Articles by ICH
We found 2517 results.
Assembly Line
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Aug 2010
Two people went along a road with pick and shovel.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Biggest Jobs Program — the U.S. Military
Robert Reich - ICH,
23 Aug 2010
America’s biggest — and only major — jobs program is the U.S. military. Over 1,400,000 Americans are now on active duty; another 833,000 are in the reserves, many full time. Another 1,600,000 Americans work in companies that supply the military with everything from weapons to utensils. (I’m not even including all the foreign contractors employing non-US citizens.)
→ read full articleUS – Venezuela: The Empire Strikes Back (and Loses)
Prof. James Petras – ICH,
16 Aug 2010
US policy toward Venezuela has taken many tactical turns, but the objective has been the same: to oust President Chavez, reverse the nationalization of big businesses, abolish the mass community and worker based councils and revert the country into a client-state.
→ read full articleThe U.S. Ploy to Promote Genetically Engineered Seeds and Pesticides to Poor Mexican Farmers Is Impoverishing Their Communities
Jill Richardson - AlterNet,
16 Aug 2010
The Obama administration’s Feed the Future initiative promises a second Green Revolution that will feed a planet of nine billion people by doubling crop yields by 2050. But considering that we produce enough food to feed the planet today and a billion people still go hungry, are yields really the problem? And if they are, are providing Green Revolution technologies like hybrid and genetically engineered seeds, chemical fertilizer and pesticides to subsistence farmers the best way to achieve them? I visited subsistence farmers in Mexico to find out.
→ read full articleThe Horrific Derivatives Bubble That Could One Day Destroy the Entire World Financial System
Michael Snyder – The Economic Collapse,
16 Aug 2010
Today there is a horrific derivatives bubble that threatens to destroy not only the U.S. economy but the entire world financial system as well, but unfortunately the vast majority of people do not understand it. When you say the word “derivatives” to most Americans, they have no idea what you are talking about. In fact, even most members of the U.S. Congress don’t really seem to understand them. But you don’t have to get into all the technicalities to understand the bigger picture.
→ read full article
Earth Song
Michael Jackson – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Aug 2010
Michael’s powerful video calling attention to our destruction of the Earth and of each other.
→ read full articleFrom Marx to Goldman Sachs: The Fictions of Fictitious Capital
Michael Hudson - ICH,
16 Aug 2010
As published in Critique, based on a presentation given at the China Academy of Sciences, School of Marxist Studies in Beijing in November 2009, and at the Left Forum in New York City, March 20, 2010.
→ read full articleSymmetric
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Aug 2010
A husband and wife spent their vacation at a lake where he enjoyed fishing.
→ read full articleFrom Church Bulletins
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Aug 2010
“Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church.
→ read full article
The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What? (Part 1)
Paul Jay interviewing Johan Galtung and Dennis Kucinich -The Real News Network,
2 Aug 2010
Johan Galtung and Dennis Kucinich discuss the proposal for a Department of Peace.
→ read full articleThe Fall of the US Empire – And Then What? (Part 2)
Paul Jay interviewing Johan Galtung and Dennis Kucinich - The Real News Network,
2 Aug 2010
Dennis Kucinich and Johan Galtung discuss the proposal for a Department of Peace.
→ read full articleChildren
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Aug 2010
“Don’t worry if children don’t listen to you.
→ read full article
The Listening Post – South of the Border
Richard Gizbert – Al Jazeera,
2 Aug 2010
This week, we bring you a special edition of the Listening Post. Richard Gizbert sits down with Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone to talk about his new film ‘South of the Border’ and the surprising role that media, both Latin American and North American play in shaping and reflecting the narrative of South America’s political history.
→ read full articleThe End of (Military) History?: The United States, Israel, and the Failure of the Western Way of War
Andrew J. Bacevich - TomDispatch,
2 Aug 2010
“In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history.” This sentiment, introducing the essay that made Francis Fukuyama a household name, commands renewed attention today, albeit from a different perspective.
→ read full articleHumanizing Methodologies in Transformation
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jul 2010
Talk at the University of South Africa sponsored by the College of Law – 20 Jul 2010
→ read full articleRepublican what?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jul 2010
A man went to a pawn shop in San Francisco and discovered a brass rat that intrigued him. He asked the store owner how much it cost. The owner said, “With the story 100 dollars, without the story 10 dollars.”
→ read full articleSpirit and Science in the Vedanta
Michael Nagler – Tikkun Magazine,
19 Jul 2010
But that was then. Now the great breakthroughs of Einstein and Bohr have delivered a rude shock to the paradigm of Western science, and “only Vedanta,” as a prominent Indian physicist who joined religious orders as Swami Jitatmananda said in 1986, “seems to be in a position to absorb the tremendous impact of the new science.” The Vedanta—a general term for the spiritual culture of ancient India—developed a quantum theory of mind 5,000 years before Planck discovered that energy comes in discrete packets (or quanta).
→ read full article(Italian) Spirito e Scienza nel Vedanta
Michael Nagler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jul 2010
Ma questo avvenne allora. Adesso le grandi conquiste di Einstein e Bohr hanno dato un bello shock al paradigma della scienza occidentale e, come disse nel 1986 un eminente fisico indiano passato a un ordine religioso come Swami Jitatmananda, “solo il Vedanta sembra essere in grado di assorbire il tremendo impatto della nuova scienza.” Il Vedanta, termine generale per la cultura spirituale dell’India antica, sviluppò una teoria quantistica 5000 anni prima che Planck scoprisse che l’energia arriva in pacchetti discreti (o quanti).
→ read full articleOliver Stone Tells the Real Story of the Leftist Latin American Leaders Transforming the Continent
Daniela Perdomo - ICH,
19 Jul 2010
Stone’s new film traces the rise of Chávez, Lula, Evo, and others who see participatory democracy and cooperation between Latin American countries as the future.
→ read full articleOn Shyness and Inteligence
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jul 2010
The people of Minas Gerais in Brazil are said to love cheese. A man there met a ferry, and she promised to grant him three wishes.
→ read full article(Castellano) Unión Europea Amenaza con Dictaduras Militares
Heinz Dieterich – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jul 2010
José Durão Barroso, ex Primer Ministro de Portugal y actual Presidente de la Comisión Europea ha advertido a los sindicatos y movimientos populares de Europa que si no aceptan los paquetes neoliberales de austeridad, podrían instalarse dictaduras militares en España, Grecia y Portugal…. La burguesía europea plantea, en otras palabras, un ultimátum al movimiento obrero y popular: paguen sumisamente los costos de la crisis que el gran capital ha causado, o se los hacemos pagar por la vía de la bota militar. En lenguaje político: si ofrecen resistencia a la reducción de su nivel de vida pasaremos de la dictadura burguesa velada (democracia representativa) a la dictadura burguesa abierta.
→ read full articleDeep-Sea Mining Adds to Fears of Marine Pollution
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
5 Jul 2010
Concerns about large-scale marine pollution, fuelled by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, are set to be heightened by a new development in exploitation of the oceans: deep-sea mining. The Chinese government has just lodged the first application to mine for minerals under the seabed in international waters, in this case on a ridge in the Indian Ocean 1,700 metres (more than 5,000ft) below the surface.
→ read full articleHonduras Resistance Strong despite US-Supported Coup
Bill Quigley and Laura Raymond - ICH,
5 Jul 2010
One year ago, on June 28, 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by gunfire. A coup was carried out by US-trained military officers, including graduates of the infamous US Army School of the Americas (WHINSEC) in Georgia. President Zelaya was illegally taken to Costa Rica. Democracy in Honduras ended as a de facto government of the rich and powerful seized control.
→ read full articleWhy Did It Take a Rock Magazine to Report the Military’s Total Disaster in Afghanistan?
Peter Richardson - Alternet,
5 Jul 2010
Anyone in the Pentagon press corps could have written the story that took down McChrystal. So why did it appear in Rolling Stone?
→ read full articleViewpoint
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jul 2010
During the German occupation of France, a German soldier entered Picasso’s studio
→ read full articleLeader of Death Squads Wins Colombian Election
Prof. James Petras - ICH,
5 Jul 2010
A Great Victory For Democracy? Juan Manuel Santos, notorious Defense Minister in the regime of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe and closely identified with high crimes against humanity “won” the recent Presidential elections in Colombia, June 2010.
→ read full articleLife after Oil: Cuba Can Teach Us How to Live Without Our Dirty Fossil Fuel Addiction
Jill Richardson - Alternet,
28 Jun 2010
The crisis in the Gulf is only the most recent reminder that we have to begin imagining a post-carbon future.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Água e Envelhecimento
Dr. Arnaldo Lichtenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jun 2010
Insisto: Não é brincadeira. Ao nascermos, 90% do nosso corpo é constituído de água. Na adolescência, isso cai para 70%. Na fase adulta, para 60%. Na terceira idade, que começa aos 60 anos, temos pouco mais de 50% de água. Isso faz parte do processo natural de envelhecimento. Mesmo desidratados, eles não sentem vontade de tomar água, pois os seus mecanismos de equilíbrio interno não funcionam muito bem. Portanto, de saída, os idosos têm menor reserva hídrica.
→ read full articleVictory for Anti-Whaling Campaigners
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
28 Jun 2010
The controversial attempt to scrap the 24-year-old international moratorium on commercial whaling collapsed yesterday, to the delight of anti-whaling campaigners and the frustration of Japan, Norway and Iceland, the three countries which continue to hunt whales in defiance of world opinion.
→ read full articleAmong Traitors
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jun 2010
When relations between the Soviet Union and China soured in the early 1960s, Khrushchev met Chu En Lai and told him,
→ read full articleThe Runaway General
Michael Hastings – Rolling Stone,
28 Jun 2010
Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House. The Rolling Stone article that triggered the storm.
→ read full article(Castellano) El Plan para Destruir a Cuba*
Heinz Dieterich – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jun 2010
El plan para destruir a la Revolución Cubana es una combinación del modelo de subversión que se usó para terminar con el “socialismo realmente existente” en Polonia y en la Alemania socialista (RDA). Ese plan, que está en plena ejecución, cuenta con cuatro elementos: la crisis interna de Cuba, la campaña mundial de presión y chantaje, la liberalización mercantil suaversiva de Obama y, la Iglesia Católica.
→ read full articleIs the U.S. Paying for Attacks on U.S. Troops?
Congressman Dennis Kucinich,
21 Jun 2010
After the New York Times reported that investigators in Afghanistan and Washington D.C. believe that private Afghan security companies, with close connections to the Karzai government and family, may have bribed insurgents to attack American and NATO convoy lines in order to demonstrate their companies’ value to the security of U.S. and NATO forces, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement:
→ read full article(Castellano) El Milagro Económico Chino y la Educación del Partido
Heinz Dieterich – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jun 2010
El milagro económico y de poder que ha producido el pueblo chino bajo la conducción del Partido Comunista se manifiesta de múltiples formas: un crecimiento económico anual del diez por ciento durante treinta años, sin ninguna recesión, ni siquiera durante la crisis capitalista mundial, y aumentos constantes de salarios que han sacado a cientos de millones de personas de la pobreza; el aumento de la expectativa de vida de 40.8 años en 1955, a 71.0 años en el 2005; la creación de una alianza militar defensiva (SCO) que abarca al 61% de Eurasia y la autosuficiencia bélica; la exitosa transición desde la experiencia de Mao al modelo actual, sin terrorismo de Estado y eliminación stalinista de los disidentes; la ascensión al rango de una de las dos potencias dominantes del sistema mundial de poder, sin que Occidente lo pudiera impedir; el desarrollo de algunas de las ciudades más bellas del mundo, como Suzhou y Beijing y, last but not least, el apoyo de 80% de los ciudadanos del país.
→ read full articleConflict Resolution
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jun 2010
A husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a big open mouthed kiss, then says she’ll see him later and walks away. The wife glares at her husband and says,
→ read full articleTurkey Goes From Pliable Ally to Thorn for U.S.
Sabrina Tavernise and Michael Slackman – The New York Times,
14 Jun 2010
For decades, Turkey was one of the United States’ most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.
→ read full articleEnd of Moratorium on Whaling Threatens More Blood in the Seas
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
7 Jun 2010
The moratorium on commercial whaling, one of the world’s major environmental achievements, is in danger of being abandoned after 24 years at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which begins this week in Morocco.
→ read full articleAll At Sea
Yvonne Ridley - ICH,
7 Jun 2010
How many remember the hijacking of the Achille Lauro? One cannot attack a ship and then claim self-defence if the people on board resist the unlawful use of violence.
→ read full articleA Plague upon the World: The USA is a “Failed State”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts - ICH,
7 Jun 2010
Interview with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary US Treasury, Associate Editor Wall Street Journal, Professor of Political Economy Center for Strategic and International Studies Georgetown University Washington DC.
→ read full articleOh, God!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jun 2010
A very good-hearted young man came to the gates of heaven. He asked God, “Why have you brought me here so early?
→ read full article‘Operation Justified Vengeance’: Israeli Strike on Freedom Flotilla to Gaza is Part of a Broader Military Agenda
Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
7 Jun 2010
Washington was fully aware as to the nature as well as the likely consequences of the IDF naval operation in international waters, including the killings of civilians. There are indications that the decision was taken in consultation with Washington. Obama’s White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was in Israel in the week prior to the launching of the raid on the Freedom Flotilla.
→ read full articleThe Brazilian/Turkish Initiative: Rebalancing the World
Prof. Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 May 2010
Instead of welcoming this notable effort to reduce regional tensions, the Brazilian/Turkish initiative was immediately branded as an amateurish irrelevance by the American Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. She insisted that the concerns about Iranian nuclear enrichment be left exclusively in the hands of the ‘major powers,’ and immediately rallied China and Russia (in addition to France and the United Kingdom) to support a fourth round of punitive sanctions that were to be presented to the UN Security Council in the near future.
→ read full articleManagers
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 May 2010
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts:
→ read full articleWhy Humane Meat Is an Oxymoron
Michele Simon - Alternet,
24 May 2010
Niman then proceeded to bury herself even deeper in the ethical morass by making the astonishing claim that animals suffer a lot in the wild, since it’s such a dangerous world out there, and aren’t they better off under the care of humane, kind ranchers like her husband? This sounded chillingly like the arguments for slavery. You know, blacks were really much better off getting free room and board and they weren’t treated all that badly were they?
→ read full articleSo Much for ‘Understanding’
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 May 2010
The UN. conducted a worldwide survey asking “Would you please give your honest opinion about the solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
→ read full articleProtecting the Perpetrators – Pedophiles and Popes: Doing the Vatican Shuffle
Michael Parenti – Common Dreams,
17 May 2010
The church seems determined to learn nothing from its transgressions, preoccupied as it is with avoiding lawsuits and bad publicity. Really Not All that Serious. First, pedophilia is not that serious if it involves only a few isolated and passing incidents. Second, an even more creepy way of downplaying the problem: child molestation is not all that damaging or that important. At worst, it is regrettable and unfortunate; it might greatly upset the child, but it certainly is not significant enough to cause unnecessary scandal and ruin the career of an otherwise splendid padre…. The damage done to sexual victims continues to go unnoticed: the ensuing years of depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, panic attacks, sexual dysfunction, and even mental breakdown and suicide-all these terrible aftereffects of child rape seem to leave popes and bishops more or less unruffled.
→ read full articleFinance 202: How We Became Debt Slaves (And Learned to Love It)
Gordon Arnaut - ICH,
17 May 2010
Right now, the US Congress is holding hearings about bank wrongdoing. It is very entertaining kabuki theatre, but nothing will change. The Goldman chief (thief?) and his cohorts may take a bit of a grilling, but behind the scenes his bagmen are funneling millions of dollars into the campaign trunks of every representative, senator (or likely hopeful) in the land.
→ read full articleRacist Joke
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 May 2010
A crowded lifeboat in the ocean got into a storm, the waves got higher and higher, and the boat was in danger of sinking.
→ read full articleThe Rebirth of Regulation
Robert Reich – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 May 2010
What do oil giant BP, the mining company Massey Energy, and Goldman Sachs have in common? They’re all big firms involved in massive plunder. BP’s oil spill is already one of the biggest and most damaging in American history. Massey’s mine disaster, claiming the lives of 29 miners, is one of the worst in recent history. Goldman’s alleged fraud is but a part of the largest financial meltdown in 75 years.
→ read full articleJapanese
Dietrich Fischer - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 May 2010
A Japanese airline stewardess told the passengers on landing…
→ read full articleColombia: State Terror in the Name of Peace
Prof. James Petras - ICH,
10 May 2010
The first casualty of state terror is the corruption of language, the invention of euphemisms, where words mean their opposite and slogans cover great crimes: There is no longer a world consensus that condemns crimes against humanity. This is because mass murder and assassinations secure investor ‘confidence’, because Indians are dispossessed so the mines can be exploited; oil workers disappear so the petroleum will flow; and the international financial press praises the success of el Presidente for “pacifying the country”.
→ read full articleTony Blair, Very Close to Being Indicted for War Crimes
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
3 May 2010
While on a speaking engagement in Malaysia organized by “Success Resources Company”, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the object of an articulate protest movement demanding his indictment for war crimes. This was no ordinary protest. Tony Blair has been accused of war crimes in a legal initiative led by the country’s former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
→ read full articleStingy
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 May 2010
A beggar walked up to a well‑dressed woman shopping on Fifth Avenue in New York and said,
→ read full articleThe Palestinians Are Winning the Legitimacy War: Will It Matter?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Apr 2010
A Palestinian victory in the legitimacy war with Israel would not necessarily produce the desired political results. It is vital that the Palestinians exercise “patience, resolve, leadership and vision, as well as sufficient pressure” if they are to win their just rights.
→ read full articleBears vs. Hunters
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Apr 2010
Two Canadian hunters were surprised by a bear. They began to run away from him.
→ read full articleFrom Church Bulletins
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Apr 2010
“The outreach committee has visited every family that is not afflicted with a church.”
“Don’t let worry kill you–let the church help.”
→ read full articleIsraeli Public’s Support for Dismantling Most Settlements Has Risen to a Five-Year High
Alvin Richman, World Public Opinion – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Apr 2010
A survey of the Israeli general public and Israeli settlers taken in early March shows three-fifths of the Israeli public (60%) support “dismantling most of the settlements in the territories as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.”
→ read full articleU.S. Soldiers From WikiLeaks ‘Collateral Murder’ Video Apologize
ICH - TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Apr 2010
Two former soldiers from the Army unit responsible for the Wikileaks “Collateral Murder” incident have written an open-letter of “Reconciliation and Responsibility” to those injured in the July 2007 attack, in which U.S. forces wounded two children and killed over a dozen people, including the father of those children and two Reuters employees.
→ read full articleIsrael: An Outpost of Empire
Michael Fiorentino – Socialist Worker,
19 Apr 2010
Israel’s sense of impunity knows no limits, writes Michael Fiorentino, who recently returned from a two-month stay in the occupied West Bank.
→ read full articleLEAKED VIDEO SHOWS CIVILIAN KILLINGS IN IRAQ, SIGNIFIES GROWING POWER OF INDEPENDENT WEB JOURNALISM
Brett Michael Dykes, Yahoo! News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Apr 2010
When a nonprofit group this week released video footage, leaked via a source in the Pentagon, showing a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack on a group of civilians in Baghdad, the clip unleashed a viral online sensation and ignited an intense debate about the conduct of U.S. forces in Iraq. But the simple fact of the video’s release also reflects the ongoing revolution in how news gets produced and published.
→ read full articleINTERPRETER
Dietrich Fischer - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Apr 2010
To attend the meeting of the communist international, the Tanzanian delegate, the only communist in Tanzania, left six months early.
→ read full articleFORGETFULNESS
Dietrich Fischer - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Apr 2010
An elderly man went for his annual checkup to the doctor. After examining him, the doctor said, "I have two bad news for you. The first is that you have cancer." The patient asked, "And what is the second bad news?" The doctor said, "You have Alzheimer’s disease." The man said, "It could be worse, […]
→ read full articleTHE TOXIC 100 AIR POLLUTERS
Profs. Michael Ash and James K. Boyce – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Apr 2010
The Political Economy Research Institute released today [Mar 31 2010] a report identifying the top 100 corporate air polluters, including environmental justice report cards.Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today released the Toxic 100 Air Polluters, an updated list of the top corporate air polluters in the […]
→ read full articleNOTES ON THE STATE OF CAPITAL
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan – Dissident Voice,
28 Mar 2010
Sean Starrs claims that we need to discard our notion of the ‘state of capital’. The gist of his argument is simple enough. Capitalist societies, he says, involve a myriad of power relations, many of them very important. These relationships, although often linked to the logic of capital, are distinct from that logic and therefore […]
→ read full articleWHALING: THE GREAT BETRAYAL
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
23 Mar 2010
Outrage as Secret Deal Set to Sweep Away International MoratoriumThe moratorium on commercial whaling, one of the environmental movement’s greatest achievements, looks likely to be swept away this summer by a new international deal being negotiated behind closed doors. The new arrangement would legitimise the whaling activities of the three countries which have continued to […]
→ read full articleMONKEY BUSINESS ALRIGHT
Dietrich Fischer - TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Mar 2010
Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers […]
→ read full articleTHE DANGER OF A SINGLE STORY
Chimamanda Adichie,
18 Mar 2010
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. In Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow […]
→ read full articleCHILDREN
Dietrich Fischer,
15 Mar 2010
Scouts are supposed to do at least one good deed every day. A scout master asked three little scouts at camp in the evening, "What good deed did you do today?" The first boy replied, "I helped an old lady cross the street." "Excellent," the scout master said. "And what did you do?’ he […]
→ read full articleSHARING
Dietrich Fischer,
8 Mar 2010
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say ‘Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.’" Kevin turned to […]
→ read full articleEINSTEIN
Dietrich Fischer,
1 Mar 2010
Albert Einstein and some friends visited Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. They saw a horseshoe hanging on his door and teased him, "Are you superstitious? Do you really believe that this brings you good luck?" "Of course not," he teased back, "but I have heard that it even helps people who don’t believe in it." […]
→ read full articleEFFICIENCY
Dietrich Fischer,
23 Feb 2010
During the French revolution, a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer were sentenced to be beheaded by the guillotine. The executioner asked the doctor, "Do you want to lie down face up or face down?" "Face up," he said. "Blindfold or no blindfold?" the executioner asked. "No blindfold," the doctor said. He lay down […]
→ read full articleTHINKING FORWARD
Michael Albert - NLP,
21 Feb 2010
NLP talks to Michael Albert, co-founder of Z Magazine, ZNet and South End Press, about complementary holism, Participatory Economics and an alternative to capitalism.1. Could you outline for us what the theory of complementary holism, is?Very briefly, it is a way of organizing one’s thoughts, you might say, when considering matters of history and society. […]
→ read full articleTWO GOOD ONES
Dietrich Fischer,
16 Feb 2010
Bumper Sticker of the Year: Be Nice to America or We’ll Bring Democracy to Your Country A mental patient believed he was a mouse. His psychiatrist patiently explained to him that he was a human being, not a mouse. Finally he believed it, and the psychiatrist told him, "You are now cured, you can go […]
→ read full articleWHAT DO EMPIRES DO?
Prof. Michael Parenti – Common Dreams,
14 Feb 2010
When I wrote my book Against Empire in 1995, as might be expected, some of my U.S. compatriots thought it was wrong of me to call the United States an empire. It was widely believed that U.S. rulers did not pursue empire; they intervened abroad only out of self-defense or for humanitarian rescue operations or […]
→ read full articleEUROPE’S FIVE “UNDECLARED NUCLEAR WEAPONS STATES”
Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
13 Feb 2010
Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy Nuclear Powers? 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? "Far from making Europe safer, and far from producing a less […]
→ read full articleSOMALIA: HOW COLONIAL POWERS DROVE A COUNTRY INTO CHAOS
Gregoire Lalieu & Michel Collon, interviewing Mohamed Hassan,
11 Feb 2010
Somalia had every reason to succeed: an advantageous geographical situation, oil, ores and only one religion and one language for the whole territory; a rare phenomenon in Africa. Somalia could have been a great power in the region. But the reality is completely different: famine, wars, lootings, piracy, bomb attacks. How did this country sink? […]
→ read full articleTHE HUMANITARIAN MYTH
Richard Seymour – Socialist Worker,
11 Feb 2010
The author of The Liberal Defense of Murder analyzes the propaganda manufactured to justify U.S. actions in Haiti after the earthquake.WITHIN DAYS of Haiti suffering an earthquake registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, the U.S. government had sent thousands of 82nd Airborne troops and Marines, alongside the super-carrier USS Carl Vinson. By this Sunday, a […]
→ read full articleCHOOSING A FUTURE
Dietrich Fischer,
9 Feb 2010
An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men, the boy didn’t really know what he wanted to do, and he didn’t seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his […]
→ read full articleDOGS
Dietrich Fischer,
7 Feb 2010
Inspector Cluzeau stood at the door of a house with a lady and a dog. He asked the lady, "Does your dog bite?" She said no. He entered, and the dog bit him. He told the lady, "But you said your dog does not bite!" She replied, "This is not MY dog." ************** […]
→ read full articleFULL-COURT PRESS: THE “FOUR HORSEMEN” CALL FOR A NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING SURGE
Darwin BondGraham, Will Parrish and Nicholas Ian Robinson,
3 Feb 2010
In the December edition of Z Magazine we published a lengthy feature examining the new politics of "anti-nuclear nuclearism," a rhetoric whereby hawkish elites vaguely tout the goal of "disarmament" in order to actually boost nuclear weapons spending and advance a long-term, militarized, pro-nuclear vision. We focused in on the Hoover Institution’s pivotal role in […]
→ read full articleTHE TERROR CARD: FEAR IS THE KEY TO OBEDIENCE
Rev. Richard Skaff - Global Research,
31 Jan 2010
The Terrorism Industrial Complex (TIC)Webster’s dictionary defines terrorism as the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. [1]. However, the United States code defined terrorism as “(An) act of terrorism means an activity that (A) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life that is a violation of the […]
→ read full articleBY THE WAY…
Dietrich Fischer,
28 Jan 2010
When President Nixon proposed voluntary restraints on wage and price increases to fight inflation, John Kenneth Galbraith mocked, "I hope the next step will be voluntary taxes. I will be the first not to pay them." John Kenneth Galbraith called Reaganomics "horse and sparrow economics": If you feed enough oats to the horses, some of […]
→ read full articleIMF CLARIFIES TERMS OF HAITI’S LOAN
Richard Kim – The Nation,
26 Jan 2010
Last Friday I wrote about the IMF’s new $100 million loan to Haiti. I cited debt relief activists who told me that the new loan would be an extension of the IMF’s existing loan of $165 million. This information was confirmed by the IMF’s press release, which stated that "emergency financing would be provided as […]
→ read full articleTHE HUMANITARIAN MYTH
Richard Seymour – Socialist Worker,
26 Jan 2010
The author of The Liberal Defense of Murder, analyzes the propaganda manufactured to justify U.S. actions in Haiti after the earthquake. With U.S. forces obstructing aid and beefing up "security" while Haitians die, no one should accept that the U.S. is motivated by "humanitarianism."WITHIN DAYS of Haiti suffering an earthquake registering 7.0 on the Richter […]
→ read full articleWHY SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IS NOT A JOB FOR THE MARKET
Michael Edwards – Open Democracy,
26 Jan 2010
In 2007, I experienced one of those fork-in-the-road moments that seem to occur when you least expect them. It was another day at the office, sifting through e-mails in the Ford Foundation’s glass palace in Manhattan, where I worked as one of the organization’s six directors. As usual, half of my inbox was filled by […]
→ read full articleSAVE THE ELEPHANT: IVORY TRADING IS SET TO RESUME
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor – The Independent,
26 Jan 2010
Britain urged to oppose demands from Tanzania and Zambia to lift ban on tusk sales / Conservationists fear the move would intensify slaughter of elephantsTwo African countries are trying to open a new breach in the worldwide ivory trade ban, which conservationists fear could lead to more African elephants being slaughtered by poachers. Environmental campaigners […]
→ read full articleTHE OTHER HALF
Dietrich Fischer,
18 Jan 2010
A married couple enjoyed their new fishing boat together, but it was always the husband who was behind the wheel operating the boat. He was concerned about what might happen in an emergency. So one day out on the lake he said to his wife, "Please take the wheel, dear. Pretend that I am having […]
→ read full articleTHE MILITARIZATION OF EMERGENCY AID TO HAITI: IS IT A HUMANITARIAN OPERATION OR AN INVASION?
Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
16 Jan 2010
Haiti has a longstanding history of US military intervention and occupation going back to the beginning of the 20th Century. US interventionism has contributed to the destruction of Haiti’s national economy and the impoverishment of its population. The devastating earthquake is presented to World public opinion as the sole cause of the country’s predicament. A […]
→ read full articlePARECON & PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY
Matt Grinder, interviewing Michael Albert - ZNet,
14 Jan 2010
In this interview, Michael Albert, one of the originators of Participatory Economics (along with Robin Hahnel), is interviewed by parecon advocate Matt Grinder. Matt Grinder: Could you briefly summarize Participatory Economics, or parecon? Michael Albert: Participatory Economics, or parecon for short, is a vision for how to conduct economics in a classless manner. It delivers to […]
→ read full articleAFRICOM – LATEST U.S. BID TO RECOLONISE THE CONTINENT
Tichaona Nhamoyebonde – Global Research,
11 Jan 2010
African revolutionaries now have to sleep with one eye open because the United States of America is not stopping at anything in its bid to establish Africom, a highly-equipped US army that will be permanently resident in Africa to oversee the country’s imperialist interests. Towards the end of last year, the US government intensified its […]
→ read full articleWRONG ANSWER
Dietrich Fischer,
11 Jan 2010
Little Billy returns home from school and says he got an F in arithmetic. Why?" asks the father." The teacher asked, ‘How much is two times three?’ I said six," replied Billy. "But that’s right!" says his dad. Yeah, but then she asked me, ‘How much is three times two?’" "What’s the bloody difference?" asks […]
→ read full articleLOGIC
Dietrich Fischer,
3 Jan 2010
A boy from a village went to study at the university in the nearest town. One day he returned home, and one of his childhood friends asked him, "What are you studying?" He said, "I am studying logic." His friend asked, "Logic, what’s that?" He said, "I will explain it to you. Do you […]
→ read full articleCOVERUP
Dietrich Fischer,
31 Dec 2009
A man comes home and finds his dog with the neighbor’s pet rabbit in his mouth. It is dead. He is shocked and is afraid that the neighbors will hate him forever. So he takes the dirty, chewed up rabbit into the house, gives it a bath, blow dries its fur and puts the […]
→ read full articleODDS
Dietrich Fischer,
22 Dec 2009
A patient did not feel well and went to see his doctor. The doctor examined him and said, "I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that you have a problem that requires immediate surgery. It is a serious operation from which two out of three people die. "But […]
→ read full articleSEPTEMBER 11, 2001: AMERICA AND NATO DECLARE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN
Michel Chossudovsky - Global Research,
20 Dec 2009
NATO’s Doctrine of Collective Security Why are American and NATO troops in Afghanistan? What is the justification for waging war on a country of 28 million people? What justifies Obama’s military surge? Both the media and the US government, in chorus, continue to point to the 9/11 attacks and the role of Al Qaeda led […]
→ read full articleLEFTIST WIN IN URUGUAY ELECTIONS
Michael Collins - Global Research,
14 Dec 2009
Uruguay’s left wing political coalition, the Broad Front party (Frente Amplio), retained control of the presidency in the November elections. This wasn’t just any election. The winner, flower farmer Jose "Pepe" Mujica, was the victim of imprisonment and torture during Operation Condor in the 1970’s as a result of his efforts as a Tupamaro rebel. […]
→ read full articleCOURTROOM
Dietrich Fischer,
14 Dec 2009
A man caught in embezzlement asked his lawyer, "Would it help my case if I sent the judge a box of cigars?" The lawyer warned, "Don’t do that! This judge is absolutely incorruptible, it could only hurt our cause." The day the case came to court, the judge ruled in favor of the defendant, to […]
→ read full articleEXCLUDED FROM THE COPENHAGEN AGENDA: ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES (ENMOD) AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
7 Dec 2009
The Manipulation of Climate for Military UseThe term "environmental modification techniques" refers to any technique for changing – through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes – the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space. (Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile […]
→ read full articleLUCKY/UNLUCKY
Dietrich Fischer,
7 Dec 2009
A lucky housewife has a Swiss banker, a French cook, an English gardener and an Italian lover. An unlucky housewife has an Italian banker, an English cook, a French gardener and a Swiss lover. A lucky diplomat has an American salary, a Chinese cook, an English country house, and a Japanese wife. An unlucky diplomat […]
→ read full articleON VIRGINITY
Dietrich Fischer,
30 Nov 2009
A young woman had been married three times, but was still a virgin. The first husband had a heart attack as they stepped out of the church after the wedding. The second husband turned out to be a homosexual. And the third husband was a computer programmer who had a terminal in the […]
→ read full article