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valatius commented on the diary post Bishops Tap Veteran of Islamophobic, Homophobic Legal Shop as Top Flack by RH Reality Check.
The Thomas More Law Center is a product of Tom Monaghan, the ultraright Dominos pizza millionaire. When I was in Florida last year, I stopped by Donaghues all-Catholic village of Ave Maria , a bizarre little place that would have warmed the heart of Francisco Franco. Monaghans little utopia resembles other gated communities where wealthy white folks [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post Syrian rebels to reject U.S./Russia-sponsored peace talks? by fairleft.
If Assad had been overthrown two years ago, there might have been a chance for representative government along the lines of Egypt. But that war now resembles the Spanish Civil War. In 1936 democratic forces heroically resisted fascism. But within a couple years the Soviets had taken control of the battered Republican side and imposed [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post Korea: US Cancels Irrelevant ICBM Test But Maintains Provocative “Defense” by E. F. Beall.
I am wondering if it isn’t time for Japan to seriously re-arm, develop its own nuclear force, and assume major responsibility for its immediate region. Perhaps South Korea,too, needs its own nuclear deterrent. Since 1945, the US has assured the defense of Japan, which inevitably includes South Korea, and that made sense when the world [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post Has the Decision Already Been Made to Sell Long Island Power Authority’s T & D System to National Grid? by Cynthia Kouril.
Cynthia, as an upstate National Grid customer, I appreciate your work on this issue. We have many kilowatts of unused hydropower up here going to waste but the Brits running NG could care less.
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valatius commented on the diary post Susan Rice in Line to Be Obomba’s National Security Advisor by wendydavis.
Wendy, I’d suggest you change the title where you refer to Obama as “Obomba.” Making fun of people’s names is kind of fourth grade, don’t you think? Otherwise, I agree with much of what you say about Susan Rice.
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valatius commented on the blog post Call Your Senators: No Targeted Killing Memos, No Brennan Confirmation
I wouldn’t say our foreign policy has been a failure from the point of view of those who direct it and support it in congress. Access to oil and the flow of trade proceeds without hindrance, creating vast profits. The American dollar remains highly valued, assuring a steady flow of capital and imports. Huge amounts of money are funneled into military industries. And as a bonus, domestic attention is focused on a shifting series of imaginary threats.
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valatius commented on the blog post Call Your Senators: No Targeted Killing Memos, No Brennan Confirmation
I tend to think theres more to Benghazi than either side wants to make public. Petraeus girlfriend Paula Broadwell claimed that the attack was actually an attempt to free militants held in a secret CIA prison near the consulate. Next thing you know, their affiar is a big scandal: the general gets the boot and Ms. Broadwells claim is dismissed by the CIA.
Neither party wants to complain about CIA secret prisons or drone assassinations. They are absolutely bipartisan on such tactics and only pretend to have any serious disagreements on foreign policy.
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valatius commented on the blog post Obama’s Sequester Replacement Plan Would be Deeply Unpopular
Yes, I agree that this article needs more substantiation than the link to whitehouse.gov that the writer provides.
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valatius commented on the diary post Some Questions About Brennan… by CTuttle.
Its also worth noting that Paula Broadwell spoke publicly about a secret CIA prison in Benghazi not long before she and Petraeus were given their scarlet letters.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/12/paula-broadwell-benghazi-cia-petraeus
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valatius commented on the diary post What Mark Warner Asked John Brennan by David Swanson.
Senator Feinstein seemed pretty upset about Mr. Brennan being treated so rudely by those mean old protestors, but she should be grateful they didnt ask any questions about her husband Richard C. Blum’s war profiteering: “Blum currently holds over 111,000 shares of stock in URS Corporation, which is now one of the top defense contractors in [...]
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valatius commented on the blog post Brennan Confirmation Hearing Set As Battleground For Drone Assassination Program
Last May John Brennan was given an honorary degree by his Jesuit alma mater, Fordham University. A small protest, which included some students and longtime former CIA man Ray McGovern, was pretty much ignored amid the hoopla. Personally, I don’t regard Brennan as any kind of evil mastermind -he’s simply an very skillful bureaucrat working within policies designed by his superiors. My guess is that, with his years of loyalty to the CIA, Brennan will do his best to get his beloved agency out of the drone and torture business.
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valatius commented on the diary post Is middle class renewal in any way based on cheap shale gas? by David Seaton.
And you are right about cheap domestic oil and gas from fracking fitting in perfectly with the traditional liberal opposition to a huge military and endless wars over foreign energy sources.
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valatius commented on the diary post Is middle class renewal in any way based on cheap shale gas? by David Seaton.
Mr. Seaton, You are raising an extremely important question about the conflict between traditional liberal/social democratic goals and averting climate disaster. Althoug thelong term consequences will be fatal to civilization, fossil fuel is simply so efficient short-term that it is the foundation of our entire civilization. Like many others on the left, I like to [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post Yes Virginia, There Was Actual Foreign Policy Content at Clinton’s Benghazi Hearing by Genki Apocalypse.
Good article. Far too many left critics of Obama are unwilling to see that there is a significant difference between his foreign policy and that of Bush. Of course, both share Madeline Albrights view that the US is the one indispensible nation for maintaining the present world order based on free trade and flow of [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post The Bushmaster .223: An Upstate New York Success Story by valatius.
A reader called my attention to a New York Times article from August, Call to Stiffen Laws Worries Town Built by Guns , which describes the economic importance of Remington to the town and area: “The company is a rare economic bright spot in this part of the Mohawk Valley. The area has lost over 11,000 of [...]
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valatius wrote a new diary post: The Bushmaster .223: An Upstate New York Success Story
A more concise version of this post was published as Lethal Business, Haunting Questions in the January 27, 2012 Albany Times Union . When I was growing up in Little Falls, New York in the 1960s, the men who worked in Snyder’s on East Main Street or at the Remington factory in nearby Ilion had good jobs. The [...] -
valatius commented on the diary post Social Security Isn’t a Pension Plan But by masaccio.
FDR designed Social Security as an insurance to protect all workers from the otherwise merciless nature of a free market system. What is often omitted in current discussions of the program is that it protects children and survivors when a worker dies young. Paul Ryan, for example, received such a benefit when his father died [...]
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valatius commented on the diary post A Wal-Mart workers wage is $13,650 a year, the Wal-Mart CEO makes $16,826.92 an hour, and Sam Walton’s litter is worth over $100 billion = Revolution. by Bill Perdue.
As bad as Walmart workers in the US have it, this companys criminality is literally killing workers in impoverished Bangla Desh – where $30 a month is a typical salary. A report in the Nation proved Walmarts direct role in the factory fire that killed 112 women on November 24.
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valatius wrote a new diary post: Bakken Oil Tankers on The Hudson River
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valatius commented on the diary post Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Once Upon Time: American Socialism by Richard Lyon by Anti-Capitalist Meetup.
You might be interested in reading about the 1912 textile strike in Little Falls, New York whose centennial we marked by a series of events this year. This strike of largely female workers was led by two Jewish immigrant women, Helen Schloss and Matilda Rabinowitz. Helen was a public health nurse in the factory town [...]
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