There is a great editorial over at The World Socialist Website (thanks to Bill over at The Florida Soapbox for making me aware of it) entitled

The philanthropy of Warren Buffett

By David Walsh

here ia an excerpt:

That one solitary human being has nearly forty billion dollars to dispose of, with a good deal left over, is appalling in itself, at a time when 1.1 billion people, one-fifth of the world’s population, live on less than $1 a day and some 3 billion on less than $2. The planet’s three wealthiest individuals in 2005 (including Messrs. Buffett and Gates) had greater wealth than the combined gross domestic product of the world’s 48 poorest nations.
There is, in any event, something intrinsically degrading and demeaning about philanthropy. A society in need of philanthropists is one rooted in inequality, in which the deprivation of the many is supposedly addressed by the largesse of the few. No one can seriously suggest that social problems will be solved in this manner. Especially in America, where an aristocracy has taken shape before our eyes over the past decade and the Bush administration is taking blind, reckless measures to eliminate all restrictions on the accumulation of personal wealth.

Does anybody else besides me cringe everytime you hear the words philanthropy or charity? No? OK how about the words lords or serfs? ( only today they are called CEOs and employees)
We supposedly live in a democracy, well actually it’s a republic because we “elect” “our” “representatives” (what does it mean when you have to put quatation marks around everything these days?) to speak for us. Anyway, we supposedly live in a “democracy” but we have this thing called capitalism (no quotation marks needed there) that is waiting at every turn to make a mockery of democracy.
Feudalism was replaced by capitalism roughly around the same time democracy entered the scene. But despite all the patriotic hoopla about spreading democracy, nothing has changed when it comes to the economic relationship between those that take it all and leave little for the rest of us.
We rely on the charitable gestures of supremely rich Americans more and more to put a band aid on social necessities while all of us together pay taxes to support a “war” and the military industry that profits from it. Not to mention the fact that the rich increasingly pay less taxes while the rest of us watch the national debt climb. If we even suggest these days that our tax dollars be channeled to social needs, we are called socialists seeking entitlements and costly government programs.

Well I think if you take a good look at the situation as it is, we all have it wrong.

Who is getting most of our tax dollars? The Military Industrial Complex. And, wait a minute, how are they funded? Through tax dollars. How about that for a costly government program? Then by definition they are the SOCIALISTS!

And the rest of us who are left to fend for ourselves in this “free market economy” for basic social needs? By definition we are the true CAPITALISTS!

I guess maybe I should be reading the Wall Street Journal and I’ll send a link to Warren Buffet to check out The World Socialist Website.

Brian

Wake Up AM Podcast Join us for news and commentary you won’t find on the mainstream media.

Hey gang there’s a new episode of the Twilight and Thebes Show.

Panties as gifts
Wars force Army equipment costs to triple
Many U.S. Iraq War vets return to homelessness
Talking to another Mistress
Rush Limbaugh busted after DR vacation with Viagra
Limbaugh Detained At Airport For Drugs
Terror Expert: London Bomber Was Working For MI5
Song: Not on the Radio by Geoff Smith
Us time:
Taos Solar Music Fest
Michael Franti and Spearhead
Spa day at Ojo Caliente
Listen to it Now! The Twlight and Thebes Show TnT-022

With all this talk about BushCo’s Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) program…described in the Washington Post as “the international banking cooperative that quietly allowed the Treasury Department and the CIA to examine hundreds of thousands of private banking records from around the world,” I thought of an expert who could explain it all.

BushCo could have saved themselves the trouble of pissing off the entire world by peeking into their bank records by reading Loretta Napoleoni’s book, which I reviewed in these pages a couple of years ago…here’s the review of a book that lays out how terror funding really works:

Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks
by Loretta Napoleoni (Pluto Press, October 2003, $24.95. 295 pages)

On April 19, 1995, I was making photocopies of an article I had written about AIDS research as a science writer at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. As I stood at the copier, rereading my story on the advances made in fighting the plague of the century, I heard what sounded to me like someone slamming a door.

“Who the hell slammed that door?” I yelled from the copy room.

Soon I became painfully aware that a door had not been slammed in my office, but an entire office building had been brought down a few blocks away by terrorists. A different kind of plague erupted in my city and, like the first few cases of AIDS, an attempt to treat the symptoms was ultimately defeated until the true cause was discovered. Only now has the true cause of the viral nature of the world terrorist economy been reported.

The seeds of discontent with the ruling class, governments or even an autocratic boss have, since humans became “civilized”, served as impetus for the disgruntled, disaffected and even psychotic to lash out with acts of terrorism. But acts of terrorism cost money. They are organizations with payrolls, “benefits” and material needs. Terrorists need dollars, and stopping the flow of dollars to the balaclava-clad “revolutionaries” could effectively end large-scale terrorism. Unfortunately, it could also send the world economy into a spiral of depression and even collapse.

Dr. Loretta Napoleoni sheds light on the global “economy of terror” in Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks (Pluto Press, October 2003, $24.95). In this well-researched, painstakingly-footnoted book, Italian economist and author Napoleoni identifies a $1.5 trillion “fast-growing economic system” comprised of illegal businesses such as arms and narcotics trading, diamond smuggling, charitable donations, profits from illegal businesses and yes, oil.

In Modern Jihad, Napoleoni reveals the interdependency between autocratic state-shell economies run by armed groups and “democratic” western economies, ranging from consumption of narcotics to the production of arms to laundering money and even to stock speculation, as occurred prior to Sept. 11, 2001.

Napoleoni, whose method of converting the florint was later used as the blueprint for the convertibility of the post-Berlin Wall ruble, was one of the few journalists to interview the leaders of the legendary Italian terrorists The Red Brigades, Napoleoni understands all too well that “money, not politics” keeps an armed organization alive.

Cross Posted from SoonerThought

See the rest of the review here.

According to the site SantorumExposed.com, our favorite deranged, right-wing Christian fundamentalist lawmaker has the lowest approval rating of any sitting U.S. Senator, with a pathetic 36% (per Survey USA). I doubt his recent stunt of touting some old containers of mustard gas in Iraq as dangerous WMDs will help his numbers, as he came across as a complete moron. It’s about time the voters of Pennsylvania punish this piece of human debris for his anti-gay, pro-war, fundamentalist claptrap. The Democratic challenger for Santorum’s Senate seat is� Bob Casey Jr., the current State Treasurer. He’s a bit too much of a “conservative Democrat” for my tastes; he seems awfully conservative on social issues and has voiced no opposition to the war in iraq. But I suppose any Democrat is an improvement over Ole Ricky. So if you’re in Pennsylvannia, vote for Casey.

They have no shame. There is a plan already in the works to “swiftboat” Jack Murtha, presumably before the midterm elections so that by destroying his reputation with lies, they can alter the elections. It won’t matter anyway, because I’m sure the Democrats are going to win quite a few victories in the midterms, but I hate to see a man I admire so much go down in a cheap smear campaign run by lesser people than he. After witnessing what they did to John Kerry, I’d hate to watch that happen to anyone again!

Jack Murtha will no doubt fight back and fight back hard, but I don’t want it to harm him or his enthusiasm for what he’s doing. You can read about the self-described “web designer” of this planned attack and the attack site itself here at the excellent website of Taylor Marsh, who links to more information at The Agonist. The GOP tool’s name is Amanda Doss and here is her previous work. I actually sent her an email asking if I could interview her, not identifying myself as a liberal-progressive podcaster, and she pawned off my request to someone apparently less busy than herself. None other than Larry Bailey of North Carolina, “the president of Vets for the Truth, successor to Vietnam Vets for the Truth”. Whoa! This guy is the brains and brawn behind the ’swiftboat’ campaign to destroy John Kerry in 2004 via his post-war actions (including sticking Kerry to Jane Fonda). He “didn’t like it” that Kerry was anti-war upon leaving Vietnam. These guys just don’t like free speech, that’s evident. I’m going to have to turn Larry down, since I’m quite sure he also has no idea I’m a liberal-progressive podcaster either, and I’d hate to shock him so deeply. His enthusiasm makes me think he’s probably under the impression I’m a Michelle Malkin type, so I won’t be pursuing this any further. But if you want to, you are welcome to. Here is his email address: larryklr@cox.net (Don’t say you got it from me.)
Shelly of Citizen Against Lies

How do we read this one? Apparently, the White House and the Democrats are in a race to claim credit for a troop withdrawl plan.

From Truthout.org -

A report yesterday in the New York Times that General Casey presented a private briefing at the Pentagon last week, in which he projected the number of U.S. combat brigades - each numbering about 3,500 troops - would decrease from 14 to five or six by the end of 2007. There are now about 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, including many support troops beyond the combat brigades.
Senate Democrats reacted angrily yesterday to a report that the U.S. commander in Iraq had privately presented a plan for significant troop reductions in the same week they came under attack by Republicans for trying to set a timetable for withdrawal.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said that the plan attributed to Gen. George W. Casey resembles the thinking of many Democrats who voted for a nonbinding resolution to begin a troop drawdown in December. That resolution was defeated on a largely party-line vote in the Senate on Thursday.
“That means the only people who have fought us and fought us against the timetable, the only ones still saying there shouldn’t be a timetable really are the Republicans in the United States Senate and in the Congress,” Boxer said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Now it turns out we’re in sync with General Casey.”
Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), one of the two sponsors of the nonbinding resolution, which offered no pace or completion date for a withdrawal, said the report is another sign of what he termed one of the “worst-kept secrets in town” - that the administration intends to pull out troops before the midterm elections in November.
“It shouldn’t be a political decision, but it is going to be with this administration,” Levin said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s as clear as your face, which is mighty clear, that before this election, this November, there’s going to be troop reductions in Iraq, and the president will then claim some kind of progress or victory.”

Of course, the so-called troop withdrawl the White House is interested in is one in name only.

But, oh yeah, where does that leave the pontificating Republicans of the House and Senate who last week all but equated troop reduction and timetables with treason? Their plan originally seemed to be to get the Democrats on record as opposing the War (Occupation) thereby revealing the Democratic Party’s treasonous nature.
Now the sudden White House interest In Casey’s troop reduction plan has left the Republican Congress looking ridiculous. (well ok, more ridiculous.) Additionally, the “government” of Iraq has suddenly been taking steps to court at least some of the insurgency with promises of amnesty.
The White House seems to be coordinating an attempt to put the best face on the war before the elections. But apparently the Republicans were left totally out of the loop.

I’m left scratching my head. What devious plan is at work here? What are they up to?
Is Karl Rove about to set a plan into motion that will insure victory in November?

Then it finally comes to me. Of course! There is no devious plan, this White House has simply managed to mismanage this as it has everything else. Their self-centered, short sightedness has struck again! And now they are scrambling to put this latest eleventh hour scheme into motion.
The only problem is, they forgot to tell the Republicans on the hill who are left standing there with a meaningless resolution in their hands and egg on their faces.

Brian

Wake Up AM Podcast Join us for news and commentary you won’t find on the mainstream media.

Is your whole life someone else’s commercial? Are you tired of every waking (and maybe even sleeping) moment being trampled on, invaded and assaulted by out-of-control, obnoxious and never ending marketing?

Since when did Corporations decide we have no right NOT to listen? Or that we were fair game to have every single facet of our lives taken over by their shrill messages of manipulation?

In this episode, and it’s addendum,� I take a look out out-of-control marketing, and corporation’s plans to enslave us even further, if we don’t wake up and start fighting back HARD.

I also play excerpts from a wonderful movie, “The Corporation”. Please find out more about that movie, buy it and watch it at http://www.thecorporation.com/.

Subscribe to “No Respect: Corporate America’s War on the American Consumer at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/NoRespect or on I-Tunes under “No Respect”.

�

Scott

Consumer007@gmail.com

A couple of days ago, The Wall Street Journal, in an op-ed piece, called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ‘a threat to world peace’. Just what is about Chavez that scares the hell out of the rich, powerful and imperialistic? I have a few ideas.

First, he has used Venezuela’s considerable oil wealth (largely increased by the meteoric rise in the price of crude over the last 2-3 years) in part to better the conditions of Venezuela’s legions of landless poor. He has instituted badly needed social programs so that the country’s tiny, rich white elite aren’t the only ones with access to a decent education and health care. Chavez has also shown great solidarity with some of his Latin American neighbors such as Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia, helping to set Latin America on a path of independence from international banking and multinationals.

But he has committed other great sins: he has worked together with (gasp!) Fidel Castro to bring highly-trained Cuban doctors to Venezuela. He has opened dialogues with countries like Iran and North Korea. He calls a spade a spade (he has referred to Bush as� a “donkey” and an “assassin”, among other hard-to-translate Spanish insults). His worst crime, though, has been to show that a government geared towards the needs of people-–all people– is better than one run for the benefit of business elites. He is setting agood example for the rest of Latin America, and the right-wingers in Washington cannot let that be. The fact that leftist Evo Morales got elected President in Bolivia signals to the elites that “the rot” is spreading already.

� Back in ‘02, the Bush administration tried to help overthow Chavez and failed. The U.S. government has repeatedly attempted–and sometimes succeeded–in blocking foreign arms sales to Venezuela. The country has been� added to the State Deptartment’s list of nations that “don’t cooperate” in fighting “terrorism”. � Pat Robertson openly wished for Chavez’s assassination. Mr. Chavez is hardly an angel, of course. He has a flair for often ridiculous drama and it is obvious that he has a large ego. Sometimes he says and does some rather strange things.� But I’m willing to forgive that; I prefer to look at the bigger picture.

� The Wall Street Journal is correct in saying Chavez threatens world peace, because to the business elites� The Journal represents, “world peace” means the control of the world’s resources by a tiny minority of the super-rich, the undermining of genuine democracy, the hegemony of multinational corporations and banks over� national economies and the flow of capital from the rich to the poor.

� If that is peace, I’ll take war.�

�

-Bill

� The Florida Soapbox

� http://flasoapbox.podomatic.com

�

Item Cross-posted by Alex� from Soonerthought.com, official blog of the SoonerThought Podcast. Check out the podcast for more news like this along wth interviews, commentary, humor and music.

This is What They Really Think

THERE’S A PATTERN HERE
Here we go again.
With the latest revelation by the NY Times of a secret program that examines banking records of Americans and others in a vast international database, DICK Cheney once again says shoot the messenger. And if he had his way, we think, he’d pull the trigger. But would he?
“What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people,” Mr. Cheney said, in impromptu remarks at a fund-raising luncheon for a Republican Congressional candidate in Chicago. “That offends me.”

Well, it’s the onslaught on our privacy in the name of the so-called “war on terror” that offends me and everyone else who fears for the survival of our U.S. Constitution as a meaningful document. But is there something else going on here as well?

There seems to be a recurring pattern associated with these spying revelations.

As with all the other disclosures by the press, Cheney routinely reassures us that it is all perfectly legal and necessary for our protection. “The fact of the matter is that these are good, solid, sound programs,” the vice president said. “They are conducted in accordance with the laws of the land. They’re carried out in a manner that is fully consistent with the constitutional authority of the president of the United States. They are absolutely essential in terms of protecting us against attacks.”

When he evokes, as he always does, “the constitutional authority of the president” to justify the spying, he is really evoking the theory of the unitary executive. The theory argues that the power of Congress to divest the President of control of the executive branch is limited.

Then, of course,the next piece of the pattern is to make a show of this latest controversy in the Judiciary Committee of the Senate.

Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he had sent letters on Friday to both Treasury Secretary John Snow and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the issue. While he declined to release the letters, he said he was concerned about the legal authority for the operation. “Why does it take a newspaper investigation to get them to comply with the law?” the senator asked. “That’s a big, important point.”

Yeah, a big important point that will, like all the other spying revelations, be briefly questioned then forgotten by Congress. Remember the other hearings held by the Judiciary Committee? Remember Alberto Gonzales telling them that Congress actually
gave the President the authority by passing the Iraq war resolution?

The pattern continues on the cable news shows with the media basically getting behind the Bush administration. In the end we will have lost another battle to protect our Constitution in the name of “the war on terror”.
But wait a minute. If this story hadn’t been revealed the surveillance of our bank records would still be going on. We just wouldn’t know about it. But now we do know about it. And that, my friends, is by design. Why have a secret program when you can go public? The purpose of this recurring spectacle is to in the end have us embrace our own loss of rights in the name of security and await the next startling revelation.

But we don’t embrace it. Everyone I talk to sees what is going on. The truth is these guys aren’t really very good at what they are trying to do. Their own sense of superiority prevents them from seeing how transparent their real agenda is.
These smug traitors, so pleased with themselves, who orchestrate this charade don’t even know that we are on to them.

Brian
Wake Up AM Podcast Join us for news and commentary you won’t find on the mainstream media.

THE PROGRESSIVE PODCAST launches!
Progressive Podcast Network (PPN) is a collective of independent

podcasters offering ideas, news, and opinions on political and social change.

We have come to realize that the only way to have a media that truly served the people first was to become the media ourselves. Hopefully we will become your media. This group is dedicated to that and you will find news, commentary,music, and resources that the mainstream corporate media refuse to give airplay. We all need to take it up a notch and take our country back!
go to http://www.progressivepodcastnetwork.org/
AND START LISTENING!

The latest revelation in the Bush administration’s campaign to subvert our Constitution
was revealed in a New York Times article entitled
Bank Data Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror
Apparently our bank accounts are also part of the NSA’s spying program. The program relies on a Belgian cooperative known as Swift, a company exempt from American laws restricting government access to private information because it is considered a messenger, not a financial institution.

This “offshore” tactic is part of a pattern the White House and NSA has established to evade the Constitution until they can permanently change it. You can see it in the way
they use foreign prisons to “render” kidnapped victims to be held and tortured. You can
find evidence of our military bases in other countries, I’m thinking of a certain US Airforce base in England, where the technology for spying can be set up legally.
Why do you think we have a concentration camp for so-called terrorists set up in Guantanamo Bay and not within the country itself?

What are we to do when the laws of our country can be bypassed the way corporations bypass the tax laws? Short of some kind of meaningful oversight, don’t hold your breath, from the other branches of our government, we may need to look offshore also. In the end, international law may need to be empowered in a way the world has not seen before. The U.N., The World Court, or international committees may need to assert themselves and we need to support that. Of course, that may be a long way off.

In the meantime, we need to fight the good fight here at home to save our Constitution. Good luck to us all.

Brian
Wake Up AM

Greetings, this is Brian from the podcast team at Wake Up AMerica
We are excited about this new endeavour and feel extremely fortunate to be associated with such an awesome group of progressive podcasters!

We have come to realize that the only way to have a media that truly served the people first was to become the media ourselves. Hopefully we will become your media. This group is dedicated to that and you will find news, commentary,music, and resources that the mainstream corporate media refuse to give airplay. We all need to take it up a notch and take our country back!

go to http://www.progressivepodcastnetwork.org/

AND START LISTENING! (this network “goes to eleven”)
Brian
Wake Up AM

George Lakoff, linguist at UC Berkeley, wrote a book a few years ago called “Don’t think of an elephant. Know your values and frame the debate.” You can download the book highlights pdf here. Do you ever wonder why Republicans repeat themselves so much? Lately, you’ve probably heard “cut and run” about 50 times a day. They do this for a reason - it embeds this in the mind of the public. Then, when Democrats and others dispute this and repeat the phrase, it further embeds the accusation in the minds of the public. In that respect, by repeating anything Republicans say, we are doing their work for them. That is covered in the beginning of Lakoff’s book. He goes on to talk about further examples of framing and how Republicans use language to change how we talk and what we talk about. Defense of Marriage Act is another example. No one’s marriage really needs defending, but the public now thinks there is a threat to marriage that doesn’t exist - because the Republicans keep repeating it. Some Democrats are on that train too, unfortunately. Check out the book, it’s only 36 pages long.

You may want to do this for your own blog or site, or if you are a member here, for this site. Since it’s so new, we need to submit it to search engines.

From webpronews.com

1. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines

I cover this topic in detail in my article on “Search Engine Optimization For Blogs” http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-seo.htm

But here are the most important rules to follow to get your posts listed for keywords of your choice.

* Make sure your blog URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for

* Use your primary keywords in the title of your post

* Use your secondary keywords in the body of your post

* Use your keywords in the anchor text of links in the body of your posts

2. Submit Your Blog and RSS Feed To Directories

If you publish a blog you should submit your blog and RSS feed to big directories like Yahoo and Dmoz, as well as the numerous blog directories and search engines.

Here is the best list I’ve found of places to submit your feed or blog, compiled by Luigi Canali De Rossi, who writes under the pseudonym Robin Good.

Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/

Another list of sites to submit your Blog. http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

3. Ping The Blog Services

There are a number of services designed specifically for tracking and connecting blogs. By sending a small ping to each service you let them know you’ve updated your blog so they can come check you out.

Bookmark the Ping-O-Matic ping results page so you can visit it and quickly ping a number of services with a single click.

http://pingomatic.com

4. Build Links To Your Blog

I recommend the methods here as the best ways to get links pointing to your blog

* Link to your blog from each page on your main website

* Trackback to other blogs in your posts

* Post legitimate comments on other blogs with related topics

* Offer to exchange links with other similarly themed blogs and websites

5. Edit Your Blog Posts Into Articles

One of the best methods for promoting your website is to write articles and submit them to article directories.

The suggestion for extending this to edit your blog posts into articles and submit them to directories came from the coach at “Explode Blog Traffic” who also has other noteworthy suggestions at his blog here. http://bloghit.blogspot.com/2004/11/how-to-explode-blog-traffic.html

You’ll find an extensive list of article directories here http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/write-articles/submit-articles.htm

6. Create Buzz About Your Blog

Creating a buzz about your blog posts and topic in the local and online media will give your marketing a viral component.

* Create a controversy around your blog or it’s topic.

* Distribute bumper stickers or other merchandise with your blog’s URL and tagline.

* Write a press release about something newsworthy and tie it in with your blog topic.

7. Capture Subscribers By Email

It may seem strange for a blogger to send out updates by email, but email is still the #1 choice of most people who want to receive news and information.

Using a free service like Bloglet to manage your subscriptions is easy and it allows your subscribers to manage all their subscriptions from one interface. http://www.bloglet.com

However, if you want more control over your list and don’t mind mailing out the updates yourself, you can use an autoresponder system to capture and follow-up with subscribers.

RSS responder is a new script that allows you to keep in touch and follow-up with your subscribers without the hassle of email. http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/rssresponder.htm

These tips should give you a good start to building your blog traffic.

Welcome to the Progressive Podcast Network blog. � We are the New Media Revolutionaries!� You will find posts here about politics, opinion, podcasting, blogging about politics and government, and more.