{"id":3209,"date":"2011-06-04T22:54:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-05T06:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=3209"},"modified":"2011-06-04T22:54:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-05T06:54:33","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-jobbed-by-obamagogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-jobbed-by-obamagogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Jobbed by Obamagogue?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say FightBack!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ezCek78iNSE<\/a><\/p>\n

Rising in Mongolia: <\/strong> Chinese authorities on Sunday blanketed volatile towns in Inner Mongolia with armed police, blocked Internet and telephone connections, and confined students to their campuses and activists to their homes in an effort to forestall protests scheduled Monday over the death of a Mongolian herder who was killed during a confrontation over land use. The killing of the herder, allegedly run over May 10 by truck drivers who were transporting coal across pastoral lands, triggered the largest demonstrations in decades in the Chinese province. In an effort to calm tensions, the Inner Mongolia Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua reportedly met with students on Friday and promised that two Chinese suspects who were arrested would face a speedy trial. \u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/world\/la-fg-china-mongolia-protests-20110530,0,3895402.story<\/p>\n

WikiHackers CounterAttack PBS: <\/strong>PBS has become the latest victim of a concerted hacking campaign. The party responsible is a familiar one — they’re the same group that recently hacked Sony Corp. But this time around their motives were different. The hackers this time were using the hack to show their support for embattled website Wikileaks. \u00a0http:\/\/www.dailytech.com\/Hackers+Punish+PBS+for+Wikileaks+Story+With+Intrusion\/article21765.htm<\/p>\n

Oaxaca Teachers Vote To End Strike: <\/strong>On May 31, striking teachers in the southwestern Mexican city of Oaxaca voted to suspend their protests and return to the negotiating table with state authorities. The vote was hastily organized in the wake of a new monetary offer by state authorities. Out of the 73,000 strikers, just 28,844 voted to return to work. There were 13,793 votes to continue with the strike.<\/p>\n

The teachers\u2019 union, Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), has announced it will end its occupation of the city\u2019s central square on June 3, and that classes will resume on June 6.
\nOn May 23, tens of thousands of striking public school teachers had occupied the city\u2019s downtown to press for economic and political demands \u00a0http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/articles\/2011\/jun2011\/mexi-j02.shtml<\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Privatization Phobes! Wrong Target. It is the Corporate State: <\/strong>A new report from the Department of Education finds that a decade of growth in school options has led to significant shifts in where American students obtain their education, according to the Associated Press. Charters served 1.4 million students in 2008-2009, up from 340,000 at the start of the decade; some predict charter enrollment could reach 3 million by 2015. At the same time, traditional public schools have seen a rise in test scores over the past eight years, making them more attractive. Sarah Sparks of Education Week noted that the report showed enrollment in private religious schools has declined sharply since the economic downturn. Private school enrollment fell from a high of 6.3 million students in 2001-2002 to 5.5 million in 2009-2010. Overall, private schools served about 10 percent of the nation’s K-12 students in 2009-2010, down from a high of 12 percent in 1996. During the same period, public school enrollment increased by 2.1 million students, reaching 49.3 million in 2009. The dip in private school enrollment stemmed from declines in Catholic schools, which have lost 510,000 students since 2002, as well as in schools designated by NCES statisticians as conservative Christian and\/or religious-affiliated. Enrollment in independent and nonreligious private schools held steady over the same time period. \u00a0http:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/pubsearch\/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011033<\/p>\n

Corporate Escort (now blowing new instrument) Ravitch on Bush’s Invasion of Iraq (note the SDUSA connection): <\/strong>We write because we share the view that it is essential to bring Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq to an early end. \u00a0http:\/\/www.socialdemocratsusa.org\/oldsite\/IraqLetter3.html\"\"<\/a>There is a reason Ravitch is a Union Boss’ and Liberal Fave<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Against Ravitch and the Imperialist Liberals Hugging Her: <\/strong>Perhaps it is because she floats around in the really thin air that is the field of education that the vacillating reactionary, Diane Ravitch, gets cheers from those who condemned her in her No Child Left Behind days. I have to remind myself that there are also bad historians at Harvard.
\nWhat makes Ravitch consistent, and consistently reactionary, is her dishonest rejection of the social context of the NCLB and its monster sibling, The Race to the Top (Ratt), that is, her utter failure to locate these regimented education moves with the continuing crises of the system of capital, today losing wars and forging booming inequality.
\nThat then allows Ravitch to appear to shift sides, when her real side is simple to see: class rule. At issue is the method, form, which seems to fascinate and distract education workers. Will it be the iron fist or velvet glove, ensuring oppression one way or another? richgibson.com\/againstravitch.html<\/a><\/p>\n

“Save Public Schools” or Rescue Education from the Ruling Class?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more people buy into the legal system where the fascist Supremes, millionaires in black robes, rule; into the Constitution, written to protect the rich and their properties; into holograms of democracy like unions which are not democratic nor unions in any sense of solidarity or resistance, the more they give up (eager to make concessions in Wisconsin in order, only, to preserve dues check off) , the more people “Defend Public Education” (an indefensible myth); the more people protest under American nationalist flags; the more the people see the Democrats as “lesser evils” the more they ratify evil, and the sharper become the attacks from capital as capital in crisis, as it is, MUST attack. That is the track record of fascist self-alienation.
\nrichgibson.com\/towardgenuine.htm<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span>
\nChurchill on British imperialism\/colonialism, in a comment to his British Cabinet colleagues in January 1914: \u00a0 “We are not a young people with an innocent record and a scanty inheritance… We have engrossed to ourselves an altogether disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world. We have got all we want in territory, and our claim to be left in the unmolested enjoyment of vast and splendid possessions, mainly acquired by violence, largely maintained by force, often seems less reasonable to others than to us.” (See in the link a nice take on US\/China Clashing): economicsofimperialism.blogspot.com\/<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Obamagogue, NeoCon Crusader: <\/strong>While some in the media swoon over President Obama\u2019s \u201cplan\u201d for the Middle East \u2014 note the Washington Post\u2019s piece by David Ignatius \u2014 and the Israel-First fifth column prepares to teach the Democrats a lesson in 2012, the rest of us common folk can see how irrelevant we are to the foreign-policy plans of Mr. Obama and our bipartisan political elite.<\/p>\n

In his May 19th, 2011, speech, Obama details our elite\u2019s desire to reshape the Muslim world in its image, an image which has nothing to do with America and everything to do with a coterie of very well educated elitists issuing edicts that tell Americans and Muslims to accept behavioral instructions from their betters and then think, act, and vote accordingly. And Mr. Obama, again, demonstrated the bankruptcy of the U.S. educational system. A product of two of our most prestigious universities, Mr. Obama was arrogant, ignorant of the world, and blithely unaware that he is either.<\/p>\n

Adopting the crazed and crusading words of Mr. Bush and the Neoconservatives, Obama began his Middle East speech by saying \u201cwe know our own future is bound to this region,\u201d and proceeded to instruct the Islamic world that, because this is true, Muslims must become just like us \u2014 or else. From there on, Obama signals his and our political elite\u2019s disdain for Americans and assumes a mantle of interventionism much more encompassing than anything ever worn by the lamentable Woodrow Wilson.
\nIn his arrogance, Obama condemns \u201cthe relentless tyranny of governments that deny their citizens dignity\u201d and argues that \u201c[i]n too many countries, power has been concentrated in the hands of too few,\u201d referring in each case to Arab dictators. He seems unaware that he also described a U.S. government that, under both parties, has for thirty years denied its own citizens dignity at every turn: \u00a0http:\/\/non-intervention.com\/<\/p>\n

Ooops Again. Sorry About that Dronestrike on the Kiddies: <\/strong><\/p>\n

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The governor of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Sunday accused U.S.-led forces of killing at least 14 civilians in a bombing raid called in by besieged U.S. Marines.
\nAmong the dead in the Saturday incident, according to a statement from the governor’s office, were five girls, seven boys and two women.
\nThe 14 were inside two houses that were struck by bombs or missiles after U.S. Marines came under attack at 8 a.m. in the Nawzad district of Helmand, the statement said. www.mcclatchydc.com\/2011\/05\/29\/114950\/afghan-governor-says-air-strike.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Military Spent $32 Billion on Abandoned Weapons Systems: <\/strong> 22 major Army weapons programs canceled since 1995, ringing up a price tag of more than $32 billion for equipment that was never built. A new study, commissioned by the Army and obtained by The Washington Post, condemns the service\u2019s efforts as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d \u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/capitalbusiness\/army-report-military-has-spent-32-billion-since-97-on-abandoned-weapons-programs\/2011\/05\/23\/AGwuqjCH_story.html<\/p>\n

Iraq: Thousands March Against Permanent US Invasion: <\/strong>Iraqi Shi’ite militia fighters led a massive rally of followers of a hard-liner anti-American cleric on Thursday, marching in Baghdad in a show of defiance as Iraqi leaders weigh whether to keep U.S. troops in the country beyond the end of the year. An estimated 70,000 supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr waved Iraqi flags and shouted “No, no, America!” as the tight columns of the unarmed but ominous Mahdi Army marched though one of Baghdad’s poorest neighborhoods.
\nU.S., Israeli and British flags were painted on the pavement to be stomped on by the marching protesters, and Iraqi military helicopters buzzed overhead while soldiers stood guard to keep peace if needed.
\nThe rally was a message to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about the staunch opposition by Iraq’s most devout Shi’ites \u2014 and the ones who grudgingly helped him clinch a second term in office last year \u2014 to a continued U.S. military presence in 2012. (See pictures of Iraq’s revival.)<\/p>\n

Don’t bomb, Bomb, bomb, Bomb bomb Iran (Hersh): <\/strong> ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY about whether Iran\u2019s nuclear program is being exaggerated. Is Iran actively trying to develop nuclear weapons? Members of the Obama Administration often talk as if this were a foregone conclusion, as did their predecessors under George W. Bush. There\u2019s a large body of evidence, however, including some of America\u2019s most highly classified intelligence assessments, suggesting that the U.S. could be in danger of repeating a mistake similar to the one made with Saddam Hussein\u2019s Iraq eight years ago\u2014allowing anxieties about the policies of a tyrannical regime to distort our estimates of the state\u2019s military capacities and intentions. The two most recent National Intelligence Estimates (N.I.E.s) on Iranian nuclear progress have stated that there is no conclusive evidence that Iran has made any effort to build the bomb since 2003 \u00a0http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2011\/06\/06\/110606fa_fact_hersh<\/p>\n

Pentagon: Hacking is Act of War: <\/strong>The Pentagon’s first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country’s military.<\/p>\n

In part, the Pentagon intends its plan as a warning to potential adversaries of the consequences of attacking the U.S. in this way. “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks,” said a military official.<\/p>\n

Recent attacks on the Pentagon’s own systems\u2014as well as the sabotaging of Iran’s nuclear program via the Stuxnet computer worm\u2014have given new urgency to U.S. efforts to develop a more formalized approach to cyber attacks. A key moment occurred in 2008, when at least one U.S. military computer system was penetrated. This weekend Lockheed Martin, a major military contractor, acknowledged that it had been the victim of an infiltration… online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052702304563104576355623135782718.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Economic\u00a0 War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vgSMrkWGHGw<\/a><\/p>\n

The Housing Collapse Worse than the Great Depression: <\/strong>\u201cOn the Case-Shiller measure, prices are now 33% below the 2006 peak and are back at a level last seen in the third quarter of 2002. This means that prices have now fallen by more than the 31% decline endured during the Great Depression.\u201d
\nHmmm. Recovery? What recovery?
\nIt\u2019s yet more proof that the nationwide financial bust is far worse than Wall Street is pretending, and it may be getting worse instead of better. www.marketwatch.com\/story\/why-housing-is-in-a-depression-2011-06-01?link=MW_latest_news<\/a><\/p>\n

Unemployment Summed Up: <\/strong>The unemployment rate for Blacks was 16.2% last month. This is according to the latest report on the nation\u2019s employment situation released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor
\nStatistics in its monthly Employment Situation report. This rate was virtually unchanged from April, when unemployment in the Black community stood at 16.1%. For the nation as a whole, unemployment rose slightly to 9.1% in the month of May. Among whites,
\nunemployment was 8.0%; among Latinos, unemployment was 11.9%. Comparable April 2011 figures were 9.0%; 8.0%; and 11.8% respectively. laborcenter.berkeley.edu\/blackworkers\/monthly\/bwreport_2011-06-03_34.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bogus Decline in the Jobless Rate: <\/strong>As much of a quarter of the recent decline in the U.S. jobless rate is due to long-term unemployment benefits running out, according to research from the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank published on Tuesday. www.nytimes.com\/reuters\/2011\/05\/31\/business\/business-us-usa-fed-unemployment.html?emc=eta1<\/a><\/p>\n

Who Lost the Dow? <\/strong>Signs of slowing growth in manufacturing and in private-sector employment spook investors, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 279.65 points, or 2.2%. That’s the biggest one-day sell-off in the U.S. stock market since August….just temporary,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global in New York. “The numbers today raised the credibility of the possibility that there’s more going on than just a temporary slowdown.”
\nCombined with a report Tuesday pointing to a fresh low in U.S. home prices, Wednesday’s numbers raised fears of a slowdown in consumer spending, which accounts for most of the country’s economic output. www.latimes.com\/business\/la-fi-markets-20110602,0,774718.story<\/a><\/p>\n

Global Commission: Bosses Flunked War on Drugs: <\/strong>The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched
\nthe US government\u2019s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed. Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV\/AIDS, overdose fatalities
\nand other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on
\nfutile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction.
\nwww.globalcommissionondrugs.org\/Download.ashx?File=Global_Commission_Report_English.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Emergence of Fascism as a Mass, Popular, Movement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n