So Who Really Runs The World? A Network Analysis Reveals ‘Super Entity’ of Global Corporate Control …
An outline of the adversary emerges from Michael Ricciardi on PlanetSave:
In the first such analysis ever conducted, Swiss economic researchers have conducted a global network analysis of the most powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). Their results have revealed a core of 787 firms with control of 80% of this network, and a “super entity” comprised of 147 corporations that have a controlling interest in 40% of the network’s TNCs.
When we hear conspiracy theorist talk about this or that powerful group (or alliance of said groups) “pulling strings” behind the scenes, we tend to dismiss or minimize such claims, even though, deep down, we may suspect that there’s some degree of truth to it, however distorted by the theorists’ slightly paranoid perception of the world. But perhaps our tendency to dismiss such claims as exaggerations (at best) comes from our inability to get even a slight grip on the complexity of global…
Democracy Needs Reform: We Are the Unsatisfied Lead by the Unqualified
Malcolm Fraser: “There aren’t enough people who have done something before they got into Parliament.” (ABC Radio, 9 April 2011)
The above is a comment made by former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser on ABC radio about the important of having quality people in a political system. One need just to browse through the events that have taken place in Australia politics (Federal and States) over the last few months will be able to understand why Australians are so frustrated with the lack of deep thinkers and serious policy makers in our political establishment.
Quality of leaders is not a problem in good time
In normal time when the world economy is booming, despite wide spread incompetency amongst the political leaderships, Australia is blessed by its natural resources and are able to flow along with the world trend of economic prosperity. Therefore, the issue of political incompetency within our current system of government has not…
Analysis: Science Of Predicting Change Enjoys Fertile Times
Armenian presidential election protests at Liberty Square in Yerevan. Photo: Serouj (CC)
An interesting analysis from Kate Kelland via Reuters:
Times of change can be drastic — revolutions topple dictators, extreme weather kills tens of thousands and market crashes plunge people into poverty — but for scientists studying complex systems they are fertile ground.
“Complex systems can include societies, financial markets ecosystems like lakes or coral reefs, and even the brain,” said Marten Scheffer of the University of Wageningen in The Netherlands.
Few would want to predict the outcome of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, or of financial crises or natural disasters, but scientists say there are common traits in seemingly diverse systems that point to “tipping points.”
Identifying and analyzing these, they say, can help people see the risks inherent in an interdependent world more clearly and take action to mitigate them.
“Complex systems can include societies, financial markets ecosystems like lakes…
The Beginning of the End? We Can Only Hope
Previously sympathetic commentators disillusioned by Obama’s unchecked lying and fumbling were heartened by the uncharacteristic candor coming from Deputy Secretary of State P. J. Crowley late last week — until he was shit-canned for the same early this week.
But there is still some cause for hope: Hillary has announced her own plans to jump ship at the end of this term as well. Check out her blunt statements to that effect here.
Is this yet another harbinger of the destruction of Obama’s career? A recognition that the situation is so bad that even the filthiest bilge rats see that it’s time to abandon ship? Seems like a reasonable possibility. Anyone working a political paradigm that relies on unquestioning tribal loyalty to the exclusion of substantive policies the way Obama does should be concerned about the defection of establishment stalwarts. Very concerned.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s been quite a bit going on at all levels…
President Obama Signs Extension of PATRIOT Act: The Same Act He Railed Against During His Campaign
Image Courtesy of TheDissenter.
“Lawmakers will soon start debating” … yeah right, it seems like the PATRIOT Act is a permanent reality. I’d like to know more about the scope of this “lone wolf” provision. Via the Washington Post:
President Barack Obama has signed a three-month extension of key surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act.
The law extends two areas of the 2001 act. One provision allows law enforcement officials to set roving wiretaps to monitor multiple communication devices. The other allows them to ask a special court for access to business and library records that could be relevant to a terrorist threat.
A third provision gives the FBI court-approved rights for surveillance of non-American “lone wolf” suspects — those not known to be tied to specific terrorist groups.
Obama signed the three-month extension of the provisions Friday. They were to expire Monday.
Lawmakers will soon start debating a multiple-year extension of the provisions, which have…
Radical Union Advocate (In)action (Video)
Check out this “radical union” advocate….
More commentary at Dystopia Diaries.
Haitians Mark One Year Anniversary Of Earthquake
The Haitian National Palace after the earthquake on January 12, 2010
A year after tragedy hit Haiti, survivors are marking the anniversary of the devastating earthquake. A year later and hundreds of thousands of people are living in shelters, communities are slowly being rebuilt and there is a constant battle against cholera. BBC News reports:
Haitians are preparing to mark the anniversary of the earthquake that devastated their country and left some 250,000 of their fellow citizens dead.
Church services are due to be held around the nation, including at the ruined cathedral in Port-au-Prince.
There will also be a minute’s silence at 4.53pm (2153 GMT) – the exact moment when the 7.0 magnitude quake hit.
Traffic stopped as the streets of Port-au-Prince turned quiet and businesses were closed.
People walked in solemn processions to prayer services marking the anniversary of the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history. Many people wore white, a colour associated with…
Media Roots TV: Is Obama’s Support Warranted? (Video)
Via Media Roots:
The Obama campaign mobilized one of the largest grassroots movements for a presidential candidate in recent history, and the SF bay area was a hub of support for Obama during election time.
Now two years into his presidency, Media Roots set out to see if people are tuned into their favorite candidate’s actions — and if his actions warrant their support.
Media Roots conducts on the spot interviews with people in Berkeley and Oakland, CA about their support for President Barack Obama.
My Holiday Gifts for President Obama
What follows is an open letter to the President of the United States, extending my holiday greetings and providing a brief explanation of some perhaps ‘idiosyncratic’ gifts sent to Pennsylvania Avenue via U.P.S. this past week.
Okay, okay, I realize this may seem rather belated, but let’s be realistic: there was no way you were going to get around to opening my Xmas gifts to you until now. Indeed, they probably still remain unopened in some storage room, if they haven’t already been nicked by the staff you’ve assigned to opening packages. Or the security detail hasn’t mistakenly drawn a sinister interpretation of their contents and ruined them by soaking them in some watery defusion contrivance.
Which would be a great shame. Not because my personal feelings would be injured by the gifts’ destruction, but because recent events have shown me that you sorely in need these items. So much so that…
Wealth: When Will The 98% Tell The 2%, Enough Is Enough?
Gilbert Mercier writes on News Junkie Post:
Congress has passed, a two year renewal of the Bush tax cuts. The bill is a nice extra Christmas bonus for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, and it will only amplify the monumental US budget deficit.
The logic behind the bill goes against, not only common sense but also against the global trend, notably in Europe, to cut spending and increase taxation in order to address a spreading budget crisis.
The governments of countries such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are pushing for unpopular austerity measures, and richer countries such as the UK and France are trying to implement the same type of economic policies often by cutting social benefits and programs.
If austerity is the trend in Europe, it is certainly not the case in the United States. The US political and financial ruling class, which can be credited for starting the global financial…
How the Rise of the Information War Gave Birth to a New Digital Culture
Rachel Haywire | experimenthaywire.net
What happened? For the past few years I’ve been nailing the death of the Internet into the coffin. I recently posted about The Death of Memetics and was all but ready to give up on creating any sort of digital revolution. The cancer had spread too fast and we were completely outnumbered. The new generation of cyber-thugs decided to shit on the city that we built for them. Anonymous was no longer about free information but getting depressed 12 year old goth girls to kill themselves. The mobbing of innocent people was not related to natural selection but sexual rejection. Bullycide everywhere.
Enter Julian Assange. Enter Wikileaks.
Enter the beginning of Information War I.
Suddenly Anonymous wakes up and suddenly we are rewriting the manifestos. The cancer is no longer relevant. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive and we do not forget. We support the freedom of…
A Demographic Explanation of Why America May Never Be Great Again
Saturn Devouring His Son (de Goya).
Populist Dissatisfaction with Economy Hands Senate Seat to Millionaire Dilettante
Around 11:00 p.m. CNN called the U.S. senate race in Wisconsin for Tea Party favorite Ron Johnson, finally ending a nail-biter that saw incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold projected at within one half of one percentage point of Johnson shortly before polls closed at 8:00 p.m. local time.
During that three-hour window of opportunity we held a breathless deathgrip around that slender hope over at one of Russ’s suburban canvassing centers.
The crew had literally worked their asses off for Russ — at 17 calories per minute, our 12-hour shifts of non-stop door-to-door troop rallying, we’d shed about a pound each day.
I figure that I alone must have knocked on over a thousand doors during this election cycle, reminding folks not only of what Russ has done for Wisconsin, but what Johnson’s Tea Party threatened to do to it, and…
Waiting For Superman: Good Luck, Going to Public School, Kids Today! (Parents Take Notice.)
As a product of the public school system in the Great State of New York, this film is well overdue. Everyone, please watch this.
If you attended public school in any state in the U.S. I think you know what I mean.
And if you have kids, please, at least watch at least a minute into this trailer. You will realize the filmmaker’s intent.
The public school education system is BROKEN …. if you’re working within it, please speak out and join the effort to reform it. I knew something wasn’t right as a child in the system, but what the hell do kids really know? Time to make a change,
The Daily Show on Obama’s “Wisdom” in the “Ground Zero Mosque” Media Circus
“Yes we can … but should we?” — Jon Stewart
Politics is often defined as the “art of the possible.” However it should also be defined as “you can’t please all the people all the time.” Especially the ones being idiots on the “ground zero mosque” media shitstorm.
Thankfully The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart (who recently George Lucas made a Stormtrooper) is on the money again about President Obama’s mixed public comments regarding this non-story.
I could not complete this post without mentioning the great Jon Oliver’s commentary:
“There is a difference, Jon, between what you can do and what you should do. You can build a Catholic Church next to a playground. Should you?”
Does An Orderly and Safe Way to Fundamentally Change the U.S. Government Exist?
This article below is a sequel to my essay, “Defeating the New World Order and Creating a New Society That Allows Capitalists and Communists to Live Together in Peace After Establishing a New Constitution,” posted previously to disinfo.com.
Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government … to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
If you look at the Constitution of the United States, there is only one paragraph (Article V) that tells how we can change our government. But Article V only discusses how to propose and then ratify amendments. It does not say anything about the procedures to rewrite the entire Constitution. At their website, an organization called Friends of the Article V Convention has verified that there have been over 700 petitions for a constitutional convention…
Things We’ve Known That Are On The Way Out
From www.rense.com:
Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come…or should I say…here they are already!
1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office If you never paid your bills…
Streetfighting Mayor Cory Booker: Newark, NJ Records First Homicide-Free Month in More Than 40 Years
Here at disinformation we are naturally skeptical of politicians, but there are times when you can say that true leadership on a local level makes a difference. With that sentiment, check out Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. As James Queally reports in the Star-Ledger:
For the first time in more than 40 years, an entire calendar month has come and gone without a homicide in the state’s largest city. It’s been 32 days since a homicide took place in Newark, marking the first time there has been a slay-free calendar month in the city since 1966.
Police Director Garry McCarthy said he hopes to best a 43-day period from March to April of 2008, the longest span of time without a slaying in the city since 1961. Ten homicides have occurred in Newark since Jan. 1, and none have taken place in the South Ward, long believed to be Newark’s most dangerous section.
I will contend the reason this has happened is because of overturning the “old”: old ways of doing things, due to an entrenched political establishment, which is best-documented in the Academy Award-nominated documentary Street Fight:
