THE HEADLINES

(DOUG SWORD - Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

“GROWTH MANAGEMENT” REVOCATION IN FLORIDA MAY BE A BAD JOKE IN A STATE IN WHICH VERY LITTLE GROWTH IS OCCURRING.

(Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

This is an observation in Sarasota, a city with a severe recession in new developments, a condition that will not be cured by de-regulation of the building industry; that recovery will await the return of the vigorous market demand for new development that disappeared in the recession.

EAST LIBYAN PEOPLE NOT THRILLED OVER PROSPECT OF FOREIGN GROUND TROOPS TO SUPPORT THEIR REBELLION.

(Reuters)

Public opinion polls show that, by a small plurality, most citizens of Benghazi and other “rebel-held” cities are not in favor of foreign forces in the country, though a majority of them approve of the use of such forces to train rebel forces and to help protect humanitarian relief for the area. If ground troops do come in, they need not expect to see locals throw flowers in their path.

WITH A “DE-STABILIZING” NUDGE FROM THE U.S., SYRIA MAY BE THE NEXT DOMINO TO FALL IN THE “ARAB SPRING.”

(Lalkar Online)

The situation seems similar to that in Libya, where U.S. and other international forces have chosen sides for “democracy” against a “dictator” in the protests that are sweeping that country. As in Libya, the main thing that distinguishes Syria as a dictatorship opposed by foreign forces from those they support (like Bahrain) is that these countries are headed by leaders who do not march in lock step with the imperialist agenda of Western countries.

SPITZER, ASSANGE, NOW STRAUSS-KHAN; NOTICE HOW THOSE OUT OF STEP WITH NEO-LIBERAL DOMINANCE GET FELLED BY SEX SCANDALS?

(Counterpunch)

The head of the International Monetary Fund is under arrest for alleged sexual molestation of a New York hotel maid. Though “SK” supposedly had a reputation as a seducer of women, no such charges came until after he began to make serious moves toward an actual liberalization of the IMF’s notorious “disaster capitalism” practiced against economically ailing countries. One is entitled to suspect that there is more than “coincidence” in the laying of such charges and the public betrayals of neo-liberalism like those of Eliot Spitzer and Julian Assange before him.

POLICE NO LONGER NEED A SEARCH WARRANT TO KNOCK DOWN YOUR DOOR TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE OF A CRIME.

(Chicago Tribune)

The U.S. Supreme Court, in an 8-1 vote (Ginsburg dissenting) rules for police in a Kentucky case in which police pursued a suspect in a drug possession case into an apartment house and knocked loudly on the door of an apartment (not the one the suspect had entered), heard sounds of people within apparently scurrying to destroy evidence, knocked down the door and arrested a man found to be smoking marijuana. Goodbye, 4th amendment.

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Quote of the day…

I don’t like using the word rape as a metaphor, but the charge against the head of the International Monetary Fund is almost a perfect metaphor for the IMF’s role in the world. IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is accused of attempted rape against an African maid in a luxury hotel in New York City. And while the truth of this allegation remains for the legal system to sort out, screwing helpless people over in the Third World (and Eastern Europe: see Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”) is what the IMF is all about.

Matthew Rothschild, on arrest of the head of IMF on sexual assault charges

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