RNC Fallout

29 10 2008

Independent media has begun releasing longer, more in-depth accounts of what went down here in September, when they – along with tens of thousands of peaceful citizens – suddenly found themselves in a repressive police state that resembled fabled Minnesota Nice not at all. Independent media was specifically targeted, along with folks from the RNC Welcoming Committee.

Sometime today, the good folks from Twin Cities Indymedia and the Glass Bead Collective will release a hi-definition downloadable (and burnable to dvd) version of their documentary, “Terrorizing Dissent.” There will be public showings in various locations [check the web site]. In the meantime, here’s the trailer.

Tom Hayden, one of the Chicago 8 forty years ago, has been a good egg, making the parallels explicit. He was on Macalester’s campus last week, talking up this point, the fact that police adhere to a ’scare the sh*t out of the public’ script in these cases, and that

As long as the pubic is dumb and the politicians cowardly, they won’t have to send out agents. But I don’t see how this pulling the wool over the eyes of people can go on forever.





When Game Show Audiences Appear More Informed Than the US Electorate

26 10 2008

Word. Submedia and Rebellious Pixels at it again. This stunning piece of propaganda demonstrates why I hate representative politics, and why I’ll be voting, contrary to every kantian ounce of my being, in this year’s elections. (tip o’ the hat to Max Forte for his earlier posting on why he voted in this year’s Canadian election) The way this is remixed makes the audience of “So you think you can dance” appear much, much, much more intelligent and well-informed than the entire American electorate. Shameful really.

more about “When Game Show Audiences Appear More …“, posted with vodpod





Economics Link Dump for O15

15 10 2008




Economy: Now, Everyone’s A Cassandra

10 10 2008

Paul Krugman still has some faith in our ability to get ourselves out of this mess. Not much, but still, some:

The downward spiral accelerated post-Lehman. Money markets, already troubled, effectively shut down…

The response to this downward spiral on the part of the world’s two great monetary powers — the United States,… and the 15 nations that use the euro,… has been woefully inadequate.

Europe, lacking a common government, has literally been unable to get its act together; each country has been making up its own policy, with little coordination, and proposals for a unified response have gone nowhere.

And the time to act is now. You may think that things can’t get any worse — but they can, and if nothing is done in the next few days, they will.

Think that’s grim? Try the thoughts of John Robb, whose predictions have been right more often than wrong in the three years I’ve been reading him. I’m quoting his entire short post. Go read the rest of his blog:

Steps towards global economic depression and a new global environment — a place where global guerrillas, sub-state networks and groups that aren’t loyal to the nation-state, are the epicenter of competition for the future — can be seen through a cascading collapse in bubbles of faith/legitimacy:

* Small. A belief in the US consumer. US subprime mortgates. US prime mortgages. US commercial real-estate. Consumer credit.
* Big. A belief in the Shadow Banking system. The investment banking system. Hedge funds. Money markets/commercial paper. Financial insurance.
* Bigger. A belief in the global banking system. The global banking system. Global markets.
* Huge. A belief in the US as a global economic power. US treasuries and the dollar. Cascading national bankruptcies.

We are now at the last stage. Watch the price of treasuries.





First Step: Stop Enforcing Evictions

9 10 2008

As the nationwide mortgage crisis puts the squeeze on homeowners, the Cook County sheriff’s office is on pace to evict more people than ever from foreclosed homes.

At least it was until Wednesday, when Sheriff Tom Dart announced he wouldn’t do it anymore.

Dart cited the growing number of evictions that involve rent-paying tenants who suddenly learn their building is in foreclosure because the landlord neglected to pay the mortgage. By refusing to do any foreclosure-related evictions, the hope is that banks will change their policies.

via Sheriff: I will stop enforcing evictions — chicagotribune.com.

This is happening in my old city of Chicago? Who knew.

Wanna know what the Second Step is? Community-based self-defense organizations, ready to resist those who, unlike the apparently decent Sheriff Dart, will continue to kick people out of their homes and apartments.





Ground Noise And Static at subMedia

7 10 2008

1 half hour long documentary from our comrades the Stimulator and Pepper Spray Media, on the recent police repression at the Saint Paul Republican National Convention. Too long to embed via Vodpod, apparently, can be downloaded directly via this link. It’s about 363 MB.

via Ground Noise And Static at subMedia.

And hey – wanna support these folks? Buy a copy of the disc for 15 clams.

Or watch it below, here:





Links Links Everywhere, and A few Bites to Eat

30 09 2008

Links after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »





Suddenly Everyone On Wall Street Is A Socialist

30 09 2008

This piece, from Black Star News, is the only halfway decent review of the incipient crash I’ve seen yet. The real problem with most of the analysis is not that it is particularly wrong, but that the perspectives they find themselves mired in are shortsighted, lacking both realism and moral courage.

You may have noticed that many more Democrats than Republicans voted for the bailout deal. They are correct that failing to bail out wall street can/will result in global economic meltdown, the inability of companies (aka ‘bosses’) to pay their employees, etc.

What they fail (or refuse) to see is that this is an opportunity. A serious one. If employers fail to pay their employees, employees can and should demand increasing levels of control over every aspect of the business operation, including stakes in ownership, to be held communally.

If the mortgage industry, and the shadow economy fails, it should not be mortgage payers who lose their homes, but merely mortgage brokers who lose their shirts.

And if government cannot resolve the situation, which has been brewing for decades, if not since the very dawn of the capitalist era, then we should simply dismiss the predatory politricksters as the irrelevant parasites they are, and use our organized power directly against the bosses who predate even more directly on our labor and time than do the politicians.

Here’s a tantalizing snippet from the piece:

So here they come–all the corporate fascists, hat-in-hand, wanting the American taxpayer to bail them out.

These, the very same arrogant, and compassionless social terrorists who demonized as “socialist” anyone who even implied that maybe a crumb should be set aside for the poor or middle class. “Deregulate. Let the market work. Free us from the nuisance of social protectionism, and we’ll make America great.” But now that their greedy excesses have worked against them, all of a sudden socialism doesn’t look all that bad. In fact, it looks better with every day that passes–as long as we remember to privatize the profit, and only socialize loss.

When the average American is in a financial pinch, the banks don’t just give us money, they make us pay for it–dearly. So why shouldn’t we? Maybe we should give them an open-ended loan at the prevailing rate. Then allow them to pay off the loan by setting up a trust fund in which the banking community must contribute a percentage (to be determined) of their annual gross profits (That’s right, gross profits–we want ours off the top).

We could then use that money to help subsidize social security, universal healthcare, and other programs that benefit the American people. And the beauty of it is, since it’s a business transaction, we can both benefit the people, while at the same time, avoid the “evils” socialism. After all, we’ll be taking their money in the very best capitalist tradition.

And we must be sure to use our leveraged position to its full advantage. Therefore, as part of the formula that determines how much of their profits must go into this trust fund, we should take into account the minimum wage, the cost of living, and the level of disparity between the average worker and the compensation of top tier corporate executives (after all, if corporations can afford to pay their CEOs exorbitant salaries and benefits, certainly they should be able to contribute more towards their public debt).

Suddenly Everyone On Wall Street Is A Socialist.





Documentary on RNC Repression in Saint Paul, MN

26 09 2008

This would appear to be the first documentary (rather than news piece or raw footage) based on the Republican National Convention and the police crackdown on peaceful protests, from less than a month ago. Locally produced, and well worth a watch. Videos embedded after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »





Best RNC Coverage From Inside the Excel Center

8 09 2008

bar none. Via SandenTotten

Part I:

Part II: