TODAY'S TOPICS: ABC's Shame, Debate Backlash, IMF, Food Crisis, McCain, Daily Show, Olbermann, Maddow, Colbert
ABC'S SHAME: A NEW LOW FOR THE CORPORATE MEDIA
This was the most disgraceful display of "moderating" I have seen in my lifetime. The Orwellian gall of ABC to begin the return from commercial breaks by quoting passages from the Constitution - yet question after question was about nothing but soap opera nonsense rather than say, the recent torture revelations or govt. wiretapping - pushes the boundaries of the absurd.
Not ONE question about a real issue until 8:52...that's nearly an hour about Obama's Pasteur, Obama’s statement about bitterness, about a fucking flag lapel, and his wife's patriotism.
I have never seen, again, in my lifetime the simultaneous breaking of a scandal as big as the torture one, at the same time as a presidential debate...yet the scandal was not mentioned, but a guy's Pasteur's patriotism and the wearing of a lapel pin took center stage.
I'll tell you who lost the debate: democracy and the American people.
The good news is what seems to be happening is exactly what I was hoping would...an absolute backlash...so big it even gives me a little hope that the American people have had enough of the corporate media. And yes, amazingly, it could end up helping Obama, as it plays perfectly into his frame about needing to change the old ways of Washington politics. That message could resonate more now than ever before.
The fact is, we are on the verge of economic and military collapse, people have had eight years of lying, torture, death, and arrogance, and then to be disrespected like this - not just by this debate, but by Hillary and the Republicans campaign against Barack too! We are seeing a serious revolt among the people (evidenced by the 10's of thousands of outraged comments on ABC's website!). I've never wanted fucking change more than after that debate!!
It's not 2000 or 2004, those "dogs won't hunt anymore" (as in, lapels, elitism, patriotism, fear, swift boats, etc.), and Obama isn't Kerry or Gore...he's got responding to this stuff down to a science...just watch how he's dealing with it now. Perfect. People want answers, people want to know what our leaders are going to do to solve the giant problems facing our nation and world...not whether Rev. Wright is as patriotic as Obama. What????
Before I get to some more great stuff I copied right off ABC’s website…just regular people outraged, posting on the network website (as I did), first, I want to show you the various media coverage of this abomination of a debate.
I think what might be more mind bending than anything I heard was the very rationale being peddled by the ABC's and Clinton's of the world for these kinds of questions. Essentially they're saying, "This is what Obama will face when he takes on the Republicans so he should get used to it." Think about that. We have the media ADMITTING they are taking GOP slander and talking points, and using them as their own, essentially serving as a wing of the GOP party...but only to get Obama ready for the lies and garbage he will face in the General! If that's not the sickest form of "journalism" ever devised, I don't know what is...
And don't forget to sign MoveOn's petition. It's time we let ABC know what we're truly bitter about!
DEBATE VIDEOS...
The Daily Show’s take:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/18/jon-stewart-eviscerates-abcs-hacktacular-debate/
Obama drops in on Colbert...nice:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/18/colbert-report-senator-obama-puts-manufactured-political-distractions-on-notice/
Watch the crowd turn on Charlie Rose…
From C&L: Will Bunch:
It’s hard to know where to begin with this, less than an hour after you signed off from your Democratic presidential debate here in my hometown of Philadelphia, a televised train wreck that my friend and colleague Greg Mitchell has already called, quite accurately, “a shameful night for the U.S. media.” It’s hard because — like many other Americans — I am still angry at what I just witnesses, so angry that it’s hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking. Look, I know that “media criticism” — especially when it’s one journalist speaking to another — tends to be a genteel, colleagial thing, but there’s no genteel way to say this.
With your performance tonight — your focus on issues that were at best trivial wastes of valuable airtime and at worst restatements of right-wing falsehoods, punctuated by inane “issue” questions that in no way resembled the real world concerns of American voters — you disgraced my profession of journalism, and, by association, me and a lot of hard-working colleagues who do still try to ferret out the truth, rather than worry about who can give us the best deal on our capital gains taxes. But it’s even worse than that. By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself. Indeed, if I were a citizen of one of those nations where America is seeking to “export democracy,” and I had watched the debate, I probably would have said, “no thank you.” Because that was no way to promote democracy.
WATCH:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/uh-oh-the-crowd-is-turning-on-me/
Watch some of the highlights, or should I say lowlights, of the debate.
FROM ALTERNET: ABC News desperately wanted to provoke controversy in last night's Democratic debate. Why else would they have wasted half of the debate on inconsequential topics like Bosnia fire, Reverend Wright, and the "bitterness" of Pennsylvanians? Why else would George Stephanopoulos have taken the incendiary remarks of FOX's Sean Hannity regarding Weather Underground and try to pass them off as his own question? The FOXification of the mainstream media has just gone from bad to ludicrous. And if it was controversy ABC was clamoring for, it was certainly controversy they got.
SNIP
If Pennsylvanians (and the rest of America, for that matter) are bitter about anything, it's that ABC squandered a golden opportunity to allow two Presidential hopefuls to discuss issues like the Iraq War Recession we're currently suffering. This was ABC's last chance to elevate discourse to a national level, but instead you focused on the mucky politics of irrelevance. As Will Bunch seethed in his Daily News blog, "There almost isn't enough space—and this is cyberspace, where room is unlimited—to list all the things you could have asked about but did not."
WATCH:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82709/
CITIZEN AND CRITIC COMMENTS (again, this gives me hope…the media must be taken down)
I thought this was a particularly good post on ABC's site:
Let's see: The networks were complicit in the illegal pre-emptive attack on Iraq. They give Bush a pass on his administration's intention to occupy Iraq indefinitely (else why build a giant embassy and fortified bases?) Habeas corpus has been suspended. Bush authorized illegal wiretapping of American citizens' phones. An American governor was maliciously prosecuted and imprisoned for the crime of running for office when Karl Rove didn't want him to. The Bush administration stuffed the Justice Department full of unqualified Barbie dolls in key positions in order to use "Justice" as the enforcement wing of the Republican Party. The Vice President, his right-hand man, and Karl Rove all were engaged in outing a CIA officer, which is treason, according to the current president's father, who ran the CIA. The U.S. has gone into the business of extraordinary rendition, or "disappearing", without trial, foreign nationals we don't like. New Orleans is a shell of a city Category 3 level that failed in the first place.
The Iraq War is the biggest transfer of wealth in history--from the pockets of ordinary Americans into Halliburton and Backwater. Billions of dollars are missing in Iraq. Soldiers are being ELECTROCUTED in showers built by KBR. Troops with PTSD are sent back into combat because there is no one else to send. Bear Stearns collapses. Millions are losing their homes. People can't afford the gas to look for work or get to work. Food prices are soaring. People go without health care. Kids can't pay off college loans. Jobs disappearing overseas because our government gives businesses tax breaks to leave American communities high and dry. Failed immigration policy. Global warming. Gibson and Stephanopoulos gave an excellent demonstration of why things are in such a mess. It's about lapel pins and where the candidates go to church. Shame on ABC. I can't even call it ABC "News."
And this one…
There are riots in the world over food prices and you guys have 2 people who are in position to have the most powerful job in the world, and you talk about lapel pins? Mark me down as BITTER.
Not just the public was outraged...various writers and critic were just as angry:
E&P’s Greg Mitchell called it “perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years.”
The Washington Post’s Tom Shales called it “step downward for network news,” and noted that the moderators delivered “shoddy, despicable performances.”
Will Bunch noted, “Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter. This. Must . Stop.”
Salon’s Walter Shapiro added:
This is the way it ends, not with a bang but a whimper. If Wednesday night’s fizzle in Philly was indeed the last debate of the Democratic primary season between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it will be remembered for, well, not much of anything.
Broadcast to a prime-time network audience on ABC and devoid of a single policy question during its opening 50 minutes, the debate easily could have convinced the uninitiated that American politics has all the substance of a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon.
Go see the literally THOUSANDS of absolutely livid people writing to ABC…I did myself. Check some of the reviews on ABC’s site:
END
MORE VIDEO SECTION
30 Rock makes fun of McCain and the lack of “cool Republicans” (ain’t that the truth…in fact, I’d say that’s an oxymoron)
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/18/30-rock-mccain-fundraisers-and-cool-republican-celebrities/
This is becoming a favorite past time of mine! Watching Rachelle Maddow destroy Joe Scarborough on TV, night after night. ..Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/does-scarborough-leave-the-set-after-rachel-maddow-hurts-his-feelings/
Dan Abrams of MSNBC – who has his moments – takes apart CNN and Fox news coverage in his latest “Beat the Press” segment…something tells me he’s noticed how great Olbermann’s ratings are, and how he has earned them. Olbermann may just start a new trend in the media: reporting facts.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/dan-abrams-smacks-around-fox-and-cnn/
Olbermann’s Bushed series continues…oh the humanity:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/countdowns-bushed-really-everythings-under-control-really-edition/
Liar, scumbag, and war monger Joe Lieberman is speaking at the Republican Convention…that’s right, you heard me correctly. Olbermann is on it…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/17/traitor-joe-sure-ill-be-this-years-zell-miller/
Worst persons…includes McCain’s wife plagiarizing recipes for their website…nice:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/countdowns-worst-persons-billo-hunt-cindy-mccains-family-recipes/
ARTICLE SECTION: MCCAIN, IMF, FOOD CRISIS
Jesse Jackson discusses the world wide food crisis (not mentioned in the debate of course), it’s causes, and how little it would cost us to help people who are dying rather than say, bail out banks and lenders. This is the perfect demonstration of how morally and spiritually bankrupt our country’s policies have become…as well as other nation’s around the world too.
A few clips:
Food prices are up 40 percent on average across the world since the middle of last year, causing riots in countries from the Cameroon to Egypt to Haiti. For countries like Haiti, where 80 percent of the people live on less than $2 a day, the rising price of rice, beans and cooking stuff translates directly into hunger, starvation and rage. Those living on the knife edge of survival have no way to adjust.
Food prices have risen due to a “perfect storm.” Demand from industrializing countries like China and India is rising. Supply has been reduced due to climatic disruptions and because of use of crops for biofuels. China, India, Vietnam and other rice exporters have limited exports to meet domestic pressures. The high price of oil makes transportation ever more costly. The price of rice has virtually doubled in a year; wheat has risen even faster.
SNIP
The Federal Reserve just spent $29 billion to bail out one investment bank. Grumbling from executives of the otherwise bankrupt Bear Stearns bank led JP Morgan and the Fed to raise the buyout price by $1.2 billion, essentially a giveaway to Bear stockholders. The change in the price alone is more than double what is needed to counter the threat of starvation across the world.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8311/
Robert Scheer nails the “real McCain” on the head, and the need for honest media coverage of his shames.
A few clips:
By so unabashedly embracing the most glaringly failed U.S. president ever, McCain has surrendered the right to be considered an independent candidate, judged on his own merits and personal history. A vote for McCain is a vote for that rancid recipe mixing religious bigotry, imperial arrogance and corporate greed that he had stood against in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election when he challenged George W. Bush, but to which he now has capitulated.
SNIP
There is no national outrage, or even seriously sustained media interest, over the fact that Cheney's old company profited enormously from ripping off U.S. tax dollars going into the Iraq occupation. Nor is there even much curiosity about the shenanigans of Halliburton, which is doing business with Arab oil sheiks at a time when the U.S. banks these Middle Eastern oil interests bought into are moving to foreclose on American homeowners. It's just the sort of egregious betrayal of the trust of the taxpayers that Sen. McCain would have gone after, before he sought to don the soiled robes of the Bush presidency.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041708F.shtml
The IMF, the world’s loan shark, a kind of corporate mafia, is exposed yet again. The good news is the world is waking up to what they really are…and guess who’s in dept now?!
A few clips:
There is overwhelming evidence of the failure of the IMF’s policy agenda. Mass privatization has led to enormous concentrations of wealth and encouraged corruption. Deregulation has contributed to financial crises, including those that foreshadowed the current global crisis centered in the United States. The overall economic model had impoverished tens of millions and left developing countries poorer. And government budget ceilings and inflation targets have prevented countries from expanding desperately needed investments in healthcare and education. Indeed, the IMF’s own Independent Evaluation Office has found that the Fund requires poor countries not meeting Fund inflation targets to divert most new donor aid. Instead of spending additional donor money on healthcare, for example, countries must use it to build up foreign reserves or pay down domestic debt.
SNIP
But if the IMF is not ready on its own to jettison its long-standing policy demands for poor countries, it may soon find that it has no choice. Representative Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, chairs the House Financial Services Committee, which must approve the gold sales proposal prior to the full House of Representatives considering the issue. At the 20th anniversary celebration of the Bank Information Center last week, he strongly denounced structural adjustment, stated as a matter of fact that gold sales will only be authorized if additional IMF gold is sold to cancel poor country debt, and made clear that he intends to obtain policy changes from the IMF as a condition of permitting gold sales.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/14/8289/
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
TODAY'S TOPICS: Torture Revelations, Obama Remarks, Carter, Rich v. Poor, Michelle Obama
“This is your baby. Go do it!”
-- Condoleeza Rice telling the CIA to go ahead with secret torture program...so ITS OFFICIAL, they are all war criminals and murderers (as many of those we tortured DIED FROM IT)
You gotta wonder, how could these administration officials be so confident that we don’t torture? Well, there’s only two options, really. One, the administration reminded all military and intelligence agencies of the moral commitment that civilized nations have to remain humane, even in times of peril. Or…They sat in a room and meticulously crafted an interrogation regimen in the lawyer-created space between cruelty and torture. Hmmm…. I wonder which way they went.
-- Jon Stewart, Daily Show
Iraq War Fun Fact:
Iraq tax bill for the average family of four is $16,500 per family of four. Today is April 15th, Tax Day, a day when tens of millions of Americans scramble to file their income taxes on time. It's also a day when people across the country are planning to protest the use of tax dollars to fund war. In dozens of communities across the country, demonstrations are planned at IRS offices, federal buildings, post offices and other public places to protest the continued funding of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A recent study by the National Priorities Project shows more than 40 percent of every income tax dollar in 2007 went towards military spending. The largest share of that was for the war in Iraq, which has been estimated to cost taxpayers $12 billion per month. The total amount allocated for the Iraq war through fiscal year 2008 is more than $520 billion.To protest the continued funding of the war, some Americans are taking a stand today by personally refusing to fund the military. Tax resisters across the country are planning to withhold part or all of their taxes to protest the war.
-- Amy Goodman
But we also, I think, need to look at what else could we be doing with that money? I know just in my state of Illinois, every single person could be provided with healthcare if we -- you know, for the amount of money we pay just in Illinois for the war. Homeless veterans, 48,000 of them, could be provided with a place to live for a year. I mean, the things that we can't do and don't do because we're just throwing all this money at a war that seems endless and is not making us safer is just -- it's so tragic, really. And we want to point out what that cost is to people in real dollars.
Well, we know that there are big winners in this war. And of course, an over-a-billion-dollar contract has been renewed with Blackwater. Imagine -- just imagine anybody hiring a contractor who we know has killed seventeen innocent people. Now, there's not been any results of the investigation, but don't you think that most sane people would say, "No, I think we better figure out another way to provide this service"? It's just mind-boggling, astonishing that Blackwater would get this contract renewed. But there are huge winners in this war: these companies that are making money hand-over-fist, these war profiteers that are delighting in the continuation of the war and the bilking of the American people. There's horrible corruption and waste fraud and abuse that's going on. And yet, Americans are asked to pay on and on and on.
-- Dem. Representative JAN SCHAKOWSKY
"This administration anticipated these times."
-- President Bush, 4/14/08, on the recent economic downturn.
VERSUS
"[T]he economy's going to continue to grow."
-- Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, 1/8/08
VIDEO SECTION
Impeach Condi…watch this amazing video proving THEY LIED about torture!!!
http://condimustgo.com/?utm_source=rgemail
On that note, don’t forget to see “Standard Operating Procedure”…a new documentary on our torture state:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/what-happened-at-abu-ghraib-standard-operating-procedure/
Biden destroys McCain’s “reasoning” on continuing our illegal occupation and slaughter of Iraqis:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/countdown-biden-demolishes-mccains-rationales-for-staying-in-iraq/
Obama called Osama by the media…again. I guess its not enough to just have right wingers always do that…the media needs to chime in as well. You say things enough and they become true…or at least are repeated, discussed, and imprinted on the mind. Notch another victory in the belt of the right wing noise machine. Obama plays it off well…but man is this going to be a long, disgusting, racist campaign:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/15/ap-luncheon-questioner-says-obama-bin-laden-is-still-at-large/
The first major anti-mccain ad airs... Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/15/out-of-touch-first-major-anti-mccain-ad-airs-tomorrow/
Michelle Obama visits Colbert…I like her:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82565/
Rachelle Maddow, one of the only progressive voices on mainstream television, nails the press’s insidious coverage of Obama’s recent comments…no substance, just drama. In fact, if you really watch the way the media covers politics, often it is really about how what people say are being interpreted by people like themselves and the other campaigns, and how that is communicated to voters, and how then, voters are interpreting the coverage and the spin. Then think how much that takes us away from substance and reality…we’re about 5 steps removed from what matters by the time its fed into our brains:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/14/race-to-the-white-house-rachel-maddow-scolds-media-for-coverage-of-barack-obamas-comments-without-dealing-with-substance/
And here’s another up and coming progressive voice on the radio: Sam Seder. Watch him here discuss the shameful suspension of Rhandi Rhodes on Air America with Janeane Garafalo:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82428/
ARTICLE SECTION
Robert Reich nails the "bitter" issue...and the truth about our current economic, and media predicament.
A few clips:
Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated? Of course. And their frustrations, their anger and, yes, sometimes their bitterness, have been used since then — by demagogues, by nationalists and xenophobes, by radical conservatives, by political nuts and fanatical fruitcakes — to blame immigrants and foreign traders, to blame blacks and the poor, to blame “liberal elites,” to blame anyone and anything.
Rather than counter all this, the American media have wallowed in it. Some, like Fox News and talk radio, have given the haters and blamers their very own megaphones. The rest have merely “reported on” it. Instead of focusing on how to get Americans good jobs again; instead of admitting too many of our schools are failing and our kids are falling behind their contemporaries in Europe, Japan, and even China; instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system to finance better schools and access to health care, and green technologies that might create new manufacturing jobs, our national discussion has been mired in the old politics.
SNIP
We’re heading into the worst economic crisis in a half century or more. Many of the Americans who have been getting nowhere for decades are in even deeper trouble. Large numbers of people in Pennsylvania and across the nation are losing their homes and losing their jobs, and the situation is likely to grow worse. Consumers are at the end of their ropes, fuel and food costs are skyrocketing, they can’t go deeper into debt, they can’t pay their bills. They aren’t buying, which means every business from the auto industry to housing to even giant GE is hurting. Which means they’ll begin laying off more people, and as they do, we will experience an even more dangerous downward spiral. Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8300/
Holly Sklar comes out with her annual tax analysis...the numbers scream out, do they not? If people only knew (again, blame the media...who NEVER COSTS THIS ISSUE) how stacked our system was in favor of the rich and the powerful they'd never vote Republican again...and the Democratic Party would be forced to be a lot more progressive too.
A few clips
The richest 1 percent of Americans received about $491 billion in tax breaks between 2001 and 2008. That’s nearly the same amount as U.S. debt held by China — $493 billion — in the form of Treasury securities…Tax cuts have already helped the richest 1 percent — whose annual incomes average about $1.5 million — increase their share of the nation’s income to a higher level than any year since 1928 on the eve of the Great Depression. Wall Street’s five biggest firms paid “a record $39 billion in bonuses for 2007, a year when three of the companies suffered the worst quarterly losses in their history” and are eliminating thousands of jobs as losses mount from the subprime mortgage market collapse, reports Bloomberg.
SNIP
For Americans below the top 1 percent, the tax cuts have been a giant swindle. The bottom 99 percent of taxpayers were left with a bill of $3.74 in debt for every $1 in federal tax cuts from 2001 to 2006, reports Citizens for Tax Justice. Only the top 1 percent came out ahead.
Meanwhile, the federal budgets for environmental protection and housing for the elderly have been slashed more than 20 percent since 2001, adjusted for inflation, the Community Development Block Grant budget is down 32 percent, and the lack of health insurance is an epidemic.
SNIP
The richest 1 percent of households would receive nearly $1.2 trillion in tax cuts from 2009 through 2018, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities…Tax cuts for the wealthy fuel rising inequality along with rising debt and neglect. Taxpayers with annual incomes above $1 million in fiscal year 2012, for example, would increase their after-tax income by 7.5 percent thanks to an average tax cut of $162,000. The poorest 20 percent of taxpayers would get an average tax cut of $45 — and decaying public services.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8293/
How cool is this? A world leader that acts like an adult…
Carter, defying Israel, meets Hamas ex-minister
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met an ex-minister in Hamas' government on Tuesday, defying Israeli leaders who shunned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate over his contacts with the Islamist group. Carter said he would use his meeting with Meshaal to "get him to agree to a peaceful resolution of differences, both with the Israelis ... and also with Fatah."
"Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in the final peace agreement, they ought to be involved in the discussions leading up to ... peace," Carter said. Carter, who stressed he was not acting as a negotiator or a mediator, said he hoped "just as a communicator" to relay to "leaders of the United States" what Hamas and Syria have to say.
END
THIS MADE ME REALLY SAD…OBAMA’S DEAD WRONG ON THIS
(he’s pandering to the Jewish lobby…Hamas is a democratically elected government, and while extreme, they are certainly no less a terrorist state than the US and Israel…):
That's why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas," Obama said. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements.Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization,"
-- Barack Obama
TORTURE ADMISSION = IMPEACH!
from Digby): Yesterday the ACLU and C&L got together to promote an action alert. In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.
“We have always known that the CIA’s use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government, yet the latest revelations about knowledge from the president himself and authorization from his top advisers only confirms our worst fears,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “It is a very sad day when the president of the United States subverts the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values of justice.”
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws…read on
We received an incredible amount of support so we’re going to continue the push. You can read the pdf here of the “Ten Reasons Why Congress Should Demand that the Attorney General Appoint an Independent Prosecutor for the Investigation and Prosecution of Any Violations of Federal Criminal Laws Related to the Interrogation of Detainees, Including Any Obstruction of Justice.”
You can send a message to Congress here…
I’m just getting started on this project. I’m also going to be pushing the media to cover this story and figure out why it’s been ignored for the most part—so please join me in demanding action be taken.
PRESS IGNORES STORY ON BUSH APPROVAL OF TORTURE TECHNIQUES: Last Wednesday, ABC News reported that, beginning in 2002, top officials in the White House specifically approved torture techniques, including waterboarding. On Friday, President Bush admitted that he, too, was aware of and approved the discussions. Yet the White House press corps has yet to ask the White House spokesmen a single question on the issue in the three briefings held since the story broke. Reporters did, however, find time to cover the Little League tee-ball all-star game and the President's weekend plans to clear brush at his Crawford ranch. Yesterday, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin noted that the mainstream media is treating ABC's torture story as old news: "There was no mention of Bush's admission in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times. There was nothing on the major wire services. And nothing on CNN, CBS or NBC," he wrote.
Yesterday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine told lawmakers that the FBI "might have committed as many as 6,400 intelligence violations in the course of its use of national security letters," which allow investigators to obtain people's personal information without first obtaining a warrant. A recent report by Fine found that "the FBI issued 49,425 national security letters in 2006 alone."
"In my administration, there will be no more subsidies for special pleaders, no more corporate welfare," McCain said in a speech on the economy yesterday. Yet "much of what he detailed was a corporate special pleader's dream: a cut in the corporate income tax rate, from 35 percent to 25 percent, a proposal to allow businesses to write off the cost of new equipment and technology from their taxes...and a permanent tax credit for research and development."
BOOSTING LARGE CORPORATIONS: Not only has the income gap widened, but the wealthiest Americans have also seen their tax rates drop. According to EPI, between 1960 and 2004, "the average tax rate has fallen by about 14 percentage points (from 44.4% to 30.4%) for the top 1% of earners (those making more than $435,000 in 2007), while it has increased slightly (from 15.9% to 16.1%) for those in the middle 20%." Additionally, in FY 2007, the nation's largest corporations -- with $250 million or more in assets -- were audited at the "lowest level in the last 20 years." At the same time, audits of smaller corporations -- with $50 million or less in assets -- are climbing. The Bush administration has also been turning a blind eye toward federal contractors, who owe $8 billion in unpaid federal taxes. For example, KBR, which until last year was a subsidiary of Halliburton, has avoided paying more than $500 million "in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies" based in the Cayman Islands. The Bush administration has aided this tax dodging. One of KBR's shell companies was set up two months after Cheney became Halliburtion's CEO in 1995. Congress is currently considering a bill "to bar federal agencies from awarding contracts to people or companies that have failed to pay their federal taxes.
McCAIN INDICATES HE WILL NOT SUPPORT NEW GI BILL: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently claims he is "obviously committed" to "quality education" for veterans. But today, he indicated he will not support "bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill." The measure "would more than double the GI Bill benefit" for returning veterans and "give benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserve." Veterans would receive education benefits equaling the highest tuition rate of the most expensive in-state public college or university and a monthly stipend for housing. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), the bill's chief sponsor, introduced the legislation last year and recently reintroduced the bill with support from Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), John Warner (R-VA), and Ted Stevens (R-AK), who were all GI Bill recipients. In order to push more conservatives to support the bill, Webb previously urged McCain "to get on the bill," saying it should not be considered a "political issue." Yet, McCain has been largely absent on the issue. ABC News reports that McCain instead "indicated he would offer some sort of alternative" to Webb's bill.
“This is your baby. Go do it!”
-- Condoleeza Rice telling the CIA to go ahead with secret torture program...so ITS OFFICIAL, they are all war criminals and murderers (as many of those we tortured DIED FROM IT)
You gotta wonder, how could these administration officials be so confident that we don’t torture? Well, there’s only two options, really. One, the administration reminded all military and intelligence agencies of the moral commitment that civilized nations have to remain humane, even in times of peril. Or…They sat in a room and meticulously crafted an interrogation regimen in the lawyer-created space between cruelty and torture. Hmmm…. I wonder which way they went.
-- Jon Stewart, Daily Show
Iraq War Fun Fact:
Iraq tax bill for the average family of four is $16,500 per family of four. Today is April 15th, Tax Day, a day when tens of millions of Americans scramble to file their income taxes on time. It's also a day when people across the country are planning to protest the use of tax dollars to fund war. In dozens of communities across the country, demonstrations are planned at IRS offices, federal buildings, post offices and other public places to protest the continued funding of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A recent study by the National Priorities Project shows more than 40 percent of every income tax dollar in 2007 went towards military spending. The largest share of that was for the war in Iraq, which has been estimated to cost taxpayers $12 billion per month. The total amount allocated for the Iraq war through fiscal year 2008 is more than $520 billion.To protest the continued funding of the war, some Americans are taking a stand today by personally refusing to fund the military. Tax resisters across the country are planning to withhold part or all of their taxes to protest the war.
-- Amy Goodman
But we also, I think, need to look at what else could we be doing with that money? I know just in my state of Illinois, every single person could be provided with healthcare if we -- you know, for the amount of money we pay just in Illinois for the war. Homeless veterans, 48,000 of them, could be provided with a place to live for a year. I mean, the things that we can't do and don't do because we're just throwing all this money at a war that seems endless and is not making us safer is just -- it's so tragic, really. And we want to point out what that cost is to people in real dollars.
Well, we know that there are big winners in this war. And of course, an over-a-billion-dollar contract has been renewed with Blackwater. Imagine -- just imagine anybody hiring a contractor who we know has killed seventeen innocent people. Now, there's not been any results of the investigation, but don't you think that most sane people would say, "No, I think we better figure out another way to provide this service"? It's just mind-boggling, astonishing that Blackwater would get this contract renewed. But there are huge winners in this war: these companies that are making money hand-over-fist, these war profiteers that are delighting in the continuation of the war and the bilking of the American people. There's horrible corruption and waste fraud and abuse that's going on. And yet, Americans are asked to pay on and on and on.
-- Dem. Representative JAN SCHAKOWSKY
"This administration anticipated these times."
-- President Bush, 4/14/08, on the recent economic downturn.
VERSUS
"[T]he economy's going to continue to grow."
-- Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, 1/8/08
VIDEO SECTION
Impeach Condi…watch this amazing video proving THEY LIED about torture!!!
http://condimustgo.com/?utm_source=rgemail
On that note, don’t forget to see “Standard Operating Procedure”…a new documentary on our torture state:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/what-happened-at-abu-ghraib-standard-operating-procedure/
Biden destroys McCain’s “reasoning” on continuing our illegal occupation and slaughter of Iraqis:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/16/countdown-biden-demolishes-mccains-rationales-for-staying-in-iraq/
Obama called Osama by the media…again. I guess its not enough to just have right wingers always do that…the media needs to chime in as well. You say things enough and they become true…or at least are repeated, discussed, and imprinted on the mind. Notch another victory in the belt of the right wing noise machine. Obama plays it off well…but man is this going to be a long, disgusting, racist campaign:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/15/ap-luncheon-questioner-says-obama-bin-laden-is-still-at-large/
The first major anti-mccain ad airs... Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/15/out-of-touch-first-major-anti-mccain-ad-airs-tomorrow/
Michelle Obama visits Colbert…I like her:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82565/
Rachelle Maddow, one of the only progressive voices on mainstream television, nails the press’s insidious coverage of Obama’s recent comments…no substance, just drama. In fact, if you really watch the way the media covers politics, often it is really about how what people say are being interpreted by people like themselves and the other campaigns, and how that is communicated to voters, and how then, voters are interpreting the coverage and the spin. Then think how much that takes us away from substance and reality…we’re about 5 steps removed from what matters by the time its fed into our brains:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/14/race-to-the-white-house-rachel-maddow-scolds-media-for-coverage-of-barack-obamas-comments-without-dealing-with-substance/
And here’s another up and coming progressive voice on the radio: Sam Seder. Watch him here discuss the shameful suspension of Rhandi Rhodes on Air America with Janeane Garafalo:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82428/
ARTICLE SECTION
Robert Reich nails the "bitter" issue...and the truth about our current economic, and media predicament.
A few clips:
Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated? Of course. And their frustrations, their anger and, yes, sometimes their bitterness, have been used since then — by demagogues, by nationalists and xenophobes, by radical conservatives, by political nuts and fanatical fruitcakes — to blame immigrants and foreign traders, to blame blacks and the poor, to blame “liberal elites,” to blame anyone and anything.
Rather than counter all this, the American media have wallowed in it. Some, like Fox News and talk radio, have given the haters and blamers their very own megaphones. The rest have merely “reported on” it. Instead of focusing on how to get Americans good jobs again; instead of admitting too many of our schools are failing and our kids are falling behind their contemporaries in Europe, Japan, and even China; instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system to finance better schools and access to health care, and green technologies that might create new manufacturing jobs, our national discussion has been mired in the old politics.
SNIP
We’re heading into the worst economic crisis in a half century or more. Many of the Americans who have been getting nowhere for decades are in even deeper trouble. Large numbers of people in Pennsylvania and across the nation are losing their homes and losing their jobs, and the situation is likely to grow worse. Consumers are at the end of their ropes, fuel and food costs are skyrocketing, they can’t go deeper into debt, they can’t pay their bills. They aren’t buying, which means every business from the auto industry to housing to even giant GE is hurting. Which means they’ll begin laying off more people, and as they do, we will experience an even more dangerous downward spiral. Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8300/
Holly Sklar comes out with her annual tax analysis...the numbers scream out, do they not? If people only knew (again, blame the media...who NEVER COSTS THIS ISSUE) how stacked our system was in favor of the rich and the powerful they'd never vote Republican again...and the Democratic Party would be forced to be a lot more progressive too.
A few clips
The richest 1 percent of Americans received about $491 billion in tax breaks between 2001 and 2008. That’s nearly the same amount as U.S. debt held by China — $493 billion — in the form of Treasury securities…Tax cuts have already helped the richest 1 percent — whose annual incomes average about $1.5 million — increase their share of the nation’s income to a higher level than any year since 1928 on the eve of the Great Depression. Wall Street’s five biggest firms paid “a record $39 billion in bonuses for 2007, a year when three of the companies suffered the worst quarterly losses in their history” and are eliminating thousands of jobs as losses mount from the subprime mortgage market collapse, reports Bloomberg.
SNIP
For Americans below the top 1 percent, the tax cuts have been a giant swindle. The bottom 99 percent of taxpayers were left with a bill of $3.74 in debt for every $1 in federal tax cuts from 2001 to 2006, reports Citizens for Tax Justice. Only the top 1 percent came out ahead.
Meanwhile, the federal budgets for environmental protection and housing for the elderly have been slashed more than 20 percent since 2001, adjusted for inflation, the Community Development Block Grant budget is down 32 percent, and the lack of health insurance is an epidemic.
SNIP
The richest 1 percent of households would receive nearly $1.2 trillion in tax cuts from 2009 through 2018, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities…Tax cuts for the wealthy fuel rising inequality along with rising debt and neglect. Taxpayers with annual incomes above $1 million in fiscal year 2012, for example, would increase their after-tax income by 7.5 percent thanks to an average tax cut of $162,000. The poorest 20 percent of taxpayers would get an average tax cut of $45 — and decaying public services.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8293/
How cool is this? A world leader that acts like an adult…
Carter, defying Israel, meets Hamas ex-minister
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met an ex-minister in Hamas' government on Tuesday, defying Israeli leaders who shunned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate over his contacts with the Islamist group. Carter said he would use his meeting with Meshaal to "get him to agree to a peaceful resolution of differences, both with the Israelis ... and also with Fatah."
"Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in the final peace agreement, they ought to be involved in the discussions leading up to ... peace," Carter said. Carter, who stressed he was not acting as a negotiator or a mediator, said he hoped "just as a communicator" to relay to "leaders of the United States" what Hamas and Syria have to say.
END
THIS MADE ME REALLY SAD…OBAMA’S DEAD WRONG ON THIS
(he’s pandering to the Jewish lobby…Hamas is a democratically elected government, and while extreme, they are certainly no less a terrorist state than the US and Israel…):
That's why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas," Obama said. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements.Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization,"
-- Barack Obama
TORTURE ADMISSION = IMPEACH!
from Digby): Yesterday the ACLU and C&L got together to promote an action alert. In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.
“We have always known that the CIA’s use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government, yet the latest revelations about knowledge from the president himself and authorization from his top advisers only confirms our worst fears,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “It is a very sad day when the president of the United States subverts the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values of justice.”
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws…read on
We received an incredible amount of support so we’re going to continue the push. You can read the pdf here of the “Ten Reasons Why Congress Should Demand that the Attorney General Appoint an Independent Prosecutor for the Investigation and Prosecution of Any Violations of Federal Criminal Laws Related to the Interrogation of Detainees, Including Any Obstruction of Justice.”
You can send a message to Congress here…
I’m just getting started on this project. I’m also going to be pushing the media to cover this story and figure out why it’s been ignored for the most part—so please join me in demanding action be taken.
PRESS IGNORES STORY ON BUSH APPROVAL OF TORTURE TECHNIQUES: Last Wednesday, ABC News reported that, beginning in 2002, top officials in the White House specifically approved torture techniques, including waterboarding. On Friday, President Bush admitted that he, too, was aware of and approved the discussions. Yet the White House press corps has yet to ask the White House spokesmen a single question on the issue in the three briefings held since the story broke. Reporters did, however, find time to cover the Little League tee-ball all-star game and the President's weekend plans to clear brush at his Crawford ranch. Yesterday, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin noted that the mainstream media is treating ABC's torture story as old news: "There was no mention of Bush's admission in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times. There was nothing on the major wire services. And nothing on CNN, CBS or NBC," he wrote.
Yesterday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine told lawmakers that the FBI "might have committed as many as 6,400 intelligence violations in the course of its use of national security letters," which allow investigators to obtain people's personal information without first obtaining a warrant. A recent report by Fine found that "the FBI issued 49,425 national security letters in 2006 alone."
"In my administration, there will be no more subsidies for special pleaders, no more corporate welfare," McCain said in a speech on the economy yesterday. Yet "much of what he detailed was a corporate special pleader's dream: a cut in the corporate income tax rate, from 35 percent to 25 percent, a proposal to allow businesses to write off the cost of new equipment and technology from their taxes...and a permanent tax credit for research and development."
BOOSTING LARGE CORPORATIONS: Not only has the income gap widened, but the wealthiest Americans have also seen their tax rates drop. According to EPI, between 1960 and 2004, "the average tax rate has fallen by about 14 percentage points (from 44.4% to 30.4%) for the top 1% of earners (those making more than $435,000 in 2007), while it has increased slightly (from 15.9% to 16.1%) for those in the middle 20%." Additionally, in FY 2007, the nation's largest corporations -- with $250 million or more in assets -- were audited at the "lowest level in the last 20 years." At the same time, audits of smaller corporations -- with $50 million or less in assets -- are climbing. The Bush administration has also been turning a blind eye toward federal contractors, who owe $8 billion in unpaid federal taxes. For example, KBR, which until last year was a subsidiary of Halliburton, has avoided paying more than $500 million "in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies" based in the Cayman Islands. The Bush administration has aided this tax dodging. One of KBR's shell companies was set up two months after Cheney became Halliburtion's CEO in 1995. Congress is currently considering a bill "to bar federal agencies from awarding contracts to people or companies that have failed to pay their federal taxes.
McCAIN INDICATES HE WILL NOT SUPPORT NEW GI BILL: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently claims he is "obviously committed" to "quality education" for veterans. But today, he indicated he will not support "bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill." The measure "would more than double the GI Bill benefit" for returning veterans and "give benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserve." Veterans would receive education benefits equaling the highest tuition rate of the most expensive in-state public college or university and a monthly stipend for housing. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), the bill's chief sponsor, introduced the legislation last year and recently reintroduced the bill with support from Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), John Warner (R-VA), and Ted Stevens (R-AK), who were all GI Bill recipients. In order to push more conservatives to support the bill, Webb previously urged McCain "to get on the bill," saying it should not be considered a "political issue." Yet, McCain has been largely absent on the issue. ABC News reports that McCain instead "indicated he would offer some sort of alternative" to Webb's bill.
Monday, April 14, 2008
TODAY'S TOPICS: PNAC, Imperialism, Obama's Remarks, McCain, Media Duplicity, Election Fraud, Siegelman
It’s called "Imperialism":
“In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semi-permanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
- "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century," PNAC Report September 2000, p. 26
Let’s hope Buchanan’s wrong…it would be the fitting way for these guys to leave office though (in their minds, not mine)…and its EXACTLY what PNAC has argued for:
That’s no longer true. We have held off defeat. But Petraeus is right, we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I’ll tell you what’s coming, John: Petraeus pointed right at the special groups, supported by Iran as the main problem now, said they’re firing rockets into the Green Zone. They’re responsible for Basra. The president said Iran better not make the wrong choice. We are looking at 140,000 troops here at the end of the year and very possibly, air strikes on Iran before this fall.
-- Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin Group
"Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you. They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer. Here's what you can't do. You can't spend the better part of two decades campaigning for NAFTA and PNTR for China, and then come here to Pennsylvania, and tell the steelworkers you've been with them all along. You can't say you are opposed to the Colombia Trade deal, while your key strategist is working for the Colombian government to get the deal passed. We're tired, we're frustrated, we're angry and we need somebody who's going to stand up for fair trade."
-- Barack Obama slaps down Hillary...who has become a parody of herself
"She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley."
-- Barack Obama mocks Hillary's sudden defense of gun owners and attack on obama for being an elitist for telling the truth (I'm getting to the point where I just want to see what garbage she's going to come up with next)
The First Draft of History Looks a Bit Rough on Bush
By Kenneth T. Walsh
President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can't be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush's presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history...Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, "tax breaks for the rich," and alienating many nations around the world.
VIDEO SECTION
Obama's "bitter" Remarks: Much ado about nothing…or should I say much ado about the truth (obviously he could have said it a bit better)
If I was Obama, I frankly would welcome the “debate” that has been triggered by his recent comments in Pennsylvania...which of course the media, Republicans, and Hillary Clinton are desperately trying to turn into some dramatic "narrative" that shows Obama
"is an out of touch elitist". Ha! Is there any entities in the world today, that are LESS in touch with regular people than the corporate media and the Republican Party?!!
So let's be clear, the fact is people ARE bitter (angry and/or frustrated would have been a better choice of words) over what has happened to them since the Reagan Revolution (as in, a revolution in shifting wealth from the bottom to the top). The fact also is that Obama - compared to both Clinton and McCain - actually comes from a poorer, multiracial background, and was even raised by a single mother (white I might add).
What he said was the truth, which is becoming a common theme with him, which I believe will override the artificial Obama "narratives" trying to be written by the right wing and the media (i.e. he's not patriotic enough and is an elitist).
Why? Because people that are feeling frustrated, and are in a different mind-frame than they were in either 2000 or 2004 - and Obama is a different candidate than Kerry or Gore (remember, they both actually WON too) - so I really don’t think the same old right wing and corporate media tricks (as in, he’s elitist!) are going to work. Sure, some of the right wing nuts are going to be upset by hearing the truth - and maybe he'll lose a point or two in the short term - but the vast majority of them aren't voting for him anyway.
He now has the opportunity, because this phony story has been pushed to the headlines to talk more about the vast middle and lower middle class squeeze under way in our country…a squeeze largely caused by the policies of the right wing. He needs to speak to this reality with greater force and clarity...particularly contrasting himself to those attacking him. I mean seriously, we've got two Washington insiders - almost the two wealthiest members of the entire senate - attacking Obama for being out of touch? Really?? Good luck trying to win that debate with Barack...I have faith he will beat them silly.
Hillary, as one would expect, did her usual cowardly triangulating and started attacking Obama for his remarks (comically calling HIM an elitist)…which really stretches the boundaries of reason and credibility (which she has none). This, I think again, plays into Obama’s hands, as he is beginning to establish himself as someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth, while Hillary will say anything to get elected. I think this little "flare up" helps solidify these two "frames" of the candidates.
On that note, watch Fox News try to drum up outrage in Pennsylvania…with no takers. Notice how the people actually care about issues that effect their lives, while the media and politicians like McCain are trying to create narratives about personality and drama…a disgrace:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/13/foxnews-rural-pennsylvanians-find-little-to-argue-with-barack-obama/
Classic parody of Rocky…but with Obama in his place…funny, awesome:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82310/
Here’s a perfect juxtaposition of “the facts” in comparison to the way the media covers their lover, John W. McBush.
First, the facts (and good news):
DNC Files Lawsuit About Campaign Finance Weasel John McCain
McCain’s Media back in action. Did Crowley take a John McCain press release and develop this segment based on their talking points? This clip is from last Friday.
John McCain is in violation of the FEC’s public financing laws because he has signed up for it, has received money from it, procured a loan to help his primary and then went over the limit. Read here for more details. Crowley could have told you that McCain wouldn’t have had the money to produce ads in New Hampshire to win that primary without the loan. We might be talking about the Mitt Romney nomination right now. And we need to look at the bank loan more closely. The DNC has filed a complaint about it to the FEC. Plus, Jane and the blogoshere have filed a complaint against McCain’s campaign as well with over 32,000 signatures being delivered already. Wouldn’t you think that we be part of her story? Nope. Instead she does a hit job on Obama who made no such commitment
She makes sure to frame it as if Obama is waffling out of it when McCain has his hands dirty in every way. Remember, Obama only checked a survey box, but Candy doesn’t tell her audience that. I’ll repeat this again. John McCain actually agreed to public financing when his campaign was in trouble, borrowed money to keep it going before he won the nomination and now has spent well beyond the guidelines for which he received a stern letter from the FEC’s David Mason. Obama doesn’t need to opt out because he never signed on. I’m sure McCain was giving his staff high fives over Crowley’s report. A job well done. Full transcript below the fold.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/14/cnns-candy-crowley-adopts-mccains-position-on-public-financing-omits-mccains-fec-violations/
ARTICLE SECTION: WILL PITT, PNAC, OBAMA
As I have often argued here, Bush and the neo-cons have not failed in their vision for world domination…in fact, they have largely been successful. It’s all in their Project for a New American Century. Granted, they’ve made some miscalculations, and would have liked their war crimes to have gone a little smoother, but the basic goals have so far been met.
Will Pitt breaks down this sad and ominous truth...a few clips:
Sane people in all areas of government agreed with this analysis, leaving PNAC to wriggle in ridiculed obscurity for another two years. A trio of events transpired upon the advent of this new millennium, however, that served to catapult PNAC into power and prominence. First, the group delivered its flagship policy argument in September of 2000, in a report titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." Three months later, the Supreme Court delivered the White House into the hands of both GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney. Third, the attacks of 9/11 delivered the United States and the world into the hands of madmen, all of whom turned out to be PNAC alumni.
SNIP
The removal of Saddam Hussein and the establishment of an American protectorate in Iraq, by way of American military attack, actually served three larger PNAC purposes: 1) restructure America's budgetary priorities by stripping funds from myriad domestic policies and redistributing those funds into a massive increase in military spending; 2) establish a massive and permanent American presence in Iraq by building several US military bases within that occupied nation; and, 3) use these bases as the staging area for the invasion and overthrow of other Middle Eastern regimes, including allies of the United States.
SNIP
To many, the current situation in Iraq represents a prime example of the folly and failures of George W. Bush and his administration. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. From the PNAC perspective, their presence within US government and control over US policy has been a great success. They achieved the massive increase in military spending they sought in 2000, much of which became and continues to be a multi-billion dollar payout to friends and political allies. They have their permanent bases in Iraq. And if the tea leaves are being read correctly, they might just get an attack on Iran, which represents one more step towards their goal of region-wide regime change in the Middle East.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041408J.shtml
It appears I’m in agreement with the Nation’s Katrina Vanden Hueval (who once wrote a glowing review of Greens for Kerry on their home page) on the truth behind Obama’s “bitterness” remarks. Also, the video is included of his recent, excellent explanation of what he meant:
A few clips:
The political discontent is obvious–and Obama is trying to speak to that. Americans are fed up with government’s failure to do anything much for them, or that they’re proud of being part of. ” Here’s how it is,” he said in his April 6 remarks. ” In a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania people have been beaten down for so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it.”
Here’s where the Right’s generation-long attack on government has done real damage to citizen confidence in government. We see it all around us everyday. But surely the other critical source of citizen doubt is that government has in fact done little recently to measurably improve their lives and give them a sense of national purpose. After all, Bill Clinton, long considered the master politician of his age, was basically in the business of lowering expectations of government even faster than they were disappointed. Obama is trying to amp up expectations which the Right and Clintonism have tamped down.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/14/8284/
NEWS CLIPS
"The I.R.S.'s scrutiny of the nation's biggest companies is at a 20-year low," according to a study conducted by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which called the trend a "historic collapse in audits." The study "found that major corporations -- defined as those with assets of at least $250 million -- have about a one in four chance of being audited, down from about three in four in 1990."
"Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases." The new system "means that the burden of expensive health care can now affect insured people."
ELECTION FRAUD CORNER
Former AL Gov. Don Siegelman Says Media Ignoring Details of His 'Electronically Stolen' 2002 Election
Has Given Story to 60 Minutes, Dan Abrams, LA Times, WaPo...All Have Failed to Report His Allegations While Covering Other Aspects of His Story...
Still paging Dan Abrams...
The following email comes from Mark Crispin Miller, NYU media professor, and author of the landmark election integrity book, FOOLED AGAIN.
It includes an email exchange from yesterday with the finally-free-on-bond former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Seigelman, concerning his allegations that his 2002 election was electronically flipped.
"This election was stolen," Siegelman had said on video in 2004, "There is no other kind, or sugar-coated way to say it." (The rarely seen video interview, featuring Siegelman discussing details of what he believes happened, is at posted with this article.)
Siegelman says he's now informed 60 Minutes, Dan Abrams, LA Times and Washington Post about what happened in 2002, but none of them have even bothered to report that he's made those allegations...
FULL STORY, SIEGELMAN EMAIL EXCHANGE, VIDEO:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5889
Computer Scientists Testify: '2008 U.S. Presidential Election Can Be Hacked'
Systems Made by Diebold, Sequoia and Hart InterCivic are 'Still Going to Have Same Viral Vulnerabilities Found' During California's 2007 Study...
A bunch of world-class computer scientists testified publicly this week that "U.S. Presidential Election Can Be Hacked".
"The three systems we looked at are three of the most widely used around the nation," warned professor David Wagner of the University of California, "They're going to be using them in the 2008 elections; they're still going to have the same vulnerabilities we found."
Wagner was speaking about e-voting system made by Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic which he examined during CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen's independent "Top to Bottom" review last year. He "and his team found that they could introduce a computer virus to any of the three systems, which would then spread throughout the county and ultimately skew the vote count," the IDG News Service reports...
FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5890
It’s called "Imperialism":
“In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semi-permanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
- "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century," PNAC Report September 2000, p. 26
Let’s hope Buchanan’s wrong…it would be the fitting way for these guys to leave office though (in their minds, not mine)…and its EXACTLY what PNAC has argued for:
That’s no longer true. We have held off defeat. But Petraeus is right, we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I’ll tell you what’s coming, John: Petraeus pointed right at the special groups, supported by Iran as the main problem now, said they’re firing rockets into the Green Zone. They’re responsible for Basra. The president said Iran better not make the wrong choice. We are looking at 140,000 troops here at the end of the year and very possibly, air strikes on Iran before this fall.
-- Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin Group
"Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you. They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer. Here's what you can't do. You can't spend the better part of two decades campaigning for NAFTA and PNTR for China, and then come here to Pennsylvania, and tell the steelworkers you've been with them all along. You can't say you are opposed to the Colombia Trade deal, while your key strategist is working for the Colombian government to get the deal passed. We're tired, we're frustrated, we're angry and we need somebody who's going to stand up for fair trade."
-- Barack Obama slaps down Hillary...who has become a parody of herself
"She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley."
-- Barack Obama mocks Hillary's sudden defense of gun owners and attack on obama for being an elitist for telling the truth (I'm getting to the point where I just want to see what garbage she's going to come up with next)
The First Draft of History Looks a Bit Rough on Bush
By Kenneth T. Walsh
President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can't be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush's presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history...Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, "tax breaks for the rich," and alienating many nations around the world.
VIDEO SECTION
Obama's "bitter" Remarks: Much ado about nothing…or should I say much ado about the truth (obviously he could have said it a bit better)
If I was Obama, I frankly would welcome the “debate” that has been triggered by his recent comments in Pennsylvania...which of course the media, Republicans, and Hillary Clinton are desperately trying to turn into some dramatic "narrative" that shows Obama
"is an out of touch elitist". Ha! Is there any entities in the world today, that are LESS in touch with regular people than the corporate media and the Republican Party?!!
So let's be clear, the fact is people ARE bitter (angry and/or frustrated would have been a better choice of words) over what has happened to them since the Reagan Revolution (as in, a revolution in shifting wealth from the bottom to the top). The fact also is that Obama - compared to both Clinton and McCain - actually comes from a poorer, multiracial background, and was even raised by a single mother (white I might add).
What he said was the truth, which is becoming a common theme with him, which I believe will override the artificial Obama "narratives" trying to be written by the right wing and the media (i.e. he's not patriotic enough and is an elitist).
Why? Because people that are feeling frustrated, and are in a different mind-frame than they were in either 2000 or 2004 - and Obama is a different candidate than Kerry or Gore (remember, they both actually WON too) - so I really don’t think the same old right wing and corporate media tricks (as in, he’s elitist!) are going to work. Sure, some of the right wing nuts are going to be upset by hearing the truth - and maybe he'll lose a point or two in the short term - but the vast majority of them aren't voting for him anyway.
He now has the opportunity, because this phony story has been pushed to the headlines to talk more about the vast middle and lower middle class squeeze under way in our country…a squeeze largely caused by the policies of the right wing. He needs to speak to this reality with greater force and clarity...particularly contrasting himself to those attacking him. I mean seriously, we've got two Washington insiders - almost the two wealthiest members of the entire senate - attacking Obama for being out of touch? Really?? Good luck trying to win that debate with Barack...I have faith he will beat them silly.
Hillary, as one would expect, did her usual cowardly triangulating and started attacking Obama for his remarks (comically calling HIM an elitist)…which really stretches the boundaries of reason and credibility (which she has none). This, I think again, plays into Obama’s hands, as he is beginning to establish himself as someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth, while Hillary will say anything to get elected. I think this little "flare up" helps solidify these two "frames" of the candidates.
On that note, watch Fox News try to drum up outrage in Pennsylvania…with no takers. Notice how the people actually care about issues that effect their lives, while the media and politicians like McCain are trying to create narratives about personality and drama…a disgrace:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/13/foxnews-rural-pennsylvanians-find-little-to-argue-with-barack-obama/
Classic parody of Rocky…but with Obama in his place…funny, awesome:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/82310/
Here’s a perfect juxtaposition of “the facts” in comparison to the way the media covers their lover, John W. McBush.
First, the facts (and good news):
DNC Files Lawsuit About Campaign Finance Weasel John McCain
McCain’s Media back in action. Did Crowley take a John McCain press release and develop this segment based on their talking points? This clip is from last Friday.
John McCain is in violation of the FEC’s public financing laws because he has signed up for it, has received money from it, procured a loan to help his primary and then went over the limit. Read here for more details. Crowley could have told you that McCain wouldn’t have had the money to produce ads in New Hampshire to win that primary without the loan. We might be talking about the Mitt Romney nomination right now. And we need to look at the bank loan more closely. The DNC has filed a complaint about it to the FEC. Plus, Jane and the blogoshere have filed a complaint against McCain’s campaign as well with over 32,000 signatures being delivered already. Wouldn’t you think that we be part of her story? Nope. Instead she does a hit job on Obama who made no such commitment
She makes sure to frame it as if Obama is waffling out of it when McCain has his hands dirty in every way. Remember, Obama only checked a survey box, but Candy doesn’t tell her audience that. I’ll repeat this again. John McCain actually agreed to public financing when his campaign was in trouble, borrowed money to keep it going before he won the nomination and now has spent well beyond the guidelines for which he received a stern letter from the FEC’s David Mason. Obama doesn’t need to opt out because he never signed on. I’m sure McCain was giving his staff high fives over Crowley’s report. A job well done. Full transcript below the fold.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/14/cnns-candy-crowley-adopts-mccains-position-on-public-financing-omits-mccains-fec-violations/
ARTICLE SECTION: WILL PITT, PNAC, OBAMA
As I have often argued here, Bush and the neo-cons have not failed in their vision for world domination…in fact, they have largely been successful. It’s all in their Project for a New American Century. Granted, they’ve made some miscalculations, and would have liked their war crimes to have gone a little smoother, but the basic goals have so far been met.
Will Pitt breaks down this sad and ominous truth...a few clips:
Sane people in all areas of government agreed with this analysis, leaving PNAC to wriggle in ridiculed obscurity for another two years. A trio of events transpired upon the advent of this new millennium, however, that served to catapult PNAC into power and prominence. First, the group delivered its flagship policy argument in September of 2000, in a report titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." Three months later, the Supreme Court delivered the White House into the hands of both GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney. Third, the attacks of 9/11 delivered the United States and the world into the hands of madmen, all of whom turned out to be PNAC alumni.
SNIP
The removal of Saddam Hussein and the establishment of an American protectorate in Iraq, by way of American military attack, actually served three larger PNAC purposes: 1) restructure America's budgetary priorities by stripping funds from myriad domestic policies and redistributing those funds into a massive increase in military spending; 2) establish a massive and permanent American presence in Iraq by building several US military bases within that occupied nation; and, 3) use these bases as the staging area for the invasion and overthrow of other Middle Eastern regimes, including allies of the United States.
SNIP
To many, the current situation in Iraq represents a prime example of the folly and failures of George W. Bush and his administration. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. From the PNAC perspective, their presence within US government and control over US policy has been a great success. They achieved the massive increase in military spending they sought in 2000, much of which became and continues to be a multi-billion dollar payout to friends and political allies. They have their permanent bases in Iraq. And if the tea leaves are being read correctly, they might just get an attack on Iran, which represents one more step towards their goal of region-wide regime change in the Middle East.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041408J.shtml
It appears I’m in agreement with the Nation’s Katrina Vanden Hueval (who once wrote a glowing review of Greens for Kerry on their home page) on the truth behind Obama’s “bitterness” remarks. Also, the video is included of his recent, excellent explanation of what he meant:
A few clips:
The political discontent is obvious–and Obama is trying to speak to that. Americans are fed up with government’s failure to do anything much for them, or that they’re proud of being part of. ” Here’s how it is,” he said in his April 6 remarks. ” In a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania people have been beaten down for so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it.”
Here’s where the Right’s generation-long attack on government has done real damage to citizen confidence in government. We see it all around us everyday. But surely the other critical source of citizen doubt is that government has in fact done little recently to measurably improve their lives and give them a sense of national purpose. After all, Bill Clinton, long considered the master politician of his age, was basically in the business of lowering expectations of government even faster than they were disappointed. Obama is trying to amp up expectations which the Right and Clintonism have tamped down.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/14/8284/
NEWS CLIPS
"The I.R.S.'s scrutiny of the nation's biggest companies is at a 20-year low," according to a study conducted by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which called the trend a "historic collapse in audits." The study "found that major corporations -- defined as those with assets of at least $250 million -- have about a one in four chance of being audited, down from about three in four in 1990."
"Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases." The new system "means that the burden of expensive health care can now affect insured people."
ELECTION FRAUD CORNER
Former AL Gov. Don Siegelman Says Media Ignoring Details of His 'Electronically Stolen' 2002 Election
Has Given Story to 60 Minutes, Dan Abrams, LA Times, WaPo...All Have Failed to Report His Allegations While Covering Other Aspects of His Story...
Still paging Dan Abrams...
The following email comes from Mark Crispin Miller, NYU media professor, and author of the landmark election integrity book, FOOLED AGAIN.
It includes an email exchange from yesterday with the finally-free-on-bond former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Seigelman, concerning his allegations that his 2002 election was electronically flipped.
"This election was stolen," Siegelman had said on video in 2004, "There is no other kind, or sugar-coated way to say it." (The rarely seen video interview, featuring Siegelman discussing details of what he believes happened, is at posted with this article.)
Siegelman says he's now informed 60 Minutes, Dan Abrams, LA Times and Washington Post about what happened in 2002, but none of them have even bothered to report that he's made those allegations...
FULL STORY, SIEGELMAN EMAIL EXCHANGE, VIDEO:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5889
Computer Scientists Testify: '2008 U.S. Presidential Election Can Be Hacked'
Systems Made by Diebold, Sequoia and Hart InterCivic are 'Still Going to Have Same Viral Vulnerabilities Found' During California's 2007 Study...
A bunch of world-class computer scientists testified publicly this week that "U.S. Presidential Election Can Be Hacked".
"The three systems we looked at are three of the most widely used around the nation," warned professor David Wagner of the University of California, "They're going to be using them in the 2008 elections; they're still going to have the same vulnerabilities we found."
Wagner was speaking about e-voting system made by Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic which he examined during CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen's independent "Top to Bottom" review last year. He "and his team found that they could introduce a computer virus to any of the three systems, which would then spread throughout the county and ultimately skew the vote count," the IDG News Service reports...
FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5890
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