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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
October 24, 2012
from the Detroit Metro Times:
Criminal injustice
U.S. prison system dwarfs other nations', but what does it really cost us?
By Curt Guyette
Published: October 24, 2012
Among other highlights of the labor history conference at Wayne State University last week was a keynote presentation given by Heather Ann Thompson, an associate professor of history at Philadelphia's Temple University.
A Detroit native, Thompson authored 2001's Whose Detroit: Politics, Labor and Race in a Modern American City, which focuses "in detail on the struggles of Motor City residents during the 1960s and early 1970s and finds that conflict continued to plague the inner city and its workplaces even after Great Society liberals committed themselves to improving conditions."
But for her talk at the conference, Thompson focused on crime and punishment.
In terms of what's going on in America these days, mass incarceration is the "elephant in the room," Thompson said as she began a jaw-dropping presentation. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/news/criminal-injustice-1.1392513
Criminal injustice: U.S. prison system dwarfs other nations', but what does it really cost us?
from the Detroit Metro Times:
Criminal injustice
U.S. prison system dwarfs other nations', but what does it really cost us?
By Curt Guyette
Published: October 24, 2012
Among other highlights of the labor history conference at Wayne State University last week was a keynote presentation given by Heather Ann Thompson, an associate professor of history at Philadelphia's Temple University.
A Detroit native, Thompson authored 2001's Whose Detroit: Politics, Labor and Race in a Modern American City, which focuses "in detail on the struggles of Motor City residents during the 1960s and early 1970s and finds that conflict continued to plague the inner city and its workplaces even after Great Society liberals committed themselves to improving conditions."
But for her talk at the conference, Thompson focused on crime and punishment.
In terms of what's going on in America these days, mass incarceration is the "elephant in the room," Thompson said as she began a jaw-dropping presentation. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/news/criminal-injustice-1.1392513
October 24, 2012
Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports
11:45PM EDT October 23. 2012 - SAN FRANCISCO -- The Detroit Tigers sat back in Motown this past week and watched the cute little story unfold in the National League.
They saw the San Francisco Giants pull off their Lazarus act time and time again, winning a record six consecutive elimination games, and become overnight media darlings.
They're starting to wonder if these guy dress in a clubhouse or a TV studio, where they can rehearse their zany skits and goofy pregame antics.
The Tigers are sorry to ruin the ending to this charming show, but the Giants' season is over.
Detroit will win the World Series in five games. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2012/10/23/world-series-analysis-why-the-tigers-will-win/1653505/
USA Today: Detroit won't waste time in winning Series
Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports
11:45PM EDT October 23. 2012 - SAN FRANCISCO -- The Detroit Tigers sat back in Motown this past week and watched the cute little story unfold in the National League.
They saw the San Francisco Giants pull off their Lazarus act time and time again, winning a record six consecutive elimination games, and become overnight media darlings.
They're starting to wonder if these guy dress in a clubhouse or a TV studio, where they can rehearse their zany skits and goofy pregame antics.
The Tigers are sorry to ruin the ending to this charming show, but the Giants' season is over.
Detroit will win the World Series in five games. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2012/10/23/world-series-analysis-why-the-tigers-will-win/1653505/
October 24, 2012
https://vimeo.com/51733385
Bill Moyers Essay: When Bosses Push Their Politics
October 19, 2012
Bill shares his thoughts on corporate executives who — enabled by the Citizens United ruling — strong-arm their employees to vote as they say, from the Murray Energy CEO who reportedly made his workers spend unpaid time at a pro-Romney rally; to David and Charles Koch, who sent anti-Obama and pro-Romney materials to the 45,000 employees of their subsidiary Georgia Pacific; to ASG Solutions boss Arthur Allen, who sent an intimidating email to his employees. Learn more about corporate executives who make politics their company’s new bottom line.
http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-when-bosses-push-their-politics/
Bill Moyers Essay: When Bosses Push Their Politics
https://vimeo.com/51733385
Bill Moyers Essay: When Bosses Push Their Politics
October 19, 2012
Bill shares his thoughts on corporate executives who — enabled by the Citizens United ruling — strong-arm their employees to vote as they say, from the Murray Energy CEO who reportedly made his workers spend unpaid time at a pro-Romney rally; to David and Charles Koch, who sent anti-Obama and pro-Romney materials to the 45,000 employees of their subsidiary Georgia Pacific; to ASG Solutions boss Arthur Allen, who sent an intimidating email to his employees. Learn more about corporate executives who make politics their company’s new bottom line.
http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-when-bosses-push-their-politics/
October 23, 2012
Joe Klein's sociopathic defense of drone killings of children
Reflecting the Obama legacy and US culture, the Time columnist says: "the bottom line is: 'whose 4-year-olds get killed?'"
Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2012
On MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning, which focused on Monday's night presidential debate, the former right-wing Congressman and current host Joe Scarborough voiced an eloquent and impassioned critique of President Obama's ongoing killing of innocent people in the Muslim world using drones. In response, Time Magazine's Joe Klein, a stalwart Obama supporter, offered one of the most nakedly sociopathic defenses yet heard of these killings. This exchange, which begins at roughly the 7:00 minute mark on the video embedded below, is quite revealing in several respects.
Here are the relevant portions of the exchange, which was triggered when regular guest Mike Barnicle announced how amazing he found it that so little public attention and debate is paid to the fact that Obama simply kills whomever he wants "without any kind of due process":
There are several points worth noting about this exchange:
(1) Klein's justification - we have to kill their children in order to protect our children - is the exact mentality of every person deemed in US discourse to be a "terrorist". Almost every single person arrested and prosecuted over the last decade on terrorism charges, when asked why they were willing to kill innocent Americans including children, offered some version of Joe Klein's mindset. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/klein-drones-morning-joe
Joe Klein's sociopathic defense of drone killings of children
Joe Klein's sociopathic defense of drone killings of children
Reflecting the Obama legacy and US culture, the Time columnist says: "the bottom line is: 'whose 4-year-olds get killed?'"
Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2012
On MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning, which focused on Monday's night presidential debate, the former right-wing Congressman and current host Joe Scarborough voiced an eloquent and impassioned critique of President Obama's ongoing killing of innocent people in the Muslim world using drones. In response, Time Magazine's Joe Klein, a stalwart Obama supporter, offered one of the most nakedly sociopathic defenses yet heard of these killings. This exchange, which begins at roughly the 7:00 minute mark on the video embedded below, is quite revealing in several respects.
Here are the relevant portions of the exchange, which was triggered when regular guest Mike Barnicle announced how amazing he found it that so little public attention and debate is paid to the fact that Obama simply kills whomever he wants "without any kind of due process":
SCARBOROUGH: "What we're doing with drones is remarkable: the fact that over the past eight years during the Bush years - when a lot of people brought up some legitimate questions about international law - my God, those lines have been completely eradicated by a drone policy that says: if you're between 17 and 30, and within a half-mile of a suspect, we can blow you up, and that's exactly what's happening . . . . They are focused on killing the bad guys, but it is indiscriminate as to other people who are around them at the same time . . . . it is something that will cause us problems in the coming years" . . . .
KLEIN: "I completely disagree with you. . . . It has been remarkably successful" --
SCARBOROUGH: "at killing people" --
KLEIN: "At decimating bad people, taking out a lot of bad people - and saving Americans lives as well, because our troops don't have to do this . . . You don't need pilots any more because you do it with a joystick in California."
SCARBOROUGH: "This is offensive to me, though. Because you do it with a joystick in California - and it seems so antiseptic - it seems so clean - and yet you have 4-year-old girls being blown to bits because we have a policy that now says: 'you know what? Instead of trying to go in and take the risk and get the terrorists out of hiding in a Karachi suburb, we're just going to blow up everyone around them.'
"This is what bothers me. . . . We don't detain people any more: we kill them, and we kill everyone around them. . . . I hate to sound like a Code Pink guy here. I'm telling you this quote 'collateral damage' - it seems so clean with a joystick from California - this is going to cause the US problems in the future."
KLEIN: "If it is misused, and there is a really major possibility of abuse if you have the wrong people running the government. But: the bottom line in the end is - whose 4-year-old get killed? What we're doing is limiting the possibility that 4-year-olds here will get killed by indiscriminate acts of terror."
There are several points worth noting about this exchange:
(1) Klein's justification - we have to kill their children in order to protect our children - is the exact mentality of every person deemed in US discourse to be a "terrorist". Almost every single person arrested and prosecuted over the last decade on terrorism charges, when asked why they were willing to kill innocent Americans including children, offered some version of Joe Klein's mindset. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/klein-drones-morning-joe
October 23, 2012
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism
Commentary: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Requiem music soars, capitalism’s grand finale. Death by self-inflicted economicus extremis. Undead enemies, wounded zombies, ghouls, ghosts, vampires seek revenge, want blood.
For over two centuries capitalists have been dissecting and replacing body parts on Adam Smith’s theories, patching together a monster Frankenstein Economics. Once it worked for the whole economy. But now the monster is on a rampage, destroying itself, failing the nation that gave it life.
Cue music. An ominous fog. The beat of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” consumes the cemetery of economic horrors: “Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood.” Crypts in the Adam Smith mausoleum are readied to hold the failing parts of a dying Frankenstein Economics, to hold the doomed parts for all eternity.
.........(snip).........
1. Capitalists losing control of the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith’s capitalism believed the Invisible Hand would benefit everyone, the entire economy. But capitalists now control Smith’s Invisible Hand, using it to protect their personal wealth, gain more power. Traditional economists keep the pattern alive, like “True Blood” vampire squids surviving from ancient times, still haunting Wall Street. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frankenstein-economics-is-killing-capitalism-2012-10-23?link=home_carousel
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism
Commentary: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Requiem music soars, capitalism’s grand finale. Death by self-inflicted economicus extremis. Undead enemies, wounded zombies, ghouls, ghosts, vampires seek revenge, want blood.
For over two centuries capitalists have been dissecting and replacing body parts on Adam Smith’s theories, patching together a monster Frankenstein Economics. Once it worked for the whole economy. But now the monster is on a rampage, destroying itself, failing the nation that gave it life.
Cue music. An ominous fog. The beat of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” consumes the cemetery of economic horrors: “Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood.” Crypts in the Adam Smith mausoleum are readied to hold the failing parts of a dying Frankenstein Economics, to hold the doomed parts for all eternity.
.........(snip).........
1. Capitalists losing control of the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith’s capitalism believed the Invisible Hand would benefit everyone, the entire economy. But capitalists now control Smith’s Invisible Hand, using it to protect their personal wealth, gain more power. Traditional economists keep the pattern alive, like “True Blood” vampire squids surviving from ancient times, still haunting Wall Street. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frankenstein-economics-is-killing-capitalism-2012-10-23?link=home_carousel
October 23, 2012
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism
Commentary: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Requiem music soars, capitalism’s grand finale. Death by self-inflicted economicus extremis. Undead enemies, wounded zombies, ghouls, ghosts, vampires seek revenge, want blood.
For over two centuries capitalists have been dissecting and replacing body parts on Adam Smith’s theories, patching together a monster Frankenstein Economics. Once it worked for the whole economy. But now the monster is on a rampage, destroying itself, failing the nation that gave it life.
Cue music. An ominous fog. The beat of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” consumes the cemetery of economic horrors: “Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood.” Crypts in the Adam Smith mausoleum are readied to hold the failing parts of a dying Frankenstein Economics, to hold the doomed parts for all eternity.
.........(snip).........
1. Capitalists losing control of the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith’s capitalism believed the Invisible Hand would benefit everyone, the entire economy. But capitalists now control Smith’s Invisible Hand, using it to protect their personal wealth, gain more power. Traditional economists keep the pattern alive, like “True Blood” vampire squids surviving from ancient times, still haunting Wall Street. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frankenstein-economics-is-killing-capitalism-2012-10-23?link=home_carousel
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
Frankenstein Economics is killing capitalism
Commentary: Final 8 body parts for Adam Smith’s mausoleum
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Requiem music soars, capitalism’s grand finale. Death by self-inflicted economicus extremis. Undead enemies, wounded zombies, ghouls, ghosts, vampires seek revenge, want blood.
For over two centuries capitalists have been dissecting and replacing body parts on Adam Smith’s theories, patching together a monster Frankenstein Economics. Once it worked for the whole economy. But now the monster is on a rampage, destroying itself, failing the nation that gave it life.
Cue music. An ominous fog. The beat of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” consumes the cemetery of economic horrors: “Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood.” Crypts in the Adam Smith mausoleum are readied to hold the failing parts of a dying Frankenstein Economics, to hold the doomed parts for all eternity.
.........(snip).........
1. Capitalists losing control of the Invisible Hand
Adam Smith’s capitalism believed the Invisible Hand would benefit everyone, the entire economy. But capitalists now control Smith’s Invisible Hand, using it to protect their personal wealth, gain more power. Traditional economists keep the pattern alive, like “True Blood” vampire squids surviving from ancient times, still haunting Wall Street. ............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frankenstein-economics-is-killing-capitalism-2012-10-23?link=home_carousel
October 23, 2012
Published on Oct 13, 2012 by talkingsticktv
Talk by Gar Alperovitz author of "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy" recorded October 3, 2012 at Town Hall Seattle in Seattle, WA by Todd Boyle.
Gar Alperovitz - America Beyond Capitalism
Published on Oct 13, 2012 by talkingsticktv
Talk by Gar Alperovitz author of "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy" recorded October 3, 2012 at Town Hall Seattle in Seattle, WA by Todd Boyle.
October 23, 2012
Published on Oct 19, 2012 by ExplodedView MEF
Noam Chomsky explains how public opinion and political policy differ and why often undecided voters vote for policies that are opposite public opinion. This was an excerpt from a talk sponsored by the Center for Popular Economics in Amherst, MA on Sept 27, 2012 called "Who Owns the World? Resistance and the Way Forward."
Noam Chomsky: An Uninformed Electorate Votes Against Its Best Interests
Published on Oct 19, 2012 by ExplodedView MEF
Noam Chomsky explains how public opinion and political policy differ and why often undecided voters vote for policies that are opposite public opinion. This was an excerpt from a talk sponsored by the Center for Popular Economics in Amherst, MA on Sept 27, 2012 called "Who Owns the World? Resistance and the Way Forward."
October 23, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas promotional company that paid millions of dollars to Lance Armstrong for winning the Tour de France said on Monday it was considering legal action to get the money back after the American cyclist was stripped of his Tour titles.
Armstrong had his seven Tour de France victories nullified and was banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against him.
Dallas-based SCA Promotions paid Armstrong $7.5 million for winning his sixth Tour title in 2004 - $5 million as a performance bonus and $2.5 million in interest and attorney fees - as part of a 2006 legal settlement. Armstrong had sued SCA when it withheld the payment after doping allegations against him surfaced.
Tailwind Sports, the owner of Armstrong's U.S. Postal team, had promised the cyclist a $5 million bonus if he won a sixth Tour title and it took out insurance coverage with SCA. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/company-paid-lance-armstrong-bonuses-wants-money-back-004211160--spt.html
Company that paid Lance Armstrong bonuses wants money back
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas promotional company that paid millions of dollars to Lance Armstrong for winning the Tour de France said on Monday it was considering legal action to get the money back after the American cyclist was stripped of his Tour titles.
Armstrong had his seven Tour de France victories nullified and was banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against him.
Dallas-based SCA Promotions paid Armstrong $7.5 million for winning his sixth Tour title in 2004 - $5 million as a performance bonus and $2.5 million in interest and attorney fees - as part of a 2006 legal settlement. Armstrong had sued SCA when it withheld the payment after doping allegations against him surfaced.
Tailwind Sports, the owner of Armstrong's U.S. Postal team, had promised the cyclist a $5 million bonus if he won a sixth Tour title and it took out insurance coverage with SCA. .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/company-paid-lance-armstrong-bonuses-wants-money-back-004211160--spt.html
October 23, 2012
from LiberationNews.org:
The LIBOR scandal, part two
Class-action suits claim losses due to bank rigging of benchmark interest rate
By Jon Britton
October 20, 2012
Homeowners, local governments, community banks and others have brought a series of class-action lawsuits claiming losses due to the rigging of the benchmark interest rate known as LIBOR. A group of homeowners filed suit earlier this month in New York federal court alleging that they had been cheated due to the rate's manipulation by the global banks involved in setting it.
LIBOR became the focus of headlines earlier this year when British banking giant Barclays admitted to manipulating it, reaching a $453 million settlement June 27 with U.S. and U.K. regulators. Other banks involved in setting LIBOR include JPMorgan, UBS, Citigroup and HSBC. All have said that they also are cooperating with investigations of the scandal, and additional settlements are expected.
The London Interbank Offered Rate is actually a collection of rates generated for 10 currencies across 15 different time periods, ranging from one day to one year. It is supposed to measure the cost of borrowing between the world's largest banks, generating rates that are used as benchmarks for an estimated $10 trillion in loans and some $350 trillion in derivatives. (Derivatives are bets on the movements of interest rates or prices of underlying assets over specific periods of time.)
The key fact brought out in the homeowners' lawsuit is that between 2000 and 2009 the banks that set the six-month, U.S.-dollar LIBOR consistently pushed it up on the first business day of each month. Those just happen to be the days on which adjustable-rate mortgages "reset"—generating a new value for the variable rate that borrowers pay on their mortgages based on the current LIBOR value plus an additional percentage as specified in the mortgage contracts. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/the-libor-scandal-part-two.html
LIBOR scandal, Pt. 2: Class-action suits claim losses due to bank rigging of benchmark interest rate
from LiberationNews.org:
The LIBOR scandal, part two
Class-action suits claim losses due to bank rigging of benchmark interest rate
By Jon Britton
October 20, 2012
Homeowners, local governments, community banks and others have brought a series of class-action lawsuits claiming losses due to the rigging of the benchmark interest rate known as LIBOR. A group of homeowners filed suit earlier this month in New York federal court alleging that they had been cheated due to the rate's manipulation by the global banks involved in setting it.
LIBOR became the focus of headlines earlier this year when British banking giant Barclays admitted to manipulating it, reaching a $453 million settlement June 27 with U.S. and U.K. regulators. Other banks involved in setting LIBOR include JPMorgan, UBS, Citigroup and HSBC. All have said that they also are cooperating with investigations of the scandal, and additional settlements are expected.
The London Interbank Offered Rate is actually a collection of rates generated for 10 currencies across 15 different time periods, ranging from one day to one year. It is supposed to measure the cost of borrowing between the world's largest banks, generating rates that are used as benchmarks for an estimated $10 trillion in loans and some $350 trillion in derivatives. (Derivatives are bets on the movements of interest rates or prices of underlying assets over specific periods of time.)
The key fact brought out in the homeowners' lawsuit is that between 2000 and 2009 the banks that set the six-month, U.S.-dollar LIBOR consistently pushed it up on the first business day of each month. Those just happen to be the days on which adjustable-rate mortgages "reset"—generating a new value for the variable rate that borrowers pay on their mortgages based on the current LIBOR value plus an additional percentage as specified in the mortgage contracts. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/the-libor-scandal-part-two.html
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