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Politics and Culture - American Profiles In Radical Independence

 
“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Politics and Culture - October 2007

Media Deregulation Erodes Democracy

October 30th 2007 05:17
Touting the benefits of the free market, President Ronald Reagan began the process of deregulating the mainstream media. Instead of offering the American public more choices, it has offered less. Worse than that, it has eroded American democracy. Abraham Lincoln said the government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” These days the government is in the back pockets of corporations, corporate media included.

According to an article by media critic, Robert McChesney, “The media have become a significant anti-democratic force in the United States and, to varying degrees, worldwide. The wealthier and more powerful the corporate media giants have become, the poorer the prospects for participatory democracy


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U.S. Sanctions Against Iraq

October 27th 2007 06:26
The Bush administration imposed sanctions against the Iranian government on Thursday, October 25, 2007, alleging that Iran has a nuclear weapon's program, and accusing Quds, the elite division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of sponsoring terrorism. Three Iranian banks and Quds were banned from dealing with the American financial system.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said, "These actions will help to protect the international financial system from the illicit activities of the Iranian government. They will provide a powerful deterrent to every international bank and company that thinks of doing business with the Iranian government


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BP Settles Court Case

October 26th 2007 03:38
The giant British energy company, British Petroleum (BP), agreed to pay $373 million on October 24, 2007 to settle charges of overcharging U.S. propane customers millions, and ignoring environmental warnings which resulted in a deadly explosion in Texas and an Alaskan oil spill.

The charges against BP involve three separate cases which federal investigators have pursued for years. The first case involves a 2004 scheme by BP America, BP’s American subsidiary, to buy big quantities of propane in order to inflate the price charged to U.S. customers. Other propane buyers were forced to pay very high premiums, and had to pass the cost on to their customers. The prices in areas such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois rose to 94 cents a gallon.
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The Planet is Burning

October 24th 2007 04:19
Fires are raging in the Coast Range Mountains of Southern California: from Los Angeles County to San Diego. Authorities say it will be Wednesday, October 24 before even a small portion of the fires will be contained. The combination of warm Santa Ana winds and low rainfall for the year makes the perfect conditions for raging fires.

Expect more destructive fires. A study on forest fires released in 2006 discovered more forest fires occurred in the western U.S. since the mid-1980s, coinciding with warmer spring temperatures, earlier mountain snows melting, and hotter summers


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Bush & Iran: Iraq II

October 23rd 2007 01:00
“Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions,” Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. He went on to declare, “We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

President George Bush recently linked Iran obtaining nuclear weapons to a world war. “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them [Iran] from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
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Free Trade & Illegal Immigration: Part II

October 20th 2007 04:23
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is only the beginning of free trade agreements between the U.S. and other governments. The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), ratified by both houses of congress in 2005, would include the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. CAFTA is seen as a stepping stone to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas which would include every Latin American country (except Cuba) and the U.S. The FTAA itself is a stepping stone to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) which would include the countries in the western and eastern hemisphere.

CAFTA does not contain worker or environmental protections. It ignores the standards set by the International Labor Organization, and requires only that participating countries enforce existing laws. In Central America, laws for workers are far from adequate. The U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) CAFTA Policy Brief claims that, “The enforcement of labor laws in the region needs more attention and resources.” (p.2


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Free Trade & Illegal Immigration

October 19th 2007 04:15
This is the first part of two part series on U.S. illegal immigration.

Undocumented immigrants perform important jobs around the country. It is hard to get a definite estimate for the number of undocumented workers in America, namely because out of fear of deportation, undocumented workers usually do not respond to census requests


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Let’s Boycott Women’s Fashion Mags

October 18th 2007 07:55
After spending the last few years surveying advertisements in women’s fashion magazines, I have come to the conclusion they both arise from and contribute to misogynistic stereotypes of women in the American culture. According to a 1999 study, by the time the average American woman is 17 years old she has received 250,000 advertisement messages through the media.

The most offensive advertisement I came across is one for the shoe brand Royal Elastics. In the ad a man’s shoe is inches away from a woman’s face. Her eyes are closed, and her mouth is open. What is the ad saying to women


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Chevron Ads: Modern Propaganda

October 17th 2007 06:30
The American multinational oil company, Chevron has current television ads which sound like the trailers for global warming documentaries. "Our lives demand oil," the narrator says, and continues with "Oil, energy, the environment. It is the story of our time." The ad goes on to cite a few facts: "It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next trillion in 30." The ads are similar to British Petroleum's ads which claim they now stand for "beyond petroleum."

Chevron's manager of external affairs said, "We say we're an oil company, and we say the world will need oil and natural gas, and we're very direct about that. But we're also saying we need to invest in alternatives in a way that makes economic sense


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Help the Environment: Eat Less Meat

October 16th 2007 00:21
Methane has a warming effect 21 times greater than carbon dioxide, according to the environmental organization, Earth Save. Eighty-five percent of methane in the environment was produced in the digestive tract of livestock. The Worldwatch Institute (WI) states that animal agriculture has increased by 60% in the last 50 years. Beef and livestock consumption in the U.S. has tripled since 1970, and in Asia it has more than doubled, according to WI.

Fast food consumption accounts for a large part of overall meat consumption. Eric Schlosser noted in his book Fast Food Nation, “Americans now spend more money on fast food—$110 billion a year—than they do on higher education. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music—combined


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U.S. Christian Fundamentalism: Legacy of Arrogance

October 15th 2007 03:56
“America is the light of the world,” President George W. Bush proclaimed in a 2001 speech. Beyond misappropriating a passage in the New Testament, Bush is heir to the puritanical legacy. He is not the first one to think of America as having a “divine magnate from God.” The idea stems from the teachings and theology of a group of English colonists referred to as the Puritans.

The first group of Puritans to settle in America came from England via the Netherlands. The Virginia Company brought them to Cape Cod on the Mayflower. They decided to organize themselves into a political body under the English crown, but with local autonomy. The second group of Puritans came directly from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. In contrast to the first group, they had not separated from the Church of England, but wanted it to be reformed, and seeing no hope for that in England, set sail for America. Both groups had a desire to found communities based upon their religious beliefs. In essence they wanted a theocracy


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Bush Administration’s Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Doesn’t Work

October 14th 2007 04:19
The Bush administration will not allow funds from the U.S. government to promote condoms or provide them to teenagers in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a study released in September by the Guttmacher Institute. The study looked at the sexual behavior of Sub-Saharan African teenagers. The study, titled, “Learning from Adolescents to Prevent HIV and Unintended Pregnancy,” pointed out that teens older than fifteen can be told about condoms, but condom usage cannot be promoted. Teens under fifteen cannot be told about condoms.

The study provides evidence that abstinence only sex education does not work, either at home or abroad. The author of the study, Heather Boonstra, points out that Europe has lower levels of teen pregnancy than the U.S. Boonstra said, “Levels of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing are much lower in western Europe than in the United States, which suggests the effectiveness of this approach.” Western European countries provide sex education for adolescents that include promoting the use of condoms to avoid unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
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U.S. Healthcare System Cheats Children

October 12th 2007 21:17
During President George Bush’s speech to the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lancaster, PA he said, “This year, the Administration will spend about $35.5 billion to provide health insurance for poor children through Medicaid.” During the same speech Bush said he supports the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), “I strongly support the program. I like the idea of helping those who are poor be able to get health coverage for their children.” Bush’s remarks coincided with his veto of a bill in Congress which would expand SCHIP coverage.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on U.S. healthcare which found that American children only receive recommended healthcare procedures 46% of the time when they visit a physician. The study reviewed medical records of 1,536 children from twelve areas in the country. Eighty-two percent of the children in the study, predominantly from middle or upper-middle class families of European ancestry, were covered by private health insurance.
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Selling and Reselling the Iraq War

October 11th 2007 04:47
During President George W. Bush’s September 12, 2002 address to the UN General Assembly he declared, “With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th would be a prelude to far greater horrors.” By mentioning Iraq in one sentence and the attacks on September 11 in the next, Bush implied Iraq had something to do with attacks.

During his UN address Bush made several misleading statements concerning Iraq’s capability to produce nuclear weapons. He claimed that if Iraq acquired “fissure material” it would have the ability to “build a nuclear weapon within a year.” The intelligence community believed Iraq would not have the capability to build a nuclear weapon until the end of the decade, yet Bush continued to make statements about Iraq’s nuclear capability


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Increasing American Wages Act

October 10th 2007 06:52
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the only socialist in the U.S. Senate, introduced the “Increasing American Wages and Benefits Act” on September 26, 2007. The Act requires employers to hire American workers at higher wages before hiring guest-workers under what is called the H-2B program, a temporary program allowing foreign workers who are less-skilled to work in the U.S. in non-agricultural roles.

The Act also gives the Department of Labor the “explicit authority” to enforce labor law violations “pertaining to the H-2B program,” according to statements Sanders made while introducing the Act


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Chevron Props Up Myanmar

October 6th 2007 06:21
Late September Buddhist monks in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, led a protest march against the military-controlled government (the Junta). They marched past Nobel Prize winner, Suu Kyi, who was democratically elected as the leader of Myanmar in 1990, but never allowed to assume office. The Junta attacked the monks and other protesters. The Myanmar government claims only ten people were killed, but no one knows how many were really killed.

The biggest source of revenue for the Myanmar government is the country’s natural gas reserves. According to Human Rights Watch, half of Myanmar’s exports are gas, and in 2006 the revenue from gas sales to Thailand, its biggest customer, totaled U.S. $2.16 billion


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Senator Clinton’s Health Plan: Rearranging the Status Quo

October 3rd 2007 06:15
“Here in America people are dying because they couldn’t get the care they needed when they were sick,” U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton said as she unveiled her health care plan on September 17, 2007. “I’m here today because I believe it is long past time that this nation had an answer. I believe America is ready for change. It’s time to provide quality affordable health care for every America. And I intend to be the president who accomplishes that goal finally for our country.” Clinton continued.

Clinton’s plan, dubbed “American Health Choices Plan,” would require individuals to “get and keep insurance in a system where insurance is affordable and accessible,” according to her website. The plan would also “Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP).” The plan is almost identical to the Massachusetts state plan, “Health Care for All


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President Bush’s Speech at the UN Climate Summit: A lot of hot air

October 3rd 2007 00:02
“Last year America grew our economy while also reducing greenhouse gases,” President George W. Bush said during his speech at the UN Climate Summit on September 28, 2007. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) released a report February 2007 which indicated that the amount of carbon dioxide emissions actually increased. The U.S. is five percent of the world’s population, but in 2005 was responsible for 22 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report. Bush did not mention that fact.

“Our understanding of climate change has come a long way,” Bush said in his Climate Summit speech. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2001 report stated that “human activities have increased the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols since the pre-industrial era


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Rep. Dennis Kucinich Releases Statement Blasting Fellow Dems about Iraq

October 2nd 2007 23:59
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democratic presidential candidate, released a statement today concerning the war in Iraq. Urging the Democratic leadership to “tell the President NO to any additional funding,” he criticized them for “playing into the Bush Administration’s hands by continuing to fund the war.” He stated that “we must leave Iraq now,” adding “that is what the American people want. That is why they voted for Democrats to take control of Congress last November.”

In 2002 he voted against the House Joint Resolution 114 which authorized the use of force to invade Iraq. After the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, Kucinich continued to oppose the occupation of Iraq. During the 108th congress he voted against two supplemental appropriations bills that continued funding the occupation of Iraq, and he also voted against similar bills during the 109th congress


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Leading Democratic Candidates Won’t Pledge to Remove All Troops from Iraq

October 2nd 2007 23:54
Last week’s Democratic presidential candidates’ debate revealed that the three leading candidates, Senators Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John Edwards, will not commit to the complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops by January 2013. However, Senator Christopher Dodd, Governor Bill Richardson, former senator Mike Gravel, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich would commit to withdrawing all troops.

The first candidate to be asked if he would pledge to withdraw all troops by 2013, Senator Barack Obama did not vote for the House Joint Resolution 114 in 2002 which authorized the use of force to invade Iraq. Obama did not vote for Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D, CA) House Resolution 473 which advocated using diplomacy to deal with Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction


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War for Oil

October 2nd 2007 23:49
By Gina-Marie Cheeseman

Former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, declared in his recently published autobiography that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is “largely about oil.” Ironically, Operation Iraqi Freedom, the invasion of Iraq, was first called Operation Iraqi Liberation: O.I.L


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