Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Sunday, February 14, 2010
Why Should WE Make Sacrifices to Offset Global Warming? / Politics / Climate Change
The world’s 6.7 billion people have been swamped in recent years by a virtual tsunami of non-stop publicity conveying the universal theme of imminent environmental disaster. We have been told almost daily that calamity can be averted only if we immediately demonstrate our good sense by doing whatever is necessary to halt the rise of man-made greenhouse gases. Cited as the primary villain is a naturally occurring substance known to all as carbon dioxide which is also created by burning fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal.
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Sunday, February 14, 2010
U.S. and Canada are Global Warming Scapegoats / Politics / Climate Change
Given universal awareness and belief that greenhouse gases are placing our world on the brink of imminent disaster, we should obligate ourselves to examine the origins of the climate change issue. For many people awareness and concern has emerged as if by stealth. Our children arrive home from school all wide-eyed and anxious about the imminent extinction of polar bears, melting polar ice caps and glaciers. Frequently, too, we see programs on television which portray what seems to be a world hell-bent on its own destruction and predicting an imminent environmental Armageddon.
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Sunday, February 14, 2010
AIG-Gate, The World's Greatest Insurance Heist / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Rumor has it that Timothy Geithner is on his way out as Treasury Secretary, due to his involvement in the AIG scandal that is now unraveling in hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Bob Chapman writes in The International Forecaster:
Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs to hide the details of the criminal conspiracy of the AIG bailout. . . . This is a real crisis on the scale of Watergate. Corruption at its finest.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker's Grecian Bluff / Politics / Euro-Zone
Eurozone's Grecian charade continues this weekend with still more "moral support". One has to start wondering when the market is going to go "all in" in response to what is clearly nothing more than an obvious bluff by various European officials.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Refuse to Pay Odious Government Debt Incurred to Finance Illegal Wars / Politics / US Debt
It Is the Personal Debt of Those Who Ordered It
There is an established legal principle that people should not have to repay their government's debt to the extent that it is incurred to launch aggressive wars or to oppress the people.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Making an Immortal Body of Truth / Politics / Social Issues
As the world slides closer daily to what the Shivapuri Baba described as a 6,000-year societal catastrophe, it is certainly curious to observe how those who fancy themselves the rulers of mankind continue to attempt to gather all power, authority, and wealth into their hands.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Global Warming, A Man-made Crisis: Part 1 / Politics / Climate Change
Climate warming has become so universally accepted that it is worth one's reputation to raise even a tepid question regarding warming wisdom or its factual accuracy. Ordinary civic minded citizens who dare to exhibit the temerity to raise serious questions about the merits of man-made CO2 are routinely dismissed as uninformed troglodytes. Scientists who question prevailing climate wisdom are shunned by professional colleagues and shut out from lucrative government research grants. Often their careers are sidelined and professional reputations damaged, sometimes beyond repair, simply because they insist that the methodologies of science be respected.
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Friday, February 12, 2010
Trouble at the Fed, Bernanke's Pretence of Knowledge / Politics / Central Banks
Antony Mueller writes: In line with the basic rule that few things are more helpful to a political career than catastrophic failure, Ben Bernanke was confirmed by Senate vote for four more years as chairman of the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed) on January 28, 2010.
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Friday, February 12, 2010
Can Capitalism Save Haiti ? / Politics / US Politics
Friday, February 12, 2010
Europe's Five Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States, Turkey, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy / Politics / GeoPolitics
According to a recent report, former NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirmed that Turkey possesses 40-90 "Made in America" nuclear weapons at the Incirlik military base.(en.trend.az/)
Does this mean that Turkey is a nuclear power?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Will Obama Destroy Any Hope of U.S. Energy Independence? / Politics / Energy Resources
By Charles S. Brant, Energy Correspondent, Casey Research. The U.S. consumes nearly three times the amount of oil that it produces domestically on a daily basis. How can this statistic get any worse, you might ask?
Imagine in 2010 the Obama administration persuades Congress to pass a budget that results in a reduction of domestic oil production by 10% - 20%, making the supply/demand imbalance even more lopsided. Foreign oil companies will gain a distinct advantage over American domestic operators as an unintended consequence of these proposals.
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
Alan Greenspan Party Boy / Politics / Central Banks
"It's important to remember that equity values, stock prices, are not just paper profits. They actually have a profoundly important impact on economic activity. And if stock prices start continuing down, I would get very concerned." -Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Meet the Press, February 7, 2010
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
NATO’s Role In The Military Encirclement Of Iran / Politics / Iran
Following on the heels of identifying himself as the “Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars” and moreover the head of state of no less than “the world’s sole military superpower” [1] while being presented with what is still curiously called the Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. President Barack Obama in his first State of the Union address on January 27 asserted “the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated” and threatened: “As Iran’s leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: They…will face growing consequences. That is a promise.”
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
Solution to the Washington Debt Crisis Threat / Politics / US Debt
Frédéric Bastiat must have been looking toward the future of the United States today when he said, "When plunder has become a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it."
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
It Is Now Official, The U.S. Is A Police State / Politics / US Politics
Americans have been losing the protection of law for years. In the 21st century the loss of legal protections accelerated with the Bush administration’s "war on terror," which continues under the Obama administration and is essentially a war on the Constitution and U.S. civil liberties.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
U.S. Congress Targets Iran with New Energy Sanctions / Politics / Iran
U.S. lawmakers are toughening their stance on Iran's energy industry with new economic penalties, but experts doubt the Islamic regime will pay much attention and is more likely to open the doors even wider to other players eager to replace fleeing investors.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Hypocrisy of Imperialism, Charlie Don’t Surf / Politics / US Politics
“I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies! I remember when I was with Special Forces... seems a thousand centuries ago. We went into a camp to inoculate some children.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
To Tea Party Or Not To Tea Party / Politics / US Politics
As a long term, proud political dissident and rebel I have had some admiration for the national tea party movement. I welcome all that shakes up and reforms our dysfunctional political system. But in the end I find far too much distasteful about what these people embrace to participate in or support it.
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Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Wars Sending U.S. Into Ruin / Politics / US Politics
Eric Margolis writes: U.S. President Barack Obama calls the $3.8-trillion US budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.
In fact, it’s another potent fix given to a sick patient deeply addicted to the dangerous drug — debt.
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Tuesday, February 09, 2010
German Bailout of Greece, PIIGS Would Herald Shift of E.U. Power To Germany / Politics / Euro-Zone
The situation in Europe is dire.
After years of profligate spending, Greece is becoming overwhelmed. Barring some sort of large-scale bailout program, a Greek debt default at this point is highly likely. At this moment, European Central Bank liquidity efforts are probably the only thing holding back such a default. But these are a stopgap measure that can hold only until more important economies manage to find their feet. And Europe’s problems extend beyond Greece. Fundamentals are so poor across the board that any number of eurozone states quickly could follow Greece down.
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