On “FBI raids homes of Occupy protesters in Oregon and Washington”
This article is very important. From keeping us off the ballot, to flying drones over our heads, to bashing in our doors, the ruling elite will not tolerate dissent. They say, in effect: “Don’t even think about challenging us!”
This article puts the assault on democratic rights in proper social context, the trademark of wsws.org.
Many thanks,
Ed H
13 August 2012
Hardly surprising to hear this news since of the charges that would be laid against senior Goldman Sachs employers, several would have to be against Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers who are current senior Treasury officials, and the people they brought with them into the Treasury Department.
Jennifer H
15 August 2012
On “Ryan pick marks further shift to the right in US presidential campaign”
Thank you, Patrick Martin, for the succinct but thorough profile of Representative Paul Ryan. I am reminded of how far to the right America has moved in three and one-half short years, due to President Barack Obama.
President Obama was groomed through his Chicago years, and was selected through agreement by both parties to be the nominee of the Democratic Party in 2008 because he and he alone could achieve the neutralizing required, if not the eradication of the critical mass of dissent that was generated during the Bush years (he succeeded). He was the “believing is seeing” candidate then, and remains as much today amongst Obamania “believers”, who are too numerous to discount, but too mesmerized to be awakened.
As in marketing, a successful political strategy is prolonged until fatigue is reached. Obamania is far from deflating because most Obama people haven’t realized their president gravely betrayed them, equaling if not exceeding the immorality and crimes of their erstwhile nemesis George W. Bush. They are deluded, blind, in denial, or simply hypocritical. If my contacts with “Progressives” are any indication, Mr. Obama will secure their vote again. There is an element of adolescent rapture in their excitement.
President Obama moved the pseudo-Left field goal post into Right field and no one noticed. By posturing as extremists, the Tea Party gave Obama cover to move the post into the Right; then the “extremism” of Libertarians and Paulites gave the GOP cover to move the Republican Party further Right, and in doing so Paul Ryan became palatable as vice-presidential nominee (also seeking to satisfy Libertarian, Paulite and Evangelical bases); and the extremism of Representative Paul Ryan will permit the next president and Congress to move Right field entirely out of the stadium.
But whether Obama wins or Romney/Ryan win, behind the curtains awaiting activation has sat the “bipartisan” Ryan plan.... In choosing Ryan, this matter now should be brought to the forefront. It will be the gun held against your head by both candidates if you are a target (unless a crisis, distraction or sudden death delays its timing). As planned, Athens is coming to America via the Ryan blueprint, which, like in previous examples, will be considered overtly “extreme”, thereby giving cover for the next administration to pass most of its recommendations.
But things could be worse. On the morning of August 11, in introducing his vice-presidential running mate to the media, Mr. Romney misspoke. He addressed Representative Paul Ryan as “The next President of the United States.”
Does he know something I don’t?
Michael B
Maine, USA
13 August 2012
On “Letters on The Dark Knight Rises”
I’ve yet to see the third Batman film of the Christopher Nolan series, but doubt I will. Nolan’s effort to make more “real” a character whose central premise is absurd has been humorless, boring and pretentious. That’s about as much as can be said for the first two films…
And I write this not out of any sense of superiority. I’ve followed developments in the Batman series since I was a kid, am familiar with all the different interpretations of the character, how different artists and writers have depicted Batman since he was introduced in 1939. It’s a guilty pleasure and that’s all. Having noted that, I can’t tell you how annoying it has been every time a Christopher Nolan Batman film comes out watching people who really ought to know better attempting to interpret the Bat opus as though it is the Greek classics. Batman is Batman, it’s not great art, it’s not much more than pulp fiction. And there is no denying the reactionary core that the character has had since it was created. Those who can’t address Batman as farce have nothing interesting to say with the character. If Batman isn’t satire, it is nothing. Nolan’s films are a big fat nothing, and I am grateful to see the World Socialist Web Site hitting as hard as it does on this point once again.
I’d also like to concur with the reader who wrote in in support of Alan Moore, whose integrity compelled him to distance himself from the work he did with the Batman character in The Killing Joke. Moore’s own sense of the human value of story and of farce compelled this admission. Maybe one day we’ll see such courage from Christopher Nolan, but I doubt it.
Michael H
Washington, USA
14 August 2012