–It may not have been a political assassination, but one resulting from illicit dealings and rather large sums of money made from petty speculation and re-selling government-subsidized items. The opposition is calling for a crack-down on violent crime, but it seems to be the result of other crimes in this case.

–Fisk does some analysis of the recent US vice-presidential debates and the complete lack of understanding of the issues in the Middle East by the media and the public.

“There is a very real danger, fellow citizens, that the Icelandic economy, in the worst case, could be sucked with the banks into the whirlpool and the result could be national bankruptcy.” Prime Minister Geir Haarde said in an address to the nation late Monday.

–Where the Monthly Review group stands in its analysis of the current capitalist crisis. Worth reading if, for no other reason, than to know how to articulate a socialist response.

–Panitch (of Socialist Register fame, among other things) tells us that the bailout was obvious, necessary, the only thing that a state could do, and the wrong direction. We should not be shocked by the bailout, but we should understand that it is the citizens’ responsibility to elect a government and demand a socialist alternative to capitalism if we want to stop these kinds of crises and bailouts.

–Part three of why many Americans do not quite understand the role that they play in the world.

–More connection between Russia and Latin America. The democratic revolution is looking to outside the US sphere of influence.

–More insight into the Conservative government’s anti-public health care stance.
More here from CUPE on the spread of private clinics.

Also see: Economy creates surge in homeless Mass. families | Yahoo News
and: L.A. man kills family, himself over financial woes | Reuters

–This is why the elite are worried about the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela: it has the capacity to spread through solidarity, aid, and socialist policies of development for the poor and working class using wealth generated from natural resources. Democracy, investment in government social programs for the poor, and redistribution mechanisms are the capitalist’s worst nightmare. Good thing this is not just a dream anymore.

–The only openly socialist senator in the US, Bernie Sanders speaks out about the bailout through proposing a great amendment to the 700 Billion dollar bailout of the rich. Scroll to the bottom of the page to watch him address the Senate. You are an inspiration, Bernie!

–Some more analysis of what is currently going on to bailout the US rich and their banks.

–Panitch and Gindin weigh in on the current financial crisis with some proper analysis.

–What amazes me is that if you read the mainstream, corporate media you get the sense that Latin America is in a massive economic and political crisis with non-stop strikes of farmers, dictators taking over, and massive economic crises to rival the US’. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

–Some words of concern about some proposals and the process that the current international organizations have for developing policy for international development from the ITUC.

–The reality is that there are some small differences between the Obama and McCain foreign policy, but they both seem to accept the idea of empire — they just have different conceptions of what that looks like.

–An analysis of where the last 28 years has got us and where the policies came from.

–Democracy? Nope. Not for others.

–Michael Moore puts some ideas forward for socializing aspects of the economy and undoing some of the super finance capital monopolies that were created during the deregulation of wall street mergers.

“The lesson is clear. No grassroots rebellion that focuses on Congress as its battleground, or that counts Republican or Democratic elected officials as its troops, will go anywhere. The government party will hew to the people with the money.”

–The US media does not seem to be able to present more than two positions in a debate or more than one issue at a time. Robert Fisk tries to remind us that there is still a illegal war going on and the media is not doing its job in reminding the electorate of that and the other issues that should be the highlight of the current election campaigns — not whether or not Palin or Biden commit an unusually high number of “gaffes”.

–Reasoned and serious discussion is what is needed here. The international community (through the UN) should be leading this negotiation. It is clearly too delicate for the current US administration to have anything to do with it.