The NY Times gets into the act of the mainsmear media, ignoring policies and issues

Like Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson before him, John Edwards nearly always runs late while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

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USA Today: "Electability"

Jeff Cohen called this article to our attention.

USA Today attempts to move John Edwards out of the Iowa primary race by excluding him from their reporting about "electability."

The paper forgot to mention that Edwards outperforms both Clinton and Obama in hypothetical head-to-head contests against Republican rivals.

In fact, the only mention of Edwards at all comes in pigeon-holing him at 15 percentage point backing by voters in a USA Today/Gallup poll.

Here is FAIR's reporting on the matter.

Free Press Applauds House Media Ownership Act

The House has introduced a companion bill to the Senate's media ownership bill. The only thing that surprises me is that the House members can continue to face their constituents without having impeached Martin.

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Magnet and PDA Sufficient to Change Votes on Voting Machine

The title says it all.

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Story of the Day: NY Times Buries Dodd's Filibuster Victory

The story that is just as big as Dodd's historic filibuster of the telecom retroactive immunity FISA bill in the Senate yesterday is ... the NY Times buried it on page A29

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Is junk media making you sick???

Shock Doctrine

The Genius of Naomi Klein is visible in this little interview by John Cusak.

Bush Goes Private to Spy on You

The Bush administration is launching a new government agency that will rely heavily on private security contractors to conduct surveillance in the U.S.

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No Comment

President Bush has told the American people that he makes his own rules and doesn't have to tell anybody when he breaks them, he sets the limits of his own authority, and he tells the department of justice what the law is.

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Information Warfare

From 14 Die In Baghdad Blast As Gates Visits, by Hamid Ahmed, AP.

One suspect thought to be involved in "terrorist media and propaganda operations" was detained in Baghdad, along with a "large amount" of propaganda materials, the military said.

CASH STARVED FOREST SERVICE SPENDS $600,000 TO BUY TASERS

Washington, DC — The U.S. Forest Service has bought $600,000 worth of “Electronic Control Devices” without any training program, rules for use or even a written explanation as to why the devices are needed, according to agency records posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The Forest Service has anted-up to the weapons racketeers in the Homeland Security syndicate.

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Pentagon Chief Calls for Nonmilitary Help

For starters, he said, Washington does a lousy job of spinning the news abroad.

“Public relations was invented in the United States, yet we are miserable at communicating to the rest of the world what we are about,” he said. “It is just embarrassing that al-Qaida is better at disseminating its message on the Internet than America.”

Gates begins to echo the Rumsfeld meme of propaganda, media war, and information control.

Gates spoke at Kansas State University yesterday, in the Landon lecture series. He tried to blame the failures of the US's foreign policy on the State Department and other "civilian" outfits.

Isn't it interesting that there's a CIA guy running DoD and a DoD guy running CIA?

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Protesters Arrested At Gonzales Speech

Counting on Chaos at the Polls

New York cannot rush to adopt dubious technology that, however much lobbying support it has in Albany and Washington, could fail to do the job on Election Day.

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Fascist America in Ten Easy Steps

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.

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Dick Cheney's Sadistic Passion for Shooting Tame Animals

Dick Cheney just spent a day shooting up pen-raised birds. Some hunters liken the sport -- killing tame animals that offer no resistance -- to having sex with a blow-up doll. Sociopaths Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Speck were both big on animal cruelty. And they weren't running foreign policy.

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18 arrested in antiwar protest by veterans - The Boston Globe

More than a dozen members of an antiwar veterans group were arrested yesterday as they protested the exclusion of their message from Boston's Veterans Day parade.

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BREAKING: Sky -- Probably Not Falling

None of the studio chiefs would talk on the record, but if I were to sum up their views, I’d put it this way: The future is too uncertain for us to give anything away.

This is simply another blatant example of the economic and social distortions that the corporate media themselves have engendered over the last 30 years in our society. They promulgate the misconception that owners' and managers' proprietary interest in commercial enterprises is somehow greater than or superior to the interest of workers.

Now these media "aristocrats" are using this same misconception they have disseminated as a tool for cutting out the interests of society and workers from the commercial enterprise they have been entrusted with.

This is bald theft, not only of the benefits and sustenance -- money -- the writers are entitled to by virtue of their participation in the media enterprises, but it is an attempt to steal the very idea of democratic participation from the business sector of our society. So the assault on democracy continues, abetted by corporate media in broadcasting and in their own management policies.

Isn't it time We, The People, the sovereigns in our system, called upon our "representatives" to intervene on behalf of our democratic rights and principles, and for the workers?

Whenever a new technology has arrived, Hollywood has seen it as a grave threat to prosperity, whether it was the coming of talkies, the growth of television or the arrival of the VCR, the greatest gravy train of all, which the studios immediately attempted to sue out of existence.

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The Huey Longs of Iowa

The media's version of the Iowa presidential caucuses is a story of five candidates and two rivalries. The numbers suggest the most compelling story is about two underdog candidates and one demographic: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), former Sen. John Edwards (D) and the middle class.

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Uncle Sam on the Line (You have got to be kidding me.)

In spite of the underlying intelligence activities or the legal basis on which they were initially established (emphasis added), it would be unfair and contrary to the interests of the United States to allow litigation that tries to hold private telecommunications companies liable for them.

PUNCH LINE: Don’t sue phone companies for letting the government listen in.

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DOJ pressures NYSBOE

I sent off this letter to NYS BOE Co-Executive Directors this morning.

Mr. Peter S. Kosinski
Stanley L. Zalen
Co-Executive Directors
New York State Board of Elections
40 Steuben Street
Albany, NY 12207-2108

November 7, 2006

Re: Civil Action No. 06-CV-0263 (GLS)

Dear Sirs:

It is unfair for the US Department of Justice to place all the responsibility for the unmet certification deadlines on the NYS Board of Elections.

The Department of Justice has not established reasonable standards for certification of HAVA compliant voting systems, and this has created great difficulty on the part of New York State to find vendors whose equipment meets NYS standards.

The Federal government has not required vendors to escrow with any State any proprietary source code for the voting equipment in question. In light of the numerous demonstrated fallibilities of proprietary vendor source codes in voting systems around the country, it is unreasonable for the Department of Justice to require New York State to waive this prohibition against secret and private source codes in public voting systems.

The Department of Justice has not objectively evaluated New York State's standards in NYS Election Law Section 7-200. It is unreasonable for the State of New York to purchase voting systems which haven’t been tested according to the requirements of State law. According to Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media, a grass roots New York State, non-partisan activist group:

New York's Procurement Laws prohibit NYS from entering into contracts with "non-responsible" vendors. New York's courts have upheld findings of vendor non-responsibility for the very ethical violations these vendors have committed as well as barring the state from doing business with vendors with criminal indictments, criminal convictions, and of course records of failed past performance. The voting vendors are guilty of multiple infractions of all these criteria.

Press Release, Northeast Citizens For Responsible Media, http://www.re-media.org/, November 7, 2007

The Department of Justice is not supporting New York State in our efforts to procure a reliable and secure voting system for our elections. Rather, the US Department of Justice is seeking to bully New York State into buying expensive and unreliable equipment from private vendors who refuse to comply with New York State’s voter protection laws.

Please do not submit to the unreasonable demands of the Department of Justice. Their arguments demonstrably do not stand in the best interests of the voters of New York State or the United States. Rather, they are trying to bully New York State into privatizing our election system by giving private vendors proprietary control of the voting system. That is unacceptable and the Department of Justice must drop its suit and support New York State in our efforts to improve our voting system.

Sincerely,

Bush exhorts Musharraf to hold elections and relinquish army post - The Bos

WASHINGTON - President Bush urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday to "restore democracy as quickly as possible," choosing mild disappointment over punishment or more pointed rhetoric to react to the declaration of emergency rule in antiterrorism ally Pakistan.

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U.S. economy grows at 3.9% pace in third quarter

Rex Nutting of Marketwatch wrote,

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. economy shook off the worst housing downturn in a generation to grow at a 3.9% annual pace in third quarter, the best performance in six quarters, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday.

It's not tongue-in-cheek, either. Skeptical? I know I am.

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Nacchio affects spy probe

Previously sealed evidentiary documents in the Nacchio insider trading case have now revealed that, contrary to BushCo and telecom representations, the NSA sought confidential customer info--as well as access to phone calls and emails--at least six months before 9/11.

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Dogs Tired of Being Shot on "Accident": Dog shoots Iowa man during hunt

A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun.

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Bush has new plan to avoid Congress

It's not quite signing statements, where President George W. Bush used legal means to "interpret" laws, allowing him to avoid Congressional directives, but the White House is now planning to implement as much new policy "as it can" by administrative order "after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership."

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Where Does the Right-Wing End and the Media Begin?

Economist Paul Krugman on how the right-wing media machine is destroying social progress.

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FCC Set To End Sole Cable Deals For Apartments

Can I get that in writing?

Commission officials and consumer groups said the new rule could significantly lower cable prices for millions of subscribers who live in apartment buildings and have had no choice in selecting a company for paid television.

Read more *

Fearing Fear Itself

Many of the men who hope to be the next president have made unreasoning, unjustified terror the centerpiece of their campaigns. The American people realize that politicians who run around crying about how afraid they are don't qualify as leaders of the United States, nor are they able to properly represent the American people.

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Five Years Ago, Yesterday

Telecom Amnesty Whipcount

FCC Hearing Shuts Out the Public

In an appalling act of stubborn disregard of his duties as a public servant, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has called a hearing on media ownership regulations for next Thursday, October 31, 2007, just five business days from now. Congress and the American people overwhelmingly oppose relaxation of the rules, so Martin is trying another end run.

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Notes on FISA and PAA revisions

This is the MoveOn Action

Honorable Senator Rockefeller:

Please represent my views in support of one law, equally applied to all parties, under which all parties--citizens and corporations--are justly held accountable.

This particularly pertains to secret government programs to "monitor terrorists" by spying, eavesdropping and culling the phone records of law abiding citizens.

I refuse to let terrorists declare victory over our Constitutional rights.

In fact, our rights are enshrined in the Constitution, not because our government has any proprietary authority over who benefits from them and to what extent they are bestowed upon citizens, aliens and foreigners. No, on the contrary, the Second and Fourth Amendments and the limitations on the Article II powers are enshrined in the Constitution because they represent "universal truths" that are "self-evident" as the Declaration of Independence so plainly states.

These rights and the equality of their legal application pertain to "all men [people]." (They do not contain to fictional constructions such as corporations.)

The government's sole responsibility is to protect, safeguard and extend our citizens' rights, from rogue politicians, economic entitities or foreign and domestic enemies. Terrorists are any foreign and domestic entity that use terror for political gain.

What would constitute political gain for terrorists? How about frightening our "leaders" into attempting to curtail our God-given, Constitutionally codified rights and liberties.

Uphold the law, the Constitution and its principles. Do not give in to terror as some cowardly "leaders" insist we must do to "be safe."

The "soft on terror" are those who would capitulate by cowering from the front lines in defense of liberty and freedom and finding excuses like "economic necessity" or "national security" for placing restrictions and inequalities on universal, guaranteed American citizens' rights and liberties.

Sincerely,

Capitaine Dunquerque

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

There is a large part of the central Pacific Ocean that no one ever visits and only a few ever pass through. Sailors avoid it like the plague for it lacks the wind they need to sail Fishermen leave it alone because its lack of nutrients makes it an oceanic desert.

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Is a Presidential Coup Under Way?

The Constitution is being trampled and nothing less than American democracy itself is endangered -- a presidential coup is taking place. Where is Congress?

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When America Went Fascist -- Happy Halloween!

It is a truism in the blogosphere that one more terrorist attack will turn America into a fascist state. People speculate about what fascism in America will look like, or how they might fight it. Others boast that they plan to flee the country ahead of the coming fascist takeover of the United States.

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Fascist America, in 10 easy steps!

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.

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Be Careful

Telecom Companies Seeking Wiretap Immunity Donate to Senator

While seeking legal immunity, two phone companies held fund-raisers for Senator John D. Rockefeller IV.

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Confront the War President

I wonder how another Saturday march is going to be anything more than futile, but like Robert Jensen says, we need to meet with and support one another now more than ever.

One Graph Says It All About The New Telecom Immunity Bill

Another intrepid blogger has been scratching the surface of a story that seems to blind the mainstream, corporate news media.

by dday [@dKos]
Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 05:18:57 PM PDT
I want you to take a look at something.



The graph shows AT&T employee contributions to Senate Intelligence Committee chair Jay Rockefeller over the past several years. There weren't enough of them to fill out the graph until he got the chairman's gavel in early 2007. Then for some unexplained reason, the contributions skyrocketed. Same with Verizon.

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Clinton Bucks The Trend and Rakes in Cash From The US Weapons Industry

Their high level employees, among many others, have given more private donations to her campaign than to all the other Democrats combined. Use the links below to see for yourself: Committees:http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/S0NY00188Individuals: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_ind/S0NY00188

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And, aside from the weapons lobby, this is an interesting group, too.

Arms and the Woman

Priests Protesting Torture at Fort Huachuca Jailed for Justice

Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced today to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing.

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'The Moment Has Come to Get Rid of Saddam'

There is a difference between being sure and being right.

-- Mark Danner, NY Review of Books

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Democrats put off vote on eavesdrop bill

On a day of sharp debate over the bill, Republicans accused Democrats of giving U.S. constitutional rights to suspected terrorists and Bush said the legislation would be a setback in the fight against terrorism.

What makes this so unpalatable is that the reason the U.S. rights are in the Constitution is because they are "universal truths," "self-evident." We have no proprietary ownership of human rights, to parcel out or withhold according to our political calculations! This is the self-consuming power-lust of the blind, blinded by their own fear and greed for power.

The Washington Post reports that

"There is absolutely no reason our intelligence officials should have to consult government lawyers before listening in to terrorist communications with the likes of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and other foreign terror groups," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

The measure "extends our Constitution beyond American soil to our enemies who want to cut the heads off Americans," said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.).

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Gore Derangement Syndrome

In today's Times, Krugman asks the rhetorical question, "Why does the right wing hate Al Gore so much?"

Actually, the editorialist fails to distinguish between "the right wing" and the "right wing pundits and media." Hopefully there is a difference by now. In the collapse of the Bush administration, the right wing must contain some principled and reasoning Americans, splintered off from the mob in spite of the continuous propaganda of hatred and distortion that emanates from the corporate media and did so much to promote the Bush Administration and its failed policies.

So if science says that we have a big problem that can’t be solved with tax cuts or bombs — well, the science must be rejected, and the scientists must be slimed.

Aside from the fact that the mob from the church and the country club stood aside and cheered in 2000 when the corporate/military chiefs foisted BushCo onto the nation in spite of Gore's popular vote victory--in Florida, as well as in the nation as a whole--and BushCo has had a six year honeymoon with a pro-censorship, corporate controlled media that has slimed Gore at every opportunity--Gore continues to dwarf Bush in popularity, achievement, and world stature.

Demonstrate Against Occupation

Uncertainty Cuts Both Ways

Just when you thought we were all waking up from a nightmare, it turns out to be real.

chapter 1's diary at dKos.

Global Warming: Scientific Consensus Proved Wrong.

Fixing FISA

(I hate to say it but, you know, that really does mean the terrorists have won...) --Digby

Based on what is revealed about McConnel's role in outsourcing military contracts and his willingness to toss around threatening language to the Congress like e.f.p.s, you'd think there would be a little more muckraking in the mainstream media about him right now.

As Digby says,

It's pretty clear why McConnell is so hellbent on immunity for telcoms isn't it? This man is one of the architects of a new shadowy, privatized defense industry that's sprung up over the past few years, an industry that's paid for by you and me, but over which we don't have any say, either as individuals or through our representatives in congress. It makes Ike's military industrial complex look positively benign by comparison.

Congress Ignoring Critical Report on Pentagon Spending

CRS 2006 Report

The Congressional Research Service published a couple of reports this year on the runaway costs of the So-Called War On Terror.Congress seems to be ignoring the findings and related testimony by the Comptroller General of the GAO, David Walker.The facts suggest Pentagon accounting is inaccurate and wasteful, in urgent need of oversight.

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Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers

If anybody was holding onto the hope that Democrats would stand up to the Administration, the media, and the terrorists in defense of our civil rights and Constitution, it looks like that hope was misplaced.

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New revelations in attack on American spy ship [USS Liberty]

Ray McGovern sheds even more light on the incident at Consortium News.

[Written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Crewdson] "Veterans, documents suggest U.S., Israel didn't tell full story of deadly '67 incident"... That's an understatement. Veterans, documents PROVE Israeli misconduct and intentional attacking of the US craft. Again. This just piles onto previous evidence.

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Billie J. Kramer & The Dakotas in 1965

I've been trying to post this for a week.



Maybe this will work.

How the Democrats blew it

"if you strike the king, you must kill him"

The Iraq debacle handed Democrats a golden opportunity to deal the GOP a mortal blow and change America's flawed Mideast policies.

They played it safe. They didn't have the conviction to really change American policy regarding defense and foreign affairs. Yes, it was risky, but above all, it would have been messy. And, to quote the Decider, "It's hard work!"


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Local Solutions: Challenge Corporate Power, Embrace True Democracy

Vandana Shiva, writing in Alternet, has another insightful piece on the danger of so-called solutions to the problems of globalization: pollution, monopoly, disenfranchisement.

So here you have globalization adding to emissions and it needs to be a continued part of our work. And you've got false solutions that were laid out by Jerry [Mander]. But the false solution that I think we need to pay particular attention to is the dominant solution in terms of carbon trading. Because at the philosophical level, at the world-view level, it's the second privatization of the atmospheric commons. The first privatization was putting the pollution into the atmosphere beyond the earth's recycling capacity. Now with carbon trading, the rights to the earth's carbon cycling capacity are gravitating exactly into the arms of the polluters. The environmental principal used to be the polluter must pay. Carbon trading is transforming that into the polluter gets paid.

She rightfully zeros in on carbon-trading and corporate-controlled governments as the enemies of our future generations in the battle for survival of life as we know it on our planet.

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U.S. Pays Steep Price for Private Security in Iraq

Shady accounting practices have helped Halliburton and KBR conceal their charges to the American people for security and other services in the so-called, "War On Terror." But you don't have to be a CPA to understand that the real war BushCo is fighting in Iraq is against the American taxpayer.

It costs the U.S. government a lot more to hire contract employees as security guards in Iraq than to use American troops.

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Informed Comment: Crime of the Century

By refusing to allow Saddam to flee with guarantees, Bush ensured that a land war would have to be fought. This is one of the greatest crimes any US president ever committed, and it is all the more contemptible for being rooted in mere pride and petulance.

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The Shadow Army

Today, the Boston Globe has more on the Blackwater mercenary force, and some details of the history behind the massive deployment of Defense contractors throughout the Dod.

The overarching goal of government is supposedly the adoption of policies and practices that promote the public good. For contractors performing government services, the bottom line is profit.

Prof. Janine Wedel is a member of the New America Foundation, who seem to be keeping hope alive for American civilians in the wake of the fascist military police state takeover bid--especially as far as scholarship, journalism and intelligence are concerned.

IF THERE is a quagmire in Iraq, it was created more than a decade ago when the United States instituted a flawed system governing the use of contractors to perform governmental functions.Now, despite Iraqi fury at Blackwater USA, accused of fatally shooting Iraqis, Washington is so reliant on the firm that it dare not order it from the field.

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Will Blackwater Be Kicked Out of Iraq After Recent Bloodbath?

In Baghdad there is great determination to bring the perpetrators of the Nisour Square slaughter to justice. An investigative team made up of officials from Iraq's Interior, National Security and Defense ministries said in a preliminary report that "the murder of citizens in cold blood in the Nisour area by Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against civilians just like any other terrorist operation."

But Iraqi investigators claim that they have received little or no information from the US government and have been denied access to the Blackwater operatives involved in the shootings. A US official appeared to dismiss the validity of the Iraqi investigation, telling the New York Times, "There is only the joint investigation that we have with the Iraqis."

Are we supposed to believe what the Bush Administration and Blackwater spokespersons tell us about what happened on September 16 in Iraq? I don't think so. So how do we get the facts? So embedded is Blackwater in the US apparatus in Iraq that the incident in Nisour Square has sparked a crisis for the occupation.

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The Mega-Lie Called the "War on Terror"

It's hard to know where to start to peel away the layers of deception and encrusted corruption from the so-called war on terror (scwot). Let's face it, the whole thing has turned into a trillion dollar smoke screen for the corporate interests to gain control of the government, the military, the media and the population of the United States (not to mention the Middle Eastern oil reserves)

But as citizens, it's our job to sort out this mess and work to restore our democracy and the health of our society.

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Runaway (Spending) Train

Very Subtle

The tidal wave of red ink that has drowned our future generations since BushCo took over is largely due to war, munitions, and private security bills. The creation of the Federal Department of Homeland Security alone cost billions. That was just to set it up, before they even did anything.The strategy plainly is to drain the economy for imaginary security threats that trump social spending. This will force a cowering population led by privately-financed politicians to abandon social programs for destruction and force programs.The New York Times does a great job of delicately unmasking this shark lurking beneath our socio-economic surface: the fat violent predator who will gobble up our society in one ferocious fiscal attack.What the Times doesn't point out, however, is what is inevitably the endgame of this scenario. There isn't a country, an empire, a police state in history that hasn't followed the script of turning its imperial forces against its own population. Military-industrial presidents and congresspersons will ensure that after our population is stripped of effective political power, we will then be stripped of all socially progressive public programs.The war costs too much, you see, and the people have to pay for it even after they decide it isn't worth the costs. So the unitary executive uses his/her new powers and private armed forces to completely shut down political dissent, opposition, or social advocacy.It becomes a security issue, and security trumps everything.If Bob Herbert is able to keep writing editorials long enough to chronicle this American civil destruction, I doubt the "liberal" New York Times will still be able to publish by then anything as critical and suggestive as this editorial.

Behold Burma.

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'A Coup Has Occurred'

He doesn't go into all the gory details, but he does kind of outline the Alex Jones talking points about camps, repression of dissent, terrorism, repeal of Constitutional rights. It's too late, baby.Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department analyst who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War, offered insights into the looming war with Iran and the loss of liberty in the United States at an American University symposium on Sept. 20.

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State Dept. intercedes in Blackwater probe - Los Angeles Times

If anybody ever wondered about the extent of corruption in the Bush Administration, this rips away any remains of a curtain hiding the anti-American intent from public scrutiny.Everybody knows they're using secrecy and classified information as excuses for withholding the truth about their activities from the public. But now we learn that they are using the same tactics, not only to hide their own crimes, but those of their puppet governments and private contractors.The "Crime Family" goes to war with Waxman.A House panel reveals a letter telling the firm not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without the administration's OK.

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Despite Improving U.S. Current Account Deficits, Risks of A Crisis Growing

American investors are sending their capital overseas in rapidly increasing quantities.

The only thing propping up the dollar thus far are mega purchases of US assets, including government bonds, by benevolent foreign governments.

The rapid growth of these outflows is consistent with scenarios suggesting that a financial crisis will result in a 'hard landing' for the U.S. economy. But for those purchases by foreign central banks and governments, the dollar might have collapsed already

.

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War-Monger vs. The Porn King: Is Bill Kristol Respectable?

What makes Jay Gatz and Don King a little more palatable than William Kristol?Fear?

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The Still-Unreported Story of “Top Gun” George Bush

Rather had a story that might have changed the outcome of that razor-close race. We now know that Dan cut a back-room deal to shut his mouth, grab his ankles, and let his network retract a story he knew to be absolutely true. Now, with Bush’s approval ratings are below smallpox, Rather has come out of hiding to shoot at the lame duck. Thanks, Dan.

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Monday: 1 GI, 105 Iraqis killed; 118 Iraqis Wounded

Looks like "the surge" is living up to its name.

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From the Start, the Space Race Was an Arms Race

The "space race" really was an outgrowth of the "arms race." Now that the "arms race" is supposedly over, we have the "arms in space race."

What would all those engineers, soldiers, secretaries and janitors do if the Pentagon ever closed?

They don't have to worry as long as our politicians sustain warfare/welfare as we know it.

Critics say the overall program is costly and unnecessary, and the funds better spent on countering such threats as terrorism.

Today, the biggest item in the nation’s arms budget is building antimissile weapons.

U.N. Chief Urges Fast Action on Global Climate Change

The corporate President continues to run interference for his wealthy special interests, even in the face of a 150 country U.N. meeting to plan expanded cooperative international efforts at combatting climate change.

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U.S. Repeatedly Rebuffed Iraq on Blackwater Complaints

This has an eerie echo of the forewarnings that went unheeded before September 11, 2001.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 -- Senior Iraqi officials repeatedly complained to U.S. officials about Blackwater USA's alleged involvement in the deaths of numerous Iraqis, but the Americans took little action to regulate the private security firm until 11 Iraqis were shot dead last Sunday, according to U.S....

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Bush to Skip U.N. Talks on Global Warming

President Bush is preparing a separate climate change meeting in Washington later in the week.Another pair of handcuffs BushCo is using to hold the YOU, and the world, hostage while they line their own pockets.

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China's Hot Stock: Orwell Inc.

An industry U.S. hedge fund gurus see as almost limitless: the Chinese police state.

America must disenthrall itself from one of its most cherished myths: that capitalism and democracy go hand in hand, that the spread of markets inevitably means the coming of democracy. That was a key argument that proponents of extending permanent favored trade status to China made during the 1990s. In fact, the creation of the Chinese-American economic entity that followed -- in effect, moving our manufacturing belt from the Midwest to Shenzhen -- has demonstrated the opposite. Leading American companies such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have acquiesced in Chinese Internet censorship. China's nonexistent standards of product safety -- the direct consequence of its absence of democracy -- became our standards, too.

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Oil and Betrayal in Iraq

The Iraq War is really about oil, and in the most disreputable terms reflecting poorly on the American people while merely benefitting .... surprise ... the oil companies!

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ABC News: Top U.S. Spy: FBI, CIA Failed to Stop 9/11

McConnell tells Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee that 9/11 should have been prevented but, we failed to connect the dots.

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Russia and China warn against war with Iran

Despite the repeated rumors of American military moves against Iran, it is the French Foreign Minister's reference to war that has sparked a conflicting response by Russia and China. Uh-oh."We are convinced that no modern problem has a military solution, and that applies to the Iranian nuclear programme as well," said Mr Lavrov.

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Bush setting America up for war with Iran

Just when you thought things were getting slow and boring, the British papers have the skinny.

In a chilling scenario of how war might come, a senior intelligence officer warned that public denunciation of Iranian meddling in Iraq - arming and training militants - would lead to cross border raids on Iranian training camps and bomb factories.

The problem is, if we're going to try and pretend we have some business being in Iraq in the first place, we're not going to have any choice but to deal with Iran. That's the true measure of the failure of the Democratic Congress--they let Bush surge in Iraq and hang around long enough to take the initiative in using it as a steppingstone to Iran.

IAEA Chief Exhorts Iran's Critics to Avoid Threats of Force

VIENNA, Sept. 17 -- The chief U.N. nuclear inspector urged Iran's harshest critics Monday to learn from the Iraq invasion and refrain from 'hype' about a possible military attack, calling force an option of last resort.He urges everybody to back off of the "force" talk.

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Bankrolling Iran

Both the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency have found Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The IAEA reports that Iran ignored the Security Council's February deadline to stop enriching uranium and has even expanded its nucl...

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Statement of President Machen at UF

The President of the University of Florida tries to tamp down the flames of outrage over the taser incident. He doesn't apologize to the student, though.News from the American Chamber of Horrors, 2007, Continued.

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Prepare for war with Iran, says French minister

One of the problems I have with this article is that it refers to a Security Counsel cabal meeting about the Iran situation, and offers a preemptive solution for Iran's quest for nuclear arms.But Spillius and Butcher say that most estimates say Iran is just a few from developing its own bomb. Prove it.

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Move troops to Iran border, Brown told

This is the first of a series of articles in the Telegraph, beginning this past Sunday, tracing a movement of American and British forces in southeastern Iraq, toward the Iranian border.General David Petraeus will press Gordon Brown to increase the number of British troops patrolling the Iraqi border with Iran when he meets the Prime Minister this week.The US commander in Iraq wants Britain to move a significant proportion of the 5,000 troops garrisoned at Basra airport to cut off the smuggling of Iranian weapons to Shia militias.

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U.S. rushes to smooth Iraq's anger over Blackwater - Los Angeles Times

The country cancels the American security firm's license after its workers are accused of fatally shooting 8 civilians.Iraqi Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, accused Blackwater of breaking the law Sunday."They committed a crime," Khalaf said. "The judicial system will take action."Welcome to the party, Abdul. BushCo breaks laws and blackmails the enforcement agents into sitting on their hands.

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There are no Protesters Here

How the Media Marginalizes the Anti-War Movement at events like the September 15 demonstration at the Capitol in Washington, DC.

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Police Taser Florida Student After He Asks John Kerry Why No One Has Tried

This is the most horrific, Orwellian moment I've ever seen. The rest of the audience, the school officials, John Kerry, everybody, just was too intimidated to allow anything like civilized behavior to unfold. Chilling.

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Iraq Death Toll Rivals Rwanda Genocide, Cambodian Killing Fields

What gets me about the fact that 30 to 40 times as many Iraqi civilians have actually been killed as a result of the occupation than US estimates. It's the fact that the average number Americans believe to be Iraqi civilian casualties is less than 10,000,There's nothing worse than having ignorant people behind the war machine.

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Blackwater license being pulled in Iraq

The Iraqi government said Monday that it was pulling the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade in Baghdad.The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting.

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US State Department motorcade attacked in Baghdad - The Boston Globe

BAGHDAD - A US State Department motorcade came under attack in Baghdad yesterday, prompting security contractors guarding the convoy to open fire in the streets. At least nine civilians were killed, according to Iraqi officials.

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The Shock Doctrine Short Film

The scientific way to push unpopular social, political, and economic reforms through a resistant population is based on the findings of psychiatrists, especially Ewell Cameron, experimenting with shock therapy. This is excellent! WATCH IT.

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Broadcasting Lobbyists Try to Squash Affordable Internet Access

What was it John Edwards said about lobbyists? "With more than 60 lobbyists for every member of Congress, the voices of regular Americans are being drowned out in Washington. The system has been rigged against the people who make our country great – working and middle class families."

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Move On

For half a year we were told that September would bring the report on the surge that would indicate whether or not we could withdraw.

Despite a volley of contradictory reports, the military's chief spokesperson testifies this week that we must "stay the course" and unequivocally support elevated troop levels in the occupation of Iraq until next summer.

The American people heard these kinds of arguments before. The Administration has no credibility when it comes to providing statistics and intelligence on conditions in Iraq, or elsewhere.

Petraeus has plainly compiled data selectively, just as the Office of Special Plans did in 2002, to make the Administration's case for protracted expenditures for the occupation.

The only progress the General has been able to hold up for scrutiny is in Anbar province, where the reduction in sectarian killings and attacks on coalition personnel have not been attributed by anyone to the surge in American forces. Elsewhere, sectarian killings have either continued as before, escalated, or created such devastation and refugee crises as to depopulate the areas where the killings were taking place before, thus causing a statistical downturn.

Finally, Petraeus is the same general who wrote a Wall Street "Journal" op-ed before the 2004 election saying that things were really improving in Iraq and we were about to turn the corner.

Neither Petraeus nor the other Administration leaders have any credibility on Iraq or other foreign policy matters. Neither Congress nor the American people should place the least credence in these hearings with General Petraeus, Mr. Crocker, and others.

What was to have been a short and inexepensive mission of regime change in a would-be prosperous country, has turned into an interminable, violent occupation, unimaginably expensive to the American people that has devastated Iraq, seemingly irreparably.

Are these actually people we are going to listen to in assessing the situation and planning our actions?

America used to be a country characterized by people of common sense.

"Fool me twice, shame on me." It's deja vu all over again.

We need a fully funded withdrawal from Congress. Let's see if they can at least get that right.

America: 14 Characteristics Of Fascism.

It's nice to hear Mike Malloy is still out there doing his ranting and raving. The fascists will never shut him up.

First Place

The WarMoney advocates don't want to talk about how or why we got there in the first place. Otherwise, why would anybody ever listen to or trust them?

The People of America, not the WarMoney lobby, have to take back our government into our own hands for our sake and the sake of our children.

"Take" is the operative word, because the WarMoneyMedia lobby has control of America--the American mind--and they will not relinquish it. This Iraq misadventure is just another way of the WarMoneyMedia lobby holding the American people hostage.

It's blackmail.

Democracy and Media

The FCC can and must change its policies of consolidation and enforcement for the public to again be adequately informed about politics to meaningfully participate.

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Forever The Victims

James Carroll is floating at the top of the pool of journalists with insight. He's been up there for a while because of articles like this, where he shows the backbone to directly ask the American people if they actually think they are morally superior to Iraqis, or others. Carroll suggests that's why they hate us.

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poor america

Stocks Plunge After Weak Jobs Report, by Tim Paradis, AP

The dollar fell sharply following the report and as the likelihood of an interest rate cut appeared to increase. Dollar-based assets would earn less interest if the Fed were to cut rates. In addition, gold prices rose sharply because some investors would be expected to abandon a weakening dollar and move into gold if the central bank cuts rates.

Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq

The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.

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Mr. President...Why the Big Smile?

OK, throw another $50 billion down the rat hole that is the Iraq occupation. It’s only money, if you ignore the lives being destroyed. That’s what the White House is asking for, in addition to the $147 billion in supplementary funds already requested. And why the smile on the president's face? Because Congress will give him the money he desires!How this farce can continue to be played out in the media, in Congress, in the Pentagon, and especially in Iraq, is beyond anybody's farthest stretch of what can be called, "sane" or "healthy." "Dysfunctional" doesn't say it powerfully enough. It's "sick."

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Airborne Nukes

Michael Hoffman of the Army Times is calling it an accident. The nuclear warheads were supposed to have been removed before the plane left Minot for Barksdale.

That's the offical story.

Lieutenant Colonel Ed Thomas of the Air Force pooh-poohed the concern over the "mistaken transport:"

“Air Force standards are very exacting when it comes to munitions handling,” he said. “The weapons were always in our custody and there was never a danger to the American public.”

Former intelligence officer Larry Johnson, blogging at TPM Cafe, had this to say, however,

Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?
His final point was to observe that someone on the inside obviously leaked the info that the planes were carrying nukes. A B-52 landing at Barksdale is a non-event. A B-52 landing with nukes. That is something else.

Now maybe there is an innocent explanation for this? I can’t think of one. What is certain is that the pilots of this plane did not just make a last minute decision to strap on some nukes and take them for a joy ride. We need some tough questions and clear answers. What the hell is going on? Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran? I don’t know, but it is a question worth asking.

Depleted Uranium Weapons Turning Iraq Into Nuclear Nightmare

American use of DU is "A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time." US Iraq Military Vets "are on DU death row, waiting to die."

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Germany foils 'massive' bomb plot

Three men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a "massive" terrorist attack on US facilities in the country, officials have said. It looks like police are still very capable of stopping terror attacks, even though the US is spending $1 billion per day to inspire them.

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Conscience of a Conservative

When Jack Goldsmith took over as the key constitutionaladviser for the Bush administration, he soon found himself at odds with the White House.This is the story of how a white bread neocon white guy who beamed into the Office of Legal Counsel from a Harvard Law professorship, got sick of BushCo and packed it in after one term.

And, from Glenn Greenwald,

It is critical to emphasize that Goldsmith -- like James Comey and John Ashcroft -- is no hero. He is a hard-core right-wing ideologue who continues to support many of the administration's most radical positions, including his view that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions does not apply to terrorist suspects (the position rejected by Hamdan). And it was Goldsmith who ultimately approved of the modified (and plainly illegal) NSA warrantless eavesdropping program.

Moreover, Goldsmith explains that he had not even intended to address the NSA surveillance program in his book, but changed his mind once he was served with subpoenas by the FBI in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation to find out who the whistleblower was who alerted the country to this illegality -- an investigation which Goldsmith supports. As Goldsmith says: "I'm not a civil libertarian, and what I did wasn't driven by concerns about civil liberties per se."

Goldsmith is commendable only by comparison to the truly extremist and reprehensible likes of Cheney, Addington, Gonzales and Yoo. He is, by and large, a True Believer in the Bush "War on Terror" and in theories designed to expand substantially executive power. That is what makes his revelations all the more credible, and all the more disturbing. What he is describing is a band of deranged and lawless radicals who, during his tenure, ran our government and who, after they forced him out, continue to do so.

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Hillary Rolls On: Are Netroots a Paper Tiger?

Jeff Cohen isn't giving up yet. He's trying to rally the progressive Democrats with a call to arms against Clinton and the lobbyist/corporate elite Democratic leadership.He thinks part of the problem is forgetting history. It's important to remember how Clinton subverted the progressive agenda and weakened the Democrats to where the Republican revolution swept in in 1994.Hillary's failed health insurance plan has set the country back at least 15 years. What about the Telecommunications Act? What about NAFTA?

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Memo to Charlie Rangel

Please do not allow the Congress to authorize any additional military spending. President Bush has indicated he will request an additional $50 billion for the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Bush and his military have not demonstrated the competence to use taxpayer money for military operations.

The Congress has already authorized far more money for war than the most exhorbitant estimates by any expert prior to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The "cost overrun" of the Iraqi occupation disqualifies the Bush administration from any further credibility or allocations by the American people.

Additionally, it is widely believed that President Bush is seeking an opportunity to effectuate "regime change" in Tehran. The United States is already viewed by our former friends as an aggressive, rogue state. If we proceed to unilaterally attack Iran, causing infrastructure damage and civilian casualties, for whatever ostensible reason, we will further drive a wedge between the American people and the good will of Europeans, Asians, Africans and South Americans.

Finally, military spending has increased drastically under the Bush administration, and domestic programs, as well as traditional diplomatic programs, have received less support from the government and the media. This is a dangerous imbalance that I'm sure you agree needs to be rectified. We must reduce military spending in the long term in order to focus as a country on rejuvenating our society for the future, and building alliances for global cooperation.

Therefore, please use your power and any means at your disposal to impede the appropriation of any additional funds for military operations on behalf of the Bush Administration.

Please work to reduce overall military spending and military conflict as soon as possible.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Sincerely,

AC-130 (Long Version)

As horrific as war is, this Army film of "precision" air attacks on Afghan insurgents raises the nightmare to an even more chilling level. Helpless "personnel" in a tiny, plain "insurgent compound" are eradicated like ants by firebombs. The bombs descend from a US plane, precision targeting the fragile, mortal shapes below as they helplessly flee for their lives from the flying menace.

This film demonstrates how our armed forces have brought the dehumanization of mass killing and destruction to unimaginable efficiency.

No peace will come of this.

The rot in the White House

We're seeing the face of treason beneath the mask of deceit. Why does treason never prosper? Because if it prosper, none dare call it treason.Besides the phony reports, there are rumors of widespread blackmail of Congress persons by Administration officials.But that's another story

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A Rigged Report on U.S. Voting?

After the 2000 Florida election debacle, Congress established a body called the Election Assistance Commission to improve voting and democracy in this country. Two years ago, the commission approached me about doing a project that would take a preliminary look at voter fraud and intimidation and ...

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End Nigh for Muni Wi-Fi?

Wireless internet on a municipal scale seems to be suitable for small to mid-size cities. In larger metropolises, the scale of the engineering has proven to costly and daunting for Chicago, Houston, and other cities.The slashing of hundreds of jobs by Earthlink--many of which were outsourced to India in the first place--underscores the pressures for ISP consolidation and against local entities.

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Dubya Discovers Poverty Data

The poverty numbers being showcased as proof of prosperity are not what they seem. Just because the poverty rate ticks down .3% one year doesn't rectify the five other years in Bush's presidency when the rate ticked upward. In any case, the rate is a full percentage point above when BushCo first took office and introduced tax-cut prosperity.

Furthermore, let's not forget the simple fact that the poverty rate isn't measured on the basis of individual income per se, but on household income. So, a decrease in the poverty rate may simply indicate that more people in every family have to work, or work more.



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Study: US preparing 'massive' military attack against Iran

Raw Story ran this yesterday: The United States may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as government buildings and infrastructure, according to a new analysis of "what the military option might involve if it were picked up off the table and put into action."The scary thing about this article is that it is coming from the fringe media, and the American media don't seem concerned about the human cost of more large scale violence. As Iraq has proven, it is much easier to destroy a country than to rebuild it.For the United States and the Israelis and UK, or whoever else is involved, to insist on smashing up Iran without attempting other diplomatic, humanitarian, and/or international means of resolving the conflict, threatens civilization itself. If our leaders prefer military intervention, on a massive, expensive and destructive scale to any other means of resolving conflict, then it won't be long before we have destroyed the fabric of our own civilization, too.We're all interconnected. You can't have one country trying to dominate the world, or you have war and waste, destruction and human devastation.

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Who Owns the Media and How the People Can Take It Back

This story picks up right where we need it to: telling us how to get active supporting independent and local media. Forget about big corporate media. Citizen broadband, FCC lobbying, letters to Congress, LPFM and other options await the activist who wants honesty, plurality and inclusiveness in media.

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Conyers's Excuses

I heard this this morning on Democracy Now, but didn't catch the full impact of what was being revealed until I read about it online this afternoon.

It's fear. They're all afraid of being gang-tackled by the Republicans and the media. They're afraid the motion would go nowhere and they would be ruined.

Perhaps. But isn't it worth the risk? It could save the country.

So now we arrive at the real "balance of power." Power belongs to those who can balance the Constitution and a calculator for popular support!

The Third Rail War

Firedog Lake is one of the top five political blogs, because of analyses such as this one about the standoff facing Americans over the costs of having a society.The rich are either going to pay taxes again, or America will go out of business in the next generation.We'll have the Founding Fathers' nightmare: aristocracy and debt slavery.

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Corruption

This article describes the unhappy fate of government whistleblowers who reveal contractor corruption in Iraq to the Bush Administration or our military.

This article explains what the Iraq war is really about: enrichment of Bush's corporate allies at the expense of the US taxpayer, the Iraqi people, and the next 10 generations.

A Saturday at the end of August, when Congress and everybody else is on vacation: will the corporate media pick the story up?

The Price of Oil

The skinny on what oil really costs us. Awesome graphics, too. This website provides a comprehensive review of the many-faceted but little publicized "hidden costs" of our addiction to fossil fuels.

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Stuck With Warfare State

Andrew Solomon is barking up the right tree but we might as well be howling at the moon. We have to fight war at home, personally, all the time

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John Edwards: Time to End the Game

End the game- today in New Hampshire

American Fascism

Military backs up corporate imperialism.



The (new) reason we're fighting: to prevent an Iraqi bloodbath.

In the Los Angeles Times today, Julian E. Barnes writes in Sadr's Army Proves Hard to Beat:

In the east Baghdad strongholds of the Al Mahdi militia, U.S. efforts to weaken ties between the militant Shiite Muslim group and the Shiite population are falling short, say American soldiers assigned to carry out the plan.

In Dangerous Delusions, author Leon Hadar contrasts the reality we live in with the fantasy world inhabited by the neocons, Bush, and the portion of the American people they routinely brainwash.

In their alternate reality, the ouster of Saddam Hussein was part of the war on the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. In the real world, Saddam Hussein had no ties to al-Qaeda, whose leaders and members are now hiding in Pakistan (which in the Neocon World is an ally of the United States in the war against al-Qaeda). In the Neocon World, there were WMDs in Iraq. In the real world, such Iraqi WMDs do not exist. In the Neocon World, the United States has liberated Iraq. In the real world, U.S. troops are facing a powerful insurgency, and most Iraqis want them out. In the Neocon World, the United States has turned Mesopotamia into a model of political and economic freedom. In the real world, Iraq is ruled by a Shi'ite government committed to narrow ethnic interests and religious values, its economy is ruined, and it is disintegrating into a bloody civil war. In the Neocon World, the United States is now spreading democracy in the Middle East. In the real world, the United States is providing huge arms packages to help strengthen the power of the theocracy of Saudi Arabia and the military regime of Egypt. In the Neocon World, the Iraq War is strengthening the position of the United States and its allies in the Middle East. In the real world, the Iraq War strengthened the hands of anti-American Iran and its allies in the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

Yes, fascism is and has always been the politics of illusion

Consent of the Governed?

It's one thing to pretend you're elected--if the media and the Congress go along with it and drag the American people with them. Then you can stack the courts with political operative judges, turn over government to rapacious and inefficient private interests, and let Congress rubber stamp every unconstitutional action your operatives commit.

But, if you have to start covering your tracks from Congress and the American people, from Inspectors General and subpoenas and lawsuits, and the only way you can keep the evidence of wrongdoing buried is to hide it, bury it, or destroy it, then you're really pleading guilty to all the crimes the people are accusing you of--whether the media publicize it or not.

Take the case of the 5 million missing emails, for example. They have proven to be important as evidence in numerous investigations, including Congressional corruption probes involving the Abramoff syndicate, the outing of a CIA undercover agent, and the firing of the US Attorneys.

The White House has said it is aware that some e-mails may not have been automatically archived on a computer server for the Executive Office of the President.

The e-mails, the White House has said, may have been preserved on backup tapes.

``The Office of Administration is looking into whether there are e-mails not automatically archived; and once we determine whether or not there is a problem, we'll take the necessary steps to address it,'' said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

No leading candidates want to cut Defense

Berrigan exposes how the Democratic candidates are trying to get elected by pandering to the special interests who line their pockets with Pentagon spending. Clinton and Obama are particularly stricken by Berrigan's incisive charges.

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Bob Schieffer Remarks about Petraeus Report

This guy sounds pretty good for a corporate media pundit. I suppose humans have consciences after all, whether they choose to listen to them or not.

Fighting for One America - Dean Pro

health care

Jail them Now

Anonymous Liberal has a penetrating post on the possibility that Gonzo lied to everybody--not just Congress--about the wiretapping program.

My attitude is,

There's already been enough evidence of improprieties by Gonzales, the White House, the NSA, the telecoms, and anybody else who was involved in this sordid history-- even insofar as they just gave (or withheld ) testimony.

This is a brilliant piece of inductive reasoning, but aren't we well past the point of trying to figure out if somebody committed a crime, perjury, or just deceived somebody else in the Administration, or the public, for that matter?

Anybody in Congress who doesn't act to throw these sleazebags in jail is complicit and should likewise be tried for treason, before 2008.

George Bush Owned

Bush can't answer an important question.

DENNIS KUCINICH *I AM MAINSTREAM* MSNBC AUG 07, 2007

Lying About Lying America Into War

This is a video posted by David Sirota featuring Don Rumsfeld lying about how he and BushCo lied us into the Iraq occupation.

Fascist Propagandists, Mainstream Media

If there is anyone in America who hasn't caught on yet, this soliloquy by Chris Matthews should open your eyes to the ugly truth once and for all. Think Progress reports that Matthews lauded Bush for three uninterrupted minutes after his press conference, in which the President pled ignorance and recalcitrantly denied documented allegations of torture,.

Another view of the press conference appeared in Froomkin's comments in the Washington Post:

When it came to Iraq, Bush said at least one thing that was untrue, and one thing that was only too true. "In the July 15th report that I submitted to Congress, there were indications that they had met about half the benchmarks and some of the political benchmarks they were falling short," he said. The White House's own report found "progress" in only eight of 18 benchmarks -- not that the benchmarks had been met. And even that assessment is highly debatable.

So, where was Matthews coming from?
It should be obvious to every American with a brain that CNN--particularly Chris Matthews, Fox--particularly Shawn Hannity, Alan Colmes, Bill O'Reilly and "guests" like Robert Novak, Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol and paid Pentagon propagandist operatives.
None of these people, nor any of the Administration officials they are ostensibly paid to monitor and inform the public about, have a shred of credibility.
But they do have the floor.
What they say to millions of Americans cannot be disputed on the airwaves (although it can on the internet and the blogs, so far), thanks to the Clintons and the big money monopolies in the telecommunications industry.
Not only is it propaganda, it's censorship. Not only are they telling us what to think, but they are squelching any dissent.
"Why?" we used to ask, because we couldn't see the elephant in the room.
"Why don't they want us to know the truth?"
"Why do they have to control all the broadcasting and propagate an incessant daily deluge of pro-big money, pro military, pro-corporate verbiage?"
"Isn't the truth--whatever its content--good enough?"
No.
The truth would open the floodgates of public outrage at pro-business, anti-citizen financial, industrial, trade, environmental, education, and immigration policies.
The truth would cause a surge in public outrage that would sweep most incumbent Congressmen and Senators out of office in the next election--if not sooner.
The truth would reveal payoffs and massive funding shifts from taxpayers' interests to Pentagon interests. The puppetmasters in the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Office of Net Assessment, and other Pentagon think tanks and policy kitchens would be unmasked, in all their fascist, Orwellian, inhumane and uncivilized hideousness.
Thus, George Bush's press conferences, Chris Matthews's soliloquies of praise, Hillary Clinton's defense of lobbyists, Bill Kristol's urge for the surge, etc...

It may already be too late.

We the people have to take back the country now.

Anyone familiar with history knows what will happen otherwise. And we don't want to go there.

BushCo Arms Deal

The $63 billion sham

By Derrick Jackson, Globe Columnist | August 1, 2007

SECRETARY OF STATE Condoleezza Rice said the United States wants to send $63 billion in military aid and weapons to the Middle East to "bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran."

Talk about wriggling in quicksand. Having destroyed Iraq to save us from horrors that did not exist, Rice now wants to save us from Iran's future nukes by selling American weapons of mass destruction. Over the next decade, the Bush administration wants to give Israel $30 billion in military aid, a nearly 43 percent increase over what that nation received over the last 10 years, according to The New York Times. We want to give $20 billion to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. We want to give Egypt $13 billion.

Do you feel safe?

"This is throwing bad money after worse money," said Frida Berrigan, senior program associate at the Arms and Security Project of the New America Foundation. The program was formerly known as the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. "You can see the whole arms package as a buyoff of Arab nations for what we've done in Iraq.

"Justifying the sales because these countries feel threatened by Iran doesn't hold water. Iran is five to 10 years away from a nuclear weapon. That gives the United States and its partners more than enough time to come up with diplomatic solutions," Berrigan said. "This is just going to reinforce Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon."

The United States had already set records for global arms sales. The New York Times reported in November that the Bush administration and American military contractors doubled arms sales from $10.6 billion to $21 billion from September 2005 to September 2006. Berrigan estimates that the latest proposal will increase military aid and weaponry by another 25 percent.

This is a bipartisan craziness that never ended despite the end of the Cold War. Under the dual guise of national security and protecting American jobs, the first President Bush and President Clinton aggressively promoted US arms sales to more than twice their level of the last years of the Cold War.

Lawrence Korb, assistant defense secretary under President Reagan, told the Globe in 1996, "The brakes are off the system. . . . There is no coherent policy on the transfer of arms. It has become a money game; an absurd spiral in which we export arms only to have to develop more sophisticated ones to counter those spread out all over the world. . . . It is a frightening trend that undermines our moral authority in the New World Order."

The absurd spiral did nothing for regional stability, democracy or stop terrorism from spreading to American shores. Saudi Arabia was a big buyer under Clinton. It remained a "problematic ally," according to the 9/11 commission. This week, the US envoy to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, could not decide whether Saudi Arabia was "a great ally" or "undermining" the United States in Iraq.

There is no hint of a coherent policy. Under the president, 80 percent of nations that received arms from America in 2003 were classified by the State Department as being either undemocratic or having a poor human rights record, which covers all the Arab countries in the new deal. Israel is a democracy, but in its 2006 country profile, the State Department cites a source that determined that 322 of 660 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military "were not engaged in hostilities when killed and 141 were minors."

This latest deal is so over the top that Israel is not opposing the $33 billion to Arab states because it gets $30 billion to maintain its military edge. En route to the Middle East this week, Rice denied that the military package was an attempt to buy allies with bombs. She also denied that the United States was relaxing its standards for democracy and human rights.

But a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit said that "the weak response in the Middle East to pressures for democratization, as well as the experience with imported political change in Iraq, is making a mockery of George Bush's 'freedom' agenda." Reuters this week quoted Paul Salem, director of the Middle East Center at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as saying that the arms deal meant Bush's effort to spread democracy in the region was "more than dead."

Berrigan said, "We've created a black hole in what used to be a country and this is supposed to be the solution? More military aid and more high-tech weaponry? The best case scenario is that Congress exercises its power and keeps this from happening."

Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.



© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Sanders, Reid, Nussle

Honorable Senator Reid:

Thank you for your hard work and courageous, strong leadership on behalf of the American people over the last 3-1/2 years.

I shudder to think where we might be--especially concerning civil liberties, environmental protection, education and health care, were it not for your consistent support for the values and priorities of working Americans.

Now, Senator Sanders is attempting to force a delay in the Senate confirmation hearing of Mr. Nussle.

Please support the block, as Nussle is another radical, elitist, pro-special interest Bush crony. Haven't the American people had to suffer enough already from the misrule, misjudgment and greed of this class of tyrants?

I know you understand that Americans want to work hard to make our country a better place for us all. Don't allow the Bush Administration to bully the Senate into handing all the rights, privileges, and wealth of our country over to a handful of oligarchs, further disenfranching an already displaced and disempowered electorate.

Thank you.

I trust you to lead us out of the wilderness of debt and the forest of misplaced priorites where the Bush Administration has left us and posterity to wander without a clear vision of the way forward to peace and prosperity for all.

Watch out, America!

From After Dowinging Street, Phil Rockstroh

Animus, ignorance, and magical thinking are a tragic mix and, I'm afraid, that vintage of mind is the hideous wine of our times. The social criteria that gives rise to fascism is in place in the U.S. and those in positions of power have a strong interest in seeing things remain that way. All we can do is what folks (a minority) have always done . . . exile or resistance

Get it, USA?

Glenn Greenwald again pierces the veil on the phony "corporate" media in the United States.

Referring to a set of responses to questions regarding the willingness to meet with foreign atagonistic leaders, Matthews and some blackshirt at the Weekly Standard concluded (of course) that Obama was too far left because he is not an empire isolationist.

In other words, he's not the Pentagon's boy, like Matthews, everybody at the Weekly Standard, and the rest of the corporate right wing media.

The fascists are still in the closet, but its hard to hide behind comments like, "That's why Hillary will win this thing," by propaganda outlets like Chris Matthews.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html

And what of polling data that shows exactly the opposite? Who cares? Beltway wisdom is more representative of what Americans believe than what Americans actually believe. From the latest Rasmussen Reports poll:

Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that the next President should meet with the heads of nations such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea without setting any preconditions. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% disagree while 24% are not sure.

That question came up during last Monday's Presidential Debate with Illinois Senator Barack Obama saying he would commit to such meetings and New York Senator Hillary Clinton offering a more cautious response. Democrats, by a 55% to 22% margin, agree with Obama.

This is precisely the same process that causes one to hear endlessly from Beltway pundits about how Democrats will be in big, big trouble if they keep up with these investigations because "Americans" sure don't like that, even though polls continuously show that Americans overwhelmingly want Congress to investigate the Bush administration even further. The claim that Congress is "going to far" or "neglecting the people's business" or "engaged in witch-hunts" are actually embraced only by minorities. But that is what the government-defending Beltway media believes; hence, they repeatedly assert as a mantra-like chant, based on nothing, that opposition to more investigations is the "centrist position," that Americans do not like Congressional probes and see them as unjustifiably obstructionist.

It is not difficult to understand why Americans are supportive of Obama's pro-diplomacy instincts. It is because they have seen the alternative for the last six years and know that it is a petulant refusal to speak to the Bad People that is the real fringe, dangerous, extremist position. Indeed, the actual fringe extremism on this issue was vividly illustrated on the same Chris Matthews Show, by the very same Stephen Hayes, the Serious right-wing national security scholar and all-around tough guy:

Another Masterpiece!

Thanks, Russ

(crossposted at DKos.com)

You are eminently reasonable, sir, and your leadership has been a beacon of truth in a dark era of fear and dishonesty in Washington.

We have to have our priorities straight. There are many, many problems facing the country right now.

Some might even say that the democratic legislatures established by our Constitution are no longer capable of administering the vast oversight and prodigious managerial issues of the United States of America.

If that were true, then we would be better off with a dictator, like Augustus, to "strengthen the body politic" and "unify our political will."

There are many people--especially among those in power now--who would welcome such a solution here. With a dictator in power, the legislature would be free to turn its attention and energy to more manageable, less nettlesome matters.

I don't really believe you are proposing we become a dictatorship, but that is the endpoint of your logic.

Our representatives either stand for us and our sovereignty as the foundation of authority for government, or else they stand for somebody else to hold dominion in the United States of America, either a dictator, an oligarchy, or some other governing force--the military, perhaps.

The point is, Senator, these abuses are being visited on the people not only by and because of the President and Vice President and their Cabinet members, but because the government is not effectively serving the people's interests in national affairs.

Our representatives are always seeking "more practical" solutions than the ones that really go to the heart of the issue: a loss of citizen involvement and empowerment.

If you think you can accomplish anything progressive with BushCo in office, I suggest you are trying to blunt the rightful aim by the body politic to recover its authority from those who seek to prevent us from governing ourselves.

You really don't have the right not to impeach, either, because you are sworn to defend our Constitution. It is now in danger. There is no "other business" for Senators in a democracy. That's really an excuse for accommodating a dictator and sacrificing the right of the people to govern ourselves.