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Austerity Chicken

by , posted on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 at 6:23 pm

In the maneuvering to affix blame for the mess that is sequestration, the Republicans in Congress would have us believe this was all the President’s idea to begin with,

while the Obama Administration would have us believe that it was a deal that was never supposed to take effect. Not really. And yet, both sides voted for it. Both sides agreed to play this dangerous game.

And that’s the problem. The debate has never been a question of whether or not we should even be pursuing a politics of austerity in the first place, it has merely been a question of the precise balance of pain that was to be exacted upon those less fortunate than those who will determine our fate.

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Food for Thought: Larry Grossberg on Cultural Studies

by , posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2012 at 9:00 am

“For me, cultural studies was always partly a response to the dominant practices of the academy, and the dominant practices of knowledge production. … It seemed to me that cultural studies was an attempt to find a different way to be an intellectual, a different way of bringing politics into the academy, and a different way of producing knowledge.” — Larry Grossberg

This video is a preview of a full length conversation with Larry Grossberg, an internationally renowned scholar of cultural studies as well as popular culture, conducted by University of Ottawa professor Boulou Ebanda de B’béri and his research assistant Michael Audette-Longo.

Part 1: Cultural studies as a specific project
Part 2: Discussion on articulation
Part 3: Discussion on past and present projects
Part 4: Discussion on modernity

The full-length conversation can be found after the jump.

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Britain’s Unions Bring London to a Standstill

by , posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2012 at 7:09 pm

from The Real News Network

One hundred thousand workers march on the capital as unions warn austerity isn’t working and threaten a general strike for the first time since 1926,

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The Tea Party’s—and Mitt Romney’s—Brand of Capitalism

by , posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

This short video clip features a comment made by Ed Schultz on Friday while in Freeport, Illinois, broadcasting live from Bainport, the site of the protest by Sensata workers and their allies over the closing of the profitable plant by Bain Capital in order to move it to China.

Ed’s comment was a simple and straightforward one: “I’m a capitalist, but I think you can cross the line between being being a capitalist and being a greedy son of a gun that hurts middle class families across America.”

The video was shot, however, by a tea party activist by the name of Ulysses S. Arn, who describes himself as “the conservative movements warrior poet.” He labeled it: “Laugher of the Week: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz ‘I’m a Capitalist'”.

Apparently conservatives like Arn think it’s laughable for a capitalist to believe that any such lines can be crossed. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that Mitt Romney thinks the rules don’t apply to people like him, either.

Perhaps it’s time for us to start calling “free market” ideologues “laissez-faire capitalists” once again, and remind ourselves why we came to the conclusion that a regulated marketplace was needed in the first place.

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Bain-owned Sensata factory workers plead with Romney to stop plan that will send their jobs to China

by , posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 10:50 am

from The Young Turks (Current)

Michael Shure talks to Dave Johnson about Sensata Technologies, a Bain Capital-owned Illinois auto parts factory scheduled to have all its work exported to China.

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Six Arrested in Illinois Protesting Bain Capital’s Plan to Close Sensata Plant, Move Jobs To China

by , posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 4:30 pm

from Democracy Now!

We turn now to Freeport, Illinois, where more people have been arrested protesting plans by Mitt Romney’s former company, Bain Capital, to shut the Sensata Technologies plant and move operations to China — a loss of 170 American jobs. On Wednesday, six people were arrested in the lobby of the plant during a sit-in demanding full severance pay for those who will lose their jobs. Last month, Senata workers set up an encampment called “Bainport” across the street from the facility to protest the company’s plan to close the plant. Last week, three protesters were arrested for blocking the path of trucks leaving the plant in an effort to stop the removal of equipment from their workplace. To find out more about the “Bainport” protest, we speak to Tom Gaulrapp, who has worked at the Sensata Technologies plant for 33 years. His last day of work at Sensata is November 5, one day before the election. The protesters have invited Romney to visit “Bainport” to address their situation.

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We’re all going to die and no-one’s talking about it

by , posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 4:15 pm

from The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann (RT)

The Human Race may very well die out – and no one is talking about it. The fact that we’ve now gone through three Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates – and not once has global climate change been brought up – should be, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, an “Alarm bell in the night” for all of us. Especially because this last September was the hottest September ever recorded in the civilized history of the human race. Not only that – this last September produced the smallest amount of Arctic ice ever recorded in the civilized history of the human race.

Our planet is rapidly changing – scientists across the world are freaking out – farmers are getting hysterical and, in many countries, committing suicide in mass numbers – and yet our two Presidential candidates are fighting about who’s going to pump more carbon pollution into the atmosphere: That would have been the perfect time for Candy Crowley to chime in an say – “Hey, guys what about the climate change crisis that’s being worsened by all of this drilling?” But she didn’t – and then Romney bashed the President over not approving the Keystone XL pipeline…Actually the President DID approve the Keystone pipeline – at least a large portion of it – and he’ll likely approve the rest if he wins a second term.

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Are Big Banks Too Big to Regulate?

by , posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

from The Real News Network

Michael Greenberger: If somebody understood the economic issues and explained them to the American people, you could easily be elected president by saying you’re going to put an end to the Wall Street hijinks

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Mary Jo Lost Her Job at Sensata Because of Bain Capital. She’s Got a Few Words for Mitt Romney

by , posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 at 7:08 pm

from MoveOn.org

Sensata worker Mary Jo Kerr lost her job due to Bain’s outsourcing to China. She’s got a question for Mitt Romney.

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“Global Noise” Protests Against Austerity and Debt Spread Worldwide

by , posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 at 7:48 am

from The Real News Network

Occupy Wall Street targets Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, other economic elite

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