[Marxism] What's new at Links: Pakistan floods, Australian socialists, Karl Polanyi, Sri Lanka, Arabic, Thailand, Philippines, Bolivia climate talks, Grundrisse, Zimbabwe
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == What's new at Links: Pakistan floods, Australian socialists, Karl Polanyi, Sri Lanka, Arabic, Thailand, Philippines, Bolivia climate talks, Grundrisse, Zimbabwe * * * *For more reliable delivery of new content, please subscribe free to /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 * You can also follow /Links/ on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Visit and bookmark http://links.org.au and add it to your RSS feed (http://links.org.au/rss.xml). If you would like us to consider an article, please send it to li...@dsp.org.au Please pass on to anybody you think will be interested in /Links/. * * * Pakistan: Labour Relief Campaign launches appeal for millions affected by floods http://links.org.au/node/1832 *[**Readers can also donate via the Australian trade unions' aid agency APHEDA at http://www.apheda.org.au/news/1281331224_14992.html.] * Appeal from the *Labour Relief Campaign*, Pakistan August 7, 2010 -- More than 12 million people are suffering from floods in Pakistan. Please donate to the Labour Relief Campaign to help people of Pakistan facing the worst-ever floods in its history. Torrential rains have unleashed flash floods in different parts of the country in the last three weeks. Levies have broken, leaving the people exposed to flood water. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/1832 Australian socialists: `Vote Socialist Greens, put Abbott's conservatives last http://links.org.au/node/1830 On July 24, 2010, Australia's leading socialist newspaper /Green Left Weekly/ spoke to */Peter Boyle/*, national convener of the Socialist Alliance, about the political climate of the 2010 federal election, to be held on August 21. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/1830 Karl Polanyi provides `a vital intellectual resource' for ecosocialists http://links.org.au/node/1842 By *Derek Wall* The market is still seen as a solution to all ills and the failure of socialists to make a persuasive case for alternatives to marketisation has created huge problems for the left. In just about every part of world outside Latin America, the left remain in a weak position and alternatives to neoliberalism remain marginal, so intellectual resources that show that the market is neither an inevitable nor an effecient means of running the economy are vital. One of the most important resources in the ideological struggle for a socialist economy that sustains the environment, promotes social justice and creates democratic control of the means of production, is the work of the late great Hungarian thinker Karl Polanyi. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/1842 Sri Lankan government's ties with Israel expose its duplicity http://links.org.au/node/1841 By *Chris Slee* August 14, 2010 -- On July 21 the Israeli newspaper /Yedioth Ahronoth/ published an interview with Donald Perera, Sri Lanka's ambassador to Israel. Perera thanked Israel profusely for its support in the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), saying: For years Israel has aided our war on terror through the exchange of information and the sale of military technology and equipment... Our air force fleet includes 17 Kfir warplanes, and we also have Dabur patrol boats. Our pilots were trained in Israel, and we have received billions of dollars in aid over the past few years. This is why I asked to be assigned to Israel -- a country I consider a partner in the war against terror. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/1841 Pakistan: Use foreign debt repayments for flood-hit communities http://links.org.au/node/1840 By the *Labour Relief Campaign* August 13, 2010 -- Pakistan must refuse to pay foreign debt and divert the amount to the relief and rehabilitation of flood-hit communities. Instead of begging for much-needed aid for relief and rehabilitation, Pakistan must stand up and announce the unilateral suspension of repayment of foreign debts, owed to international finance institutions (IFIs) and donor countries. Currently Pakistan is paying about US$3 billion on debt servicing every year. Pakistan's present foreign debt of $54 billion is increasing. This act alone can bring most of the much-need support for the immediate relief of the flood victims. * Read more http://links.org.au/node/1840 The Flame, August 2010 -- Green Left Weekly's Arabic-language supplement http://links.org.au/node/1838 August 6, 2010 -- With the help of Socialist Alliance members in the growing Sudanese community in Australia, /Green Left Weekly/ -- Australia's leading socialist newspaper -- publishes a regular
Re: [Marxism] I read some Marx (and I liked it)
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Yeah this is like the 3rd time this video has appeared on this list. I mean, it's great 'n all, but do we really need to be reminded of it every month...? Seb On 15 August 2010 19:21, Erik Toren ecto...@gmail.com wrote: Repeat? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] NEW TITLES: Verso Revolutions Series, Wollstonecraft and Muntzer
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == NEW TITLES FROM VERSO'S REVOLUTIONS SERIES: MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT'S A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN (introduced by SHEILA ROWBOTHAM) THOMAS MUNTZER'S SERMON TO THE PRINCES (introduced by WU MING) --- SHEILA ROWBOTHAM presents A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN By MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT Published 2nd August 2010 - PRAISE FOR MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: Every day she made theories by which life should be lived; and every day she came smack against the rock of other peoples' prejudices. Everyday too - for she was no pedant, no cold-blooded theorist - something was born in her that thrust aside her theories and forced her to model them again. - Virginia Woolf - It would be an endless task to trace the variety of meannesses, cares, and sorrows, into which women are plunged by the prevailing opinion that they were created rather to feel than reason, and that all the power they obtain, must be obtained by their charms and weakness. - MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT Renowned feminist historian SHEILA ROWBOTHAM, author of Edward Carpenter and Dreamers of a New Day, introduces a new edition of MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT'S seminal A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, exploring WOLLSTONECRAFT'S unconventional and controversial life and the development of her groundbreaking work. Originally written in 1790, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT'S book remains one of the very first works of feminist philosophy. Groundbreaking in its demands for women's rights, A VINDICATION remains one of history's most important and eloquent broadsides against sexual oppression. Although controversial, it was well received on its publication, and the backlash against WOLLSTONECRAFT only began after her death, when details of her private life were published by her lover, William Godwin. --- SHEILA ROWBOTHAM is a Simon Professor at the University of Manchester. Her many books include the James Tait Black-shortlisted Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love and Dreamers of a New Day: Women Who Invented the Twentieth Century. She has written for many publications including the Guardian, The Times, the Independent, New Statesman, and the New York Times. - ISBN: 978 1 84467 446 6/ $15.95 / £8.99 / CAN$20 / 320 pages --- For more information visit: http://www.versobooks.com/books/tuvwxyz/w-titles/wollstonecraft_mary_vindication_rights_of_woman_rev.shtml To buy the book in the UK: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781844674466/Sheila-Rowbotham-Presents-Mary-Wollstonecraft or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vindication-Rights-Woman-Revolutions/dp/1844674460/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksie=UTF8qid=1281955418sr=1-1 To buy the book in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Vindication-Rights-Woman-Revolutions/dp/1844674460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1281954445sr=8-1 - WU MING presents SERMON TO THE PRINCES By THOMAS MUNTZER Published 12th July 2010 --- A locus classicus for those who wish to meditate on the bonds between religious activism and social upheaval, and to explore the volatile combination of theological innovation and political strategy. - Alberto Toscano - Again and again, I hear nothing from the doctors of theology but the mere words of Scripture, which they have knavishly stolen from the Bible like malicious thieves and cruel murderers. They will be damned for this theft by God himself... THOMAS MUNTZER WU MING, the radical Italian authors' collective, introduce this new edition of THOMAS MUNTZER'S sermons, alongside his final confession before being executed. Previously writing under the name Luther Blissett, WU MING are the authors of Q - the highly acclaimed novel dramatising the Protestant Reformation in which the protagonist fights alongside MUNTZER in the Peasant's War of 1524. The book also features an additional preface explaining the historical context of MUNTZER'S sermons. THOMAS MUNTZER was one of the most radical pastors of the Reformation. Originally a follower of Luther, he became frustrated at the limited nature of Luther's stand against the church, later referring to Luther as Dr Liar and the poisonous black raven. Demanding the realisation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, MUNTZER went on to lead the Peasant's War of 1524, for which he was later beheaded. WU MING'S characteristically sweeping introduction shows how MUNTZER has continued to inspire radicals and visionaries for 500 years, from Marx and Engels to 21st century anti-capitalist protesters. They also draw direct parallels between the Peasant's War and the 1990s
[Marxism] Dystopian predictions
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Bill-Gates-Predicts-Technology/26092/ August 9, 2010, 12:00 PM ET Bill Gates Predicts Technology Will Make 'Place-Based' Colleges Less Important in 5 Years By Jeff Young 'Place-based colleges' are good for parties, but are becoming less crucial for learning thanks to the Internet, said the Microsoft founder Bill Gates at a conference on Friday. Five years from now on the Web for free you'll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university, he argued at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, Calif. College, except for the parties, needs to be less place-based. An attendee captured the remarks with a shaky hand-held camera and posted the clip on YouTube. After all, what are we trying to do? We're trying to take education that today the tuition is, say, $50,000 a year so over four years—a $200,000 education—that is increasingly hard to get because there's less money for it because it's not there, and we're trying to provide it to every kid who wants it, Mr. Gates said. And only technology can bring that down, not just to $20,000 but to $2,000. So yes, place-based activiy in that college thing will be five times less important than it is today. Earlier at the same conference, another tech luminary predicted that printed books will soon be rare luxury items, and e-books will be the norm. That prediction came from Nicholas Negroponte, chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and leader of the One Laptop Per Child effort to build low-cost laptops for education. People will say ‘no, no, no’—of course you like your libraries,” he said, according to a report in TechCrunch. He said that in a recent report, e-book sales on Amazon outnumbered hardcover books sold through the online bookstore. It’s happening. It's not happening in 10 years. It’s happening in five years, Mr. Negroponte said. That's a lot of change in five years, at institutions not known for sudden movements. But the crystal ball is always good for discussion, so share your reactions in the comments. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Harvard Divests from Israel
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == stansfield smith wrote: is there any other verification of this? I have not seen a word about this on all the lists I am on that regularly send out emails about Palestine. I would even think it would make it on yahoo news, as this is something major. For some reason I cannot access Alandershowirz.com, but I assume he would have already started a major counteract. Bye, Stan It really wasn't divestment. It was just getting rid of an unprofitable holding. http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/65452 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Harvard Divests from Israel
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 16.08.10 05:05, stansfield smith wrote: is there any other verification of this? I have not seen a word about this on all the lists I am on that regularly send out emails about Palestine. I would even think it would make it on yahoo news, as this is something major. For some reason I cannot access Alandershowirz.com, but I assume he would have already started a major counteract. Here: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=29747 and here: http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-dumps-israel-etf-buys-turkey-etf-2010-8, for instance. Einde O'callaghan Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Haaretz: Muslim leaders to abandon plans for Ground Zero community center
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Insiders say Muslim spiritual leaders behind the controversial initiative are considering giving up on the former World Trade Center location, in a gesture of appeasement. http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/muslim-leaders-to-abandon-plans-for-ground-zero-community-center-1.308426 Anyone wanting to encourage the Cordoba Initiative to hold its ground and not hand the bigots an unearned victory can do so here: http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/contact-us -- Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Socialism and Religion
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == (Note: I was away from home over the weekend am just reading Friday's posts now.) Religion (or non-religion), as far as I'm concerned, is a private matter. The necessity is to destroy capitalism, as it was unmasked in Marx's Critique. And that Critique holds regardless of world views or religious conviction. The question to ask, then, is not, Are you a Marxist? but Are you committed to the anti-capitalist struggle? Theoretical debate over the nature of capitalism is inescapable, for it is necessary to know more deeply the enemy that will destroy us all if we do not destroy it. Theoretical debate over the nature of the universe is interesting and perhaps ultimately importnant, but is not the core question we face now. Carrol Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] self-indulgence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Tom Cod wrote: the point I was alluding to had to do with an affinity for obscurantism and dogma. But apparently you are more interested in Declarations of Faith (I am a Marxist) than in building an anti-capitalist movement in the u.s. What have you done lately to bring that about? Carrol Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] self-indulgence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thank you Carroll and a belated happy 80 to you. You are right on about religion. Though the trouble with having been an Irish Catholic one is, I sometimes think, doomed to a life time of angst. Having said that I agree with you that when things turn, and turn they will, the movement that emerges will be like my old mother's Xmas puddings - full of good things and all got together in a sort of strange way. I look forward to that time wh3en a whole new generation of problems and opportunities emerges and a lot of the things we worry about now will have been swept away. comradely regards Gary Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Background on the downtown mosque controversy
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.salon.com/news/ground_zero_mosque/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zero_mosque_origins Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Neo-Nazis Rally in Knoxville, TN
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/16/nazi-tea-party/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] UAW Members Defy International Leaders, drive them from the union hall
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Check out the video on the Labor Notes site. Jon Flanders http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2010/08/indianapolis-gm-workers-toss-out-reps-selling-concessions Local 23 shouts down GM plan Opposition to wage cuts means plant's fate appears sealed By Ted Evanoff Posted: August 16, 2010 The fight to keep GM's huge Indianapolis stamping plant open reached a dead end Sunday after defiant autoworkers meeting in a union hall shouted no to discussion of pay cuts. With workers dug in, General Motors looks likely to go ahead with closing plans and post a timeline as early as Tuesday for taking out the dies and machinery, said Maurice Mo Davison, UAW Region 3 director. The sad fact is GM is gone from Indianapolis. That's a fact, Davison said. It's a sad day for Indianapolis. If it is the end -- GM has made no final pronouncement -- the stormy conclusion for the 70-year-old factory arrived Sunday at a sweltering Near-Westside union hall. UAW members again defied Detroit union chiefs who had negotiated wage cuts and expected the 650 Indianapolis autoworkers to vote today on a new contract with a potential buyer. Instead, Local 23 officials opposed the head office, known as the UAW International, and refused Sunday to schedule a vote on the new measure. It would lower the base wage to $15.50 per hour from the current $29 per hour for production workers. We pay the International to represent us, not commit fraud and work against us, said Gregory Clark, Local 23 bargaining chairman. That refusal to schedule the vote most likely means GM executives will go forward with plans for the closing, Davison said. Local 23 members voted earlier this summer to refuse to bargain with the potential buyer. In spite of that vote, the UAW head office decided to open negotiations with GM and the potential buyer, JD Norman Industries. Norman, a small metal stamper based in Addison, Ill., set out to take over the huge metal stamper on the condition that Local 23 accept a new labor contract that lowers benefits and wages. Norman stepped up this spring after GM in 2007 declared the Indianapolis plant would close in 2011 if no buyer appeared. That closing appeared more likely Sunday, even though the union membership took no further official action on the proposed wage cuts. This was a one-time shot. Every one knew it, but it's over now, Davison said. He called the session at the union hall a mob scene. Shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, three UAW International officials on the podium at the Local 23 union hall opened the only informational meeting scheduled on the proposed contract. The meeting was closed to the public. But within five minutes of its start, a loud chorus of autoworkers shouted no. They could be easily heard on the sidewalk outside the union hall. Three UAW officials soon rushed out of the union hall and departed in a Chevrolet Suburban with Michigan license plates. A pair of Marion County sheriff's patrol cars parked in front of the union hall were soon driven off by deputies on duty in case of a conflict. According to workers inside the union hall, the workers shouted no at the UAW International officials when one of the officials asked, Do you guys want to know what the contract's about? After the session, workers poured out of the union hall. Many had read an explanation about the contract mailed to their homes last week by the International. They don't have anything to offer us, contended Rebekah Willis, 32, Indianapolis. A GM employee for four years, Willis said she is a single mother of two and recently took in her own mother and stepbrother. If her wages fall to $15.50 per hour, she would be pushed close to poverty for a family of five, she said, particularly because she'd have to pay at least $2,100 more annually for health insurance at Norman Industries. Longtime stamping plant worker J.D. Oliver, Indianapolis, said he was concerned about ambiguous phrasing in the contract proposal. He said it seems to say Norman Industries could decide whether he went back to GM. Even if you go back to GM, I'm not sure that time working at JD Norman would count as time on my GM pension, Oliver said. Another longtime GM worker, Tony Nelson, said the International's decision not to abide by Local 23's earlier vote to reject Norman irked many members. Many people didn't understand the proposal at all, Davison said. I just wish they would have got to hear the facts.'' GM, largely owned by the U.S. Treasury after its 2009 bailout and bankruptcy, has been downsizing for years. Trying to gain the support of Indianapolis autoworkers for the plant's sale, GM this summer agreed to a package of inducements. One incentive would have provided a worker with a $35,000 cash payout and
[Marxism] Screwing Bondholders: Ending Bondage
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The biased legal system lets bondholders make extortionate demands against workers, poor countries, …. President-elect Clinton learned how bond markets can even intimidate the government from exercising reasonable policies. So, with a bit of schadenfreude, I am glad to learn that Blackstone has the right to screw bondolders. Why should Blackstone have more rights than ordinary people? Why can’t we organize to put some limits on the untrammeled power of financial markets, including that of Blackstone? More at: http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/screwing-bondholders-ending-bondage/ -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism-Thaxis] Russia's Agony a Wake-Up Call to the World
Russia's Agony a Wake-Up Call to the World To: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52455 * Russia's Agony a Wake-Up Call to the World * * Stephen Leahy* * VIENNA, Aug 11 (IPS) - A wind turbine on an acre of northern Iowa farmland could generate 300,000 dollars worth of greenhouse-gas-free electricity a year. Instead, the U.S. government pays out billions of dollars to subsidise grain for ethanol fuel that has little if any impact on global warming, according to Lester Brown.* The smartest thing the U.S. could do is phase out ethanol subsidies, says Brown, the founder of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, in reference to rising food prices resulting from the unprecedented heat wave in western Russia that has decimated crops and killed at least 15,000 people. The lesson here is that we must take climate change far more seriously, make major cuts in emissions and fast before climate change is out of control, Brown, one of the world's leading experts on agriculture and food, told IPS. Average temperatures during the month of July were eight degrees Celsius above normal in Moscow, he said, noting that such a huge increase in temperature over an entire month is just unheard of. On Monday, Moscow reached 37 C when the normal temperature for August is 21 C. It was the 28th day in a row that temperatures exceeded 30 C. Soil moisture has fallen to levels seen only once in 500 years, says Brown. Wheat and other grain yields are expected to decline by 40 percent or more in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine - regions that provide 25 percent of the world's wheat exports. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced a few days ago that Russia would ban all grain exports. Food prices will rise but how much is not known at this point, says Brown. What we do know, however, is that the prices of wheat, corn, and soybeans are actually somewhat higher in early August 2010 than they were in early August 2007, when the record-breaking 2007-08 run-up in grain prices began. Emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 from burning fossil fuels trap more of the sun's energy. Climate experts expected the number and intensity of heat waves and droughts to increase as a result. In 2009, heat and fire killed hundreds in Australia during the worst drought in more than century, which devastated the country's agriculture sector. In 2003, a European heat wave killed 53,000 people but as it occurred late in the summer crop, yields were not badly affected. If a heat wave like Russia's were centred around the grain- producing regions near Chicago or Beijing, the impacts could be many times worse because each of these regions produce five times the amount of grain as Russia does, says Brown. Such an event could result in the loss of 100 to 200 million tonnes of grain with unimaginable affects on the world's food supply. Russia's heat wave is a wake-up call to the world regarding the vulnerability of the global food supply, he said. The global climate is warming and most food crops are both heat and drought sensitive. Rice yields have already fallen by 10-20 percent over the last 25 years in parts of Thailand, Vietnam, India and China due to global warming, new research has shown. Data from 227 fully-irrigated farms that grow green revolution crops are suffering significant yield declines due to warming temperatures at night, researchers found. As nights get hotter, rice yields drop, reported Jarrod Welch of the University of California at San Diego and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Aug. 9. Previous studies have shown this result in experimental plots, but this is the first under widespread, real-world conditions. With such pressures on the world's food supply it is simply wrong-headed to use 25 percent of U.S. grain for ethanol as a fuel for cars, said Brown. Ethanol subsidies must be phased out and real cuts in carbon emissions made and urgently, he said. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] History: Demolition of imperialist lying propaganda about Yugoslavia
The debate on the US war on Yugoslavia returned, momentarily, to the A-list this week. Charles ^^^ Thanks, Tony, for that prompt demolition of the imperialist lying propaganda about Yugoslavia. Ironically for Todd's account, Yugoslavia was ethnically homogeneous -- Slav. But Croatia was always sympathetic to clerical fascism of the Jews Christ killers kind. The recognition of its breakaway by Germany was the beginning of the end. Yet, a peaceful if reluctant settlement based on a European carve up was on the point of being signed, when an overnight visit to Izetbegovic by US representatives made him change his mind -- and the rest is war. -- JD To: The A-List Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 10:14 PM Subject: Re: [A-List] Renounce ethnic identity --and all false identity James, would you please clarify for me, your theory of the causes and operation of the Yugoslav wars. Todd, I've posted this before; I wrote it many moons ago re the Yugoslav conflict. As a 'quick and dirty' intro it'll do..though as James mentioned, the books by Parenti and Johnstone are, naturally, the essential in-depth sources. Tony ..a blast from the past. The real story behind the war on Yugoslavia (circa 1999). Death at The Hague Kafka could have written the book, Orwell the screen adaptation, such is the extraordinary, even absurdist, lengths to which Western propagandists have gone to invert the reality. Nevertheless, the fanciful vilification of one man (Slobobdan Milosevic), the completely fabricated demonization of an entire nation (Serbia), and the impudent revisionist history concocted for an epoch defining conflict (Yugoslavia), was scripted by neither of these two masters of social and political satire. It was, instead, penned by an altogether more sinister hand - 'victor's justice'. A Kangaroo Tribunal The controversial death (controversial by virtue of the fact that, by all accounts, it was entirely preventable) on March 11 of Milosevic in his prison cell at Sheveningen (near The Hague) capped one of the most sordid episodes in recent Western imperial history. That the trial itself was nothing but a show trial, a kangaroo court, there can be no doubt. Thus, not only was the tribunal largely funded by American corporations and the American government in direct violation of its Charter, but it was entirely staffed through their approval. Nor was it ever ratified by the UN General Assembly. Then, of course, the 78 day bombardment of Yugoslavia by NATO was, itself, completely illegal under international law having never been validated by the United Nations Security Council or General Assembly (a fact conveniently and unfailingly forgotten by official pundits). Indeed, there was no comparable tribunal to try the NATO leaders for this brutal, gratuitous and unlawful attack on a sovereign nation (the first unprovoked assault on a European nation since the Second World War). In addition, the protocol of the court itself was/is patently scandalous, openly defying centuries of normative Western jurisprudence (hearsay evidence is allowed, witnesses can testify anonymously; there is no jury, etc). Moreover, in three years of testimony not a single piece of evidence linking Milosevic to his alleged crimes was ever produced (his premature death thus proving something of Godsend to prosecutors). Indeed, despite having the most meagre of resources at his disposal, Milosevic early on turned the tables on his accusers by demolishing their witnesses one after the other. Such was his success that the proceedings quickly began to resonate less with echoes of the Nuremberg trials than with rumblings of the Stalin show trials. Expecting a staid morality play of the Butcher of Belgrade vs. the Good Guys, journalists at the trial were, instead, treated to a rousing production of David versus Goliath. But then, the charges against Milosevic were always flimsy at best, where they were not outright fabrications. A Short History of Violence Though virtually the entire corpus of the mainstream media has continued to paint the civil wars in the 1990s as the sole responsibility of the Serbs, to do so has required an unremitting dedication to wilfully falsifying the facts of the case. It has, for instance, entered Western political mythology that Milosevic was a rabid nationalist who in his famous Kosovo Field Speech of 1989 stoked the fires of Serb national intolerance. This notion is curiously at odds with the media's initial reception of the speech which called it a model of multiethnic tolerance and profound appreciation of the virtues of peaceful co-existence (as is consistent with the fact the speech was never thereafter actually quoted). Moreover, it was clear that leaders such as Croatia's Franjo Tudjman, a Holocaust-denier with an abiding affection for the old WW2 Croatian regime allied with Hitler (Tudjman, once in power, had streets, that had been named in
[Marxism-Thaxis] Kobach anti-immigrant nominee in Kansas
People from Kansas please pay attention to his mail
_
From: nair...@googlegroups.com [mailto:nair...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of dorinda moreno
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 5:40 PM
To: hladc.sf...@gmail.com; Local/National/Global; south_bay_activists;
CentralCoastDiversityAlliance; BBU; Aztlannet News; SF Bay View; The LA
Progressive; Todos Somos Arizona; National Alliance Immigration Rights
Coordinating Committee; Mx Coalicion googlegroup
Subject: [NAIR_CC:7320] Re: Author of SB1070 wins GOP nomination :{
On 8/15/10, Hispanic/Latinos A-D Coalition, San Francisco
hladc.sf...@gmail.com wrote:
This is extremely dangerous, Kris Kobach has won the GOP nomination for
Kansas Secretary of State, and his goal is to eventually become the
Governor. Kobach has already caused devastating harm and hardship to the
Hispanic community and Latino Immigrants all over the country.
---
Kobach has drawn controversy for his strong ties to FAIR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-16 The Southern
Poverty Law Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center has accused FAIR
of being a hate group funded by a eugenics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics foundation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-17 , Pioneer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund Fund. Aside from doing legal
work for FAIR, Kobach accepted $10,000 from a FAIR-related political action
committee, U.S. Immigration Reform PAC, during his congressional campaign in
2003 and 2004.
---
Kobach also has his own and highly popular conservative talk-radio show
where he spews his xenophobia and misinformation.
http://www.710kcmo.com/Podcasts/KrisKobachPodcast/tabid/490/Default.aspx
---
As an Attorney, Koback has been deeply involved in all the
anti-Latino-Immigrant movement and deeply involved in all the
anti-Latino-Immigrant laws, measures and proposals; imagine how much more
terror and devastation he can cause to our community and to our country as a
Legislator.
PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING and/or DONATING TO HIS DEMOCRAT OPPONENT, current
Kansas Secretary of State Democrat Chris Biggs
http://www.biggsforkansas.com/index.html
Join Biggs team:
https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/EmailSignup.aspx?X=gomgBuXjRdU=
Contact: ch...@biggsforkansas.com
Chris Biggs for Secretary of State
P.O. Box 2368
Topeka, KS 66601
===
Current and background information:
Republican Kris Kobach promised Tuesday that if Kansans elect him secretary
of state, he will push to allow them to initiate state laws or
constitutional changes without going through the Legislature.
http://media.graytvinc.com/images/kris+kobach+jr+claeys+gop+secretary+of+sta
te.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach
Kobach is currently the Republican nominee for Kansas Secretary of State
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_Secretary_of_State .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-12
Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has campaigned for Kobach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-13
Chairman of Republican Party
On January 28, 2007, Kobach was elected by Kansas Republicans to be the
chairman of the Republican Party in Kansas until January, 2009.
Kobach's chairmanship was noted for its internal disagreements between
moderate and conservative GOP members
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-cj1-14 . Kobach created
the Republican Party of Kansas's loyalty committee in 2008 to sanction
Republicans for assisting members of the Democratic Party. In November 2008,
more than a dozen Republicans were stripped of voting rights in party
organization races for helping Democrats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-cj1-14 Kobach's tenure
as Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party ended January 29, 2009,
coinciding with Kansas Days, 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-cj1-14 [
Immigration Lawsuits
While running for Congress, Kobach represented Federation for American
Immigration Reform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_for_American_Immigration_Reform
(FAIR) in a lawsuit against the state of Kansas, which challenged a state
law which grants in-state tuition to students illegal immigrants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-ljw-15
Kobach has drawn controversy for his ties to FAIR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-16 The Southern
Poverty Law Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center has accused FAIR
of being a hate group funded by a eugenics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics foundation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kobach#cite_note-17 , Pioneer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund Fund. Aside from doing legal
work for FAIR, Kobach accepted $10,000 from a FAIR-related political action
committee, U.S. Immigration Reform PAC, during his congressional campaign
[Marxism-Thaxis] Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer's
Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer's By GINA KOLATA New York Times Published: August 12, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/health/research/13alzheimer.html In 2003, a group of scientists and executives from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the drug and medical-imaging industries, universities and nonprofit groups joined in a project that experts say had no precedent: a collaborative effort to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer's disease in the human brain. Now, the effort is bearing fruit with a wealth of recent scientific papers on the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's using methods like PET scans and tests of spinal fluid. More than 100 studies are under way to test drugs that might slow or stop the disease. . . . The key to the Alzheimer's project was an agreement as ambitious as its goal: not just to raise money, not just to do research on a vast scale, but also to share all the data, making every single finding public immediately, available to anyone with a computer anywhere in the world. No one would own the data. No one could submit patent applications, though private companies would ultimately profit from any drugs or imaging tests developed as a result of the effort. [moderator: to read the entire article use this link - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/health/research/13alzheimer.html] ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Computers driving the hospital of the future
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100816/NEWS06/8160343/1322/Future-technology-floods-into-hospitalstemplate=fullarticle Posted: Aug. 16, 2010 Computers driving the hospital of the future Electronic medical records system cuts errors, coordinates care BY PATRICIA ANSTETT FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER Comments (20) Recommend (1) Print E-mail Letter to the editor Share Facebook Twitter FarkIt Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine Buzz up! The hospital of the future is coming to Michigan. All over the state, hospitals and doctor networks are investing millions in technology, a push also being made by the federal government. Patients at some of the state's largest health systems over the next few years, for example, will have hospital rooms wired into a computer system that lets them see their vital signs, medicines and the name and photograph of the hospital staffer who enters their room. All 191 rooms at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital are now equipped with Smart Room technology. The Detroit Medical Center plans to add it in the next few years on its Harper and Hutzel hospitals' medical and surgical floors. The DMC has already spent $50 million in the last few years to upgrade its electronic medical records system. The systems spot medication errors, alert staffers to patients with drug allergies and send out alerts about the federal drug safety and recall alerts. The federal government will use $2.73 billion in bonuses to entice more health providers to install and upgrade electronic medical record systems -- or face reductions in their Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements by 2015. Medical records system brings peace, accuracy Born 16 weeks early, Saul and Micah Friedman each take more than a half-dozen medicines to help them get stronger and healthier. Fraternal twins, the newborn boys are so tiny that they look quite alike, making them especially vulnerable to getting an incorrect medicine or dose. A $50-million health information technology system at the Detroit Medical Center helps to ensure accuracy. It aligns bar codes on all the boys' medical records to an electronic records system that their doctors, nurses and others use to double-check medicines, coordinate information to their entire care team and alert them to any possible life-threatening event. It gives me confidence knowing the right things will be done when I'm not here, said the twins' mom, Orit Friedman of Ferndale. It gives me peace of mind. Dr. Leland Babitch, the DMC's chief medical information officer, said the systems have reduced medication errors by as much as 75%. It's just one of many steps hospitals across the state are taking to improve service to patients. Electronic medical record systems are a powerful force for reducing errors, lowering costs and increasing doctor/patient satisfaction, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said last month when she announced new rules for doctor networks and hospitals to add comprehensive electronic medical systems during the next four years. The systems bring all kinds of patient benefits. They won't have to tote records from office to office. Their primary care doctors can find out immediately what happened after a patient was hospitalized or referred to a specialist. Discharge orders and medications are printed up and given to patients when they leave the hospital. It makes me feel safe, said Uniqua Leak, 19, of Detroit. Before she was discharged in July from Hutzel Women's Hospital with her new son, nurse Chantelle Martin read from printouts of Leak's electronic medical records to review her medicines and upcoming appointments before she let her go home. To improve and coordinate care, save money and eliminate errors in hospitals and doctor offices, the federal government hopes to entice more hospitals to install electronic systems. Bonuses for hospitals Starting in October, and continuing through 2015, hospitals and doctors able to document they have completed multiple steps toward creating a comprehensive electronic system will be eligible for Medicare or Medicare bonuses. Those that don't will see reductions in their Medicaid and Medicare payments, unless they can prove that compliance would cause them a significant financial hardship. Doctors' offices can earn as much as $44,000 in bonuses; hospitals might get bonuses in the millions, federal regulators say. The new systems help ensure safety as well as address patient concerns. Smart Rooms, for example, wire hospital rooms to computer programs that help familiarize patients with their caregivers by letting them pull up pictures and names of staffers who enter their room. The systems, now in use in every room at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and expected to be added in the next few years at other Michigan hospitals, including Harper University and Hutzel Women's Hospitals in Detroit, also let patients get details about their medical condition
[Marxism-Thaxis] Hero judge bounces check fees
Hero judge bounces check fees http://www.detnews.com/article/20100816/OPINION03/8160307/Hero-judge-bounces-check-fees A California judge is my new personal hero. Not the wise and fair-minded U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who overturned the state's odious gay marriage ban -- he's last week's hero. Now it's the wise and fair-minded -- and obviously infuriated -- U.S. District Judge William Alsup who on Tuesday ordered Wells Fargo Co. to pay back $203 million in sleazy overdraft fees to bank customers. The judge called the bank's manipulation of account balances to create extra overdraft fees gouging and profiteering. His decision found the bank's policy existed only to squeeze as much as possible from its customers. I couldn't have said it better myself. But that's only because my editor won't let me use the phrase #$@! %...@*! pond-scum. Advertisement Detroit: Get Out of Debt Now The Bankers Don't Want You to Know About THIS Debt Relief Secret! Detroit: Mom Discovers $5 Wrinkle Trick Dermatologists DON'T want you knowing about this Skin Care Secret! TODAY: iPads for $123.74? Alert: iPads are being auctioned on SwipeBids for 95% off today. ®Debt Stimulus Relief ®New Laws Allow You To Remove Up To 75% Of Your Debt.… Obscured policy But I can use the phrase lying putrid weasels, which applies to any banker defending the widespread, grubby practices most banks apply to clearing checks and handling overdrafts. In the case of Wells Fargo, the bank introduced and obscured a policy of clearing all checks, debits and debit-card purchases in the order of largest amount to smallest, rather than in chronological order or by check number. Most banks do this, to better serve the customer, although any time I've asked them to prove it, they haven't produced a shred of research to back up their claims. What can be proven -- and was in California -- is that clearing the largest transactions first is guaranteed to create more $35 insufficient funds charges if an account has several overdrafts in one day. Worse, those high fees often were part of sneaky courtesy overdraft protection plans whose terms were buried in the fine print of account agreements. Besides costing more than other overdraft options, they also allowed -- and charged -- overdrafts on debit cards. All I can say is that Wells Fargo managers are lucky California doesn't have chain gangs. Opt out now Judge Alsup's decision is timely, since today is the first day bank customers have a little protection. Thanks to new federal rules, your bank now cannot process overdrafts (and charge you for the privilege) on most of your debit or ATM card transactions unless you specifically opt in for the service. Some banks have even gone so far as mounting campaigns to scare customers into opting in, using names like account protection and describing it as a free service. Which it is -- until you use it. If you haven't opted out, call your bank and do so. Chances are it offers cheaper and better overdraft coverage if you need it. Meanwhile, here's to Judge Alsup, my new hero. Why, if I was a single guy, I'd move to California and marry that man. bocon...@detnews.com (313) 222-2145 From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100816/OPINION03/8160307/Hero-judge-bounces-check-fees#ixzz0wmtxmMyc ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Capitalist Crisis, Radical Renewal?
Capitalist Crisis, Radical Renewal? http://www.zcommunications.org/capitalist-crisis-radical-renewal-by-leo-panitch An Interview with Leo Panitch, Sam Gindin, and Greg Albo By Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin and Greg Albo and Sasha Lilley Thursday, July 29, 2010 Change Text Size a- | A+ Leo Panitch's ZSpace Page Join ZSpace Sasha Lilley: Liberals and leftists alike argue that the economic crisis was caused by a lack of state regulation over the banks and financial markets. Consequently, they conclude that we just need new regulation to keep the financial sector in line. Why don't you think that's the case? Leo Panitch: Well, the cause of the crisis was certainly related to competition in the financial sector. But that competition was to some extent the product of state regulation. The American financial system is certainly the most regulated financial system in the world, and probably in history, if you measure it in terms of the number of pieces of legislation, the number of regulatory agencies, and the massive amounts of regulation to which finance is subject. So, yes, there were changes that allowed for more competition in finance, although those changes were only a matter of closing the barn door after the horse had bolted. It was already the development of finance that made the old New Deal regulations impossible. The state then removed those limits and encouraged further competition in finance. So it's just a misunderstanding of what's really going on. There's a sense that the state didn't do its job in constraining markets. And there's a confusion about what a capitalist state is. A capitalist state responds to and sponsors and facilitates markets. The notion that it's there to restrain markets, to restrain capitalism, that if only it would do that it would remove the contradictions of competition in capitalism, is simply a cockamamie way of seeing the world. Although unfortunately it's the way in which it's ideologically presented to us. Sasha Lilley: Much of this may appear counter-intuitive since the dominant narrative on the left is that over the last quarter century the state has retreated and let markets run unfettered. Could you give us some concrete examples of the ways the state actually facilitates markets? Leo Panitch: At the most basic level, you couldn't have contracts. You couldn't have property without all of the things that the state does in the form of law, in order to guarantee to one side of a contract, or to one capitalist to another, that their deals can be validated. So at the most basic level the state is in there. But more than that, states are oriented to facilitating accumulation on their own terrain. And some of them, the imperial states like the American, are oriented to facilitating capital accumulation and the spread of markets to do that around the world. They do that in a myriad of different ways. People think the New Deal regulations were brought in to constrain finance. Yet in many ways the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial from investment banking, for instance, was adopted in order to stabilize finance and to nurture it back to health. Through the whole of the post-war period there was a very close corporatist relationship between the banking sector and the regulators. The regulators were oriented to nurturing finance, not only back to health, but to a new stage of development. And that's what began to happen by the 1960s. Some of the old constraints that were put on the separation between commercial and investment banking then began to make less and less sense as finance was now very powerful and expansive and spreading around the world. And you got some removal of those. The big example was the 1975 New York Big Bang where New Deal price-ceilings on what brokers were allowed to charge for buying and selling stocks for people were broken down. They were mainly broken down because pension funds and other institutional investors were buying very large blocks of them and they wanted discounts. Another example is the remove of Glass-Steagall, the separation of commercial and investment banking, which allowed commercial banks to be involved with derivatives and acting as brokers and selling insurance and so on. But that had already been broken down. It was never applied internationally and it had broken down domestically in the United States since the early 1980s. So it was really changing the legislation after finance had already expanded in the way it had. Sasha Lilley: Coupled with the notion that deregulation is the cause of our current economic woes is a belief that finance is simply a parasite on the real economy. What you argue, however, is that although part of finance is obviously speculative, finance actually plays a crucial role for accumulation in general. Can you explain why? Leo Panitch: Finance is speculative and, yes, it is
