* I've been asking a few friends what they thought about Obama's appearance in the wee hours of the morning yesterday at Dover AFB to view the bodies of dead soldiers as they returned home. Granted Bush never did this, but is there an ulterior motive at work here? Is this part of a larger public relations gambit now underway to build support for Obama's "new and improved" Afghanistan policy that is soon to be announced? My friends all said the same thing - it's hype. You know whenever politicians talk about "sacrifices" made by the dead soldiers I can't help but think of weird cults. Has America become a killing culture?
* Jordan and Syria are now overrun with more than four million refugees from Iraq and this is virtually never reported in the US media. The Iraqi citizens are not returning to their war torn country any time soon and the pressure on Jordan and Syria is beyond imagination. Even the once middle class Iraqi refugees are now out of money and life is getting much worse for them.
* The Yongsan neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea is a tragic story of torn down homes and lives ripped apart by the police and right-wing government. I've visited the neighborhood three times and been inspired by the fighting spirit of the families of the five men who were killed by the police for resisting corporate redevelopment. Samsung Corporation and other financial interests are tearing down homes and shops and driving people out with hired goons and the national police so they can build expensive new office and apartment blocks. Yesterday I watched a documentary about the Yongsan situation and highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about what fascism looks like and how the average people of South Korea are fighting back. You can see it here
* Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is calling the current health care deform plan a corporate giveaway and will probably be voting against it. It is likely that most Democrats will hold their nose and vote in favor of it. The Blue Dog Democrats, the so-called fiscal conservatives, have added about $85 billion to the cost of the bill with their gifts to the insurance industry. The "public option" is going to turn out to be just another private insurance policy - more welfare for the corporations.
* Good news? Maybe next time.
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