We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Anglo Irish Bank tapes: executives mock Germans amid bailout

Click here to access article by Henry McDonald from The Guardian

Somehow I've managed to miss this story which first appeared at the Independent in Ireland after some whistleblower-leaked recordings were finally published. It is making big news in Europe, while in the US it seems that it only appeared briefly in major business media.

The recordings illustrate how banksters talk and behave with each other while planning their banking schemes to stick the public with their betting losses. What is especially wonderful about this whistleblowing event is that it is another example of people risking their careers, maybe lives, to expose the crimes of our ruling classes.

For more details on this latest banking scandal I suggest you read this, this, and this.