Why Are Things As They Are?

We Say Fightback!

Portugal and Greece on Strike:

About 250,000 civil servants in Portugal are on strike, joining Greece and Ireland in dealing with severe austerity measures that are part of European Union bailout deals.
Trade unions say the strike is severely disrupting hospital services and trash collection.
Protesters are upset about severe budget cuts and other reforms that are conditions of a bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
The changes include cuts in pensions and benefits, the abolition of many tax breaks and a higher sales tax, as well as a move to make it easier to fire employees.
The plan, details of which were released Thursday, gives Portugal until 2013 to bring its deficit from nine per cent of gross domestic product to the official euro-zone limit of three per cent, instead of as early as next year.www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/05/06/europe-economic-crisis-portugal-greece.html

Mayday Indonesia

above, Mayday in Pakistan

Arundhati Roy and Chalmers Johnson: Blowback
Who is Osama bin Laden really? Let me rephrase that. What is Osama bin Laden? He’s America’s family secret. He is the American president’s [George W. Bush] dark Doppelganger. The savage twin of all that purports to be beautiful and civilized. He has been sculpted from the spare rib of a world laid to waste by America’s foreign policy: its gunboat diplomacy, its nuclear arsenal, its vulgarly stated policy of “full-spectrum dominance,” its chilling disregard for non-American lives, its barbarous military interventions, its support for despotic and dictatorial regimes, its merciless economic agenda that has munched through the economies of poor countries like a cloud of locusts. … Now that the family secret has been spilled, the twins are blurring into one another and gradually becoming interchangeable.–Arundhati Roy, The Guardian (September 27, 2001)”Blowback” does not mean just revenge but rather retaliation for covert, illegal violence that our government has carried out abroad that it kept totally secret from the American public (even though such acts are seldom secret among the people on the receiving end). It was a term invented by the Central Intelligence Agency and first used in its “after-action report” about the 1953 overthrow of the elected government of Premier Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran. This coup brought to power the U.S.-supported Shah of Iran, who would in 1979 be overthrown by Iranian revolutionaries and Islamic fundamentalists. The Ayatollah Khomeini replaced the Shah and installed the predecessors of the current, anti-American government in Iran. This would be one kind of blowback from America’s first venture into illegal, clandestine “regime change”–but as the attacks of September 11, 2001, showed us all too graphically, hardly the only one.
–Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (2006)

Petition to Defend Labor Educators from Wackos: Recently, videotape excerpts of a labor education class taught by our colleague, Judy Ancel, director of The Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and union leader Don Giljum, have been circulating on the Internet. The dissemination of highly edited, false, and deceptive tapes that take remarks out of context and distort their true meaning has become a familiar tactic used by anti-union forces to discredit those whose views they oppose. The use of this disgraceful tactic against Judy Ancel and Don Giljum is only the latest in a series of efforts to intimidate and silence teachers, scholars, and activists who have spoken out against legislative initiatives to curtail collective bargaining rights for workers and undermine the effectiveness of labor unions.
As labor educators, we are committed to enhancing the ability of workers to participate effectively in workplace and community affairs. We also believe that the presence of a strong union movemen… more www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defend-labor-education/

The Little Red Schoolhouse:Would Corporate Escort  Michelle Rhee Lie and Cheat? USA TODAY’s analysis found that since 2008, more than 40 public schools showed remarkable gains in test scores at the same time they had high rates of corrected answers. Testing experts have said the combination of high erasures and big gains in test scores merit thorough investigation.

Rhee’s comments have shifted because she is trying to protect her national reputation, says Mike Paul, a crisis management consultant.

According to Rick Hess, an education researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, activists such as Rhee say they have all the answers and when one flaw is found in their approach, it can call into question their entire program.www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-05-05-michelle-rhee-dc-schools-cheating_n.htm?csp=34news

AFT’s Partner, Bloomberg, to Layoff 4,000+ Teachers: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Friday that he intended to eliminate 4,100 teaching jobs through layoffs, and about 2,000 through attrition, the first significant layoffs of teachers since the fiscal crisis of the 1970s.

Detroit’s School Czar: 72 and ex Boss of Failed GM: Roy S. Roberts had all of that, in abundance, during his shooting-star rise to the top ranks at General Motors, culminating as group vice president over North American sales and marketing during a tumultuous period for GM at the turn of the century.

Warm Up for Detroit Elites, Roberts Gives Million to DIA: Retired General Motors executive Roy Roberts and his wife, Maureen, have made a seven-figure gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts.The museum did not release the exact amount of the gift. In recognition, the museum has named its contemporary African-American art gallery after the couple. www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110504/FREE/110509958/former-gm-exec-roy-roberts-wife-give-seven-figure-gift-to-dia#

Forbes on Education Expert Roy Roberts: Mr. Roberts has served as managing director of Reliant Equity Investors since September 2000. Mr. Roberts retired from General Motors in April 2000. At the time of his retirement, he was group vice president for North American Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing of General Motors Corporation, having been elected to that position in October 1998. Prior to that time, he was vice president and general manager in charge of Field Sales, Service and Parts for the Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing Group from August 1998 to October 1998, general manager of the Pontiac-GMC Division from February 1996 to October 1998, and general manager of the GMC Truck Division from October 1992 to February 1996. Mr. Roberts first joined General Motors Corporation in 1977 and became a corporate officer of General Motors Corporation in April 1987. Mr. Roberts earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University. He also completed the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School. He currently serves as a director of Enova Systems, Inc., as Trustee Emeritus at Western Michigan University, and as past president and on the National Board of Directors for the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Roberts also served on the board of directors of Burlington Northern Santa Fe from 1993 to 2010. people.forbes.com/profile/roy-s-roberts/503

Layoffs Loom in San Diego: In a proposed decision sent to San Diego Unified yesterday, administrative law judge Donald Cole recommended that the school district go ahead and inform more than 300 educators their jobs are cut.
Forty-five educators will be spared because of technical errors in the process. The school district has also sent pink slips to hundreds more “probationary” teachers who are in the first few years on the job, who do not get this kind of hearing, so more than 800 educators are in jeopardy overall.www.voiceofsandiego.org/education/schooled/article_ef131c4a-7832-11e0-98c1-001cc4c002e0.html?utm_source=Constant-Contact-MR&utm_medium=Morning-Report-email&utm_campaign=20110507&utm_content=declined-to-rap-San-Diego-schools

Seal Literacy: In “Spec Ops,” McRaven outlines the principles of successful special operations — simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose — and unpacks eight famous missions, including the 1976 Israeli rescue of hostages from Uganda’s Entebbe airport.
It’s a fascinating read. But if you don’t have time, here’s a cheat sheet on how they conduct special ops at the highest level:  www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-book-the-seals-read-adm-william-mcravens-spec-ops/2011/05/04/AF1siB1F_story.html

International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

Osamagogue Killed by Obamagogue? — Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced.

Dripping Treacle, Nationalism, Lies, and Mysticism, The O’s Text: Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/middleeast/02obama-text.html?pagewanted=2&ref=asia

US, Afraid to Try OBL, Dumps him in Ocean (No Shrines Please): The body was then placed on a “prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body eased into the sea,” the official said. www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/02/carl-vinson-hosts-bin-laden-burial-sea/

Another Notable Gap in a Tape: Blackout during raid on bin Laden compound, The head of the CIA admitted yesterday that there was no live video footage of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound as further doubts emerged about the US version of events.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html

Geronimo? WTF?

Native Americans are objecting to the U.S. military’s use of the code name “Geronimo” for Osama bin Laden during the raid that killed the al-Qaida leader.
After bin Laden was killed, the military sent a message back to the White House: “Geronimo EKIA” — enemy killed in action.
News about the code name spread quickly across Indian Country and on social network sites, resulting in a groundswell of criticism against the government. Several tribes and tribal leaders issued statements of disapproval,  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42897871/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/

Firefight? the only shots fired by those in the compound came at the beginning of the operation, when Bin Laden’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, opened fire from behind the door of the guesthouse adjacent to the house where Bin Laden was hiding.
After the Seal members shot and killed Mr. Kuwaiti and a woman in the guesthouse, the Americans were never fired upon again.
This account differs from an official version of events issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday, and read by the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, which said the Seal members “were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation.” www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05binladen.html?_r=1

USA vs OBL: Who Won? As we mark Osama bin Laden’s death, what’s striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we’ve gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.     What do we have to show for that tab? Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden’s terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt, which threatens to hobble the economy unless lawmakers compromise on an unprecedented deficit-reduction deal.www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-cost-of-bin-laden-3-trillion-over-15-years-20110505

The US is Winning in Afghanistan (winning, winning, bananastan): Taliban insurgents, including at least six suicide bombers, hit government targets in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar on Saturday, triggering gunbattles that killed two people in what the militants said was part of their “spring offensive”.

Dozens were wounded in the attacks, which began with a fusillade of rocket-propelled grenades aimed at the provincial governor’s housing complex in the city center.
More blasts followed in other areas, including outlying districts, in several coordinated attacks, officials said. Gunfire could still be heard late on Saturday, although Afghan officials said this was mainly from clearing operations. www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/07/us-afghanistan-violence-idUSTRE7460Q020110507

US Syrian Faves Attack Citizenry: Hundreds of troops backed by at least seven tanks stormed a city on Syria’s Mediterranean coast before dawn on Saturday, cutting electricity and phone lines and besieging neighborhoods in a locale that has emerged as one of the most restive in the seven-week uprising, opposition groups and human rights activists said.

The military’s move against Baniyas, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city that witnessed some of the largest protests in nationwide demonstrations a day earlier, was another signal that the Syrian government was determined to crush by force dissent that has posed a sweeping challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule.www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/world/middleeast/08syria.html?hp

Black Agenda Report on Bogus US Anti War “Movement” (CP): he U.S. anti-war movement was always a lot less than it appeared to be. At its height, activists claimed that the sheer weight of visible public opinion would shake power relationships to the very foundation. But it turned out that many of the anti-war legions were actually comprised of partisan Democrats who only opposed Republican wars. “For the phony anti-warrior, imperialism with a Democratic face, is just fine.”

It really didn’t require a university degree to understand that United for Peace and Justice, UFPJ (really CPUSA), the anti-war umbrella group during the height of protest, was behaving more as an arm of the Democratic Party than as principled peace activists. The shallowness of these phony anti-warriors was so obvious, UFPJ was widely derided as United for Peanut Butter and Jelly.blackagendareport.com/content/phony-anti-war-movement

And What has the vaunted Historians Against the War Said About The Obamagogue’s Bombing and CIA Invasion of Libya? Nothing.

Sam Smith’s Give Me Pipelines or Give Me Death Page: prorev.com/bushwaroil.htm

International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor:

More Tales from Griftopia: Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs. A massive insider-trading ring is currently on trial in New York, and has implicated some leading financial-industry figures. And it follows a series of fines paid by America’s biggest investment banks to settle charges of various securities violations.
There is, however, scant accountability. Two years after the biggest financial crisis in history, which was fueled by unscrupulous behavior by the biggest banks on Wall Street, not a single financial leader has faced jail. When companies are fined for malfeasance, their shareholders, not their CEOs and managers, pay the price. The fines are always a tiny fraction of the ill-gotten gains, implying to Wall Street that corrupt practices have a solid rate of return. Even today, the banking lobby runs roughshod over regulators and politicians.
Corruption pays in American politics as well. The current governor of Florida, Rick Scott, was CEO of a major health-care company known as Columbia/HCA. The company was charged with defrauding the United States government by overbilling for reimbursement, and eventually pled guilty to 14 felonies, paying a fine of $1.7 billion. The FBI’s investigation forced Scott out of his job. But, a decade after the company’s guilty pleas, Scott is back, this time as a “free-market” Republican politician.
When Barack Obama wanted somebody to help with the bailout of the US automobile industry, he turned to a Wall Street “fixer,” Steven Rattner, even though Obama knew that Rattner was under investigation for giving kickbacks to government officials. After Rattner finished his work at the White House, he settled the case with a fine of a few million dollars.www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs177/English

Inequality Thrives: the pay picture at the 14 financial biggies that have all now become notorious household names, outfits that range from JP Morgan Chase to Countrywide Financial.

From 2000 through 2008, Bhagat and Bolton calculate, the CEOs at these 14 institutions collected a combined $891 million in cash compensation. They also sold off — in 2,048 separate transactions — shares of their institution’s stock they held in their own personal portfolios.

These transactions helped the CEOs at America’s 14 financial giants net nearly $1.8 billion above and beyond their straight cash compensation. All combined, between straight cash and personal profits from stock trades, these CEOs stuffed an average $190 million each into their pockets from 2000 through 2008.
What did the shareholders in their 14 institutions receive? Not much. In fact, shareholders who held shares in these 14 companies for the entire 2000-2008 period ended up with a negative 24.8 percent cumulative portfolio return.
Let that sink in a moment. The CEOs of America’s 14 financial giants together pocketed almost $2.7 billion at the same time their shareholders were losing money and the U.S. economy, as a whole, was sinking into a “Great Recession.”http://inequality.org/wall-streeters-table/

Black Unemployment Up Again: The unemployment rate for Blacks was 16.1% last month. This is according to the latest
report on the nation’s employment situation released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in its monthly Employment Situation report. This rate was an increase from March,
when unemployment in the Black community stood at 15.5%. For the nation as a whole,
unemployment rose slightly to 9.0% in the month of April.laborcenter.berkeley.edu/blackworkers/monthly/bwreport_2011-05-06_32.pdf

Obamagogue Lied (about everything) About the Economy: “For many Americans, the economy has effectively been in recession for the past seven years,” he said in the speech, delivered at Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan. He added, “Americans are working harder for less.” Three years later, that speech could still be given by Obama — or, more ominously for him, by one of his Republican opponents.
As Obama launches his 2012 campaign, he faces the challenge of millions of Americans without jobs, as unemployment has shot up under his tenure — it has doubled from the 5.1 percent it was the day he gave that speech, and was 9 percent in April, according to numbers out Friday. But perhaps more worrisome for the president’s political hopes, most Americans who are still working aren’t pleased with the economy either, according to polls.
And economic data suggest reasons for their dissatisfaction. Income inequality has risen, gas prices continue to spike and household income has declined, even as the stock market rises and corporate profits are setting records. The “new era of opportunity and prosperity” the president promised in 2008 has not yet appeared. www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obamas-prosperity-pledge-not-squaring-with-reality/2011/04/28/AFEcjDBG_story.html?hpid=z3

Solidarity Forever:

NEA Pimps For The Obamagogue, Again: Letter to Delegates: NEA’s President Dennis Van Roekel’s Letter to NEA Delegates of May 5
Friends ~ On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the NEA Political Action Committee approved a recommendation to come to RA delegates — our highest governing body — to support the re-election of President Barack Obama. During the Representative Assembly, July 2-5, delegates will act on the PAC’s recommendation. (You cannot make this stuff up. Let’s see. A third war (ok by most fake educators), financial bailouts to the banksters, Arne Duncan, a full scale assault on reason and wages in school, 2.3 million mostly poor and black people incarcerated, attacks on immigrants that exceed the Bush era, a speech about the assassination of OBL that dripped with mysticism, nationalism and treacle, the refusal to publish the OBL photos denying he’s a trophy, then a victory lap at “ground zero” , and a very real promise of perpetual war matched by booming inequality as the bill for foreign invasions comes home to workers–RG) www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2245&section=Article

The NEA Money Machine From EIA: PDF of NEA’s Affiliate Budgets Detailing $1.5 Billion (yes, with a B) www.eiaonline.com/NEAStateAffiliateFinances2008-09.pdf

Worst Thing in History of the World:

Detroit School Boss Guilty in $3 mil Theft from Kids: A former Detroit Public Schools executive accused of helping raid more than $3 million from the cash-strapped district could spend nine years in prison after pleading guilty today in federal court.
Stephen Hill, former executive director of the risk management department, also could be required to pay millions in restitution after pleading guilty to extortion and conspiracy to commit program fraud.www.detnews.com/article/20110502/METRO01/105020379/1026/schools/Ex-DPS-executive-pleads-guilty-in-fraud-case

Magical Mystery Tour:

Mystics and Snakehandlers Join US Hysterics: This year’s 60th annual observance of National Prayer Day came in a week when people around the region and the world had weighty thoughts on their minds. Americans are still sorting out the complex emotions — the pride, the joy, the fear of repercussions — that came with the Navy SEALs’ killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden on Sunday. www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/05/prayer-unites-the-nation-region-thursday/

Canadian Bishop Pleas to Child Porn Plus:

A Roman Catholic bishop pleaded guilty in Ottawa on Wednesday to possession of child pornography for importation. Bishop Raymond Lahey, left, who once led the Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, was charged after customs agents examined his laptop computer as he returned to Canada from an overseas trip in 2009. They found 588 graphic images of children, 33 videos and the texts of stories featuring the enslavement of children. Customs officials estimated that some boys in the photographs were only 8 years old.
A month before his arrest, Bishop Lahey negotiated a $15 million settlement with people who had been sexually abused by priests in his diocese as far back as 1950. Bishop Lahey, who resigned his post in Antigonish, has been out on bail, but on Wednesday he asked to be jailed immediately. He faces one to 10 years in prison.www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/americas/05briefs-bishop.html?scp=2&sq=child%20pornography&st=cse

Happy Birthdays:

Happy Birthday VE Day and…..