World Politics

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'm not going to defend the Robber Barons, but Jay Gould is someone whose name became synonymous with deeds beyond the scope of anything he accomplished. There's no doubt he capitalized on the time. But it was also a time of the industrial revolution and great productivity, and progress, with himself and his companies one of the greatest producers. I'm not implying he was a man of the people, and his philanthropy was nothing compared to Andrew Carnegie for example. Not even close. But the "robber barons" of today dwarf Gould's actions. At least he was productive, attempted to create infrastructure for the better of the country in some way. Today's robber barons would it seems be happy shipping all jobs overseas to slave labor, while producing absolutely nothing in the process.

 

[rhubroma]

What's happening in Italy? Berlusconi just won a finance bill but the opposition abstained and BBC World service are saying he may have lost his majority.

He lost the majority. Eight traitors!

 

[redtreviso]

I'm not going to defend the Robber Barons, but Jay Gould is someone whose name became synonymous with deeds beyond the scope of anything he accomplished. There's no doubt he capitalized on the time. But it was also a time of the industrial revolution and great productivity, and progress, with himself and his companies one of the greatest producers. I'm not implying he was a man of the people, and his philanthropy was nothing compared to Andrew Carnegie for example. Not even close. But the "robber barons" of today dwarf Gould's actions. At least he was productive, attempted to create infrastructure for the better of the country in some way. Today's robber barons would it seems be happy shipping all jobs overseas to slave labor, while producing absolutely nothing in the process.

But the point is 124 years ago he said """I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half."" and there are those trying everything to replay that era for their own benefit against BOTH halfs. I don't give a ff what Gould ever did. That's like getting all gushy about Alfred Nobel

 

[ramjambunath]

He lost the majority. Eight traitors!

Trust vote ensuing?
Was it a controversial bill and the members being against the particular bill or is it that the MPs are against the govt in general now?

 

[rhubroma]

This reflects poorly particularly on Obama. But it's no real surprise.

For what? Or is the US really owned by Israel?

I guess you think bombing Iran is a good idea.

Meanwhile we read today about the B100 Bus, Brooklyn, a public route, though managed privately (how could we but doubt), mostly used by Hassidic Jews and on which only men can sit in the front rows. Women have to take the back seats.

This zone of NY between Williamsburg and Borough Park seems like the mitteleuropean ghettoes of the ealy XIX century in the times of Franz Kafka. The same clothes, the same black and white panorama.

However a NY woman, whose identity hasn't been revealed, decided to go counter-current and sit up front, which provoked the outrage of the Hassidic male passengers. So during the celebration of Shemini Atzeret the B100 has been suspended.

And, look at the case, even the intervention of the major was without consequence. The bus will continue, segregation and all.

 

[rhubroma]

Trust vote ensuing?
Was it a controversial bill and the members being against the particular bill or is it that the MPs are against the govt in general now?

Well the bill, which had to do with the measures to bring Italy's debt back within the acceptable EU parameters, passed. However, Berlusconi's PDL party is no longer unified and, consequently, his government is effectively a lame duck. Whether or not there will be a vote of trust, I really don't know. I only can confirm that B has raised the proverbial white flag.

Berlusconi met with the Italian president Napolitano yesterday to discuss his exit from the political scene. We don't know yet, however, if there will be a vote to form a new government, which the right wing coaliton favors, or, as the left would prefer, there will be a temporary "technical" government made up of a coalition from the right and left to get through the delicate economic/EU moment and then have a vote.

We don't know yet which will be the case though.

 

[rhubroma]

My final word on this issue. Hebdo's cartoons were certainly not a la Swift, but done in the spirit of sensationalism and he knew what the repercussions might well be (maybe the added sales were worth it). Such satirical sensationalism is like a badly aimed flamethrower. In order for satire to work, it has to make readers think. Extreme Islamists are not open to such satire and it alienates the moderates.

Of course the reaction was way out of proportion. I'm not saying that we should appease the terrorists, but provoking them with words will not work. Those who carry out terrorist attacks of any kind must be brought to justice. With moderates of any kind, we should always use tolerance and reason. As I said, the extremists must be seen as extremists in "their own camp".

Of course I don't put Hebdo's satire in the class of Swift, or the others.

However, because the reaction was way out of proportion and in my secular Western mentality, I'm inclined to side with the real victims in this case, who aren't the religious. And I'm waiting for the Islamic moderates to take a unified stand, in the name of their religion, against such heinous acts.

I'm still waiting though.

 

[rhubroma]

I'm not going to defend the Robber Barons, but Jay Gould is someone whose name became synonymous with deeds beyond the scope of anything he accomplished. There's no doubt he capitalized on the time. But it was also a time of the industrial revolution and great productivity, and progress, with himself and his companies one of the greatest producers. I'm not implying he was a man of the people, and his philanthropy was nothing compared to Andrew Carnegie for example. Not even close. But the "robber barons" of today dwarf Gould's actions. At least he was productive, attempted to create infrastructure for the better of the country in some way. Today's robber barons would it seems be happy shipping all jobs overseas to slave labor, while producing absolutely nothing in the process.

Jay Gould became one of the richest (and most hated) men in industrial America at the time through manipulation at the stock market, speculation and bribes.

He became famous through his paid scabs (during strikes) for crushing the Knights of Labor union. He even bragged about it stating: "I can hire half of the working class in order to kill the other half."

So, like J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, Gould was a Robber Baron who emulated the medieval European nobility, in so far as he built his wealth (through finance) by first and foremost crushing all resistance to his power.

While they enjoyed their fabulous porfits, the working class paid a heavy price: in the factories and mines, impossible hours for miserable wages, death and mutilations. This was what the great productivity and so called progress was built upon, prepotency, exploitation and misery. And now we've simply moved it over seas.

 

[ramjambunath]

Well the bill, which had to do with the measures to bring Italy's debt back within the acceptable EU parameters, passed. However, Berlusconi's PDL party is no longer unified and, consequently, his government is effectively a lame duck. Whether or not there will be a vote of trust, I really don't know. I only can confirm that B has raised the proverbial white flag.

Berlusconi met with the Italian president Napolitano yesterday to discuss his exit from the political scene. We don't know yet, however, if there will be a vote to form a new government, which the right wing coaliton favors, or, as the left would prefer, there will be a temporary "technical" government made up of a coalition from the right and left to get through the delicate economic/EU moment and then have a vote.

We don't know yet which will be the case though.

It must be serious when he does that.
He's trying to exit the political scene? That really is a shocker. What after that- just his football team AC Milan? Will his retiring/exit really change anything as he is still so influential in the media sector and can prop up candidates who he wishes.

 

[rhubroma]

It must be serious when he does that.
He's trying to exit the political scene? That really is a shocker. What after that- just his football team AC Milan? Will his retiring/exit really change anything as he is still so influential in the media sector and can prop up candidates who he wishes.

He was only ever in the political scene to begin with to safegaurd his business interests. Whether or not this is a grand exit, I don't know. The man's 75 though so how much longer has he got?

I'll explain B better later. For now, gotta fly....

Cheers

 

[ramjambunath]

Silvio Berlusconi: I will not run again in early polls

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi says he will not stand if Italy holds early elections, a day after promising to resign as soon as parliament passes urgent budget reforms.

"I will resign as soon as the law is passed, and, since I believe there is no other majority possible, I see elections being held at the beginning of February and I will not be a candidate in them," he said.

While Mr Berlusconi's party wants fresh elections, the opposition wants a national unity government.

It is expected that Italy's parliament could approve by the end of the month a package of reforms to shore up the economy, which is badly affected by the Eurozone debt crisis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15650842

 

[Amsterhammer]

I have loathed this *** for as long as I can remember. I sincerely hope that he gets found guilty in the remaining court cases against him and spends his last few years in jail, without teenage hookers and champagne.

However, I accept that the chances of such a demise are extremely unlikely since Don Silvio will, no doubt, find someone to take the fall for him.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Hank Skinner, a $550 DNA test and the price of Texas justice

The average death row case costs $2.3m, yet Texas is denying Skinner a $550 DNA test that could prove his innocence

$550. That's how much it costs to test a murder weapon for DNA in Texas. And if Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner is to be believed, $550 would prove his innocence. But the state of Texas has refused to do it – twice – even though Skinner has been asking nicely for well over a decade from his 12ft-by-6ft cell.

The Texas court of criminal appeals rejected Skinner's application for DNA testing to be performed on blood taken from the murder scene, saying it prohibits post-conviction testing unless – and this is key – "a reasonable probability exists that DNA tests would prove the prisoner's innocence."

In other words, Skinner needs to basically prove he is innocent before he can have the murder weapon tested, which he says will prove he's innocent. That makes sense, then.

Last week, more than a dozen current and former prosecutors and lawmakers sent a letter to Perry urging him to delay Skinner's execution to allow for DNA testing. "We … share grave and growing concerns about the state's stubborn refusal to date to test all the evidence in the Skinner case," it read. One of the signatories was former Texas Governor Mark White. But Perry is stubborn when it comes to criminal justice, next year is election year, and he has his sights firmly on the White House.

He also thinks America is on his side when it comes to the death penalty. At the same debate in which he lauded Texas's justice system, Perry claimed the "vast majority" of people were supportive of capital punishment. Actually, it's far from "vast": a Gallup poll just last month (pdf) showed 61% of Americans approved of using the death penalty – the lowest since 1972.

One of the reasons is the expense. It costs an estimated $2.3m per death penalty case in Texas (pdf), due to legal fees and the number of appeals – one of the reasons it's finding less favour among fiscal conservatives these days.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/02/hank-skinner-price-texas-justice


Rick Perry's Texas justice.

 

[Amsterhammer]

First-ever nationwide test of Emergency Alert System set for Wednesday

Washington (CNN) -- "This is a test. This is only a test."

When millions of Americans hear that warning at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, the words will sound familiar, but the occasion will be historic. It will mark the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, a system with Cold War roots that enables the president to address the American public within 10 minutes from any location at any time.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/08/us/emergency-alert-test/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I expect Tea baggers to denounce this as more evidence of socialist big government.

 

[rhubroma]

Recently Silvio Berlusconi amidst mounting pressures to step down said that he would, if not for the disasterous effects this would have for his businesses.

And herein lies the atrocious legacy of his political career: a conflict of interests. Berlusconi, the self-made man, is hence the incarnation, made-in-Italy, of all that's wrong with capitalism and democracy today. One in which the poltical leadership and business have entered into a direct and incestuous relationship, for which the financial establishment, and hence capital, has an immediate consequence for setting the political agenda. Legality and ehtics, have, of course, become secondary considerations of trivial merit under this regime.

Only the political agony of Hiro Hito was longer than Berlusconi's.

Among the much gossip that has accompanied the recent Italian political reports, there was one that described the implacable absurdity of a situation in which Italy has been vegetating for almost the past 20 years. That gossip claims that Berlusconi's children, during their habitual Monday family lunch with papà, had asked him to hang in there in order to not damage his (their) companies. Such gossip, obviously, isn't verifiable. And perhaps it's only a malicious prank. But - unfrotunately - it is very much plausable, because the destinies of the politician and the businessman, have always been over the last 20 years irrevocably intertwined; in a depraved union between private interests and the public domain, which amounts to an unparalleld scandal in the history of European democracy.

The fact that after all these years one gets naucious by only indicating this conflict of interests, and even just the sound of the expression is mortifying for the millions of times that it has been spoken and written down; doesn't at all detract from the truth that it has really been this, the conflict of interests, which has been at the heart of Berlusconism. All that writ about those dangers of his promissed "neoliberal revolution", about his contorted political reasoning, the precient socio-economic analisis, the diatribes against the premier's private life and against the 20 ad personem laws he promoted to get out of his legal woes and save his business empire, are only the side dishes of a poisoned meal. Namely, the one which used politics as an extension of his business affairs: that's who Slivio Berlusconi has been.

Though, as I've already said, he is just representative of the problem, in its pure form, of today's democracy in the general sense. Especially under the neoliberal ideology.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

$550 DNA test that could prove his innocence
Rick Perry's Texas justice.

It seems like the least they could do is grant the DNA test to ensure they do not kill an inocent man.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

First-ever nationwide test of Emergency Alert System set for Wednesday



http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/08/us/emergency-alert-test/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I expect Tea baggers to denounce this as more evidence of socialist big government.

The Nationwide Emergency Alert System is a good thing. Or have I missed something?

To the point of socialist ....well President Obama is a socialist, that has nothing to do with the National Emergency Alert System.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

For what? Or is the US really owned by Israel?

I guess you think bombing Iran is a good idea.

Meanwhile we read today about the B100 Bus, Brooklyn, a public route, though managed privately (how could we but doubt), mostly used by Hassidic Jews and on which only men can sit in the front rows. Women have to take the back seats.

This zone of NY between Williamsburg and Borough Park seems like the mitteleuropean ghettoes of the ealy XIX century in the times of Franz Kafka. The same clothes, the same black and white panorama.

However a NY woman, whose identity hasn't been revealed, decided to go counter-current and sit up front, which provoked the outrage of the Hassidic male passengers. So during the celebration of Shemini Atzeret the B100 has been suspended.

And, look at the case, even the intervention of the major was without consequence. The bus will continue, segregation and all.

I don't think bombing Iran is a good idea. It is obvious that their nuclear program is for electrical needs only. The international community is doing everything that is needed. No way would the Iranian government consider making a nuclear bomb.

How could the USA and Israel live with themselves if they denied the Iranian people basic electricity?

 

[Amsterhammer]

It seems like the least they could do is grant the DNA test to ensure they do not kill an inocent man.

Wow, we agree on something.

The Nationwide Emergency Alert System is a good thing. Or have I missed something?

To the point of socialist ....well President Obama is a socialist, that has nothing to do with the National Emergency Alert System.

God knows I'm going to regret this, but go on, explain to me by what sort of definition any sane person who understands what socialism means can call Obama a socialist?

I didn't say that the alert system was not a good thing.

 

[Bala Verde]

I think Glenn is being sarcastic.

Another corruptico exposed

Special Report: The congressman with banks on the side

Gingrey was an obstetrician and proudly reports on his website that he has delivered 5,200 babies. He is a politician, representing Georgia's 11th congressional district since 2003 in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he's regarded as one of the most conservative lawmakers in the chamber.

He's also a banker, and that career isn't going so well.

In 2005 Gingrey helped found two banks, both near his Georgia district. He invested up to $500,000 in the two lenders - under House rules he's not required to disclose the exact amount - and took a seat on their boards.

One, the Bank of Ellijay, was shut down in 2010 and taken over by federal regulators at a cost of more than $60 million. The other, WestSide Bank, is saddled with a dangerously high burden of bad loans. From the beginning of 2006 through the third quarter of 2011 it has cumulative net losses of $15.7 million, based on records filed with the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Reuters has confirmed, however, that as a director he received stock warrants from both the Bank of Ellijay and WestSide Bank. (Warrants are similar to stock options, in that they give the holder the right to buy stock at a specific price at a future date.) As it turned out, the warrants have never become profitable either. But House ethics experts said that even if ultimately worthless, the warrants still amounted to a form of compensation, which likely means that Gingrey's board memberships broke House rules.

Christopher Marinac, managing principal of FIG Partners in Atlanta, a bank research firm, says that unlike traditional banks established to serve their communities through ordinary deposits and lending, most of the new entities were little more than get-rich-quick schemes designed to cash in on the boom. They issued loans almost exclusively to real estate developers, including their own board members.

Rather than building up ordinary deposits from local businesses and individuals, they backed these loans with costly "brokered deposits," obtained from Wall Street firms. Often referred to in the industry as "hot money," these deposits required the banks to pay higher interest rates than on ordinary accounts.

For example, the FDIC has filed two lawsuits against the current chairman of the Georgia Senate's banking committee, Jack S. Murphy. One seeks more than $70 million from Murphy and other former directors and officers of the failed Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia, accusing them of "implementing policies and procedures void of the most prudent lending controls."

Gingrey said in his e-mailed response to questions that WestSide had offered him a lower rate on the loan than other banks. Ethics experts say that giving a member of the House a lower rate than is available to other customers could be considered a banned gift under ethics rules. But Gingrey and WestSide's president both denied that the congressman had received any discount on the loan.

Like many other conservative lawmakers, Gingrey opposed the federal bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009. He voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, the plan that propped up the nation's largest banks. He also opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aimed at jump-starting the flagging economy, calling it a "dangerous myth that government spending will fix this economy."

But Gingrey does support one sort of federal bailout. Since 2009 he has urged the federal government to allocate billions of dollars to bail out troubled small, community banks -- banks such as Ellijay and WestSide.

 

[Amsterhammer]

I think Glenn is being sarcastic.

He constantly uses that epithet, which I find to be both insulting and outrageous in its inaccuracy. It's therefore hard to tell 'sarcasm' from the boy who cried wolf.

 

[ramjambunath]

IMF chief warns of a 'lost decade' for global economy

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that the global economy is at risk of being plunged into a "lost decade".

Ms Lagarde said the ongoing debt crisis in Europe has resulted in an uncertain outlook for the global economy.

The IMF chief added that whilst efforts to solve the crisis were heading in the right direction, more needed to be done to restore confidence.

Speaking in China, Ms Lagarde called upon Beijing to rebalance its economy.

"Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand," she said.

"We could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade," Ms Lagarde added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15649985

Irony? What does it mean?

 

[rhubroma]

I don't think bombing Iran is a good idea. It is obvious that their nuclear program is for electrical needs only. The international community is doing everything that is needed. No way would the Iranian government consider making a nuclear bomb.

How could the USA and Israel live with themselves if they denied the Iranian people basic electricity?

Of course Iran is seeking the bomb.

This only demonstrates the folly of our civilization, one that saw the US develop and deploy the world's first nuclear weapon, then build the first nuclear arsenal, support an Iranian political leader who begot Khomeini, that begot jihad, etc.

Or in supporting Israel unwaveringly, to the point of even remaining impervious to its many territorial crimes, which has only fueled the antipathy and a desire for revenge, as well as justice, in the Muslim world.

Meanwhile the US and Israel expect to have credibility in deciding who, and who doesn't, get to joint that pretty exclusive atomic club, and when neighboring ****stan has entered its dominion, while at the time America posed no obstruction.

The sheer inconsistency, randomness, and hypocrisy, makes credibility rather arduous don't you think? Neither do I understand and, at the same time, find hypocritical, the "scandal" about Obama saying to Sarkozy, in private, that he's pretty exasperated with Benjamin Netanyahu.

Seems pretty normal to me, given the current spectrum of international relations and stability. Plus the Russians vehemently oppose any plan to bomb Iran.

Thus if Iran is trying to build the a-bomb today, the world can also thank the US and Israel that it's doing so. Naturally the prospect of such a weapon in the hands of the religious fundamentalists is horrific, however, there is a radical religious brand of Israeli zealots who have also exercised an all too potent voice in the Knesset and nobody in the West is complaining too vocally about that. Whose intransigence has not allowed any hope of establishing a Palestinian state, thus bringing the whole world to the edge of a precipitous slope through the constant threat of a regional war that we could all get sucked into. Folly.

This, yes, is a clear case for which you'd better clean your yard first, before you tell your neighbor to clean his, and, if he doesn't, go to war against him.

After the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles, as well as the blatant Palestinian injustice, the US and Israel have on the one hand lost all international credibility and, on the other, played right into Teheran's hands. They have together created a situation in which Iran has been poised to become the regional power, and this is why it wants to join the atomic club: to defend its regional interests and, probably, to pass on what has been a long overdue bill, in the minds of the region's Muslim's, to Israel.

So now what? Lights on or lights out?

I leave it up to you to decide. But if its lights out, then you'd better get ready for the possibly unimaginable repercussions. At the same time such unimaginable repercussions, would, of course, also become a terrifying reality if Iran gets the bomb.

So, hey, all I can say is: Thank you! Thank you! and Thank you again!

In consolation, I think I'll curl up in bed tonight with Erasmus' In Praise of Folly.

 

[Anonymous]

I think Glenn is being sarcastic.

Another corruptico exposed

Special Report: The congressman with banks on the side

And possibly another;

According to multiple news reports, 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft sprang a number of questions on Pelosi at a recent press conference in Washington, D.C. about why legislation affecting credit-card swipe fees was not brought to the floor of the house for a vote late in 2008.

Earlier that year, Pelosi's husband, San Francisco businessman Paul Pelosi, purchased between $1 and $5 million in Visa stock. Visa, based in San Francisco, was undergoing a large IPO.

The 60 Minutes episode on the House party leaders' financial dealings is expected to air Sunday, Nov. 13.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/11/pelosi_visa_60_minutes.php

Nancy starts to fidget at about 1:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKXQZ4c6k8g

 

[Semper Fidelis]

He constantly uses that epithet, which I find to be both insulting and outrageous in its inaccuracy. It's therefore hard to tell 'sarcasm' from the boy who cried wolf.

Ok I obviously fail at sarcasm and humor. I will explain context of me calling President Obama a socialist. Where I work there is an abnormal amount of right wing types (not republicans but real right wing types) and I hear or overhear something along those lines or worse every day. I THOUGHT it was funny to post. I was not trying to insult you.