ECONOMIC APARTHEID IN AMERICA

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ECONOMIC APARTHEID IN AMERICA

Top executives now make more in a day than the average worker makes in a
year.

You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy.
But you cannot have both.
-- Louis Brandeis

How wealthy the wealthy are does matter. If we allow great wealth to
accumulate in the pockets of a few, then great wealth can set our
political agenda and shape our political culture -- and the agenda and
the culture that emerge will not welcome efforts to make American work
for all Americans.
-- Sam Pizzigati

Plutocracy: 1. The rule or power of wealth or the wealthy; 2. A
government or state in which the wealthy class rules. 3. A class for
group ruling, or exercising power or influence, by virtue of its wealth.
-- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary

Of the world's 100 largest economies, 47 are nations, and 53 are
corporations.

Seventy-five percent of major corporations hire a consultant to stop
employees from forming a union.

The alarming development and aggressiveness of great capitalists and
corporations, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the pauperization
and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses. It is imperative, if we
desire to enjoy the full blessings of life, that a check be placed upon
unjust accumulations and the power for evil of aggravated wealth.
-- Constitution of the Knights of Labor, 1869.

The Washington monument is 555 feet tall. Say it signifies the 2003
average compensation for CEOs in the Fortune 500. The average worker
salary would be only 16 inches tall, representing a ratio of 419 to one.
In 1965, the worker's monument was 13 feet six inches tall, representing
a ratio of 41 to 1.

Inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this
generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals
of the generation which established our government.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Born on home plate -- Forty-two percent of those listed inherited
sufficient wealth to rank among the Forbes 400.

Examples:

J. Paul Getty Jr. inherited the oil fortune from his father.

David Rockefeller Sr. ($2.5 billion) is the grandson of the Standard Oil
founder John D. Rockefeller.

S.I. and Donald Newhouse ($7 billion each) inherited the nation's
largest private newspaper chain, plus Conde Nast publications, from
their father in 1979.

Samuel Curtis Johnson ($1.5 billion) is the great grandson of the
flooring salesman who founded the floor wax giant S.C. Johnson and Sons.

The United Nations Development Program reported in 1999 that the world's
225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That's
equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest
people.

The richest 10 percent of the world's population receives 49.6 percent
of the total world income.

The bottom 60 percent receives 13.9 percent of the world's income.

The wealth of the world's three most well-to-do individuals now exceeds
the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries.

Half of the world's population of six billion live on less than $2 a
day, while 1.3 billion get by on less than $1 a day.

Thirty zip codes in America have become fabulously wealthy.Meanwhile, whole urban and rural communities are languishing in unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, growing insecurity and fear.


These are some of things you learn from a new book, just out, titled
Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality &
Insecurity by Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel with United for a Fair
Economy (The New Press, 2005).

And you probably won't find it Wal-Mart.

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2005/000221.html

During the Second World War, Senator Robert Taft:

'I believe that there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is
essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government..... Too
many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think it will
give some comfort to the enemy.... If that comfort makes the enemy feel
better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned
because the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do
the country more good than it will do the enemy, and it will prevent
mistakes which might otherwise occur."

Most of us would disagree vehemently with many of old Taft's ideas. He was
somewhat of an enigma, and he despised FDR and the New Deal - but on this
one he was on the money. Jason Call


Secret British Military poll:

Oct 23, 2005 -- Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.

Comment: Note it is not terrorism to attack military troops, it is WAR.

The poll, undertaken for the British, Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.

It demonstrates for the first time the true strength of anti-Western feeling in Iraq after more than two and a half years of bloody occupation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/23/wirq23.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/23/ixportaltop.html


Politicizing Intelligence

15 November 2005 -- Last year's report issued by former Senator Chuck Robb and Judge Laurence Silbermann under the title, "Final Report on Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction."

The Robb and Silbermann report clearly demonstrates that none of the intelligence analysis from the CIA suggested that Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction had reached a critical point requiring a pre-emptive strike.


The pre-war estimate of Iraq's nuclear program, as reflected in the October 2002 NIE "Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction," was that, in the view of most agencies, Baghdad was "reconstituting its nuclear weapons program" and "if left unchecked, [would] probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade," although it would be unlikely before 2007 to 2009. The NIE explained that, in the view of most agencies, "compelling evidence" of reconstitution was provided by Iraq's "aggressive pursuit of high-strength aluminum tubes." The NIE also pointed to additional indicators, such as other dual-use procurement activity, supporting reconstitution. The assessment that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program and could therefore have a weapon by the end of the decade was made with "moderate confidence."

Play close attention. The analysts believed, incorrectly, that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program. But there were important caveats.

I am not exonerating the CIA for its failures. There were major mistakes of leadership. For example, Robert Walpole, the man who led the drafting of the October 2002 estimate, surrounded himself with true believers who shared the view of Bush administration policymakers at the NSC and Department of Defense that military action in Iraq was required. This National Intelligence Officer did nothing to ensure that dissident voices within the CIA and other parts of the intelligence community were heard. But to pretend that the flaws in the intelligence explain why President Bush took us to war requires that we ignore a host of other uncomfortable facts.

CIA analysts got it right on the lack of operational relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet, notwithstanding the correct judgment of the analysts, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have continued to insist that there was such a relationship. In their words, the war in Iraq was an extension of the war on terrorism.

CIA analysts got it right on the lack of operational relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet, notwithstanding the correct judgment of the analysts, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have continued to insist that there was such a relationship. In their words, the war in Iraq was an extension of the war on terrorism.

Analysts also got it right in dismissing as nonsense the claim that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake uranium in West Africa. The analysts who briefed Congress in October 2002 said there was no truth to the allegation. Yet, the White House wanted to run with it. We know that George Tenet had to call Stephen Hadley and Condi Rice to insist that a reference to the Iraq/Niger claim not be included in a speech the President planned to deliver in Cincinnati.

The CIA analysts consistently warned the administration that the information the Brits had also was unreliable and the reports of Iraq's trying to get its hands on a nuke were wrong. The director of WINPAC at the CIA, Alan Foley, repeatedly warned NSC official Robert Joseph that the Niger claim was unreliable. Undeterred, Joseph inserted the bogus 16 words into the President's 2003 State of the Union address.

But the policymakers did not want to hear it. In fact, Don Rumsfeld and his minions were briefing TV and newspaper pundits just two weeks before the President's 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium in Niger.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111505I.shtml

It's hard to imagine what Mr. Bush means when he says everyone reached the same conclusion. There was indeed a widespread belief that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons. France, Russia and Germany said war was not justified. Even Britain admitted later that there had been no new evidence about Iraq, just new politics.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111505M.shtml

CHENEY IS 'VICE PRESIDENT FOR TORTURE'

November 18, 2005 --LONDON -- Former CIA chief Stansfield Turner lashed out at Dick Cheney on
Thursday, calling him a "vice president for torture" that is out of touch with
the American people.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/18/torture.vp/

CIA torture techniques described (ABC News)

** Sources Say Agency's Tactics LeadSometimes to Death **

November 18, 2005 --They say they are revealing specific details of the techniques, and their
impact on confessions, because the public needs to know the direction their
agency has chosen.

Comment: This is another example of leaking information for political purposes.

All gave their accounts on the condition that their names
and identities not be revealed. Portions of their accounts are corrobrated by
public statements of former CIA officers and by reports recently published
that cite a classified CIA Inspector General's report.

Other portions of their accounts echo the accounts of escaped prisoners from
one CIA prison in Afghanistan.

"They would not let you rest, day or night. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit
down. Don't sleep. Don't lie on the floor," one prisoner said through a
translator. The detainees were also forced to listen to rap artist Eminem's
"Slim Shady" album. The music was so foreign to them it made them frantic,
sources said.



The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"
instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda
targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in
regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful
of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of
the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering
fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to
cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using
a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most
effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet
shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and
sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50
degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold
water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised
and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's
face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a
terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the
treatment to a halt.

According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water
boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in.

"The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to
a mock execution, which is illegal under international law," said John Sifton
of Human Rights Watch.

However, ABC News was told that at least three CIA officers declined to be
trained in the techniques before a cadre of 14 were selected to use them on a
dozen top al Qaeda suspects in order to obtain critical information.

When properly used, the techniques appear to be closely monitored and are
signed off on in writing on a case-by-case, technique-by-technique basis,
according to highly placed current and former intelligence officers involved
in the program. In this way, they say, enhanced interrogations have been
authorized for about a dozen high value al Qaeda targets -- Khalid Sheik
Mohammed among them. According to the sources, all of these have confessed,
none of them has died, and all of them remain incarcerated.

According to the sources, when an interrogator wishes to use a particular
technique on a prisoner, the policy at the CIA is that each step of the
interrogation process must be signed off at the highest level -- by the deputy
director for operations for the CIA. A cable must be sent and a reply
received each time a progressively harsher technique is used. The described
oversight appears tough but critics say it could be tougher. In reality,
sources said, there are few known instances when an approval has not been
granted. Still, even the toughest critics of the techniques say they are
relatively well monitored and limited in use.

In the rendition program, foreign nationals captured in the conflict zones are shipped back to their own
countries on occasion for interrogation (translated: real good torture) and prosecution.

There have been several dozen instances of rendition. There have been a little
over a dozen authorized enhanced interrogations. As a result, the enhanced
interrogation program has been described as one encompassing 100 or more
prisoners. Multiple CIA sources told ABC that it is not. The renditions have
also been described as illegal. They are not, our sources said, although they
acknowledge the procedures are in an ethical gray area and are at times used
for the convenience of extracting information under harsher conditions that
the U.S. would allow.

Source via Tim Smith and Mark Jensen

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=1322866

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. MY NEWSLETTER has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is MY NEWSLETTER endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

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Kenneth R. Brown, professor of biology at Brown University said, "Scientific theories are not hunches. When we say 'theory,' we mean a strong, overarching explanation that ties together many facts and enables us to make testable predictions."