{"id":8719,"date":"2012-11-09T23:27:27","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T07:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=8719"},"modified":"2012-11-11T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T15:54:15","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-poison-picked-back-to-the-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-poison-picked-back-to-the-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Poison Picked. Back to the Wars."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> <\/strong><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We Say Fightback<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"March of the Bonus Army - Part 1\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IiMuzkpT8Xs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>On Veterans&#8217; Day, Never Forget <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Congratulations on the New Edition of<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Invention-White-Race.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8758\" title=\"Invention White Race\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Invention-White-Race.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Invention-White-Race.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Invention-White-Race-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>JUST PUBLISHED<br \/>\nThe Invention of the White Race (2 vols.)<br \/>\nby Theodore W. Allen<br \/>\n<\/strong><em><strong>Vol. 1 \u2013 Racial Oppression and Social Control<br \/>\nVol. 2 \u2013 The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America<br \/>\nTo assist individual readers, classes, and study groups this new expanded edition of Allen\u2019s seminal two-volume &#8220;classic&#8221; includes new introductions, new appendices with background on Allen and his writings, expanded indexes, and new internal study guides. The study guides follow each volume, chapter-by-chapter, and the indexes also include entries from Allen&#8217;s extensive notes based on twenty years of primary research. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Cops Attack Portland Pre-election Protest <\/strong> Police used pepper spray on marchers during a protest organized by a coalition of groups that participated in last year&#8217;s Occupy Portland movement.<br \/>\nSeveral hundred people took part in the mostly peaceful demonstration in Northeast Portland on Saturday afternoon, The Oregonian reported ( <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/SpcQlC\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">bit.ly\/SpcQlC<\/a>). Police said they responded with pepper spray after several people used wooden shields to confront officers.<br \/>\nAuthorities didn&#8217;t say how many people were sprayed, but one person was arrested. The Oregonian reported at least 20 were sprayed, but there was no word of any injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Quetzal Brock, 16, said he was near the front of the march and was sprayed twice.<br \/>\n&#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect for them to start immediately spraying people,&#8221; the Cleveland High School student said. &#8220;They do those things to make you not want to come back. It makes me want to fight even harder, but next time with goggles.&#8221;<br \/>\nThe goal of the rally was to protest the burden of the financial crisis on the working class, protest spokesman Nicholas Caleb said.<br \/>\n&#8220;We thought it was important to have this rally right before the election to get these issues into the public consciousness and begin to organize against austerity measures,&#8221; he told The Oregonian. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/tdn.com\/news\/state-and-regional\/oregon\/police-use-pepper-spray-during-portland-protest\/article_38fdbcb3-30c1-5482-ab10-6f0808f20efd.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">tdn.com\/news\/state-and-regional\/oregon\/police-use-pepper-spray-during-portland-protest\/article_38fdbcb3-30c1-5482-ab10-6f0808f20efd.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pick-poison.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8720\" title=\"pick poison\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pick-poison.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"361\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pick-poison.jpg 361w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pick-poison-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pick-poison-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 361px) 100vw, 361px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>St Clair&#8211;TKO by the Technocrats (and don&#8217;t forget the wars) <\/strong>Barack Obama is a technocrat and he just won a technocratic victory. His reelection campaign, lacking any kind of arching philosophy or defense of his own disturbing tenure as president, became a bland exercise in political calculus, targeting individual precincts, swing counties and fractionated demographic sectors.<br \/>\nObama\u2019s victory, at the cost of $2 billion, is about as thrilling as completing a game of Sudoku. Obama was propelled to his slender popular vote win by those that the Republicans almost ritually abused: women, blacks, gays and Hispanics. Ironically, these are people that the Obama administration has also ruthlessly strafed for four years. But Obama smiled as he cut the lower-classes adrift in the midsts of a cratering economy, while Romney expressed only contempt for them.<br \/>\nMitt Romney ran an inept campaign. As a candidate, he was even more aloof, arrogant and emotionally distant than Obama. If Obama\u2019s campaign lacked any unifying message, Romney\u2019s resembled a kind of political Brownian Motion of constantly drifting themes in a tank of rancid and racially-charged sludge. He doomed his chances with his peculiar choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate, who personified the budgetary cruelties of the Republican right and alienated aging white voters who otherwise might have wandered into his camp.<br \/>\nWhere does Obama go now? The House remains firmly in the hands of militant right-wingers. The Senate will continue to be paralyzed by the filibuster-happy minority and a spineless Democratic majority. Stalemate? Probably not. Second terms are almost always about polishing a presidential legacy, already being harped upon by the withered likes of Tom Brokaw.  Obama will be desperate for some signature legislative victories.<br \/>\nSo what to expect from Obama? An aggressive new plan to combat climate change? A real federal jobs program aimed at full-employment? Liberalization of immigration policies? Decriminalization of marijuana? Deep cuts in the defense budget? Rollback of the Patriot Act? A ban on assassinations by drones? Movement toward single-payer health care? Sure.<br \/>\nNo. Clinton will be his template:  the Clinton who pushed for the elimination of the Glass-Steagall Act, the gutting of welfare and the war on Serbia.  Obama will pursue bi-partisanship with a vengeance. Obama has always been a committed neoliberal, a closeted agent of austerity. Now he no longer needs to even play-act for his political base. He can openly betray their interests. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2012\/11\/07\/victory-of-the-technocrats\/print\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.counterpunch.org\/2012\/11\/07\/victory-of-the-technocrats\/print<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>General Strike Brews In Greece <\/strong>Public transport and media workers have opened a week of strikes in Greece, contesting fresh austerity measures needed for a lifeline from creditors which the government is due to introduce to parliament.<br \/>\nThe Athens metro was shut, and only one tram line was running on Monday, while Athens&#8217; 14.000 taxi drivers halted services, severely disrupting traffic in the capital.<br \/>\nThe country was also hit by a media blackout as print, broadcast and electronic media journalists staged a 24-hour strike. Service at hospitals was slow as only some employees turned up to work.<br \/>\nThe union of the public electricity company DEI meanwhile announced renewable 48-hour strikes from Monday evening, although it did not say whether this would lead to power cuts.<br \/>\nThe walkout is expected to intensify throughout the country on Tuesday and Wednesday as public union GSEE and private union Adedy have both called general strikes.<br \/>\nBus workers joined the stoppage on Tuesday, completing the public transport shutdown in Athens, while ferry lines to surrounding islands will be cut for 48 hours.<br \/>\nA three-hour work stoppage on Tuesday has also been announced by air traffic controllers. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/europe\/2012\/11\/201211514919904471.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.aljazeera.com\/news\/europe\/2012\/11\/201211514919904471.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0hXGunOCR78\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0hXGunOCR78<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Marx 1878 Notebooks on Geology <\/strong> Marx was a comprehensive thinker, who was interested \u2013 as were Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel \u2013 in an understanding of nature which aimed at a totality. Already in the \u201cEconomic-Philosophical Manuscripts\u201d (1844), Marx ascertained: \u201cThe natural sciences developed an enormous activity and appropriated an ever increasing substance. Philosophy was as alienated from them as they were alienated from Philosophy.\u201d And he criticised \u201cthe science of History\u201d, because it only casually allows for the sciences of Nature (MEGA I\/ 2, p. 271 [see also Marx-Engels Collected Works (MECW) 3, p. 303]). One can find similar remarks in The German Ideology (MEW, Bd.3, S.21 [see also MECW 5, p. 31]). This attitude was completely in line with the thinking of Goethe, whom Alexander von Humboldt said prompted a renewal of  \u201cthe alliance which in the childhood of humanity was entwined with the thread of Philosophy, Physics and Literature.\u201d<br \/>\nMarx tried to avoid this separation; he studied until the end of his life the sciences of nature; not only geology, but also physiology, chemistry, mathematics and other sciences (although the excerpts on physiology and chemistry already are found in MEGA IV\/25, the excerpts on Mathematics have not yet been published in the MEGA; there exists only a largely ignored Russian edition in the original language; Moscow 1968 [there was also shorter English edition]. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.internationalmarxisthumanist.org\/articles\/connection-mind-nature-marxs-1878-notebooks-geology-martin-hundt\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.internationalmarxisthumanist.org\/articles\/connection-mind-nature-marxs-1878-notebooks-geology-martin-hundt\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IllusionFactory1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8769\" title=\"IllusionFactory\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IllusionFactory1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"341\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IllusionFactory1.jpg 341w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IllusionFactory1-300x295.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Merced, Riverside, Fresno sign on to RaTT <\/strong>A Merced teachers union has voted to back a controversial federal grant program, but only after extracting district guarantees that student test scores would not be used to evaluate individual instructors.<br \/>\nSheila Whitley, president of the Merced Union High School District Teachers\u2019 Assn., said Tuesday that 67.6% of 191 teachers surveyed said they would support the Race to the Top grant application as long as the district honored its pledge not to use test scores in individual performance reviews. Both sides agreed to negotiate the possible use of schoolwide or district scores to evaluate teachers instead, clearing the way for Merced to submit its application last week.<br \/>\nThe grant requires that a teacher evaluation system using student test scores or other measures of academic achievement be in place by 2014. That requirement is a key reason that most teachers unions have refused to support the federal grant program.<br \/>\nMerced joined Riverside&#8217;s, Fresno&#8217;s and a few other California teachers unions in bucking the trend and backing their district grant applications \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/lanow\/2012\/11\/merced-teachers-union-backs-controversial-federal-grant-proposal-.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">latimesblogs.latimes.com\/lanow\/2012\/11\/merced-teachers-union-backs-controversial-federal-grant-proposal-.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>California School budget explained (sort of) <\/strong>A decade of disinvestment has left California\u2019s spending for public schools lagging the nation by a number of measures. The Proposition 98 guarantee, designed to ensure a minimum level of funding for California\u2019s schools and community colleges, has not prevented significant cuts to the resources available to schools. Lawmakers have repeatedly cut state spending in recent years in response to the dramatic decline in revenues caused by the most severe economic downturn since the 1930s. As a result, 2010-11 estimated General Fund spending was lower as a share of the state\u2019s economy than in 35 of the prior 40 years. Recent cuts have reversed longstanding policies and have left public systems and programs ill-equipped to cope with the ongoing impact of the Great Recession and the challenges of a growing population and an ever-more-competitive global economy. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbp.org\/pdfs\/2011\/111012_Decade_of_Disinvestment_%20SFF.pdf\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.cbp.org\/pdfs\/2011\/111012_Decade_of_Disinvestment_%20SFF.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Corruption is Endemic to Capitalist Schooling and Capital Itself. Dean\/Thief Suicides <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Chang-Cecilia-St-Johns-Dean-Thief.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8724\" title=\"Chang Cecilia St Johns Dean Thief\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Chang-Cecilia-St-Johns-Dean-Thief.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Chang-Cecilia-St-Johns-Dean-Thief.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Chang-Cecilia-St-Johns-Dean-Thief-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the dean, Cecilia Chang, fought her way up driven by the same ambition and greed that would pull her down, accused of stealing more than $1 million from the school and using foreign scholarship students as her personal servants, prosecutors said during a three-week trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/07\/nyregion\/cecilia-chang-ex-dean-of-st-johns-found-dead.html?hp\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/07\/nyregion\/cecilia-chang-ex-dean-of-st-johns-found-dead.html?hp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Detroit Principal&#8217;s Collective Punishment&#8211;no food <\/strong>Lunch was not on the menu this week for some students at a Detroit school after a food fight led officials to what some called cruel and unusual discipline.<br \/>\n&#8220;How can you punish a child by not feeding them?&#8221; said Christine Houston, whose grandchildren attend Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary-Middle School. &#8220;What are we teaching them?&#8221;<br \/>\nAccording to a notice to parents signed by Principal Antoinette Pearson, &#8220;due to irresponsible behavior that has resulted in numerous food fights,&#8221; sixth- through eighth-graders would not be served lunch this week and were expected to bring their own. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20121106\/SCHOOLS\/211060352\/1026\/schools\/Detroit-school-draws-criticism-after-disciplining-students-by-not-serving-lunch\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20121106\/SCHOOLS\/211060352\/1026\/schools\/Detroit-school-draws-criticism-after-disciplining-students-by-not-serving-lunch<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Central Mich U Internet Censor Expert busted for Kiddie porn <\/strong>A tenured Central Michigan University professor has admitted to downloading child pornography on the CMU-owned computer in his office, according to a police affidavit filed in Isabella County Trial Court.<br \/>\nWilliam L. Merrill, 58, faces felony charges of distributing or promoting child sexually abusive activity and possession of child sexually abusive material. Though the charges have been filed and an arrest warrant issued, Merrill has not yet been detained by police.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/MLive.com\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">MLive.com<\/a> could not confirm a media report that Merrill had checked into a psychiatric hospital. But court documents say Merrill was persuaded to seek psychological help and CMU officials said no one on campus was in danger.<br \/>\nAccording to Merrill&#8217;s profile on the CMU website, his areas of research included censorship and the Internet.<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlive.com\/news\/saginaw\/index.ssf\/2012\/11\/central_michigan_university_pr_4.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.mlive.com\/news\/saginaw\/index.ssf\/2012\/11\/central_michigan_university_pr_4.html<\/a><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>California Voters Suckered on Prop 30 (there is a court order for the jails, none for the schools) <\/strong>California&#8217;s schools are safe from another year of automatically triggered cuts after voters narrowly passed Proposition 30, the tax increase pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown.<br \/>\nFor San Diego Unified School District, that means local students won&#8217;t see their school year cut by as much as three additional weeks.<br \/>\nBut local education leaders cautioned Tuesday night that the estimated $6 billion in new tax revenue that will result from Prop. 30 won&#8217;t fix a state education funding system they say has been reduced to tatters in recent years.<br \/>\n&#8220;Some people will think this is a bright new day for school funding,&#8221; said San Diego Unified school board President John Lee Evans. &#8220;But I&#8217;d describe it as stopping the hemorrhaging.&#8221;<br \/>\nProp. 30 introduces a quarter-cent sales tax and raises income taxes on Californians who earn more than $250,000 a year.<br \/>\nThe proposition, which was leading with 53 percent of the vote early Wednesday, has been pushed by Brown and his supporters as a way to balance the state budget and prevent billions of dollars in cuts to education funding.<br \/>\nBut while the new taxes avoid devastating cuts to school districts this year, they don&#8217;t guarantee districts will be fully funded moving forward.<br \/>\nWe examined the proposition closely in this explainer, which shows much of the money will not be spent on education at all. And, though a proportion of the money is guaranteed for schools, much of it could go toward paying down the state&#8217;s debt to districts, rather than increasing districts&#8217; bottom lines.<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/m.voiceofsandiego.org\/mobile\/election\/article_ae5510f2-28bf-11e2-81ba-001a4bcf887a.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">m.voiceofsandiego.org\/mobile\/election\/article_ae5510f2-28bf-11e2-81ba-001a4bcf887a.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trained Seals\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aLtDFeuVPtI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Training Seals, Principal Takes test takers to Dinner <\/strong>Pioneer Elementary Principal Marcia Karadashian challenged her students several years ago: If they score above 500 on the California Standards Test, she would take them to dinner at a restaurant.<br \/>\nNo students made it to \u201cHigh 5 Club\u201d the first two years after Karadashian first proposed it. A score of 350 is considered proficient, a 500 above advanced. Then, in the third year, the hard work by teachers and students started to pay off, and 13 students joined the principal for dinner at the Olive Garden. This year \u2014 the High 5 Club\u2019s fourth dinner \u2014 30 students made the cut, including seven who scored a perfect 600.<br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve really changed the culture of the school,\u201d Karadashian said. \u201cWe\u2019re all about college. We talk about it every Friday at assembly. \u2026 \u2018Prove it\u2019 is a (school) motto.<br \/>\nOn Thursday, 25 of this year\u2019s High 5 Club members, many of them wearing their \u201cSunday best,\u201d joined Karadashian at Cocina del Charro in Escondido for a sit-down meal on the restaurant\u2019s patio to celebrate what the principal deemed a \u201cremarkable accomplishment.\u201d The CST is administered to second- through fifth-graders, so some of the dinner guests were Pioneer alumni \u2014 sixth-graders now attending Mission Middle School. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2012\/nov\/04\/principal-treats-test-takers-to-dinner\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2012\/nov\/04\/principal-treats-test-takers-to-dinner\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/span><\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex.\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8y06NSBBRtY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Permanent Militarization of America <\/strong>But Eisenhower\u2019s least heeded warning \u2014 concerning the spiritual effects of permanent preparations for war \u2014 is more important now than ever. Our culture has militarized considerably since Eisenhower\u2019s era, and civilians, not the armed services, have been the principal cause. From lawmakers\u2019 constant use of \u201csupport our troops\u201d to justify defense spending, to TV programs and video games like \u201cNCIS,\u201d \u201cHomeland\u201d and \u201cCall of Duty,\u201d to NBC\u2019s shameful and unreal reality show \u201cStars Earn Stripes,\u201d Americans are subjected to a daily diet of stories that valorize the military while the storytellers pursue their own opportunistic political and commercial agendas. Of course, veterans should be thanked for serving their country, as should police officers, emergency workers and teachers. But no institution \u2014 particularly one financed by the taxpayers \u2014 should be immune from thoughtful criticism.<br \/>\nLike all institutions, the military works to enhance its public image, but this is just one element of militarization. Most of the political discourse on military matters comes from civilians, who are more vocal about \u201csupporting our troops\u201d than the troops themselves. It doesn\u2019t help that there are fewer veterans in Congress today than at any previous point since World War II. Those who have served are less likely to offer unvarnished praise for the military, for it, like all institutions, has its own frustrations and failings. But for non-veterans \u2014 including about four-fifths of all members of Congress \u2014 there is only unequivocal, unhesitating adulation. The political costs of anything else are just too high.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8741\" title=\"i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/i_like_ike_pins-p145608361420505237en8go_400-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Eisenhower understood the trade-offs between guns and butter. \u201cEvery gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed,\u201d he warned in 1953, early in his presidency. \u201cThe cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also knew that Congress was a big part of the problem. (In earlier drafts, he referred to the \u201cmilitary-industrial-Congressional\u201d complex, but decided against alienating the legislature in his last days in office.) Today, there are just a select few in public life who are willing to question the military or its spending, and those who do \u2014 from the libertarian Ron Paul to the leftist Dennis J. Kucinich \u2014 are dismissed as unrealistic.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that both President Obama and Mitt Romney are calling for increases to the defense budget (in the latter case, above what the military has asked for) is further proof that the military is the true \u201cthird rail\u201d of American politics. In this strange universe where those without military credentials can\u2019t endorse defense cuts, it took a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Mike Mullen, to make the obvious point that the nation\u2019s ballooning debt was the biggest threat to national security.<\/p>\n<p>Uncritical support of all things martial is quickly becoming the new normal for our youth&#8230; \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/05\/opinion\/the-permanent-militarization-of-america.html?ref=global\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/05\/opinion\/the-permanent-militarization-of-america.html?ref=global<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Warfare State Wins Re-election: Obamagogue and Romney Get a Good laugh <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Romney-Obamagogue.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8749\" title=\"Romney Obamagogue\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Romney-Obamagogue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"506\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Romney-Obamagogue.jpg 506w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Romney-Obamagogue-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>Americans reelected President Barack Obama on November 6th for four more years, giving so-called \u201cmandate\u201d to unconstitutional war, an expanding secret drone program, codification of indefinite detention, and widespread government secrecy.In fact, the mandate for those policies was far greater than Obama\u2019s side of the vote count. GOP contender Mitt Romney agreed with Obama on virtually every foreign policy and national security issue, from Iran to Syria, Israel to Egypt, the drug war to Afghanistan, and the pivot to Asia-Pacific.<br \/>\nWhere voters saw a difference in this election was with regard to economic policies. The electorate was split over whether Obama or Romney was better equipped to magically create jobs via government coercion.<br \/>\nUS foreign policy, though, would have stayed the same regardless of which candidate won the election. Romney offered no alternative to Executive-ordered war without congressional approval; no alternative to an expanding and illegal drone war; no alternative to a federal government that spends upwards of $11 billion just keeping secrets from the American public; no alternative to sanctioning Iran for a nuclear weapons program US intelligence admits Tehran doesn\u2019t have; no alternative to the warfare-welfare-corporatist state. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2012\/11\/06\/warfare-state-wins-reelection-along-with-obama\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">news.antiwar.com\/2012\/11\/06\/warfare-state-wins-reelection-along-with-obama\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>US&#8217; Al Qada Fake Rebels in Syria in Disarray in Qatar Confab <\/strong><strong> <\/strong>Four days of meetings in Doha, the capital of Qatar, of Western-backed elements backing the overthrow of the Syrian government began in disarray Sunday, following last week\u2019s demand by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a shakeup within the so-called rebel leadership.<br \/>\nClinton gave the Syrian oppositionists their marching orders last Wednesday, declaring that the Syrian National Council (SNC), formed barely a year ago and recognized by Washington as the \u201clegitimate representative\u201d of the Syrian people, had lost US backing. She dismissed the leadership that the US had previously supported as a gang of irrelevant exiles who had not set foot in Syria for decades and insisted that Washington wanted to connect with those who were \u201cfighting and dying\u201d in the civil war raging inside the Middle Eastern country.<br \/>\nIn reality, it has become clear that the US is bent on fashioning a \u201crespectable\u201d leadership, with representatives from the various religious and ethnic groups that comprise the Syrian population in order to better mask the bitter sectarian character of the conflict that Washington is fueling, as well as the increasingly prominent role played by Islamist militias with connections to Al Qaeda. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/us-backed-syrian-rebels-in-disarray-at-qatar-conference-2\/5310815\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.globalresearch.ca\/us-backed-syrian-rebels-in-disarray-at-qatar-conference-2\/5310815<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Drone Killer Spy Caught With Pants Down <\/strong> David H. Petraeus, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and one of America\u2019s most decorated four-star generals, resigned on Friday after an F.B.I. investigation uncovered evidence that he had been involved in an extramarital affair. \u00a0&#8230;Government officials said that the F.B.I. began an investigation into a \u201cpotential criminal matter\u201d several months ago that was not focused on Mr. Petraeus. In the course of their inquiry into whether a computer used by Mr. Petraeus had been compromised, agents discovered evidence of the relationship as well as other security concerns. About two weeks ago, F.B.I. agents met with Mr. Petraeus to discuss the investigation.<br \/>\nAdministration and Congressional officials identified the woman as Paula Broadwell, the co-author of a biography of Mr. Petraeus. Her book, \u201cAll In: The Education of General David Petraeus,\u201d was published this year. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/10\/us\/citing-affair-petraeus-resigns-as-cia-director.html?ref=global-home&#038;_r=0\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/10\/us\/citing-affair-petraeus-resigns-as-cia-director.html?ref=global-home&#038;_r=0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>below, Petraeus and Paula Paramour Broadwell, author of &#8220;All In!&#8221; Or was it really an Israeli boy?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Petraeus-and-Broadwell-e13525065677431.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8746\" title=\"Petraeus-and-Broadwell-e1352506567743\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Petraeus-and-Broadwell-e13525065677431.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Petraeus-and-Broadwell-e13525065677431.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Petraeus-and-Broadwell-e13525065677431-300x164.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!<\/strong> The collapse of the dazzling career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him, according to three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the episode&#8230;.<br \/>\nThe recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender, according to the officials. The FBI investigation traced the threats to Paula Broadwell, a former military officer and a Petraeus biographer, and uncovered explicit e-mails between Broadwell and Petraeus, the officials said. \u00a0The timing of the resignation has caused a controversy, with members of Congress and others questioning why the disclosure was not made until after Tuesday\u2019s election. Some have also complained that the FBI did not notify the White House and senior members of Congress earlier that the CIA director was under investigation.<br \/>\nThe law enforcement officials did not provide an exact timeline for the investigation, but they said that the inquiry started at least several weeks ago. They said investigators thought they were dealing with a routine harassment case until they discovered the e-mails were traced to a private e-mail account belonging to Petraeus <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbi-probe-of-petraeus-triggered-by-e-mail-threats-from-biographer-officials-say\/2012\/11\/10\/d2fc52de-2b68-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story_1.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbi-probe-of-petraeus-triggered-by-e-mail-threats-from-biographer-officials-say\/2012\/11\/10\/d2fc52de-2b68-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story_1.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ambien Addled Middle Schoolboy Seals Spanked For Video Game Connection <\/strong> Seven members of a U.S. Navy SEAL team have been punished for disclosing classified information while serving as consultants for a video game, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday.<br \/>\nThe active-duty members of the top-secret special- operations force were given a non-judicial punishment that includes letters of reprimand and forfeiture of half their pay for two months, said Army Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory. \u00a0The SEALs disclosed some classified \u201ctactics and procedures\u201d when they participated in the making of a video game called \u201cMedal of Honor Warfighter\u201d in June or July, said a Navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing investigation. Four other active-duty SEALs now stationed on the West Coast remain under investigation, the official said.<br \/>\nThe seven who received punishments at a Nov. 7 hearing were found in violation of rules against divulging classified material and the misuse of command gear, he said. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/seven-us-navy-seals-punished-for-disclosing-classified-data\/2012\/11\/09\/a9cc7ea8-2a31-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/seven-us-navy-seals-punished-for-disclosing-classified-data\/2012\/11\/09\/a9cc7ea8-2a31-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/drone-protest.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8776\" title=\"drone protest\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/drone-protest.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>No Fair!!! Iran Fires on US Drone! <\/strong>1. Why did the White House wait so long to acknowledge Iran&#8217;s actions?<br \/>\nIranian jets fired at a US Predator drone on Nov. 1 \u2013 an occurrence the Obama administration didn\u2019t acknowledge until one week later, on Nov. 8.<br \/>\nThe more cynical critics on the blogosphere wondered aloud whether the delay had anything to do with the presidential election on Nov. 6 \u2013 speculation that Pentagon officials vehemently deny. \u00a0\u00a02. Were the Iranians intentionally trying to shoot down the US drone?<br \/>\nThough many of the press accounts stress that the Iranian fighter jets \u201cmissed\u201d the US Predator drone in the shots they fired, it\u2019s not likely the Iranians were intentionally trying to shoot down the drone, analysts say.<br \/>\nThe Su-25 jets are, after all, combat aircraft, while Predators are slower and less maneuverable. \u201cMy interpretation is if they had wanted to shoot it down, they could have,\u201d Harmer says. \u201cThere is simply no comparison between the two aircraft, and as a result it\u2019s pretty obvious that they didn\u2019t intend to shoot it down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>3. Does this make a US war against Iran more likely?<br \/>\nDespite the Pentagon acknowledgement about this being the first time Iran has fired at a US drone, the incident is not likely to bring about any direct US military retaliation, analysts say.<br \/>\n\u201cThe mere presence of our forces is the military message to Iran,\u201d says Michael Singh, senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council during the Bush administration. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re conducting these missions, that the US Navy is present in the Gulf \u2013 that\u2019s meant to bolster the credibility of the president\u2019s military threats: that the military option is on the table to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.\u201d<br \/>\nHe notes, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t expect any response beyond that.\u201d<br \/>\nHowever, as America ramps up the pressure on Iran, through economic sanctions and through its extended military presence in the Gulf, \u201cWhat you have to look out for is some inadvertent conflict with the Iranians sparked by some kind of incident along the lines of this one,\u201d warns Mr. Singh, now managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/DC-Decoder\/2012\/1109\/Iran-fires-at-US-drone-the-top-3-pressing-questions\/Does-this-make-a-US-war-against-Iran-more-likely\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/DC-Decoder\/2012\/1109\/Iran-fires-at-US-drone-the-top-3-pressing-questions\/Does-this-make-a-US-war-against-Iran-more-likely<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>US War Crime Trial Opens <\/strong>&#8220;My name is Mohammed Wazir,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I do not cry. I have 10 fingers on my hands. Such was my pain that day, as if someone had cut off all 10 of my fingers. I had seven children. Now I am left with one son. It doesn&#8217;t bring the dead to life if I cry.&#8221; \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/kandahar-murder-trial-to-shine-light-on-inhumanity-of-afghanistan-war-a-865310.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/kandahar-murder-trial-to-shine-light-on-inhumanity-of-afghanistan-war-a-865310.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/moneybags-democracy.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8777\" title=\"moneybags democracy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/moneybags-democracy.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/moneybags-democracy.gif 540w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/moneybags-democracy-300x206.gif 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Wall Street Won Before the Election Was Over <\/strong>Before the campaign contributors lavished billions of dollars on their favorite candidate; and long after they toast their winner or drink to forget their loser, Wall Street was already primed to continue its reign over the economy.<br \/>\nFor, after three debates (well, four), when it comes to banking, finance, and the ongoing subsidization of Wall Street, both presidential candidates and their parties\u2019 attitudes toward the banking sector is similar  \u2013 i.e. it must be preserved \u2013 as is \u2013 at all costs, rhetoric to the contrary, aside.<br \/>\nObama hasn\u2019t brought \u2018sweeping reform\u2019 upon the Establishment Banks, nor does Romney need to exude deregulatory babble, because nothing structurally substantive has been done to harness the biggest banks of the financial sector, enabled, as they are, by entities from the SEC to the Fed to the Treasury Department to the White House.<br \/>\nIn addition, though much is made of each candidates&#8217; tax plans, and the related math that doesn\u2019t add up (for both presidential candidates), the bottom line is, Obama hasn\u2019t explained exactly WHY there\u2019s $5 trillion more in debt during his presidency, nor has Romney explained HOW to get a $5 trillion savings.<br \/>\nFor the record, both missed, or don\u2019t get, that nearly 32% of that Treasury debt is reserved (in excess) at the Fed, floating the banking system that supposedly doesn\u2019t need help. The \u2018worst economic period since the Great Depression\u2019 barely produced a short-fall of  an approximate average of $200 billion in personal and corporate tax revenues per year, according to federal data.)<br \/>\nConsider that the amount of tax revenue since 2008, has dropped for individual income contributions from $1.15 trillion in 2008 to $915 billion in 2009, to $899 billion in 2010, then risen to $1.1 trillion in 2011. Corporate tax contributions have dropped (by more of course) from $304 billion in 2008 to $138 billion in 2009 to $191 billion in 2010, to $181 billion in 2011. Thus, at most, we can consider to have lost $420 billion in individual revenue and $402 billion in corporate revenue, or $822 billion from 2009 on. The Fed has, in addition, held on average of $1.6 trillion Treasuries in excess reserves. That, plus $822 billion equals $2.42 trillion, add on the other $900 billion of Fed held mortgage securities, and you get $3.32 trillion, NOT $5 trillion, and most to float banks.<br \/>\nThe most consistent political platform is that big finance trumps main street economics, and the needs of the banking sector trump those of the population.  We have a national policy condoning zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP) as somehow job-creative. (Fed Funds rates dropped to 0% by the end of 2008, where they have remained since.)<br \/>\nWe are left with a regulatory policy of pretend. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nomiprins.com\/thoughts\/2012\/10\/23\/before-the-election-was-over-wall-street-won.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nomiprins.com\/thoughts\/2012\/10\/23\/before-the-election-was-over-wall-street-won.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>But Who Lost the Stock Market? <\/strong>U.S. stocks had their biggest weekly decline since June as President Barack Obama\u2019s re-election set up a budget showdown with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.<br \/>\nAll 10 groups in the Standard &amp; Poor\u2019s 500 Index dropped during the week. Utilities and phone companies fell the most amid concern the dividend tax may rise. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) led financial shares down 3.1 percent and coal companies including Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) slid on bets Obama\u2019s re-election will mean more regulation. Hospitals such as HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA) rallied while insurers fell on speculation Obama will preserve the health-care overhaul he championed. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2012-11-10\/u-s-stocks-have-worst-week-since-june-after-obama-win.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2012-11-10\/u-s-stocks-have-worst-week-since-june-after-obama-win.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Marx-Election-Shell-Game.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8778\" title=\"Marx Election Shell Game\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Marx-Election-Shell-Game.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"472\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Marx-Election-Shell-Game.jpg 674w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Marx-Election-Shell-Game-252x300.jpg 252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Fragile Infrastructure&#8211;Thousands still without power and water in northeast <\/strong> A new gasoline rationing plan that lets motorists fill up every other day went into effect in New York on Friday morning, as utility crews made some progress erasing outages that put thousands of homes and businesses in the dark in a region still reeling from Superstorm Sandy.<br \/>\nPolice were at gas stations to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island. Drivers were out before dawn to line up for their rations.<br \/>\n&#8220;This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren&#8217;t too oppressive and that we can get through this,&#8221; Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.<br \/>\nOnly a quarter of the city&#8217;s gas stations were open Thursday, the mayor said. Some were closed because they were out of power, others because they can&#8217;t get fuel from terminals and storage tanks that can&#8217;t unload their cargo.<br \/>\nNear a still-closed auto tunnel linking Manhattan and Brooklyn early Friday, cab and delivery truck drivers \u2014 exempt from the rationing system \u2014 eyed with dismay a line of closed gas stations. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.news-gazette.com\/news\/politics-and-government\/2012-11-09\/gas-rationing-begins-new-york-power-outages-abate.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.news-gazette.com\/news\/politics-and-government\/2012-11-09\/gas-rationing-begins-new-york-power-outages-abate.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement<\/span><\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ford-Newspaper.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8779\" title=\"Ford Newspaper\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ford-Newspaper.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"509\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ford-Newspaper.png 1414w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ford-Newspaper-300x203.png 300w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ford-Newspaper-1024x695.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 509px) 100vw, 509px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>National Archives Censors Wikileaks <\/strong>The public search engine for the US National Archives appears to be blocked for the term \u201cWikiLeaks\u201d. The whistleblower website has already lashed out at the move, saying the Archives has turned into \u201cOrwell\u2019s Ministry of Truth.\u201d<br \/>\nAn error message pops up every time a search is performed with the word \u201cWikiLeaks\u201d.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s not entirely clear when the US National Archives decided to block these searches.<strong> <\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/us-archives-wikileaks-ban-939\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">rt.com\/news\/us-archives-wikileaks-ban-939\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Solidarity for Never<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Striking Miners Killed in Lonmin Shoot-out\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ImqAVon92VM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mandela&#8217;s ANC Murdering Troops Planted Evidence on Dead Miners <\/strong> Photo and video evidence presented to a commission investigating the police shooting that left 34 striking miners dead strongly suggests that weapons were placed next to the bodies of dead miners, in an attempt to make it appear that the police had no choice but to fire on them, according to lawyers representing the families of the victims. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/07\/world\/africa\/scene-of-south-african-marikana-mine-shooting-may-have-been-altered-inquiry-is-told.html?hp\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/07\/world\/africa\/scene-of-south-african-marikana-mine-shooting-may-have-been-altered-inquiry-is-told.html?hp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Michigan Labor Bosses Lose Forced Checkoff Proposal <\/strong> Proposal 2, the measure to enshrine collective bargaining in the state Constitution, is headed for defeat along with four other proposed constitutional amendments in early returns.<br \/>\nThe union-backed measure is losing 60-40 percent with 59 percent of statewide precincts reporting. Voter approval would make Michigan the first state in the nation with such a constitutional guarantee of collective bargaining rights.<br \/>\nThe proposed amendment known as Proposal 2 would prohibit the Legislature from approving any new laws to restrict collective bargaining. <em> (What the unionites wanted was their ability to run a Labor Peace racket more efficiently. This was not about collective bargaining. It was about forced dues check off. The traditional trade to gain the dues check off is the promise of labor peace during the life of a contract. The unions, like the UAW, have used violence against their own members to enforce that labor peace, when members rightfully went on strike mid-contract, for good reason. So, what was never won by a popular vote, collective bargaining and the checkoff, are now &#8220;democratically&#8221; in jeopardy thanks to the typical stupidity and cowardice of the labor bosses who are the best friends the Big Bosses could ever have&#8211;their first line of defense.) \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20121106\/POLITICS01\/211060423\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20121106\/POLITICS01\/211060423\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>AFL-CIO coughs up 128 thousand warm bodies for Obamagogue <\/strong>The A.F.L.-C.I.O.\u2019s president, Richard Trumka, said on Thursday that the nation\u2019s labor unions would have 128,000 volunteers working on the \u201cfinal four days\u201d of the 2012 campaign, saying these volunteers would knock on 5.5 million doors and make 5.2 million phone calls. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/01\/labor-unions-to-have-128000-campaign-volunteers\/?src=rechp\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/01\/labor-unions-to-have-128000-campaign-volunteers\/?src=rechp<\/a><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Spy versus Spy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spy vs Spy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f6tFhMVZVKY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Brit Killed in China Had Spy Links <\/strong> A British businessman who was killed in China had been providing information to the British secret service, the Wall Street Journal newspaper claims.<br \/>\nNeil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died, the paper said. The UK Foreign Office said it would not comment &#8220;on intelligence matters&#8221;.<br \/>\nIn April, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Mr Heywood was not a government employee &#8220;in any capacity&#8221;.<br \/>\nThe case is at the heart of China&#8217;s biggest political scandal in decades.<br \/>\nThe November 2011 death of Mr Heywood brought down Mr Bo, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and a high-flier who was once tipped for top office.<br \/>\nMr Bo&#8217;s wife, Gu Kailai, was jailed in August for the murder of Mr Heywood at a Chongqing hotel. His former police chief, Wang Lijun, has also been jailed in connection with the scandal. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-20216757\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-20216757<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>US Says Michigan Couple Spied for the Chinese <\/strong>A U.S. prosecutor said on Monday that a former General Motors engineer and her husband stole secrets related to the automaker&#8217;s hybrid technology with the intention of using the information to develop similar vehicles in China.<br \/>\nAccording to the prosecution, Shanshan Du stole information which GM values at over $40 million and gave it to her husband, Yu Qin, who sought to use in conjunction with GM&#8217;s competition in China.<br \/>\n&#8220;This case is about theft as well as deceit,&#8221; prosecutor Michael Martin said during the opening statements of the Detroit trial, according to Bloomberg. The defendants are &#8220;partners in life, partners in business and partners in crime.&#8221;<br \/>\nThis is not the first time automakers have allegedly caught employees spying for Chinese companies. Last year, ex-Ford Motor Co. engineer Xiang Dong Yu was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing secrets from Ford. He&#8217;d copied 4,000 Ford designs worth millions of dollars the night before he quit the automaker. He then went to work for Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/autos.aol.com\/article\/stolen-secrets-gm-china\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">autos.aol.com\/article\/stolen-secrets-gm-china\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Magical Mystery Tour<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/demagogue.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8735\" title=\"demagogue\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/demagogue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"384\" height=\"485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/demagogue.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/demagogue-237x300.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Angel Moroni Not in White House. Just Demagogue. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Angel-Moroni.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8734\" title=\"Angel Moroni\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Angel-Moroni.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"318\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Angel-Moroni.jpg 2101w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Angel-Moroni-272x300.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Angel-Moroni-930x1024.jpg 930w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Michael Kelly, Former Lockeford Priest, Faces More Abuse Allegations<\/strong> Former Lockeford priest Michael Kelly and the Stockton Diocese have been sued for the third time on allegations that Kelly sexually abused former altar boys.<\/p>\n<p><strong>San Francisco Bishop, annointed with funny hat, issues anti-gay marriage rant <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Bishop-SALVATORE-CORDILEONE-large570.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8764\" title=\"Salvatore J. Cordileone\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Bishop-SALVATORE-CORDILEONE-large570.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"570\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Bishop-SALVATORE-CORDILEONE-large570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Bishop-SALVATORE-CORDILEONE-large570-300x125.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>November 6, was a disappointing day for marriage, as the effort to preserve the unique meaning of marriage in the law lost by only a narrow margin in four states, even though vastly outspent by those who promote the redefinition of marriage.<br \/>\nThe meaning of marriage, though, cannot be redefined because it lies within our very nature. No matter what policy, law or judicial decision is put into place, marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children born of their union. It is either this, or it is nothing at all. In view of the fact that every child has a mother and a father, our society either respects the basic right of every child to be raised by his or her mother and father together and so supports the true and unique meaning of marriage for the good of children, or it does not. In a society marked by increasing poverty and family fragmentation, marriage needs to be strengthened, promoted, and defended, not redefined. I hope and pray that political leaders, judges, and all people will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of marriage.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">So Long Carmen<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Basillio.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8762\" title=\"Basillio\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Basillio.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"355\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Basillio.jpg 355w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Basillio-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We Say Fightback On Veterans&#8217; Day, Never Forget Congratulations on the New Edition of JUST PUBLISHED The Invention of the White Race (2 vols.) by Theodore W. Allen Vol. 1 \u2013 Racial Oppression and Social Control Vol. 2 \u2013 The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America To assist individual readers, classes, and study groups this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8719"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8752,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions\/8752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}