http://www.thenation.com/blog/172449/it ... l=facebook

(can't help it. I'm a sports fan (who thinks the 49ers will win. However if the Ravens come out ahead, folks should remember they are really a Cleveland Browns organization that migrated.) And while the NFL in many ways is often not an admirable institution (all those head coaching vacancies, no minorities hired, what is the percentage of players who are of color!? Come on, man!) it's great to hear some high profile professional athletes speaking up)

February 14th
http://www.onebillionrising.org/page/ev ... rch_simple

"Why are Feminists so Angry?" (only part of why)
http://www.thenation.com/blog/172524/wh ... s-so-angry

(just to keep following the financial front http://www.salon.com/2013/01/24/secs-ne ... et-enabler )
http://billmoyers.com/2013/01/31/barack ... nspirator/
http://billmoyers.com/segment/matt-taib ... ntability/
why are Americans so angry, and often impoverished, while the black hole of bogus "profits" at the core of this country's shadow economy and shady financial industries just keeps growing? (We don't, however, exactly "know" this because GAAP are fraud abetting instruments in this industry. Think Enron, because that's in good part how they keep their books.) This is about much more than bringing white-collar criminals to justice. This is about PREVENTION, because we still have a grossly unsound financial system, rife with fraud and abuses, and "too big to fail" (and properly audit and prosecute) basically insures they will gamble and manipulate this country right back into another financial collapse.

(i don't know how curious folks are, or just how much they can take, but for anyone who is interested in a daily thoughtful look at the financial industries in this country, the Naked Capitalism site is a good resource. An example of their coverage: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/ ... our-drinks (20 trillion dollars, 10 million jobs and hardly anything is done along preventative measures. amazing (and that is what is meant by "regulatory" and government capture) ) Not all of the site's coverage is this long and complicated, but they do keep a good daily, critical look on the financial industry/government goings on.)

thanks for the tip on the naked capitalism website wrinkles. I watched the pbs documentary "the untouchables" not too long ago. I found it quite good, especially since almost immediately the DOJ person responsible for not taking action, resigned. my somewhat suspicious nature has me wondering if that also then lead to the filing of the civil charges against Standard and Poors.

What will be interesting to see, is after the elections in Italy later this month, what happens to the italian credit rating. After all, it was the decrease in Italy's credit rating that led to Burlesconi's exit as Prime Minister-not the protesting and dissatisfaction of the Italian public.

My guess would be that if an "austerity (for the less well off, that is)" pusher gets in, then the ratings agencies will love it, even though the IMF is advising more and more against such measures. And "civil charges" just about says it all. Those civil penalties are a joke. (Well, not completely to the businesses because greed has no limit. Or is it their legally binding fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders that forces them to commit such fraud and try by all means to make and keep it technically "legal". But, you know, plumber it's sooooo safe to say that the world of finance is extremely complex, so why are citizens even daring to presume to even think about any of this?) All those financial institutions and their bedfellow enablers just budget for such costs of doing business, and they make HUGE returns on their show-trial investments. It's obscene and it's criminal. Leave it to Bill Moyers to supply a piece on this. http://billmoyers.com/2013/02/05/neil-b ... n-penalty/ And the problem of regulation goes so much deeper than just the department heads. For years the agencies have been intentionally purged of dedicated and well-trained professionals and starved for funds to do the jobs. That's why these financial crimes need to be prevent by sweeping, generalized laws that deal systemically with the problems. As in BREAK THE BANKS UP(again). Do this and then, yes, less regulations will probably be needed for the system. An excellent real-time example of this regulatory problem and vulnerability is what is taking place with the Consumer Finance Protection B. http://billmoyers.com/2013/02/12/the-fi ... -watchdog/ and http://billmoyers.com/2013/02/12/obama- ... s-the-sec/ No matter, that the CFPB has been leading the way in helping to prevent predatory lending! (Speaking of greed to the max, remember when Bush ll, pre-2008 crash and theft, was pushing to dump peoples Social Security savings into the stock market. That wouldn't have been an innocent "accident" either. Nice little racket. Charge people 15% right off the top to "help" them invest in a rigged market, and take the proceeds all the way to the 1%'s taxpayer protected investment banks. I know the funds wouldn't have started there, but that's where plenty of the wealth would have ended up.)

The cbc has an article on this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013 ... treet.html (I know he can only do so much in the limited space of a press article, but i find this piece very deficient in talking about the fraudulent local mortgage practices because he does not explain the criminal predatory loan practices and how cities, communities, community activists and states tried to stop them well before the collapse and were prevented by the Federal government. In the Cleveland area, around which i live, the elderly and less well educated were particularly targeted and taken advantage of. They may have been acting on human nature but they were not intentionally trying to game the system. They were intentionally misled by corrupt mortgage/refinancing practices (and a media blitz to egg people on, including good ol' George out shilling for the brokers and banks) that even the FBI was trying to get the Fed. government to do something about!)

(You know, when i first attended the festival i was surprised because i thought it would be much more political and activist minded than i found it to be. The workshops were interesting, very well done and colorful (to say the least), but i personally thought something was lacking. Now i think it would be an excellent idea for someone to do an intensive on the book, "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic primer for realistic radicals" (with modernized methods added to include the newer technologies) by Saul Alinsky about community organizing. The times and our society's curiosity and needs are ripe for more people to get themselves involved.)

love Yves Smith's work. she's so smart and has a sharp take-no-prisoners edge to her writing. And Frontline for years has been doing wonderful investigative journalism, though in economic areas i think they tend to soft-pedal and do too much reporting after the fact (and damage). Why not get ahead of the game instead; say by doing a piece on tax dodging by Corporations and the failure of "austerity" economics in fixing society-wide economic and general welfare problems? This should be done NOW, not (yet again) after Obama and company work to further undermine programs and policies that actually keep and increase wealth and resources flowing thru the economy.

(And i don't know if anyone else here will care much about this, but wow! Pope Benedict is stepping down. Truly historic; i mean Popes just do not retire. (Ok, maybe once every 600 years or so, but at that rate of retention until death, for catholics, this resignation is practically a miracle.) In a faith that is so much about hope, there is hope. i sincerely hope his retirement will be good for his health and spiritual well-being, as well as that of many, many others. "The Onions" take on this resignation is quite funny and maybe a little too true. http://www.theonion.com/articles/resign ... hur,31248/ )

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/ ... dress.html
- (Not) Just one womon's take on the show.

http://socialistworker.org/2012/09/26/w ... complished
Love them, hate them, but they play an important part. An example of a successful professional union (though i would argue they often function as protective civic organizations as well. The potential problems and waste of "sweating the asset" are as true for education as they are for building airports and privatizing utilities, etc.) One could probably hear more straight forward honesty about the embattled state of the union for the majority of Americans listening to 30 minutes of CTU's President, Karen Lewis, than in 2 dis-informational years of candidate speeches in what passes for political campaigning. In any event, here is an example of her thoughts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEKskEgXW9Y

As an added bonus for gals here to know, this innovative union of teachers' membership/community is 87% female (powered).

(Mojavedreamer, i have to thank you for occasionally sending a reply so i'm not left feeling like this is completely posting into the void. If there are any lurkers here, i think they are remarkably disciplined in following the bb guidelines (much better than i). One can't even tempt them into a reprimanding me for being not so understanding of the difficult position Pres. Obama works in. But i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for his voting task force to do much of anything actually helpful to deal with the corruption and suppression (He doesn't really need an independent opposition, he's so adept at stacking the deck with his appointments against his suggested purposes. But that's part of the show, too). Not one mention of Citizen's United and/or super pacs full of undisclosed "donations"! Unbelievable, or maybe it's exactly to be expected. Just look at how un-remarkably ineffective his banking/financial services task forces have been.)

Mojavedreamer, i don't know what your news is saying but of course here The wall Street Journal reported that Italians were voting against austerity and, oh woe is us, the Dow takes a dive (how surprising). The esteemed Journals recommendation to the Italians is what they really need is deregulation! (granted, from what i know of Italy they have some well protected skilled labor and products, but i sure wouldn't take economic advice form the US of A.) Meanwhile, here, of course it's austerity pushing by a different name in the good cop, bad cop Washington charade.)

ahhh yes, the esteemed journalists and markets are again busy bemoaning the election chaos here too. poor poor markets and stock holders.

Here in the week before the election, the foreign minister actually put to word that it would not be a good choice to vote for Berlusconi. Normally the officials don't comment about the neighboring states potential government heads, at least publicly. The Foreign minister belongs to the FDP (neo capitalists, but pro individual rights). The SPD (Center, left) candidate for Bundeskanzeler actually referred to Berlusconi and Grillo publically as "clowns" directly after the election. This cost him a scheduled visit with the Italian President.

Most of the western European states have relatively strong unions both private and public sector, and of course the neoliberals would love more "austerity" to try to privatize and decimate the union's and peoples lives. Think Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. England and Ireland as well. Austerity and "reform".

That being said, i think the Italians are a bit fed up with the whole mess. Whether one was for or against Berlusconi, it was the Markets that forced him out after several unsuccessful attempts by the Italians. Austerity is not seen as helping anyone but those at the top, and the folks in the rest of the pile are not happy. so they voted overwhelmingly for either Berlusconi or the comedian (Grillo). Kind of like they voted for Jon Stewart (daily show). I don't think that a rational thinking person could blame them. but again, rational thinking people don't control the markets, mainstream media, or governments.

There was also rioting in Spain and Greece again this past week. People are suffering, the youth have very little hope of a future-due to the incredible levels of unemployment. Of course, the austerity folks want to keep the old people working longer (raising retirement ages), thus keeping the shrinking pool of jobs filled, at the expense of the young. How foolish is that?

Shock Doctorine by Naomi Klein is good (but disturbing) reading.

Mojavedreamer, if you don't mind saying here, what do you think about the riots? Do you think they do any good or are effective as public push back? Do you think Americans are much too docile/naive (or is that perhaps worn down, medicated and locked-up)?

Yes, i've read "Shock Doctrine" and recommend it to people, though you can probably guess by now that i don't think Klein goes nearly far enough in demonstrating how economic warfare works. This will sound even more dated but i think William shirer's "The Rise and fall of the third Reich" is an extremely important work for anyone to read who wants to understand how a Republic (as well as THIS "Republic") can be destroyed. It's pretty much a blow-by-blow blueprint even if technology-wise it's dated. But, though it probably does not appear so here, i'm far more interested in spreading pro-active, organizing types of knowledge. And, though our media will certainly not cover it well or accurately, citizen organizing is growing substantially in this country, and not just amongst students. (though, yes, the government and businesses certainly do keep a close, controlling eye out for any kind of unionizing or collective citizen actions. I've been involved with labor organizing, and "insulting", "intimidating" to "viscous" are the words i would use to describe how many business behave when workers begin to act collectively. (And from a business perspective of "aren't we suppose to try and make money here" question, upper management are clearly often out only to protect their own narrow personal interests. Any average stockholder who thinks unions don't at times help look out for their stock investments is a fool.) But, I've read a little about unions in Germany. To me, they sound like a positive for the society's, businesses' and workers' welfare.)

Here's something positive going on (and, yes!, i'm looking forward to the line-up and bb traffic pick-up as well) by one of the growing public organizations working for justice and reform. This looks promising and very necessary: http://nakedcapitalism.com/2013/occupy- ... d-treasury (only, these bought-and-paid-off functionaries need to go to jail or receive a very costly fine. Seriously, just because something is "legal" does that make it just?)

(Our local papers today announced the settlements Ohioans fleeced in the foreclosure rip-off's will receive: $1,100 a piece! While banks are now buying back foreclosed properties they let fall to ruin and unloaded for thousands of dollars onto HUD (that would be us tax-payers again) for $1,000 dollars a pop around Cleveland, one of the most damaged cities by the mortgage frauds in the country. I kid you not, though i do greatly abbreviate and simplify. Ah justice)

This is for the nerds. (She speaks very highly of "Shock Doctrine".)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUGgJ14mL8o

Actually she's just a strong, dedicated, smart womon speaking truth.

Wrinkles-yes i think the people protesting here does do good, and is effective. a good example here, is just before the Fukushima disaster, the gov decided to extend the life of the nuclear reactors here, years ago it was agreed to phase them out. then fukushima happened, and the people went wild with protests. old, young, people that had never protested anything before, hundreds of thousands in the streets, blocking train tracks, then the conservative gov that had just agreed to extend the times, took back their plans to extend the life usage of the reactors. It was awesome. people power.

The public here seems to be much more understanding of actions. Even when there are strikes here that disrupt peoples travel plans (airports for example) the news interviews people and those interviewed are generally understanding of the striking workers because-well it could be them someday, or their neighbor. rarely does one see an irate traveler, resigned yes, irate no.

as for the word "rioting", that's a word that carries a lot of bad connotation in the press, but doesn't give a complete description of the events. I will say, and it's my own experience that demonstrations here begin peacefully. Generally they turn less than pleasant after the those with the power, act in ways that are not always appropriate. that is not a specific critic on the police, but on those that direct them. the state/corporate power. just last week we were at a demo, we were stopped from going forward by the police-they said don't go past this point, we didn't, then they were pushing us back 10 feet, then 10 feet more just moving the line arbitrarily to try to demonstrate their power. things like that happen often, and it frustrates people.

I got the below email this morning from someone who doesn't read these boards:

Just thinking about austerity..

Woke up today with shock doctrine on my mind....I've been not really thinking about this "sequester" , the possible why, who benefits ? type questions that I normally chew on....but this morning I woke and thought.....austerity measures that lead to privatization and disruption in the streets....austerity, we have seen where this leads and how power can be consolidated if one is the "daddy" who happens to be ready with the "answers".

Just sharing these ramblings with you, thought you'd get me.

I replied I get her..

Clearly what goes on in our nation's educational systems matters to me greatly, but everybody needs to care what is being taught, who's teaching it and how it's being paid for. http://billmoyers.com/2013/03/02/why-ar ... orm-in-la/ (This piece only talks about LA, but this corp. takeover of public schools (and of course the funding) is going on all over the U.S.)

And this has been going around but some folks may not have seen it. Seeing the wealth distribution so graphically helps to reinforce the iniquity. (People should also be aware that during the time of this incredible shift in wealth to the top, the productivity of average American workers has gone up significantly. We are gouged on both ends.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

http://billmoyers.com/2013/03/06/one-ec ... -americas/

(Much thanks for the reply above, Mojavedreamer. I encounter too many people here who don't think organized opposition can make a difference, when in fact even here it does all the time. (Not that it will be major media reported."Failures" oh yes. But successes, not a chance unless they are spun to look like public setbacks.) I get that the cult of individualism, SELF-improvement (which can easy be abused to promote self-hatred and dehumanization of others) and escapist entertainment are preached from cradle to grave here, and know that populist civil and legit labor leaders in our society are targeted for reprisals, but think Americans really need to wake-up to their duties as citizens. We think we need to exercise, meditate/pray, self-fulfill, actualize are individual potentials, work for our individual and family's welfare, make sure our individual lives are ying-yang balanced, etc. Ok yes, i agree. And i know people are often worked to the bone and greatly occupied by their own immediate needs and interests. And i know it's scary. The powers that be are going to act to hurt you and yours. But we can't have a decent society if people are not willing to get meaningful involved, which means actively joining political/civic (and i would argue labor) organizations as well (not all of them; just pick one), and seeing that behavior as as important to their well being as any other "self-improvement" hard sell being pushed by the media. Realistically, what does the future, let alone the here-and-now, hold for the vast majority of people in this country if we don't? As for Italy, there's only so much time in the day and my tolerance for the news is actually quite low, but i think Fellini could have taken great artistic delight in the situation. Naked Capitalism makes it sound like the citizens en masse have a fighting chance of keeping the austerity pushers at bey for now. Being half Italian and raised in an Italian American community, what with the Vatican intrigues as well, i can only image that the country is in a very openly expressed heightened state of drama.)

(Artemis, because i like questions and you slightly encourage me, do you think the paradigm of the nation state as the ruling order is dying/dead? sorry for the use of "paradigm" but i can't at present think of a better word. it's a thorny question and i suppose i don't really expect an answer, but if anyone wants to see the local dying of a city/state rule, all they have to do is look at Detroit. Starve a city for funds,defy the voting of a public ballot initiative, appoint a dictator (ya, they call them "city managers" these days), bust up even more workers contracts, sell off public properties, and privatize, privatize, privatize.)

Detroit is indeed a terrific example, terrible story. For those lurking here not up to speed on detroit, a picture is worth a thousand words:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0 ... 89,00.html

wrinkles, I ponder your question. Under our current system, the nation state's interest are not aligned with its peoples interest, only people in the form of shareholders. The world I live in now includes Monsanto, Dow and other chemical companies exerting a strangle hold on bio diversity and seed production. It includes fracking poisoning the water of its citizens RIGHT NOW, not hypothetically in the future. It includes a prison industrial complex that are building cells for people, mostly men, and mostly black and brown men, who arent even born yet, and referring to them as inventory and revenue streams. This is the new slavery. Stock market all time high! Human wages stuck or declining, unemployment still at 2009 levels. Doesnt seem to me that the ruling order is dying or dead in any way. Seems like business as usual.

And whatever the nation state decides to do, they are ready for it.

I think we discussed the surveillance state here already. Here is an example, that is outside police oversight, issued by a city executive similar to the position the Detroit Fiscal Manager will be responsible for.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dis ... story.html

and about the militarization of our cities and towns BY the police..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/0 ... r=Politics

Thanks again, Reagan! Speaking of the devil, I see on the program the chix licks theme is 80's Prom- I happened to have graduated high school in the mid 80's and most of my friends were the original Emo children listening to the Cure, the Clash, Talking Heads and Modern English. The existential Gen-Xers who later were dubbed slackers and given up on. AIDS was still GRIDS and unprotected sex became a dangerous proposition. It will be interesting to hear what they choose.