Of Korea, the Rosenbergs, Berenson, Anti-Semitism & US imperialism (tags)
On Dec 20, 2011, the first day of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights that commemorates liberation, Lori Berenson, a victim of anti-Semitism common in Catholic countries like Peru, finally came home. Coincidentally, the latest leader of Stalinist North Korea, Kim Jong Il, died Dec 17, 2011, so the US saber rattling under the guise of "human rights" was renewed on all airwaves. Ignored everywhere, including KPFA, was the anti-Semitic frame-up of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, by Democratic president Harry Truman in 1950 to make Jew, Communist and traitor synonymous to justify the war of anti-communism in Korea, in the US first stage attempt to destroy the 1949 Chinese revolution, leaving 3 million dead Koreans, and a devastated country.
Labor's Last Stand in 2011? (tags)
The stage is set, and the main actors in Congress and in the corporate establishment are ready to perform, having rehearsed behind closed doors for the coming assault on organized labor's most powerful sector, public workers. The final preparations were smoothed out in Obama's tax "compromise" with the Republicans, which gave details of the drama's first act. The tax plan purposely did not include a critical element for state funding, called the Build America Bonds program (BAB), which allows recession-sunk states to easily borrow money from the federal government. In the face of enormous deficits, the states would be left to drown. Reuters blogger James Pethokoukis explains:
Democrats are just as committed to advancing U.S. military, economic and political power across the globe as the Republicans. The means may differ between them. But the ends have always been the same.
The ILWU From Bridges to Spinosa (tags)
Great article on the dockworkers