The military officer who served as a judge was not impartial. Manning was convicted for obeying the U.S. Military Code and doing his sworn duty to report war crimes. This is a political trial, which is similar to the conviction of Bukarin as a capitalist spy. We have a lot of tyrannical policies inside of Western governments. The U.S. accuses Manning of aiding the enemy when the U.S. government itself is supporting al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in Syria. These rebels want to overthrow the Syrian government. Bloomberg reported that Al-Qaeda backers in Afghanistan are receiving U.S. military contracts. We know that the justice system is corrupt, especially against human beings of color. Many judges and prosecutors do not have an interest in innocence or guilt. For some of them, the goal is conviction and nothing else. A lot of human beings are placed into prisons. Manning should have had a real trial where jurors might have weighed the evidence. Manning obeyed the Military Code. His action is not trying to harm the public interest. Even in American courts now, exculpatory evidence is not allowed in the courtroom. If you are poor, you are in deep trouble in the judicial system. Bradley Manning is one of the many political prisoners in the 21st century. A military judge pronounced U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning guilty of espionage and other offenses. Manning gave much information to Wikileaks like over 700,000 diplomatic cables and other documents (like a video of U.S. troops murdering a dozen or so innocent Iraqis for the crime of meeting on a street corner). Manning testified that human beings in America and all over the world have the right to know what was being done in their names. Manning was falsely accused of aiding the enemy. Manning has shown documents that outlined vast abyss of treachery, lies, high crimes, and murders committed by the U.S. civilian and military officials. There are many modern political prisoners in America. We know about Mumia Abu Jamal, of Jamil Al Amin, of Leonard Peltier, of Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, of the Cuban Five, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Russell “Maroon” Shoatz and many, many others. Horrendous conditions in the prison industrial complex continues today even after the days of Huey Newton and George Jackson. That is why there must be amnesty and freedom for all U.S. prison prisoners. The war on terror has been an abomination for almost 15 years. When it started, I was not 18 years. Now, I am almost 30 years old. I understand the truth now. The truth is that we have every right to oppose Western imperialism. Racial profiling is against human rights and it is against the constitutional right of banning unreasonable search and seizures. Case closed. Stop and frisk effects mostly innocent human beings in NYC in the realm of almost 90%. You should be judged on the content of your character not on the color of your skin. No, I will never let pundits make me feel ashamed of being black. I will never be made a scapegoat for the great crimes of Western society. Most of us are not criminals. We are humans. We should be treated just the same. If these journalists who love racial profiling think like this, then imagine what they think in private. Injustice should be opposed and justice ought to reign in the world. “We’ve got to talk about the War on Drugs and decriminalization and legalization; we’ve got to talk about the surveillance state, where the government at the local and the national level profiles you every day of your life,” said South Carolina activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray. “We’ve got to talk about the idea that the only people that are being required to show something to prove that they are not guilty of something are people of color in this country – and we’ve got to figure out a way to fight back.”
We still have serious economic issues in the world. The unemployment rate is down to 7.4 percent. The total number of jobs created, however, was short of most projections by economists, and at 162,000 in all, it was the fewest added since March. The U.S. economy and the American people are suffering. Many in the media omit this reality from the public. The annual rate of 1.7 percent of real GDP growth for the second quarter of 2013 was presented as optimistically as there is an acceleration in real GDP from the first quarter's 1.1 percent growth rate. The reason for the acceleration in growth in the first quarter's estimate was revised down from 1.8 percent to 1.1 percent. The second quarter GDP growth rate is also subject to revised estimates. The number could be lower in the final number. The reason that real GDP is positive is that nominal GDP is deflated with an understated measure of inflation. The measure of inflation has been manipulated in order to deny Social Security recipients cost of living adjustments. Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that if deflated by previous official methodology, GDP growth has been negative since the downturn in 2007. In other words, the “recovery” has been exaggerated. There have been discussions about the Federal Reserve's Quantitative Easing policy. The FED is trying to keep interest rates low as a means to stimulate business investment and the housing market. This is a cover story for the real purpose of QE. QE is being grown to drive up and keep high the debt related derivatives instruments and the higher prices raise the values of the banks' balance sheets. This makes the banks look more solvent or less insolvent. The FED has continued QE for years. This policy has failed to massively revive the economy. This is done as a means to hold the banks' collapse at bay in the hopes that the banks would succeed in boosting their earnings sufficiently to get out of trouble. The FED's QE policy has been costly for important areas of the economy. There have been retirees who have been denied interest income. There have been reduced consumer expenditures and GDP growth has slowed. This forced retirees to draw down their savings in order to pay their bills. The value of the U.S. dollar has been under pressure, because of supply of dollars have out grown the demand for dollars. There has been a several fold increase in the number of dollars over the last few years. In order to support bond prices, the Fed has created 1,000 billion new dollars annually over the last several years. To protect the dollar from QE, the Fed and its dependent bullion banks have engaged in ruthless shorting of gold in order to suppress the price of gold. The rapidly rising gold price indicated falling confidence in the dollar, and the Fed feared that this lack of confidence would spread into the currency markets. The FED was involved in many stock market and dollar bubbles. The FED can stop printing money and the bank balance sheets can take a hit. Wealth can be wiped out. One reason why the U.S. economy is having trouble is because jobs have been moved offshore. There is millions of U.S. manufacturing and tradable professional service jobs like software engineering have moved into China, India, and other countries. These nations have wages and salaries that are a fraction of the U.S. Free trade have been exploited by some to allow corporations to turn labor costs into a profits center. This causes a drop in labor costs, it raises profits, and more executives including shareholders have more capital gains. We have a declining U.S. labor forces according to BLS monthly payroll jobs data. The participation rate is not falling because consumer incomes are rising and fewer family members are needed in the work force. The rate is falling because discouraged workers have given up looking for employment and have left the work force. More foreign labor usage in America harms the U.S. consumer market, but executives and shareholders benefit in the short term. When you have employer provided health benefits and Medicare being cut back, then the health care crisis can worsen in the midst of an economic crisis. Some wants banks to fail. Others want taxes to be placed on corporations based on the value added to the product. If corporations create the goods abroad that they market to Americans, they would have a high tax rate. If they create value domestically with US labor, they would have a low tax rate (if not a low tax rate, some benefits). The tax difference could be used to offset the labor cost advantage of offshore production. It would take time, but jobs would come back to the US. Cities, states, and the federal government would slowly see their tax bases rebuilt. Consumer incomes would again rise with productivity, and the economy could be put back together. Ending the war on terror can lower the federal deficit long term. We can add trillions of dollars to the financing of the needs of the U.S. government. Wars benefit no one but a narrow clique of military/security industries as said by experts. Until real solutions are executed, then we will continue to see stagnation not real, radical economic improvements to the economy.
The U.S. Congress approves of the plan that will deal with student loan rates. The bipartisan vote of 392-31 in the House of Representatives has approved a plan that will link student loan interest rates to financial markets via 10 year treasury notes. The plan was originally brought before and approved in the Senate 2 weeks ago. This will eliminate the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans. This could set the stage for student loan interest rates to go higher than current levels. The legislation will go before President Barack Obama. He voiced his support of the measure. He is expected to sign the law. The speed was fast for the bill to be sent in the Senate and then the House. Congress could go into recess soon. Both parties want to ensure that they want to outline the narrative that they are working for people. On the other hand, the bill could indenture millions of young people The bill comes after the expiration of the federal student loan law on July 1. That expiration eliminated the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans. It doubles the interest rates for undergraduates from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. According to the White House, this affected nearly 7.5 million low income students nationwide. Some call the bill as a great measure of educational reform in allowing low income students access to college. Critiques of the bill see things differently. The student loan interest rate figures currently being touted 3.86 percent for undergraduates, 5.41 percent for graduates and 6.4 percent for parents—is only expected to last at best a year. These rates are expected to then rise as the Federal Reserve slowly phases out it near zero interest rates. When this happens, student loans rates are expected to skyrocket. It could hit the limits placed in the legislation: 8.25 percent for undergraduates, 9.5 percent for graduate students and 10.5 percent for parents taking out PLUS loans for their children. All of these are far higher than even the rates locked in after July, which were 6.8 percent for undergraduates and 7.9 percent for undergraduates. There is also every possibility that the limits are pushed even higher by Congress in the years to come. Some low and middle income students will not be able to get any reductions in their interest rate. Previously, if one's parents were in low or even middle income bracket students could receive subsidized Stafford Loan, which had an interest rate of 3.4 percent. Now, both Democrats and Republicans are essentially going to force the interest rate of these same students to nearly triple. There are still rise in tuition costs. According to the Department of Education, average in state tuition costs rose by 6.7 percent between the 2010-11 and 2012-13 academic years. The student loan industry is very profitable. It is profitable for private creditors including the federal government. The student loan debt in America is about $1.1 trillion. That is greater than the national auto and credit card debit combined. It is the largest form of debt in households outside of mortgages. The US government now stands to make $200 billion over 10 years as a direct result of this latest interest rate scheme. The average student graduates with $27,547 (up from $15,073 in 2013 dollars) in debt. One eighth of recent college graduates have more than $50,000 in debt. Moreover, these figures are only the principal amount of loans. With interest rates set to spike, the amount that graduates actually have to pay out is going to balloon and in some cases double or more that what the student borrowed in the first place. Student loan borrowers have increased by 31 percent between 2007 and 2012. 65 percent of all graduates have student loan debt. We have as high as 13.3 unemployment rate among those aged 25-34, which has risen from 7.7 percent in 2007. Many of us are underemployed by working low wage, part time, temporary work or work that has no relation to a degree. Many students and graduates move back into their parents, because of the high student loan debt. Nearly 17 percent of men and 10.4 percent moved back into their parents in 2012 (this is from 13.5 in 2005 for men and 8.1 percent for women in 2005). So, we have cuts possibly to education. We need debt forgiveness and other solutions in dealing with higher education indeed.
We are still marching for Freedom. One such group marching is called the Dream Defenders. These are younger members of the modern civil rights movement. They are courageous and young. All of us are proud of them. This proves that many young males and young females are doing something in the righteous cause of justice. So, the Dream Defenders deserves our support in fighting against racial profiling, SYG, and the corrupt nature of our judicial system. I support them indeed. They have been standing in the Florida capitol as a means to give attention to the evil Stand Your Ground law, the evils of the criminal justice system, and other forms of oppression. They believe in nonviolence. Now, we see that Florida lawmakers want to have hearing this fall on the Stand Your Ground law (which has documented racially biases and it advances vigilantism in society). Racial profiling is wrong since it is against the Fourth Amendment and it judges human beings on the basis on the color of one's skin color solely not on human character. That is immoral. It is a form of discrimination. You can solve crime by dealing with social factors & using a comprehensive approach not stereotyping blacks into a single box. Folks can be angry all you want, but folks have sued the government over this and it is illegal in many areas of America. Racial profiling historically has been enforced in a biased fashion and has contributed to the evils found in the criminal justice system. Activists (with more qualifications than the enemy) have exposed the evils of racial profiling. Phillip Agnew is the executive director of Dream Defenders. He called the House doing this action as a critical first step. Many have called for a review of the law from the President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Rev. Al Sharpton, and of course the courageous Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. The Dream Defenders are made up of real revolutionaries. They want Governor Rick Scott to repeal Stand Your Ground laws. The Dream Defenders came about after the verdict of Trayvon Martin on July 13, 2013. They have a wide spectrum of goals like dealing with racial profiling, ending zero tolerance in schools (since many kids suffer), and having justice for all human beings. It is made up of human beings from across backgrounds. This struggle is similar to the 1963 March on Washington almost 50 years ago. The reason is that then and now, we are battling against economic exploitation, we are battling for more real jobs, and we are still fighting against racial oppression including all forms of discrimination. We are still challenging an oppressive system. One system back then legalized the evils of Jim Crow segregation. The system now advances oligarchy and economic inequality now. The marches of 1963 brought about many legitimate changes in society. Yet, we are finished yet. The dream is not a reality yet in the world. We still have a lot of work to do and we have a long way to go in order for us to experience the Promised Land for real. We must still fight against discrimination. Discrimination is still harming communities nationwide, especially the black community. Also, we should battle against joblessness and poverty. We are still battling against police terror and imperialism. The New Jim Crow (as eloquently mentioned by Sister Michelle Alexander) is still tearing much of the black community (from Black Men, Black Women, and even Black Children). The resurrection of restrictions on voting by new laws has been disgraceful. That is all the more reason for us to march, to speak out, and to have real unifying efforts in making solutions. White supremacy is never omnipotent. The power of the Creator and black human beings are surely more powerful than white supremacy indeed. We have been through tests and exciting events. Not everything will be perfect in life. We are still works in progress as you have eloquently mentioned before. What is most important is how we serve our people filled with altruism and righteousness.
Many in the Republican Party oppose the ACA, because they hate anything ideologically related to the public funding of health care. The ACA has flaws, but even reactionaries are wrong to want to make all health care privatized indeed. The Republicans and their Tea Party allies want to end the Affordable Care Act. They are still disrupting congressional town hall meeting and holding the full faith and credit of the United States in hostage. Even Norman Ornstein (from the conservative AEI) said that the Republican reaction to Obamacare is immature. As Ornstein has commented: “When a law is enacted, representatives who opposed it have some choices (which are not mutually exclusive). They can try to repeal it, which is perfectly acceptable — unless it becomes an effort at grandstanding so overdone that it detracts from other basic responsibilities of governing. They can try to amend it to make it work better — not just perfectly acceptable but desirable, if the goal is to improve a cumbersome law to work better for the betterment of the society and its people...But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation — which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil — is simply unacceptable, even contemptible..." Speaker John Boehner, Senator Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn have fears of their caucus. So, they express words in trying to eliminate all of the components of the Affordable Care Act. We know that much of the GOP has evolved into an authoritarian, reactionary party. They are heavily made up of many laissez faire corporatists and neo-Confederates that want to roll back to the 20th century. Many of them hate the progressive actions from Reconstruction and the civil rights movement. The Republicans have tried to obstruct even legitimate policies. It is hard to repeal Obamacare. We should try to make the health care law better by advocating universal, single payer health care. Reuters reported July 25, that when it comes to implementation of ACA, Republicans and their allies “are mobilizing … to dissuade uninsured Americans from obtaining health coverage.” To even tolerable any American to lack health care (and every other industrialized nation on Earth except America has universal health care) is disgraceful. The status quo is not enough. In 2009, we had high health care costs. In 2009, the statistics were alarming: 18,000 unnecessary U.S. deaths every year, 42% of all adults were either uninsured or underinsured (2007), an estimated 14,000 Americans were losing their health insurance every single year, the health system was rejecting 36% of Americans (12.6 non-elderly adults) who applied for insurance (2008), 46 million Americans (15% of the population) were without health insurance, of which more than 80% were working families. There are reportedly still about 32 million people who don’t have health insurance. Current statistics are still alarming. For Americans who do not know how a bill becomes law (which apparently is most), this is the complex process in brief: Article I of the Constitution states “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” The Congress is charged to: “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for the carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States.” The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It has strengths (like investments in prevention, helping to give affordability to those with a preexisting condition, and handle health care costs), and weaknesses. It is very complex. ACA was filled with compromises since the reactionaries hated universal health insurance period. Even when the Republicans forced compromises, no Republican voted in favor of the ACA. The ACA is not the universal national health care model for Americans. Yet, it is a major achievement and a first step not the final step. The ACA is just a journey toward the final goal which we all seek, which is universal health care for all Americans. We need social justice and economic common sense. ACA’s big provisions take effect Jan. 1, 2014. Already more young people have health insurance, thanks to ACA’s requirement that insurers make coverage available to people under 26. That’s a reminder of benefits the law has already delivered, without the ill effects critics had predicted. Recent news about the Affordable Care Act is genuinely encouraging. Public policy journalist Jonathan Cohn notes that there will be inevitable glitches because of the complexity of the law, but the Obama administration is armed with a host of contingency plans. Many in the GOP have utilized misinformation about the law. Now, we should be fighting for universal health care nationwide. Medicare for all can help. That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said. Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and co-sponsored by 45 other lawmakers, would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else. “No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said. Friedman’s research was commissioned by Physicians for a National Health Program, a nonprofit research and educational organization of more than 18,000 doctors nationwide, which wanted to find out how much a single-payer system, would cost today and how it could be financed.
By Timothy
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