What wouldn't Clinton do to secure power?

From The Independent :

" ... Of course you have to make compromises to achieve power. But at some point, on some issues, you have to say – no, I can't. I can't execute this mentally disabled black guy. I can't plunge millions of kids into poverty. I can't still insist I was right to back the war in Iraq, when it has killed more than 650,000 Iraqis. The Clintons don't have that gagging reflex.

Instead, they chose to turn themselves into weathervanes, pointing whichever way the winds of mega-power blow them. This meant that on all the great issues of their time – global warming, spiralling inequality, the foolish "war on drugs" – the Clintons fed and fuelled the right. Hillary is following this approach to the letter. While promising in public to "take on the oil companies, the pharmaceutical companies", she is in fact shovelling more of their cash into her campaign than any other candidate, Democrat or Republican. Fortune magazine recently ran an adoring cover story calling her "the candidate of business".

Why did it take us so long to see them for what they are? Partly, it is because the Clintons were blessed with a parade of even greater grotesques as enemies. The right couldn't attack the Clintons on their genuine scandalous behaviour, because they supported it all: the executions, the abolition of benefits, the crackdowns. So they contrived nonsense scandals, like Whitewater and Monicagate. Today, many of them are serving up stale sexism against Hillary: right-wing host Tucker Carlson has announced, "There's something about her that feels castrating, overbearing and scary." ... "

The growing plight of those left homeless by the mortgage crisis in LA

Tent cities spring up in LA

Tibet Protests (BBC)

"I would not be surprised to see an emergency bank holiday announced. That hasn’t happened since Roosevelt."

So who is next? As advisers to Bear Stearns struggle to find a buyer or funding in the next 28 days, Wall Street, the City and the financial district in Tokyo were scrabbling to find out who is the most exposed to Bear Stearns, either through loans or trading positions.

Traders in all three centres were panicking even for those banks not directly exposed to Bear. They feared that the problems experienced at the stricken bank signalled that the credit crisis has deteriorated to a new level.

Yesterday, traders began to look anxiously at the robustness of Lehman Brothers, which, although bigger than Bear, is small compared with JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.

Shares in Lehman dropped 11 per cent yesterday, a far bigger fall than its other rivals, which saw their stock decline by about 3 per cent.

~ from Which bank is going to follow the Bear? ~

'Could Jesus have gotten off on a technicality?'

The Trial of Christ by David K. Breed

" ... Could Jesus have gotten off on a technicality? Mr. Breed, a Missouri attorney, presents the brief for acquittal, and then withdraws his plea--on the basis that Jesus is fulfilling an ancient prophecy, and must die anyway, to save mankind.

He points out major discrepancies between Jewish and Roman legal procedures and the gospel accounts. For instance, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court, would never have met on the Sabbath, nor condemned a man to death on the same day as his trial. Roman law also gave defendants many rights we now take for granted, such as the right to a public trial, and to cross-examine witnesses, which were not followed either.

Why care about this, the ultimate moot point? In particular, the actions of the Sanhedrin in the Gospel narratives were used to inflame anti-Semitism for centuries. This toxic stereotype seeped into every aspect of the Jewish-Christian relationship. (see this book). While Mr. Breed does not address this issue directly, it is implicit in his thesis.

Some will say that Breed's conclusion is undermined by his evidence. However, this book demonstrates that a devout Christian can use Biblical criticism to reinforce their faith, and even renew it. Whether you believe that Jesus was completely historical, or a fable based on ancient memes of a dying god, this book will provide much food for thought. ... "

~ read the book here ~