uawchild
uawchild's JournalThey all fear real questions. Problem is, a gutless media isn’t asking them
"The Republicans wage war on a straw man: Our political debates are frozen, and so is our democracy"
by BILL CURRY
("Bill Curry was White House counselor to President Clinton and a two-time Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut. He is at work on a book on President Obama and the politics of populism."
If you made a conscious decision to miss the Republican presidential debate, congratulations, you made the right call.
A point worth pondering isn’t how this debate was worse than all the others but how it was like them. I don’t just mean other 2016 presidential debates. I mean all recent political debate. We face hard choices we don’t know how to discuss, let alone make. This incapacity threatens our survival as much as the cancer of corruption consuming the body politic, so we must talk about it even if it means reliving Wednesday’s unpleasantness.
Republicans accuse CNBC of bias and bad behavior. Reading the transcript one is struck by the deference of most questions and the weakness of the follow-ups. John Harwood was snarky. So was Becky Quick, though less egregiously and less often. But no panelist was as rude to the candidates as the candidates were to one another. The candidates were even ruder to the panel, but Republicans don’t think reporters deserve respect. Whenever a candidate abused a reporter, everybody cheered.
The tone was set at the opening bell. Asked to cite a weakness, John Kasich said it was a great question, but not one he planned on answering. He instead attacked Carson and Trump, saying the party was “on the verge perhaps of picking someone who can’t do the job.” Naturally, Trump returned fire with a howitzer:
He was such a nice guy… but then his poll numbers tanked… that is why he is on the end… and he got nasty… nasty… So you know what? You can have him.
...
The CNBC debate never got close to what ails our economy. As I tell education reformers who are out to turn our children into better worker bees, it’s our democracy that’s broken, not our economy. If Congress had stayed out of Iraq, done a public option, raised the minimum wage, modernized public transit and led a transition to renewable energy — then the economy would be going gangbusters. Pass a few reforms and the middle class could even see some dough. We’re good workers. We need to be better citizens. And we need a better debate. It’s where good choices begin."
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/03/they_all_fear_real_questions_problem_is_a_gutless_media_isnt_asking_them/
MSF details hospital bombing
Source: Taipei Times (Taiwan)
HARROWING REPORT:The charity’s review of the US attack on the trauma center describes patients burning in their beds and medical staff decapitated by shrapnel
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on Thursday released chilling details from a devastating US bombing of an Afghan hospital, saying staff and patients had been decapitated, and lost their limbs, with some gunned down from the air.
The raid on Oct. 3 in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 30 people, sparking an avalanche of global condemnation and forcing the French-founded charity to close the trauma center.
An AC-130 gunship repeatedly bombed the hospital for about an hour even as MSF staff sent out harrowing messages to officials in Kabul and Washington, informing them of heavy casualties, the charity said in an internal review of the air strike.
The review described patients burning in their beds, medical staff decapitated by shrapnel and a nurse who suffered a “traumatic amputation” in the attack.
People were shot at, apparently from the plane, as they tried to flee the burning building, with some eyewitnesses cited in the report saying the shooting appeared to follow those on the run.
Read more: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/11/07/2003631914
"People were shot at, apparently from the plane, as they tried to flee the burning building, with some eyewitnesses cited in the report saying the shooting appeared to follow those on the run."
Good f-ing Lord.
So, was this just to deny hospital use to the Taliban, is that our "real politic" justification of this -- or are we sticking to the line that it was all an accident?
This is truly sickening and was done in our name.
Canada Is No Longer The U.S.'s Largest Trading Partner
"If the Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline didn’t bring this point home enough, here’s more evidence Canada is becoming less relevant to the United States: We have lost our long-standing status as the U.S.’s largest trading partner.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, China overtook Canada in the first nine months of this year to become America’s number-one trading partner.
The U.S.-Chinese trade relationship was worth US$441.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, compared to US$438.1 billion traded between the U.S. and Canada." But it’s not because Canada is selling less to the U.S. — it’s because the collapse in oil prices means what we sell to the U.S. is worth less than it used to be.
...
Still, many experts say that — with rapid growth in emerging-market economies, particularly in Asia — Canada will have to accept a different role in the global trade environment than it’s been used to."
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/06/canada-us-largest-trading-partner-china_n_8491278.html
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"Canada will have to accept a different role in the global trade environment than it’s been used to."
You mean kiss your middle class good bye, eh? There's a lot of that going around here in the US too.
TPP Trade Deal's Data Provisions Could Put Sensitive Canadian Info At Risk: Critics
CP | By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
"OTTAWA — Analysts say the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal places sensitive Canadian data such as health records at risk through provisions that open the door wider to cross-border data flows and offshore record storage.
The text of the deal between Canada and 11 other nations, made public Thursday, says countries must allow the business-related cross-border transfer of information — including personal data — by electronic means.
It also effectively bars governments from insisting on the use of local computer servers to store and access personal data — meaning the information could be hosted abroad and possibly more accessible to foreign police and security services."
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/05/trade-deal-s-data-provisions-could-put-sensitive-personal-info-at-risk-critics_n_8482884.html
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The devil's in the details, eh?
'Hope to see you again': China warship to U.S. destroyer after South China Sea patrol
Source: Reuters
As soon as the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached 12-nautical-mile territorial limits around one of China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea last week, a Chinese warship shadowing its movements began demanding answers.
"'Hey, you are in Chinese waters. What is your intention?'," it asked, as recounted to reporters on Thursday by Commander Robert Francis, commanding officer of the Lassen. His crew replied that they were operating in accordance with international law, and intended to transit past the island, carrying out what U.S. officials have called a freedom-of-navigation exercise designed to challenge China's claims to the strategic waterway.
...
Eventually, the Chinese destroyer that had followed the Lassen on its mission past the artificial islands peeled away.
"They were very cordial the entire time ... even before and after the Spratly islands transit," Francis said.
"When they left us they said, 'Hey, we're not going to be with you anymore. Wish you a pleasant voyage. Hope to see you again'." As for Francis and his crew of 300 sailors, they were unfazed by the intense media coverage of one of the most highly anticipated U.S. naval patrols in years, although Francis said his mother, having seen the news, did call to ask whether he was actually in China.
"It's another day in the South China Sea. All of it is professional," he said.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/06/us-southchinasea-usa-warship-idUSKCN0SV05420151106#3oKY7C17teuA3VXG.97
Quite a different picture than usually painted in the media, eh? I could not believe I was reading this on Reuters!
The US calmly asserting rights of transit, the Chinese calmly asserting their claims in the Spratly Islands. Routine international affairs involving a long standing legal dispute over the territorial claims of 5 nations.
No fear, no warmongering, well not very much, in this article. Is this a hopeful sign that the media's/military's fear mongering on this issue is subsiding?
U.S. military blew $43 million on “world’s most expensive gas station” in Afghanistan
"The gas station should have cost $300,000, but the DoD spent 143 times that — and doesn't know where the money went"
by BEN NORTON
(Credit: pio3 via Shutterstock/Salon)
The Department of Defense blew millions of tax dollars on a gas station — a very, very expensive gas station.
A compressed natural gas automobile filling station in South Asia typically costs between $200,000 and $500,000 to build. The U.S. Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), however, spent more than $43 million constructing one in Sheberghan, Afghanistan.
In a new report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) called the project “an exorbitant cost to U.S. taxpayers.” “Even considering security costs associated with construction and operation in Afghanistan, this level of expenditure appears gratuitous and extreme,” added SIGAR, which noted that its investigation “was hindered by DOD’s lack of cooperation.”
Special Inspector General John Sopko said it is “likely the world’s most expensive gas station.”
The U.S. government said the goal of building the gas station was “to take advantage of Afghanistan’s domestic natural gas reserves.” Afghanistan has enormous gas deposits. Fossil fuel corporations like Exxon have been keen to get access to these resources, while the country remains under U.S. military occupation.
The original $3 million contract to build the gas station was granted to a little-known construction company called Central Asian Engineering. The corporation’s office did not respond to Salon’s request for comment.
How exactly this original $3 million contract exploded into $43 million is unclear. The military doesn’t even know. “One of the most troubling aspects of this project is that the Department of Defense claims that it is unable to provide an explanation for the high cost of the project or to answer any other questions concerning its planning, implementation, or outcome” SIGAR indicated.
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/02/u_s_military_blew_43_million_on_worlds_most_expensive_gas_station_in_afghanistan/
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"How exactly this original $3 million contract exploded into $43 million is unclear."
LOL, oh really? We all know how this works... that money went off books to pay bribes, fund "moderates, and to upkeep the Afghanistan governments overall level of corruption -- I bet half of it is already stashed away in the Afghan officials' offshore accounts. It would be amusing if our infrastructure, bridges and roads weren't falling into decay here at home for lack of adequate funding.
"The Rigging of the American Market"
by Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; author, 'Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few''
"Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward.
But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions are hidden inside the market.
The only way to stop them is to prevent big corporations and Wall Street banks from rigging the market.
For example, Americans pay more for pharmaceuticals than do the citizens of any other developed nation.
That's partly because it's perfectly legal in the U.S. (but not in most other nations) for the makers of branded drugs to pay the makers of generic drugs to delay introducing cheaper unbranded equivalents, after patents on the brands have expired.
This costs you and me an estimated $3.5 billion a year -- a hidden upward redistribution of our incomes to Pfizer, Merck, and other big proprietary drug companies, their executives, and major shareholders.
We also pay more for Internet service than do the inhabitants of any other developed nation."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-rigging-of-the-americ_b_8447428.html
Does the reputable media have a War Porn addiction?
If you go to Reuters or AP, it seems like the majority of "breaking news" stories are about war and armed conflict. Yes, I realize that this can be valid breaking news, but these stories seem to be essentially an inconsequential stream of minor incidents that are harped on to raise fear and readers' blood pressure.
A case in point, the recent spat of stories over Russian submarines "lurking", "obviously" with bad intent, near undersea cables. Here are just a few example headlines to illustrate this:
U.S. sensors detect Russian subs near cables - CNNPolitics ...
Navy grapples with Russian threats to undersea cables NavyTimes.com?
Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. ... www.nytimes.com/.../russian-presence-near-undersea-...
I mean, good lord, this is a non-story and a non-issue and it received all this coverage. Is this just hyperbolic yellow journalism to generate income for the media, or some psyop ploy by the military, or both? It's hard to tell.
In any case, I feel this constant drum beat of fear and militarism is poisoning social and policy discourse in America.
“My little war-porn addiction”
“My little war-porn addiction”: David Shields on how the New York Times made the Iraq and Afghanistan wars look “really cool, really glamorous, really bloodless”
"The idiosyncratic Seattle-based writer David Shields was startled as he followed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through the New York Times’ visual representation. “At least once a week I would be enchanted and infuriated by these images, and I wanted to understand why,” he writes in the introduction to his new book. So he spent months going over every front page war photo since the wars began — more than 1,00 images.
The result of his inquiry is “War is Beautiful: The New York Times Pictorial Guide to the Glamour of Armed Conflict.” It’s a twisted kind of coffee-table book: Most of “War is Beautiful” reproduces the newspaper’s images, one per page, in between brief pieces by Shields and art critic Dave Hickey, who argues that “combat photographs today are so profoundly touched in the process of bringing them out, that they amount to corporate folk art … They are no longer ‘lifelike,’ but rather ‘picture-like.’”
Shields also sets up the images with brief quotations. For the most part, though, he lets the images speak for themselves."
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/01/my_little_war_porn_addiction_david_shields_on_how_the_new_york_times_made_the_iraq_and_afghanistan_wars_look_really_cool_really_glamorous_really_bloodless/
"Can A Family Survive On The U.S. Minimum Wage?"
By Basia Hellwig
"...
The Real Issue: Who Can Survive on Today's Minimum Wage?
The minimum wage is meant to be a living wage. “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of a decent living.” President Roosevelt’s words in 1933, five years before the first minimum wage became law.These days, it’s anything but a living wage. Someone working full-time at the federal minimum earns an annual paycheck of just $15,080 – below the poverty line for even a family of two. For the minimum-wage earner with a family of four, a full-time paycheck falls almost $9,000 below the poverty line, which is $23,850. Even a $10.10/hour full-time job – an annual $21,008 – falls short.
Pay is not the only problem with minimum wage jobs, either. Many don’t offer full-time hours, even when workers want them. And new shift-scheduling software which is cost-efficient for the employer (booking employees only at highest traffic times) can be hell for the employee. Ever-changing and on-call schedules, split shifts and the dreaded “clopening” (closing up the store at night and having to report early the next morning for opening) make it hard to take a second job or attend college classes or arrange for child care. Minimum-wage employees are also vulnerable to so-called wage theft, reducing their pay even further, a spate of recent lawsuits has revealed: everything from no overtime pay and erased time cards, to off-the-clock time employees are forced to spend checking schedules or going through lengthy security bag-checks.
The Typical Minimum Wage Worker
Contrary to stereotype, the typical minimum-wage worker is not a middle-class teenager earning pocket money. According to the CBO, based on Census Bureau data, 88% of minimum wage earners are adults 20 or older; 55% are women. For these adults and their families, proper housing is unaffordable, as a February 2015 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (based on federal data) shows: A minimum-wage earner would need to work, on average, 2.6 full-time jobs to rent a decent two-bedroom apartment for less than 30% of her or his income.
All of this helps explain why so many minimum-wage workers are also on some kind of public assistance. A University of California, Berkeley, study, for instance, found that more than half of fast-food workers are enrolled in one or more public programs. Forbes summed up the economic impact of this with the headline: “Fast Food Companies Outsource $7 Billion In Annual Labor Costs To Taxpayers.”
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/022615/can-family-survive-us-minimum-wage.asp
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Non-living wages are a form of corporate welfare, with society picking up the tab to meet underpaid workers' social needs.
There used to be dignity in labor, the idea of putting in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay -- now its all about cutting hours to cut benefits in a race to the bottom. Throw in the effects of under regulated globalization and its no wonder why at least 40% of Americans have seen their economic situation stagnate, at best, since the 1970s.
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