I Shall Pass This Way But Once

   Back when I was a kid I spent a portion of my youth on my "aunt" and "uncles" farm. I lived with them for a number of years. They weren't my genetically connected relatives, they were my parents best friends.

Really Seeing the Gulf Mess Clearly

   Carl Safina is president of The Blue Ocean Institute, he is a prominent ecologist and marine conservationist. He is also an acclaimed author and respected voice on the Oceans and Seas of this Earth. Carl has been to the Gulf recently. After spending some time assessing the devastation he spoke at a TED conference with the Oil Spill as the topic. He has insights to share, so without further introduction, please watch:

   

The Story of Stuff

  This is an interesting piece, it explores how we get all the things we think we want, and why we think we want them. Annie Leonard has spent a considerable amount of time researching the world of commerce and consumerism. She shares the results of her study here, in an easy to follow explanation of  "The Story of Stuff".
  I promise you, this is far more interesting than I am able to convey. Not only will you find this interesting, you will more than likely think of several people you know should watch this.
  On to the "Stuff"!  http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The Stupidity and Hypocrisy of the Austerity Movement

This an open eyed look at the realities of : The Stupidity and Hypocrisy of the Austerity Movement explained so anyone,( even a politician!) could understand it!

Many thanks to Nate Silver at;   http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ for his concise analysis.                                                                                   

Lies The Government Told You - Andrew Napolitano and Ralph Nader Speaking Freely

   This is an absolutely fascinating discussion of just what the title of Mr. Napolitano's new book says, Lies The Government Told You. He is interviewed by Mr. Ralph Nader, another man who has a long history of speaking out on behalf of the people. This is a rare moment when we can enjoy two champions of the people, both with a wealth of knowledge of history and the law. They speak freely about a host of lies, major ones that have had dramatic impact on our lives. This is MUST SEE TV! That is probably why it is on C-SPAN! Enjoy! http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/225457

Reagan Mythology Rewritten

UNJUST SPOILS - The Real Problem In Our Economy !

    I recently read what  I believe to be the best analysis of our economic situation, that I have seen yet. This is a concise explanation of our present problem and an optimistic view towards its solution, written by Robert Reich, a very bright fellow who has worked for a few Presidents , written several books and is worth listening to. Please take a few minutes and gain a greater understanding of our plight.

                                                        UNJUST SPOILS

   Wall Street's banditry was the proximate cause of the Great Recession, not its underlying cause. Even if the Street is better controlled in the future (and I have my doubts), the structural reason for the Great Recession still haunts America. That reason is America's surging inequality.
   Consider: in 1928 the richest 1 percent of Americans received 23.9 percent of the nation's total income. After that, the share going to the richest 1 percent steadily declined. New Deal reforms, followed by World War II, the GI Bill and the Great Society expanded the circle of prosperity. By the late 1970s the top 1 percent raked in only 8 to 9 percent of America's total annual income. But after that, inequality began to widen again, and income reconcentrated at the top. By 2007 the richest 1 percent were back to where they were in 1928—with 23.5 percent of the total.

Each of America's two biggest economic crashes occurred in the year immediately following these twin peaks—in 1929 and 2008. This is no mere coincidence. When most of the gains from economic growth go to a small sliver of Americans at the top, the rest don't have enough purchasing power to buy what the economy is capable of producing. America's median wage, adjusted for inflation, has barely budged for decades. Between 2000 and 2007 it actually dropped. Under these circumstances the only way the middle class can boost its purchasing power is to borrow, as it did with gusto. As housing prices rose, Americans turned their homes into ATMs. But such borrowing has its limits. When the debt bubble finally burst, vast numbers of people couldn't pay their bills, and banks couldn't collect.    ...click here to read more

  Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found on publicradio.com andiTunes. 

  Thank you Robert, for a very insightful explanation of our situation. Eric  

Circle of Strife

   When you sleep with the devil, you should not be surprised when you wake up smelling like a goat. Seems obvious enough, and an idea and process most people would choose not to make, if they had the choice. Often governments make these choices for us. Even worse, they often do these types of things secretly. They do them secretly because they are criminal acts.
   By now you might be wondering what the hell I'm talking about. I will explain;

Explore Our Descent Into Empire

Tom Engelhardt is a man that knows of what he speaks.   I have been a subscriber to both TomDispatch, (http://www.tomdispatch.com/) and The American Empire Project (http://www.americanempireproject.com/) for a couple of years now. These are two blogs to which Tom is very closely connected. TomDispatch.com is his own, the other is a cooperative effort with some other bright folks.
 Tom's new book, The American Way of War : How Bush's Wars Became Obama's  appears to be another of his timely and very insightful efforts.
  I just read an excerpt from this new book, and I have to recommend this book and Tom Englehardt to anyone trying to make sense of (and hopefully find our way out of ) our descent into vicious empire. In this post I am including links to the book excerpt and a recent interview with Tom on Democracy Now!

- Book excerpt
- Interview

http://www.alternet.org is the news-site where the book review is posted and it is a great source for information not told by the corporate media. http://www.democracynow.org is great as well.
Check them out for a dose of reality.  
  

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! In honor of this wonderfully historic day, here is a link to the Declaration of Independence, and one to the United States Constitution.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

We'll also be adding these to the Other Links section to the right. Make sure you bookmark them!

New Links

    We just finished adding several interesting links to this site. We hope that you take a moment and check out the Other Links list.  Other Links is where we will be posting interesting morsels from all over the web. We highly recommend all of them and would be hard pressed to rank them.

    -Revenge of the Fighting Quaker is an absolutely fascinating bit of United States history that many people don't know. It tells the story of Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, and how he, almost single-handedly, saved the United States (and possibly even the world).
    -Why We Fight is a documentary by Eugene Jarecki about the United States military machine and how it operates. The film details the corruption of the 'defense' contracting industry, and how the Pentagon runs US foreign policy. Absolutely essential information in an easy-to-watch package.
   -Flow: For Love of Water, a documentary by Irena Salinas, focuses on the worldwide demand for fresh water, and how we may have serious problems meeting that demand in the very near future, in large part due to the misbehavior of multinational corporations. Another must-see!

Knowledge Is Power

  Knowledge is power. If the United States Government is to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then we the people need power. We need knowledge. If we don't know what's going on, we can't put events into context. Without adequate context, we can't make good decisions; And we need to make a lot of very good decisions in the near future.
  Empire kNOw More aims to bring as much knowledge as possible to as many people as possible. To do this properly, we need tons of feedback. That's where you come in. Tell us what you know!

 Eric