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:
From A.N.S.W.E.R.:
... ... Minuteman vigilantes assault immigration rights activists in Washington, DC; immigration rights activists under assault around the country, including Los Angeles, NYC, and elsewhere
From AlterNet:
... ... New film re Bush's Iraq war: from Mission Accomplished to Mission Impossible
... ... Only unions can stop the fascist-driven race to the bottom; union-busting hurts women, especially Latinas
... ... Flubya: still incoherent after all these years (and all that training he seems to have been getting)
... ... Federal contractors owe billions in unpaid taxes that the conman in thief will surely never collect; meanwhile, they are sicking the IRS on the waitresses, cabbies, and teachers to get them to cough up the nickels and dimes they need to make ends meet
... ... George Monbiot's book “Heat” shoes that, yes, we can stop global climate change
... ... Gonzo's dirty laundry: a look at one of the real reasons eight U.S. attorneys were fired -- the Republican effort to stop voter registration campaigns in poor neighborhoods
... ... As TV networks head into their big sweeps and hotly compete for ratings and advertisers, Sandra Kobrin gapes at the demeaning and downright scary portrayal of women in our most powerful communication medium
... ... Democrats' plan does almost nothing to address the second largest force in Iraq -- the estimated 126,000 private military "contractors" who will stay put there as long as Congress continues funding the war
... ... CIA official says that Cheney FORGED the Niger uranium documents that he and Conmander Codpiece used to LIE us into invading Iraq; we of The Scallion sure hope that the evidence will be coming out shortly. IMPEACH THEM ALL NOW!!!!!
... ... It didn't take long at all: a high school student was arrested for writing violent fiction. Guess we won't be producing any more Stephen Kings in this country.
... ... An excerpt from Howard Zinn's new book -- a collection of essays on history, class and the strength of ordinary citizens -- explores the unfair trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the flawed justice system that still haunts us today
... ... Bush gone AWOL (again!): in a sad attempt to justify his veto, the president says he is listening to military commanders while Congress plays politics. Here's what top military men who commanded troops in Iraq say
... ... A multiracial Southern California campus would seem to be the last place to find a tried and true anti-Semite and white supremacist lecturing, but it's where Kevin B. MacDonald, "Marx of the anti-Semites" has a teaching post
... ... Thursday is World Press Freedom Day -- a time to remember and celebrate the crucial role a free press plays in democracy and development
... ... A recent article about women being threatened on-line is only the latest attempt in a long history of trying to silence women
... ... Attempted women's clinic bombings and hate speech from the right wing: when does free speech become advocacy of violence?
... ... Bush vetoes the bill to fund his own war?!
... ... Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is under intense pressure to step down after a blistering report on his leadership during the "Second Lebanon War"
... ... Update from the world of forced childbirth: the Irish government holds teens hostage to prevent abortion!!!
... ... Beyond the Green Zone, Bush's “surge” is failing miserably
... ... Leaders of developing countries are often forced to work with institutions that promote and protect foreign investment -- with little regard for the costs to democracy and the environment
... ... Disseminate information; protect democracy. This will not happen if the USPS honors Time Warner's recipe for charging small media outlets and publishers disproportionately more for postage.
... ... Mitt Romney: I'm pro-choice; no, wait, I'm pro-life ... Highlights of Republican presidential debaters' blundered comments about abortion ...!
... ... The police state of the American military: join the military and face court martial if you want to write a blog!
... ... The San Francisco Chronicle: the class war is coming to a town near you!
From the Center for American Progress:
... ... John Podesta offers a link to E.J. Dionne Jr.'s article advising Democrats how to help the poor. Gentle Readers, in this contentious election cycle, the article is well worth reading.
... ... NY wants a timetable for Bush to pull our troops out of Iraq
... ... Poor LA is America's smoggiest city ... again
... ... Religious right uses victims of Virginia Tech massacre to slam gays, use Jesus Christ as a political prop ... while we of The Scallion wonder Whom Would Jesus Hate? Whom Would Jesus Torture? Whom Would Jesus Put to Death? Effin' hypocrites ...!
... ... Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) is caught in a lie re his opinions on whether Saddam had nukes
... ... Hooray for the World Bank: they approved a strategy that strongly endorses sexual and reproductive health and rights, rejecting President Paul Wolfowitz's regressive draft version that made virtually no reference to sexual and reproductive health
... ... World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz should follow former USAID director Randall Tobias's example and resign
... ... George W. Bush is caught in a lie re his demand for timetables when Clinton was in office while throwing blue-faced, screaming temper tantrums at anyone demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. And we the people have such short memories in the United States of Amnesia ... how many Americans do you think noticed Bush's little FLIP FLOP?
... ... The House rejected GOP efforts to hire/fire Head Start staffers on religious grounds ... whew!
... ... Remember when Bush denounced John Kerry for proposing that terrorism could be reduced to a nuisance, comparing it to prostitution and illegal gambling ? Well, listen to what the flip-flopper in thief has to say today:"Success is not, no violence. There are parts of our own country that have got a certain level of violence to it. But success is a level of violence where the people feel comfortable about living their daily lives. And that's what we're trying to achieve." Well, we of The Scallion say IMPEACH THE HYPOCRITE NOW!!!!!
... ... The Texas state Senate approved a bill to force women to view ultrasounds of their fetuses before having abortions while a St. Louis, Missouri, Catholic school revokes an invitation for a commencement speech by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) because of her pro-choice and pro-stem cell views. They can't really think that they are serving women, can they?!??
... ... Florida dumps touch-screen electronic voting in favor of a more reliable paper-trail system
... ... Newt Gingrich to conservatives: Don't talk about Iraq, Katrina, Walter Reed, U.S. attorneys, or President Bush.
... ... Greedy companies are risking thousands of lives with an adulterated and counterfeit medicine additive from China
... ... Presidential adviser Karl Rove is cynical and condescending when he says, "I'm not fortunate enough to be a person of faith."
... ... Mitt Romney says, "This university, its students, its alumni and the faculty serve as an example of Dr. Robertson's dedication to strengthening and then nurturing the pillars of this community and our country: education, fellowship, and advancement." Sadly, he is talking about Pat Robertson's university, where Mr. Robertson likes to spread a somewhat different message: "I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with. ... [T]he goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination."
From DN!
... ... Ex-CIA Analyst Accuses Tenet of Hypocrisy For Not Speaking Out Earlier on White House Push For War
... ... Report: Wal-Mart Violates Worker Rights, Fosters "Culture of Fear" to Prevent Employees From Forming Unions
... ... Dishonorable Non-Mention: Why Was Juan Gonzalez Left Out of NY Daily News Pulitzer for 9/11 Health Effects? Editor's note: Juan is the one who broke those stories on the detrimental health effects of 9/11. The Daily News was not exactly eager to publish his stories once they started being pressured by Wall Street and other businesses in NYC. Their idea of courage was to run the articles anyway but to bury them in the back of the paper when, by rights, they were really front-page news. Shameful!
... ... Police Fire Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas Into Peaceful LA Immigration March
... ... A Look at the Forces Behind the Anti-Immigrant Movement
... ... Women Leading Grassroots Movement in Italy to Oppose U.S. Military Base Travel to Washington DC
... ... Kent State Massacre Tape: 'Get Set! Point! Fire!'
... ... 4 out of 5 al Qaeda terrorists really do support Bush, at least according to this DN! Headline: “Al Qaeda's al-Zawahiri Urges U.S. To Stay in Iraq”
... ... U.S. Blocks UN Visit to Texas Immigration Prison--God forbid anyone outside our jails should ever see what we do to the innocent and guilty people we warehouse there!
... ... More evidence than you can shake a stick at: DN!'s top story today is “Documents Linked to Cuban Exile Luis Posada Carriles Highlighted Targets for Terrorism Including Cuban Airliner Downed in 1976”
... ... Only in America: DN!'s headline “NRA Backs Gun Rights for Terrorism Suspects ” really makes ya think, don't it? One the one hand, only the NRA would REALLY want terrorists to have easy access to guns. But on the other hand, we all know that everyone who writes and reads this webzine counts as a terrorist in George W. Bush's book. May we of The Scallion be excused? Our brains hurt ...!
... ... Israel Accused of Abusing and Torturing Palestinian Detainees--hm, no surprise there!
From Media Savvy:
... ... NY Times, which won a Pulitzer for an expose on the use of illicit data mining against ordinary citizens, is now doing data mining of its own against ordinary citizens. Hey, it's all good fun--and it's in the name of profits!
... ... The blogosphere is in a rage over the newly imposed muzzle on "milblogs."
... ... Some news outlets whose reporters and camera operators were hurt in melee mull legal claims against LAPD.
... ... LAPD chief William Bratton must explain why his cops beat up journalists on Monday, despite a 2002 legal settlement in which the department agreed to comply with the law when it comes to the media.
... ... As Rupert Murdoch "gekkers" for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Company, the News Dissector looks at the underlying motives of the potential deal.
... ... Financial Times owner Pearson could have cause for concern if Rupert Murdoch's bid for the Wall Street Journal succeeds.
... ... It looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security.
... ... Global news group Reuters revealed a bid approach from an unidentified third party this morning, sending its shares more than 25% higher.
... ... Two stories in the latest Hightower report highlight the U.S. Postal Service and its anti-democratic activities.
... ... China's powerful propaganda czars have pronounced the death knell for a magazine that ran hard-hitting exposes of official corruption, turning it into a cultural and lifestyle digest of mainly previously published materials.
... ... Not counted among the US soldiers "surging" in Iraq are the hired killers of Blackwater USA, the right-wing mercenaries who do the dirty work of assassination and protection for the US as Jeremy Scahill describes (see below for video).
... ... The resounding moment of truth during Thursday's Reagan-raptured debate came when Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul said he preferred Internet reporting to mainstream media, and then strongly defended the need for Internet freedom and independence.
... ... At a New Jersey utilities board hearing on cable franchises, three guys from Verizon - the elephant in the room - go unnoticed by the regulators, and by the press.
... ... Two members of the Ottaway family, a minority partner in Dow Jones & Company, released scathing statements yesterday saying that a takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation would ruin Dow Jones and its crown jewel, The Wall Street Journal.
... ... Los Angeles police chief called his officers' attack on legal demonstrators and working journalists at an immigrants' rights rally in MacArthur Park the "worst incident of this type I have ever encountered in 37 years" of policing.
... ... While police brutality during protests is nothing new in America, what is different in this case is the LAPD's brazen attacks went against corporate TV crews covering the family-orientated events for FOX and the Big 3 networks.
... ... CNN host Glenn Beck's special, Exposed: The Climate of Fear, relied heavily on people with energy industry ties and others espousing positions on global warming that have been soundly debunked or rejected by the majority of scientists studying climate change.
... ... The government of Afghanistan, competing with the Taliban for public support and trying to fend off accusations that it is corrupt and ineffective, is moving to curb one of its own most impressive achievements: the country's flourishing independent news media.
From Greg Palast:
... ... The update from New Orleans is not pretty: according to Pamela Lewis, one of the unwilling guests of George Bush's Guantanamo on wheels, "It's a prison set-up" - except there are no home furloughs for these inmates because they no longer have homes.
... ... Hillary's mother-effin' tour business. Here was Kenneth Starr, blowing out blood vessels in his forehead trying to pin something on Hillary, but he was apparently looking in all the wrong places. Greg writes, “Am I saying Hillary would arrange for a payoff to keep witnesses silent, to poison US foreign policy for the profit of corporate cronies, to vote in Washington loaded down with conflicts of interest? I would never say so. Even if the evidence will.”
From Planned Parenthood:
... ... It's official: President Bush wants you to know that he's still doing all he can to attack a woman's right to choose. Please follow the instructions in the post to contact your elected officials and right to protect women's reproductive rights!
From OilWatchdog
... ... California is paying a $7-15 penalty per fill-up, with the proceeds going solely to enrich the already rich. Anyone for price gouging?
From IAVA
... ... The top bureaucrats at the VA set new standards in rewarding incompetence: back in 2005, only months after admitting that they had underestimated the cost of veterans' care by OVER $1B ... and VA officials involved in the foul-up each got bonuses of up to $33,000 ... totaling OVER $3M!!! If that doesn't get your knickers in a twist, we of the Scallion don't know what will!
From HuffPo:
... ... Was poor li'l Georgie Tenet just too eager to please the conman in thief in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq?
... ... In 2000, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Kristol, and others decided that the US was the boss of the world and was to be the boss of the world for at least a hundred years. Frighteningly, however, they don't know who the enemy really is. They define the enemy as anyone who is opposed to American interests (hence calling Democrats and the American people “traitors”). Today, the enemy is one set of Islamic fundamentalists, tomorrow it will be another set. Are the people of the rest of the world's sovereign nations really required to think first about what the gas-guzzling, bomb-wielding Americans might want? Well, yes, if we can make them. But we aren't actually "in the right" if we make them do so by force or by threats.
... ... Senator Russ Feingold pleads with his colleagues not to surrender to Bush's demands for a no-strings-attached funding bill (yay, Russ!)
... ... Benchmarks: yet another Bush mirage shimmering in the Iraqi desert?
Keep the faith and keep fighting: together, we WILL win our nation back!
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From the mailbag
Reader and fellow blogger Dot Calm just ordered a book that all Americans owe it to themselves to read: Mark Green's "Losing Our Democracy: How Bush, the Far Right and Big Business Are Betraying Americans For Power and Profit"
Dot Calm also sent in a link to a very disturbing article on how America's war profiteers are getting rich at the expense of American and Iraqi civilians and military by trafficking in Asian workers to build the world's largest embassy ever (meaning our new embassy in Iraq):
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=14173
Reader K.R. sent in a link to an article contrasting Reagan the man vs Reagan the myth:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1832
Reader D.F. sent in this link to an article on Bill O'Reilly's rapid-fire, on-air name-calling, which averages out to more than once every seven seconds:
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5535.html
D.F. also sent in a link to a Phylis Schlafly article (excerpted below) re why jobs are being outsourced abroad:
Why do U.S. companies relocate their plants overseas, thereby abolishing
U.S. jobs?
a. They can hire workers at very low wages (such as 30 cents an hour in
China).
b. The companies don't have to pay any employee benefits.
c. They don't have to comply with safety and environmental regulations.
d. They don't have to pay foreign taxes when they export their products back
to us.
The correct answer is all of the above. The United States cannot require
foreign governments to impose a minimum wage or safety regulations, or pay
employee benefits. But the U.S. can and should do something about (d), the
huge tax-rebate racket that lures U.S. companies to lay off American workers
and set up shop in foreign countries.
Corporations located in the United States pay big U.S. corporate income and
property taxes. It does a lot for their bottom line when they move to a
foreign, tax-free utopia.
Foreign governments also tax corporations, but if the company exports its
products to the United States, or other countries, the foreign government
rebates (forgives) the tax. That creates an irresistible magnet to attract
U.S. companies to transfer their plants to a land where they can avoid most
of both countries' taxes.
It's no wonder that DaimlerChrysler AG will soon start building cars in
China to ship back and sell in the United States under Chrysler names such
as Dodge and Jeep. This decision means that 11,000 manufacturing jobs and
2,000 white-collar jobs will be eliminated over the next 24 months.
The suburban utility vehicle assembly plant in Newark, Del., will be closed.
The Warren, Mich., truck plant and the St. Louis County, Mo., assembly
plants will each lose one of two shifts.
The combination of avoiding U.S. corporate taxes and having Chinese taxes
rebated (forgiven) will help DaimlerChrysler AG to sell new cars in the
United States much cheaper than any it can manufacture in Detroit.
This should be prohibited because it is a huge subsidy, but world trade
agreements have peculiarly defined subsidy to exclude tax rebates to
exporters by calling it a rebate of the value-added tax. They get by with
this subterfuge because that term is not understood by most Americans.
Read the whole article here:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=20485
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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 the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Immigrant rights demonstration organizer
assaulted at May 1 rally speaks out
Police arrest Minutemen member
Tyler Joseph Froatz for weapons arsenal
Statement from Sarah Sloan,
National Staff Coordinator of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
On Tuesday, May 1, at approximately 1:00 pm, I was assaulted by Tyler Joseph Froatz. The assault took place in Malcolm X Park during set up for the May Day Immigrant Rights Rally. Mr. Froatz was arrested following the assault.
Tyler Joseph Froatz is a member of the Minutemen. A.N.S.W.E.R. and others have been protesting the Minutemen nationwide - in Los Angeles, at Columbia University in NYC, at Georgetown University in Washington DC, and elsewhere.
The Minutemen are not simply another conservative organization with xenophobic and racist ideas. They are an armed vigilante organization. Their members include many people with longstanding ties to white supremacist and terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Party. Their armed border patrols are designed to popularize and sanctify armed intimidation against immigrants.
On Tuesday, May 1, local Minutemen member Tyler Joseph Froatz was arrested at the immigrant rights rally following his unprovoked, violent assault. Mr. Froatz was found to be in possession of two knives one of them with a 12-inch blade - a flare gun and a stun gun. In a subsequent search of his vehicle and apartment, police found what is reported to be a large arsenal of rifles, handguns, ammunition, swords, bows, arrows, machetes, a grenade and grenade launcher. Mr. Froatz also had literature and graphic material depicting violent assaults against immigrants, including pregnant women and children.
Mr. Froatz is known to the media for his anti-immigrant positions. He was quoted in the May 3, 2006, Washington Times article that covered last years May Day protests: Rally counterprotester Tyler Froatz, a member of the Herndon Minutemen, an illegal-entry watchdog group, agreed. These protests are great for us and all other legal Americans because polls show that these protests only serve to alienate the community,said Mr. Froatz, 22.
The Herndon Minutemen have spearheaded a vicious campaign of attacks on day laborers in Northern Virginia. Some day laborers have been arrested and deported. The Minutemen and government have functioned with the same objective of depriving immigrant workers of their livelihood. The government has carried out raids across the country tearing parents from their young children, all just to punish and terrorize people who are working to feed their families.
The Minutemen are just a tip of a racist and xenophobic iceberg. The Minutemens reputation has been sanitized as they are given ample coverage on Fox News, CNNs Lou Dobbs and other mainstream media outlets.
When the Minutemen were brought to the Columbia University campus by the Republican Party, they were met by a peaceful protest organized by Latino, African American and other student groups. When the students carried out a peaceful protest against the presence of armed vigilantes they were met with Minutemen violence and assault. Fox News, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others condemned the protesting students not the brutal Minuteman thugs. Columbia obeyed the right wing pressure and punished the students, meting out explicitly racist discipline that was most severe to the Latino student activists.
The Minutemen and their racist and right-wing supporters openly promote armed vigilantism. The arrest of Mr. Froatz after his violent assault on an A.N.S.W.E.R. organizer proves once again that Minutemen spokespersons and organizers not only preach the rhetoric of anti-immigrant violence but they are armed to the teeth.
The government has worked to support these organized vigilantes. Last July, LAPD arrested and violently attacked A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers who were taking pictures of the Minutemen during a peaceful protest. Last Tuesday, May 1, the Los Angeles Police Department carried out a coordinated, violent assault on immigrant families, including children, who had participated in the May 1 march demanding comprehensive immigrant reform.
The Minutemen represent a racist poison, but all of those in the government and mainstream media who have helped create an anti-immigrant hysteria in the country are responsible too.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and all other progressive organizations who mobilized on May 1 and earlier will continue to campaign for immigrant rights and full legalization. We will expose the Minutemen and the forces of racism and bigotry, and we will continue to march with millions of other people around the country.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
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From AlterNet
A Global Democratic Movement Is About to Pop
By Paul Hawken, Orion Magazine
Something earth-changing is afoot among civil society -- a significant social movement is eluding the radar of mainstream culture. Read more
Video Premiere: War in Iraq -- From "Mission Accomplished" to Mission Impossible
By Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
A striking new video, with famed rapper Steven Connell, confronts Bush and his Iraq war mongers four years after the President declared "Mission Accomplished," in what very well may be the worst military disaster in U.S. history.
May Day Alert: Only Global Unions Can Stop the Race to the Bottom
By Stephen Lerner, AlterNet
Ironically, globalization is creating the greatest opportunity to organize global unions among the poorest and least-skilled workers employed in an economy dominated by giant corporations.
May Day Alert: De-Unionization Hurts Women, Especially Latinas
By Linda Chavez-Thompson, Gabriela Lemus, Chicago Sun-Times
The 30-year assault on unions has hurt all working Americans, but some groups have felt more pain than others.
Why David Broder Doesn't Deserve His Position at the Top of the Media Foodchain
By Jamison Foser, Media Matters for America
David Broder, the "Dean of the Washington Press Corps," has been regurgitating flawed Beltway wisdom since long before his recent, baseless assault on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Women Lead the Climate Change Fight
By Laura Orlando, Linda Carty, Ms. Magazine
Will a change in U.S. leadership -- led by powerful women -- begin to reverse the dire direction in which we're headed?
Brisk Trading in Racist Furnishings and Home Decorations
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
Swapping, selling and collecting a huge array of racist furnishings and home decorative pieces is a brisk and lucrative business.
Breakthrough Gay Advances in Past Three Weeks
By Deb Price, Creators Syndicate
The United States has seen a series of astonishing gay advances in the past three weeks.
DC Madame to call clients to testify ...
By Joshua Holland
Like Heidi Fleiss, except in Hollywood they don't pretend to be loyal or chaste.
Flubya [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
Think there're no more laughs on Bush?
Report: federal contractors owe billions in unpaid taxes
By Joshua Holland
Hope you enjoyed paying yours ...
How to Stop the Planet From Burning
By George Monbiot, South End Press
We know that climate change is happening. But can it be stopped? George Monbiot's book "Heat" shows how it can. Read more
Airing Gonzales' Dirty Laundry
By Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig
A look at one of the real reasons eight U.S. attorneys were fired -- the Republican effort to stop voter registration campaigns in poor neighborhoods.
New Studies Destroy the Last Objection to Medical Marijuana
By Bruce Mirken, AlterNet
New research on "vaporization" has demonstrated that all those fears about the ill effects of smoking marijuana are 100 percent obsolete.
Celebrity Colonialism: Buying Africa is the Latest Trend Among the Famous
By Adam Elkus, ColorLines
Are the efforts of well-meaning celebrities to alleviate Africa's poverty and disease the continent's salvation or a recipe for disaster?
Higher Education Conformity
By Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbaraehrenreich.com
Is a college degree really a sign of competence? Or is it chiefly a signal to employers that you've mastered the ability to obey and conform?
Prime-Time TV Sweeps: As Demeaning Images of Women Rise, So Do Ratings
By Sandra Kobrin, Women's eNews
As TV networks head into their big sweeps and hotly compete for ratings and advertisers, Sandra Kobrin gapes at the demeaning and downright scary portrayal of women in our most powerful communication medium.
Democrats Won't Stop Bush's Mercenary Armies in Iraq
By Jeremy Scahill, Tomdispatch.com
The Democrats' plan does almost nothing to address the second largest force in Iraq -- the estimated 126,000 private military "contractors" who will stay put there as long as Congress continues funding the war.
Cheney behind forged Niger documents, says former CIA officer
By Jan Frel
Quite an allegation. Is the evidence soon to follow?
Student Offensive: Guns in Your Backpack
By Joan Conde
Rosie was right: significant gun control is impossible...but I got to thinking, what if the wing nuts win? Will we arm college students? And what about the children?
High school kid arrested, charged for writing violent fiction
By Joshua Holland
No surprise here.
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
By Howard Zinn, City Lights
An excerpt from Howard Zinn's new book -- a collection of essays on history, class and the strength of ordinary citizens -- explores the unfair trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the flawed justice system that still haunts us today. Read more
A President Gone AWOL
By John Nichols, TheNation.com
In a sad attempt to justify his veto, the president says he is listening to military commanders while Congress plays politics. Here's what top military men who commanded troops in Iraq say.
Child Pornography and Human Trafficking: Cancun's Dark Side
By Heather Gehlert, AlterNet
A conversation with human rights activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro on the coastal city's violence and abuses -- and her lifelong mission to combat them.
Election '08: One Long Humiliation Contest
By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
It must be somehow beneficial to the American power apparatus to demean the individuals who seek to occupy its highest offices.
California Professor Is Font of Anti-Semitism
By Heidi Beirich, Intelligence Report
A multiracial Southern California campus would seem to be the last place to find a tried and true anti-Semite and white supremacist lecturing, but it's where Kevin B. MacDonald, "Marx of the anti-Semites" has a teaching post.
The Gambling Scam on America's Poor
By Mark Lange, Christian Science Monitor
What kind of government spends millions of taxpayer dollars peddling false hope to confiscate cash from its poorest citizens to fatten state coffers?
The Price of Press Freedom
By Rory O'Connor, AlterNet
Thursday is World Press Freedom Day -- a time to remember and celebrate the crucial role a free press plays in democracy and development.
Silencing Women on the Internet
By Lucinda Marshall
A recent article about women being threatened on-line is only the latest attempt in a long history of trying to silence women.
Attempted Abortion Clinic Bombing, and Hate Speech From The Right
By Bruce Wilson
When does public speech become advocacy of violence?
Veils, virginity and victimization
By Vanessa at Feministing
Reattach the hymen to keep your sexual past private?
Hey, that monkey drank my Mai Tai (Video)
By Jan Frel
Like us, most monkeys drink "responsibly," some get trashed all the time, and a small group goes for teetotaling ginger ales.
Is Stripping a Feminist Act?
By Sarah Katherine Lewis, AlterNet
If a woman chooses to objectify herself -- shedding her clothes to obtain power through money -- is she helping to eliminate gender inequality or simply degrading herself? A former adult entertainer shares her story. Read more
Bush the "Commander Guy" Rejects Spending on His Own War
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
This week, George W. Bush vetoed more than $100 billion in funds for the war he chose to start and now refuses to end -- and now the ball is in the Democrats' court.
Israeli PM Olmert Undone by the Militia He Promised to Destroy
By Robert Fisk, Independent UK
Ehud Olmert is under intense pressure to step down after a blistering report on his leadership during the "Second Lebanon War."
Face Lifts: A Frightening New Job Strategy
By Margaret M. Gullette, Women's eNews
With ageism deeply rooted in economics, an increasing number of midlife people are turning to anti-aging products and surgeries to pass as younger in the marketplace.
Bloggers Who Crave the Mainstream Media's Attention
By Christopher Hayes, ChrisHayes.org
The New Republic magazine makes a play for the progressive blogosphere, but it was In These Times that earlier got the story right.
Miami Right-Wingers Have Tight Grip on U.S. Cuba Policy
By Max Castro, The Nation
Cuban-American moderates are on the rise, but hardliners in Miami still control US foreign policy toward Castro's regime.
Colbert meets his match with Mike Gravel
By Jan Frel
It looks like Colbert is a real fan...
Irish government holds teen hostage to prevent abortion
By Joshua Holland
Echidne: An extreme example of the world of forced childbirth.
DC Sex Scandal: Couldn't Happen to Nicer Bunch of Guys
By Liza Featherstone
A couple names have been leaked already and we shouldn't feel bad for any of them.
Beyond the Green Zone's 'Gated Community,' Bush's Surge Is Failing
By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch
Bush's "surge" has put army and police checkpoints everywhere in Baghdad but Iraqis are terrified approaching them because they do not know if the men in uniform they see are in fact death squads. Read more
Scientists Have Found the Gene That Decides How Long We Live
By Steve Connor, The Independent
The gene appears to be critical in extending the lifespan of animals that are subjected to a calorie-restricted diet -- when they are slightly starved of high-calorie food but are given all the other nutrients they need.
Feminism in the Era of 'Girls Gone Wild'
By Amanda Marcotte, AlterNet
Everyone these days wants to hear how young women have lost their way, especially if the author can blame feminism for it. But in reality, feminism has been anything but a tragedy for women.
Video: Beware the ghost of Ronald Reagan!
By Rachel Maddow
Reagan's an obsession with these people ...
Alternatives to the Summer Blockbuster
By Melissa Silverstein, AlterNet
As an alternative the teen-targeted summer blockbusters, look beyond the multiplex for films that highlight women's stories.
Foreign Investors Gone Wild
By Sarah Anderson, Foreign Policy in Focus
Leaders of developing countries are often forced to work with institutions that promote and protect foreign investment -- with little regard for the costs to democracy and the environment.
New York Must Reform Its Racist Drug Laws
By Gabriel Sayegh, AlterNet
With 91 percent of people incarcerated under New York States' drug laws being black and Latino, it's time for Gov. Eliot Spitzer to make good on his election promise to deliver real reform.
Disseminate Information, Protect Democracy
By Teresa Stack, The Nation
Unless the US Postal Service reverses its steep increases in bulk-mailing rates to favor large corporate publishers, the future of small magazines is grim.
Romney: I'm pro-choice; no wait, I'm pro-life
By Heather Gehlert
Highlights of Republican presidential debaters' blundered comments about abortion ...
Goodbye rights: one step closer to a police state
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
In the military and want to write a blog? Not so fast ... unless you want to face court martial.
SF CHRON: When the Class War Goes Local
By David Sirota
Beware -- the class war may be coming to a town near you.
-----
From the Center for American Progress
Friends,
Last week's release of the Center for American Progress' Poverty Task Force report, From Poverty to Prosperity, was the culmination of many months of work, deep policy research, and ongoing consultation with advocates and policymakers who, like us, are committed to addressing this serious issue. The Task Force members, led by co-chairs Peter Edelman and Angela Glover Blackwell, did tremendous work.
We were very pleased by the positive response to the report and its recommendations, including an article in The New York Times on the day it was released. In today's Washington Post, political commentator and op-ed columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr. gave the work another important boost. I thought you might enjoy reading his piece.
E.J.'s article and the link to it are below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301549.html
We are excited to continue this work, building on CAP's recommendations that will halve poverty in 10 years. We will keep you posted on our progress.
Best,
John Podesta
__________________________________________________
The Washington Post
If Democrats Want to Help the Poor . . .
E. J. Dionne Jr.
May 4, 2007
Republicans once preached compassion, but then went off to war. Democrats waged a war on poverty, but then lost some elections. They decided the middle class is where it's at.
But the poor are still with us, and their ranks are growing. One in eight Americans lives in poverty, which seems obscene given that the really rich are enjoying a level of privilege that makes the Gilded Age Vanderbilts look like abstemious Puritans.
"Rising inequality" is a bloodless term. But consider the facts behind the phrase: In 2005, the richest 1 percent of Americans had 19 percent of the nation's income, the largest share since 1929; the poorest 20 percent had only 3.4 percent.
The historically inclined will recall that 1929 was the year of the great Wall Street crash, which was followed by the Great Depression. History suggests that concentrating wealth and income in a small group of privileged people is bad for economic growth.
One reason our nation has maintained generally healthy levels of economic growth is our success in spreading income around -- particularly from the 1940s to the early 1970s. This created more purchasing power among an ever-larger group of Americans. We are thus tempting fate by following the formula of Andrew Mellon, the Republican Treasury secretary in the Roaring '20s who never met a tax cut for the rich he didn't like. He was rather popular until 1929.
Here's the odd thing about the present moment: As a country, we are much more practical about poverty reduction than we were in the 1960s. Most plans on offer are not utopian schemes. They promote work and would build ladders so today's poor can become tomorrow's middle class.
That's the significance of the anti-poverty report issued last week by the Center for American Progress, the think tank that is the closest thing we have to a Democratic administration in exile. The report deserves more attention than it has gotten, not because it breaks new ground but precisely because it brings together some of the most pragmatic ideas on poverty reduction. The task force that prepared it included veteran liberals such as Peter Edelman and Angela Glover Blackwell but also resolute middle-of-the-roaders such as the Rev. Floyd Flake, a champion of faith-based approaches to poverty, and Charles Kolb, president of the pro-business Committee for Economic Development.
Their first recommendations aren't revolutionary, just sensible: They'd raise the minimum wage, and they'd expand the earned-income tax credit, a program supported by Ronald Reagan and expanded by Bill Clinton. That tax credit has done more than any other measure to keep working Americans out of poverty. The task force would also make unionization easier, on the theory that giving workers the power to bargain for themselves is better than a government handout.
More should be done for 16- to 24-year-olds near or below the poverty line who are out of school and out of work. In 2005, the report says, there were 1.7 million of them, a number big enough to be alarming but small enough to give public policy a chance to make a difference.
Other recommendations are designed to promote upward mobility through expanded child-care assistance, "early education for all" and stepped-up efforts to make higher education more accessible. The panel would modernize the unemployment insurance system and other programs for low-income people that date back 30 years or more. Capitalists should like their proposals to give the poor more access to financial services and expand their ability to save. And to prevent a new crime wave, the task force urges us to do a lot more to "help former prisoners find stable employment and reintegrate into their communities."
Will all this cost money? You bet, about $90 billion a year -- a little over one-fifth of the annual cost of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, many of which benefit the rich. This would not break the bank of a country with a $13 trillion gross domestic product, and it's for programs that cannot be demonized as more of "the failed old liberalism."
The new Democratic majority in Congress seems determined to "fix" the alternative minimum tax , which unfairly pushes many middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers into brackets they shouldn't be in. That's just fine. But these taxpayers are still doing reasonably well after taxes. A lot of Americans in the ranks of the working poor are not doing well, and they are people with whom Democrats claim a special bond.
And it would be awfully nice if Republicans revisited their commitment to compassion. As President Bush knew in 2000, swing voters like that sort of thing.
-----
GOOD NEWS
In a 94-34 vote, the New York State Assembly yesterday passed the first state resolution "urging President Bush not to veto a bill passed by Congress that calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq."
STATE WATCH
WISCONSIN: State rolls out the Wisconsin Covenant, a pledge to guarantee a spot in college to high-performing students.
VERMONT: Several hundred citizens recently lobbied at the state capitol to support an impeachment resolution for President Bush.
CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles is the smoggiest city in the country. Again.
ENVIRONMENT: The global warming debate "is over in many states that are moving aggressively to curb greenhouse gases."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Time is up on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's "two to three month" window for escalation.
AMERICA BLOG: "Religious right uses victims of Virginia Tech massacre to slam gays, use Jesus Christ as a political prop."
ORCINUS: Abortion clinic bombing related to Bush administration's displaced focus on "eco-terror" instead of extremist right-wing terrorism.
AGONIST: Human Rights Watch cites Wal-Mart for denying workers basic labor rights.
DAILY GRILL
"The whole idea of weapons of mass destruction was never the issue, yet they keep trying to bring this up."
-- Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), 4/27/07, criticizing Congress and the media for "mischaracterizing" the reasons for U.S. involvement in Iraq
VERSUS
"Our intelligence system has said that we know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction -- I believe including nuclear."
-- Inhofe, 8/18/02
GOOD NEWS
The World Bank's Executive Board has approved a 10-year Health, Nutrition, and Population Strategy that strongly endorses sexual and reproductive health and rights, rejecting President Paul Wolfowitz's regressive draft version that made "virtually no reference to sexual and reproductive health."
STATE WATCH
COLORADO: "A measure that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation was endorsed by state representatives Monday."
NEW YORK: New York's First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer unveils a plan "to transform the Governor's Mansion into a green building."
MISSOURI: State senators crush a plan to make English the official government language in Missouri.
ENVIRONMENT: Several cities are implementing measures to selectively ban automobiles and encourage bicyclists and pedestrians.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Flashback: In 1999, then-Governor George W. Bush demanded a timetable.
GRISTMILL: "Taking the 'fund' out of Superfund."
BLACK PROF: Backlash against Fox News debate is "a significant development for the Blackroots."
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz should follow former USAID director Randall Tobias's example and resign.
DAILY GRILL
"Here is why the bill Congress passed is unacceptable. First, the bill would mandate a rigid and artificial deadline for American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq."
-- President Bush, 5/1/07
VERSUS
"I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn."
-- Bush, 6/5/99
GOOD NEWS
"The House approved more money for the popular Head Start program Wednesday after rejecting a GOP-led attempt to allow religious groups participating in the program to hire and fire staffers based on religious grounds."
STATE WATCH
CONNECTICUT: All hospitals in Connecticut are now required to provide rape victims with emergency contraception under legislation approved yesterday.
OREGON: Oregon will soon "become the seventh state to grant same-sex couples full marriage-style benefits."
MASSACHUSETTS: Gay rights advocates are widening efforts to kill a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
ALASKA: Powerful multinational oil companies are stepping up efforts to spur construction of a pipeline in the Alaskan wilderness.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: ABC Radio's Paul Harvey compares "women and children" killed in Afghanistan to 9/11 hijackers.
POLITICAL ANIMAL: Senate Intelligence Committee doesn't buy the Bush administration's argument for more lenient domestic spying rules.
DANGER ROOM: "New Army rules kill military blogs (maybe e-mail, too)."
ABU AARDVARK: 76 percent of Iraqis reject "establishing isolation walls...to reduce sectarian violence."
DAILY GRILL
"My opponent, just this weekend, talked about how terrorism could be reduced to a nuisance, comparing it to prostitution and illegal gambling. I think that attitude and that point of view is dangerous."
-- President Bush, 10/14/04, criticizing Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for saying terrorism should be reduced to the level that it is a mere "nuisance"
VERSUS
"Success is not, no violence. There are parts of our own country that have got a certain level of violence to it. But success is a level of violence where the people feel comfortable about living their daily lives. And that's what we're trying to achieve."
-- Bush, 5/2/07
GOOD NEWS
"The House voted Thursday to expand federal hate crime categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender."
STATE WATCH
TEXAS: Texas Senate approves "a bill that would force pregnant women to view ultrasound results before receiving abortions."
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Gov. John Lynch (D) signs a bill raising the state's minimum wage - the lowest in New England - for the first time in a decade.
MISSOURI: St. Louis Catholic school revokes an invitation for a commencement speech by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) because of her pro-choice and pro-stem cell views.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Conservatives are cracking on Iraq.
ALTERCATION: Business leaders in Time Magazine's 100 "People Who Shape Our World": 15, labor leaders: 0
BRADFORD PLUMER: Conservative arguments against the Hate Crimes bill don't hold up.
MAJIKTHISE: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz blames bank rules for his own conflict of interest.
DAILY GRILL
"In our view, it s not the right time to have those sort of high-profile visitors to Syria [W]e don t think it would be appropriate for high-level visitors, even those from the Congress, to pay a visit to Syria right now."
-- State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, 3/30/07
VERSUS
"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met here Thursday with her Syrian counterpart in the first high-level talks between the two governments in more than two years. Rice characterized the 30-minute session, held on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on Iraq at this Egyptian Red Sea resort, as 'businesslike' and 'very constructive.'"
-- Washington Post, 5/4/07
GOOD NEWS
"Amid steadily increasing carbon emissions, and a federal government hesitant to take the lead on climate legislation, 10 states have joined to create the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade program in the United States. They aim to reduce emissions from power plants by 10 percent in 10 years."
STATE WATCH
FLORIDA: State dumps touch-screen electronic voting in favor of a more reliable paper-trail system.
KENTUCKY: "Federal money is about to run out for a small but successful program that helps imprisoned Kentucky veterans return to the community."
LOUISIANA: New Orleans area marching bands are still struggling for funding after Hurricane Katrina.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Newt Gingrich to conservatives: Don't talk about Iraq, Katrina, Walter Reed, U.S. attorneys, or President Bush.
SHAKESVILLE: Greedy companies are risking thousands of lives with an adulterated and counterfeit medicine additive from China.
MATTHEW YGLESIAS: Presidential adviser Karl Rove is cynical and condescending when he says, "I'm not fortunate enough to be a person of faith."
LANCE MANNION: The Washington's David Broder proves that he "is not a serious person."
DAILY GRILL
"This university, its students, its alumni and the faculty serve as an example of Dr. Robertson's dedication to strengthening and then nurturing the pillars of this community and our country: education, fellowship, and advancement."
-- Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), 5/5/07, in the commencement address to Pat Robertson's Regent University
VERSUS
"I believe it's motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with. ... [T]he goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination."
-- Robertson, 3/14/07, on Islam
-----
From “Democracy Now!”
* Ex-CIA Analyst Accuses Tenet of Hypocrisy For Not Speaking Out Earlier on
White House Push For War *
In a new book, former CIA director George Tenet blasts the administration,
saying it had no firm rationale for invading Iraq, and accuses the White
House of trying to shift blame to the CIA. In response, six former CIA
officials are accusing Tenet of hypocrisy for not speaking out earlier.We
speak with one of those former Intelligence officials, Ray McGovern.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1410229
* Report: Wal-Mart Violates Worker Rights, Fosters "Culture of Fear" to
Prevent Employees From Forming Unions *
On this May Day, the world's largest company is being accused of using
strong-armed and illegal methods to undermine what is considered a
cornerstone of workers' rights. In a new report released today, Human Rights
Watch says the retail giant Wal-Mart has used an "arsenal of unlawful
tactics" to foster "a culture of fear" to prevent employees from forming
unions.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1410240
* Dishonorable Non-Mention: Why Was Juan Gonzalez Left Out of NY Daily News
Pulitzer for 9/11 Health Effects? *
The New York Daily News has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for an editorial
series on the medical fall-out from the 9/11 attacks. But in some circles,
the Pulitzer award was as noteworthy for whom it did not mention: Daily News
columnist and Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez was the first
reporter to question government officials' insistence that the air around
Ground Zero was safe and wrote a series of groundbreaking exposes on the
issue.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1410245
* Headlines for May 1, 2007 *
- Hundreds of Thousands to March for Immigrant Rights
- April 2007 Becomes Sixth Deadliest Month of War For U.S. Troops
- Sen. Durbin: I Knew the Public Was Being Mislead into the Iraq War
- Israel Commission Criticizes Olmert's Handling of Lebanon War
- Israeli Whistleblower Vanunu Convicted For Speaking to Media
- Justice Dept Memo Reveals Broad Effort to Politicize Department
- Virginia Governor Partially Closes Loophole In State's Gun Laws
- Three U.S. Troops Indicted In Killing Spanish Journalist Jose Couso
- Chavez to Pull Venezuela Out of World Bank & IMF
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1410216
* Read Amy Goodman's latest column *
"Voices from the Spanish Civil War"
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/voices_from_the_spanish_civil_war/
note that this news site, Truthdig, allows readers to post comments.
Consider posting your own.
Also, consider writing your local newspaper and asking for them to carry the
column, distributed by King Features. Many papers across the US have done
so already.
If you see the column in your paper, please mail us a copy of the full page,
to
Democracy Now!
100 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10013
Thank you!
* May Day 2007: Hundreds of Thousands March for Immigrant Rights *
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants took to the streets on Tuesday in
protests in dozens of cities across the country. Calls focused on demanding
a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, ending immigrant raids and
deportations and rejecting anti-immigrant legislation. We speak with
organizers of the day's two largest protests: Los Angeles and Chicago.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1426257
* Police Fire Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas Into Peaceful LA Immigration March *
In Los Angeles, an afternoon immigrant rights march ended when police fired
dozens of rubber bullets and tear gas into the peaceful crowd. Families with
young children were forced to flee for their safety. Eyewitnesses said
police gave little or no warning before firing the rubber bullets.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1427204
* Hundreds of Students Walk Out of Classrooms to Support Immigrant Rights *
Students once again played a key role in the May Day protests. In Los
Angeles, city officials reported around six hundred students walked out of
class to join the march for immigrant rights. Meanwhile in Detroit, dozens
of students were arrested for taking part in a walkout that also protested
the planned closure of dozens of schools. We speak with two student
organizers.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1427210
* A Look at the Forces Behind the Anti-Immigrant Movement *
We take a look at the forces behind the anti-immigrant movement with
journalist Max Blumenthal of The Nation. Blumenthal says the ideas for the
movement "did not come from a vacuum and they're not necessarily a rational
response to a crisis. They come from the white nationalist movement, a
movement that seeks to maintain what they consider the white character of
then United States."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1427217
* Women Leading Grassroots Movement in Italy to Oppose U.S. Military Base
Travel to Washington DC *
One of the largest protests against the U.S. military this year wasn't where
you'd normally expect it. In February, more than 100,000 people marched
against a plan to double the size of a U.S. base in the northern Italian
city of Vicenza. A group of women leading the protests have traveled from
Italy to bring their case directly to Capitol Hill.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1427223
* Headlines for May 2, 2007 *
- Hundreds of Thousands Protest for Immigrant Rights
- Bush Vetoes Iraq War Spending Bill
- Iraq Cabinet OKs Oil Law
- Rupert Murdoch Seeks to Buy Wall Street Journal
- Alabama Militia Accused of Plotting to Attack Mexicans
- FISA Court Approves Record Number Of Secret Searches
- Hundreds of Thousands Protest for Immigrant Rights
- Venezuela Seizes Control of Privately-Held Oil Projects
- Students Seize Radio Station in Oaxaca
- Kent State Massacre Tape: 'Get Set! Point! Fire!'
* Documents Linked to Cuban Exile Luis Posada Carriles Highlighted Targets
for Terrorism Including Cuban Airliner Downed in 1976 *
Weeks after a U.S. judge released Posada Carriles on bail, Peter Kornbluh of
the National Security Archive reveals that new evidence has surfaced linking
Posada Carriles to a string of terrorist attacks. Posada Carriles goes on
trial this week in Texas--for immigration fraud, not terrorism.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/07/1411207
* “The Man of Two Havanas”: Max Lesnik on His Transition From Cuban
Revolutionary to Exile to Target of Terrorist Attacks by Anti-Castro Cuban
Militants in Miami *
Max Lesnik joins us in the Firehouse studio with his daughter, Vivien Lesnik
Weisman who directed the “The Man of Two Havanas.” The film premiered this
week at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/07/1411212
* Right-Wing Nicolas Sarkozy Wins French Presidency, Thousands Protest in
Streets of Paris *
In France, conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected to be the
country's new president. Sarkozy won a clear victory over Socialist rival
Segolene Royal with 53% of the vote to her 47%. The estimated turnout of 84%
was the highest in France in three decades.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/07/1411217
* Headlines for May 7, 2007 *
- Pro-American Nicholas Sarkozy Wins French Election
- U.S. Helicopters Bomb Sadr City
- Survey: More than 1/3 of U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Approve of Torture
- Al Qaeda's al-Zawahiri Urges U.S. To Stay in Iraq
- U.S. Blocks UN Visit to Texas Immigration Prison
- NRA Backs Gun Rights for Terrorism Suspects
- Israel Accused of Abusing and Torturing Palestinian Detainees
- Three Leaders of Atenco Uprising Sentenced to 67 Years in Jail
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/07/1411201
-----
From Media Savvy
May 3: World Press Freedom Day
By MediaChannel
May 3rd is the annual World Press Freedom Day. This years theme is violence against journalists. MediaChannel has put together a special coverage package with resources for those concerned about freedom of the press.
Set Journalists Free On May 3rd Says IFJ As Impunity And Kidnapping Crisis Threatens Media Freedom
International Federation of Journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called for World Press Freedom Day 2007 to be marked with the release of journalists in jail or taken hostage.
The End Of Dow Jones
By Dean Starkman, CJR Daily
Reading the page-one story in The Wall Street Journal today about News Corp.'s offer to buy Dow Jones & Co., the Journal's publisher, The Audit could only marvel at the competence with which the paper covers its own demise.
Having Won A Pulitzer For Exposing Data Mining, NY Times Now Eager To Do Its Own Data Mining
By Keach Hagey, Village Voice
Barely a year after their reporters won a Pulitzer prize for exposing data mining of ordinary citizens by a government spy agency, New York Times officials had some exciting news for stockholders last week: The Times company plans to do its own data mining of ordinary citizens, in the name of online profits.
Army's OpSec Regulations Posted On The Net
By Christina Davidson, IraqSlogger
The blogosphere is in a rage over the newly imposed muzzle on "milblogs."
Murdoch's Editors Know His Voice
By Martin Peers and Aaron O. Patrick, Wall Street Journal
London's Times offers a glimpse of the hands-on way the multimedia mogul runs his newspaper empire.
Police Action On Journalists At Melee Is Assailed
By Anna Gorman and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers
Some news outlets whose reporters and camera operators were hurt in melee mull legal claims against LAPD.
LAPD Behavior 'Dumbfounds' Reporter
By Kevin Roderick, LA Observed
LAPD chief William Bratton must explain why his cops beat up journalists on Monday, despite a 2002 legal settlement in which the department agreed to comply with the law when it comes to the media.
Why Newspapers Are Buyout Targets
By Ron Scherer, The Christian Science Monitor
Even for America's newspaper families, the media oligarchies that control many of the nation's broadsheets, the economics of continuing to publish a newspaper is challenging.
Webcasters Get Breathing Room; CRB Pushes D-Day To July 15
By Kurt Hanson, RAIN
In a twist that greatly improves the likelihood that Congress could pass legislation in time to save Internet radio, the Copyright Royalty Board moves the due date for increased royalty payments to July 15.
USPS Governors Accept PRC Revised Rate Recommendations
By Melissa Campanelli, DMN News
The Governors of the U.S. Postal Service announced yesterday that they accepted the decision of the Postal Regulatory Commission to modify two of its earlier rate case recommendations.
Public No More: Dolans Take Cablevision Private
By Wayne Friedman, Media Daily News
In an effort to keep out of the public eye of stock-market analysts and investors, the controlling Dolan family has finally taken Cablevision Systems private.
LAPD Riot Cops Assault Journalists
Fox News' LA affiliate station shows unedited footage of riot police assaulting journalists and peaceful marchers at the MayDay rally in McArthur Park. Watch Here
Time For A FOX Hunt As Murdoch Targets The Wall St. Journal
By Danny Schechter
As Rupert Murdoch "gekkers" for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Company, the News Dissector looks at the underlying motives of the potential deal.
Murdoch's Spectre Hangs Over Financial Times
By Chris Tryhorn, Guardian Unlimited
Financial Times owner Pearson could have cause for concern if Rupert Murdoch's bid for the Wall Street Journal succeeds.
Fox Reports Local News: Fox Reporters In Melee
By Paul Brownfield, LA Times
Last year it was Fox 11 reporter Tony Valdez getting into a heated on-air discussion with a local radio team. This year it was Fox 11 reporter Christina Gonzalez screaming, "You can't do that!" as she was manhandled in the maelstrom of baton and foam-bullet-wielding cops.
Is This What The Army Thinks Of Us?
By Paul McLeary, CJR Daily
It looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security.
Reuters In Bidder's Sights
By Katie Allen, Guardian Unlimited
Global news group Reuters revealed a bid approach from an unidentified third party this morning, sending its shares more than 25% higher.
Digg's Online Crowd Flexes Its Muscle
By Chris Gaylord, Christian Science Monitor
Backlash over the site administrators' attempt to squelch postings of a secret encryption code shows power of free-speech-minded Web users.
Stamping Out The Free Press; Democracy Vs. Zip Code 10021
By Jim Hightower, Austin Chronicle
Two stories in the latest Hightower report highlight the U.S. Postal Service and its anti-democratic activities.
Chinese Officials Neutralize Cutting-Edge Magazine
By Shen Hua & Luisetta Mudie, Radio Free Asia
China's powerful propaganda czars have pronounced the death knell for a magazine that ran hard-hitting exposes of official corruption, turning it into a cultural and lifestyle digest of mainly previously published materials.
Assignment Zero First Take: Wiki Innovators Rethink Openness
By NewAssignment.net & Wired
Inspired by the open-source movement in programming, a new Wired/NewAssignment.net collaboration called Assignment Zero allows citizen journalists to work with professional editors to cover the news. See a preview of their first effort.
War By Mercenaries
Not counted among the US soldiers "surging" in Iraq are the hired killers of Blackwater USA, the right-wing mercenaries who do the dirty work of assassination and protection for the US as Jeremy Scahill describes in his new book. This video captures them "in action." Watch Here
New Media: This Ain't Your Corporate Media Anymore!
By Linda Milazzo, MediaChannel
The resounding moment of truth during Thursday's Reagan-raptured debate came when Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul said he preferred Internet reporting to mainstream media, and then strongly defended the need for Internet freedom and independence.
Press Gives A Free Pass To Citizens Groups Allied With Telecoms
By Bruce Kushnick, Nieman Watchdog
At a New Jersey utilities board hearing on cable franchises, three guys from Verizon - the elephant in the room - go unnoticed by the regulators, and by the press.
Nigeria: Blogging The Historic Election (Part 2)
By David Ajao, Global Voices
In the concluding part of "Blogging the historic election," which highlights Migerian bloggers addressing the recent national and state balloting, we see what Web scribes in the African nation were saying on the election day and afterwards.
China: Most Influential Unknown Person
By John Kennedy, Global Voices
When 22 year-old Beijing-based blogger Zeng Jinyan was chosen by Time magazine this week as one of the world's most influential people, well, the Chinese people didn't have all that much to say beyond, "Who is she?"
Ottaways Deplore Bid By Murdoch
By Richard Perez-Pena, NY Times
Two members of the Ottaway family, a minority partner in Dow Jones & Company, released scathing statements yesterday saying that a takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation would ruin Dow Jones and its crown jewel, The Wall Street Journal.
News Corp. Puts CNBC On The Defensive
By Jon Friedman, Market Watch
Rupert Murdoch's stunning $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones is the key to News Corp.'s strategy to topple CNBC in the potentially lucrative arena of business-news television. Did I say "topple?" Excuse me. I meant "crush."
Media Need To Keep Their Focus On The Los Angeles Police Investigations
By Tim Rutten, LA Times
Los Angeles police chief called his officers' attack on legal demonstrators and working journalists at an immigrants' rights rally in MacArthur Park the "worst incident of this type I have ever encountered in 37 years" of policing.
Public As Enemy: Targeting You
By C.L. Cook, Pacific Free Press
While police brutality during protests is nothing new in America, what is different in this case is the LAPD's brazen attacks went against corporate TV crews covering the family-orientated events for FOX and the Big 3 networks.
Three CNET Reporters Plan To Sue HP: NYT
Reuters
Three CNET Networks reporters whose phone records were scrutinized by investigators working for Hewlett-Packard plan to sue HP for invasion of privacy, the New York Times reported on its Web site on Monday.
Beck's Global Warming Special Dominated By Industry-funded 'experts,' Serial Misinformers
Media Matters
CNN host Glenn Beck's special, Exposed: The Climate of Fear, relied heavily on people with energy industry ties and others espousing positions on global warming that have been soundly debunked or rejected by the majority of scientists studying climate change.
Kabul Is Moving To Curb Independent News Media
By Abdul Waheed Wafa and Carlotta Gall, International Herald Tribune
The government of Afghanistan, competing with the Taliban for public support and trying to fend off accusations that it is corrupt and ineffective, is moving to curb one of its own most impressive achievements: the country's flourishing independent news media.
No Debate: Obama, Edwards, GOP Bloggers Support Free Access To Footage
By Nate Anderson, ars technica
Who knew so many people actually cared about early-stage presidential debates? The Internet officially has graduated from "abuzz" to "atwitter" over the issue as a new group of politicians and bloggers came out in favor of making the debate video available through a Creative Commons attribution license.
PBS Supports Ken Burns Against Latinos' Complaints
By Elizabeth Jensen, NY Times
Public broadcasting executives are defending the right of the filmmaker Ken Burns to tell the history of World War II as he sees fit, in the face of escalating complaints and veiled threats of a boycott from Latinos.
Olbermann On Fire
By David Bauber, Seattle Times
Olbermann's popularity and evolving image as an idealogue has led NBC News to stretch traditional notions of journalistic objectivity. The danger for MSNBC is provoking the same anger among Republicans that Democrats feel toward Fox News Channel.
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From Greg Palast
18 Missing Inches in New Orleans
By Greg Palast
From the new updated and expanded paperback edition of the bestseller Armed Madhouse in stores now.
Since the initial release of Armed Madhouse in June 2006, much has changed in America.
The Department of Homeland Security, after a five-year hunt for Osama, finally brought charges against... Greg Palast.
As America crawled toward the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attack, Homeland Security charged me and my US producer Matt Pascarella with violating the anti-terror laws.
Don't you feel safer?
And I confess: we're guilty.
On August 22, 2006, we were videotaping Katrina evacuees still held behind barbed wire in a trailer park encampment a hundred miles from New Orleans. It had been a year since the hurricane and 73,000 POW's (Prisoners of Dubya) were still in mobile home Gulags. I arranged a surreptitious visit with Pamela Lewis, one of the unwilling guests of George Bush's Guantanamo on wheels. She told me, "It's a prison set-up" - except there are no home furloughs for these inmates because they no longer have homes.
You can't film there. FEMA is part of Homeland Security and its camps are off limits to cameras. We don't want Osama to know he can get a cramped Airstream by posing as a displaced Black person.
To give a sense of the full flavor and smell of Kamp Katrina, we wanted to show that this human parking lot, with kids and elderly, is close by Exxon Petroleum's Baton Rouge refinery. The neighborhood goes by the quaint sobriquet, "Cancer Alley."
So we filmed it. Uh, oh. The refinery, is a CAVIP, "Critical Asset and Vulnerable Infrastructure Point." Apparently, you can't film a CAVIP.
As to the bust: The positive side for me as a reporter was that I got to see Bush's terror-trackers in action. I should note that it took the Maxwell Smarts at Homeland Security a full two weeks to hunt us down. And we're on television.
Frankly, Matt and I were a bit scared that, given the charges, we wouldn't be allowed on a plane into New York for the September 11 commemoration. But what scared us more is that we were allowed on the plane.
Once I was traced, I had a bit of an other-worldly conversation with my would-be captors. Detective Frank Penantano of Homeland Security told me, "This is a 'Critical Infrastructure' and they get nervous about unauthorized filming of their property."
Well, me too, Detective. In fact, I'm very nervous that extremely detailed satellite photos of this potential chemical blast-site can be downloaded from maps.google.com.
Detective Penantano, in justifying our impending arrest, said, "If you remember, a lot of people were killed on 9/11."
Yes, I remember "a lot" of people were killed. So I have this suggestion, Detective - and you can pass it on to Mr. Bush: Go find the people who killed them.
18 Missing Inches
Before the Big Bust, we learned a little more about how New Orleans drowned. Given my line of work, I'm not shocked at much. Yet, this one got to me.
"By midnight on Monday the White House knew. Monday night I was at the state Emergency Operations Center and nobody was aware that the levees had breeched. Nobody."
The charges were so devastating - the White House's withholding from the state police the information that the city was about to flood - that from almost any source, I simply would have dismissed it. But this was not just any source. The whistleblower was Dr. Ivor van Heerden, deputy chief of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Studies Center, and the chief technician advising the state on saving lives during Katrina.
That Monday night, August 29, 2005, the sleepless crew at the state Emergency Operations Center, directing the response to Hurricane Katrina, were high-fiving it, relieved that Katrina had swung east of New Orleans, sparing the city from drowning.
They were wrong. The Army Corps, FEMA and White House knew for critical hours that the levees had begun to crack, but withheld the information for a day and night. The delay was deadly.
Van Heerden explained that levees don't collapse in a single bang. First, there's a small crack or two, a few feet wide, which take hours to burst open into visible floodways.
Had the state known New Orleans' bulwark was failing, they would have shifted resources to get out those left in the danger zone.
Van Heerden: FEMA knew on 11 o'clock on Monday that the levees had breeched. At 2pm they flew over the 17th Street Canal and took video of the breech.
Question: So the White House wouldn't tell you that the levees had breeched?
Van Heerden: They didn't tell anybody.
Question: And you're at the Emergency Center?
Van Heerden: I mean nobody knew. Well, the Corps of Engineers knew. FEMA knew. None of us knew.
The prevarications continued all week.
Van Heerden said, "I went to the Governor's on Tuesday night and I said this, 'There's a lot more breeches than one.' They said, "Whatever you need, go find out.' I got in an airplane, I flew. I counted 28 breeches."
The White House had good reason, or at least political and financial reasons, to keep mum. A hurricane is an act of God, but catastrophic levee failure is an act of the Administration. Once the federal levees go, evacuation, rescue and those frightening words - responsibility and compensation - become Washington's. Van Heerden knew that "not an act of God, but catastrophic failure of the levee system" would mean that, at least, "these people must be compensated."
Not every flood victim in America gets the Katrina treatment. In 1992, storms wiped out 190 houses on the beach at West Hampton Dunes, home to film stars and celebrity speculators. The federal government paid to completely rebuild the houses, which, hauled in four million cubic feet of sand to restore the tony beaches, and guaranteed the home's safety into the coming decades - after which the "victim's" homes rose in value to an average $2 million each.
But in New Orleans, instead of compensation, 73,000 have been sentenced to life in FEMA's trailer-parks in Louisiana. Even more are displaced to other states. I asked van Heeerden about the consequences of the White House's failures, the information about the levee being just one of a list.
"Well, fifteen hundred people drowned. That's the bottom line."
But why did the levees fail at all if the hurricane missed the city? The professor showed me a computer model indicating the levees were a foot and a half too short - the result of a technical error in the Army Corp of Engineer's calculation of sea level when the levees were built beginning in the 1930s.
And the Bush crew knew it. Long before Katrina struck, the White House staff had sought van Heerden's advice on coastal safety. So when the professor learned of the 18-inch error, he informed the White House directly. But this was advice they didn't want to hear. The President had already sent the levee repair crew, the Army Corp of Engineers, to Afghanistan and Iraq.
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HILLARY'S MOTHER-F'ING TOUR BUSINESS
by Greg Palast
Palast is the author of Armed Madhouse, released last week in a new, expanded edition, in paperback - the newest addition to the New York Times list of non-fiction bestsellers.
Before his untimely death in a plane crash, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said,
"I'm not Hillary's mother-f****** tour guide!"
That wasn't a nice thing for a member of the President's cabinet to say about the First Lady, now my Senator, Hillary Clinton.
And it's probably not polite for me to bring it up now. But if I don't, surely the Karl Rovarians will - if Senator Mrs. Clinton nails the Presidential nomination.
Bill Clinton used to say that, once he became president, he finally earned more money than his wife. That was a carefully crafted bit of modesty to show Bill as an aw-shucks regular guy versus Richie Rich-kid George Bush.
But Bill's cute remark raised a question in my mind: How did Hillary get that big ol' salary? And another question arises: how has she stayed out of prison?
The story's a little complicated, involving a New Orleans power company, Indonesian billionaires, a New York nuclear plant and plain old influence peddling. But if we follow the money, we'll get the picture. And it ain't pretty.
But first, let's stop at Wal-Mart. Read an official biography of the Senator and you'll find her six-month stint on a child-protection task force. Yet you won't find her SIX YEARS on the board of directors of Wal-Mart Corporation. She may have earned a Grammy for "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child." But it takes a Governor's wife to provide cover for Wal-Mart's profiteering off systematic wage-enslavement of children in its factories in South America.
Sam Walton called Hillary, "My little lady." Sam paid her an eyebrow raising sum for a director - equal to 60% of her entire not-insubstantial salary as a lawyer. By contrast, Wendy Diaz (her real name), a 13-year-old in Honduras, was paid 25 cents an hour to make shirts for the "little lady's" label.
Hillary's rake-in was made possible by Wal-Mart's 100% union-free operation and out-sourcing of 100% of its manufacturing, some to prison factories in China. Now, you could say that Hillary couldn't hear the screams of the kiddies in Kamp Wal-Mart in Honduras. After all, she relied on the intelligence provided her by the President (of Wal-Mart).
Fast forward to 1994 and the Brown 'mother-f'ing tour guide' business. According to Nolanda Hill, the Commerce Secretary's long-time business partner and love interest, Brown, who died in 1996, endorsed a Hillary cash-for-access scheme ($10,000 for coffee with the President, $100,000 for a night in the Lincoln bedroom). However, Brown resented the discount rate the First Lady put on US executives joining Brown's lucrative trade missions. 'I'm worth more than $50,000 a pop!' he said.
One company more than happy to pony up for a cash joy-ride with Brown was Entergy International. This electric company, based in Little Rock, became one of the world's biggest power system operators on the planet under the Clinton regime. Interestingly, Bill Clinton began his political climb by running for Arkansas Attorney General campaigning on a pledge to fight Entergy's electric price hikes. His pro-consumer plan was defeated in court by Entergy's law firm - which included one Hillary Rodham.
There were more favors for Entergy. In 1998, I discovered, while working under cover for the Guardian and Observer, that Tony Blair was personally fixing the system to let Entergy to violate British policy on coal plants. Why? I picked up in my secret recordings of Blair's cronies that calls to take care of Entergy, rules be damned, had come in from the office of 'the Flotus' - the First Lady of the United States.
It gets creepier. In June of 1994, Entergy's partner in Asia, the Riady family of Indonesia paid recently-resigned Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell a $100,000 consulting fee. Odd that: Hubbell was on his way to prison for the felony crime of inflating his legal bills. Why would Asians pay a lawyer for advice on Asia who was on his way to the pokey?
Maybe it had to do with his partner in crime. I've conducted investigations of lawyer over-billing. It is nearly impossible for a senior lawyer to pad billing records unless the junior partner also fraudulently monkeys with time logs to make sure the records don't give away the game. Who was Hubbell's "little lady" junior partner? Today we call her Madame Senator.
Hillary's logs were worth close inspection by authorities, no? But the funny thing about Hillary's billing records: when requested for disclosure in another suit, they disappeared. First, her law firm's computers went ka-blooey. Then the paper printouts vanished, but not before, during the 1992 Presidential campaign, they were secretly combed over, line by line, by Web Hubbell.
Hubbell knew his own logs were phonied, and he understood the consequences of exposure. Ultimately, bloated hours on those records caused him to lose his law license, his Associate Attorney General post and his freedom. He got 21 months in the slammer.
What did Hubbell see and know about Hillary's logs? Hubbell won't say, except for a cryptic remark, after seeing her bills, that 'every lawyer' fabricates records. Hubbell pleaded guilty, but refused to answer investigators' questions, a requirement in any plea bargain - so the judge had to sentence him to prison.
Why would Hubbell choose to do time on the chain gang over testifying about the First Lady? His prosecutors did not know at the time of the $100,000 Riady payment, the first of over half a million dollars Hubbell would receive from Clinton friends in the weeks up to his entering jail.
And those Hillary billing records? Hubbell lost them - how convenient. Then they reappeared two years later, just outside Hillary's office, right after Hubbell announced he would refuse to testify against her.
Maybe the Clintons knew nothing about the big money flowing to prison-bound Hubbell. Knowledge of the payments would suggest they were buying Hubbell's silence. In 1996, when the LA Times uncovered the payments, Mrs. Clinton's First Man Bill stone-cold denied he knew anything about it.
Then, in 2000, in a deposition by the Justice Department, the President changed his tune. Investigators confronted the President with this: on June 20, 1994, Hubbell met with Hillary. Two days later, James Riady, the Asian billionaire Entergy partner, met with Hubbell for breakfast. Just a few hours later, Riady returned to the White House, then met again with Hubbell, then made two more treks to the White House. Two days later, a videotape shows the beginning of another meeting in the Oval Office between Clinton and Riady -- but oddly, before they talk, the tape goes blank. Two days after that, Hubbell gets his $100,000 through a Riady bank.
Lying to journalists is a venal sin, but lying to the Feds is perjury. In his deposition, the President's denial transformed into amnesia. He couldn't remember if Riady mentioned the payment. Then, the President slyly opened the door to the truth. "I wouldn't be surprised if James told me," Clinton said. Neither would I.
What did Riady get? The Flotus herself, says Nolanda Hill, forced Brown to accept the appointment of Riady's bag man, John Huang, as a Commerce Department deputy. According to records of calls the Guardian obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, Huang's first order of business was to wheedle his way into confidential CIA briefings on Indonesia and China, then call Riady and his Entergy partners.
The same day Riady met the President, documents show he called on a Clinton crony at the top of the department's Export-Import Bank. "We just came over from the Oval Office," is a nice way to provide assurance of the 'political connection' required for help. These and other Riady team meetings at Commerce are marked 'social'. Yet, shortly thereafter, the department agreed to promote and fund the Riady-Entergy China venture.
Influence is not a victimless crime. Riady and his minions' visits to the White House (94 times!) included successful requests for the President to meet Indonesian dictator Suharto and to kill negative reports on East Timor and working conditions in Indonesia. Timorese and Indonesians paid for these policy flips with blood.
Has Entergy's investment in Hillary's jail-bird partner continued to pay dividends?
Code Pink and New York environmentalists have been pulling out their hair over Senator Clinton's backing of the operation of the creaky old Indian Point nuclear plant just above - and within irradiating distance of - New York City. The owner of the Indian Point nuke? Hillary's old buck buddies, Entergy.
Am I saying Hillary would arrange for a payoff to keep witnesses silent, to poison US foreign policy for the profit of corporate cronies, to vote in Washington loaded down with conflicts of interest? I would never say so. Even if the evidence will.
Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, ARMED MADHOUSE: From Baghdad to New Orleans -- Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild. "A masterpiece" (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). "America's top investigative reporter and the funniest" (Randi Rhodes). "Palast's stories bite - so relevant they threaten to alter history" (Chicago Tribune). "Palast ... is twisted and maniacal" (Katherine Harris). www.GregPalast.com
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From Planned Parenthood
It's official: President Bush wants you to know that he's still doing all he can to attack a woman's right to choose.
Just days ago, President Bush sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threatening to veto "any legislation that weakens current federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life." (Politico.com, 5/3/07)
Bush essentially told the new Congress that he wants to continue denying millions of women access to essential medical services, including family planning and safe, legal abortion.
This letter shows just how out of touch Bush is with reality. Americans are tired of hypocritical, divisive attacks on a woman's right to choose. That's why we voted the anti-choice congressional leadership out of office in November.
By throwing down the gauntlet, Bush refuses again to support pro-choice, pro-prevention bills like:
The Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade and guarantee the right to choose for future generations of women.
The Prevention First Act, which would help women prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion by increasing funds for family-planning services, assuring contraceptive equity in health-insurance plans, and improving women's access to emergency contraception.
Both bills have cosponsors from each political party and broad public support.
Take action:
- 1. Contact your members of Congress and ask them to stand firm against Bush's threats and cosponsor the Freedom of Choice and Prevention First Acts.
- 2. Read more about the story.
- 3. Forward this action to your friends and ask them to get involved.
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From OilWatchdog
The California "Gasoline Price Penalty"
Like all of you I could see it coming, but that doesn't make California's gasoline-price record easier to take. We shot this week past last year's record of $3.38 a gallon, even though oil prices are $6 a barrel below where they were last year. The difference this year? Huge, unheard-of profits on manufacturing gasoline. Even the national pump price average is nudging $3.00, about to break a record set last August.
Still, it's California paying the big price penalty $7 to $15 per fill-up above the US average, according to a new Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights study released today. See footage of the press announcement here.
That's not all we talked about at OilWatchdog this week. High points include a chicken deal that won't fly, the tabloid adventures of the BP CEO and Chevron attorneys leaning hard on one of your watchdogs, Jamie Court. Talk about "crude" behavior.
Some of you ask why OilWatchdog doesn't rejoice at higher prices, since eventually they would reduce gasoline consumption. It's because, without alternatives, high prices punish those least able to afford a $60 fill-up. And in the unregulated Wild West of gasoline prices, drivers' wallets empty straight into oil company pockets instead of boosting public transit or renewable fuels or conservation.
OilWatchdog demands that government step in, since gasoline is a broken market, and fix supply issues and price manipulation first. We all know the permanent fixes: renewable fuels, better transit systems, green technologies, auto efficiency. Quit letting oil companies talk green while they embrace the global petroleum drug.
So why is it so hard to get government off its duff? (Aside from a White House occupied by oilmen.)
Read on for the lowdown on how oil companies took last quarter's record profits directly from your pockets, as well as our more lowbrow offerings. Exxon profits here, Chevron profits here.
Sign on to OilWatchdog, too, and let us know with your comments what you think.
Judy Dugan
Here are the recent posts from OilWatchdog.org:
CA Penalty = $7-$15 Per Fill-Up
by Dugan, Court & Hamilton, 05-03-2007
Oil companies sever link between oil prices and pump prices; Result is bottom-line bonanza.
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | ExxonMobil | Greed | Influence | Misdeeds | News Releases | ...
Attack Of The Chevron Attorneys
by Court, 05-02-2007
Chevron's attorneys are at it again, this time breathing down the necks of the editors at the San Francisco Chronicle over my oped last week, "Is Chevron Going Green?"
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | The Industry | ...
What Drives Spending? Gasoline
by dugan, 05-02-2007
When I saw this week's federal consumer spending report, (up, but not up as much as in recent months), I knew one thing for sure: Everyone's spending more on gasoline. Here's a straight-up warning of what it means.
Read More
TAGS: Price Gouging | Price spike | Record prices | The Industry | ...
Chicken Biodiesel May Not Fly
by Simpson, 05-01-2007
ConocoPhillips and Tyson Food should not count their biodiesel chickens before they hatch. Congressional Democrats want to block a key tax break.
Read More
TAGS: ConocoPhillips | conservation | Environment | Greenwashing | ...
BP Chief quits; admits lies
by Simpson, 05-01-2007
Lord John Browne resigned as chief executive after admitting he lied to a court about how he had met his gay companion. "Oh what a tangled web we weave..."
Read More
TAGS: BP | Catastrophes | CEO compensation | Misdeeds | The Industry | ...
Venezuela pulls control from BigOil
by M.Reback, 05-01-2007
Hugo Chavez did what he said he would: Take majority control of Venezuelan oil fields from majors including Exxon and Chevron. There may be more shocks to come, however.
Read More
TAGS: BP | Chevron | ConocoPhillips | ExxonMobil | Influence | ...
Insider: Another Dime Per Gallon This Week?
by dugan, 05-01-2007
OilWatchdog's Insider is sounding the alarm about more gasoline price increases--up to a dime's worth-- in the California pipeline this week.
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | ConocoPhillips | Influence | Price Gouging | Price spike | ...
Press Release: Big Oil "Shortage" Drives Record
by J.Dugan, 04-30-2007
Last year's record is shattered at $3.40 for regular in CA; New U.S. mark is cents away...
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | ExxonMobil | Greed | Influence | Misdeeds | News Releases | ...
A Connect-the-Dots Moment
by dugan, 04-27-2007
A foiled Al Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia spikes the price of oil, even as the industry reports new quarterly record profits. Is this the moment government awakes?
Read More
TAGS: BP | cash register politics | Chevron | ConocoPhillips | ...
Press Release: Chevron's Profit, Drivers' Loss
by dugan, 04-27-2007
Fuel refining margins zoom on soaring gasoline prices...
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | ConocoPhillips | News Releases | Price Gouging | Profits | Record prices | ...
Insider Scoop on Bigger Price Spikes
by dugan, 04-27-2007
“Insider” tells us that gasoline stations are seeing 10-cent-a-gallon increases this week in their costs. Hello, $4.00, and all to the pockets of Big Oil.
Read More
TAGS: Chevron | Influence | Price Gouging | Price spike | Profits | ...
It's ALL about oil
by Simpson, 04-27-2007
ExxonMobil is an oil company and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson won't to broaden his horizon. "I don't have a lot of technology to add to moonshine," he says of ethanol.
Read More
TAGS: conservation | ExxonMobil | Global Warming | Greed | ...
Will profs learn from students?
by Simpson, 04-26-2007
UC Berkeley's faculty members could learn something from their students. Unlike the faculty counterpart, the student senate took a firm stand against "UCBP."
Read More
TAGS: Big Oil U | BP | conservation | Environment | Global Warming | ...
Read More: OilWatchdog.org
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From IAVA
Just when you think you've seen it all, the top bureaucrats at the VA manage to set new standards in rewarding incompetence. It turns out that back in 2005, only months after admitting that they had underestimated the cost of veterans' care by more than $1 billion dollars, VA officials involved in the foul-up each got bonuses of up to $33,000!
The total cost of these bonuses? Over $3 million dollars.
IAVA responded to this news immediately, pushing back on the VA, demanding the Senate investigate and fighting to keep this story in the press.
Click here to read yesterday's article from the Associated Press, quoting IAVA. We were also featured in ABC's coverage, which you can watch now online. You can also get the full list of bonuses here - see if someone in your area was involved.
For those of you who can't keep track of all the different ways returning troops are getting the run-around, here's a quick recap of what we saw in 2005:
In their budget request for 2005, VA based their numbers on the data from 2002 -- before the war in Iraq even started. As a result, they expected only 23,500 new veterans to seek services, instead of the 103,000 new veterans who returned from war needing care. So the VA asked Congress for $1 billion less than they would actually need.
While local facilities were flooded with new veterans and forced to ration care, VA bureaucrats spent six months telling a concerned Congress that there wasn't a problem. As late as summer 2004, VA Secretary Nicholson assured Senate leadership that "the VA does not need emergency supplemental funds in FY 2005." Eventually, the VA finally admitted the billion-dollar shortfall and requested emergency funding, but not before thousands of veterans were affected by the six-month budget crunch.
So what happens to the people responsible for this fiasco? Are they fired, or even reprimanded? No -- they are rewarded with handsome bonuses that draw millions of dollars away from crucial VA programs.
What else could the VA have done with $3 million? Here's an idea. The entire 2006 budget for the Defense and Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Center was only $14 million dollars. And last year, they faced a staggering budget cut of 50%. Three million dollars would have gone a long way to helping the estimated 150,000 troops with a brain injury. Instead, it went into the pockets of some bureaucrats.
Stories like this show why it's so important that we work together to make sure our troops and veterans get the care and respect they have earned.
Over the next few weeks we'll be keeping you up to date on this and other issues facing the VA. Keep checking your inbox and http://www.iava.org/ for ways you can help, and consider inviting your friends to sign up as IAVA supporters.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Paul Rieckhoff
Iraq Veteran
Executive Director/ Founder
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
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From HuffPo
Walter Isaacson: Tenet's Instinct to Please
AP
Excerpted From Walter Isaacson's Blog:
...George Tenet's woes, it seems to me, come from the very natural instinct to please rather than tell uncomfortable truths to those in authority. Watching Bill Moyers's show on how the media failed to question the march to the war in Iraq, I reflected on how I, likewise, when I was at CNN, was too willing to accept what those in authority were telling me. And reading Bob Dallek's new book on Nixon and Kissinger, I was reminded how Kissinger, someone I once wrote about, was too willing to cater to and collaborate with the darker impulses of Nixon.
It's not always possible nor even a good thing to be defiant of authority, as I sometimes try to explain to my daughter. Yet Havel's distinction seems, each day, to become more relevant to me as I watch folks like Tenet try to explain themselves. I think, in contrast, of a person like Brent Scowcroft, who repeatedly had the intellectual honesty to say publicly and privately when he disagreed with his former protégés in the Bush Administration, even at the cost of being excluded from the inner circle...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Jonathan Powers: Mission Accomplished?
John Neffinger: Oh No, Not This Again: David Brooks and the Meanest Issue in American Politics
John McQuaid: The Great Newspaper Fuzz-Out
Jean Carnahan: Time for a George W. Bush Memorial Statue
Jane Smiley: Who's the Enemy?
AP
Excerpted From Jane Smiley's Blog:
...Here's how the sequence of events went: In 2000, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Kristol, and others decided that the US was the boss of the world, and was to be the boss of the world for at least a hundred years. Cheney made himself vice president and grafted his ambitions onto whatever Bush thought he was doing. Already in "Rebuilding America's Defenses," the PNACkers were planning to get rid of Saddam Hussein, but then after the Republicans cheated and bullied their way into the presidency (thank you, Jeb Bush), they disdained everything Clinton had learned about Al Qaeda and the Middle East and a potential terrorist attack on American soil. When that attack occurred, they instantly annexed it to their agenda, and used it as an excuse to begin a civil war in Iraq, get rid of Saddam, and take control of the oil (not, as Greg Palast says, to turn the spigot on but to turn it off, and raise prices and profits). Having begun the Iraq civil war, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries to Iraqis and Americans, not to mention the internal displacement of millions, the PNACkers have no interest in ending it (and don't know how, anyway).
Why is that? It is because they don't know who the enemy is, or rather, because they define the enemy as anyone who is opposed to American interests. Today the enemy is one set of Islamic fundamentalists, tomorrow it will be another set. Today, two sets of Islamicists are against us. Tomorrow, one set will be for us and the other set will have found a new ally, and be against us. But, in actual fact, how can any person or any group in the Middle East or Europe or China or Africa or South America define themselves as the PNACkers define them, solely in relation to American interests? People and groups have to define themselves in relation to their own interests. If, for example, they have a resource, such as oil, it is in their own interest to possess it and profit from it. Are they really required to think first about what the gas-guzzling, bomb-wielding Americans might want? Well, yes, if we can make them. But we aren't actually "in the right" if we make them do so by force or by threats...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Paul Rieckhoff: To the Pentagon: Americans Don't Need You to Invent Incredible War Stories -- We Have Real Ones
Rep. Anthony Weiner: C.O.P.S.: A Democratic Homeland Security Program
Joseph A. Palermo: Bush Semiotics: Dies Iovis i Maius MMIII (Repeat) Bush Semiotics: Dies Iovis i Maius MMIII (Repeat)
Chris Case: It's Hard Out Here For a Czar
Sen. Russ Feingold: After the Veto
From news.yahoo.com
Excerpted from Sen. Russ Feingold's Blog:
The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats -- are saying Congress should just give in to the President. Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing up to the President's disastrous Iraq policy -- they want to give up on the binding language in the bill requiring the President to begin redeploying troops from Iraq.
But that's just letting the President have his way all over again. That's the kind of thinking that got us into this war in the first place, and it's not going to cut it anymore...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Nora Ephron: The Answer to the Question Why Didn't George Tenet Just Resign?
Jay Rosen: That Man Tried to Run You Over. Why Are You Having Dinner With Him?
Amitai Etzioni: Walls Do Slow Terrorism
Chris Kelly: Medved Minute 5/2
Arianna Huffington: Benchmarks: Yet Another Bush Mirage Shimmering in the Iraqi Desert?
AP
An Excerpt From Arianna Huffington's Blog:
...The truth is, we keep putting forth key benchmarks for the Iraqis -- on Iraqi troops, on oil revenue sharing, on reversing De-Baathification, on amending Iraq's new constitution -- and they keep failing to meet them. Time after time after time.
Democrats mustn't fall prey to the benchmark mirage. They need to stay strong and keep the heat on Bush. Perhaps they can put Michael Ware's reports on tape and have them piped into their Congressional offices...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
David Bromwich: Constitutional Opposition
Bill Maher: Holy-Roller Democrat
Marty Kaplan: Would Rupert Murdoch Have Let the WSJ Lead With This?
Jane Wells: The Devil Came on Horseback at Tribeca
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And now for something you'll really like!
Since our Gentle Readers have all been so patient with us and our behemoth posts lately, we of The Scallion are presenting a light assortment of giggles, smirks, and chuckles today.
Brad the Caterpillar (author unknown; reference submitted by Reader K.R.):
In the Portland hostel was a little comic book someone had made: Brad the Caterpillar, which turned out to be a funny riff on children's literature. Brad's a "nice bug," but he has no friends because he's ugly. He creates a chrysalis and goes to sleep, vowing that he'll make some new friends when he wakes up. Naturally, he's a beautiful butterfly afterwards, and all the old bugs want to be his friend. He tells them that beauty is only skin deep and that he's the same bug he was before, but nobody paid him any attention because of his looks. The book's touching conclusion: “As he flew away, Brad told the other bugs to f___ off.”
The theme song for early retirement:
http://early-retirement.org/myoldjob.mp3
This catchy little tune may not be credited correctly on the site that calls up the above mp3 file. It is from the album “Eileen Quinn: Degrees of Deviation.” Thanks to sometimes-Reader T.S. for sending in the link and the information. T.S. says, “Her records are gems; I have several, and it looks like I ought to get this one too!!”
Don't forget to check out The Dilbert Blog:
posted by The Scallion @ 5:03 PM
