On “The acquittal of Casey Anthony“
Hello David,
This is a really excellent and well-written article that goes right to the heart of the matter and thus raises the public consciousness in regard to the media manipulation that we are all being subjected to here every day by the corporate media structure.
Living here in Central Florida, about 70 miles away from Orlando where the trial was held, it was just about impossible to escape from this would-be media-inspired public lynching….
It’s interesting to me just how the news has become the news. The class bias in all of this was made evident by just how impossible it was for the public to escape from this when entering any kind of a professional office here in Central Florida.
Your article does a great service to our further understanding of the class bias at work in news reporting. It also helps to restore our faith and confidence in one another.
Charles K
On “The New York Times and the presumption of guilt“
Thank you for this revealing analysis. I must admit I felt this guy was guilty when this broke out. But I read your analysis then, and now it has (again) come out and stood the test.
Thushara
7 July 2011
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I understand the points made regarding the political advantage that the US administration has taken due to these allegations, but I also find the counter-assumption of guilt on behalf of the maid in the affair somewhat disturbing. So far as I understand, there is DNA evidence supporting the maid’s claim of rape, and simply because she is not “of character” does not therefore mean that she has not been made a victim.
Unless the WSWS has hard evidence that she has actually not been raped, and that her “lies” are not simply the actions of someone disoriented and disturbed by severe sexual abuse, I see no reason to presume the innocence or guilt of either party.
Nicholas D
Scotland
7 July 2011
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“The New York Times and the PROMOTION of guilt” would have been a more apt headline.
Bill H
Australia
7 July 2011
On “US teachers’ union endorses Obama for 2012 election“
Are you serious, after the major cuts to public education? I was reading the rationale for their support for Obama. They have left all social and political credibility at the door. I would love to be there as they explain this to the rank-and-file.
Sekou O
6 July 2011
When the American people elected Obama against the right-wing polices of Bush, they did not want an escalation of the Republican Party’s policies. The facts are mounting that the Democrats have offered no relief from high unemployment whilst pouring billions into the very banks that caused the entire crash of world capitalism and have left millions of families destitute.
Not one government today offers any employment strategy to create full employment, but offers to its people never-ending budget cuts, targeted at cutting social programs for the working class so as to give financial relief to the banks, so they can continue with their financial speculation.
The Democrats since coming to power can always find trillions of dollars for open, unending wars, bailing out the banks and corporate tax cuts, which has been supported by the unions and pseudo-left organizations such as the International Socialist Organization who provide cover for the Democrats.
Unless the working class comes to the conclusion that the capitalist system does not work, then these attacks on their social position will continue to have devastating consequences on their lives and the future generation of mankind, in an era of war with the prospects of nuclear annihilation between the major imperialist powers.
The only alternative to decaying capitalism is socialism, where the trillions of dollars are seized from the financial elite to put the millions of workers back to work. Only the Socialist Equality Party program calls for the end of the capitalist system that has failed society dismally.
Only by studying the program of the Socialist Equality Party and by building a mass socialist party to end the madness of the free market to establish a planned world economy can humanity find true equality and be freed from the dictates of the financial overlords and their government lackeys.
Julian H
Queensland, Australia
8 July 2011
On “The ‘snap back’ in the global art market“
Dear WSWS,
Regarding your current article, “The ‘snap back’ in the global art market,” while this contains some interesting information, it is a little light on analysis. There are two things to be said about this phenomenon. Firstly, those with plutocratic wealth are clearly still (or again) flush with funds. Secondly, and more importantly, they are not putting that wealth into more conventional investment vehicles. Such extremely wealthy people are either well informed (e.g., the hedge fund founders mentioned in the piece) or use advisors whose job it is be so when it comes to investing. If they are shunning the stock and bond markets while again bidding up the price of artworks to stratospheric heights, the reason is that they expect a collapse in these markets. The “snap back” is more than a symptom of the health of these buyers’ fortunes, it is also an index of the fatal weakness (and the expectation of further breakdown) in the global financial system. The art market has never had much to do with art as a spiritual or humanly connected activity, as the careers of Van Gogh and, centuries earlier, Rembrandt make perfectly clear. That the market is now reaching new heights of naked money worship is not especially remarkable. The cataclysm this portends, however, deserves more consideration.
With much gratitude for your excellent work,
Paul V
UK
7 July 2011