United States News Digest

Schwarzenegger to California Poor: Sorry, But I Must Kill You

May 14 (EIRNS)—Once again, the governor of California has shown his murderous side, in service of the bankrupt financial networks in London which control him, through his fascist puppet-master, George Shultz. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his revised budget today, proposing deeper cuts to health care and social programs for the poor than he had previously called for, even while acknowledging that those on the lower end of family-income brackets require more aid, due to the collapse of the state's economy.

"I know this is going to be very difficult," he said. "This is why I had a hard time to make those cuts. But the absolute bottom line is we cannot spend money that we do not have." This is the same lying formulation he has used each time he has wielded the budget ax, each time he has brought it down on the heads of the poor, elderly, and disabled. Citing "fiscal responsibility" as his paramount concern, he has been slashing away at programs designed to protect the most vulnerable members of society, a segment which has been rapidly growing since he became governor.

Among the new cuts he has proposed are: limiting Medi-Cal eligibility to families making 61% of the Federal minimum wage (due to part-time work), i.e., only the most destitute among working families will be covered by this health insurance; no cost-of-living increase for seniors, the blind, and the disabled, despite the galloping inflation—this affects 1.3 million people; at least $4.8 billion in cuts in education; and a 10% cut to pay doctors, hospitals, and health-care providers who take care of the poor, a cut which will begin in July, and which will result in a dramatic decrease in the numbers of such providers who will take up the care of the poor.

Schwarzenegger's announcement coincided with demonstrations today at the state Capitol. The California Teachers Association held protests in Sacramento, and at 21 other locations. College students also demonstrated, as the California State University trustees are considering a 10% tuition hike. Anti-tax groups are also planning demonstrations.

If Obama's So Confident, Why the Desperate Behavior?

May 18 (EIRNS)—Two recent incidents suggest that, despite the lying media hype that Sen. Barack Obama has already secured the Democratic nomination, Obama backers and some Howard "Scream" Dean people are now resorting to desperate tactics, including heavy-handed pressure and outright bribery, to try to stop Sen. Hillary Clinton's momentum, going into the final series of primary elections.

Sources close to the Obama camp have reported that the May 14 endorsement by former Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, came at a heavy price. According to one source, Edwards was put under tremendous pressure to endorse Obama now, or face total isolation by the Obama camp. A second source added that "private donors" close to Obama made large contributions to an Edwards anti-poverty project, to buy the joss endorsement. Just days before Hillary Clinton's landslide victory in the West Virginia primary May 13, Edwards announced his intentions to remain neutral until the nomination had been finalized. Then, on May 14, he endorsed Obama. The day before the endorsement, Edwards was in Philadelphia to launch a new anti-poverty campaign, called "Half-in-Ten," whose avowed goal is to cut poverty in America in half in the next decade. Two of the groups participating in the coalition, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and ACORN, are almost exclusively funded by George Soros, and his Democracy Alliance of billionaires. Soros launched the Democracy Alliance in April 2005, in an effort to assure Anglo-Dutch financier domination over the Democratic Party, through pooling of contributions of 70 multi-millionaires and billionaires, into a targeted list of Democratic Party organizations and think tanks. Among the members of the Soros group is Fred Baron, a wealthy Dallas attorney who was finance chairman for John Edwards' failed 2004 Presidential campaign.

In another move that showed signs more of desperation than confidence, Obama backers induced Prince George's County (Maryland) Executive Jack Johnson, a Clinton delegate, to announce, on May 14, that he was switching his convention vote to Obama—despite the fact that, under Party rules, elected delegates are bound to the candidate they were elected to represent in the primary—on the first convention ballot. Both the Maryland Democratic Party and Howard Scream's DNC made no effort to shoot down Johnson's defection.

The thug tactics being used by Obama backers in recent days are a reflection of growing concern that, coming out of Clinton's landslide victory in West Virginia, and the overwhelming support that she is winning among blue-collar voters, and other constituents in the lower 80% income bracket, it may be impossible to settle the nomination battle before the August nominating convention. Lyndon LaRouche has emphasized that, if Clinton continues her active candidacy into the convention, she will win the nomination, and then go on to soundly defeat Republican John McCain in November. LaRouche has warned for months that Obama is not electable, and that City of London financial circles have backed Obama only to knock Clinton out of the race. Ultimately, they intend to assure that he is never elected President. Increasingly, Obama backers in many states around the country, are coming to see that LaRouche's warnings were correct. (See this week's InDepth for "After West Virginia: How To Move a Mountain," by Debra Hanania-Freeman.)

Murdoch's British Menticide Machine Stalled in New York

May 12 (EIRNS)—British Empire media mogul Rupert Murdoch has been at least momentarily stalled in his drive to further acquire U.S. media outlets. Only last week, Murdoch had said that talks were in a "pretty advanced stage" that would have allowed his News Corp. to purchase the Long Island daily Newsday for $580 million, even though a higher bid was on the table from the New York cable provider Cablevision. A joint release from Cablevision and Newsday's owner, the Tribune Co., announced the Cablevision buy for $630 million.

That still leaves Murdoch with the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, two New York metro television stations that carry his Fox News and other propaganda (which now include the mouthings of "political analyst" Karl Rove), and several community newspapers.

Even that concentration of local media under one ownership has required Murdoch to apply for a waiver from the weakened Federal Communications Commission. The current Bush/Cheney-appointed commission is expected to do its duty and comply with Murdoch's demand. News Corp. is, after all, the world's largest owner of English-language media outlets, including MySpace and 20th Century Fox.

Dorgan Hearing Implicates State Department in Iraqi Corruption

May 12 (EIRNS)—The team that the State Department assembled in Iraq to coordinate the department's anti-corruption efforts in that country "soon discovered that the Department of State's actual policies not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government." Arthur Brennan, a retired New Hampshire Superior Court judge, made that statement today, to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, chaired by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). Brennan had been hired in July 2007 by State to head its Office of Accountability and Transparency, which was set up to provide training and support to the Iraqi government's anti-corruption agencies. Brennan added that the OAT was little more than "window dressing," and its efforts were ignored and demeaned by State, the Department of Justice, and the Iraqi government. He charged that the State Department "has negligently, recklessly, and sometimes intentionally misled the U.S. Congress, the American people, and the people of Iraq." The State Department has, in a sense "contributed to the killing and maiming of U.S. soldiers; the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians; the bolstering of illegal militias, insurgents and al-Qaeda and the enrichment and empowerment of the thieves controlling some of the Iraqi ministries."