THE HEADLINES

NATO meeting

OUTGOING U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY TAKES SWIPE AT NATO AS HE HEADS OUT THE DOOR.

(New York Times)

Robert Gates tells European “think tank” audience that NATO has failed to live up to the vision of its founders, that it has deteriorated into a “penny-pinching” agency with the lack of “political will” for effective political action. He seems to have in mind NATO’s over-dependence on the U.S. to carry out its operations, and the lack of support for the current efforts in Afghanistand and Libya.

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AFGHANISTAN: THE “WAR ON TERROR” HAS BECOME A PEOPLE’S WAR AGAINST A FOREIGN OCCUPATION.

(Global Research)

Sociologist James Petras reflects on the continued “accidental” killing of Afghan civilians by NATO forces, operating under the illusion that their targets are “combatants” who “melt into” but yet are distinctive from the mass of the civilian population of the country. With that population in fact strongly sympathetic with the “insurgents,” the Long War will continue as long as the occupiers persist in their occupation. Those Afghans who collaborate with the occupation, along with the occupiers themselves, can only hope for a safe and orderly departure from a country in which victory is not an option.

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STIMULUS OR AUSTERITY? OBAMA DOES ANOTHER VOLTE-FACE ON ECONOMIC POLICY.

(Counterpunch)

Having essentially canned Christina Romer as an economic advisor (when she decided to “spend more time with her family”) in 2010 as Summers/Bernanke/Geithner deficit hawks began to impose austerity measures as essential to “jobs” recovery, the President goes into reelection-panic mode when recent jobs report by Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that austerity is not working as designed; the only thing that is being “generated” economically is more unemployment. Now, Obama chats up news reporters by saying he’s worried about putting “more folks back to work” and considering Romer-like ideas like a cut in the employer contribution to workers’ payroll deductions, creating job stimulus even as it deepens the deficit.

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TORNADO RELIEF IN JOPLIN: COULD A CLOSED BUILDING OF MISSOURI DOT REPLACE ONE OF THE DESTROYED SCHOOLS IN THE CITY?

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The state Superintendent of Schools and the director of the Department of Transportation are considering after the DOT decides to close a district office in Joplin. At least 6 schools in Joplin were destroyed or severely damaged by the tornado that hit on May 22.

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JUDGE USES THE “WHY ME?” DEFENSE IN FILING TO DISMISS JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT CHARGES IN TALLAHASSEE “TAJ MAHAL” CASE.

(St. Petersburg Times)

Paul Hawkes says he was only one of the 15 judges of the 1st District Court of Appeals and that all of them agreed on construction of the controversial $50 million court house. Prosecutors in fact accuse him of such “grievous” personal misconduct as his arrogant insistence that a deputy buy a bottle of vinegar to clean his coffee pot.

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Quote of the day…

British Petroleum is the “responsible party” for its disaster, but BP is actually responsible, by law, to its shareholders, not the injured people in the Gulf. This inherent conflict of interest means Feinberg is nothing more than a well-paid sock puppet for BP. He can be expected to act to minimize liability and financial damages for the “responsible party” by covering up the chemical illness epidemic in the Gulf.

Marine toxicologist Rikki Ott, on failure of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, administered by Kenneth Feinberg, in carrying out its mission of helping make people of the Gulf region “whole” after damages from 2010 oil spill.

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