America, America . . .

Certainly Edward Snowden’s crime is one of public relations. In this day and age, power ain’t just jackboots, tanks and missiles. What he did by outing the NSA and its gargantuan surveillance operation was mess hugely with the American image — the American brand — with its irresistible combination of might and right.

That’s the nature of his “treason.” The secret he gave away was pretty much the same one the little boy blurted out in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale: “The emperor has no clothes!” That is, the government’s security industry isn’t devoted, with benevolent righteousness, to protecting the American public. Instead, it’s obsessively irrational, bent on accumulating data on every phone call we make. It’s a berserk spy machine, seemingly to no sane end. How awkward.

The state of Ohio is taking centre stage in a radical and innovative response to the global financial crash of 2008, a growing national movement described by distinguished professors as "the prehistory of the next American revolution."

Cooperatives as an alternative to traditional capitalist hierarchies have a long history that dates back to the 19th century. But five years after the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression, the fragile seeds of economic change are beginning to take root across the country. The events following the collapse of Lehman Brothers exposed the deeply dangerous nature of finance-driven capitalism, while the government stimulus failed to 'trickle down' as expected; a new answer was needed, something that helped move away from the inherent flaws of both unfettered markets and government intervention.

By and 5-4 vote today, June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court has sanctioned the return of apartheid in nine states in our union that have a long legacy of blocking black and Latino voters.

The Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required nine states, all but one former Confederate states, to seek pre-clearance from the U.S. Justice Department prior to changing election laws. The states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Blatant racist attacks on the U.S. electorate have been the deliberate strategy of the Republican Party, in particular, since its theft of the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

In 2000, the Republican Party overtly embraced old-fashioned Jim Crow tactics, targeting former felons as a pretext for stripping 90,000 poor and minority voters from the voting rolls. A majority of the illegally purged voters were African American.

Dallas Mayor Bars Public and Free Speech in Dealey Plaza on 50th Anniversary of Kennedy Assassination

Press release.

(Dallas, TX) Mike Rawlings, the Mayor of Dallas, Texas has announced an event to be held on November 22 at Dealey Plaza on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy at that location. His event will not focus on the assassination, but on the “life and legacy of President John F. Kennedy”. The event will not be open to the public, or the "tens of thousands" the Mayor expects to visit Dallas that day in commemoration of the assassination, but to a limited crowd of 5,000 people chosen at random in a ticket lottery. Half of the tickets will be issued only to Dallas residents according to press statements and the website set up for "The 50th" event.

When the wealthy nations of the world meet as the G8 or in any other gathering, it's interesting to imagine what they would do if they followed the golden rule, valued grandchildren, disliked unnecessary suffering, or wished to outgrow ancient forms of barbarism, or any combination of those.

The United States alone is perfectly capable, if it chooses, of enacting a global marshall plan, or -- better -- a global rescue plan. Every year the United States spends, through various governmental departments, roughly $1.2 trillion on war and war preparations. Every year the United States foregoes well over $1 trillion in taxes that billionaires and centimillionaires and corporations should be paying.

If we understand that out-of-control military spending is making us less safe, rather than more -- just as Eisenhower warned and so many current experts agree -- it is clear that reducing military spending is a critical end in itself. If we add to that the understanding that military spending hurts, rather than helping, economic well-being, the imperative to reduce it is that much clearer.