Bailout or Takeover?

From the great Matt Taibi, writing for this week's Rolling Stone:

People are pissed off about this financial crisis, and about this bailout, but they're not pissed off enough. The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d'état. They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations.

Consortiumnews.com

Liberal donors fund local grassroots organizations and causes, but independent media isn't one of them, according to this author.

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Cable News Has Failed All Of Us Once Again On The Economy

Taking the responsibility seriously for informing the public about the causes and ramifications of the current financial crisis requires more from cable news outlets than repetition of soundbites and falsehoods, partisan bickering, and sensationalized but uninformative footage of protests and victims of the meltdown. The Administration has to lead

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The Red Scare Index: 27

How many times a day do the cable news channels invoke the 5th Filter of the Chomsky-Hermann Propaganda Model?

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Obama ignores single payer in healthcare summit

The best health insurance option you've never heard of.

obama then and now

U.S. Halted Some Raids in Afghanistan

The halt came after a series of nighttime raids in recent months killed women and children.

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Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported to Cheney

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney. "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," he explained.

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'Executive Assassination' Ring Reports To Cheney

At a “Great Conversations” event at the University of Minnesota last night, legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh may have made a little more news than he intended by talking about new alleged instances of domestic spying by the CIA, and about an ongoing covert military operation that he called an “executive assassination ring.”

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new spin

"Who's Telling You, and What Do They Want You To Think, About President Obama's Economic Recovery Plan?"

Commercial Media Filters ## 2, 3 & 5 Continue Misinformation

The Bloomberg News continues to misinform the public about the performance of the Obama administration, basing their story on market statistics that omit any consideration of market conditions, especially those at work prior to the inauguration of President Obama.

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Newsday Still On Target

Obama's budget gives it to U.S. straightI thought Newsday had gone out of business or been swallowed up by Murdoch or something.This is the most refreshing coverage on the President's economic plan that I've seen yet: frank but positive.President Barack Obama gambled big Thursday when he unveiled his first budget. He treated taxpayers like grown-ups. His extraordinary candor about what Washington spends, and what he thinks it will cost to get the economy out of the tank and on course for a sound future, is refreshing.

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NY Times takes conservative slant, distortions toward Health Care Groups

Liberal interest groups are running vigorous campaigns in support of President Obama’s agenda, particularly as it relates to health care.They call the New York Times a liberal publication? Just look at this distortion in the first half of this piece,"liberals formed organizations like Media Matters for America, which calls attention to what it considers conservative-slanted news coverage,"Media Matters for America was formed by David Brock, a conservative Republican who grew disenchanted with the lies and distortions in the commercial, conservative-funded media and sought to provide the American people with an instrument for holding the media accountable.They do not "call attention to what [they] consider[] conservative-slanted news coverage." They call attention to misstatements of fact and misrepresentations presented by conservative media to influence public perceptions of important issues.Sure, some of their seed money came from so-called liberals, but they are a 501(c)(3) organization (as is MoveOn) and have to prove their non-partisanship to the Internal Revenue Service in order to retain their tax-exempt status, which they have successfully done every year of their existence.So, the question is, who is influencing the NY Times to run interference for unscrupulous conservative lobbyists and publicists against non-profit, tax exempt, non-partisan, public information and accountability resource group like Media Matters and Move-On?

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