Check It Out for Monday, April 6th
Elizabeth Sanders at In These Times writes that without social movements there will be no 21st century New Deal; it must be do-it-yourself governance
"Throughout our history, it has been social movements (defined as organized and sustained collective action by people outside formal centers of power to press their grievances on the state) that have made public officials accountable and broadly responsive.
"Without the abolition movement, President Lincoln would have resisted freeing the slaves, and Congress might not have tried to secure their citizenship rights in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
"In fact, the well-heeled fellows who drafted the Constitution at Philadelphia in 1787 would not have combined that limited text with the Bill of Rights that established essential democratic freedoms had it not been for that first national social movement, the Anti-Federalists.
"President Woodrow Wilson would not have supported a women’s suffrage amendment had the movement not reached a threshold size that made its block of votes attractive for Wilson’s very close reelection contest in 1916.
"And farmer and labor movements of that period pressed Congress and the president for an outpouring of legislation that came to be called the Progressive Era. Following the 1930s, social movements gave us landmark civil rights laws, women’s rights, environmental protection and, finally, an end to the Vietnam War.
"Presidents come in all shapes and sizes, from the bumbling to the inspired to the tortured souls who do great harm. But the temptations to mask a minimally responsive program in grand rhetoric, to throw in their lot with the wealthy who fund their campaigns and control so many resources, or to abandon domestic policy struggles for the short term empowerment and rally effect of war making — these are institutional pathologies that will tempt even the most angelic of presidents.
"Which is to say, if we want a new New Deal, we have to do it ourselves."
Stephen Foley at The Independent writes about liberal economist Paul Krugman being a thorn in Obama's side.
"His apocalyptic warnings have sent readers flocking to his blog. A viral video of a Californian man literally singing his praises is a hit on YouTube. Tickets to a lecture he was giving in California last night were going for $135 (£91). Newsweek magazine just put him on the cover and dubbed him the head of "the loyal opposition". Paul Krugman is the man of the moment. And Team Obama is rattled.
"While the US leader has been entrancing foreign statesmen on a whirlwind tour of Europe and trying to craft an era of bipartisanship back home, his staunchest opponent has appeared from very close quarters – from the left – threatening a crisis of confidence that could capsize his infant presidency.
The Obama administration has been blindsided by the emergence of Mr Krugman – not even a politician, but an economist – as a focus for dissidents who believe it is not doing enough to repair the economy.
"On both pillars of Mr Obama's economic strategy – the $800bn package to stimulate the economy and the $1 trillion bailout for the financial sector – the bearded Princeton university professor has been the President's most coruscating critic.
"The economic stimulus Bill was far smaller than required to combat soaring job losses, which yesterday passed five million since the start of the US recession. Worse, the plan to repair the banking system – lending private investors up to $1 trillion to buy toxic mortgage assets from the country's ailing banks, in the hope of freeing them up to start lending again – is doomed, because it is based on the flawed notion that the major US banks are fundamentally sound."
Melvin A. Goodman at Public Record writes about the most recent example proselytizing in a long series of egregious examples of deliberate defiance of separation church and state by fundamentalist evangelicals who seem to control the Pentagon's chaplaincy corps.
"The U.S. Army’s Chief of Chaplains was harshly criticized for being insensitive to other faiths by issuing a proclamation that calls on Army personnel and their families to participate in a "Day of Prayer and Fasting" on Wednesday, the first night of Passover, one of the highest holy days in the Jewish Calendar marked by a traditional feast called a Seder.
"Maj. Gen. Douglas L. Carver, the Army's Chief of Chaplains, indicated that he did not consult a calendar before deciding to schedule April 8 as the "Day of Prayer and Fasting." He did say, however, that the date is linked to his Southern Baptist roots, even though his proclamation purports to be representative of all faiths.
"One Jewish member of the Army who received Carver's proclamation said it is 'an insult to all Jews.'
“ 'Asking Jewish members of the armed forces to fast on that day displays unconscionable arrogance by the Army Chief of Chaplains,' said this person, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
"Neither Carver nor a Pentagon spokesman returned calls for comment.
"The proclamation is just the latest example of the “pernicious and pervasive pattern and practice of constitutionally impermissible promotions of religion by the military,” said MRFF founder and president, Mikey Weinstein.
"Having already alienated Jews, Carver has also isolated members of the Army who are non-believers.
"In fact, MRFF is a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the Defense Department in which the Army allegedly subjected soldiers to fundamentalist Christian prayer ceremonies against their will during mandatory military events.
"Army Spc. Dustin Chalker is the other co-plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"According to the complaint, on at least three occasions beginning in December 2007, Chalker claimed he was directed to attend military events, one of which was a barbecue, where an Army battalion chaplain led a Christian prayer ceremony for military personnel. Chalker, who said he is an atheist, asked his superiors for permission to leave the prayer sessions and on each occasion his request to be excused was denied.
"Despite Chalker’s objections to being subjected to fundamentalist Christian prayer sessions, his Army superiors continuously forced him to attend other military events where the prayer ceremonies continued.
"Carver's proclamation says the "Day of Prayer and Fasting" is also being held to recognize the 120-day 'stand down' in recruiting and training due to a spike in suicides by Army personnel.
"Carver told Baptist Press that Army officials turned to the chaplaincy to help mitigate the number of suicides, which has reached epidemic proportions.
"One way in which Army chaplains have proposed tackling the suicide epidemic is by promoting Christianity or "religiosity."
"The 2008 U.S. Army’s suicide prevention manual says “Chaplains... need to openly advocate behavioral health as a resource” to treat suicidal soldiers and instructs behavioral health providers “to openly advocate spirituality and religiosity as resiliency factors."
"The inclusion of Christianity and spirituality is a new addition to the Army’s 2008 suicide prevention manual."
Michael Hudson at Counterpunch writes about the IMF ruling the world with the G-20s cooperation.
"Not much substantive news was expected to come out of the G-20 meetings that ended on April 2 in London – certainly no good news was even suggested.
"The least irrelevant news was not good at all: The attendees agreed to quadruple IMF funding to $1 trillion. Anything that bolsters IMF authority cannot be good for countries forced to submit to its austerity plans. They are designed to squeeze out more money to pay the world’s most predatory creditors. So in practice this G-20 agreement means that the world’s leading governments are responding to today’s financial crisis with “planned shrinkage” for debtors – a 10 per cent cut in wage payments in hapless Latvia, Hungary put on rations, and permanent debt peonage for Iceland for starters...
"The IMF’s operating philosophy is the destructive (indeed, toxic) belief that imposing a deeper depression with more unemployment will reduce wage levels and living standards by enough to pay debts already at unsustainable levels, thanks to the kleptocracy’s tax “avoidance” and capital flight. The IMF trillion-dollar bailout is actually for these large international banks, so that they will be able to take their money and run. The problem is all being blamed on labor. That is the neo-Malthusian spirit of today’s neoliberalism."
"The G-20’s announcement continues the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve bank bailout over the past half-year. In a nutshell, the solution to a debt crisis is to be yet more debt. If debtors can’t pay out of what they are able to earn, lend them enough to keep current on their carrying charges. Collateralize this with their property, their public domain, their political autonomy – their democracy itself. The aim is to keep the debt overhead in place. This can be done only by keeping the volume of debts growing exponentially as they accrue interest, which is added onto the loan. This is the “magic of compound interest.” It is what turns entire economies into Ponzi schemes (or Madoff schemes as they are now called)."
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