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- Most Recent portside Posts -



FDR vs. the Great Recession

(Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:27:40 -0500)

FDR vs. the Great Recession

We must tackle four big issues to revive our economy

By Stephen Herzenberg Friday, November 27, 2009
http://post-gazette.com/pg/09331/1016439-109.stm#ixzz0Y6i5F4NX

I keep seeing this image of Franklin Roosevelt rolling over in his grave.

What might have our late, great President perturbed? Today's debate about how to get the economy going again.

Since the start of the Great Recession, the U.S. economy has shed more than 7 million jobs, 208,000 of them in Pennsylvania. We are living through the deepest economic contraction since the Great Depression.

In the 1930s, Roosevelt stabilized financial markets and...

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Friday Nite Videos -- November 27, 2009

(Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:27:21 -0500)

1 Fans Struggle: Just Why Do They Support Sarah? 2 Unemployment Rates by County 3 A Garth Brooks(-like) Critique of WalMart 4 Journalism in 10: Nick Penniman on the Future of Media 5 Visualizing Empires' Decline

Sarah Palin Book Signing

On November 20, 2009, Sarah Palin visited Columbus, OH as part of her book signing tour for "Going Rogue." When her supporters were asked broad questions about why they why they thought she should be president, the responses were vague: She's "real." She'll "stick up for America."

This NEW LEFT MEDIA film was produced and edited by Chase Whiteside (interviews) and Erick Stoll (camera).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKKKgua7wQk
November 22, 20...

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Krugman: Taxing the Speculators

(Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:28:25 -0500)

Taxing the Speculators

By PAUL KRUGMAN November 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/opinion/27krugman.html

Should we use taxes to deter financial speculation? Yes, say top British officials, who oversee the City of London, one of the world's two great banking centers. Other European governments agree - and they're right.

Unfortunately, United States officials - especially Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary - are dead set against the proposal. Let's hope they reconsider: a financial transactions tax is an idea whose time has come.

The dispute began back in August, when Adair Turner, Britain's top financial regulator, called for a tax on financial tra...

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Who is Really on Trial in the Khalid Sheik Mohammed Case?

(Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:27:58 -0500)

Who is Really on Trial in the Khalid Sheik Mohammed Case?

This trial is as much about showing the world that America is a country dedicated to the rule of law, as it is holding Mohammed and his cohorts to account for their alleged crimes.

ADAM SERWER | November 25, 2009 | web only
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=who_is_really_on_trial_in_the_khalid_sheik_mohammed_case

This July 2009 photo downloaded from the Arabic language web site www.muslm.net shows a man identified by the site as Khalid Sheik Mohammed. (AP Photo/ www.muslm.net)

The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermi...

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Anti-War Group Sends Declaration and 1300+ Signatures to President Obama

(Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:29:17 -0500)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 24, 2009 Contact: Joanne Landy jlandy@igc.org Tel: 212-666-4001 Thomas Harrison Tel: 212-255-2892

A Call for the U.S. to End Its Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

U.S. Anti-War Group Sends Declaration and 1300+ Signatures to President Obama

NEW YORK, N.Y., November 24, 2009 The New York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy sent a declaration yesterday to President Barack Obama entitled "We Call for the United States to End Its Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan!" The text of the declaration is below and a full list of signers can be seen at the CPD website,
http://www.cpdweb.org/stmts/1014/stmt.shtml

"As President Obama nears a decision on ...

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From Seattle to Copenhagen

(Posted on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:12:10 -0500)

From Seattle to Copenhagen

Climate Change Summit Becomes a Target for Protest

By Christopher Lawton Spiegel (Germany) November 25, 2009


http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,663142,00.html#ref=nlint

A number of groups are planning to hold demonstrations and protests in Copenhagen during next month's climate summit.

Is global warming the new globalization? Environmental activists are hoping that demonstrations at next month's climate summit in Denmark can forge a protest movement like the anti-globalization movement seen after the WTO riots in 1999. But the Danish authorities have other ideas.

If you missed Seat...

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Germany: Can The SDP Lion Add Bite to its Roar?

(Posted on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:09:16 -0500)

Can The SDP Lion Add Bite to its Roar'

By Victor Grossman

Berlin

It recalled ancient Greek tragedies. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), founded in the 19th Century, is the country's oldest party, and now its saddest one. On September 27th it suffered its worst election defeat since 1897, losing six million former voters and ending up with only 23 percent of the vote. It had been in government office for eleven years, as boss with the Greens under Gerhard Schroeder and as junior partner under Angela Merkel since 2005. Now it must share the less glorious opposition seats in the Bundestag with the Greens, as rivals, and the frequently despised and feared Left party. What a disastrous comedown for a once proud party!

What caused this loss and how doe...

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A Call to End Wars in Afghanistan & Pakistan

(Posted on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:07:26 -0500)

A Call for the U.S. to End Its Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

U.S. Anti-War Group Sends Declaration and 1300+ Signatures to President Obama

November 24, 2009

NEW YORK

The New York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy sent a declaration yesterday to President Barack Obama entitled "We Call for the United States to End Its Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan!" The text of the declaration is below and a full list of signers can be seen at the CPD website,
http://www.cpdweb.org/stmts/1014/stmt.shtml

"As President Obama nears a decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan, we want the world to know that there are millions of Americans opposed to U.S. military interventi...

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In the Shadow of Hoover

(Posted on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:36:38 -0500)

Capitolism

In the Shadow of Hoover

By William Greider The Nation November 23, 2009


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/greider2?rel=emailNation

While he was in China, Barack Obama made a bizarre declaration that the US government must reduce its budget deficits in order to avoid "a double-dip recession." The remark was alarming because it suggests the president may not fully understand the country's economic predicament. Deficit spending is a cure for our troubles, not the cause. If Obama follows through and actually reduces the red ink, the Great Recession could be born again with new fury.

In an interview with Fox News, the president said: "It i...

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Hungering for a True Thanksgiving

(Posted on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:34:41 -0500)

Hungering for a True Thanksgiving

By Amy Goodman Truthdig November 19, 2009


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/hungering_for_a_true_thanksgiving_20091117/

"In the next 60 seconds, 10 children will die of hunger," says a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) online video. It continues, "For the first time in humanity, over 1 billion people are chronically hungry."

The WFP launched the Billion for a Billion campaign this week, urging the 1 billion people who use the Internet to help the billion who are hungry. But if you think that hunger is far from our shores, here is some food for thought ... and action: The U.S. Department of Agricu...

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