Show #5 – February 4, 2011 « Building A Powerful Left in the United States Download Show in mp3 Format Guests: Norman Solomon, Ralph Nader, Cornel West, and Noam Chomsky We end the week with our biggest show yet. It begins with Norman Solomon, a leading progressive voice who just may be Congressman Solomon in the near future – here why he’s working within a Democratic Party that seems so adrift. Ralph Nader brings to bear the wisdom of six decades of fighting the good fight as he summarizes strategies and policies he feels can revitalize American society. Cornel West reflects on how the spark of social justice can set a society aflame so long as we keep making the case – calling out injustice and building momentum. Noam Chomsky reminds us that it can be done; though the powerful few aren’t going to make it easy – but with perseverance and organizing there’s a world to win. Listen: Like this: Like Loading...
Link TV THE GLARING FAILURE OF REPUBLICAN “FREE MARKET” ECONOMICS! | THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON POST By Jack Jodell, October 18, 2011 The widespread and ongoing OCCUPY TOGETHER movements all over the world show a massive, almost universal, displeasure with capitalism as an economic model, particularly the “free market” variety so beloved and espoused by today’s (and YESTERDAY’S) ultra-conservative Republicans, Libertarians, and Tea Party extremists. From Wall Street to Milan, from London to Asia to the Middle East – there is justified anger and frustration with this so-called “best of all economic systems” due to its abject failure to provide jobs and opportunity to the vast majority of peoples, as it provides wealth and a comfortable, secure lifestyle to only a shrinking few. Karl Marx, the German philosopher who founded the doctrine of communism, had it essentially right when he first analyzed capitalism back in the 1840s. He was an excellent diagnostician. As a result ofse late-1970s economic crises, conservative, classical economists like Milton Friedman came back into vogue.
CounterPunch Internet History Sourcebooks Modern History Sourcebook: Benito Mussolini: What is Fascism, 1932 Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) over the course of his lifetime went from Socialism - he was editor of Avanti, a socialist newspaper - to the leadership of a new political movement called "fascism" [after "fasces", the symbol of bound sticks used a totem of power in ancient Rome]. Mussolini came to power after the "March on Rome" in 1922, and was appointed Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel. In 1932 Mussolini wrote (with the help of Giovanni Gentile) and entry for the Italian Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism. Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application.
Why Our Monkey Brains Are Prone to Procrastination (No, It's Not Just Laziness or Lack Of Willpower) | Personal Health July 4, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The Misconception: You procrastinate because you are lazy and can’t manage your time well. The Truth: Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking. Netflix reveals something about your own behavior you should have noticed by now, something which keeps getting between you and the things you want to accomplish. If you have Netflix, especially if you stream it to your TV, you tend to gradually accumulate a cache of hundreds of films you think you’ll watch one day. Take a look at your queue. Psychologists actually know the answer to this question, to why you keep adding movies you will never watch to your growing collection of future rentals, and its the same reason you believe you will eventually do what’s best for yourself in all the other parts of your life, but rarely do. After picking, the subjects had to watch one movie right away.
Fascism: Left Wing or Right Wing A very popular argument by the Right is say that the Nazis were Leftwing, when in fact they were Rightwing in both Germany and the United States. The Nazis were pro-Christian, anti-communist, certainly anti-Marxist, imprisoned atheist and labor leaders--that sounds right-wing to me! So since the Nazis embraced the Catholic Church (and the Church embraced Hitler), should we call Christianity fascist? And why did the Nazis view "liberals" as their enemy? In America, German Fascism dazzled many American leaders of capitalist industry. They were William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy(JFK’s father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon(head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Henry Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush (don’t forget him), National City Bank, and General Electric. Charles Lindberg with Nazi officials. Hearst with Nazi officers...bunch of good ol' boys. Thomas J. Part 2: I.G. 1. 2.
Reflections on a Revolution All Pain, No Gain: A Brief History of “Austerity Program” Massacres & Disasters This article was first published in Alternet. Now that the shock of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting is starting to wear off and the country is returning to its normal insanity again, we’re back to facing a far worse, far more serious, and far more violent threat than mere rampage shootings: “Austerity.” The DC-Wall Street power circuit has already decided for the rest of us that “Austerity” is the Big Word that will define the 2011 political agenda. Austerity is what the oligarch-sponsored Tea Party demanded, what the Republicans are promising to deliver now that they’re in control of drafting the budget, and what the Obama Administration is going to try to enact as part of their neo-Clinton triangulation strategy. They’re backed by the Establishment media, which has been hammering home the same message for months now: Austerity is the answer to our problems—problems that were created by the same Establishment that wants to make us scream in pain again, but that’s beside the point here.
The Richest 1% Have Captured America's Wealth -- What's It Going to Take to Get It Back? | Economy February 16, 2010 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. This is Part II of David DeGraw's report, "The Economic Elite vs. "The war against working people should be understood to be a real war.... As a record amount of U.S. citizens are struggling to get by, many of the largest corporations are experiencing record-breaking profits, and CEOs are receiving record-breaking bonuses. The Economic Elite have escalated their attack on U.S. workers over the past few years; however, this attack began to build intensity in the 1970s. As ridiculous as that seems, an in-depth study in 2004 on the explosion of CEO pay revealed that, including stock options and other benefits, CEO pay is more accurately $500 to $1. Paul Buchheit, from DePaul University, revealed, "From 1980 to 2006 the richest 1% of America tripled their after-tax percentage of our nation's total income, while the bottom 90% have seen their share drop over 20%." Costs of Living