World-News: 20 April 2011

Cary Fraser, Truthout: 'The recent decision by the Obama administration to spearhead the NATO effort to oust Muammar Qaddafi from power in Libya reflects the oft-evident American penchant for war as a substitute for intelligent diplomacy. It was this mindset during the George W. Bush administration which led the US into pursuing two expensive and indecisive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.'

http://www.truthout.org/war-politics-failure

America in the Hands of a Professional Military

Jeff Shear, Miller-McCune: 'Americans observe two anniversaries this year, neither one of them wanted. March marked eight years of combat in Iraq, and October, 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan. These are America's 'long wars,' a seemingly endless grind of combat. These long wars invite comparison, and some recall the eight years of US war in Vietnam, but there is a more compelling distinction. It was a conscript Army that flew its Hueys over the jungles of the Mekong Delta; it is an all-volunteer force that drives its Humvees along the Tigris and in the shattered urban landscape of Kabul.'

http://www.truth-out.org/america-hands-professional-military/1303275600

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Obama
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Gaddafi
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Libya
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Afghanistan
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Iraq
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Vietnam
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Cary+Fraser
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Jeff+Shear
-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 22:24

- 0 Trackbacks

China urges U.S. to protect creditors after S&P warning

US credit rating at risk

A downgrade would erode status as the world s most powerful economy and the dollar s role as dominant global currency.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/04/201141975314338743.html

China urges U.S. to protect creditors after S&P warning:

China s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the United Statesmust take 'responsible' measures to protect investors in its debt after Standard & Poor's threatened to lower its credit rating on the United States due to a bulging budget deficit.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/19/china-urges-u-s-to-protect-creditors-after-sp-warning/

Shock employment figures: Fewer than 46% of Americans have jobs

The percentage of Americans who have jobs has fallen to the lowest point in three decades and now hovers just above 45 percent of the total population, according to an analysis of labor data published by USA Today.

http://bit.ly/f9Felp

From Information Clearing House

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=currency
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=budget
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=deficit
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=debt
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=credit+rating
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Standard+%26+Poor
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=S%26P
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=unemploy
-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 09:38

- 0 Trackbacks

British troops 'revenge attack' on Iraqi civilian

The attack allegedly left the victim badly hurt, covered in blood and with his jaw 'literally hanging off'. It was apparently recorded by one of the soldiers wearing a camera attached to his helmet.

http://bit.ly/hxefO3

They denied it was about Iraq s resources

Iraqis used to ask ironically if the rest of the world would have been quite so interested in the fate of their country if its main export had been cabbages.

http://ind.pn/dQ6llW

From Information Clearing House

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Iraq
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=civilian+deaths
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Patrick+Cockburn
-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 09:29

- 0 Trackbacks

Scott Walker Admits Union-Busting Provision 'Doesnt Save Any' Money for the State of Wisconsin

Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress: 'Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) and Peter Shumlin (D-VT) to testify in a hearing titled 'State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead.' Much of the hearing was spent probing Wisconsin s spate of anti-union restrictions it recently passed. At one point, Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) confronted Walker about his crackdown on public employee unions. The congressman referenced a provision Walker signed into law that would require union members to vote every year to continue their membership. Kucinich asked the governor how much money the state would save from the provision. Walker repeatedly dodged the question and eventually admitted that it actually wouldn t save anything at all.'

http://www.truthout.org/scott-walker-admits-union-busting-provision-doesnt-save-any-money-state-wisconsin/1302757200

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Wisconsin
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Scott+Walker
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Kucinich
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=unions
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Zaid+Jilani

-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 09:18

- 0 Trackbacks

Top 'US' Corporations Outsourced More Than 2.4 Million American Jobs Over the Last Decade

Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress: 'A Washington Post/ABC News poll released this morning finds that 44 percent, a plurality, of Americans think the economy is getting worse, rather than staying the same or getting better. With unemployment hovering around 9.6 percent while economic inequality is at levels not seen since the Depression, many Americans feel as if the economy is leaving them behind. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Corporate America certainly isn't doing its part to help bring America out of its economic malaise. The paper surveyed employment data by some of the nation s largest corporations - General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Chevron, Cisco, Intel, Stanley Works, Merck, United Technologies, and Oracle - and found that they cut their workforces by 2.9 million people over the last decade while hiring 2.4 million people overseas.'

http://www.truthout.org/top-us-corporations-outsourced-more-24-million-american-jobs-over-last-decade/1303196400

--------

Waiting for the Spark

By Ralph Nader

What could start a popular resurgence in this country against the abuses of concentrated, avaricious corporatism?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27926.htm

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Corporate+America
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corporatism
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Big+Money
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=General+Electric
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Chevron
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=unemploy
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Zaid+Jilani
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Ralph+Nader
-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 09:13

- 0 Trackbacks

Guantanamo Psychologist Led Rendition and Imprisonment of Afghan Boys, Complaint Charges

Jeffrey Kaye, Truthout: "Four Ohio residents filed court papers last week seeking to compel the Ohio State Psychology Board to investigate Dr. Larry James, a retired Army colonel and former chief psychologist for the intelligence command at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, who oversaw the brutal torture of detainees, including children. The motion was filed by Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of the four residents, which includes a psychologist, a veteran, a minister and a long-time mental health advocate.'

http://www.truthout.org/guantanamo-psychologist-led-rendition-and-imprisonment-afghan-boys-complaint-charges

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Guantanamo
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=rendition
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=imprisonment
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=detainee
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=torture
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Jeffrey+Kaye

-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 08:48

- 0 Trackbacks

BP Oil Spill: It Could Happen Again

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/19-12

--------

BP s Secret Deepwater Blowout

Greg Palast, Truthout/Buzzflash: 'Only 17 months before BP s Deepwater Horizon rig suffered a deadly blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, another BP deepwater oil platform also blew out. You have heard and seen much about the Gulf disaster that killed 11 BP workers. If you have not heard about the earlier blowout, it s because BP has kept the full story under wraps. Nor did BP inform Congress or US safety regulators, and BP, along with its oil industry partners, have preferred to keep it that way.'

http://www.truthout.org/node/1239

BP Is Messing With the Wrong Woman

David Swanson, War is a Crime: 'A year ago BP began filling the Gulf of Mexico with oil. Last week BP blocked a woman from entering its annual meeting. Which will prove the bigger mistake? BP may have chosen the right country to hit with the worst oil disaster in world history. If there s any population that will take seeing its land and water destroyed for corporate profit lying down, it s got to be us. We are split between gratitude and indifference: should we thank BP or just stay out of its way?

http://www.truthout.org/bp-messing-wrong-woman/1303196400

A Year After Gulf Disaster, BP Still Being Awarded Lucrative Government Contracts

Jason Leopold, Truthout: 'BP continues to receive tens of millions of dollars in government contracts, despite the fact that the British oil company is under federal criminal investigation over the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and twice violated its probation late last year. Last week, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Air BP, a division of BP Products North America, a $42 million contract to supply fuel to Dover Air Force Base for the next month and a half.'

http://www.truthout.org/bp-still-being-awarded-lucrative-government-contracts

Deforming the Reform: A Case Study in Oversight Perseverance

Dina Rasor, Truthout: 'I am continuing our series of solutions for the Department of Defense (DoD) with a look at how the government keeps track of companies that have engaged in misconduct when awarded lucrative government contracts. This is specifically a problem for the DoD, because when you look at the top 100 contractors, the majority with high numbers of misconduct are companies that work with the DoD. This is not surprising because procurement oversight in the DoD is weak, and many of the companies know that if they get caught doing something wrong, they can declare a national security need and will probably get a follow-on contract or other contracts in the future.'

http://www.truthout.org/deforming-reform-case-study-oversight-perseverance/1303282800

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Department+of+Defense
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=British+Petroleum
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Big+Oil
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=contractor
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=corporate+profit
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=oil+spill
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tyson+Slocum
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greg+Palast
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=David+Swanson
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Jason+Leopold
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Dina+Rasor
-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 08:24

- 0 Trackbacks

Libyan Intervention Doing More Harm Than Good

http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/04/19

--------

West Exacerbates Libyans' Suffering

By Doug Bandow

The allies have joined the insurgents in a civil war against the previously recognized government. The path is war and all that entails: death, destruction, and chaos.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27921.htm

French want troops on ground in Libya

A senior French official says soldiers should be deployed on the ground in Libya to help guide NATO s air strikes in support of the Libyan opposition.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/73292/french-want-troops-on-ground-in-libya

Libya: blood bonanza for contractors

Libya might soon turn into a goldmine for private security firms. Reports say that the UK is already hiring mercenaries to protect the interests of the big corporations there.

http://mathaba.net/news/?x=626467

From Information Clearing House

--------

The energy vampires

Antiwar.com Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo

04/20/11

To hear the 'humanitarian' interventionists tell it, the NATO alliance is currently bombing Libya in order to avert an alleged 'massacre' that may - or may not - happen if Moammar Gadhafi gets his hands on the rebels now holding the eastern province known as Cyrenaica. It s just a coincidence that Libya is a major oil producer, and that the NATO allies demanding the dictator s ouster are thirsty for the stuff. If you believe otherwise, well then you have fallen victim to a 'conspiracy theory,' as any number of unrepentant neocons will tell you...

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/04/19/the-energy-vampires/

US military s footprint too big

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
by Charles Pena

04/19/11

The speed with which U.S. military forces were able to begin combat operations in Libya last month, following the president s order to intervene in the unfolding civil war, is a tribute to the professionalism and combat readiness of the U.S. armed forces. But it also should give us great pause. Unless the United States has been attacked, military intervention should be a very difficult, sobering decision requiring painstaking reflection. The trouble is: with U.S. forces now deployed all over the globe, military intervention has become too easy. If it wasn't so easy perhaps we would do less of it...

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/-296964--.html

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Libya
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Gaddafi
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=neocons
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=interven
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=airstrike
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=security+firm
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=mercenaries
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Doug+Bandow
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=raimondo
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Charles+Pena

-----

Starmail - 20. Apr, 08:20

- 0 Trackbacks