacks on Yemen in more than a decade. The US claims that everyone killed was a "suspected militant," but Yemeni citizens have for a long time been outraged over the number of civilians killed in such strikes. The media has reported that of all those killed in these recent US strikes, only one of the dead was on the terrorist "most wanted" list.
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Sunday, August 11, 2013
US Government “Protection” of Al-Qaeda, US-Saudi Terrorist Black Hole / Politics / War on Terror
By: Global_Research
Prof Peter Dale Scott writes: For almost two centuries American government, though always imperfect, was also a model for the world of limited government, having evolved a system of restraints on executive power through its constitutional arrangement of checks and balances.
Since 9/11 however, constitutional American government has been overshadowed by a series of emergency measures to fight terrorism. The latter have mushroomed in size and budget, while traditional government has been shrunk.
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Sunday, August 11, 2013
The Detroit Bail-In Template for Fleecing Pensioners to Save the Banks / Politics / Credit Crisis 2013
By: Ellen_Brown
The Detroit bankruptcy is looking suspiciously like the bail-in template originated by the G20’s Financial Stability Board in 2011, which exploded on the scene in Cyprus in 2013 and is now becoming the model globally. In Cyprus, the depositors were “bailed in” (stripped of a major portion of their deposits) to re-capitalize the banks. In Detroit, it is the municipal workers who are being bailed in, stripped of a major portion of their pensions to save the banks.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Long History of State Surveillance From Privy Councils to FISA Courts / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: MISES
Joey Clark writes: As the song [1] says, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
State power, i.e., power derived from the “political means” of acquiring wealth through force, is nothing more than a pestilence sapping the peace and prosperity of all humankind, and has been manifest in many cruel and unique forms. Whether it be the whip on the back, the sword on the throat, the gun in the face, or grand global hostage taking via the threat of nuclear destruction, it is clear that state power is nothing more than immoral aggression — logically posterior, parasitic, and subservient to economic power, i.e., power derived from the “economic means” of acquiring wealth through production and voluntary trade. Whereas economic power creates wealth and shares this fruit, state power steals wealth and squanders its spoils.
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Sunday, August 11, 2013
Saudi Arabia’s Real Agenda for Syria / Politics / Middle East
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Syria is a dirty war being waged through paid-for proxies by the West and partnering Gulf monarchies.
Don’t think for a moment that the US government are not involved in some way – logistically or otherwise, or that the CIA and others are not working with these terrorists in Syria. At the very least, the US, UK and others have valuable military assets, special forces and ‘trainers’ on the ground in Jordan and Turkey, and likely have agents operating inside Syria itself. But take a look at who’s pulling the expensive strings behind the scenes thus far…
Friday, August 09, 2013
Jon Corzine: The Face of American Crony Capitalism / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: This week, House Republicans called for a criminal probe of Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and former CEO of MF Global. Republicans allege that Corzine may have committed perjury when testifying in front of Congress after his firm's collapse.
Actually, Corzine personally ran MF Global into the ground.
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Friday, August 09, 2013
How SEC "Revolving Doors" Protects Wall Street's Fraudsters / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: A funny thing happened on Robert Khuzami's way to a $5 million-a-year job.
By funny I mean sickening; by sickening I mean a travesty of a mockery of a sham; by a travesty of a mockery of a sham I mean how the operatives at the SEC sometimes operate.
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Friday, August 09, 2013
Panic in the Public State Schools / Politics / Educating Children
By: Gary_North
The so-called common core standards will not survive. That’s because public school students can’t pass the tests.
New York State got the test results. Across the state, 69% could not pass in English, and the same was true for math. It was worse in New York City.
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Thursday, August 08, 2013
Washington Thinks American's Are Stupid Sheeple / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
There’s the old saying that if the government fears the people, there is liberty, but if the people fear the government there is tyranny. The criminals in Washington not only do not fear us, they do not respect us. Washington looks upon Americans as stupid sheeple.
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Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Peak Culture And De-Evolution / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
PEAK EVOLUTION
Nadeem Walayat's thought-provoking article with this title, underlines that even using a criterium as basic as cranial volume and therefore brain weight humans may have lost about 150 cc of brain capacity, about 10% of the current homo sapiens sapiens average, in the last 10 000 years. To be sure, intracranial folding, which is a supreme human trait with negative tradeoffs on visual and aural acuity may well have compensated that, concerning our basic 'mechanical aptitude' to think.
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
In Obama's America, the Harder You Work, the Less You Make / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes: The harder we work, the less we make. That seems to be the mantra of the Obama recovery. That is, if we have a job.
In the last four years, real median household income has fallen during both the recession and the recovery. Amazing. It's like still standing in the muck after the ebb tide.
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Tuesday, August 06, 2013
The State And Terror - Bentham, Benthics And The All-Seeing Eye / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
In a totally childish tantrum due to Putin's humiliating rebuttal of State Dept. attempts to extract Edward Snowden from Russia, it has issued lurid terror warning and closed nearly two dozen embassy and consulate buildings in “terror plagued” Middle Eastern and Arab countries, especially Yemen. Interpol has been wheeled on stage in this naked diversionary tactic, announcing that as many as 150 extremely dangerous prisoners with Al Qaeda links have escaped from prisons “in countries like Iraq and Libya”. When and how they escaped was not communicated. For European holidaymakers there is now the risk of a bearded terrorist being in the next-door-car to you in those traditional holiday 50-kilometre long, 6-lane traffic jams on highways leading to and from Mediterranean tourist venues. The person sitting next to you in those budget airline flights to the same venues could be a terrorist, armed with an explosive toothpaste tube, killer shoes, or whatever. But absolutely not a boxcutter!
Monday, August 05, 2013
How China's One-Child Policy Will Transform the Future Global Economy / Politics / Demographics
By: Money_Morning
Tara Clarke writes: In 1979, China implemented a one-child policy in an effort to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in the country.
Government officials indicate that the policy prevented over 250 million births between 1980 and 2000, and 400 million births between 1979 and 2011.
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Monday, August 05, 2013
Groupthink in Service of Government / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
If the human race survives into the future, the history of the current age will be entitled – A Love Affair with Authority. As the 21st century unfolds, the existential struggle between group worship of government and an inherent autonomy revolt against a popular culture of state obedience seems to forecast doom for civilization. By any measurable standard of success, the prospects of rescuing a society based upon human dignity and natural law is vanishing in a technocratic system of coerced compliance and punitive punishment. The limits of individual behavior are severely restricted to the requirements of the State and the willful confines of self-induced conformity.
Monday, August 05, 2013
Peak Evolution - Benefits Culture, Shrinking Brains, Are Human's De-Evolving? / Politics / Science
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The spark for insights into arriving at final trend conclusions for financial markets and economic indicators can originate far removed from the technical studies of markets i.e. as a consequence of focusing on the key mega-trends, and none is more mega than that for the evolutionary trend of the human species and the probable direction that it is likely to trend towards, which is the focus of this article.
Monday, August 05, 2013
Why Won't They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
In 2001, the Patriot Act opened the door to US government monitoring of Americans without a warrant. It was unconstitutional, but most in Congress over my strong objection were so determined to do something after the attacks of 9/11 that they did not seem to give it too much thought. Civil liberties groups were concerned, and some of us in Congress warned about giving up our liberties even in the post-9/11 panic. But at the time most Americans did not seem too worried about the intrusion.
Sunday, August 04, 2013
Detroit Bankruptcy and the Drive Toward Dictatorship / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
The bankruptcy of Detroit is being widely cited in the media as a model for the use of unelected officials and bankruptcy courts to rip up agreements and impose sweeping cuts on the pensions and health benefits of public employees, not only in Detroit, but in cities across the United States.
The Obama administration has rejected any federal aid to ameliorate the financial crisis of Detroit and counter the effort of state and city officials, fronting for the banks and bondholders, to use bankruptcy to gut workers’ benefits. This makes it clear that the Detroit bankruptcy is part of a broader nationwide policy that is being coordinated by the White House.
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