THE HEADLINES

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, October 7, 2001 (Photo from Metro UK)

TODAY IS THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN….BUT WHO IS CELEBRATING IT?

(Antiwar.com)

Certainly not President Obama, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign in which peoples’ minds are focused on retaining their jobs and their economic benefits in a recessionary period. While the majority of Americans—and the overwhelming majority of Afghans—oppose continued American military operations there, there apparently is to be at least “4 more years” of war promoted by militarist and defense industry power and the relative indifference of the American people and the political calculation that “Afghans don’t vote” in U.S. elections.

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OCCUPY WALL STREET NOT THE END OF A PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT AGAINST ZOMBIE CAPITALISM—BUT IT’S A HELL OF A GOOD FIRST STEP.

(Counterpunch)

Vijay Prashad surveys the still-evolving movement across the country for capture of the social system to the benefit of the masses of people who are “zombied” or stifled in their efforts to realize their aims of economic and social justice. The much-decried lack of organization and lack of speaking with a “single voice” within the movement is seen by Prashad as actually a sign of its health, what happens within any social movement that deals with conflict within its own ranks in the course of its struggle against the dominant powers. Adoption of immediate demands such as “Timothy Geithner must go!” (as Secretary of the Treasury), when successfully prosecuted, will give momentum to the movement toward its demands for more fundamental and systemic changes.

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JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! HEY CONNECTICUT, IF YOU WANT MORE OF THOSE, JUST FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA.

(Hartford Courant)

Audience at a job summit in Hartford hears that CT, with a “stagnant” employment situation, should follow the example of NC in vigorous efforts to attract high tech industries to their state. Not mentioned, perhaps needless to say, is that high tech jobs tend to be those of lesser pay, whether it’s employment of computer component makers by Apple affiliates in China or it’s back home in the numerous jobs that are now said to be returning to the U.S. after many years of “out-sourcing” to previously low wage Third World countries.

APPLE IN CHINA:

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FEDERAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA CRACKDOWN PROCEEDS IN CALIFORNIA: BUT HOW WILL THIS AFFECT SUCH FACILITIES IN OTHER STATES LIKE COLORADO?

(Denver Post)

Colorado has more such dispensaries per capita than any other state, but marijuana-advocacy groups like Sensible Colorado are noting that the state is (so far) escaping the same kind of aggressive federal drug enforcement. The difference may be that CO, unlike CA, has relatively stringent regulations for medical-marijuana dispensaries, avoiding such issues as the allegations that CA dispensaries are acting as “money laundering” facilities.

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CHANGE IN THE WEATHER: FLORIDA’S “SUNNY DAY BUDGET” DOESN’T LAST VERY LONG.

(Gainesville Sun)

Improving state revenues over the summer led state lawmakers to believe that they might be able to able to balance the state’s budget without further tax increases or cuts in spending. Now, with the economy again lagging and those revenues falling short of expectations, they face again a $2.25 billion deficit and, observing the “read my lips” political reality of no new taxes, set their sights once again on cuts to such vital state services as education and health care. Enjoy your property tax break!

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Quote of the day…

In the 1998 Denzel Washington movie “The Siege,”the United States responds to a series of terrorist attacks with a presidential declaration of martial law and the military occupation of Muslim-populated parts of Brooklyn. Recently published reports show that the real-life occupiers of Brooklyn, the New York City Police Department, have, since 9/11, been engaged in the kind of deep and wide intelligence gathering that would logically precede just such an urban siege.

Glen Ford, describing the way NYPD’s enhanced surveillance has made portions of the city “spots” in which everyone is a suspect of criminal involvement, much like black ghettoes have been treated as such hot spots

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