It's Veterans Day- Turn Out the Lights: That's what our government, to a disgusting extent, has done to the vets. We focus on "Caring for Heroes" posted on the Center for American Progress Action Fund website, which reminds us of three huge sins currrently committed: 1. health care for 'wounded warriors' - as reported, a Spetember GAO report finds that wounded vets are still getting the runaround from the Pentagon and the VA seven months after the Washington Post printed the expose on the neglect at Walter Reed. 2. educating the 'new greatest generation' - instead of receiving full tuition and fees that the G.I. Bill gave veterans of WWII, Iraq and Afghanistan vets receive about $800 a month for college, which is only a fraction of the cost of many colleges, and the administration continues to resist efforts to strengthen it. 3. a 'tsunami' of homeless veterans - of the current homeless population, 25% are veterans, and it the number is expected to grow exponentially. Join us for much, much more, as we attempt to contain our anger and frustration.
Economics 101: We address two mind-gripping articles in this segment: "Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan Revolution" by Mike Whitney, published Nov. 6 in
www.counterpunch , and Paul Craig Roberts' "Dollar's Fall Collapses the American Empire; Bring Those 737 Overseas Military Bases Home!", published November 7 on counterpunch. Whitney explains how it is that the sub-prime mortgage disaster is much worse than it appears, devastating the housing market generally, the secondary market of pension funds, hedge funds and the like holding hundreds of billions in derivatives destined to be down-graded to pennies on the dollar, and investors diverting into foreign markets--$882 billion into China and India last month alone. Whitney also quotes Paul Volker's views of the overall economic situation, and it's quite the opposite of rosy. Anticipating our listeners might appreciate corroboration for such a dismal forecast, Roberts, former Assistant Treasury Secretary under Reagan, opines that the dollar and US power are on their last legs, and if the dollar were not the reserve currency, the American empire along with its wars would disappear overnight. Roberts notes it took the Romans centuries to bring on their own demise, but Bush has finished America in a mere 7 years. He does have a suggesion about turning this mess around, even though of course it won't be followed. A vitally important segment.
The C Word: That would be coup. At home. A topic Sam and I discuss weekly. Without going into detail, Frank Rich's November 11 op-ed, "The Coup at Home" says it all. Commenting on our do-nothing attitude about Musharraf's coup, to most of current Republican presidentail candidates' running for dictator without apology, to Democrat's caving on the Mukasey appointment in support of his contention that a coup has indeed occurred from within, Rich richly rounds out our dark topics. Read it in its entirety. Then weep for times past.
We aim to re-emerge Thursday, November 15. Until then, go to
www.thisnovember5th.com . It's Ron Paul's website. We invite you to explore it. He may be one of the few hopes left.
