Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May 31 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Analyzing The Failures Of 'Government' - Mexico... The 'Failed State' Next Door

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 31 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Analyzing The Failures Of 'Government' - Mexico... The 'Failed State' Next Door

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

[After the commentary it's gonna get LOUD.... It's gonna get 'nice and friendly' too, and it's not really going to be 'SFW' if your boss is a Republican. Zack del la Rocha and Rage Against the Machine want to speak with you about the modern re-origination of the Mexican Autonomous movement... The Zapatistas, and their ongoing connection the the global movement for social justice in the US and overseas. Brought to us by Rage Against The Machine and Skidmark Bob @ PoP dEFECT Radio, where you can find the one hour RATM special he did in February this clip was drawn from.

The cuts between Zack's words spoken in "The Battle of Mexico City" documentary... People Of the Sun Evil Empire/Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium 2003, Zapata's Blood/Live & Rare 1998, Take The Power Back/Live & Rare 1998... Zack comments on police abuse Demo convention 2000, Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium 2003 and then he gets 'nice and friendly'... Fuck Da Police/Live & Rare 1998
]

Another Memorial Day passes and most Americans don't even know WHY there is a Memorial Day:
War Memorial Day is not actually a day to pray for U.S. troops who died in action but rather a day set aside by Congress to pray for peace. The 1950 Joint Resolution of Congress which created Memorial Day says: 'Requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating May 30, Memorial Day, as a day for a Nation-wide prayer for peace.' (64 Stat.158). Reference, Quote source, or search Google
» The Memorial Day weekend is over and Congress is ready to get back to what they've been doing ....Nothing. Today they will vote on raising the debt limit and it will fail thanks to the Republicans and a couple of renegade democrats. That will set the stage for an economic crisis not just in the US, but for rest of the industrialized world as well. More on how this crisis WILL ENRICH THE WEALTHY even as it impoverishes the rest of us below the fold in the Other News.

» The situation in Yemen has gone from bad to worse with major battles in progress in the capital Sanaa as the forty eight hour old truce breaks down and the tribal groups get back to attempting to find the president and kill him. Meanwhile Government forces machine gunned a group of peaceful protesters in the main square of one town killing at least six people, and another town on the coast is in rebel hands at the moment with government forces trying (unsuccessfully so far) to recapture it.

» In Tripoli NATO continues to hit so-called command and control centers... Meaning government infrastructure in general, as eight top generals in al-Gadaffi's army bailed out to Italy over the weekend.

» The Egyptians have opened the border crossing at Gaza despite screaming tizzy fit objections from the Israelis who claim it will allow weapons into the Israeli created Palestinian Ghetto (as if there weren't plenty of weapons there already), breaking the ongoing siege.

» They say we're not losing... Just 'failing to make progress'. The top NATO commander in Afghanistan was wounded by a suicide bomber along with a number of Afghani officers over the weekend.

» Finally. Sad news for the global justice movement. Gil Scott-Heron has passed at the age of 62. Auntie Imp has a post along with a tribute that contains a filmed interview done with him in 2010 which will released later this year as part of a feature length documentary, along with a telling video done to his song "Work For Peace"... 'Cause peace ain't comin' this way.


In OTHER News:

Speaking of 'Failed States'... The fact that wars, economic crises and unemployment actually serve to fatten the wallets of the rich may not really be news to many of you but Razer Ray and Auntie Imp want you to get a good handle on how unemployment transfers even what little the homeless person sleeping in a refrigerator box has, to the rich.

Remember folks... It's all just:
BUSINESS AS USUAL

Economic crises are not natural disasters. They are brought about by the actions of bankers, officials, and developers, not to mention ordinary folks struggling to get by in a world we didn't choose. They appear beyond our control, but they are not inescapable facts of life.

For all the talk of collapse, capitalism itself is as healthy as ever. The fundamental relationships remain unchanged: employers and employees, politicians and voters, police and policed. Our masters may loan us cars or houses to pacify us, but we still lack control over our own lives.

Crises like this are part of the protection racket that keeps them in business... [More @ Adbusters]
Which is:
Why the Rich Love Unemployment

by Mark Provost

Naked Capitalism (May 25 2011)


Christina Romer, former member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, accuses the administration of "shamefully ignoring" the unemployed. Paul Krugman echoes her concerns, observing that Washington has lost interest in "the forgotten millions". America's unemployed have been ignored and forgotten, but they are far from superfluous. Over the last two years, out-of-work Americans have played a critical role in helping the richest one percent recover trillions in financial wealth.

Obama's advisers often congratulate themselves for avoiding another Great Depression - an assertion not amenable to serious analysis or debate. A better way to evaluate their claims is to compare the US economy to other rich countries over the last few years.

On the basis of sustaining economic growth, the United States is doing better than nearly all advanced economies. From the first quarter of 2008 to the end of 2010, US gross domestic product (GDP) growth outperformed every G-7 country except Canada {1}.

But when it comes to jobs, US policymakers fall short of their rosy self-evaluations. Despite the second-highest economic growth, Paul Wiseman of the Associated Press (AP) reports {2}: "the US job market remains the group's weakest. US employment bottomed and started growing again a year ago, but there are still 5.4 percent fewer American jobs than in December 2007. That's a much sharper drop than in any other G-7 country." According to an important study by Andrew Sum and Joseph McLaughlin, the US boasted one of the lowest unemployment rates in the rich world before the housing crash - now, it's the highest. {3}

The gap between economic growth and job creation reflects three separate but mutually reinforcing factors: US corporate governance, Obama's economic policies and the deregulation of US labor markets.

Old economic models assume that companies merely react to external changes in demand - lacking independent agency or power. While executives must adapt to falling demand, they retain a fair amount of discretion in how they will respond and who will bear the brunt of the pain. Corporate culture and organization vary from country to country.

In the boardrooms of corporate America, profits aren't everything - they are the only thing. A JPMorgan research report {4} concludes that the current corporate profit recovery is more dependent on falling unit-labor costs than during any previous expansion... [More @ Naked Capitalism]
This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)

-30-


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Friday, May 27, 2011

May 27 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Memorial Day... Decoration Day... Whatever You Call It It's Is The American 'Day Of The Dead'

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 27 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Memorial Day... Decoration Day... Whatever You Call It It's Is The American 'Day Of The Dead'

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

[After the commentary... Phil Ochs - I Aint Marching Anymore, "Dedicated to all those nice folks at NATO", from a Youtube video, Europe, late 1960s, and then something a little more contemporary from Alabama3, remixed by Skidmark Bob, PoP dEFECT Radio. Courtesy of the respective artists.]

» President Obama is done at the G8 conference after they pledged $20 billion to "Westernizing" African and Middle Eastern governments. Now he's off to Poland where he's reassuring the Poles there will be no offensive use of the missile systems we've placed there. See: March 26 2010 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Robert Gates, The 'Cold War', And The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which has more on the topic, including this article from VoltaireNet.

» The Senate has rejected every amendment designed to put some civil rights back into the PATRIOT Act and passed the bill. There is some contention over the use of the president's signature machine for the midnight signing of the bill, because if the bill hadn't been passed it would have created 'complications'... Apparently a bigger 'complication' than turning the United States into a police state seems to be.

» The Senate is NOT going into recess for Memorial Day weekend to prevent the woman who will head the Consumer Financial Protection Agency from being "recess appointed". The Democrats went along with it. More. More on Elizabeth Warren's nomination hearing from the May 25th Cabale News Report.

» Secretary of State Clinton and Admiral Mullen are on an unscheduled visit to Islamabad Pakistan attempting the convince the Pakistani military to move on the Taliban in The Tribal Autonomous Region and Waziristan. No one has been able to suppress the tribal areas... That's why they're still tribal.

» Pause and remember. On Memorial Day we memorialize the deaths in battle of our family and friends, and ponder what they died for.

Eight more US soldiers were killed in Kandahar Afghanistan yesterday.

Ponder that while you dwell on this, from the National Priorities Project:
It's the eve of the Memorial Day weekend. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on his pre-retirement "farewell tour" and the U.S. House of Representatives spent the week deep in its annual debate on the Pentagon budget.

NPP brings you three essential resources to help you assess the numbers behind the rhetoric around military spending.

U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11 provides detailed information on the $7.6 billion our nation has spent on security over the last decade. The analysis includes previously uncompiled figures on the amounts spent on "homeland security." Did you know that homeland security funding has totaled $636 billion since 9/11?

NPP's Cost of War website has been updated with the latest funding figures approved by Congress. Did you know that the total costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will reach $1.26 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, 2011?

What's at Stake? offers 50 state-level briefs focused on the local impact of war spending. It includes valuable information on funding gap analysis and spending tradeoffs unique to each state. Did you know that Michigan has 71,862 Head Start-eligible children, more than twice the number of Head Start places? For Michigan's share of this year's Afghan War costs, the state could fund Head Start places for all eligible children for 11.8 years. [Much More @ The National Priorities Project]


[Click the broken rifle. Visit the War Resisters League]


This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


-30-


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Travus T. Hipp's Commentary Archive Is [ Here]
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The Consolidated Postings in RSS format [Here]


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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings, audio, and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.


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Thursday, May 26, 2011

May 26 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Class Warrior Has A Child - Thoughts On Arnold Schwarzenegger And The Upstairs Maid

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 26 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Class Warrior Has A Child - Thoughts On Arnold Schwarzenegger And The Upstairs Maid

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

» Yemen is about to come apart as the tribal militias come out of the hills and show up at the capital Sanaa with their AKs. In other words, there are now running gun battles in the streets between the hopelessly outnumbered army and the people of Yemen. The US has told it's citizens to stay away and is pulling all non-essential personnel who have remained out of the country. Details.

» How do you know when a Senator is masturbating? They show up for work - The US Senate voted "No" on the draconian Ryan budget that would essentially eliminate medicare, AND the president's plan. The president's plan was defeated unanimously, and the Ryan plan 57-40. More.

» The Swiss government is no longer going to build nuclear power plants. Further, they will begin shutting down plants at the age of 50 years.. The shutterings will begin in 2014. Germany is also considering similar measures. Speaking of Nuclear Nightmares, the Fukushima EX-Nuclear power plant in Japan may still be leaking radioactive water.

» The House of Representatives has tentatively banned any spending for military operations against Libya in the next defense budget. The debates are going on now and that budget is due to be voted on in October.

» There are apparently negotiations in progress with the Libyan government that would leave Muammar al-Gadaffi as a 'titular' leader with no power. Expect that proposal to not go far. For those seeking a background on al-Gadaffi's social mores and politics, here is a copy of his "Green Book", in English.

» President Obama is in France for the G8 conference where he has met with Russian president Medvedev and France's Nicolas Sarkozy. His discussions with Russia's president were in regard to the new missile defense shield already in place in Poland, to defend the Poles against... the Persians? More. Information about the G8 protests throughout Europe can be found @ Infoshop.


In OTHER News:

"If you've sold your soul to the devil, in effect, it's profoundly human to talk yourself into believing that what you got in exchange was worth the price."
The Tyranny of the Temporary

by John Michael Greer

The Archdruid Report (May 18 2011)


For just short of a year now, my posts here have focused on exploring one extensive set of options for dealing with the crisis of industrial civilization - the toolkit that came to maturity in the organic gardening and appropriate technology movements of the Seventies, and has been more or less sitting on a shelf since that time, being roundly ignored even by those people who thought they were pursuing every available response to peak oil. The process of hauling those tools down off the shelf and handing them out isn't quite finished yet, but before we go on to the last round of unpacking, I want to talk about another side of the social process that put them on the shelf in the first place.

That dimension of our predicament was pointed up by a commenter who responded to part of last week's post by suggesting, among other things, that people would still be getting their food from supermarkets for long enough that anyone alive today doesn't need to worry about other options. It's not an example that gets brought up often; still, the same assumption that current ways of doing things will remain in place indefinitely is an important reason why so many otherwise prudent and intelligent people to ignore the signs that their lifestyle is getting ready to terminate itself with extreme prejudice. A hard look at the logic behind it is certainly in order.

Supermarkets, as it happens, make a good example. The first supermarket in America, Ralphs Grocery Store, opened for business in 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Until the boomtime that followed the Second World War, supermarkets were found only in a very few urban centers; most Americans bought meat from a nearby butcher shop, had milk delivered by a neighborhood dairy, and parceled out the rest of their food and sundries budget among other local shops, most of them independently owned and nearly all of them getting the bulk of their supplies from local and regional producers.

It took billions of barrels of cheap petroleum, the massive suburbanization of postwar America, the building of the National Defense Highway System, federal policies that tilted the playing field in favor of big producers and long-haul trucking firms, and decades of highly aggressive and dubiously legal monopolistic practices on the part of national chains, among other things, to steamroller the once diverse landscape of American food production and turn supermarkets selling national brands into the only option that's still available to most Americans on grocery day... [Read On]
This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


-30-


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Travus T. Hipp's Commentary Archive Is [ Here]
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Recorded & transcribed by Razer Raygun @ Razed By Wolves

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings, audio, and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.


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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

May 25 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: A 5,446 Tons Solution - To Never Hear The Repubs Whine About The National Debt Again, Priceless

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 25 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The 5,446 Tons Solution - To Never Hear The Republicans Whine About The National Debt Again, Priceless

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

[After the commentary... For the Love of Money! The O' Jays. Courtesy of the respective artists.]

» The Egyptian military says Hosni Mubarak and one of his sons are going to be charged criminally (That SHOULD mean civilian trials) with the deaths of 846 people killed during the Tahir Square demonstrations and concurrent suppression activities. Mubarak is barred from leaving the country and his assets have been confiscated.

» President Obama is in Britain and will leave for the G8 conference in France shortly. His discussions with Prime Minister Cameron included Cameron's request for MORE support (as in air support) for NATO's war on Libya. No one is admitting the attacks seem focused on ousting Muammar al-Gadaffi more than the details of the UN resolution they're acting under for the protection of civilians in the country. France and Britain have sent in helicopter gunships for close air support of Misrata and have been shelling and using rocket attacks on the al-Gadaffi compound in Tripoli. Good thing he got his family out of the country... NATO IS trying to kill the al-Gadaffi family.

» No relief for the "New Dust Bowl" - More tornadoes are beginning to form in Eastern Texas and are moving towards Arkansas. There are worries that towns already turned into rubble will be struck again turning the rubble into projectiles.

» No relief will come easily from the Republicans either - Giving new meaning to the phrase "Callous Creep", congressional majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) has said that the Republicans will agree to send emergency aid to the states affected by tornadoes and other recent weather related disasters, but the cuts will have to come from other places in the federal budget.

» The political climate may have changed in the 26th congressional district, the region around Buffalo New York. Democrat Kathy Hochul has taken the congressional seat in a special election, in a mostly Republican district where the Republican congressman had resigned due to typical Republican sexual perversion issues. The election hinged on MediCare and so-called 'entitlements'. Some call them "Promises. One can see what the people of New York want... They want their elected officials to keep their promises. Ones made now, and historically.

» Meanwhile, things got a bit testy at a House committee hearing on the "Structure" of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which devolved into accusations of the ageny's chief 'lying to Congress'. The panel's chairman (R-NC) Patrick McHenry bullied and accused the bureau's director Elizabeth Warren of giving misleading testimony at a March hearing and of lying about her agreement to testify this week which she vehemently denied.

Then Representative McHenry moved to reccess that session and reschedule Warren's presence.
After an hour in which Ms. Warren repeatedly parried efforts by Mr. McHenry and other Republicans to nail her down with yes or no answers to questions concerning her testimony in March and about the bureau's powers and responsibilities, Mr. McHenry moved to temporarily recess the hearing to allow members to travel to the House floor for a vote on an unrelated matter.

Ms. Warren objected, saying that she had juggled her schedule as the committee repeatedly changed the time of the hearing in recent days and had agreed to be present for only an hour.

A vigorous back-and-forth ensued.
Congressman, you are causing problems, Ms. Warren said. We had an agreement.

You're making this up, Mr. McHenry replied. This is not the case.
The argument, an unraveling of the decorum that usually characterizes discussions among even the most fervent opponents during Congressional hearings, demonstrated the level of frustration that some Republicans apparently feel over the consumer agency, which was established as part of the Dodd-Frank Act that followed the financial and mortgage crisis.

The hearing Tuesday was intended to address the oversight that Congress should require for the agency.

Republicans have introduced bills in the House and Senate to eliminate some of the agency's independence, which include its not being subject to Congressional appropriations... [More ugly here]

In OTHER News:

Anonymous hackers (IRC Link) attacked and defaced the US Chamber of Commerce website over this bill just about to be introduced into the legislative calendar.

The defacement looked like this:

The summary of the bill does not go into the constitutional issues that arise with several of the measures. [source link]
Another media outlet had this to say:
The problem for many is that it would result in censorship without the right to due process as it allows the DOJ and copyright holders to obtain court orders before accused sites have had a chance to defend themselves in court. [More]
HackrKidz... Whatareyagonnado?

Speaking of protests, suppression and repression of free speech...
"Since President Obama was inaugurated, there have been over two thousand six hundred arrests of activists protesting in the US."
...yet there IS "Resistance in Obama Time"... by Bill Quigley, professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans, Associate Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

You'd almost think it was "SEAL Team Six" ("...the attackers... dressed all in black and resembled "Star Wars characters,") at the gun battle for Karachi Pakistan's naval air base fleet of surveillance aircraft.
Pakistani police have released an account of this weekend's brazen, 18-hour Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a naval air base in the southern port city of Karachi, stating that 10 to 12 men were involved, rather than up to six as Pakistani officials originally said (AP, NYT, DT, Independent, Guardian, FT, Dawn, Post, WSJ sources on site). Two of the attackers are now thought to have escaped, rather than being killed. Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik said yesterday that the attackers, who he stated dressed all in black and resembled "Star Wars characters," entered from a nearby residential district, and suggested without citing evidence that "external elements" may have been involved (Washington Post source on site). [More @ the AfPak Channel]

The Neoliberal New America Foundation has just issued a detailed paper on the history and current state of:
The Battle for Afghanistan: Negotiations with the Taliban

By Thomas Ruttig
[Thomas Ruttig is the co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. He speaks Pashtu and Dari.
This paper reflects the situation as of early 2011
]


May 23, 2011

The debate about reconciliation between Taliban insurgents and the Afghan government started moving again in 2010. What remains unclear is whether a process of reconciliation has already commenced and meaningful contacts with the insurgents have been established. Substantive talks, however, are clearly not yet underway.

What was really new in these developments in Afghanistan in the last year?

o
o
o

"NATO confirmed that it has facilitated these talks technically and by implicitly giving security guarantees for interlocutors. At the same, the new U.S. strategy, including a kill-and-capture program targeting Taliban commanders, does not point toward reconciliation; rather, it has given the upper hand to Taliban hardliners who oppose any talks. This could lead to the ascent of a younger, more radicalized generation of Taliban commanders to replace those killed, who were better known and might have included some inclined toward a political solution."

o
o
o

The fourth new point is that Pakistani authorities have dropped their line of denying all support for and control over the Taliban. For the first time they admitted openly that they are able to 'deliver' Taliban leaders for talks. The arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy to Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, was a statement of intent: talks with the Afghan Taliban are possible, but not without a key Pakistani role. At the same time, new research asserted that while the Taliban accept Pakistani support, many of their commanders nevertheless do not appreciate Pakistani influence on Afghan politics.[i]

These developments have created a growing fear among important social, political, and ethnic groups in Afghanistan [ie. Power elite, Emphasis mine] that President Hamid Karzai might go for a deal with the Taliban, or certain elements of the movement... [Comprehensive abstract with link to full document]
"This could lead to the ascent of a younger, more radicalized generation of Taliban commanders to replace those killed..."
It's called "shooting yourself in the foot"... Assuming of course that one IS TRULY interested in an end to the conflict, otherwise it could only be termed "endangering our own forces" now, and for the duration of our involvement. Further de-legitimatizing what little legitmacy U.S. efforts have in the region.

Which leads to something yours truly posted May 18 on the topic of legitimate causes and our 'mission' in Afghanistan:
From the Foreign Policy AfPak 'Channel', a dissuasion from thinking that our War On Afghanistan is ANYWHERE near over:
Mission Re-Defined

The death of Osama bin Laden will raise the inevitable question: What are we still doing in Afghanistan? The answer, of course, is that the mission in Afghanistan is about something bigger and more ambitious than eliminating Al Qaeda's leaders-most of whom, in any event, are probably living in Pakistan, as bin Laden was when the United States finally tracked him down. No, the mission in Afghanistan isn't about killing Al Qaeda members. It's about stabilizing the country.... [More]
This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


-30-


Audio hosting courtesy of: [www.archive.org]

Travus T. Hipp's Commentary Archive Is [ Here]
Search the archive by topic [Here]

Cabale News RSS Feed Via Internet Archive

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons CopyrightCabale New Service, KPIG Radio, and KVMR radio.
Listen to KVMR

Recorded & transcribed by Razer Raygun @ Razed By Wolves

Postings Auntie Imperial And Razer Raygun Have Done Lately Are [Here]
The Consolidated Postings in RSS format [Here]


Travus T. Hipp Fan Page @ Facebook (unaffiliated)

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings, audio, and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.


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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

May 24 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Rapture Or Rupture - The Debt Limit And The Christian Capitalist System

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 24 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Rapture Or Rupture - The Debt Limit And The Christian Capitalist System

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

» Just like YOUR home - President Obama arrived at Buckingham Palace a day early and his room wasn't ready so the Queen put them up in the prince and princess' room. President Obama is in London to sign a mutual national security pact with Prime Minister Cameron. The president has already been to Denmark, with France and Poland remaining on the itinerary. The stop in France will be for the G-8 conference. Expect protests. Some notes on the resistance from last year's G20 conference in Toronto

» France has supplied helicopter gunships for NATO's war on Libya. Muammar al-Gadaffi, who removed his family from the country recently claiming that NATO forces were simply trying to kill his whole family as a way of taking control for the benefit of the CIA led Libyan rebel army may be right. Tripoli, a LARGE CITY WITH HUGE NUMBERS OF CIVILIANS (Caps emphasize WAR CRIME) has been hit with more air stikes, targeting so-called 'infrastructure'. Guardian UK has video, Salon has more.

» The Senate begins debate today on a four year renewal of the PATRIOT Act. If it isn't voted on and passed by Friday it will expire and, knowing the US government's need to spy on it's own dissenters, something more police-state-ish might be broached instead. MSNBC from 2005 on domestic spying, and more recently, FBI documents recently found by anti-war activists suggest they were illegally spied on by the FBI and other agencies.

» Backing the Ninth Circuit Court, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered thirty five to forty thousand California state prisoners released, or transferred to other less crowded facilities, due to overcrowded unhealthy conditions. The state MAY choose to release non-violent offenders but COULD utilize other methods

More from Serf City Revolt, Silicon Beach California:
They Don't Really Care About Us

The Supreme Court has requested that California reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates. While this may sound like an unforseen victory as a result of the current state budget crisis the reality of "inmate reduction" is quite grim... [In Full]
» The Senate has passed a resolution of support for the war on Libya with warmongering senators Kerry and McCain teaming up across the aisle to push the bill... considering the previous war powers resolution expired last Friday making US involvement in Libya... umn... even more problematic that it already was.


In OTHER News:

Let's "Get Real", with James Howard Kunstler:
Americans gathered around the hearth of CBS's 60 Minutes must have been bemused to hear reporter Scott Pelley announce self-importantly that the US Department of Justice is investigating Lance Armstrong's bicycling team for performance-enhancing drug use. Does it really matter if any pro athlete takes drugs? Why not throw Babe Ruth out of the Baseball Hall of Fame for drinking sixteen beers the night before a World Series opener? Or Ditto Mickey Mantle for that, plus smoking two packs of Marlboros in the dugout during every game.

Notice that Scott Pelley did not announce that the US DOJ is investigating Goldman Sachs, or Citi, or Merrill Lynch, or Bank of America or several other so-called banks for looting the American public and influence-peddling in the halls of government. Or the SEC and the CFTC for failing to regulate the trade in frauds and swindles. The window for that sort of action is closing, and with it the reasonable hopes of citizens in the legitimacy of institutions that manage things.

The failures in journalism are now so stupendous that there are only a few possible explanations... [And NONE Of Them Are Good Explanations.]
...And Remember Folks...
They hate us for our freedoms
By Glenn Greenwald
May 15, 2011


The New York Times reports today:
For the second time in three days, a night raid in eastern Afghanistan by NATO forces resulted in the death of a child, setting off protests on Saturday that turned violent and ended in the death of a second boy. . . .

"American forces did an operation and mistakenly killed a fourth-grade student; he had gone to sleep in his field and had a shotgun next to him," [the district's governor, Abdul Khalid]. said. "People keep shotguns with them for hunting, not for any other purposes," Mr. Khalid said.

The boy, [15], was the son of an Afghan National Army soldier . . . When morning came, an angry crowd gathered in Narra, the boy's village, and more than 200 people marched with his body to the district center. Some of the men were armed and confronted the police, shouting anti-American slogans . . .

The police opened fire in an effort to push back the crowd to stop its advance to the district center. A 14-year-old boy was killed, and at least one other person was wounded, Mr. Khalid said. . . .

On Thursday, a night raid by international forces in Nangahar Province resulted in the death of a 12-year-old girl and her uncle, who was a member of the Afghan National Police.
There's nothing much new to say here, but every now and then, it's worth highlighting not only what we're doing, but what the results are. Just imagine the accumulated hatred from having things like this happen day after day, week after week, year after year, for a full decade now, with no end in sight...
o
o
o
...It's the perfect self-perpetuating cycle:

(1) They hate us and want to attack us because we're over there; therefore,
(2) we have to stay and proliferate ourselves because they hate us and want to attack us;
(3) our staying and proliferating ourselves makes them hate us and want to attack us more; therefore,
(4) we can never leave, because of how much they hate us and want to attack us.

The beauty of this War on Terror -- and, as the last two weeks have demonstrated, War is the bipartisan consensus for what we are and should be doing to address Terrorism -- is that it forever sustains its own ostensible cause...
[In Full, with updates, at Salon]
This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


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Monday, May 23, 2011

May 23 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Good News - If Pakistan DID Kill Mullah Omar There's No Reason To Waste More Military Money

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 23 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Good News Is - If Pakistan DID Kill Mullah Omar We Have No Reason To Waste Military Money In The Region

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

Just A Short Synopsis Of The News This Morning
Listen In...

» Pakistan MAY HAVE killed Mullah Omar. More, and some advice for the US government and the NATO coalition, in the commentary.

» In Afghanistan there are several new areas of conflict in the Uzbek North and Central Kabul had a military installation attacked... the attack lasted for hours.

» In Karachi Pakistan there has been a hit on the Pakistani naval base. Several vessels have been sunk and a fuel depot burned.

» President Obama is in Ireland on the first of a four nation five day tour. He'll visit the village one of this great great relatives came from (Not Muslim... Black Irish buddy!) and then to London where he will sign a 'compact' on national security council coordination with England.

» Speaking of Britain, the last five thousand troops come home this week leaving Basra in the hands of the Iraqi navy.

» There was a tornado overnight in Joplin Missouri leaving ninety confirmed dead and the town essentially demolished.

This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


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Friday, May 20, 2011

May 20 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Bright Side Of California's Budget Deficit - EnviroOrgs My Take Over Budget Shut State Parks

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 20 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The 'Bright Side' Of California's Budget Deficit - Enviro-Orgs My Take Over Control Of Budget Shuttered State Parks

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

[After the commentary... A word from our sponsor, followed by the Black Irish Band "Smokey The Bear". Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG Radio Freedom California.]

» Oy! President Obama made his speech at the State Department yesterday on Middle East US foreign policy and the high note... He called on Israel to return to the 1967 borders. Today, he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, and Benjamin is going a little meshughanah (nuts) about it.

From Foreign Policy Magazine:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the White House today, a day after sharply criticizing a major Mideast policy address by President Barack Obama. In Thursday's speech, the president said, "We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps" of land.

Netanyahu called the suggestion "indefensible" with one top Israeli official saying "There is a feeling that Washington does not understand the reality, doesn't understand what we face." Netanyahu reportedly made a furious phone call to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, just hours before the speech, objecting to the language on 1967 borders.

In today's meeting, Netanyahu is expected to demand that the U.S. veto a resolution approving Palestinian Statehood in the U.N. Security Council... [Read On]
» The FBI Wants DNA from Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski in their investigation of his potential involvement in the Chicago Tylenol tampering incident which happened in the early 80s. This occurred as an end result of a petition by Kaczynski to keep his documents from being auctioned off by the federal government. He claims there's proof he didn't tamper with the Tylenol in coded documents the government wants to sell. "...they aren't saying whether there's any reason to believe he might be a match. Chicago FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said the bureau wants DNA from "numerous individuals" including Kaczynski, although she wouldn't provide details about any of the others." More.

» Hey girlfriend! I'm Really Gonna Miss Yew! The EX-Chief of the IMF will bail out of Rikers Island this morning. More.

» Four More Years (of the potential for a police state) - The PATRIOT Act has been renewed. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner have reached an agreement to extend the Patriot Act for four years. (src)" More at the New York Times.

» California's state legislature is working on a plan to let E-NGOs and other organizations run the State Park system. More in the commentary.

» Why wait for 2012? Accord to a radio preacher from Oakland, the Apocalypse occurs tomorrow, May 21 2011.

From a friend of mine who's waiting in an-ti-ci-pation:
The Rapture should begin at 6 pm tomorrow, with the biggest earthquake ever. A couple hundred million graves will then release the good souls, but the billions of other graves are supposed to spew out the remains like a global Heimlich maneuver.

Seriously. That's his prediction. Of course, with all the different time zones on the planet, I don't know which 6 pm he means...


In OTHER News:

California Is Numero UNO! In Social Inequality...

(Do you suppose that's where the responsibility for it's economic decline originates?)
California still leads U.S., including in inequality

By Peter Henderson

Thu May 19, 2011


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Perennial trend-setter California still represents potential aspects of the future of the United States, ranging from wealth and opportunity in Silicon Valley to abject poverty in the agricultural Central Valley.

The Golden State has always seen itself as the best, and it still is for some, but a new study of federal census and state data covering longevity, education and income shows the state is also home to arguably the worst-off parts of the nation.

Its diversity, continued attraction to immigrants, and a fast-changing economy that is still the world's eighth largest make it a harbinger for the globe as well as the nation, according to the study released this week.

"Some Californians are actually enjoying the highest levels of well-being in the world, where the rest of the world won't be for another half-century," said Kristen Lewis, one of the authors of "A Portrait of California."

But the report by the American Human Development Project, which uses United Nations-based indicators of health, wealth and education rolled into a Human Development Index score, also sheds light on less fortunate parts of the state. (here)

The Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, which exploded in riots in 1965, only now scores at levels enjoyed by the rest of the county that year, while a companion study found the nation's worst-off congressional district to be in Fresno, California -- not the Mississippi Delta or Appalachia as researchers had expected... [More @ Reuters]

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

May 19 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Pinata Of Generational Wealth Transfer Has Been Broken And There's Very Little 'Candy' Left

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now."

Cabale News ServiceMay 19 2011 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: There's Always 'Welfare' - The Pinata Of Generational Wealth Transfer Has Been Broken And There's Very Little 'Candy' Left

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In The News:

Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files.

[George Carlin's birthday passed last week and yours truly thinks it appropriate to add his take on how the U.S. government's economic and social policies work. Rest In Peace George Carlin, May 12 1937 - June 22 2008]

» In our war on Libya the situation may be changing. There is a concerted effort by the Libyan military to retake Misrata and other cities. Muammar al-Gadaffi is reported to have had his wife and family removed from the country as it seems he believes the NATO airstrikes on Tripoli are aimed at killing him and his family as a way of winning the war. He's probably right, and it ASSUREDLY would go beyond anything in the UN resolution regarding the protection of civilians in Libya. Apparently the sovereignty of Libya and it's government is of no importance when oil is the goal.

» President Obama is looking for military exchange, including officer exchange, with China. Our military relation broke down a number of years ago over the US sale of THREE BILLION plus dollars worth of military equipment to Taiwan. Expect the Republicans to scream that Obama intends to give away military secrets.

» SEX SCANDALS! The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has resigned his post while awaiting court in New York where he'll offer to wear a tracking device and a million dollars of his own money in bail to get off of Rikers Island. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Love Child" scandal has caused him to put a couple of movie projects on hold. He apparently intends to take a nice quiet vacation away from the media... Wherever THAT might be.

» al Qaeda has released the last of the Osama bin-Laden tapes. He, like the US government, praises the "Arab Spring" Democracy movement. President Obama intends to address the State Department to talk about our Middle East policy and the "Arab Spring" movement today. One can only hope the president knows "You Cannot Kill An Ideology With A Gun" (includes observations by American lawyer Benjamin Ferencz who was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes tribunals)

» The latest on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords - A precision plastic skull 'patch' has been installed to replace an area of her skull that was surgically removed to allow for brain swelling after she was shot at pretty much point blank range by a confused and angry young man at a Tuscon Arizona greet-and-meet. Considering that tragic occurrence she's doing remarkably well.

» In OTHER "Sex Scandal" news... If you were wondering why the Catholic Church seems to have a large number of pedophile priests, the church has issued a report (alternet) accusing... wait for it... The Woodstock Festival which occurred in 1969 of undermining the morals of Catholic priests across the planet. Nevermind that this behavior has been documented as having gone on for centuries... They're the Catholic Church, and they're 'infallible'. More, including a chart of incidents since 1950, at the American Spectator.


In OTHER News:

Get your doomsday scenarios, 'righteous' rational mayhem, and institutionally traitorous death-dealing hypocrisy here!

Russ Wellen @ Foreign Policy In Focus writes:
What if the U.S. Actually Attempted to Seize Pakistan's Nukes?

By Russ Wellen, May 12, 2011


Yesterday I posted that Pakistani fear of the United States attempting to seize its nuclear-weapons arsenal is at an all-time high. As Yochi Dreazen wrote at the National Journal, "the ease with which elite U.S. forces jammed Pakistan's advanced air defense systems and mounted a precision operation deep inside Pakistani territory is eroding the Pakistani military's standing in the eyes of its own people and raising new questions there about whether the U.S. could one day mount a similar push to grab Pakistan's nuclear weapons."

As I mentioned, one obstacle to that course of action is that
The West doesn't know all the locations of Iran's (however peaceful thus far) nuclear program, thus rendering preemptive bombing inevitably incomplete. Neither does the West know the location of all of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, thus making it impossible to take complete control of its program.
I also cited an article I wrote for Asia Times Online in 2009 titled Keeping Pakistan's nukes extremist-free. I had contacted veteran British reporter Brian Coughley, South Asian defense analyst for Jane's, who also wrote War, Coups and Terror: Pakistan's Army in Years of Turmoil (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009). As recently as April of this year he wrote an article on Pakistan's nuclear security for Jane's Intelligence Review (requires paying a -- steep -- subscription fee). In my ATimes piece I wrote:
Cloughley's extensive experience with the Pakistani military has left him with respect for its professionalism and much less concern for the security of its nuclear weapons than Washington expresses.
Besides, British columnist Johann Hari wrote:
Every time the US military has war-gamed sending in troops . . . it has ended in a horrific bloodbath -- and the weapons still eluding their control. 
Cloughley agreed.
It would, indeed, be a bloodbath if any attempt were made to insert special forces. How anyone in their right mind could even suggest such a scenario is beyond me. 
Nevertheless, at my request, he provided one... [More @ FPIF]

Righteous rational mayhem:
Freedom's Just Another Word for Blowing Shit Up
You know it's true! Read it... There's proof!

Finally... Hypocrisy soooo callous it's enough to make one...umn... revolt:
In the Theater of the Absurd: US-NATO Support "Al Qaeda in Libya"
"We are fighting nothing other than al-Qaeda in what they call the Islamic Maghreb. It's an armed group that is fighting from Libya to Mauritania and through Algeria and Mali. If you had found them taking over American cities by the force of arms, tell me what you would do?" From a letter sent by the Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to the US president Barack Obama.
In the Theatre of the Absurd, anything is possible. However, this latest scenario in Libya has taken absurdity to a whole new dimension.

A rag-tag bunch of armed, al-Qaeda affiliated tribesmen, being referred to as a 'pro-democracy movement' by British State TV (BBC) and other mainstream media outlets, are now being openly armed and trained by the French, British and American governments. This same Coalition of Crusaders, with the support of the Arab League, is fighting alongside the rebels, launching continual bombing raids on targets in Tripoli and beyond, including Muammar Qadhafi's compound, in a brazen attempt to assassinate the man and re-colonise Libya.

And what is the support inside Libya for this so-called 'Libyan pro-democracy movement'? The answer is less than 2% of the entire Libyan population... Full Article at Global Research (h/t: Times of India)
This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can.
(...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?)


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