Blood Stains Zimbabwe Diamonds
After a promising discovery, endemic corruption causes hope to fade.
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Retribution for a World Lost in Screens
Source: Truthdig
Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution. She exacted divine punishment on arrogant mortals who believed they could defy the gods, turn themselves into objects of worship and build ruthless systems of power to control the world around them. The price of such hubris was almost always death.
Nemesis, related to the Greek word némein, means “to give what is due.” Our nemesis fast approaches. We will get what we are due. The staggering myopia of our corrupt political and economic elite, which plunder the nation’s wealth for financial speculation and endless war, the mass retreat of citizens into virtual hallucinations, the collapsing edifices around us, which include the ecosystem that sustains life, are ignored for a giddy self-worship. We stare into electronic screens just as Narcissus, besotted with his own reflection, stared into a pool of water until he wasted away and died.
Toward Freedom: Reflections of a Former Editor
When I first edited an issue of Toward Freedom Ronald Reagan was midway through his second term as US President and the Sandinistas were running Nicaragua.
The Real Pirates in Somalia: Washington, Paris and Oslo
Many people seem not to understand that more than half of Somalia consists of the seas around the country. This makes the oceans vital to the survival of the Somali people.
Immigration Economics
Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
Facts or no facts, many people simply do not want to believe that undocumented immigrants coming to this country don’t steal jobs and undermine the American economy. When economic studies come along that challenge their preconceptions, they don’t take kindly to the troublesome conclusions.
Recently, economist Giovanni Peri — an associate professor at the University of California, Davis and visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco — wrote a paper for the Fed summarizing recent research in immigration economics. Evaluating the data, Peri concluded that, “on net, immigrants expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity. Consistent with previous research, there is no evidence that these effects take place at the expense of jobs for workers born in the United States.”
How GOP Insurgents Borrow From the Left to Move America Right
Source: In These Times
In the exceptionally cold and rainy spring of 2009, April 18 was a bright and warm Saturday, and in Bucks County, Pa., about 2,000 people filled the fields of Washington Crossing Historic Park. George Washington had launched the Christmas Night attack across the Delaware River that proved the resolve of the fledgling nation in 1776, and now, it was the site of the first Bucks County Tea Party. People brought lawn chairs, tiny American flags and bold yellow banners with the “Don’t Tread on Me” image from the Revolutionary War.