Media Monitors

Reagan promised that tax cuts tilted to the rich would generate more revenue and eliminate the federal debt; that this money also could finance a massive military buildup which would frighten America’s enemies and restore national prestige; that freeing corporations from government regulations and from powerful unions would herald a new day of prosperity; that the country could turn its back on alternative energy and simply drill for more oil; that whites no longer had to feel guilty about the plight of blacks; that traditional “values” – i.e. rejection of the “counter-culture” – would bring back the good old days when men were men and women were women.

BuildingWhat? TV Ad « Building What? - A campaign to raise awareness of BUILDING 7

2010-09-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Kate Zernike of NYT Promotes Tea Party "Cause"

2010-09-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

Just when we began to hope the Citizens United ruling would knock some sense into the heads of the American people, we see another corporate journalist skip over the puppet master Dick Armey of Freedom Works in his role as mastermind and master fundraiser/lobbyist for the astroturf group gone wild. NYTimes.com The reference to Glen Beck's rally as a "religious revival" (without mentioning that he's a Mormon) really called into question the objectivity of Kate Zernike and the corporate news outlet she writes for.

The News Corp. Coverup : CJR

2010-09-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

This makes for some very entertaining reading. Treat yourself. "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Club for Growth Launches Ad Against Democrat Joe Sestak | Philly | 08/27/2010

2010-08-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

Since neither the "Energy Tax" nor the "Larger Stimulus" became law, on the other hand, it seems like we're broke because of policies other than Sestak's.

Another deceptive campaign ad.

As far as The Club For Growth is concerned, here's an excerpt from their Source Watch description:

According to Lobbyists.info, "The Club is primarily dedicated to helping elect pro-growth, pro-freedom candidates through political contributions and issue advocacy campaigns. Among the major economic growth issues the Club emphasizes are fundamental income tax reduction and simplification; school choice for all families; and personal investment of Social Security."

: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

US combat brigades still in Iraq: report | Raw Story

2010-08-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Kucinich: A war based on lies continues to be a war based on lies.

FAIR: Sunday Morning War Debate ?

2010-08-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

On NBC's Meet the Press, the opportunity to engage in a robust debate about the war has taken a back seat to promoting the views of the military and supporters of Obama's Afghanistan policies. Tell NBC: Sunday Morning Needs a Real War Debate.

Official statement on McKinney shooting- dallasnews.com

2010-08-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Very little coverage of this in the U.S. News, relatively speaking. Everyone wants to rant about the mosque. It isn't the Muslim terrorists we need to be wary of here, though.

Police: Texas gunman had explosives in trailer

2010-08-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

"We're Texans," he said. "We have the right to bear arms."

The assailant was a twenty-nine year old "white" male.

At least forty-eight were killed at an Iraqi recruitment center by a suicide bomber.

And there was another one in Russia, too--same day.

The Russian killed one cop, the Iraqi killed forty-eight recruits (at least), but the American didn't kill anybody (although there seems to be some controversy about whether or not he shot himself.)

Charity or Philanthro-Feudalism? | CommonDreams.org

2010-08-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is so pathetic/backward it's hard to believe we're talking about reality here.

Most people in the US seem to believe that a few people are entitled to control everything and everybody else is just supposed to go along with it, no matter how counterproductive or destructive.

It comes down to wanting others to do our thinking for us.

Google-Verizon Pact Worse than Feared | Free Press

2010-08-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

They are attacking the free and open internet, wanting to make it proprietary, for their profit: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

White House anger at 'professional left’

2010-08-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

TheHill.com wants everybody to know that the White House unloads anger over criticism from 'professional left’.

The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.

First of all, nobody said anything about Canadian healthcare or eliminating the Pentagon. Those are dishonest answers because they seek to avoid answering the question by creating a "straw man."

But, the public is supposed to be grateful, according to Gibbs, that the President was willing to compromise with the Republicans in order to get so much legislation passed.

Gibbs’s tough comments reflect frustration and some bafflement from the White House, which believes it has done a lot for the left.

In just over 18 months in office, Obama has passed healthcare reform, financial regulatory reform and fair-pay legislation for women, among other bills near and dear to liberals.

Obama is also overseeing the end of the Iraq war, with the U.S. on schedule to end its combat operations by the end of this month.

He’s also added diversity to the Supreme Court by nominating two female justices, including the court’s first Hispanic. Yet some liberal groups have criticized his nominees for not being liberal enough.

“There’s 101 things we’ve done,” said Gibbs, who then mentioned both Iraq and healthcare.

Gibbs said the professional left is not representative of the progressives who organized, campaigned, raised money and ultimately voted for Obama.

Progressives, Gibbs said, are the liberals outside of Washington “in America,” and they are grateful for what Obama has accomplished in a shattered economy with uniform Republican opposition and a short amount of time.

Obama reached out to the left — including through a private lunch with Maddow and other liberal commentators — earlier this summer.

In late July, Obama made a surprise video appearance, with an assist from Maddow, at the NetRoots Nation convention in Las Vegas, where the professional left had gathered to grouse about its disappointment in the president.

“I hope you take a moment to consider all we’ve accomplished so far,” Obama said, telling the impatient audience, “We’re not done.”

The lack of appreciation or recognition for what Obama has accomplished has left Gibbs and others in furious disbelief.

Larry Berman, an expert on the presidency and a political science professor at the University of California-Davis, said he has been surprised that liberals aren’t more cognizant of the pragmatism Obama has had to employ to pass landmark reforms.

“The irony, of course, is that Gibbs’s frustration reflects the fact that the conservative opposition has been so effective at undermining the president’s popular approval,” Berman said.

“And from Gibbs’s perspective, and the White House perspective, they ought to be able to catch a break from people who, in their view, should be grateful and appreciative.”

As far as "doing a lot for 'the Left'" is concerned, that's not true, either. They didn't fight for the Employee Free Choice Act, they loaded the debt commission with deficit hawks, they failed to live up to their campaign promise to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Worst of all, the "health insurance reform" they are gloating over does nothing to lower costs and explicitly denies the public a government-run plan to opt for.

Obama's performance at Copenhagen was disgraceful.

His "ending of the war in Iraq" is a lie. He's trying, but he can't "end the war." Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and the Defense Budget overall are offensive--not to the Left--but to anyone of conscience.

Gibbs is a corporate shill, and so is the Hill for defending him.

Net Neutrality

2010-08-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

Twenty-first century feudal lords don't have to worry about embarrassing exposure for flip-flopping on life or death public policies. Check The L curve

Robert Scheer: Married to the Clinton Mob - Robert Scheer's Columns - Truthdig

2010-08-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Clinton mob, despite the corporate media's nostalgic romanticizing, is still political and economic poison.

Gingrich Blasts Cuomo Over Proposed WTC Mosque - NY1

2010-07-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Newt knows how to wrankle the people by making sweeping, unprovable, frightening declarations. He has a knack for conflating fear and hatred in just the right quantities when trying to ascend to the stature of authority in America. If he is so sure about the accusations he makes, why is an investigation necessary? If he has the facts that support his thesis, what are his sources?

Again, Newt is showing himself to be the Al Sharpton of the Tea Party.

Democrats Call Off Climate Bill Effort - NYTimes.com

2010-07-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

Global warming is the biggest threat we face. Industries have mounted a huge disinformation campaign to protect their bottom lines.

What the President Didn't Seem to Learn From the Shirley Sherrod Incident | OurFuture.org

2010-07-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

I often think that Obama wants to cling to the materialistic, classist, racist, belief that some people are better than--more important to society and deserving of more benefits and opportunities than--everybody else. ThePresidentwants more than anything to be accepted as an equal by those "elites" on their own terms.

Why won't he take the side of the people against the banks and corporations? Why won't he call out the party of NO instead of letting them thwart all his plans and ostensible "progressive" goals? Why won't he push for public education, public media, public job and housing programs?

Because he wants to be the guy the elites of the world step aside for, whose opinion the world waits for, whose style the world watches. He wants worldly success, and that's why he can't have it completely. He just lacks that one full measure of selfless dedication to the cause of his supporters. He's about Barack Obama.

PBS Ombud Agrees With FAIR on Shultz Tribute

2010-07-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

Getler says tribute was "over the top" and "lacking credibility."

Guess what. That's the new standard at PBS now that they've taken the PUBLIC out of PUBLIC BROADCASTING and gone with all these corporate tax write off and tax free foundation funding sponsors.

Why would Congress and the Corporation For Public Broadcasting do a thing like that?

supply side jesus

2010-07-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

A hidden world, growing beyond control | washingtonpost.com

2010-07-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Jorge Luis Borges must be chuckling up there as he looks down from the spirit world on this labyrinth and the fact that it's the Washington Post that's telling us about it!

Jensen and Hedges on "Death Spiral" and Illusion

2010-07-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a conversation that -- though tragic in the utmost -- is reason for a glimmer of hope.

The reason the worst case scenario is positive is because it is true. Without truth -- however depressing -- there can be no sanity or hope.

A lot of atrocity is based on perceived entitlement.-- Derrick Jensen

Media moral standards

2010-07-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

"Disgraced:" a new title for morally challenged Democratic [not Republican] politicians in the corporate media.

Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now

2010-07-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Eric Alterman, who Bill Moyers said is "a good friend," two years ago, knocks one out of the park in this article about reality in America.

Neglect at the federal level is matched by an equal lack of interest in these topics [infrastructure, education, environment, employment] by the mainstream [corporate] media. A valuable study by Jodi Enda in the American Journalism Review revealed an almost total lack of interest in these issues on the part of virtually every major news organization.

The Delusion Revolution: We're on the Road to Extinction and in Denial | | AlterNet

2010-07-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

AlterNet Robert Jensen is an interesting thinker, although he seems like kind of a boring speaker.

In the contemporary United States, we are trapped in a similar delusion. We are told that it is "realistic" to capitulate to the absurd idea that the systems in which we live are the only systems possible or acceptable because some people like them and wish them to continue.

He's got that enviro-historical insight into history and politics, though. I found a clip of him on YouTube lecturing at some feminist conference.

FINAL REPORT.pdf climate change data?

2010-07-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

The University of East Anglia has completed two thorough investigations into the so-called, "Climategate" scandal of 2009. The current report exonerates the scientists of the Climate Research Unit of any bias or falsification of data--although it does admonish them for withholding select information from the public.

Meanwhile, the National Snow and Ice Data Center records another record low in the extent of Arctic Sea ice in June 2010.

Still, the fossil fuel industry and their subsidized think tanks and news outlets continue to smear the science and those working to avert global climate disaster.

Al Jazeera English

2010-07-07T08:54:00.001-07:00

July 2010: Photo of the Day | The White House

2010-07-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is the first photo I've ever seen that really makes it obvious BiBi had a nose job, too. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have nothing on him!

YouTube - flotron9's Channel

2010-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

YouTube - flotron9's Channel

Gains At Top Outpace All Others

2010-06-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades, New Data Show — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Institute for Policy Studies: Tough Times; Troubling Trends

2010-06-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

There's been one seismic shift in after tax income in the last 30 years, and it hasn't favored most taxpayers, their children, or democracy.

Now what? - chicagotribune.com

2010-06-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hedge funds like Angelo Gordon are sweeping into newspaper companies like Tribune Co. Now what? - chicagotribune.com

I'm not sure we want to wait around to find out the answer to this one--as if we don't already know: cutbacks, junk news, press releases instead of investigative reporting--what do we expect?

It's time to go all out in a nationwide demand for a takeover of the media by the public.

Media Education Foundation on Objectification of Women

2010-06-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

This was on the show last night and next week we'll be finishing up with it. What a great watchdog group!

Then, this morning I went over to Think Progress and saw this:

Amendment To Limit Corporate Campaign Funds

2010-05-27T13:50:00.001-07:00

HJ 74 IH

111th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. J. RES. 74

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States permitting Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations engaging in political speech.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 2, 2010

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland (for herself and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States permitting Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations engaging in political speech.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article--

`Section 1. The sovereign right of the people to govern being essential to a free democracy, Congress and the States may regulate the expenditure of funds for political speech by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity.

`Section 2. Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.'.

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FCC Launches Media-Ownership Rules Review

2010-05-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

The FCC has started a review period for ownership rules. Get those comments flowing.

Obama: Keep your promise to save the whales | Greenpeace USA

2010-05-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

OpEdNews - Article: What BP's Blocking of CBS Crew Means for Americans

2010-05-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

by Kevin Gosztola

This is pretty much a "must read" at OpEd News, which is rising rapidly in my estimation because of statements like this one, at the end of this piece:

At a time when surveillance is entirely acceptable and normal, when cameras at traffic intersections photograph those running red lights, when cameras watch your every move in city, state, federal or private buildings, when street cameras track movements of people in areas thought to have high levels of crime, the public must decide whether it will or should assert its right to survey and cover anything in the same way that authorities, corporations or organizations would assert their right to survey and cover anything.

The democratization of media makes it possible for all of us to be, at least, amateur journalists. Coverage of events no longer has to be left up to officially recognized news organizations (see OpEdNews.com and countless other Internet news sites for further examples).

Coincidentally, other outlets are voicing concerns about this problem, too. Joel Simon of CJR, doesn't go far enough, though, in pointing the finger of blame at the corporate chiefs:

In seeking to stem the flow of information online, governments have exploited vulnerabilities at each step in the journalism process: the gathering, dissemination, and consumption of news.

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On reality and bitter truths - Reality Asserts Itself

2010-05-20T06:48:00.001-07:00

We can't always know everything we're talking about,

[b]ut we can strive to base our opinions on evidence.

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Eaarth

2010-05-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

There's something really refreshing about Bill McKibbon's book, Eaarth. Unfortunately, it's the kind of refreshing like,

Now that I've found out things really are as bad as I have suspected for a long time, I don't have to worry about whether or not it's just me.

He says that we've passed the point where we can avoid serious change, but he's working to prevent climate change from causing complete chaos.

He mentions the melting of the ice caps, the expansion of the tropics with resultant desertification, and ocean acidification as the three primary effects we have to deal with at present.

Yeah, eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and you get driven out of the garden every damn time!

Dear Senators and Representatives,

2010-05-11T09:00:00.001-07:00

It is much too late for Congress to put more strict regulations in place for the coal and oil industries, or to make them safer and more accountable for the damage they do. A ban on new offshore drilling won't prevent destruction of our environment from spreading.

Oil and coal are fossil fuels that produce heat trapping gasses when burned. As those gasses collect in the atmosphere, they cause what is known as "The Greenhouse Effect." This is the trapping of heat in the atmosphere and resultant rise in termperatures in direct proportion to the quantity of gas emitted from burning the fuels that remains in the atmosphere.

The earth can absorb excess CO2, but its ability to buffer the excess is shrinking as oceans acidify and forests are cut down.

As tragic as the current Gulf Disaster is, it will matter little in the long run if global average temperatures increase by 5-7 degrees this century. That is the conservative estimate for an atmosphere with 750 ppm CO2 by 2100.

It could be more.

The bad news is that even if we drastically reduce our emissions to align the world with the goal of 350 ppm by century's end, the damage WE ALREADY HAVE DONE IS IRREVERSIBLE.

The investment squandered on drilling and exploration, not to mention cleanup, represents a great opportunity cost to the human race, and the entire planet in our charge.

This cost can never be repaid. It's toll is growing higher and higher every day we continue to resource the retrieval and combustion of fossil fuels.

Congress must pass legislation that jumpstarts the clean energy revolution. Half measures, loopholes, and giveaways to polluters won't cut it this time. Now is the moment for action.

Schechter on Media Fail

2010-05-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

a financial failure was facilitated by the media failure

Consortiumnews.com

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WAPO on Broadband

2010-05-03T12:27:00.001-07:00

Am I misreading this article or are there some glaring errors in the composition?
FCC Chairman Genachowski expected to leave broadband services deregulated

Example No 1:

Three sources at the agency said Genachowski has not made a final decision but has indicated in recent discussions that he is leaning toward keeping in place the current regulatory framework for broadband services but making some changes that would still bolster the FCC's chances of overseeing some broadband policies.

The problem I have is with the word, "but" (broadband services but making some changes). If he is keeping the regulatory framework in place, there shouldn't be any "buts". That means he's not really keeping it in place. He could keep it in place and make some additional changes on top of it ... that would make sense. Plus, Ms. Kang overuses the gerund to the point of incomprehensibility: leaning toward keeping ... but making some changes. Both "lean" and "make" are transitive verbs, but the gerund and progressive forms of those verbs prohibit taking a direct object, which really alters the active essence of the verbs.

"[H]as not ... but ... but ..." What the heck is Cecelia Kang talking about?
Shitty syntax, usage.

Example No. 2:

It should come as no surprise . . . that leading financial analysts and technology commentators have questioned this path," the biggest telecommunications and cable trade groups wrote in a letter to Genachowski last week, warning against further regulation.

The subject should come first so the reader knows what the sentence is about! This sentence is written as if to be a mystery, only solvable by repeated, careful analyses. It's only the last verbal clause, "warning against further regulation," that allows us to grasp what is meant by "this path", earlier in the sentence, and, for that matter, the word "It," at the beginning of the sentence. So, this is written so as to prevent one comprehending as one reads. One has to get to the end of the sentence, and then look back on the whole puzzle--sort of like a haiku.

The other problem I have with this sentence is the idea that "leading financial analysts and technology commentators" would matter to the "biggest telecommunications and cable trade groups" (whomever they might be!), especially in a warning letter to the Chairman of the FCC. Why would either the FCC or the trade groups really care what the commentators have to say, when the issue of telecom regulation directly affects the two parties? The parties' own direct interest is much more of a significant point in the discussion than the paid utterances of some unnamed pundits!

Example No. 3:

This last paragraph, though, really reads like notes jotted carelessly while sitting on the toilet bowl, or riding up in the elevator on the way to the editor's office.

Supporters of net neutrality -- companies such as Google and Skype as well as public interest groups -- have called for the agency to shift broadband Internet services more clearly under the agency's authority, saying consumers would be more vulnerable to business decisions that could cut off competition and access to applications on the Web.

How could any knowledgeable journalist attribute net neutrality to some limited pool of advocates? Net neutrality is and always has been the clear and unequivocal built-in structure and requirement of the broad public at large ever since the internet first came on line in the early 1990s. The internet was set up to give the public access to information! Now, for some reason, twenty years later, we're supposed to forget all about that and attribute net neutrality to the cause of some limited subgroup--a special interest! This is an attempt to tell the public that net neutrality and service to the public interest have not been foundational to the internet's development, as well as to the entire history of American mass media and telecommunications. Does "the public" who use Google and Skype and iTunes, and a million other applications, represent "a public interest group?" Since when does a national newspaper require some special category or rationale for the public interest?

But the real hack job in this article comes with the gerund clause beginning with "saying consumers would be more vulnerable..." The problem is that net neutrality is exactly the thing that will not render the consumers vulnerable! Ms. Kang is joining the idea of fear of vulnerability to supporters of net neutrality, which is the direct opposite of what the supporters of net neutrality are promoting, and of the truth, incidentally. Net neutrality isn't going to threaten competition at all, and consumers know it. The whole point of net neutrality is to preserve competition and prevent monopoly.

This part of the article really closely approaches that "lying or stupid?" conundrum so characteristic of right wing, corporatist media outlets.

The implication is that supporters of net neutrality threaten consumers with the loss of protections and fair competition. Just the opposite is true and everybody involved in the debate knows it!
Also, how could the agency "shift" the internet more clearly under its control? It has been under the agency's control since 1990! The only "shift" there has ever been was two weeks ago when the Federal Appeals Court [wrongly] argued in favor of Comcast. The Post is implying here that the internet has never been under the FCC's control, and that it would be a "shift" for it to disempower the big telecoms. Just the opposite is true, in fact.

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Dirty Tricks, reprise

2010-05-03T10:38:00.001-07:00

Robert Parry continues to articulate the glossed-over essentials in Consortiumnews.com

When out of power in recent years, the Republicans haven’t even pretended to cooperate with Democrats; instead, the GOP and its media allies have set out to make Washington ungovernable. The incivility is not just some naturally occurring phenomenon; it is a conscious strategy for regaining power.

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The Add You Didn't See on TV

2010-04-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the advertisement you probably saw on ... uh, ... ummmm ..., -- I guess maybe you haven't seen it on tv at all, for some reason!

This is the Sickness

2010-04-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Compliments of Political Heretic at DU

Sanders Op-Ed: Earth Day

2010-04-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)sets the record straight with his usual clarity and force. The emails didn't discredit the science, there isn't any reason to doubt the science, the overwhelming evidence continues to illustrate that catastrophic climate change is beginning to occur and it is largely caused by the human burning of fossil fuels and cutting down of forests.

The only dissent on this consensus comes from fossil fuel purveyors and their paid publicists.

Richard S. Lindzen - SourceWatch

2010-04-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

This climate change denier is so well respected in the scientific and anti-scientific communities, that he got placed above the fold on today's WSJ editorial page

Although the deniers insist that the overwhelming consensus among climate scientists who predict catastrophic global climate change because of human burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is due to the financial rewards for green heralds, as well as intimidation of those who are skeptical of the science, Lindzen makes no mention of the financial rewards of his own associations with the fossil fuel industry, that it is the most profitable industry in the history of the world, and that fossil fuel billionaires have been generously funding the research attempting to establish climate change denial.

The Journal lists Lindzen as a "professor of Meteorology" in the bio for his editorial, which is subtitled, "Climate Warming Alarmists Have Been Discredited, But You Wouldn't Know It From The Rhetoric This Earth Day." He wants to use the East Anglia email hacking as a bona fide instance of "discrediting".

Nowhere does Lindzen mention the outcome of a parliamentary investigation into the controversial emails.

This is Encouraging

2010-04-21T07:51:00.001-07:00

I would comment on this but I'm banned from Media Matters. Joe Strupp posts at MediaMatters: Newspaper Guild President Tells FCC To Limit Consolidation

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Tea Party Protesters Rally Against "Gangster Government" - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

2010-04-16T07:26:00.001-07:00

In the Story, Tea Party Protesters Rally Against "Gangster Government," Political Hotsheet of CBS News, an outlet I have not examined for years, allows for a fact-checked, objective report on the Tax Day events.

This story links to another article in which President Obama is explained as being "amused" by the tax protesters, and in which he is quoted as saying yesterday,

In all, we passed 25 different tax cuts last year. And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year -- another promise that we kept,"

The taxes being protested at the rallies seem to be of equal or comparable substance with another complaint at the rallies: that Obama is a communist, and the Obama Administration wants to take over and socialize the entire US economic private sector. Indeed, Michelle Bachman, Republican of Minnesota--is on record as repeating--not only at rallies--but on national television--that the economy was one hundred percent private at the time just before the Obama Administration assumed power. Her claim is that now fifty-one percent of the economy is in the controlling grasp of government.

Hotsheet reporter Daniel Riedel, however, is able to state:

Bachmann offered no facts to back up her assertion that the government owns or controls 51 percent of the U.S. economy.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis data since 1929, the highest percentage of government spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product was during World War II when government spending was 47.9 percent (in 1944). The lowest level of government spending as a percent of GDP was 9 percent in 1929 at the outset of the Great Depression.

At no time during this period was the United States' GDP 100 percent private.

The 2009 level of federal government spending was 20.6 percent.

In another link to the "Gangster" article, author Brian Montopoli points out that the idea of the current banking regulation bill as a permanent "bailout bill," originated with GOP pollster Frank Luntz. A chorus of GOP legislators and noise machine news outlets are repeating the idea in unison to try to establish that the Obama Administration is somehow taking over the economy by doing the bidding of the Wall Street banks. In a related contention, they claim the passage of the Health Care Bill signifies the stunning takeover of a total of more than half of the US economy by the US government.

These stories are stunning to me, however, because they show an actual corporate news outlet providing facts, statistics, and background checking to GOP and right wing or Tea Party talking points.

It's very rare to see a corporate news outlet suggest that any of their claims are exaggerated, much less false. Does this signal a new intent of the GOP to try to marginalize the extremist, fact-challenged Tea Party led by Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman?

It might be a wise strategy for the GOP to implement, despite the energy of the Tea Party movement. With plenty of time before the fall elections for voters to do their homework, it's worth noting that the corporate news outlets can't get away with the propagandizing they are so well-paid for by their corporate sponsors to the same extent as in the past. The public can get information from the internet now, and even from some corporate news outlets that are programming news shows to target the young Progressive-viewer market.

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MSNBC's Rachel Maddow - Koch Ind. tries pre-emptive denial, busted for T...

2010-04-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

My New Theme

2010-04-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Conservative means wanting to keep things from changing, maintaining the status quo. That's why the Republicans=Conservatives and Democrats = Liberals equations are false. Most Democrats and most Republicans are conservatives. We all just want somebody else to do our thinking for us, and tell us when to act out in mindless self-righteous indignation.

Why read BBC News ?

2010-04-13T10:51:00.001-07:00

Pakistan 'army air strike kills dozens of civilians'

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At least 73 civilians were killed when an army jet bombed a remote village in Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber, a local official has told the BBC.

At least it wasn't us this time.

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Washington Post's Anti-Social Security Crusade Continues

2010-04-11T17:28:00.001-07:00

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Washington Post's Anti-Social Security Crusade Continues

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How Americans Are Propagandized About Afghanistan | World | AlterNet

2010-04-11T00:03:00.001-07:00

Glen Greenwald put together another incisive piece on the US media and NATO in Afghanistan.

But far more often, Americans are completely misled about events in Afghanistan by the combination of false official claims and mindless stenographic American "journalism."

Critics, including Afghan officials, human rights workers and some field commanders of conventional American forces, say that Special Operations forces have been responsible for a large number of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan and operate by their own rules.

On Feb. 21 in Oruzgan Province, a small Special Operations forces unit heard that a group of Taliban were heading their way and called for air support. Attack helicopters killed 27 civilians in three trucks, mistaking them for the Taliban.

In February 2010, in Paktia Province in southeastern Afghanistan, US Special Forces

killed a local police chief and a district prosecutor when they came out, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, to investigate. Three women who came to their aid, according to interviews with family members and friends, were also killed; one was a pregnant mother of 10, the other a pregnant mother of 6.

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UK 'Climategate' Inquiry Largely Clears Scientists : NPR

2010-04-10T23:07:00.001-07:00

nothing in the more than 1,000 stolen e-mails, or the controversy kicked up by their publication, challenged scientific consensus that "global warming is happening and that it is induced by human activity."

What a relief that we don't have to worry about whether or not climate change is real and confirmed by broad scientific and political consensus.

Just don't tell American media and their politicians!

Write To Your Senate Banking Committee Rep

2010-04-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

Chuck Schumer is a member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

You can go to the above link, find the Committee members, and write to them about the Financial Reform Legislation now pending in the Committee. I did. Here's what I told Chuck Schumer:

Honorable Senator Schumer:

Please empower the new Financial Services Regulatory Agency so that it is independent and unchecked by an appointed commission. The regulatory body is being forced into existence by necessity to protect the public interest.

Any effort to compromise that public protection by housing the new body in the Federal Reserve or controlling it through an appointed oversight board will most likely neutralize whatever real long-term protections the new Agency could have afforded the public, and might even lead to greater damage and abuses.

We need restoration of Glass-Steagal, transparent regulation of all derivatives and derivative trading, and a taxpayer-friendly solution to "Too Big To Fail."

An oversight panel could easily be fashioned to weaken all these proven necessary roles for the new Agency.

Thank you for standing up for the people despite the pressure from financial institutions and their lobbyists.

We're counting on you!

Thank you.

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Whose Spectrum? Our Spectrum!

2010-04-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

FreePress is jumping on the Court of Appeals ruling blocking the FCC from regulating internet providers. There's a form at Savetheinternet.com where you can write to the Commission and demand an open internet.

Dear Commissioners:

The magnetic spectrum and the electrons, protons and other subatomic particles comprising it, cannot be patented, owned, proprietized, privatized, or corporatized. They cannot be removed from the Commons. These waves and particles and the natural forces and properties that govern them, exist, have existed, and will exist in nature. The spectrum, like the airwaves, exists in nature without human input.

This is why we have public utilities for electricity and water. These natural resources cannot be co-opted from public ownership and usage or otherwise taken from the Commons. They are natural resources commonly owned and used by everybody.

Can the water in the world and the processes of evaporation and precipitation be owned or patented by a corporation, to the exclusion of everybody else?

Can sunlight and the process of photosynthesis be owned?

What about the sun itself?

If a law drafted by the FCC is deficient in describing the reality of public--not private--ownership of these phenomena, then change that law.

The FCC must reclassify broadband as a "telecommunications service" so that Federal regulators can keep the Internet open and free of corporate gatekeepers and pirates.

Without vital Net Neutrality protections and the ability to enforce them, the internet ceases to be a public platform for free speech, equal opportunity, economic growth and innovation. Instead, companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, which have a commercial incentive to limit the free-flowing Web, will decide whose voices are heard.

This miswritten regulation effectively hands ownership of the people's internet to a couple of non-human, corporate behemoths. The fingerprints of Kevin Martin are all over this ineffectual regulatory wording.

You have the power to protect the public interest and quickly rectify this deficiency in Federal regulations.

Keep the Internet in the hands of the people, who are its true owners and proprietary users.

For Example ...

2010-04-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

No wonder the "opposition party" is frustrated; they're not really opposing anything.
If all you do is listen to corporate disinformation all day, you're not going to feel the government is working for you--especially in a democracy where the government is the people.

These delusions are denying these people of their participation in their own democracy! They're not in touch with reality, intentionally! No wonder they claim to be ignored!

From Booman:

Method To Republican Madness

2010-04-05T21:13:00.001-07:00

Are we starting to see a pattern in Republican opposition to Obama, as to Clinton? The GOP has no plan for progress, so they create chaos and pressure the vulnerable voters to long for any change that will at least bring stability. It's a plan that was developed by the CIA in Iran, Chile, and Nicaragua. They tried to use it to bring down Saddam, too. But now it's being turned against our own country.

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Robert Parry is Still On To Something

2010-04-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

But the media don't want you to know.

Consortium News is one media outlet the Republican Noise machine will never own. It's incredible how the American public lets the corporate media launder our news.

My take on the docility of Democratic politicians is that Parry is right about the CIA, the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Association for International Development. The Democratic politicians know that these organizations operate outside the light of public scrutiny and that these groups have also been willing to utilize any subterfuge to defeat their opponents.

So, our brave Democratic Senators and Representatives go running to the apron strings of corporate chiefs with absurd trade and economic policies, union-busting, globalization, financial deregulation and defunding of public institutions--like public schools and universities. Clinton and Obama hope these gestures will "buy off" their corporate overlords, allay their hostility toward "liberals," and help restore the balance of Republican good will in their favor.

In the American Revolution, the wealthiest men like Hancock, Washington, John Adams, and the others, were willing to sacrifice everything they had--not for their own freedom from responsibility--but for the benefit of their country.

Today, the wealthy power brokers are willing to sacrifice not only their countrymen--but the country itself--for their own individual gain.

Coal app

2010-04-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Media Disinformation regarding America’s Afghan War

2010-03-30T08:10:00.001-07:00

Media Disinformation regarding America’s Afghan War

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Radical Right -- No, We Can't

2010-03-25T09:56:00.001-07:00

Radical Right -- No, We Can't

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Promoting Intimidation and Bullying in Politics

2010-03-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Media Matters has the story and the clip on Fox News defending anti-democratic violence and bullying by fringe reactionaries.

Beck's conspiracy theory: Obama is "poking and prodding" the "crazy tea baggers" to set them up to commit violence

2010-03-25T09:16:00.001-07:00

Beck's conspiracy theory: Obama is "poking and prodding" the "crazy tea baggers" to set them up to commit violence

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Drone War Crimes

2010-03-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

The moral bankruptcy drones on.

How can using the most advanced satellite, electronic, aerospatial and teleguidance technology to stand safely on one continent and murder individuals on another be anything other than a crime?

It can't. Why?

Because the capacity to utilize all that technology is not something that this generation of Americans, or any one generation of humans, can OWN. None of us, as a group, has the right to divert that technology to killing people, especially not civilians without due legal process.

The technology involved has taken millenia of countless, selfless individual contributions to the collective advancement of our species to reach the point it has reached now. As much as we like to flatter ourselves with our own pride, we didn't develop it and we don't have the right to use it to kill whoever we happen to kill for whatever reason we happen to conjure.

Would the inventor of polio vaccine be a criminal if he turned it into a poison for biological warfare and then used it?

Was dropping the atom bombs on Japanese cities criminal?

The answer is, "Yes." We are entrusted with this power by our ancestors and our progeny--some of us would say, by God. We don't have the right to pervert them to our own power-mad uses.

To turn advanced technology and all human knowledge and learned skill into star wars -- for whatever imaginary cause -- is perverse. It is criminal.

Close the Pentagon.

Abolish Nuclear Weapons

2010-03-23T12:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday, March 28, 1:00-4:30 p.m.
UPPER WEST SIDE. Riverside Church Assembly Hall, 120th Street and Claremont Ave.
A GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE FORUM:
THE U.S. AND THE ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The African continent and islands within its African Union have signed the Belinda Treaty designating their countries as a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. Other nations in South America, Asia, the South Pacific, the Caribbean and Antarctic have also signed similar treaties. They were all commended by the United Nations for contributing to a world free from nuclear weapons, the ultimate goal for the world's survival as President Obama stated in Prague last April. However, an impediment to that goal is the Island of Diego Garcia within the African Union, the site of one of the most valuable and secretive U.S. military bases overseas. The U.S. signed the Belinda Treaty's protocols in 1996 but after a heated debate did not ratify them. Learn more at our Forum, a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jar. as the United Nations begins its review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May 2010. Free and open to the public. Co-sponsors include The Mission and Social Justice Ministry of the Riverside Church and the Black Radical Congress, New York Chapter. Endorsers include Women's International League for Peace & Freedom; Grandmothers Against the War; NYC Metro Raging Grannies, Peace Action Manhattan, Peace Action NYS.

2010-03-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Pipe Collection on hall bookshelf

Thank you, Dennis Kucinich

2010-03-16T07:58:00.001-07:00

I hope he votes KNOW, I mean, "No."

The insurance companies, banks, and big government corporate contractors are all holding the voters hostage through the bought-off Congressional leaders like Harry Reid (who accepted more campaign contributions from health insurance companies than any other member of Congress in 2007-2008), Pelosi, Clyburn & Waxman (who, along with Earl Pomeroy D-ND, are the largest Democratic recipients of AHIP campaign contributions in the House in 2007-2008).

The political theatrics orchestrated through the corporate media are award-winning achievements for the biggest media corporate sponsors (who now also sponsor PBS and fund CSPAN).

The award: forcing principled elected representatives to vote in favor of bill that doesn't serve the public interest -- but serves the corporate interests -- while the public looks on helplessly as they're told "there aren't enough votes" in Congress to do what the voters want.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Marjah, The City That Never Was

2010-03-09T08:37:00.001-08:00

Gareth Porter through the Asia Times Online brings us the insight we can't get from corporate American media.

the picture of Marjah presented by military officials and reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war

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Rahm Behind the WaPo Curtain

2010-03-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

There's a brilliant commentary by Cenk Uyger on how and why the corporate media love Rahm Emanuel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks#p/u/3/4w6nJU-YT14

Obama needs to dump Rahmbo and bring in Howard Dean (or Michael Moore) to replace him.

Wonk Room » Banking Industry Rushes To Support Giving Consumer Protection Powers To The Federal Reserve

2010-03-04T08:11:00.001-08:00

Wonk Room » Banking Industry Rushes To Support Giving Consumer Protection Powers To The Federal Reserve

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The Impoverishment of Americans

2010-03-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

This is from some blog, Libertynewstv.com, I found today:

The next presidential administration will be a continuation of the Bush-Cheney nightmare - in substance, if not in style.

The only thing left to be decided (besides the exact choreography of the final electronic vote fraud) is which lie about "change", which brand of poison to pour down the throats of the American populace.

Will it be the classic neoliberal establishment deception of Obama-Biden?
Or the more overt insult and slap in the face, and the most cynical appeal to the lowest of lowest common denominators: the insane and deeply corrupt John McCain, and the deeply corrupt insane, willfully stupid (George W. Bush-like), vitriol-spewing psychopath Sarah Palin (whose chief qualification appears to be her direct criminal ties to Alaskan energy interests)?

The "Big Lie" comes with both.

Romney Tells Letterman: Palin "Has a Rifle, You Know" - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

2010-03-03T09:21:00.001-08:00

On the subject of healthcare:

Romney saying "the problem is not the insurance companies." He said it was important to change the incentives to make health care more like a consumer market in order to control costs.

This guy wants to be President! Oh well. At least then we'll have a President who SOUNDS as stupidly as he ACTS.

The Generous Mr. Chan

2010-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Mr. Chan starts making the usual excuses for Tweedledum and Tweedledee in the opening sentence of his article on Dodd's New Proposal.

In an effort to secure Republican support for an overhaul of financial regulations...

We really don't want regulation, we want bipartisanship! That's what counts. Everybody (with money or power) wins: no sixty votes, no filibuster, no bipartisanship, and no regulation!

But these confidence men like Dodd and Richard Shelby can play political theater right through campaign season and up to the elections!

*** "An effort to secure bipartisan support" ***

What a noble aspiration! Let's go on some talk shows, Rich, and trumpet responsible, hand-in-hand, bipartisan governance right here in the good ol' USA. And if nothing at all gets done, then we can keep playing this game ad nauseum.

We can make wonderful speeches on the stump! We can square off with "the other side of the aisle" on Meet the Press, we can wheedle and harrumph in statements to the press. And as long as the show goes on we can collect those fat campaign contributions from our corporate sponsors, luxuriate in the limelight of celebrity, and wallow in the perks from our captive lobbyists.

Long live bipartisanship!

"Sen. Dick Durbin once said the banks 'owned' the Senate," says [Rob] Johnson, [a prominent UN economist]. "The next few weeks will determine whether or not that statement is true."

Thanks for giving us the true skinny, Sewell Chan, complements of the NY Times.

2 Faced Dems

2010-03-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

The Democratic Senators and Representatives who tried to craft legislation on a new, independent bank-regulatory body, have caved in to the Republicans and bank lobbyists who don't want the body to be independent.

The "we need sixty votes" meme has come to the rescue of the enemies of reform posing as Democratic friends of change.

How could they expect to get large Wall Street campaign contributions if they set up an agency to regulate those interests--even threatening them with criminal penalties for acting dishonestly and victimizing the US economy?

It's hard to believe that even the messaging-challenged Democrats could fail to frame to their advantage a bill that would prevent banks from abusing the public and engaging in the same practices that brought on the financial catastrophe taxpayers have paid so high a price for. Instead, the attitude seems to be, why even try?

That's assuming, of course, that a powerful consumer protection agency is something Democrats -- including those in the White House -- think is important enough to fight for.

"Here lies the crux of the problem," write Simon Johnson and Peter Boone. "The Obama administration lacks an inner core of smart, well-informed advisers who are deeply skeptical of big banks and eager to do whatever it takes to break a cycle that points to financial and fiscal doom."

William K. Black is is associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He was a senior regulator during the savings and loan scandal. He was the lead staffer on the successful reregulation of the S&L industry and directed the investigations that led to convictions in many of the worst S&L frauds. He says,

"The proposal to amend the Senate bill to place consumer protection in Treasury, rather than an independent regulatory agency with institutional incentives to protect borrowers, is a sick joke.

Black claims that the only reason he was able to work with others to successfully reregulate the S&L industry is because their group was independent.

So much is clear: The White House is not willing to fight for justice and rally the people in their own best interest, again.

The White House proposed legislation to create a freestanding Consumer Financial Protection Agency last June, and the House passed a regulatory overhaul creating such an agency in December.

Now, the Senate, to "save" the legislation and get "sixty votes" to "break a Republican filibuster" is rewriting the legislation to subordinate the financial services regulatory authority to the Treasury Department or the Federal Reserve, two of the three parties who would have the greatest interest in thwarting any such financial consumer protection regulation.
The politics of despair take root, again.

Why Save "Journalism?"

2010-02-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

John Nichols and Robert McChesney are circuiting the country to promote their new book, The Death and Life of American Journalism.

Their thesis is that we have returned to the era when pro-democracy forces in American society require large government subsidies--especially in the form of postal credits--to journalism.

Without government subsidies, the free-market model will kill investigative reporting and the wide spectrum of viewpoints necessary in print media to sustain a vibrant democracy.

The essential component for the immediate stimulus should be an exponential expansion of funding for public and community broadcasting, with the requirement that most of the funds be used for journalism, especially at the local level, and that all programming be available for free online. Other democracies outspend the United States by whopping margins per capita on public media: Canada sixteen times more; Germany twenty times more; Japan forty-three times more; Britain sixty times more; Finland and Denmark seventy-five times more. These investments have produced dramatically more detailed and incisive international reporting, as well as programming to serve young people, women, linguistic and ethnic minorities and regions that might otherwise be neglected by for-profit media.

Connecting The Telecom Dots Behind 'Net Neutrality' (Hint: It's About The Money) | Public Knowledge

2010-02-24T12:18:00.001-08:00

Connecting The Telecom Dots Behind 'Net Neutrality' (Hint: It's About The Money) | Public Knowledge

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Our Oppressed Billionaires | Mother Jones

2010-02-24T09:40:00.001-08:00

Our Oppressed Billionaires | Mother Jones

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NYPost: ObamaCare: Will mean massive tax hike

2010-02-24T08:22:00.001-08:00

My response to Geoff Earle comes at the suggestion of Firedoglake, hoping to gain criticism for the weakness of Obama's proposal.

I, however, praised the tax increase on capital gains in protest to Geoff Earle's slanted article.

Geoff Earle tries to shed the harshest possible criticism on President Obama's proposed Health Care Reform Bill.

In fairness to Earle, he does mention that the tax would primarily effect wealthy earners' interest, dividend, annuity, and other investment income. Yet Earle doesn't then connect this factoid with his concluding mention that, "[L]ower-earning salaried employers currently pay a Medicare hospital-insurance tax, but people with large investment income don't."

What Earle leaves out altogether is the fact that capital gains are only taxed at 15%, unlike other income very rich have to pay an already-modest 35% tax on.

(By the way, under Eisenhower, the highest income earners paid upwards of 75% income tax.)

Earle also fails to mention that the "double whammy" of the expiring Bush tax cuts (that are expiring because they were passed with 53 Senate votes through reconciliation) has been one of the major culprits in shrinking Federal revenues and driving up the deficit since 2001.

Let's face it, the Senate health bill on which Obama's proposal is based, is deeply flawed: the individual mandate, the state (not federal) exchanges, no public option, ban on generic pharmaceuticals, etc.

But don't complain about rich people paying taxes, Geoff. While the average household income for 80% of Americans has declined over the last 15 years, the top quintile has gotten richer, and the top one percent have made out like bandits.

Without the laws and protections of government, and our subsidy of the commons, the wealthiest could not make their money at all, so their debt to society is obviously much greater than those who earn much less.

The problem with Obama's health proposal is that it doesn't go nearly far enough in correcting the economic imbalances in our health care system and our economy that are necessary to restore fairness and health to our society.

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Gerbner was Right

2010-02-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Ben McGrath, winding up his article, The Movement, talks about a new video game apparently designed to appeal to male tea baggers. This sounds like it would be a huge hit with the 1/4 day televiewers who need an endless virtual massacre to feel engaged in the political process

Back in New York City, you can feel the tremors in the social bedrock, if not in the earth’s crust, as T. J. Randall would have it. An online video game, designed recently by libertarians in Brooklyn, called “2011: Obama’s Coup Fails” imagines a scenario in which the Democrats lose seventeen of nineteen seats in the Senate and a hundred and seventy-eight in the House during the midterm elections, prompting the President to dissolve the Constitution and implement an emergency North American People’s Union, with help from Mexico’s Felipe Calderón, Canada’s Stephen Harper, and various civilian defense troops with names like the Black Tigers, the International Service Union Empire, and CORNY, or the Congress of Rejected and Neglected Youth. Lou Dobbs has gone missing, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh turn up dead at a FEMA concentration camp, and you, a lone militiaman in a police state where private gun ownership has been outlawed, are charged with defeating the enemies of patriotism, one county at a time.

The sun is setting rapidly on American democracy, and if daylight savings time doesn't come quickly, it will be night before anyone is prepared for such darkness.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath?currentPage=8#ixzz0gOfV030H

Broadband carriers speak out against FCC regulation - washingtonpost.com

2010-02-23T11:02:00.001-08:00

Broadband carriers speak out against FCC regulation - washingtonpost.com

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Misinformation at Tea-Time

2010-02-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

One of the misunderstandings fueling the so-called tea party movement is the "fact" that rural states in the internal areas of the country are paying extraordinarily high taxes to fund the wasteful spending and profligacy of the socialist coastal states with the biggest cities (and minority populations).

As Ben McGrath records in The Movement, a retired Kentucky engineer cum tea party organizer explained at a rally rally in horse country,

The district’s congressional representative, Geoff Davis, brought up the proposed cap-and-trade legislation favored by Democrats, and called it an “economic colonization of the hardworking states that produce the energy, the food, and the manufactured goods of the heartland, to take that and pay for social programs in the large coastal states.

This is just another of the many convenient untruths fueling the frothing imaginations of the conservative televiewers.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath#ixzz0gNlsTgxD

The End of the Big Idea for the Jobs Bill? - The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com

2010-02-23T09:13:00.001-08:00

The End of the Big Idea for the Jobs Bill? - The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com

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Scoop Review Of Books » Greenspan wins Dynamite Prize

2010-02-23T09:02:00.001-08:00

Scoop Review Of Books » Greenspan wins Dynamite Prize

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Right-wing flips out over due process

2010-02-23T08:00:00.001-08:00

My question is: Are these blockheads actually saying they think the guarantee of due process, a fair trial, and the presumption of innocence are undemocratic, unamerican, or unjust?

at-Largely: Right-wing flips out because lawyers represented defendants...

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Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!: Maddow Invades CPAC

2010-02-19T13:59:00.001-08:00

Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!: Maddow Invades CPAC

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Crisis Of The Cultural Environment

2010-02-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

Media Education Foundation

Pressure Builds On NBC To Explain Why It's Ruining The Olympics

2010-02-17T12:20:00.001-08:00

Pressure Builds On NBC To Explain Why It's Ruining The Olympics

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Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right - NYTimes.com

2010-02-16T14:05:00.001-08:00

Tea Party Lights Fuse

We're talking about ignorance undermining engagement in the democratic process of self-rule. If Americans turned off the television and got off their butts to work for something positive, together with their neighbors, they might be a little more hopeful. But sitting around listening to paid actors lie and derogate anything that could unite the people against the money power is not enlightening. These people are completely disengaged from self-government in their communities, their states, and in Washington.

The tv they consume (average 4 hours / day) is cashing in on them.

They are being sold to sponsors by media conglomerates who profit, along with the sponsoring corporations, from selling the biggest, most receptive audiences they can.

People are more willing, he said, to imagine a government that would lock up political opponents, or ration health care with “death panels,” or fake global warming. And if global warming is a fraud, is it so crazy to wonder about a president’s birth certificate?

“People just do not trust any of this,” Mr. Mack said. “It’s not just the fringe people anymore. These are just ordinary people — teachers, bankers, housewives.”

When your idea of a "political meeting" is brandishing firearms and listening to raving demagogues, who could you trust? Certainly not somebody engaged in deliberative reasoning, or constructive dialogue.

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Why Are We in Afghanistan Again? | AfterDowningStreet.org

2010-02-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

Why Are We in Afghanistan Again?

Why Are We In Afghanistan? Express Version from Why Afghanistan? on Vimeo.

Daily Kos: NYT soils itself, AGAIN!

2010-02-09T11:48:00.001-08:00

It's incredible to read this piece and realize the lengths the NYT goes to soil itself, AGAIN!

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Maybe the New Owner Is "Mooning" the Old One

2010-02-09T11:30:00.003-08:00

Should we give the Washington Times another look?

Socialists!

2010-02-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

Acts2:42-47

42They were (A)continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to (B)the breaking of bread and (C)to prayer.

43Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many (D)wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

44And all those who had believed [a]were together and (E)had all things in common;

45and they (F)began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

46(G)Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and (H)breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

47praising God and (I)having favor with all the people And the Lord (J)was adding to their number day by day (K)those who were being saved.

77% ?!

2010-02-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

Only 42 percent of Republicans polled actually believe the President of the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S. Compare that to the 77 percent of Americans overall who think the president is actually an American.

I find the 77% of all Americans figure to be just as, if not more disturbing than, the 58% of Republicans over the issue of whether or not they believe the President is an American citizen. Republicans are known to adhere to unreasonable positions for partisan and/or racial loyalty, but they should total far less than 1/4 of Americans for my comfort zone.

It sort of goes to what Mike Molly was saying last night, that if Fox is the number one most trusted news source in the country, there's no point in trying to work with the American population on the basis of reason for progress. We just aren't capable of it. Forget it.

Bankrupt Trib Co. Awards Execs Big Bonuses

2010-02-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

The judge handling the bankruptcy filing of the newsroom-job-slashing Tribune Company has approved a reorganization plan involving the removal of thousands of jobs and the downsizing of news sections, along with a total of $45,000,000 in executive bonuses.

Mutilating a Corpse

2010-02-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

NPR added invective by a neo-con to Howard Zinn's obituary.

1. Horowitz's mortual attack on Zinn only underscores the frailty and self-perceived vulnerability of Horowitz's own phony, illusionist politics.

For a pundit of the diminutive stature of Horowitz to call Zinn "fringe" -- in spite of "millions of" readers -- is pathetic.

2. What's even more pathetic is that Non-Public Radio had to kiss their sponsors' "ring" and "balance" Zinn's merits with mendacious, corporatist propaganda just in order to be allowed to run a deservedly laudatory obituary of the visionary and progressive Zinn.