Category: American Empire

By Lucas O’Connor/Issa Watch/ May 24, 2011

It was a contentious day for the Oversight Committee, with high-profile testimony from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Elizabeth Warren. And twice in two hearings, committee Republicans accused their witnesses of lying to Congress, under oath…

Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden

By Michael Moore

“The Nazis killed tens of MILLIONS. They got a trial. Why? Because we’re not like them. We’re Americans. We roll different.” – Michael Moore in an interview last week

Last week, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise and killed Osama bin Laden. Well he didn’t actually do the killing himself. It was carried out by a very brave and excellent team of Navy SEALs. Not only does Mr. Obama have the overwhelming support of the country, I think there are millions who gladly wish it could have been their finger on the gun that took out bin Laden.

“Anchor Baby” Member of Elite Seal Team Six

By Paul Hogarth

In the past few days, as America rejoices the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, I’ve thought about how this completely discredits the right-wing worldview – and how Republicans who pander to that ilk are now in trouble.

First, let’s state the obvious. A President named Barack Hussein Obama who many Republicans believe is not a “real” American was able to track down the World’s Most Wanted Terrorist –

From ThinkProgress.org

As ThinkProgress has repeatedly noted, crucial services and public investments for Main Street America are being gutted as taxes on the richest Americans are the lowest they’ve been in a generation. Yet many Americans may not know exactly how unfair this is, as the country has grown increasingly unequal at the same time. Using data from the CIA Factbook based on the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality within a society — ThinkProgress has assembled the following graph, which demonstrates that the United States is now about as economically unequal as Uganda and more unequal than countries like Pakistan or the Ivory Coast.

On Sunday night, we learned that U.S. forces killed Osama Bin Laden. After 10 years of war, it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

Please sign this petition immediately which will be presented to the White House to begin a swift withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. (Come inside for links to the petition.)

By Richard Rodriguez/New America Media/May 02, 2011

There was something unseemly about that gathering of college-age Americans outside the White House just before midnight on Sunday, cheering at the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. Some of the kids had draped flags over their shoulders; they chanted “USA, USA, USA.” I doubt there was a true patriot in the bunch.

Everybody – even yahoo news – now knows that the birther movement is a racist movement. We on the left of the center divide have been aware of the birther’s racism for some time now. Their unwillingness to accept a Black man as president has exposed the racist core of their two and half year campaign.

But the birther movement is something else, something else that no one is talking about: the birther movement is also a fascist movement. Yes, that’s right, I said “fascist”, and it’s not hyperbole. Let me explain.

First, with President Obama proving (again) his place of birth by handing out his long-f0rm birth certificate, the white supremacist underpinnings of the birthers has so been totally demonstrated that even mainstream corporate media are calling them racist.

Gunwalking Across the Border Promises to Be the Next Scandal

By Laura Carlsen/ counterpunch

A secret operation to run guns across the border to Mexican drug cartels — overseen by U.S. government agents — threatens to become a major scandal for the Obama administration.

The operation, called “Fast and Furious,” was run out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona. ATF sanctioned the purchase of weapons in U.S. gun shops and tracked the smuggling route to the Mexican border. Reportedly, more than 2,500 firearms were sold to straw buyers who then handed off the weapons to gunrunners under the nose of ATF.

by John Lawrence

Decrease spending on Defense and Corporate Welfare and Increase Spending on Job Creation and the Safety Net. Increase revenues from Corporations and the Wealthy.

Everyone is concerned about creating a 2012 budget that will get the US annual deficit and finally the national debt under control. Republican Paul Ryan has proposed one that would balance the budget on the backs of the poor and middle class while voucherizing Medicare and giving tax breaks to the wealthy.

by Nate Silver / New York Times / April 26, 2011

A new Gallup/USA Today poll finds significant doubt about whether Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and television personality who is considering a bid for presidency, was born in the United States.

According to the survey, just 43 percent of Americans believe that Mr. Trump was definitely born in the United States. Another 20 percent believe that he was probably born here. Some 7 percent of respondents told Gallup that Mr. Trump was probably or definitely born in another country, while 30 percent were uncertain.

Editor: The good folks of Potrero successfully blocked a BlackWater private military training facility a few years back out in their neck of the woods. Plus Blackwater attempted to open other facilities closer to the border. (Go inside for links to earlier articles.) However, apparently, former BlackWater VP Brian Bonfiglio has done an end run, and started a new business, signed a contract with Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, and has opened Eagle Rock Training Center out on the res near Warner Springs. Local residents are upset and complain about the 2 a.m. helicopter noise, among other things. Seems there are a few other flies in the training camp’s soup.

Marines, SEALs confirm training on Indian reservation

While the TEA Party calls for tax cuts and slashing services, a new taxpayers’ movement is outraged by some of America’s biggest corporations paying zero taxes while reaping huge profits. Now a national movement calling for corporations to pay a “fair share” has reached the streets in San Diego.

By Maria Yushinsky / East County Magazine

Following the deadline for taxpayers to send in payments to the I.R.S., taxpaying members of U.S. Uncut San Diego, MoveOn.org and other community groups gathered at the San Diego Civic Center on Monday, the 19th. Their goal?