crony capitalism

Subsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

"You may have heard that 47 million Americans are on food stamps, or as they call it these days, SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What about subsidized lunches for children? Add 32 million. What about school breakfast programs? What about WIC — Women, Infants, and Children? Don’t forget snacks at day care centers. Then there is the Special Milk Program for schools and a Summer Food Service Program. When schools close, the subsidies still flow. But the small farmer, in whose name the farm subsidy programs exist, disappeared after World War II. Only 2% of Americans live on farms. Then who wins? Agribusiness." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSubsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

Subsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

"You may have heard that 47 million Americans are on food stamps, or as they call it these days, SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What about subsidized lunches for children? Add 32 million. What about school breakfast programs? What about WIC — Women, Infants, and Children? Don’t forget snacks at day care centers. Then there is the Special Milk Program for schools and a Summer Food Service Program. When schools close, the subsidies still flow. But the small farmer, in whose name the farm subsidy programs exist, disappeared after World War II. Only 2% of Americans live on farms. Then who wins? Agribusiness." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSubsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

Congress OKs General Atomics deal to sell Reaper drones to France

"The NATO-led air war in Libya in 2011 and the French military intervention in Mali this year have underscored France’s shortage of surveillance drones, which have transformed warfare in the past decade since being introduced on a large-scale in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In justifying the sale, the agency said it is 'vital to the US national interest to assist France to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability' and that the drones would bolster the intelligence and surveillance capability of France while also ensuring American and French forces can operate jointly." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCongress OKs General Atomics deal to sell Reaper drones to France

EU retreats from olive oil ban after wave of ridicule

"Barely a week after it was announced for 'hygiene' and 'consumer protection' purposes, the EU commissioner in charge, Dacian Ciolos, rushed to the same press room to announce he was withdrawing the measure. The proposal would have banned jugs and dipping bowls of olive oil in restaurants from next year and was meant to prevent restaurant-goers from being served any old inferior oil. It had been pushed by big olive-oil producing countries. Critics immediately said it would push small artisan producers of olive oil out of business and was ignoring the fact that fraud mostly takes place before the oil is bottled and not at the restaurant table." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU retreats from olive oil ban after wave of ridicule

All True Journalism is Adversarial

"Last spring, the Monitor learned that the McAllen city government was negotiating with the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison corporation, about building a 1,000-bed jail that would accept federal inmates. The paper didn’t report on the discussions until July 2, in a story that contained the following admission: 'At the city’s request, The Monitor didn’t report the news to avoid tipping off potential competitors and skunking the deal.' Were The Monitor an actual newspaper, rather than a propaganda organ, its editorial board would understand that its job is to disclose things the city government seeks to conceal, especially when taxpayer money is involved." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAll True Journalism is Adversarial

NSA, the secret AT&T spy room, and 2 Israeli companies

"In James Bamford’s 2008 interview, he mentions two Israeli companies, Narus and Verint, that almost nobody knew about. They played a key role in developing and selling the technology that allowed NSA to deploy its PRISM spying program. It’s obvious that these two Israeli companies, Narus and Verint, working for NSA, have been able to divert duplicate mega-tons of data to Israeli intelligence. The government-corporate juggernaut moves ahead. Their rationale—catching terrorists—is, in great part, a cover story to obscure the fact that the State wants control over the lives of all citizens, as it ratchets up the very conditions that provoke rebellion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA, the secret AT&T spy room, and 2 Israeli companies

Internet Fascism and the Surveillance State

"This has been a common historical pattern in the rise of totalitarian States, which have often sought to incorporate large business concerns into their network of power. Indeed, the very notion of 'public-private partnerships' in this sector readily brings to mind the worst aspects of fascist economic systems that have historically existed. The actions of US companies that have cooperated in the NSA’s mass surveillance operations calls into question the 'private' status of these companies. In many ways these companies have acted as an extension of the US government, providing information illegally, in exchange for privileges and intelligence." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternet Fascism and the Surveillance State

Gangs Ruled Prison as For-Profit Model Put Blood on Floor

"More than 130,000 state and federal convicts throughout the U.S. now live in private prisons such as Walnut Grove, as public officials buy into claims that the institutions can deliver profits while preparing inmates for life after release, saving tax dollars and creating jobs. No national data tracks whether the facilities are run as well as public ones, and private-prison lobbyists for years have successfully fought efforts to bring them under federal open-records law. Yet regulatory, court and state records show that the industry has repeatedly experienced the kind of staffing shortages and worker turnover that helped produce years of chaos at Walnut Grove." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGangs Ruled Prison as For-Profit Model Put Blood on Floor

Booz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts

"Over the last decade, much of the company’s growth has come from selling expertise, technology and manpower to the National Security Agency and other federal intelligence agencies. Booz Allen earned $1.3 billion, 23 percent of the company’s total revenue, from intelligence work during its most recent fiscal year. The government has sharply increased spending on high-tech intelligence gathering since 2001, and both the Bush and Obama administrations have chosen to rely on private contractors like Booz Allen for much of the resulting work. Thousands of people formerly employed by the government now do essentially the same work for private companies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBooz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts

Insider Speaks About Booz Allen, The Employer of Edward Snowden

"'If I was a little younger and a little crazier that would have been me. I know exactly why he did it,' was the comment that a former long-time Booz Allen Hamilton employee greeted me with, when I put a phone call into him to get his take on the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen. My source had previously told me, before he left, that he was leaving Booz Allen because security at the firm was getting oppressive. My source tells me that Booz Allen always had important USG contracts, but they really picked up when the Carlyle Group bought Booz Allen. That's when you really started to see the Penatgon and CIA contracts flow in, he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInsider Speaks About Booz Allen, The Employer of Edward Snowden