Freeze Frame

The Republic of China is growing increasingly apprehensive about the massive debt associated with the U.S. dollar, so it is reportedly shopping around for a new currency such as the Euro or Yen. It doesn't take an economist to figure out that the consequences of this in the U.S. would be immense. Cheap Chinese products now line the shelves of department stores, convenience stores and gift shops all over the country, so if the government imposes tariffs on Chinese imports -- as it has threatened -- then prices will rise and the economy will suffer greatly. China is mastering capitalism, but it remains a repressive society that does not practice democracy. When Chinese students began a pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square, the government acted quickly to squelch it. The famous photograph of the man in front of a tank is a worthy symbol of the pro-democracy movement, but the government arrests people who speak out and thus maintains its power and control by fear and repressio...

Wakie, wakie N.S.A.! I have another blog entry for your review. There is a chill in the air this morning and just knowing that President Bush authorized the N.S.A. to spy on Americans adds to that chill. We have returned to the days of Cointelpro when the F.B.I. secretly infiltrated antiwar groups, political parties, black power organizations and even women's rights and environmental groups. They used direct infiltration by agents posing as members, but also used wiretaps and break-ins to collect information on individuals and organizations. Some individuals were put on blacklists so they could not obtain employment, even though these individuals had broken no laws and committed no crimes. All they did was support their country through progressive causes and exercise their constitutional right to dissent when the leadership in Washington took the country in the wrong direction. Same thing is true today, but new technology allows the N.S.A. to use electronic keyword searches to ...

We found out too late that the war in Iraq was based on a pack of lies -- that it was not about WMD, al Qaeda, or 9/11 -- so you claimed that the war was about "building democracy" in Iraq. O.K., let's look back at our own history so citizens realize what we are in for if we allow this horrific war to continue. The first step in democracy-building is ethnic cleansing, a process that is well under way by the Shiite majority in Iraq. In our own nation, you will remember, we tried hard to exterminate the American Indians. When that failed, we tried to eliminate their main food supply, the buffalo. That weakened them enough that we could round them up and put them on reservations. Of course, you can't build democracy without someone to do the manual labor, so you will need at least 200 years of abject slavery in order to ensure that the majority gets to live the good life while the ethnic minorities remain poor. You can keep the slavery going in different forms, such ...

One of these days, the levees around New Orleans will finally be raised and strengthened to handle a Category 5 hurricane, but land developers are already salivating over the "new" New Orleans. They imagine a New Orleans of pricey hotels, condos, and shopping districts. The single-family homes will be bulldozed and replaced with high-rent apartments so landlords can further gouge the pocketbooks and dignity of the working class poor employed in the tourist and service industries -- waiters, cashiers, nurses aides, receptionists, cooks, delivery drivers, and so on. Instead of becoming a model city that pays a living wage to its citizens, that cares about the health and welfare of its citizens from the cradle to the grave, the "new" New Orleans will likely become a showcase for the very worst of modern capitalism. Greed. The Garden district and Bourbon Street will still be the main tourist draw because of the name recognition, but the real character of the city li...

The news reporting out of New Orleans has been better than we have been accustomed to. Some reporters have been getting in boats, going into neighborhoods, and have even helped save lives. Their cameras have shown us the bloated bodies bobbing in the toxic water, the joy on people's faces as they are rescued from their homes, and the sadness as a beloved pet is left behind. Even Geraldo Rivera broke down into tears at the convention center over the treatment of people stranded there without food or water and the lack of a response to assist them. This is the kind of reporting that shows us the stark, glaring truth and allows us to speak truth to power. During the build-up to the Iraq war, this kind of reporting was AWOL. Reporters accepted the Bush administration's war justifications without dissent. No tough questions. No demands for proof. No pictures of war-torn bodies or flag-draped coffins. No complaints about censorship requirements for imbedded reporters. The g...

George W. Bush, who slashed funds being used for New Orleans levee construction to help pay for the Iraq war, can do little to help the long-term humanitarian disaster created by Hurricane Katrina. Imagine a city of 1.5 million people thrown into sudden unemployment and homelessness. Bush released federal disaster funds to help relief agencies with search and rescue, health, and security, but a much needed National Guard is stretched thin with 40 percent of the troops and most of their equipment in Iraq. Bush ordered seven Navy ships from Norfolk, Virginia, to Louisiana, a voyage that at best speed can take nearly a week. In the short-term, time is critical. The human body needs water in three days or the vital organs begin to shut down. Today is the fourth day and the news networks keep interviewing federal officials who state the list of relief supplies that are "on the way." Yet from the pictures I have seen of crowds gathered in dry areas and people waiting to be re...

When 700 Club president Pat Robertson advocated the assassination of democratically-elected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Robertson became an advocate of terrorism. There is no difference between an Islamic extremist advocating violence against U.S. citizens and a Christian extremist advocating violence against foreign nationals. Both fit the definition of a terrorist. The reaction to Robertson's statement was quite interesting. Most working people just thought he was nuts, but the U.S. government said he was speaking as a "private citizen." Other Christian extremists jokingly downplayed his comments and focused on his age and his propensity to speak before he thinks. Still others called his comments "anti-Christian," yet chose to divert attention to Chavez, citing as fact that he committed "election fraud." (Egads! One wonders if they have ever heard of Florida or Ohio.) Hugo Chavez was democratically elected several times and the opposition...