Ellen Brown suggests that what’s happening now is more class warfare than business cycle….and I think she might have a point.

“Business Cycle or Class War?

Ismael Hossein-Zadehi, who teaches economics at Drake University in Iowa, calls the whole economic crisis a class war. What is being billed as public debt began as the private debt of financial speculators who offloaded it onto the public. The governments that bailed out these insolvent speculators then became insolvent themselves; but the bailed-out banks, rather than lending a helping hand in return, have demanded their pound of flesh, with payment in full. The perpetrators are blaming the victims and insisting on “fiscal responsibility.” Wall Street bankers are dictating the terms of repayment for debts they themselves incurred. Continue reading →

Letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the son of a friend, who was also a namesake (thanks to JS for this):

“TO THOMAS JEFFERSON SMITH

Monticello, February 21, 1825

This letter will, to you, be as one from the dead. The writer will be in the grave before you can weigh its counsels. Your affectionate and excellent father has requested that I would address to you something which might possibly have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run, and I too, as a namesake, feel an interest in that course. Few words will be necessary, with good dispositions on your part. Continue reading →

Brilliant investigative reporter  Anne Williamson on the World Bank’s global plantation, its serfs and overseers:

“For the well-positioned second-raters that people the Bank, there’s no advantage in trading in a country club existence and perfumed reputation just to browbeat and bludgeon troops out of poor nations in return for dollar grants. It’s so much more agreeable to posture as a helping-hand, hiding the nasty imperial bits in the loan covenants. True, the policies the loans require often lead to public riots, and to resource, land and territorial wars among their clients, but the mainstream media never connects the loans to their bloody consequences. At worst, details of the borrower’s thievery leak out. Continue reading →

What does it cost to set up a twitter account and when you see a blog post you dislike and want to discredit, to “twitter” it preemptively? When other people see that only a weird porn site or ‘hate’ site has twittered your post, they back off, even though they might like your content and even though your content might be neither racist nor pornographic.

I’ve noticed this happens whenever I post something positive about the orthodox church. Posts on alternative spirituality don’t attract this kind of negative attention.

Anyway, I’ve noticed a couple of weird things like this on Twitter and I’ve noticed that Digg can be manipulated too.

So much for the view that the ‘Net will carry all before it. They said that about TV when it came on the scene. And look where that got us.

AP reports on a suspected Russian spy ring arrested in the US:

“Ten people have been arrested for allegedly serving as secret agents of the Russian government in the United States, the Justice Department said Monday. Continue reading →

Libertarian classic by the great Billy Joel from the 1978 album, ’52nd Street.’

My Life

Got a call from an old friend, we used to be real close,
Said he couldn’t go on the American way,
Closed the shop, sold a house, bought a ticket to the west coast,
Now he gives them a stand-up routine in LA

I don’t need you to worry for me ‘cos I’m alright,
I don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home,
I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life,
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone Continue reading →