American Ruling Class

John Kerry, 1971: ‘I Don’t Think U.S. Can Apply Moralism Around The World’

"Taped on Nov 2, 1971. Five months before this show, WFB had taken as his text, for a commencement address at West Point, Mr. Kerry's sensational testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the barbarism of our activities in Vietnam. Neither host nor guest has changed his views since, but there is light as well as heat generated on Vietnam in particular and morality and foreign policy generally." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry, 1971: ‘I Don’t Think U.S. Can Apply Moralism Around The World’

Jon Stewart to McCain: Does war with Syria interrupt video poker time?

"'Is this possible global conflagration interrupting your video poker time?' Stewart mockingly asked McCain, pointing out that the senator has been pushing for the U.S. to attack Syria for a year, only to devote the moment to picking up an imaginary winning hand. Stewart also pointed out that the U.S. has tried seemingly everything with regards to the Middle East: dialogue (every 8 years or so), sanctions, explicit and not-so-explicit rewarding of coups. 'It’s like, even though we’re a superpower, we haven’t figured out that we don’t actually have superpowers,' Stewart said. 'But we just keep jumping out of the building, thinking we’re gonna fly.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJon Stewart to McCain: Does war with Syria interrupt video poker time?

Senators Authorizing Syria Strike Got More Cash From Military-Industrial Complex

"Senators voting Wednesday to authorize a Syria strike received, on average, 83 percent more campaign financing from defense contractors than lawmakers voting against war. Overall, political action committees and employees from defense and intelligence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell International, and others ponied up $1,006,887 to the 17 members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who voted yes or no on the authorization Wednesday, according to an analysis by Maplight, the Berkeley-based nonprofit that performed the inquiry at WIRED’s request." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenators Authorizing Syria Strike Got More Cash From Military-Industrial Complex

Who is the real big bucks bully in the gun control debate?

"For many years, the gun ban lobby has portrayed the National Rifle Association as the big money bully in the gun control debate, but stories published today and yesterday suggest that the real big spender is anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has dumped a wad of cash into thwarting a Coloradorecall election in defense of two Democrats who could get the boot for backing that state’s new gun control laws. Today’s reports say Bloomberg has spent $350,000 against an estimated $100,000 put up by the NRA in the Colorado battle." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWho is the real big bucks bully in the gun control debate?

New documentary puts Donald Rumsfeld on the hotseat about Iraq

"Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld wriggles out of straight answers on the Iraq war in Errol Morris’s new documentary, screening in Venice Wednesday. 'The Unknown Known' takes its title from a 2002 speech Rumsfeld gave to justify the invasion. Asked at the time whether Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, he replied that there are 'things we do not know we don’t know.' In the film, Morris repeatedly attempts to quiz Rumsfeld on this and other decisions taken by a man accused of disastrous mismanagement of the war and condoning policies on interrogation which led to cases of extreme abuse of prisoners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew documentary puts Donald Rumsfeld on the hotseat about Iraq

How “Your” Government Works

"The Obama administration has announced the formation of a panel of “outside experts” to review the NSA’s surveillance practices. And a wide-ranging, diverse collection of experts they are; when it comes to institutional backgrounds and viewpoints, they span the entire spectrum from A to B. They remind me a bit of the space shuttle crew in an episode of The Simpsons: 'They’re a colorful bunch … There’s a mathematician, a different kind of mathematician, and a statistician.' If you think all this insider involvement in policy represents 'regulatory capture,' or the corruption of an originally pristine system by campaign money and lobbyists, you’re missing the point." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow “Your” Government Works

Matt Drudge Breaks Up With Republicans, Joins Libertarians

"Matt Drudge, the founder of the enormously popular conservative news aggregator DrudgeReport.com, tweeted today that since there are no real differences between Democrats and Republicans the only two real political parties are Authoritarians and Libertarians. 'It's now Authoritarian vs Libertarian,' Drudge tweeted. 'Since Democrats vs. Republicans has been obliterated, no real difference between parties...' Drudge also asks his followers why anyone would still vote Republican. 'Who are they?!' he asks. 'Raised taxes; marching us off to war again; approves more NSA snooping.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMatt Drudge Breaks Up With Republicans, Joins Libertarians

David Stockman: The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

"Next week Congress can do far more than stop a feckless Tomahawk barrage on a small country that is already a graveyard of civil war and sectarian slaughter. By voting 'no,' it can trigger the end of the American Imperium—five decades of incessant meddling, bullying, and subversion around the globe that has added precious little to national security but left America fiscally exhausted and morally diminished. Indeed, the tragedy of this vast string of misbegotten interventions is that virtually none of them involved defending the homeland or any tangible, steely-eyed linkages to national security. They were all rooted in ideology." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Stockman: The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

N.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

"A reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was mysteriously cut from a New York Times article published online Monday and in print Tuesday. The first version, published online Monday, quotes an anonymous administration official calling AIPAC the '800-pound gorilla in the room.' The original article, which is still available on The Boston Globe's site, had two paragraphs worth of quotes from officials about the powerful lobbying group's position in the Syria debate. The newer version makes no reference to AIPAC and does not include an editor's note explaining any change." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingN.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

AIPAC comes out for strike on Syria, mentions Iran more often than Syria

"As NJ Senator Robert Menendez said at the Kerry hearing today in the Senate, Syria is about Iran. And it is for AIPAC too. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee broke its silence today, urging a vote for the Syrian strike. AIPAC was lying low. That was what everyone said. So: Who called AIPAC? And: why does Obama need AIPAC? Could it be because AIPAC can get 70 Senators’ signatures on a napkin in 24 hours? Also, if the Tea Party is so 'isolationist,' as the media keep insisting, then why is Marco Rubio gungho on a Syria attack? Does it have anything to do with presidential ambitions?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAIPAC comes out for strike on Syria, mentions Iran more often than Syria