When Lois first interviews the Man of Steel, she asks why he's here, and he responds straight-faced: "I'm here to fight for truth, justice and the American way."

It's the first time Superman himself ever uses the phrase — a bold move considering how cynical the country had become after the Vietnam War and Watergate. That cynicism is reflected in Lois's response: "You're going to end up fighting every elected official in this country!"

Some people are now objecting to the fact that "Superman Returns" omits the phrase. Perry White asks his reporters to find out more about the Man of Steel after his five-year absence.

"Does he still stand for truth, justice, all that stuff?" he says. Right-wing blogs are already red-faced at the slight.   more »

Aki Nawaz is determined to release what is, by anyone's standards, a phenomenally angry album. He says he fully expects a knock on the door from MI5.

As the main component of the band Fun-da-Mental, Nawaz has been producing politically challenging music since 1991 but accepts he is pushing those boundaries further.

The album, All is War (The Benefits of G-had), contains one track which uses the words of Bin Laden issuing "a statement of reason and explanation of impending conflict" and equates him with Che Guevara. Another forensically recreates a suicide bomber at work.

The opening song is a rejection of what Nawaz sees as the hypocrisy and immorality of the west. One supposedly dream-like track predicts the demise of America at the hands of Islam.

Nawaz, a former drummer in the Southern Death Cult, said yesterday: "I have a right to push the boundaries as much as anyone else has, whether it's Ken Loach or Harold Pinter or George Galloway or Neil Young or the Sex Pistols."   more »

Perhaps the nation would be better served if all members of government simply played ring around the rosy or a good hearty game of tag, because this pantomime of a fully functioning system of checks and balances is an insult to those of us who actually believe in democracy.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Constitution has more authority than the urinary expletive, err, Unitary Executive doctrine of the Bush administration. In other words, the Bush fatwa against democracy is again depantsed and shown for the horror that it is.

The court ruled that the secret tribunals set up by the administration's power grab -- so that they can indefinitely hold without trial anyone they wish at a prison camp in Communist Cuba -- was in fact not legal, violating federal and international law.

Yet anyone reading the reports of this decision would think that the Supreme Court had simply bitch-slapped George across his twitching face and back into some limitations on his imagined power.

While that is true to some extent, the real questions around this ruling, however, are once again shuffled to the sidelines of the byte-sized news cycle.   more »

Tel Aviv has signaled not only its intention to bring down the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA), but also its readiness to inflict massive destruction to Gaza’s infrastructure and heavy civilian casualties in order to do so.

Already its assault has involved military raids in the West Bank to seize top Palestinian politicians and lawmakers and a provocative flight by four Israeli fighter planes over the summer palace of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Assad was in residence.

An Army spokeswoman said the flyover was intended as a warning “because the Syrian leadership supports and harbours terrorist leaders, among them Hamas, the kidnappers of the soldier.”

Israel claims that the raid that led to Corporal Gilad Shalit’s capture was masterminded by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, who is exiled in Damascus. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has threatened Meshaal’s assassination.

Such an action would be tantamount to a declaration of war against Syria. This would dovetail with the ongoing efforts by Washington to undermine Assad’s regime and, together with the attacks on the Occupied Territories, ratchet up tensions between the US, Israel and Iran.

Israel has made repeated threats of a military strike against Iran since September last year.   more »

What explains the gullibility of Americans, a gullibility that has mired the US in disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and which promises war with Iran, North Korea and a variety of other targets if neoconservatives continue to have their way?

Part of the explanation is that millions of conservatives are thrilled at the opportunity to display their patriotism [jingoism] and to show their support for their country. Bush’s rhetoric is perfectly designed to appeal to this desire.

"You are with us or against us" elicits a blind and unquestioning response from people determined to wear their patriotism on their sleeves. "You are with us or against us" vaccinates Americans against factual reality and guarantees public acceptance of administration propaganda.

Another part of the explanation is that emotional appeals have grown the stronger as the ability of educated people to differentiate fact from rhetoric declines.

The Bush administration blamed 9/11 on foreign intelligence failures; yet, the administration has convinced about half of the public that mass surveillance of American citizens is the solution!

Many Americans have turned a blind eye to the administration’s illegal and unconstitutional spying on the grounds that, as they themselves are doing nothing wrong, they have nothing to fear. If this is the case, why did our Founding Fathers bother to write the Constitution?   more »

Firstly, it is necessary to dispel a myth: overturning Roe will not ban abortion in America.

This myth of a ban is much more commonly held abroad than in the US, but it has clouded the true picture. The fact is abortion will become a matter for individual states to decide. Some will ban it, some will not.

Abortion will still be legal in most of the US. Just not all of it. In effect then American women - say, in Louisiana - will have to travel to another state - for instance, California - for an abortion.

This is similar to what happens in Ireland today where about 6,000 Irish women travel each year to the UK to terminate their pregnancies.

This, from a pro-choice perspective, is still bad news. Travel for women stuck in poverty will not be as easy as for middle class women. That will create an opening for the horrors of home remedies and back street abortions. It is a clear setback.

But it is not quite the outright disaster that is often depicted. Not least because some states, such as South Dakota, only have one abortion clinic, meaning vast distances must already be travelled for many women in rural areas.   more »

1 JULY

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American Capitalism: Raw, Rampant and Ruthless

Half of Global Car Exhaust Produced in America