US: Inflation Rears Its Ugly Head – Investors.com
Policy Errors: Led by the biggest jump in food prices since 1974, inflation at the wholesale level soared 1.6% in February — a sign, economists say, of even more to come. It’s starting to feel like a rerun of “That ’70s Show.”As we all worry over Japan’s nuclear disaster and the political meltdown in the Middle East, America faces an equally serious but silent threat from within.
US: What Will They Learn For Your $50,000? – by Walter Williams
When parents plunk down $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 and maybe $50,000 this fall for a year’s worth of college room, board and tuition, it might be relevant to ask: What will their children learn in return?The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) ask that question in their recently released publication, “What Will They Learn: A Report on the General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities.”
US: The Supercommittee And The Attempted Slandering Of Grover Norquist – by Ralph Benko
Earlier this month, much to the delight of big-government loving individuals from the left and right, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) made a failed character-assassination attempt on anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. Were it not for the immunity granted to all statements on the floor of the House Wolf’s offensive slurs just might have amounted, legally, to slander.The very fact that Wolf made such dubious charges from the floor of the House suggests that he was taking advantage of the immunity granted under Article I, section 6 of the Constitution in order to attack with actual malice and reckless disregard. Mr. Wolf? Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
U.S. Congresswoman Sue Myrick Warns About Hizbullah-Drug Cartel Link on Border with Mexico
Hizbullah may be conspiring with drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border, a Republican congresswoman warned, calling on the Homeland Security Secretary to establish a special task force to figure out how to “clamp down” on this “national security” threat, Fox News reported.
In her letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano (read it below) North Carolina Congresswomen Sue Myrick called on finding out and reporting more on the extent of the problem.
She cited several developments that would point to Hizbullah creeping closer to and inside the U.S., with the help of Mexican drug gangs, according to Fox News.
The Balanced-Budget Amendment Delusion
A balanced budget amendment won't halt the growth of big government
When I graduated from college in 1976, I got a job in Washington with the National Taxpayers Union, which was working to get a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget. Someone graduating today could sign up there and pursue the same goal. The balanced-budget amendment has never gone away and never come to pass.
Earlier this month, a vote in the House of Representatives fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for that measure. But we haven't seen the last of it. If Republicans capture the White House and the Senate next year, expect another push.
Earlier this month, a vote in the House of Representatives fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for that measure. But we haven't seen the last of it. If Republicans capture the White House and the Senate next year, expect another push.
Why Does Keynesian Success Feel Like Failure?
The most terrible thing about the bailouts is that they worked.
A World of Gifts. Rich Lowry
Eventually social science works its way around to confirming eternal verities. So it is with gratitude.
An article in a psychological journal a few years ago noted that “throughout history, religious, theological and philosophical treatises have viewed gratitude as integral to well-being.” Psychology has recently worked to quantify the wisdom of the ages and confirmed — sure enough — it was correct.A raft of recent research has established that grateful people are happier people. They are less depressed and less stressed. They are less likely to envy others and more likely to want to share. They even sleep better. As the journal article put it, empirical work “has suggested gratitude is as strongly correlated with well-being as are other positive traits, and has suggested that this relationship is causal.”
Charles Krauthammer. The Norquist Myth
Democrats are unanimous in charging that the debt-reduction supercommittee collapsed because Republicans refused to raise taxes. Apparently, Republicans are in the thrall of one Grover Norquist, the anti-tax campaigner, whom Sen. John Kerry called “the 13th member of this committee without being there.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helpfully suggested “maybe they should impeach Grover Norquist.”
With that, Norquist officially replaces the Koch brothers as the great malevolent manipulator that controls the republic by pulling unseen strings on behalf of the plutocracy.-Nice theory. Except for the following facts:
The State of Syria
The Syrian crisis is gathering inexorably, and has the potential to do open-ended harm. Bashar Assad, the Syrian president, is evidently determined to do whatever is necessary to maintain his absolute rule. In the last few days at least 100 people have been shot dead in separate cities in Syria. Some of these were government soldiers or security men engaged in repression. The choices facing Bashar are narrowing. The more he raises the level of violence, the greater the likelihood that in the end he will meet the fate of Muammar Qaddafi. Should he go down, he can always try to take other countries with him.
Mexican Government Eyes Invoking Martial Law-Like "Article 29" in Ongoing Drug War. Posted by Bill Conroy
Leaked State Department Cable Also Reveals Armed Forces Battling “Cartels” on Thin Legal Ground
In the ever-escalating war on drugs, it appears Mexican narco-traffickers may not be the only combatants breaking the law of the land.
Mexico's Secretary of Defense and the head of U.S. National Intelligence met in October 2009 to discuss, among other matters, the lack of justification under Mexican law for President Felipe Calderon's deployment of Mexican military in his battle against the “drug cartels,” according to a U.S. State Department cable released by Wikileaks.
That meeting came some six months after Calderon's March 2009 move to ramp up the Mexican Army's firepower in Ciudad Juarez to nearly 5,000 troops and some three years after Calderon declared his war on the “drug cartels” in late 2006 and enlisted more than 50,000 Mexican troops to carry out that assault nationwide.
In the ever-escalating war on drugs, it appears Mexican narco-traffickers may not be the only combatants breaking the law of the land.
Mexico's Secretary of Defense and the head of U.S. National Intelligence met in October 2009 to discuss, among other matters, the lack of justification under Mexican law for President Felipe Calderon's deployment of Mexican military in his battle against the “drug cartels,” according to a U.S. State Department cable released by Wikileaks.
That meeting came some six months after Calderon's March 2009 move to ramp up the Mexican Army's firepower in Ciudad Juarez to nearly 5,000 troops and some three years after Calderon declared his war on the “drug cartels” in late 2006 and enlisted more than 50,000 Mexican troops to carry out that assault nationwide.
Congress Told of Strategy Behind Fast and Furious Months Before Its Launch. Posted by Bill Conroy
Former Deputy Attorney General Laid Out Game Plan in Testimony Delivered in March 2009
The Republican-led Congressional witch-hunt to pin blame for ATF’s failed Fast and Furious operation on high-level Obama administration officials may well come full circle back to Congress itself.
Documents released by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, as part of his probe into Fast and Furious, as well as testimony provided to Congress prior to the launch of the flawed operation, all seem to indicate that the weapons-trafficking investigation was set up under a strategy pushed by former U.S. Attorney General David Ogden — who stepped down from his post in early 2010 after less than a year on the job.
In addition, Ogden actually publicly outlined the strategy that prompted Fast and Furious as part of testimony he provided to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs in March 2009 — some six months prior to the launch of Fast and Furious in the fall of that year.
Fast and Furious was, according to a July 11 letter penned by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, “an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force [OCDETF] prosecutor-led strike force case” operated out of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix.
Fast and Furious has come under fire because, as part of a strategy aimed at targeting higher-ups in the weapons- and narco-trafficking business, it allegedly allowed some 2,000 or more firearms illegally purchased in the U.S. to “walk” (or be smuggled under ATF’s watch) across the border, where they helped to fuel the murder rate in Mexico, ATF whistleblowers contend.
Two of the guns linked to the Fast and Furious operation also allegedly were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was shot to death by Mexican border marauders in Arizona late last year. The whistleblower revelations about Fast and Furious have since sparked Congressional inquiries spearheaded by Grassley and Issa.
However, the strategy of using multi-agency OCDETF strike forces to target Mexican narco-kingpins, a plan that encompassed ATF operations like Fast and Furious as well, should have come as no surprise to Congressional leaders such as Grassley and Issa.
The Republican-led Congressional witch-hunt to pin blame for ATF’s failed Fast and Furious operation on high-level Obama administration officials may well come full circle back to Congress itself.
Documents released by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, as part of his probe into Fast and Furious, as well as testimony provided to Congress prior to the launch of the flawed operation, all seem to indicate that the weapons-trafficking investigation was set up under a strategy pushed by former U.S. Attorney General David Ogden — who stepped down from his post in early 2010 after less than a year on the job.
In addition, Ogden actually publicly outlined the strategy that prompted Fast and Furious as part of testimony he provided to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs in March 2009 — some six months prior to the launch of Fast and Furious in the fall of that year.
Fast and Furious was, according to a July 11 letter penned by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, “an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force [OCDETF] prosecutor-led strike force case” operated out of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix.
Fast and Furious has come under fire because, as part of a strategy aimed at targeting higher-ups in the weapons- and narco-trafficking business, it allegedly allowed some 2,000 or more firearms illegally purchased in the U.S. to “walk” (or be smuggled under ATF’s watch) across the border, where they helped to fuel the murder rate in Mexico, ATF whistleblowers contend.
Two of the guns linked to the Fast and Furious operation also allegedly were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was shot to death by Mexican border marauders in Arizona late last year. The whistleblower revelations about Fast and Furious have since sparked Congressional inquiries spearheaded by Grassley and Issa.
However, the strategy of using multi-agency OCDETF strike forces to target Mexican narco-kingpins, a plan that encompassed ATF operations like Fast and Furious as well, should have come as no surprise to Congressional leaders such as Grassley and Issa.
The Best Political Reform for Mexico is the Reformation of the Citizenry
Words of Julian LeBaron in Front of the Presidential Palace During the August 14 March for Peace with Justice and Dignity
By Julian LeBaron with Antonio Cervantes
While I speak here I know that today, on this very day, somewhere in Mexico, some Mexicans are raped, murdered, mutilated, unjustly imprisoned, robbed, tortured or kidnapped. And I believe this happens because we, the Mexican people, has such low self esteem and dignity that we let it happen.Maybe we believe that, with our indifference, we can somehow escape the effects of the violence, like that unleashed by the current atrocious war. But I am here to say to you that there is no escape from this terrible reality: My own indifference at what had happened around me led to the death of my most loved ones.
In my ejido, the town of Galeana, and nearby, we knew about various aggressions. My friend, Miguel Angel Mota, municipal police chief, was assassinated for defending the community. But I decided to remain silent, as if nothing had happened, as did many others… until they kidnapped my little brother, Eric and after that, irredeemably, my brother Benjamin and my friend Luis Widmar.
US Prosecutors Seeking to Prevent Dirty Secrets of Drug War From Surfacing in Cartel Leader's Case. Posted by Bill Conroy
US Government Using National Security to Conceal Evidence, Attorneys for Narco-Trafficker Zambada Niebla Claim
The criminal case of accused Sinaloa drug organization leader Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla is straying even further into the path of a cover-up under the guise of national security, if pleadings filed by his attorneys are to be believed.
Lawyers for the alleged Mexican narco-trafficker, son of one of the top figures in the Sinaloa “cartel,” recently filed a motion asking the court to block U.S. prosecutors’ efforts to exclude the defense from discussions with the judge over the treatment of evidence deemed classified material. Zambada Niebla’s attorneys contend they must be part of those discussions since the supposed classified material goes to the heart of their client's claims in the case.
The information the US government is seeking to withhold from Zambada Niebla’s attorneys, they believe, is likely related to a key figure in the case, an informant, Mexican attorney Humberto Loya Castro, who served as an intermediary between the Sinaloa Cartel leadership and US government agents seeking to obtain information on rival narco-trafficking organizations.
From the motion filed late last month by Zambada Niebla’s attorneys:
The criminal case of accused Sinaloa drug organization leader Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla is straying even further into the path of a cover-up under the guise of national security, if pleadings filed by his attorneys are to be believed.
Lawyers for the alleged Mexican narco-trafficker, son of one of the top figures in the Sinaloa “cartel,” recently filed a motion asking the court to block U.S. prosecutors’ efforts to exclude the defense from discussions with the judge over the treatment of evidence deemed classified material. Zambada Niebla’s attorneys contend they must be part of those discussions since the supposed classified material goes to the heart of their client's claims in the case.
The information the US government is seeking to withhold from Zambada Niebla’s attorneys, they believe, is likely related to a key figure in the case, an informant, Mexican attorney Humberto Loya Castro, who served as an intermediary between the Sinaloa Cartel leadership and US government agents seeking to obtain information on rival narco-trafficking organizations.
From the motion filed late last month by Zambada Niebla’s attorneys:
The government has announced its intention to make an ex parte submission [involving only the judge and prosecutors, excluding defense attorneys] to the Court concerning classified discovery issues. …
The defense believes that Humberto Loya Castro had access to the information that the [US] government now seeks to withhold throughout his many years of cooperation with the United States government and that high-ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel also had access to such information through Mr. Loya [Castro].
Mr. Zambada Niebla is alleged in the indictment to be a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel. We believe that the information [the US government is seeking to cloak under national security] is material to the defense in that it may … contain information pertaining to agreements between agents of the United States government and the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel as well as policy arrangements between the United States government and the Mexican government pertaining to special treatment that was to be afforded to high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Thus, Mr. Zambada Niebla’s counsel should be granted high-level security clearances to review the sensitive information.
Moving from Occupying Wall Street to Occupying Strategy
City of Los Angeles' Offer Provides a Golden Opportunity, If We Want it
By Paulina González
I’ve spent the last 20 years of my life organizing for the rights of students, hotel workers, farm workers and immigrants. Two years ago I became the Executive Director of SAJE (Strategic Actions for a Just Economy), a community-based organization working to organize a grassroots economic-justice movement in South Central Los Angeles.Like many others, I’ve been drawn to Occupy Los Angeles, and I’ve visited the encampment on several occasions. I’ve looked for ways to involve the community leaders SAJE works with and help this moment grow into a lasting and successful movement. But as I look to the future, I find myself asking: Where to from here, Occupiers?
The City of Los Angeles has offered you “incentives” to vacate City Hall. They’ve offered you 10,000 square feet of office space, a farm to grow food, and 100 beds for the homeless. They say you’ll be forcibly evicted on Monday if you don’t accept the offer.
Was Former DEA Agent Jailed for Exposing ATF Arms Trafficking?. Posted by Bill Conroy
Iran/Contra-Era Whistleblower Cele Castillo Alleged in 2008 That Federal Agents Were Helping to Smuggle Guns into Mexico
Cele Castillo, a former DEA agent who blew the whistle on the CIA-backed arms-for-drugs trade used to prop up the 1980s Contra counter-insurgency in Nicaragua, is now sitting in a federal prison for what may well be another act of whistleblowing in this century.
Before Castillo reported to the federal pen in July 2009, where he is now stuck until April 2012, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records, he shared with this reporter a series of revelations concerning arms trafficking and what he thought were corrupt ATF agents.
Those revelations, now some three years old, dovetail in great detail with the still unfolding ATF Fast and Furious operation, in which federal ATF agents allowed thousands of high-powered weapons purchased by criminal operatives at U.S. gun stores to be smuggled into Mexico unimpeded.
Cele Castillo, a former DEA agent who blew the whistle on the CIA-backed arms-for-drugs trade used to prop up the 1980s Contra counter-insurgency in Nicaragua, is now sitting in a federal prison for what may well be another act of whistleblowing in this century.
Before Castillo reported to the federal pen in July 2009, where he is now stuck until April 2012, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records, he shared with this reporter a series of revelations concerning arms trafficking and what he thought were corrupt ATF agents.
Those revelations, now some three years old, dovetail in great detail with the still unfolding ATF Fast and Furious operation, in which federal ATF agents allowed thousands of high-powered weapons purchased by criminal operatives at U.S. gun stores to be smuggled into Mexico unimpeded.
Dance of the giants
China and America in South-East Asia
by R.G. | BEIJING
THE spectre looming over Barack Obama’s eight-day swing through Asia was unmistakable. Behind the talk of a trans-Pacific free-trade zone, and the agreement to rotate American troops through a base in northern Australia, and America’s first participation in the East Asian Summit meeting in Bali, the president’s tour was all about China. Two-speed Europe, or two Europes?
The future of the EU
by Charlemagne | BRUSSELS
NICOLAS Sarkozy is causing a big stir after calling on November 8th for a two-speed Europe: a “federal” core of the 17 members of the euro zone, with a looser “confederal” outer band of the ten non-euro members. He made the comments during a debate with students at the University of Strasbourg. The key passage is below (video here, starting near the 63-minute mark)
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