Macy's in New York City on "Black Friday" 2011 (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
WHAT TO DO IN A TIME OF ECONOMIC CRISIS? GO SHOPPING OF COURSE!
(In These Times)
It wasn’t just George W. Bush exhorting Americans after 9/11 to go shopping to show terrorists they cannot disrupt our normal lives. It becomes a standard of “normalcy” itself in a consumerized culture when, despite a disastrously low level of savings and high level of credit card debt, Americans go on yet another shopping binge in the just-finished Christmas season. This behavior is abetted by “enablers” like seductive advertising of consumer products (think Super Bowl ads) and politicians and pundits who see greater spending as an indication of economic recovery (consumer confidence). David Sirota compares this “normalcy bias” in American culture to the behavior of passengers during a Canary Islands crash of two airliners who remained “comfortably” in their seats to be burned up when a fire engulfed the airplane cabin.
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MILITARY INTERVENTION AGAINST SYRIA: ANOTHER “COALITION OF THE WILLING,” ANYONE?
(World Socialist)
As Russia and Chinese at the UN veto a resolution calling for international action against the Bashar al-Assad regime, U.S., British and French leaders call for the same kind of action just rejected by the UN. It seems it is time again, as in 2003, for the western powers (and their small country satellites) to form another “coalition of the willing” among those countries responding to an action designed to destroy a country which stands in the way of regional dominance by these powers and their Sunni Arab allies in the area.
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THE URGE TO PURGE: AUSTERITY AS A FORM OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT.
(Alternet)
Paul Krugman, in article reviewed by Washington Monthly’s Ed Gilgore, points to the tendency among U.S. financial elites to attribute economic woes to the profligate behavior of poorer people, their tendency to spend money unwisely and to manage their affairs poorly. This attitude goes far back in U.S. history, at least back to the 1920s, when Herbert Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury supported allowing the poor to go bankrupt, an experience that would teach them a lesson and improve their ability at self-discipline. The celebration of a “purging” consequence of austerity inflicted on the masses allows the 1% to enjoy their privileges without too much interference of their consciences about the situation of the 99%.
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HOMELAND SECURITY MAY TRUMP INDIAN SOVEREIGNTY IN BIG SKY COUNTRY.
(Indian Country Today)
Montana’s Senator Jon Tester alerts a native American advocacy publication that there is a bill in Congress that would effectively strip tribes with lands along the U.S./Canada border from control over operations in their own tribal lands. This bill would give Homeland Security the authority, without tribal approval, to make any infra-structural changes (like a paved road to help them catch illegal immigrants) they may choose in the name of “national security.”
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SOARING NUMBER OF REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS IN FLORIDA: IS THAT A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING?
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
The number is clear: a 74% rise in numbers of sex offenders in last 5 years. The implications of this are controversial. Some advocates “view with alarm” a rise in a form of criminality. On the “good” side is the fact that there is more vigorous police enforcement against sex offenders. Since this enforcement is based largely on undercover operations, there may be a diminishing returns point being reached, as sex offenders become more cautious. So look for a slowing of the growth in numbers of sex offenders, whether that trend will be deemed as good or bad.
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Quote of the day…
We wish we could have showcased our talents a little bit more, but it is what it is.
Kyle Thompson, coach of science team of Lincoln East High School in Omaha, after a regional competition in Wayne NE to determine which teams would go to nationals in D.C. at which, because of a Nebraska snowstorm, only 4 of 40 invited teams were able to attend.
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We were demoted from ‘citizens’ to ‘consumers’ in that moment when W told us to go shopping to pay for the wars . And that’s where our Rights went. We mortgaged our collective soul for more equity to keep that economy afloat.