Greetings, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™!
We have another jam-packed edition this week--so much injustice and outrage; so little time! Here are this week’s top stories:
Please be sure to check our “Sign here!” department for important actions ...
... ... Help stop guestworker abuse!
From AlterNet:
... ... Iraq's forgotten refugees
... ... Christian “right” recruiting techniques
... ... April 24 is Equal Pay Day--an anti-holiday that marks how far into 2007 a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned last year.
... ... Network hosting attorney scandal also hosted Ohio's 2004 election results. Ooh, what a co-inky-dink ... NOT!
... ... The failure of abstinence-only sex-ed underscores the failure of abstinence-only sex-ed. Frankly, we'd like to see accurate, science-based sex-ed to give kids a chance to understand what they'd be getting into and to defend themselves.
... ... Harry Reid finally admits it: Iraq is lost. Well, duh. Why, then, is our Congress still handing over our hard-earned tax money to the chimposter conman-in-thief to run his little war-war?
... ... The privatization--also known as corporate THEFT--of our water
... ... Limbaugh plays “Barack the Magic Negro” ... and he's still on the air?!??
... ... Southern school holds first black-white interracial prom ... yes, in 2007! Guess they wanted to distance themselves from the hateful, racist likes of Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh ....
... ... Yeltsin: obit of a drunken train wreck of a leader
... ... Recent efforts to limit women's control of their bodies doesn't end with abortion. There is also a recent decision from the FDA regarding a pill that would eliminate menstruation.
... ... Woo HOO--the GOP's LIES slime MOST AMERICANS (oh, and Harry Reid) by accusing us of NOT supporting the troops because we want them home safe and well NOW. Guess the pubs think that the best way to support the troops is to line them all up and mow them them down with machine gun fire.
... ... Tillman family and Jessica Lynch debunk the Pentagon's lies and hype about their experiences in Iraq.
... ... Homeowner associations put the kibosh on eco-friendly building practices?!??
... ... Iraq: from mission accomplished to mission impossible
... ... GO, DENNIS, GO! Kucinich files articles of impeachment against Dickhead Cheney!
... ... Gonzales is apparently suffering from situational amnesia. In his recent appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was unable to recall anything ... 45 times.
... ... Our government has one royally screwed up notion of justice when it comes to terrorism: we dragnet and jail anyone who looks Middle Easter, guilty or innocent, but we're only too happy to set free a KNOWN and CONVICTED terrorist and MASS MURDERER who blew up a Cuban jetliner, killing all of the passengers, all of whom were innocent civilians.
... ... Bush supports the troops by BLAMING them!
... ... Jon Stewart pits the old W against the less old W.
... ... Rove's newest investigator is--you guessed it!--under investigation!
... ... Economist Dean Baker's new book lays waste to the "Reagan Revolution's" unprecedented assault on working Americans' economic security.
... ... Moyers's documentary has put the Beltway Insiders' media on the defensive ... for a change
... ... Fascist America in 10 easy steps? Don't look now because we're already there!
... ... We may never know how much Iraqi oil has been stolen (or how many BILLIONS of “reconstruction” funds, either)
... ... Holding George Tenet's feet to the fire
... ... Cops planted drugs on 92-year-old women they shot dead in botched raid
... ... Get this: George W. Bush receives the Purple Heart? We of The Scallion ask, “WTF?!??”
From the Center for American Progress:
... ... Students in Iraq, who are only too sympathetic with the effects of violence on campuses, held up a banner of solidarity with American students mourning the VA Tech massacre.
... ... The ugly face of union busting
... ... Bush ignores the SCIENTIFIC CONCENSUS that global climate change is manmade ... AGAIN.
... ... World Bank rejects Wolfie's regressive family “planning” “policy,” which made "virtually no reference to sexual and reproductive health."
... ... Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA): “I hope it's your families that suffer” from a terrorist attack. Well! All we of The Scallion can say is, “Ouch!” How very Christian of Rep. Rohrabacher.
... ... First Lady Laura Bush claims that no one suffers from Iraq more than she and President Bush do. Sounds like she's bucking for an after-hours job on the stand-up comedy circuit ....
... ... Dickhead Cheney LIED about the Iraq Study Group report, saying that they had recommended FOR a troop “surge” when, in fact, they had recommended AGAINST more troops!
... ... Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) is shopping using food stamps to "raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget."
... ... White House spokeswoman Dana Perino stated, and we quote, “The Congress does not have oversight over the White House.” Excuse us, but WHAT country is she speaking of here?!?? No WONDER Bush thinks he IS the law--he neither admits nor tolerates the OVERSIGHT or CHECKS and BALANCES instituted by the nation's founding fathers in the Constitution, which, last time we looked, was the LAW OF THE LAND!
... ... Govs. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) and Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) write Defense Secretary Robert Gates "asking for an investigation into reports of rampant sexual abuse against women in the military."
... ... Weekly Standard editor and war hawk Bill Kristol confronted by military wife: "You all don't understand...we are people too."
... ... Exxon Mobile doubled their lobbying expenditures in 2006.
... ... Right-wing bloggers jump on false scandal.
... ... Crazy Old Man John McCain LIES that what's good for the goose ISN'T good for the gander: when Bill CLINTON was President, McCain railed about how essential it was to pull troops out of Haiti “as soon as possible,” meaning IMMEDIATELY; today, he claims that “as soon as possible” means leaving our troops in Iraq indefinitely to rot.
... ... Activists are taking the abortion battle to the state capitols
... ... John Murtha has a point: impeachment might be a way to influence George W. Bush
From DN!
... ... David Halberstam (1934 - 2007): Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and
Author Killed in Car Crash
... ... Small Publications Face Crippling Postal Hike -- Based on Time Warner
Recommendation
... ... Ex-Justice Dept. Attorneys Accuse Bush Admin of Restricting African
American Vote to Favor Republicans
... ... EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Vulture Fund Owner Wins Debt Payment from Zambia -- But
Faces Possible Indictment at Home
... ... Legendary Broadcaster Bill Moyers Returns to Airwaves With Critical Look
at How U.S. News Media Helped Bush Admin Sell the Case for War
... ... "The Most Lawless War of Our Generation" - Fmr. UN Spokesperson on Somalia
... ... 750+ Immigrants Detained in "Operation Return To Sender" Raids
... ... Immokalee Tomato Pickers Win Campaign Against McDonalds, Set Sights on Burger King
... ... The Spanish Civil War: as iconicized in Pablo Picasso's painting “Guernica,” American pacifists--men and women--volunteered to fight the fascist General Franco and Hitler and the Italian fascists. These courageous souls joined with the Spanish and their international allies because they knew that placating the fascism would lead to WW II. Puts the lie to the right wing-nut argument that “pacifism = placation and inaction,” doncha think?
From Media Savvy:
... ... Bill Moyers's "Buying the War" is a blistering indictment of how journalists failed in the months before the Iraq war is essential viewing for explaining how punditry often overshadows journalism on television. (Editor's note: the Media Savvy entry in our information clearinghouse section features a link to the program--you can't miss it because we've marked it in nice shiny bold RED)
... ... Millionaire Mort Zuckerman sounded like a man of the people last week in his Pulitzer victory speech for the Daily News' reporting on sick 9/11 first responders. But the journalist who did most of that reporting, Juan Gonzalez, was conspicuously absent from both the party and the speeches. (Editor's note: Juan Gonzalez is also Amy Goodman's co-host on DN!)
... ... MyDD suggests resolutions you can introduce and support in your local Democratic club, county central committee, and state Democratic Party caucuses to help bring about constructive change.
... ... Times Co. investors rebuke the company by withholding 43% of their votes
... ... Mergers: they're what's for dinner
... ... A bill introduced in Congress on April 26th, aims to overturn a controversial royalty fee increase that Internet radio advocates say threatens to cripple their services.
... ... Rush “The Magic Negro” Limbaugh has obviously learned nothing from the outrage and anger unleashed by Don Imus' hateful on-air remarks.
... ... Independent journalist Josh Wolf recently made headlines for spending more than 7 months in federal prison for his refusal to hand over video of a protest to authorities. Wolf is an anarchist activist and a video journalist based in the Bay Area of California.
... ... At least two major publications - The New York Post and People - digitally obscured a portion of a photo from the Virginia Tech shootings. The concern about the photograph was not the shocking amount of blood, but whether the student's penis was visible.
... ... A changed news culture has let several important investigative stories slip through the cracks.
... ... Can you hear this? Starting June 3, AT&T/Cingular Wireless will give a portion of its customers' cell-phone bills each month to support radical right-wing politicians.
... ... Bill Moyers' PBS documentary "Buying the War" shined a harsh light on how the mainstream media -- including the New York Times -- mishandled Iraq war coverage. But beyond a short blurb in its TV listings, the film has not been either reviewed or mentioned in the Times itself.
... ... Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends" aired at least eight segments on a purported "news" story that was actually a parody article written by a publication similar to The Onion.
... ... Soon after AT&T chief Ed Whitacre announced his plans to accept his company's $161 million retirement offer, the phone colossus announced Big Ed's replacement, who wants our world handed to him on a silver platter.
From Greg Palast:
... ... Gonzo is just the fall guy--don't fire him; fire ROVE!!!
... ... NEWS FLASH: Greg will be in town on 3 May to help raise money for Pacifica Radio station WPFW (89.3 FM)
From OilWatchdog:
... ... Exxon proved to the world Thursday that it can make MORE PROFIT ON LESS REVENUE by gouging customers even as it stays intent on preserving oil as the crack cocaine of fuels ... and more!
From HuffPo:
... ... Why didn't George Tenet just resign if he was so mightily displeased with Bush's twisting of the intelligence to lie the nation into war?
We also bring you a follow-up letter to VA Tech's Dr. Stenger and to comments@whitehouse.gov suggesting a REAL solution to school shootings rather than George W. Bush's lame-ass solution (not to mention insulting!) to get a lobotomy and pray.
Scallion Reader D.F. sent in a book review forum invitation from the conservative Cato Institute: seems that the chimposter conman-in-thief junta/regime and its adherents AREN'T conservatives' conservatives. In fact, they're wrecking the country. Gee, it seems to us that, when BOTH sides of the fence are wringing their hands and shaking their fists, the current regime must have their facts and acts eight ways from WRONG.
Lastly but not leastly, Reader T.S. sent in this link to “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”: http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=wherehavealltheleadersgone
We liked it too much to omit it, but, since this week's issue is lengthy enough, we'll leave it here for you to click through rather than just give you a teaser and let you scroll down. The link goes to an excerpt from Lee Iococa's new book, which only goes to show that even a privileged rich white guy likes the “old” America better than the unrecognizable fascist version.
Keep the faith and keep fighting: together, we WILL win our nation back!
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Sign here!
Here are important petitions and other actions we of The Scallion invite our Readers to participate in. Quit bitching—start a revolution!
From AlterNet: STOP Guestworker Abuse!
Dear Reader,
As you're reading this message, tens of thousands of foreign "guestworkers" are being exploited through government-sanctioned programs some have described as "modern-day slavery." The Southern Poverty Law Center is fighting to protect these workers, and today we're passing along their petition demanding that Congress fix this broken system. Please help make a difference by speaking up right now.
Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org
Southern Poverty Law Center
Petition to Stop Guestworker Abuse
Sign our petition and help stop the virtual enslavement and abuse of guestworkers.
If you believe in the American ideals of fairness and human dignity, you'll be appalled at the way tens of thousands of foreign "guestworkers" are being systematically exploited in a government-sanctioned program that many describe as modern-day slavery.
"We had no electricity. The first week we were not paid. The second week we were paid $70."
-- Mexican H-2B worker
"El patron would put a lock on the gate where our trailers were. After a time, they would not let us communicate with other people."
-- Mexican H-2A tomato worker
"I felt like an animal without claws -- defenseless. It is the same as slavery."
-- Dominican H-2B hotel worker
These are the workers, mostly poor Latinos, who are lured here by U.S. businesses with promises of decent jobs only to be cheated out of their wages; forced to live in squalid conditions; and denied medical benefits for injuries. If the workers complain, they face deportation, blacklisting, and other forms of retaliation.
We've documented the abuses in a new report -- Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States -- and are filing lawsuits against the most abusive employers.
But there is an ominous cloud on the horizon.
Right now, President Bush and many in Congress are pushing to create a vast new pool of temporary foreign workers. This will only cause more suffering and injustice -- and it will undermine the rights and wages of American workers as well.
As a nation, we must fix our broken immigration system. But we must not condone a program that abuses and enslaves poor workers from other countries who are lured under false pretenses.
Congress has the opportunity to right this terrible wrong. But lawmakers will act only if the American people speak out strongly against this moral outrage.
You can make a difference. Please sign our petition to stop guestworker abuse.
AlterNet does not share, sell, or rent our subscribers' addresses.
Occasionally we do send out announcements or offers
we think our readers would find interesting or useful.
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From the mailbag
Reader D.F. sent in this book review forum invitation from the conservative Cato Institute:
The Cato Institute invites you to a Book Forum
Invasion of the Party Snatchers
How the Holy-Rollers and the
Neo-Cons Destroyed the GOP
Featuring the author
Victor Gold
Vic Gold was deputy press secretary for Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign, which launched the conservative revolution in the Republican Party. He went on to collaborate with President George H. W. Bush on his autobiography and to coauthor a satirical novel with Lynne Cheney. But today, he says, the Republican Party is run by people Barry Goldwater wouldn't recognize--some of whom are identified in his polemical subtitle. His new book is a lively jeremiad against "a fiscally irresponsible, ever-expanding federal government," a messianic foreign policy, a theocratic view of church and state, and a Republican Party that has accepted all those unconservative ideas. Join us to hear Vic Gold discuss the war for the soul of the GOP and the prospects for restoring its commitment to limited government and a constrained role for politics.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Noon
(Luncheon to Follow)
Cato events, unless otherwise noted, are free of charge.
To register, visit www.cato.org, e-mail events@cato.org,
fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by noon, Wednesday, May 9.
News media inquiries only (no registrations), please call (202) 789-5200.
If you cannot make it to the Cato Institute, watch this Forum live online at www.cato.org.
Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
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Take just a little piece of our minds
New! We of The Scallion plan to dedicate this new section to letters to editors, public officials, and others from Scallion staffers and readers.
Here is a follow-up letter that one of our staffers sent to the president of VA Tech proposing a better solution than George W. Bush's suggestion to leave your brain at home and have a good pray instead:
Dear Dr. Stenger,
Today on the radio, I heard one of the VT massacre victim's mothers honoring her daughter at her untimely funeral. All the lady could say was how grateful she was to have had the time she did with her daughter.
This really brings home just how unnatural it is for a parent to survive his or her child, be the cause of death illness, accident, or violence.
Last week on the radio, I heard George W. Bush's solution to the VT massacre: we can never understand these things, so the only thing we can do is to pray to God. In other words, America, just shut off your brain. Get a lobotomy and turn your life over to the "religious" "right" to run -- let them do all the thinking for you.
Personally, I find that solution patently unacceptable.
In fact, I find it to be yet more proof positive that Mr. Bush not only is NOT compassionate but that he is downright contemptuous of those with whom he doesn't deign to identify (e.g., those who are less wealthy and privileged than he is).
Let me offer a suggestion that perhaps you might share with Mr. Bush. If he is serious about being "compassionate" (he's certainly no conservative), then this would be a golden opportunity to put his money where his mouth is.
In the Department of Defense, employees are required to take annual security training. This training material includes a number of signs and symptoms that helps honest employees to spot potential spies in their organizations. These sign-and-symptom profiles include a number of innocuous occurrences, such as staying late or coming in on weekends, carrying a briefcase home every day, etc. However, the signs and symptoms include some irrefutable danger signals: for example, red flags should go up whenever any employee who has received security training deliberately tries to access classified information that he or she does not have a formal need to know. These signs and symptoms have only been added to DoD security training in recent years, after the debacles with Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen.
It seems to me that universities like VT could use the DoD security training example to create annual safety briefings for their students. Naturally, the profiles will include innocuous traits like pathological shyness and dark and/or disturbing writings (I and many other engineers whom I know survived these phases throughout high school and college). But what if we could identify and teach the red flag danger signals? Of course, such a system wouldn't be perfect. Of course, it wouldn't catch every school shooter. But perhaps it would catch just one. Wouldn't it be worth potentially saving 30+ lives just to try?
As I see it, the missing piece in the solution I propose is that we as a society have not yet sorted through the psychological wheat and chaff -- we have not yet identified a clear set of red flag danger signals.
Why not propose to Mr. Bush that he find in the federal and/or his own personal budget the modest sum of $1M to fund such a scientific study? If he is truly as concerned as he says he is, he should jump at the chance to implement a solution that is more practical than mere prayer alone.
After all, God helps those who help themselves.
Best regards -- our thoughts and prayers go with you as you continue through these difficult times.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
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From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From AlterNet
Iraq's Forgotten Refugees
By Dahr Jamail, Tomdispatch.com
The invasion and occupation of Iraq is producing what might be the most severe refugee crisis on the planet, but no one is noticing.
The Secrets of the Christian Right's Recruiting Tactics
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
A look at the cult-like recruiting tactics of the Christian right, including the manipulative and highly successful practice of "love bombing."
Women Catch Up With Men's 2006 Earnings Today
By Heather Boushey, AlterNet
Today is Equal Pay Day -- an anti-holiday that marks how far into 2007 a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned last year.
Culture of Fear: Poetry Professor Becomes Terror Suspect
By Kazim Ali, New America Media
A poetry professor in a small college in the Northeast decides to recycle old manuscripts and becomes an object of suspicion.
Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results
By Steven Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis, Free Press
Did the most powerful Republicans in America have the computer capacity, software skills and electronic infrastructure in place on Election Night 2004 to tamper with the Ohio results to ensure George W. Bush's re-election?
Report Underscores Need for Comprehensive Sex Ed
By Deb Price, Creators Syndicate
A congressionally mandated study that tracked 2,057 kids for several years found that most (51 percent) started having sex regardless of whether they'd been taught "abstinence only."
US Sergeant: Iraq is our Vietnam [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
War can't be won...
Is Paul Wolfowitz' mistress a spy?
By Guest Blogger
Steve Clemons: Probably not, but the scandal raises serious questions about Shaha Riza's security clearance.
U.S. has lost in Iraq
By Joshua Holland
Harry Reid says what should be obvious to all by now ...
Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
The Bush administration is helping multinationals buy U.S. municipal water systems, putting our most important resource in the hands of corporations with no public accountability. Read more
U.S. Border Patrol Bars Canadian Psychotherapist with Drug Research Far in His Past
By Linda Solomon, The Tyee
A Canadian psychotherapist who conducted research with LSD was denied entry to the United States after a border guard Googled his work.
Limbaugh Plays "Barack The Magic Negro" on His Show
By Storm Bear, Daily Kos
And he's still on the air?
Southern School Holds First Prom for Blacks and Whites
By Carmen K. Sisson, Christian Science Monitor
A half century after the Supreme Court ended racial segregation, parents and students in Ashburn, Ga., were still clinging to old ways, holding whites-only and blacks-only dances. This spring, the school finally broke that color barrier.
Words to Die For: The Devil's Dictionary in Iraq
By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
The administration's language for the President's plan in Baghdad creates a "new" plan out of ancient, failed strategies, ignores some of Iraq's recent horrendous past, and strips us of our responsibility for it.
Yeltsin: An Obit of a Drunken, Bloblike Train Wreck of a Revolutionary Leader
By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
With his drunkenness, his perfect and instinctive amorality, his effortless thievery, and his casual use of lethal force, Boris Yeltsin represented a type intimately familiar to all Russians.
How to Control My Body
By Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
Recent efforts to limit women's control of their bodies doesn't end with abortion. There is also a recent decision from the FDA regarding a pill that would eliminate menstruation.
Rep. Clay speaks about Pfc. LaVena Johnson at Tillman/Lynch hearing (UPDATED)
By Philip Barron
The struggle of one service family to uncover the truth can give light to another.
GOP lies attempt to slime Reid -- and most Americans in the process
By Bob Geiger
Republicans imply that most of us don't support troops.
The Property Cops: Homeowner Associations Ban Eco-Friendly Practices
By Stan Cox, AlterNet
Homeowner association regulations often make environmental responsibility impossible by outlawing clotheslines, solar panels -- even gardens. Read more
War in Iraq: From "Mission Accomplished" to Mission Impossible
By Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
Four years after Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, we have 53,000 dead and countless numbers wounded. Yet our president still wonders why we can't create peace out of war.
Iraqis Blame U.S. for "Bloody Wednesday"
By Ali Al-Fadhily, IPS News
Two security plans drawn up by U.S. forces failed dramatically, with a series of bombings last week that killed more than 300 people in Baghdad. Iraqis blame the occupation for the bloodbath.
What Happens After Bush Vetoes the Iraq Spending Bill?
By Erik Leaver, AlterNet
The American public backs a phased withdrawal, like the Democrats are proposing, but Bush isn't listening.
My Father, 9/11 Scapegoat
By Laila Al-Arian, HuffingtonPost.com
My father was arrested over four years ago on trumped-up terrorism charges and was subjected to a six month trial that bordered on the farcical -- though he was acquitted, he's still languishing in jail.
Kucinich Files Articles of Impeachment Against Cheney
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Kucinich may be with the American people and way ahead of the DC curve.
The Curious Case of the Amnesiac Attorney General
By Will Durst, AlterNet
Gonzales is apparently suffering from situational amnesia. In his recent appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was unable to recall anything ... 45 times.
U.S. Frees International Terrorist
By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate
Following the mass slaughter on the Virginia Tech campus, the U.S. government quietly released a convicted terrorist and mass murderer.
Bush Blames the Troops
By Robert Scheer, Truthdig
Blame it on the military but make it look like you're supporting the troops. That's been the convenient gambit of failed emperors throughout history.
Bush '03 v. Bush '07 [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
Jon Stewart pits the old W against the less old W.
Rove's newest investigator is under investigation
By Guest Blogger
David Corn: Corruption everywhere.
What Does a Global Society Look Like? California
By Sergio Bendixen, New America Media
Young people in California are a mirror on the future of what the United States is becoming as a global society.
America Since 1980: A Right-Turn Leading to a Dead End
By Dean Baker, AlterNet
Economist Dean Baker's new book lays waste to the "Reagan Revolution's" unprecedented assault on working Americans' economic security.
After Moyers Iraq Documentary, DC Reporters in Damage-Control Mode
By David Sirota, WorkingForChange.com
In the lead up to and wake of Bill Moyers' much-anticipated mega-dunk on the Washington press corps this week, we are seeing the ugliest side of Beltway culture -- sophistry and damage control.
A call to put presidential debates on YouTube
By Heather Gehlert
Making the Web more democratic ...
Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps
By Naomi Wolf, Chelsea Green Publishing
There are some things common to every state that's made the transition to fascism. Author Naomi Wolf argues that all of them are present in America today. Read more
Olbermann: Rudy Giuliani Exploits Fear for Power and Personal Gain
By Keith Olbermann, Countdown
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself" -- and those who would exploit our fear, for power and for their own personal, selfish, cynical, gain.
Sacrificial Wolfie
By Naomi Klein, The Nation
Let's not repeat the absurd narrative that Wolfowitz's indiscretions have ruined an otherwise laudable antipoverty organization.
Why I Am Not a Moderate Muslim
By Asma Khalid, Christian Science Monitor
I'd rather be considered "orthodox" than "moderate." True orthodoxy is simply the attempt to piously adhere to a religion's tenets.
The End of Internet Radio?
By Aram Sinnreich, Truthdig
A recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board raised royalty rates for online radio broadcasting, which could put the exploing online commercial radio industry right out of business.
Can the Ruling Classes Save the World From Global Warming?
By Doug Henwood, The Nation
Many big businesses are calling for action on global warming, but will their solutions be the changes we need?
Wal-Mart running private intelligence agency to monitor critics
By Joshua Holland
This is not fascism ... no, really.
Colbert: War Czar [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
Bush can't find a taker...
How Much Iraqi Crude Oil is Being Stolen? Mystery of the Missing Meters
By Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch
Nobody really knows how much crude oil is being stolen by corrupt Iraqi officials because, four years after the invasion, the oil meters haven't been fixed.Read more
Former Intelligence Officials Hold Ex-CIA Chief George Tenet's Feet to the Fire
By Former CIA Officers, AlterNet
Former CIA officers write to Tenet: "You were a willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war and you share culpability with Dick Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in Iraq."
Documents Reveal: Cops Planted Pot on 92-Year Old Woman They Killed in Botched Drug Raid
By Rhonda Cook, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta resident Kathryn Johnston's death has finally been exposed to be a case of police coverup in clear example of the insanity of the war on drugs.
Rebecca Walker: Baby Love and Other Observations from Writing While Pregnant
By Rachel Kramer Bussel, SMITH Magazine
Exploring abortion at 14, her rocky relationship with her mother Alice Walker, and the ecstasy of bearing a child at 37, the content of Rebecca Walker's memoir provides fertile ground for this probing interview.
Will Gun-Toting Vigilante Get the Justice He Deserves?
By Susy Buchanan, Intelligence Report
Arizona rancher Roger Barnett became an anti-immigration icon by claiming to have detained 12,000 border-crossers. Then he terrorized a family of U.S. citizens.
Cenk on "What is a liberal?" [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
There's a lot more values and morality than on the other side.
George Bush Receives Purple Heart Award
By Richard Blair
In one of the more ironic stories never to hit the mainstream media, George Bush was recently presented with a Purple Heart
Report: federal contractors owe billions in unpaid taxes
By Joshua Holland
Hope you enjoyed paying yours ...
Social Conservatism As a Coercive Tool Of The State
By Bruce Wilson
Bruce Wilson : Fundamentalism, Stalinism, and Fascism Have Much In Common
Big Pharma hustles healthcare, Working America strikes back
By Cliff Schecter
Cliff Schecter: Labor group calls out one of corporate America's most formidable lobbies.
Flubya [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
Think there're no more laughs on Bush?
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From the Center for American Progress
GOOD NEWS
"Students in Baghdad, where universities have been hard-hit by violence, said they were saddened by last week's massacre at Virginia Tech and hung up a banner to express their solidarity."
STATE WATCH
IOWA: Gov. Chet Culver (D) is expected to sign legislation that would develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
MISSOURI: State House overwhelmingly passes legislation "that would subject abortion clinics to more-stringent regulations."
CIVIL RIGHTS: "Four states are new targets for bans on affirmative-action preferences."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Paul Wolfowitz rewarded Iraq War allies with key positions at World Bank.
AFL-CIO WEBLOG: "The ugly face of union-busting."
BAG NEWS NOTES: Why the lack of pictures in the media of the Iraqi separation wall?
CREW BLOG: "Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) won't resign, setting up legal defense fund and will run for re-election."
DAILY GRILL
"I think it's unfortunate that people who have an impassioned view about a topic don't take the time to afford the President the same respect that they are asking for. The President's record on climate change is very strong."
-- White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, 4/24/07
VERSUS
"There is a debate over whether it's [global warming] manmade or naturally caused."
-- President Bush, 6/26/06, ignoring scientific consensus that global warming is manmade
GOOD NEWS
Executive directors at the World Bank have rejected the draft version of President Paul Wolfowitz's regressive family planning policy, which made "virtually no reference to sexual and reproductive health."
STATE WATCH
ILLINOIS: Number of Chicago public school graduates going on to college rose from 44 percent to 48 percent over the last three years.
MARYLAND: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signs into law several key environmental statutes.
LOUISIANA: African-Americans in New Orleans face mounting discrimination in an ailing housing market.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA): "I hope it's your families that suffer" from a terrorist attack.
AMERICA BLOG: First Lady Laura Bush claims that no one suffers from Iraq more than she and President Bush do.
MY TWO SENSE: CNN's Glen Beck: Iraq withdrawal "would be America's most shameful act of immorality since slavery."
FIREDOGLAKE: "Karl Rove has more than Sheryl Crow to worry about."
DAILY GRILL
"Yesterday, Senator Reid said the troop surge was against the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. That is plainly false. The Iraq Study Group report was explicitly favorable toward a troop surge to secure Baghdad."
-- Vice President Cheney, 4/24/07
VERSUS
"Sustained increases in U.S. troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq."
-- Iraq Study Group report, p. 30
GOOD NEWS
"Television singing talent show 'American Idol' proved its clout as a U.S. cultural phenomenon on Wednesday by raising more than $30 million for young people in Africa and the United States."
STATE WATCH
OREGON: Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) is shopping using food stamps to "raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget."
NEW YORK: Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) plans to introduce legislation to improve abortion access in New York.
CALIFORNIA: "California intends to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency for acting too slowly on the state's plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars."
OKLAHOMA: Gov. Brad Henry (D) is expected to successfully veto recent anti-abortion legislation.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Washington Post columnist David Broder's continuing embarrassment.
RH REALITY CHECK: Today is "National Call-In-Day to support the Freedom of Choice Act."
GLENN GREENWALD: "The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds."
DANGER ROOM: Iraq War Vet Lt. Col. Bob Bateman takes on the Washington Times for its Iraq coverage.
DAILY GRILL
"The Congress does not have oversight over the White House."
-- White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, 3/26/07
VERSUS
"We understand that the Congress has a role to play, which is oversight over the executive branch."
-- Perino, 4/25/07
GOOD NEWS
"A vote in the New Hampshire Senate on Thursday cleared the way for the state to become the fourth to allow civil unions for same-sex couples, and the first to do so without a court order or a pending lawsuit."
STATE WATCH
IOWA: Iowa is poised to become the 18th state "to ban discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the workplace, housing and public accommodations."
ENVIRONMENT: "Lawmakers in at least seven states want to ban ordinary light bulbs in favor of longer-lasting, energy-efficient compact fluorescents."
WOMEN'S RIGHTS: Govs. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) and Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) write Defense Secretary Robert Gates "asking for an investigation into reports of rampant sexual abuse against women in the military."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Weekly Standard editor and war hawk Bill Kristol confronted by military wife: "You all don't understand...we are people too."
DOWN TO EARTH: Exxon Mobile doubled their lobbying expenditures in 2006.
HORSE'S MOUTH: Right-wing bloggers jump on false scandal.
DRUG WAR RANT: U.S drug czar John Walters caught "cooking the books."
DAILY GRILL
"[T]here is progress being made...we've got to at least give this new strategy a chance to succeed."
-- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), 4/26/07, arguing to keep U.S. troops in Iraq
VERSUS
"In my view that does not mean as soon as order is restored to Haiti. It does not mean as soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti. ... As soon as possible means as soon we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives."
-- McCain, 10/6/94, arguing for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Haiti
GOOD NEWS
"Google Inc. said on Sunday it was working with the governments of Arizona, California, Utah and Virginia to make it easier for consumers to search for hard-to-find public information on state sites."
STATE WATCH
MONTANA: "Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) has signed a bill that would allow parents to keep their unmarried children covered under their health insurance policies until the age of 25."
MAINE: Only 18,800 residents have enrolled in a health care plan originally intended to provide universal coverage in Maine.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS: Prompted by the Supreme Court's ban on late-term abortions, "activists on both sides of the abortion battle are aiming their sights at state capitols."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) floats impeachment as "one way to influence the President."
WASHINGTON BABYLON: The Washington Post's Jackson Diehl steers the paper away from reality on Iraq.
MOJO BLOG: Local businesses are blacklisting Brigham Young University students who are protesting Vice President Cheney's commencement speech.
NEWS HOGGERS: Another right-wing blogger pulls his support for President Bush's Iraq policy.
DAILY GRILL
"It was an intelligence problem worldwide. We all thought -- including U.N. inspectors -- that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So there's no blame here of anyone."
-- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 4/29/07
VERSUS
"Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix told the U.N. Security Council that his inspection teams had not found any 'smoking guns' after visiting some 125 Iraqi sites."
-- PBS, 1/9/03
-----
From “Democracy Now!”
* Boris Yeltsin, Russia's First Elected President, Dies at 76 *
Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has died at the age of 76. Yelstin
came to power in 1991 as Russia's first post-Soviet head of state replacing
Mikhail Gorbachev. Critics blame Yeltsin for plunging his country into years
of economic and political turmoil after he dissolved the Soviet Union. He
also presided over the disastrous military campaign to crush Chechnya's
drive for independence. Nation publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel joins us to
talk about Yeltsin's legacy.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446236
* David Halberstam (1934 - 2007): Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and
Author Killed in Car Crash *
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David Halberstam has died. He
was 73 years old. Halberstam was killed Monday in a car crash in northern
California. We speak with The Nation publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel about
the impact of his life and work.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1457223
* Small Publications Face Crippling Postal Hike -- Based on Time Warner
Recommendation *
Nation magazine publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel speaks out on a new US Post
Office rate change that could affect many small and independent publications
in this country. Postal rates for smaller periodicals could increase by as
much as 30 percent while some of the largest circulation magazines will face
hikes of less than 10 percent. According to internal documents, the hike was
accepted based on a rate structure proposed by Time Warner, Inc.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446244
* Ex-Justice Dept. Attorneys Accuse Bush Admin of Restricting African
American Vote to Favor Republicans *
Another scandal is brewing inside Alberto Gonzales's Justice Department.
Former Justice Department attorneys have publicly accused the Bush
administration of politicizing the department's Civil Rights Division which
was formed 50 years ago to protect the voting rights of African-Americans.
According to a recent report by the McClatchy newspapers, the Bush
administration has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter
turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political
candidates. We're joined by Joseph Rich, the former head of the civil rights
division of the Justice Department, and Bertha Lewis, Executive director of
New York Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446251
* EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Vulture Fund Owner Wins Debt Payment from Zambia -- But
Faces Possible Indictment at Home *
A British court has ordered the government of Zambia to pay the “vulture
fund” company Donegal International 15.5 million dollars. Donegal is owned
by the US company Debt Advisory International. But investigative journalist
Greg Palast reveals a new development: Democracy Now!'s airing of his BBC
expose on Donegal this year has led the Justice Department to open an
bribery investigation that could lead to an indictment.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446255
* Headlines for April 24, 2007 *
- Democrats Back Iraq Pullout Date in Spending Bill
- 68 Iraqis, 9 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq Violence
- Death Toll Rises in Somalia Clashes
- Boris Yeltsin Dies at 76
- Hamas Claims Rocket Strike on Israel
- Classes Resume at Virginia Tech
- World Bank Oversight Board Calls on Wolfowitz to Resign
- Pulitzer-Winning Journalist David Halberstam Dies in Car Crash
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446231
* Legendary Broadcaster Bill Moyers Returns to Airwaves With Critical Look
at How U.S. News Media Helped Bush Admin Sell the Case for War *
Legendary broadcaster Bill Moyers is returning to the airwaves of PBS
tonight to launch his new series Bill Moyers Journal. The debut episode is
titled “Buying the War.” Moyers makes the case that the press has yet to
come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war
on false pretenses. Two and a half years ago Moyers retired after a 30-year
career where he became one of the most recognizable faces on public
television. Moyers joins us to play excerpts of “Buying the War” and talk
about the media, the late journalist David Halberstam, corporate
consolidation of the airwaves, and the hope he sees from the grassroots.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/25/1414222
* Headlines for April 25, 2007 *
- UN: Iraqi Gov. Refusing to Disclose Civilian Toll
- Ranger: Army Ordered Me to Cover-up Tillman Death
- Jessica Lynch: Army Lied About Capture, Rescue
- Kucinich Introduces Measure to Impeach Cheney
- Counsel Probing White House Led by Scandal-Linked Bush Appointee
- Pentagon to Close Controversial Spy Database
- Mexico City Legalizes Abortion
- Opposition Grows to US Missile System in Eastern Europe
- Gitmo Detainee Charged for Alleged Crime Committed at 14
- WHO: Climate Change Deaths to Double by 2030
- Report: Wal-Mart Recruiting Former Military, Intel Officers
- 200th Person Exonerated by DNA Speaks Out after Release
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/25/1413255
* "The Most Lawless War of Our Generation" - Fmr. UN Spokesperson on Somalia
*
In Somali, fierce clashes in Mogadishu are being described as some of the
heaviest fighting in the city's history. Some 329 people have been killed
over the past ten days. This comes just three weeks after another series of
battles claimed at least 1,000 lives. The United Nations says more people -
over 350,000 - have been displaced in Somalia in the past three months than
anywhere else in the world.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/27/1359254
* 750+ Immigrants Detained in "Operation Return To Sender" Raids *
Over the past month U.S. authorities have arrested and detained at least 750
immigrants in raids across the country. The sweeps are part of a program
dubbed Operation Return To Sender run by the federal agency ICE, the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We speak with longtime labor
journalist, David Bacon.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/27/140200
* Immokalee Tomato Pickers Win Campaign Against McDonalds, Set Sights on
Burger King *
We speak with Gerardo Reyes-Chavez, a farm worker and member of the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The coalition represents over 4,000 mostly
immigrant workers who labor in the agricultural fields of Southwest Florida.
The group recently waged a successful campaign against fastfood giant
McDonalds over the price paid for tomatoes picked in Florida. In 2005, the
group also won a campaign against Taco Bell.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/27/140207
* Headlines for April 27, 2007 *
- Senate OKs War Funding With Non-Binding Timetable
- 72 Dead in Iraq Violence
- Petraeus Warns of Increasing Iraq Casualties
- Officer: Generals Misleading Public on Iraq
- Ex-CIA Head Criticizes Admin on Pre-War Intel
- Dems Hold First Presidential Debate
- Rice Dismisses Iraq Intel Subpoena
- Immigration Officials Sued for Detaining 7-Year Old Boy
- Atlanta Police Plead Guilty to Shooting of 92-Year Old
- Group: NBA Legend Supports Demands on Abbot AIDS Controversy
- Activists Unfurl 30-Ft. Impeachment Banners in Senate Building
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/27/1359244
* Fighting Fascism: The Americans - Women and Men - Who Fought In the
Spanish Civil War *
In July 1936, rightwing military officers led by fascist General Franco
attempted to overthrow the newly elected democratic government of Spain.
Hitler and Mussolini quickly joined in support of Franco. In response,
nearly 3,000 Americans defied the US government to volunteer to fight in the
Spanish Civil War, they called themselves Abraham Lincoln Brigade. We speak
with two surviving veterans, Moe Fishman and Clarence Kailin. We also play
excepts form the documentary "Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish
Civil War" and speak with filmmaker Julia Newman.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/30/1321243
* Abraham Lincoln Brigade "Represents an Important Part of the American
Soul" - Harry Belafonte Pays Tribute to U.S. Vets Who Fought Fascism in
Spain *
Hundreds gathered yesterday in New York to honor an exhibit at the museum of
the City of New York called "Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil
War." Across the street at the Museo Del Barrio, one of the speakers at the
event was the musician, actor and activist, Harry Belafonte. We play an
excerpt of his address.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/30/1321250
* Headlines for April 30, 2007 *
- Close to 80 Killed, 170 Injured in Iraq Bombing
- Audit: 7 of 8 Touted Iraq Projects “Crumbling”
- U.S Limits Entry of Iraqi Refugees
- State Dept.: 45% of Terrorist Attacks Occur in Iraq
- Protests Worldwide for Darfur Intervention
- Thousands Protest U.S. Raid on Afghan Civilians
- German Prosecutors Drop Rumsfeld War-Crimes Charges
- Harvard Students Protest Gonzales at Law School Reunion
- New Orleans Residents Rally for Lower 9th Ward Recovery
- Man Arrested for Bomb Plot at Texas Abortion Clinic
- Hundreds Call for Impeachment at Bush Speech
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/30/1321232
-----
From Media Savvy
'Bill Moyers Journal' Airs Today On PBS
By Hal Boedeker, McClatchy-Tribune
"Buying the War," a blistering indictment of how journalists failed in the months before the Iraq war is essential viewing for explaining how punditry often overshadows journalism on television.
Dishonorable Non-Mention: Juan Gonzalez And The Daily News' 9/11 Pulitzer
By Keach Hagey, Village Voice
Millionaire Mort Zuckerman sounded like a man of the people last week in his Pulitzer victory speech for the Daily News' reporting on sick 9/11 first responders. But the journalist who did most of that reporting, Juan Gonzalez, was conspicuously absent from both the party and the speeches.
Steal These Resolutions: What You Can Do To Bring Big Telecom Under Control
By Airpower, My DD
MyDD suggests resolutions you can introduce and support in your local Democratic club, county central committee, and state Democratic Party caucuses to help bring about constructive change.
Iraqi Kurdistan To Set Up $400 Million "Media City"
By Reuters
The public-private sector project will include a television transmission and re-transmission center with a capacity for up to 120 stations. The goal is to bring broadcasting back to war-torn Baghdad.
Press Club Of Dallas May Review Katie Awards
By Dallas Morning News
The Press Club of Dallas, which gives the Katie Award, one of the Southwest's most prestigious journalism prizes, is taking action to address concerns that the awards process was rigged.
Times Co. Investors Withhold 42% Of Votes
By Seth Sutel, AP
At the company's annual meeting April 24, shareholders delivered another rebuke to the newspaper company's financial performance by withholding nearly half of their votes for four directors.
Zell Invests Initial $250 Million After Sale Gains Antitrust OK
By Chicago Tribune
The financially troubled Tribune Co. takes on billionaire Sam Zell as a major investor.
David Halberstam On Poetry, Bush, And Baseball
By New York Magazine
The magazine's Daily Sentinel recalls the breadth of the late journalist's award-winning work.
A Skeptical Vietnam Voice Still Echoes In The Fog Of Iraq
By Dexter Filkins, NY Times
If the American people now have a clearer picture of the war their soldiers are fighting in Iraq, it is largely thanks to the example set by the late David Halberstam.
Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War
BUYING THE WAR airs tonight at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings). Watch Here
Take Action: Tell Media To Cover The Debt Crisis
Send an email to news networks demanding that they give more in depth coverage to the debt crisis in America.
Mergers: They're What's for Dinner
By Dean Starkman - CJR Daily
Is it just The Audit, or does anyone else feel that business stories about mergers and acquisitions sound like they were written as though readers should break out champagne and throw their hats in the air?
TV To U.S. Govt: Hands Off Violent Programs
By Rachelle Younglai, Reuters
U.S. television programmers said that the government had no business telling them what to air and criticized a Federal Communications Commission report saying Congress could regulate violent content.
Lawmakers Propose Reversal Of Net Radio Fee Increases
By Anne Broache, CNET
A bill introduced in Congress on April 26th, aims to overturn a controversial royalty fee increase that Internet radio advocates say threatens to cripple their services.
Rush's 'Magic Negro' Routine
By Adam Howard, The Nation
Rush Limbaugh has obviously learned nothing from the outrage and anger unleashed by Don Imus' hateful on-air remarks.
When Journalism Became Transcription And Reporting Disappeared
By David Sirota, Working for Change
What's really disturbing about Bill Moyers' latest PBS documentary is not what "Buying the War" says about how mainstream reporters covered the Iraq conflict, but what it says about the state of journalism today.
Infoshop Interview With Josh Wolf
Infoshop
Independent journalist Josh Wolf recently made headlines for spending more than 7 months in federal prison for his refusal to hand over video of a protest to authorities. Wolf is an anarchist activist and a video journalist based in the Bay Area of California.
The Media Should Avoid Early Election Polls
FAIR
While it certainly feels like the presidential election cycle has started earlier than ever, a more important issue is what sort of coverage of the process the media are providing citizens.
Good News For People Who Love Bad News
By Paul McLeary, CJR Daily
Presidency campaigns are already working overtime to try and shape the coverage of their candidates -- and what better way to do that than use the press itself to bash how the press has covered your candidate?
Trouble At The L.A. Times
By Daniel Hernandez, LA Weekly
An editor kills a Page One story on Armenian genocide, and charges of bias fly.
Publications Fumble With 'Disgusting' Virginia Tech Photo
By Daryl Lang, Photo District News
At least two major publications - The New York Post and People - digitally obscured a portion of a photo from the Virginia Tech shootings. The concern about the photograph was not the shocking amount of blood, but whether the student's penis was visible.
U.S. Media Have Lost The Will To Dig Deep
By Greg Palast, LA Times
A changed news culture has let several important investigative stories slip through the cracks.
Bill Moyers: Neocons Takeover the Media
In this excerpt from Buying the War Bill Moyers discusses the Neocon takeover of the media during the run-up to the Iraq War. You can watch the whole show online here. Watch Here
A Media Scandal A Day Keeps The Ratings In Play
By Danny Schechter
When I grew up one of the most popular TV shows was "What's My Line?", a quiz with stars guessing what contestants did for a living. Today on TV news channels the theme has shifted to "What's My Scandal?" with a predictable focus on wrongdoing in high places.
All The President's Press
By Frank Rich, The New York Times
Somehow it's hard to imagine David Halberstam yukking it up with Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz and two discarded "American Idol" contestants at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
Extra! Tribune Sale Involves Tax Dodge
By Allan Sloan, Newsweek
Whenever you see a deal involving Los Angeles's Chandler family, you usually see a tax dodge. And sure enough, the pending sale of Tribune Co., the big media firm in which the Chandlers are the largest shareholders, exploits a loophole so gaping that we taxpayers can only pray that someone closes it quickly.
As Blogs Proliferate, A Gadfly With Accreditation At The U.N.
By Maria Aspen, The New York Times
Mr. Lee, a well-known gadfly who often presses banks to revise their policies on mortgage loans to the poor, is the only blogger at the United Nations with media credentials, entitling him to free office space and access to briefings and press conferences.
AT&T Moves Further To The Right
By Becky Bond, Working for Change
Can you hear this? Starting June 3, AT&T/Cingular Wireless will give a portion of its customers' cell-phone bills each month to support radical right-wing politicians.
Imus In The Morning's McGuirk: First They Came For Me ...
By Media Matters
Bernard McGuirk, fired by CBS Radio for his part in the Imus imbroglio, had his say on a recent "Hannity & Colmes." And once again, many are not amused by his words.
NY Times Largely Mum On Moyers Special About Media's Role In Spreading Prewar Falsehoods
By Media Matters
Bill Moyers' PBS documentary "Buying the War" shined a harsh light on how the mainstream media -- including the New York Times -- mishandled Iraq war coverage. But beyond a short blurb in its TV listings, the film has not been either reviewed or mentioned in the Times itself.
Keywords: A Growing Cost For News Sites
By Emily Steele, Wall Street Journal
It used to be that news-media outlets competed for the best stories or photographs. Nowadays, though, some of the most furious competition in news is over the best Internet search words for a big story.
Fox News Sinks To New Low, Repeatedly Reports Parody Story As Actual News
Think Progress
Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends" aired at least eight segments on a purported "news" story that was actually a parody article written by a publication similar to The Onion.
AT&T's New Boss Wants Your World Delivered To Him
By Timothy Karr, Huffington Post
Soon after AT&T chief Ed Whitacre announced his plans to accept his company's $161 million retirement offer, the phone colossus announced Big Ed's replacement.
Tim Wilson: But I Could Be Wrong
A humorous song for everyone who is sick and tired of everything on TV! Warning: explicit lyrics. Watch Here
------
From Greg Palast
Don t Fire Gonzales
by Greg Palast
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Before President Bush fired his sorry ass, US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico, in a last sad attempt to suck up to his Republican padrones, allowed his chief mouthpiece, Norm Cairns, to speak with me. He shouldn t have.
That was two years back, while I was investigating strange doings in New Mexico and Arizona, where, simultaneously, state legislators, Republicans all, claimed they had evidence of voter fraud. Psychiatrists call this kind of mutual delusional behavior folie a deux. I suspected something else: I smelled Karl Rove.
In the New Mexico legislature, a suburban Albuquerque political hackette, Justine Fox-Young (her real name), claimed to have several specific cases of vote identity rustling. Like Joe McCarthy waving his list of Communists, she waived documents of evidence of illegal voting on the floor of the Legislature. I called Ms. Fox-Young and asked her to send me the papers.
The evidence never arrived. Maybe her fax machine was broken. I called Justine.
Q. Justine, you ve uncovered criminals! Did you turn their names over to the US Attorney?
A. Well, no, but someone did.
Whose initials are Karl Rove?
She swore to me that US Attorney Iglesias would back up her story: he was investigating the evil voters and was about to indict them.
So I got Iglesias guy Norm on the phone. Was Iglesias prosecuting, or actively investigating, one single real case of voter fraud?
Norm went into a lengthy swirly-whirly river of diving, ducking bullshit. I dove in.
Me: In other words, you can t back her story?
Norm: Well, yeah, uh, I guess you d say that s true.
I guess I will say that, Norm. Fox-Young had just plain made it up; fibbed, lied, faked the evidence.
There was a multi-state con in operation. But what was it? Each of these bogus claims of voter fraud was attached to a sales pitch for a state law to tighten voter ID requirements to prevent these ne er-do-wells from voting twice. In Arizona, one crack-pot Republican legislator, the Hon. Russell Pearce, claimed he had evidence that five million Mexicans had illegally crossed the border to vote.
The point: Rove knew that a challenge operation by the Republican Party, run from his office, knocked out 300,000 voters mainly poor ones, voters of color. His crew wanted to hike that higher.
The notable thing about this crime of voter identity theft is that it doesn t happen. You are more likely to encounter ballot boxes that spontaneously combust. I found cases of voters struck by lightening but out of 120 million votes cast, I couldn t find a dozen criminal cases of a bandit stealing someone s identity to vote.
Since the Republicans couldn t find such criminals, they had to make them up. Force prosecutors to bring false charges against innocent voters (one did just that in Wisconsin) or at least claim they were hot on the trail of the fraudulent voters.
Iglesias, though a Republican, wouldn t bring bogus charges. And he wouldn t lie about active investigations that didn t exist except in Rove s imagination.
That was his mistake.
Rove s right-hand hit-man, Tim Griffin, added Iglesias to the hit list of prosecutors who were cut down on December 7, 2006.
Griffin himself, after the December 7 firings, was appointed by Attorney General Gonzales, at Rove s personal request, to one of the newly-vacated slots as US Attorney for Arkansas. The sleeper cell of Rove-bot US attorneys is now in place to bless voter suppression games in 2008.
I ve previously reported for BBC that Griffin was the Man in the Memos who directed the massive, wrongful purge of African-American soldiers in 2004 the caging list scam. Based on that expose, voting rights lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said, Griffin and Rove should be in jail, not in office. That, too is another story But the important thing to pick up here is:
1. It s all about the 2008 election.
2. It s not about Gonzales.
We ve been here before. Gonzales is getting Libby d. Takes the bullet for Karl Rove and the White House. If you wondered why the Republican jackals like the sinister Senator Specter piled on Gonzales it s because they were told to.
These guys learned from Richard Nixon. In 1973, when Nixon was getting hammered over Watergate, he threw the Senate Committee his Attorney General, a schmuck named Kleindeist. Famously, Nixon s own Rove, a devious creep named John Erlichman, told Nixon to leave the Attorney General, twisting slowly in the wind.
Rove and Bush are doing the Nixon Twist on Gonzales.
Look, I have no sympathy for Alberto the Doomed. He s guilty of a crime I employed in racketeering cases: Willful failure to know. It s a kind of fraud; Alberto was going way out of his way to not know what he had to know, that Rove and the President were toying with prosecutors.
Gonzales is their glove-puppet. Why fire him? The nation watches these hearings and wants to kill something. But why shoot the puppet? It s time to fire the puppeteer. Eh, Mr. Rove?
**********
This is based on The Theft of 2008 from the new, expanded edition of Armed Madhouse: From New Orleans to Baghdad - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild, released this week by Penguin. Get it here.
For more information on the Armed Madhouse tour, go to www.GregPalast.com
-----
I will be in town Thursday, May 3rd to launch the new edition of my book, Armed Madhouse, at a benefit for WPFW at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (1313 New York Avenue NW) at 6:30pm. A special screening of Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans will kick off the evening.
Joining me is Code Pink's co-founder, Medea Benjamin, and XM Radio Talk Show Host, Dr. Wilmer Leon.
I would be honored if you could join us. For more info and to purchase tickets in advance go to www.GregPalast.com or www.wpfw.org
I hope you can make it and I really look forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Thank you for your continued support.
Best,
Greg Palast
-----
From OilWatchdog
Ah, Exxon Mobil. I'm sure the company PR folks didn't describe it this way, but Exxon proved to the world Thursday that it can make more profit on less revenue by picking the pockets of its customers even as it stays intent on preserving oil as the crack cocaine of fuels.
It's the purest of the Big Oil companies, intent on drilling oil and refining fuel. That's why its new record 1st quarter profit announced Thursday nearly $10 billion in three months is so revealing. It's all in the refining profits.
As the oil companies have announced their quarterly results, they all made yet more profit on their refining operations. Even BP, known around OilWatchdog as “Bumbling Petroleum,” nearly doubled its profit on its West Coast refining, though failures elsewhere kept it from hitting another record.
Where are Congress and regulators, when the evidence of price gouging at the refinery level is so blatant? OilWatchdog will keep up pressure on many fronts for a response.
Read on to get the real story on how oil companies make their profits. Also some reasons why Stanford shouldn't be taking strings-attached money from Exxon. And why Chevron ought to settle its substantial debts from misdeeds in the Amazon and in California. And more ...
Thanks as always for your responses. We try to answer as many as we can personally, and I read them all. Please also consider posting comments on the website itself. If you have trouble with the technical side of doing that, please let me know at owd.oilwatchdog.org
All best,
Judy Dugan
Here are the recent posts from OilWatchdog.org:
Exxon Profiteering = Record 1st Qtr Profit
by J.Dugan & J.Court, 04-26-2007
ExxonMobil's profiteering at refineries brings 1st qtr record even as revenues fall.
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | Environment | Global Warming | Greed | Human rights | ...
Exxon Taints Stanford Research
by J.Simpson & J.Court, 04-26-2007
Credibility of new Stanford energy research tainted by ExxonMobil ties.
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TAGS: Big Oil U | Environment | Global Warming | Greed | Human rights | ...
Chevron v. Amazon & Environment
by Court, 04-25-2007
Chevron shareholders meeting today will hear from Amazon villagers about the company's failure to settle up for the worst oil related disaster in the world. It's only one item on the test for Chevron if it truly wants to go green.
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TAGS: Chevron | Environment | Global Warming | Greed | Human rights | ...
Shell-raiser Gets Goldman Prize
by Court, 04-24-2007
Irish farmer William Corduff is in California to claim his Goldman prize. He went to jail for 94 days in order to stop Shell Oil.
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TAGS: Environment | Greed | Misdeeds | Shell | The Industry | ...
BP Losses Offset By West Profits
by J.Dugan & J.Court, 04-24-2007
Losses elsewhere offset by high gasoline prices in U.S., especially West Coast.
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TAGS: Big Oil U | BP | Environment | Greed | Influence | Misdeeds | ...
Deal pushed at 'warp speed'
by Simpson, 04-23-2007
Why has Berkeley's administration pushed a $500 million deal to become UCBP? Prof. Anne Wagner says its because “they believed BP wanted a public university's services on private corporate terms.”
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TAGS: Big Oil U | BP | conservation | Environment | Global Warming | ...
Big Week for Big Oil
by dugan, 04-23-2007
This is 1st quarter profit week for Big Oil. BP Tuesday, Conoco Wednesday, Exxon Thursday and Chevron Friday (Shell not until next week). Yet another record? We'll be writing about it.
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TAGS: BP | Chevron | ConocoPhillips | ExxonMobil | Price Gouging | ...
Dumping the Guzzler
by dugan, 04-21-2007
Happy Earth Day, OilWatchdoggers. To celebrate, the hubby and I dumped the 13-year-old guzzler and bought a Prius. A very small step for Earth, but better than Big Oil's recent greenwashing.
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TAGS: BP | Chevron | Environment | ExxonMobil | Global Warming | ...
Read More: OilWatchdog.org
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From HuffPo
Arianna Huffington: Why Didn't George Tenet Just Resign?
AP
Excerpted From Arianna Huffington's Blog:
Does this sound familiar? A senior Bush administration official plays a key role in selling the Iraq war debacle to the American public, resigns a few years later, and then tries to distance himself from Bush and the war by writing a book or talking to Bob Woodward, portraying himself as a poor, hapless victim who knew the truth at the time and really, really wanted to tell it, but, somehow, just had no choice but to go along.
What else could he do?...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Andy Borowitz: Next Week's News
Gary Hart: An Open Letter to Mayor Giuliani
Robert Hormats: The Price of Liberty
Stephen Elliott: Rich People Behaving Badly
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And now for something you'll really like!
In case you ever wondered why the White House comments hot line doesn't seem to be responsive to your inputs, here is an official peek at what's going on behind the scenes ...
(Scallion Reader K.R. quips, “My Pet Phone?”)
Don't forget to check out The Dilbert Blog:
posted by The Scallion @ 5:41 PM
