MicroHawk's NewsScan

What I Learned at a Conservative Think Tank: Propaganda Now, Facts Later! | Alternet

Conservatives can't stop lying. My former employers at the Heritage foundation are echoing Mitt's "47 percent" theme -- and getting facts and history wrong.

via www.alternet.org

Frank Schaeffer: Newt and the Loony Religious Fringe That Now Runs the Republican Party

George's, North's, and Gingrich's idea of the "rule of law" is that it must be subject to a biblical mandate, in other words to what Gingrich's bishops tell him will "sell" to their faithful and their evangelical fellow-traveler religious extremists. This is the constituency that Gingrich is now appealing to, with the direct help from his Roman Catholic advisers and his Reconstructionist and Dominionist friends. And then there is the cherry on the cake: in return for espousing their theocratic anti-democracy views Gingrich will be forgiven his multitude of divorces and a lifetime of adultery.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Tikkun Daily Blog » Imperial America and Nature

There are many unanticipated consequences in creating and sustaining an imperial America. Seldom do things go as expected in the geopolitical realm and social arena. This is especially true with militarism, technology and nature. Imperial leaders have trouble accepting nature has limits. These limits affect all life on earth. Nature’s limits cannot be simply overcome by political decisions, political expediency, or ideology. Imperfect human beings can only make imperfect technology. Therefore, the failures of technology (accidents) are quite normal. The more complex the technology, the more disastrous the accident. Does one degrade the oceanic ecosystem due to expected blowouts and leaks in order to capture deep offshore oil deposits? Meanwhile, safe and sustainable alternative energy sources are marginalized or ignored. Imperial designs will never account for all the variability of the natural world because in part, they do not fully understand nature, ecology and the evolution of life. Of course, nature, beauty and the health and sanctity of life is not an imperial priority. But it is a priority for the vast majority of people on the planet. It is in the interest of humanity and all life to prevent ecosystems from cascading and collapse.

via www.tikkun.org

t r u t h o u t | Why Millions March in France, but Not in the US

Very interesting article from Richard Wolff. See the excerpt below and read the whole article here. For more info on Wolff's ideas, see more articles posted at his website, and preview his film on the U.S. economic meltdown, Capitalism Hits the Fan.

Excerpt from the article:

The general idea motivating and inspiring Europeans to undertake these massive actions is quite simple. The economic crisis, they argue, was caused by capitalist corporations' investment decisions -- and especially those of financial corporations. It has already caused huge job losses, reduced outputs of goods and services, and immense new government debts. Now governments propose to offset those debts by imposing additional costs on the mass of people. This amounts to shifting the costly burden of the capitalists' crisis -- and their government-financed rescues -- onto the working people. This has gone too far; the people will not permit it.

via www.truth-out.org

Eugene Robinson - Gov. Barbour's civil rights fairy tale

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who may seek the Republican nomination for president, is trying to sell the biggest load of revisionist nonsense about race, politics and the South that I've ever heard. Ever.

He has the gall to try to portray Southern Republicans as having been enlightened supporters of the civil rights movement all along. I can't decide whether this exercise in rewriting history should be described as cynical or sinister. Whichever it is, the record has to be set straight.

via www.washingtonpost.com

How Ruthless Banks Gutted the Black Middle Class and Got Away With It | | AlterNet

The American middle class has been hammered over the last several decades. The black middle class has suffered to an even greater degree. But the single most crippling blow has been the real estate and foreclosure crisis. It has stripped black families of more wealth than any single event in U.S. history. Due entirely to subprime loans, black borrowers are expected to lose between $71 billion and $92 billion. 

via www.alternet.org