TODAY'S TOPICS: Food Crisis, Feingold, Gas Tax, Voter Id's, Siegelman, Daily Show, Wright
My father made sure the key point regarding the food crisis was made here:
"The food crisis is not about needing more food. We have plenty of food for everyone on the planet twice over at least...it is a hunger crisis brought on by POVERTY. We do not have a food problem, we have a hunger problem. That poverty is CREATED by multinational corporations (no more than a dozen) who control 80-90% of the GRAIN production. They are not growing food "for people", they are growing food for the greatest amount of profit they can accumulate!"
-- Urmas Kaldveer, Ph.D.
THE GAS TAX IDEA...ARE YOU KIDDING!!???
This is one of the stupidest ideas i've heard for awhile, and Obama's "gimmick" description is right on.
Thomas Friedman nails it too:
It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer's travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country.
When the summer is over, we will have increased our debt to China, increased our transfer of wealth to Saudi Arabia and increased our contribution to global warming for our kids to inherit. No, no, no, we'll just get the money by taxing Big Oil, says Mrs. Clinton. Even if you could do that, what a terrible way to spend precious tax dollars - burning it up on the way to the beach rather than on innovation?
But here's what's scary: our problem is so much worse than you think. We have no energy strategy. If you are going to use tax policy to shape energy strategy then you want to raise taxes on the things you want to discourage - gasoline consumption and gas-guzzling cars - and you want to lower taxes on the things you want to encourage - new, renewable energy technologies. We are doing just the opposite."
END
Obama right on the Gas Tax...
Barack Obama didn't back down yesterday in his opposition to a so-called gas tax holiday this summer, becoming more vocal in calling it political pandering and slamming John McCain and Hillary Clinton for proposing it.
He told voters in Winston-Salem, N.C., that suspending the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day would save them only about $25 to $30. Some economists, he said, believe the proposal could backfire and actually raise prices by increasing demand. "We don't know that the oil companies will actually pass on the savings," he added.
And by taking revenue away from the Highway Trust Fund, which finances road and bridge repairs, the gas tax holiday could delay badly needed improvements and cost thousands of construction jobs, including 7,000 in North Carolina, he told voters.
"This is the problem with Washington," Obama declared. "We're arguing over a gimmick that will save you half a tank of gas. It's not an idea to get you through the summer. It's an idea to get them through an election."
MORE ON WHY ITS SUCH A BAD IDEA:
Rising gas prices are hitting Americans hard, while oil companies rake in record profits. As the economy falters, calls to deal with the price of gasoline have reached the halls of Washington, D.C. "[L]awmakers are considering ideas they might have nixed months ago, including temporarily lifting the federal gas tax and halting deposits of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve." Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) have called for a summer moratorium on the federal gas tax. McCain has not specified how to make up the $11 billion; Clinton has proposed a tax on windfall profits from oil companies to recoup losses to the federal highway fund. Economic analysts of all stripes have responded with horror, pointing out that "the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers." Even if a suspension of the gas tax led to lower prices, the rich would benefit the most, since "the more a family earns, the more they drive," notes Sam Davis of the Center for American Progress. Len Burman of the non partisan Urban Institute calls the proposal "a huge windfall for refiners." Newsweek's Jonathan Alter stated, "Suspending the federal gas tax is a crass ploy for votes." The Atlantic Monthly's James Fallows calls cutting the gas tax "destructive nuttiness" and "embarrassing." Economist Gilbert Metcalf called it "very short-sighted," noting, "If we want people to invest in energy-saving cars, we need some assurance that the higher price paid for these cars is going to pay off through fuel savings."
WHAT'S TO BLAME FOR HIGH GAS PRICES: President Bush said Tuesday that he has no "magic wand" to affect gas prices. But as Steve Hargreaves of CNNMoneywrites, gas price is "all about government policy." Since the United States has some of the lowest gas taxes in the world, the price at the pump is dominated by the cost of oil. In congressional testimony one month ago, Exxon Mobil senior vice president Stephen Simon said his company believes the price of oil involves four components. The effects of supply and demand accounts for "somewhere around $50-55 a barrel," or about half the current price. The second factor is the weaker dollar; since 2001, "the dollar has lost 45% of its value" against the euro. The third is "geopolitical risk"; since 2003, the United States has been committed to a three-trillion-dollar war in Iraq, the heart of the turbulent oil-producing world. And the final component is "speculation"; investors have "looked to commodities not only as a hedge against inflation but as a hedge against the tumbling greenback."
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS: The fundamental solution to gas prices is to reduce dependence on oil. As conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin said, "You have to price oil on a permanent basis to provide incentives to shift away from it. It's the key issue -- and the hardest one to make progress on." This year, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission submitted a comprehensive plan for the future of the transportation infrastructure, which fuel taxes fund. But the federal fuel tax is but one brushstroke in a much broader picture. The Center for American Progress's Energy Opportunity Agenda states, "The realities of global warming and our growing dependence on oil, much of it imported, will make energy more pivotal than ever to our economic, environmental, and national security fortunes in the 21st century. The challenge we face is nothing short of the conversion of an economy sustained by high-carbon energy -- putting both our national security and the health of our planet at serious risk -- to one based on low-carbon, sustainable sources of energy. The scale of this undertaking is immense and its potential enormous."
HARTMANN INTERVIEWS SIEGELMAN (its about election fraud too)
[Thom Hartmann]: Right. Now, in our conversation you have suggested that the original election that you lost to Bob Riley by a few thousand votes in the middle of the night may have been stolen. That is a part of the story that has been treated as if it was radioactive by the corporate press. It has, to the best of my knowledge, I have never heard that in any of the official corporate news reports. Have you asserted that before, have you been saying this all along, or is this…
[Don Siegelman]: Well yes, we have been saying it, we have been saying it since the night of the election. I mean, we won the election, the votes were counted and were declared and then in one county which is controlled by Republicans the, after midnight when everybody went home, when the poll workers were sent home, when the media was gone, they decided to electronically recount these votes and shifted the votes and certified the vote illegally the next day. The, interestingly, Karl Rove’s client sepped in, the attorney general stepped in and said, ‘if anybody tries to hand count these votes we’re going to put them in jail’. We initially had a green light from the local Republicans in this one area that we could come in and hand count these ballots where the electronic shift occurred.[..]
(Read the rest of this story…)
FEINGOLD SPEAKS OUT ON PENTAGON SCANDAL
Finally, a major Dem politician questions the legality of the Pentagon/media propaganda campaign! And of course that man would be Russ Feingold…here’s his letter to the Acting Comptroller General:
I write to request your legal views as to whether the Department of Defense violated appropriations prohibitions on publicity or propaganda activities. The New York Times reported on April 20, 2008, that it has received thousands of documents detailing the Department's efforts to produce materials intended to influence press coverage of the Iraq war without publicly attributing the source of those materials to the Department.
The Pentagon is free to air its views on any military operation but it should do so openly. Potential covert production of press materials by the Defense Department would undermine full and open public debate on one of the most important matters facing this country, the war in Iraq. Such debate is essential to our democracy.
According to the article, the documents suggest that the Pentagon supplied retired officers serving as analysts for several major American broadcasters with private briefings with Sec. Rumsfeld, talking points in anticipation of appearing on TV, and commercial airfare. Allegedly, the Pentagon discouraged the analysts from publicly describing the nature of their relationship with the Pentagon. This clearly violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. I would greatly appreciate it if you would provide your legal views as to whether the Department of Defense violated appropriations prohibitions on publicity or propaganda Activities.
END
VIDEO SECTION
Another classic Olbermann "Worst Persons":
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/01/worst-person-oreilly-forgets-his-own-words/
Daily Show on the grand double standard between Wright and just about all right wing preachers:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/01/daily-show-billy-graham-vs-jeremiah-wright/
Its always refreshing to hear Michael Moore speak out and tell the truth...esp. when he gets a chance to be heard through the corporate media. Here he's on Larry King talking election:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/01/larry-king-live-michael-moore-on-obama-clinton-wright-and-mccain/
Thankfully the Daily Show, once again, is on this manufactured Wright obsession, one that is trumping every ACTUAL crisis facing our nation:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/01/jon-stewart-slams-media-for-obsessive-wright-coverage/
Daily Show on Scalia…scary…esp. in light of their new judgment on Voter Id’s…a key component of the GOP’s strategy to steal the election in November:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/30/daily-show-the-loveable-and-charming-antonin-scalia/
McCain’s “health” plan…as in its really bad for our health...watch this "claim v. reality" piece:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83993/
ARTICLE SECTION: Voter Id Decision
The Supreme court has given the Republicans a few million votes to start the presidential election off with…now allowing for a “voter id” requirement…or in other words, a “poll tax”. This has been one of the key obsessions among right wingers over the past few years, and now they got it. Step one of election theft 08’ is now in place.
A few clips:
The US Supreme Court has just dealt a serious blow to voters' rights that could help put John McCain in the White House by eliminating tens of thousands of voters who generally vote Democratic.
By 6-3 the Court has upheld an Indiana law that requires citizens to present a photo identification card in order to vote. Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, Georgia, Hawaii and South Dakota have similar laws. Though it's unlikely, as many as two dozen other states could add them by election day. Other states, like Ohio, have less stringent ID requirements than Indiana's, but still have certain restrictions that are strongly opposed by voter rights advocates.
The decision turns back two centuries of jurisprudence that has accepted a registered voter's signature as sufficient identification for casting a ballot. By matching that signature against one given at registration, and with harsh penalties for ballot stuffing, the Justices confirmed in their lead opinion that there is "no evidence" for the kind of widespread voter fraud Republican partisans have used to justify the demand for photo ID.
SNIP
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law in its "Friend of the Court" brief noted that between 10% and 13% of eligible voters lack the identification now required in Indiana. People without an official photo ID tend to be disproportionately minorities and poor, ushering a new Jim Crow era based on race and class apartheid. One Indiana study, according to Inter Press Service reporter Jim Lobe, found that 13.3% of registered Indiana voters lacked the now-required ID, but the numbers were significantly higher for black voters at 18% and young voters age 18-34 at more than 20%.
Kathryn Kolbert, President of People for the American Way, put the number at "millions of eligible voters who don't have the ID these laws require."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/043008S.shtml
NEWS CLIPS
With Americans facing record levels of credit card debt, "financial institutions have sharply raised rates for credit card customers -- even those who pay on time -- as they grapple with losses from other bad consumer loans." Banks are also imposing higher fees for late payments and ATM withdrawals to boost profits.
As the Federal Reserve completes work on rules to root out abuses” by mortgage lenders, the mortgage industry "has begun an intensive campaign to fight back." "[T]he industry’s criticism has already prompted the Fed to consider narrowing the scope of the plan so it applies to fewer loans."
Oil prices "hit an all-time high near $120 a barrel" today after a refinery strike closed a British pipeline system. At the same time, U.S. retail gas prices "also hit a record for the 13th straight time" with the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded costing $3.603, according to AAA. Gas prices are up four-tenths of a cent from yesterday.
BUSH'S READING PROGRAM DEEMED INEFFECTIVE: A long-awaited study by the Institute for Education Science reported yesterday that President Bush's $1 trillion "Reading First" program, which is aimed at teaching low-income children to read, was wholly ineffective. The study said that children in the program, which is part of Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative, "had virtually no better reading skills" than children not involved. The program was the subject of a congressional investigation last year, when three education advisers, "who played important roles in advising states on how to apply for Reading First grants, testified that they had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from curriculum's and tests they had authored, whose use grew exponentially through the program." The Washington Post wrote in 2006 the Reading First steered billions "to what is effectively a pilot project for untested programs with friends in high places," one of which was owned by a top Bush fundraiser. "This report makes it shamefully clear that the only individuals benefiting from this significant investment were the President’s cronies," Rep. George Miller (D-CA) said yesterday.
"Significant needs remain unmet" in treating soldiers with traumatic brain injury, according to a report released yesterday by the Veterans Affairs inspector general, which said many veterans "are not getting adequate healthcare and job assistance." "Brain injuries have become the dominant wounds from the Iraq war, Pentagon and VA records show, but the Pentagon has been slow to react to the growing problem."
GOOD NEWS
"In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April," compared to a decade ago, when only one in in eight cars sold were compact. Rising gas prices are fueling the "dramatic shift," analysts say.
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted yesterday "to forbid the CIA from using private contractors to interrogate detainees. The agency would also be limited to interrogation techniques approved" by the Army Field Manual.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
TODAY'S TOPICS: Wright v. Obama, Media, Food Crisis, Pentagon Scandal, McCain's Cold War
"[T]he entire program has been legal."
-- White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 12/11/07, on the administration's interrogation program
VERSUS
"The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law."
-- The New York Times, 4/27/08
“they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world we’ve created a food system that leaves more people hungry. If they’d listened to farmers instead of corporations, they would’ve known this was going to happen.”
--Wisconsin dairy farmer
VIDEO SECTION: Obama, Olbermann
How sad is this? Here we are at a crossroads in our nation’s history, on the verge of electing a new, inspiring, and multi-ethnic President, and the words of a Rev. is going to sabotage it. After I wrote yesterday’s post in which I partly defended Wright, but said I had some reservations of him retaking the spotlight at this time in the campaign, I came home to find out he REALLY took the spotlight, and he said even more things, esp. about Obama, that are not at all helpful…and reek of a lack of humility.
One would think that of all people, Rev. Wright would want to see someone like Obama become President, but from what I see, that doesn’t seem to be of any interest to him at all. Of course, I’ll save my greatest ire for the corporate media, who, 24/7 are still talking about the words of a Rev. rather than those of the CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
Here again we are facing two losing wars, a recession, a food crisis, a mortgage crisis, and the coming climate crisis, among so many other things, and our press is totally fine with discussing the words of Wright ad nauseum, rather than the issues that effect our lives.
I again have lost even more faith in this nation, and feel even more secure in my belief that we are not a democracy anymore. This isn’t how they are meant to function, and we are on the road to electing John McCain, a true threat to the planet, when right in front of us is a candidate that could at least begin our nation's turning from the abyss.
So, here is Obama at his press conference today doing what he had to do…defending himself against some of Wright’s implications that he is saying what he says just because he’s a politician…(though it still sickens me that even Obama says that Wright’s statement that our foreign policy had something to do with 9/11 is "outrageous" even though EVERYONE KNOWS IT IS TRUE!!!).
Obviously Wright’s AIDS statement is crazy…but I digress…
OBAMA: “I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this. I don’t think that he showed much concern for me. I don’t — more importantly — I don’t think he showed much concern for what we’re trying to do in this campaign and what we’re trying to do for the American people and with the American people. And obviously, he’s free to speak out on issues that are of concern to him and he can do it in any ways that he wants. But I feel very strongly that — well, I want to make absolutely clear that I do not subscribe to the views that he expressed. I believe they are wrong. I think they are destructive. And to the extent that he continues to speak out, I do not expect those views to be attributed to me.”
WATCH:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/29/obama-speaks-out-against-rev-wright/
And watch Olbermann - yes, there is someone in the media who dares cover the real McCain - dissect (with Rachelle Maddow) two of McCain’s major potential liabilities: his own “radical” pastors and the many examples that threaten his image as the Honorable Campaign Finance Reform Champion.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/29/double-talk-express-the-parsleyhagee-problem-exploiting-campaign-finance-loopholes/
MCCAIN’S NEW COLD WAR
C&L: Thank God someone out there is scrutinizing McCain’s neocon craziness.
Newsweek:
On March 26, McCain gave a speech on foreign policy in Los Angeles that was billed as his most comprehensive statement on the subject. It contained within it the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years. Yet almost no one noticed.
In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. Moscow was included in this body in the 1990s to recognize and reward it for peacefully ending the cold war on Western terms, dismantling the Soviet empire and withdrawing from large chunks of the old Russian Empire as well. McCain also proposed that the United States should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluded China from the councils of power.
OBAMA ON FOX...WHY???
It saddens me that not only did Obama appear on Fox - which helps legitimize the network and hence hurt Dems overall - but that he wouldn't at least expose them for what they are while on.
From a blogger: "When Wallace brought up Wright and the flag-pin, for instance, Obama didn't point out that these bogus stories have been pushed relentlessly by Fox or that the network has pushed the Obama-is-a-Muslim lies. Again: Obama was not obliged to take on the network. But either way, the bottom line is that he didn't do it. Partly because of this, the interview -- which was a solid performance by Obama -- was also a victory for Fox."
Obama was effective in answering all the inane questions...but does that help in the long run against a fascist right wing propaganda tool like Fox? Does it mobilize the progressive base by showing he will stand against corporations like this? I think not...
END
ARTICLE SECTION: FOOD CRISIS, PENTAGON, "ELITISM"
Jeff Cohen – who knows the media’s love affair with the military in promoting war better than anyone – speaks out on his own experiences at MSNBC.
A few clips:
There was no room for me after MSNBC launched Countdown: Iraq — a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. Countdown: Iraq featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.
SNIP
I’m all for a Congressional investigation into the Pentagon’s Iraq propaganda operation — which included an active-duty general exhorting ex-military-turned-paid-pundits that “the strategic target remains our population.” But I’m also for keeping the focus and onus on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, even NPR — who were partners in the Pentagon’s mission of “information dominance.” And for us to see that American TV news remains so corrupt today that it has hardly mentioned the Times story on the Pentagon’s pundits, which was based on 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents acquired by a successful Times lawsuit.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8560/
The global food crisis should be the headline of nearly every newscast, not Wright, as it goes to the very heart of the corporatization of the global economy…one created by such entities like the IMF, the US, World Bank, and the WTO. Now we have oil prices, ethanol creation, and deregulation thrown in to the mix…causing what could be millions to die for the profits of the few.
A few clips:
The current global food system, which was designed by US-based agribusiness conglomerates like Cargill, Monsanto and ADM and forced into place by the US government and its allies at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, has planted the seeds of disaster by pressuring farmers here and abroad to produce cash crops for export and alternative fuels rather than grow healthy food for local consumption and regional stability.
The only smart short-term response is to throw money at the problem. George W. Bush’s release of $200 million in emergency aid to the UN’s World Food Program was appropriate, but Washington must do more. Rising food prices may not be causing riots in the United States, but food banks here are struggling to meet demand as joblessness grows. Congress should answer Senator Sherrod Brown’s call to allocate $100 million more to domestic food programs and make sure, as Representative Jim McGovern urges, that an overdue farm bill expands programs for getting fresh food from local farms to local consumers.
SNIP
Congress should also embrace trade and development policies that help developing countries regulate markets with an eye to feeding the hungry rather than feeding corporate profits. This principle, known as “food sovereignty,” sees struggling farmers and hungry people and says, as the Oakland Institute’s Anuradha Mittal observes, that it is time to “stop worshiping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle [that] every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable.” As Mittal says, “When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8523/
The great (and incredibly witty) mark morford writes on the pentagon/media scandal that pretty much proves everything I’ve been saying here for so long…”The Matrix has you…”
A few clips:
Did you watch any CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, lo, these past five or six years, listen to the pundits and ponder the wise, informed comments of all the military experts the networks brought on to discuss Iraq policy, then conclude that maybe this war, this appalling invasion might actually be positive, that maybe the surge is working and torture ain’t all that bad and the democracy is taking root and America is proud and perky and victorious once again?
Did you believe any of it? Because oh my God, they sure as hell worked us over like a rabid dog works a hunk of gristle.
Who are “they,” exactly? Why, they’re the newly discovered and rather unexpected fraternity of expert BS artists, a highly specialized group known to gullible Americans as stoic, stern-faced retired generals, colonels, majors, military advisers, former Pentagon officials, the ones you’ve heard and seen on TV news for years, but who are known to the Bush administration as a delightfully dishonest gaggle of preferred liars, lackeys, shills, puppets and mouthpieces for Dick Cheney and Donny Rumsfeld and Dubya himself.
The truth is as sad as it is revolting: You have been lied to, again and again, perhaps even more than you imagined, in a rather unexpected way, perhaps like no other time in American history, in a more carefully orchestrated and widespread effort than any presidential administration has managed to attempt in the past.
SNIP
You may ask: Why would they do such a thing? What’s in it for the generals and the colonels to lie outright to the American populace and the embarrassingly blind news networks, to whore their credentials and trash their distinguished reputations in favor of defending a lost war and useless president?
That’s easy: Access. Access to the White House, to the corridors of power and influence; access to the perks and the pals and snifters of brandy, the backroom handshakes, the business deals, the hugely lucrative military contracts, the sweet, sweet piles of cash and privilege and power awaiting them if they just toe the line and keep their real opinions to themselves. Also worth mentioning: Many are military men down to the bone. Failed war and inept commander in chief or no, they will defend any U.S. military operation, simply because it’s a U.S. military operation. It’s just automatic.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8532/
And David Sirota writes on one of the other “Big Lies”…the insanity of McCain and other super rich corporatists calling progressives “elitists”….as the media allows this and perpetuates it day in and day out. I think the most mind numbing headline of yesterday was “McCain calls Obama insensitive to poor people…”!!! This from a guy who’s been against medicare, health care, the minimum wage, and every other policy in the history of mankind that HELPS poor people!!
But this is far bigger than about McCain…it’s the millionaires in the media that talk about “real Americans”, and liberal elitism that really makes one sick to the stomach.
A few clips:
This sickening episode was topped off by ABC’s Charles Gibson, who only months ago humiliated himself by insinuating that typical middle-class families make $200,000 a year (95 percent make less). Last week, while moderating a debate, Gibson segued from the “bitter” comment into a tirade against rescinding capital gains tax breaks, implying the proposal would hurt most Americans. This, even though the tax cuts in question delivered the vast majority of their benefits to the richest 1 percent. By downplaying inequality and couching royalism in middle-class arguments, the Beltway elite pretend there are not two Americas but only one: theirs.
Matthews routinely turns discussions of economic issues into debates about tactics, and then heads home to Chevy Chase telling himself he isn’t “part of the winner’s circle.” Tim Russert asks millionaires to explain working-class struggles, and then reminds viewers he roots for the Buffalo Bills — as if that proves he speaks for blue-collar America. Hillary Clinton makes a career out of speaking for powerful corporations, and then shows up at an Indiana bar to decry “elitism.” Gibson suggests six-figure salaries are common, and then says the masses should worry about rich people like him having to pay slightly higher taxes. In sum, economic blindness, sports symbols, beery photo ops and uninformed idiocy have become the iconography of working-class solidarity that disguises the ongoing class war.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8518/
AND WHY ISN'T THIS GETTING ANY COVERAGE???
DOJ LETTERS GIVE INTERROGATORS ROOM TO BREACH LAW: The New York Times reported yesterday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently told Congress "that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law," specifically the Geneva Conventions. According to the Times, "[w]hile the Geneva Conventions prohibit 'outrages upon personal dignity,'" the DOJ letters to Congress "make...clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments." The letters "appear to muddy the public understanding of what is and isn't legal when intelligence officials question terrorism suspects" because they state that "CIA interrogation techniques otherwise prohibited by international law might be legal in the face of an impending terrorist attack."
"[T]he entire program has been legal."
-- White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 12/11/07, on the administration's interrogation program
VERSUS
"The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law."
-- The New York Times, 4/27/08
“they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world we’ve created a food system that leaves more people hungry. If they’d listened to farmers instead of corporations, they would’ve known this was going to happen.”
--Wisconsin dairy farmer
VIDEO SECTION: Obama, Olbermann
How sad is this? Here we are at a crossroads in our nation’s history, on the verge of electing a new, inspiring, and multi-ethnic President, and the words of a Rev. is going to sabotage it. After I wrote yesterday’s post in which I partly defended Wright, but said I had some reservations of him retaking the spotlight at this time in the campaign, I came home to find out he REALLY took the spotlight, and he said even more things, esp. about Obama, that are not at all helpful…and reek of a lack of humility.
One would think that of all people, Rev. Wright would want to see someone like Obama become President, but from what I see, that doesn’t seem to be of any interest to him at all. Of course, I’ll save my greatest ire for the corporate media, who, 24/7 are still talking about the words of a Rev. rather than those of the CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
Here again we are facing two losing wars, a recession, a food crisis, a mortgage crisis, and the coming climate crisis, among so many other things, and our press is totally fine with discussing the words of Wright ad nauseum, rather than the issues that effect our lives.
I again have lost even more faith in this nation, and feel even more secure in my belief that we are not a democracy anymore. This isn’t how they are meant to function, and we are on the road to electing John McCain, a true threat to the planet, when right in front of us is a candidate that could at least begin our nation's turning from the abyss.
So, here is Obama at his press conference today doing what he had to do…defending himself against some of Wright’s implications that he is saying what he says just because he’s a politician…(though it still sickens me that even Obama says that Wright’s statement that our foreign policy had something to do with 9/11 is "outrageous" even though EVERYONE KNOWS IT IS TRUE!!!).
Obviously Wright’s AIDS statement is crazy…but I digress…
OBAMA: “I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed, as a consequence of this. I don’t think that he showed much concern for me. I don’t — more importantly — I don’t think he showed much concern for what we’re trying to do in this campaign and what we’re trying to do for the American people and with the American people. And obviously, he’s free to speak out on issues that are of concern to him and he can do it in any ways that he wants. But I feel very strongly that — well, I want to make absolutely clear that I do not subscribe to the views that he expressed. I believe they are wrong. I think they are destructive. And to the extent that he continues to speak out, I do not expect those views to be attributed to me.”
WATCH:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/29/obama-speaks-out-against-rev-wright/
And watch Olbermann - yes, there is someone in the media who dares cover the real McCain - dissect (with Rachelle Maddow) two of McCain’s major potential liabilities: his own “radical” pastors and the many examples that threaten his image as the Honorable Campaign Finance Reform Champion.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/29/double-talk-express-the-parsleyhagee-problem-exploiting-campaign-finance-loopholes/
MCCAIN’S NEW COLD WAR
C&L: Thank God someone out there is scrutinizing McCain’s neocon craziness.
Newsweek:
On March 26, McCain gave a speech on foreign policy in Los Angeles that was billed as his most comprehensive statement on the subject. It contained within it the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years. Yet almost no one noticed.
In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. Moscow was included in this body in the 1990s to recognize and reward it for peacefully ending the cold war on Western terms, dismantling the Soviet empire and withdrawing from large chunks of the old Russian Empire as well. McCain also proposed that the United States should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluded China from the councils of power.
OBAMA ON FOX...WHY???
It saddens me that not only did Obama appear on Fox - which helps legitimize the network and hence hurt Dems overall - but that he wouldn't at least expose them for what they are while on.
From a blogger: "When Wallace brought up Wright and the flag-pin, for instance, Obama didn't point out that these bogus stories have been pushed relentlessly by Fox or that the network has pushed the Obama-is-a-Muslim lies. Again: Obama was not obliged to take on the network. But either way, the bottom line is that he didn't do it. Partly because of this, the interview -- which was a solid performance by Obama -- was also a victory for Fox."
Obama was effective in answering all the inane questions...but does that help in the long run against a fascist right wing propaganda tool like Fox? Does it mobilize the progressive base by showing he will stand against corporations like this? I think not...
END
ARTICLE SECTION: FOOD CRISIS, PENTAGON, "ELITISM"
Jeff Cohen – who knows the media’s love affair with the military in promoting war better than anyone – speaks out on his own experiences at MSNBC.
A few clips:
There was no room for me after MSNBC launched Countdown: Iraq — a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. Countdown: Iraq featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.
SNIP
I’m all for a Congressional investigation into the Pentagon’s Iraq propaganda operation — which included an active-duty general exhorting ex-military-turned-paid-pundits that “the strategic target remains our population.” But I’m also for keeping the focus and onus on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, even NPR — who were partners in the Pentagon’s mission of “information dominance.” And for us to see that American TV news remains so corrupt today that it has hardly mentioned the Times story on the Pentagon’s pundits, which was based on 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents acquired by a successful Times lawsuit.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8560/
The global food crisis should be the headline of nearly every newscast, not Wright, as it goes to the very heart of the corporatization of the global economy…one created by such entities like the IMF, the US, World Bank, and the WTO. Now we have oil prices, ethanol creation, and deregulation thrown in to the mix…causing what could be millions to die for the profits of the few.
A few clips:
The current global food system, which was designed by US-based agribusiness conglomerates like Cargill, Monsanto and ADM and forced into place by the US government and its allies at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, has planted the seeds of disaster by pressuring farmers here and abroad to produce cash crops for export and alternative fuels rather than grow healthy food for local consumption and regional stability.
The only smart short-term response is to throw money at the problem. George W. Bush’s release of $200 million in emergency aid to the UN’s World Food Program was appropriate, but Washington must do more. Rising food prices may not be causing riots in the United States, but food banks here are struggling to meet demand as joblessness grows. Congress should answer Senator Sherrod Brown’s call to allocate $100 million more to domestic food programs and make sure, as Representative Jim McGovern urges, that an overdue farm bill expands programs for getting fresh food from local farms to local consumers.
SNIP
Congress should also embrace trade and development policies that help developing countries regulate markets with an eye to feeding the hungry rather than feeding corporate profits. This principle, known as “food sovereignty,” sees struggling farmers and hungry people and says, as the Oakland Institute’s Anuradha Mittal observes, that it is time to “stop worshiping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle [that] every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable.” As Mittal says, “When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8523/
The great (and incredibly witty) mark morford writes on the pentagon/media scandal that pretty much proves everything I’ve been saying here for so long…”The Matrix has you…”
A few clips:
Did you watch any CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, lo, these past five or six years, listen to the pundits and ponder the wise, informed comments of all the military experts the networks brought on to discuss Iraq policy, then conclude that maybe this war, this appalling invasion might actually be positive, that maybe the surge is working and torture ain’t all that bad and the democracy is taking root and America is proud and perky and victorious once again?
Did you believe any of it? Because oh my God, they sure as hell worked us over like a rabid dog works a hunk of gristle.
Who are “they,” exactly? Why, they’re the newly discovered and rather unexpected fraternity of expert BS artists, a highly specialized group known to gullible Americans as stoic, stern-faced retired generals, colonels, majors, military advisers, former Pentagon officials, the ones you’ve heard and seen on TV news for years, but who are known to the Bush administration as a delightfully dishonest gaggle of preferred liars, lackeys, shills, puppets and mouthpieces for Dick Cheney and Donny Rumsfeld and Dubya himself.
The truth is as sad as it is revolting: You have been lied to, again and again, perhaps even more than you imagined, in a rather unexpected way, perhaps like no other time in American history, in a more carefully orchestrated and widespread effort than any presidential administration has managed to attempt in the past.
SNIP
You may ask: Why would they do such a thing? What’s in it for the generals and the colonels to lie outright to the American populace and the embarrassingly blind news networks, to whore their credentials and trash their distinguished reputations in favor of defending a lost war and useless president?
That’s easy: Access. Access to the White House, to the corridors of power and influence; access to the perks and the pals and snifters of brandy, the backroom handshakes, the business deals, the hugely lucrative military contracts, the sweet, sweet piles of cash and privilege and power awaiting them if they just toe the line and keep their real opinions to themselves. Also worth mentioning: Many are military men down to the bone. Failed war and inept commander in chief or no, they will defend any U.S. military operation, simply because it’s a U.S. military operation. It’s just automatic.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8532/
And David Sirota writes on one of the other “Big Lies”…the insanity of McCain and other super rich corporatists calling progressives “elitists”….as the media allows this and perpetuates it day in and day out. I think the most mind numbing headline of yesterday was “McCain calls Obama insensitive to poor people…”!!! This from a guy who’s been against medicare, health care, the minimum wage, and every other policy in the history of mankind that HELPS poor people!!
But this is far bigger than about McCain…it’s the millionaires in the media that talk about “real Americans”, and liberal elitism that really makes one sick to the stomach.
A few clips:
This sickening episode was topped off by ABC’s Charles Gibson, who only months ago humiliated himself by insinuating that typical middle-class families make $200,000 a year (95 percent make less). Last week, while moderating a debate, Gibson segued from the “bitter” comment into a tirade against rescinding capital gains tax breaks, implying the proposal would hurt most Americans. This, even though the tax cuts in question delivered the vast majority of their benefits to the richest 1 percent. By downplaying inequality and couching royalism in middle-class arguments, the Beltway elite pretend there are not two Americas but only one: theirs.
Matthews routinely turns discussions of economic issues into debates about tactics, and then heads home to Chevy Chase telling himself he isn’t “part of the winner’s circle.” Tim Russert asks millionaires to explain working-class struggles, and then reminds viewers he roots for the Buffalo Bills — as if that proves he speaks for blue-collar America. Hillary Clinton makes a career out of speaking for powerful corporations, and then shows up at an Indiana bar to decry “elitism.” Gibson suggests six-figure salaries are common, and then says the masses should worry about rich people like him having to pay slightly higher taxes. In sum, economic blindness, sports symbols, beery photo ops and uninformed idiocy have become the iconography of working-class solidarity that disguises the ongoing class war.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/25/8518/
AND WHY ISN'T THIS GETTING ANY COVERAGE???
DOJ LETTERS GIVE INTERROGATORS ROOM TO BREACH LAW: The New York Times reported yesterday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently told Congress "that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law," specifically the Geneva Conventions. According to the Times, "[w]hile the Geneva Conventions prohibit 'outrages upon personal dignity,'" the DOJ letters to Congress "make...clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments." The letters "appear to muddy the public understanding of what is and isn't legal when intelligence officials question terrorism suspects" because they state that "CIA interrogation techniques otherwise prohibited by international law might be legal in the face of an impending terrorist attack."
Monday, April 28, 2008
TODAY'S TOPICS: Moyers/Wright, Iraq, Coal, Maher, Pentagon Scandal, E-Voting, McCain/MLK/Katrina
I'm still too busy to do much commentary or post major articles yet...but lots of good stuff nonetheless...
Also, check out our new site I just finished helped create: The Consumer Federation of California
"Public opinion of the [Iraq] war effort eroded when we were losing the war on the ground. Now that we're making progress, public support has rebounded."
-- Conservative commentator Max Boot, 4/23/08
VERSUS
"In this poll, 64 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting. ... It been a steady majority for nearly 3½ years, and opposition is more intense, with strong opponents of the war outnumbering strong supporters by 2-1."
-- ABC News, 4/17/08
FUN FACTS: 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets either with clinical depression of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The suicide rate of among veterans is anywhere between three and seven times higher than the rest of the country and this number of suicide attempts at a 1000 per month.
VIDEO SECTION
FROM C&L: "PBS did an excellent report on the explosive NY Times story which says: the Pentagon may influence the analysis of some retired military personnel who appear on television news programs. Oh, really? Wow, I never would have guessed. I’ve covered this scandal at length already, but since Network News refuses to comment on this report, I’ll keep pushing it. And I thank PBS for also not sticking their heads in the sand."
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/cnn-fox-and-msnbc-decline-pbs-interview-request-over-the-military-generals-scandal/
Decide for yourself…Moyers interviews Rev. Wright...the guy is right on about a whole lot of things...of course, I'll just never understand all the talk about "God"...why does a mythical old man in the sky have to be brought into the discussion about social and economic justice? Or peace versus war? But, at least people like Wright and MLK assume that if there is a God, he stands for those principles...not against them.
I do question - a little - just how much he's taking the spotlight now, though he deserves the right to defend himself against all the lies and attacks. Still, it may just cost Obama the Presidency, and it's a bit overboard, in that, he seems to be milking the limelight a bit too much, and is a little cavalier about some of the things he says about Obama in particular...almost as if there's a problem between he and Barack. More on this when I have time...
If you don't have time to watch the whole interview, check out this clip on Wright explaing his "God damn America" comment:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83691/
Here's the whole interview:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
The Daily Show continues to expose the McCain myth far better than the corporate media…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/25/draft-the-daily-show-on-mccain-the-sweet-talk-express/
Bill maher discusses sustainability, the food crisis and much more…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/real-time-with-bill-maher-on-sustainabilty/
Boston Legal clip in which the lead character tears our fascist majority in the Supreme Court…better than any politician I’ve seen do it to date. Excellent writing….
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/26/boston-legal-takes-apart-the-supreme-court/
Olbermann’s Bushed…from the abstinence only “lie”…now PROVEN…and other scandals…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/25/countdowns-bushed-shameful-silence-edition/
What possible rationalization will Hillary and her goons come up with next? As we know, apparently elected delegates aren’t what should determine the winner of the democratic nomination anymore…but now it’s the popular vote. But not your normal popular vote mind you, but instead, only the total that counts Michigan and Florida…two states ALL candidates agreed wouldn’t count.
But I will say, the way the media, the republicans, and the clintons have decided to work together in tearing down Obama...and the Wright bull shit continues to get 24/7 airplay, while nary a word about the Pentagon scandal, the global food crisis, or the Iraq War...suddenly the fascist grip on our spiraling downward country is re-establishing itself, and everything is now in doubt.
Here’s Dean trying to be diplomatic in saying…it’s the elected delegates stupid:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/meet-the-press-dean-on-healing-the-party/
And if you still haven't come to grips with the Clinton machine tactics, check out the latest Greenwald video on the Clinton embracement of Fox News.
"It is deeply detrimental to the longterm interests of democracy when Democrats praise and support FOX News. This would be true regardless of who that Democrat is, but it's particularly heinous when Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is singing their praises."
"Let me congratulate FOX," McAuliffe said this past week, "because you were the first ones to call [the Pennsylvania primary] for Hillary Clinton." McAuliffe, who is also chairing Clinton's Presidential committee, actually echoed the FOX mantra by calling them "fair and balanced." What is so dangerous about McAuliffe's praise is that FOX is now using his words as a TV ad to prove just how fair and balanced they are. The rest of us know the truth.
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83606/
The double talk express is in overdrive these days and there is no better example than his shameless pandering on Katrina this week…this man is a threat to our nation. You need to see the direct comparisons between what McCain is saying on Katrina versus his record…will blow your mind. Like these tidbits:
Voted against unemployment benefits for victims
Voted against any investigations into what went wrong
Voted against providing Medicaid service to victims
Was flying around with bush while new Orleans residents drowned
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83493/
MORE MCCAIN LIES: MLK, Katrina
McCain claimed to have voted against a federal holiday for MLK before changing his mind a “very short time after that.” But McCain voted against the federal holiday in 1983, opposed a state holiday in 1987 (four years later), opposed a new federal holiday in 1989 (six years later) and voted against funding for the commission established to encourage all states to recognize the King holiday in 1994—11 years after his vote. Although, when you’ve been around the block for as long as McCain has, maybe 11 years feels like a short time.
MCCAIN ON NEW ORLEANS (and the media's rush to defend him)
C&L: McCain said he didn’t know what his plans would be. “That’s why we need to go back,” he said, “to have a conversation about what to do about it. Rebuild it? Tear it down? Ya know, whatever it is.”
I would have to say that he turned his visit against himself. And what do we know, another member of McCain’s Media has jumped in to defend his honor. I give you TIME’s Michael Scherer:
Three days later, a writer for CBS News who was not traveling with the campaign, used this quote in a blog post. This was interpreted by Clinton and ACORN as a smoking gun–proof that McCain would not fund efforts to help the people of New Orleans recover. Now I was not on the bus when McCain said that quote, but I was traveling with McCain during this time. And all available evidence suggests that McCain meant something far narrower–not that he wanted to tear down the Ninth Ward, but that he wanted to speak with the people of the Ninth Ward about how they want to move forward. Why do I say this?
He was not on the Bus either (Michael must have missed some tasty doughnuts too) so instead becomes McCain’s interpreter. He writes ”All the available evidence suggests that McCain meant something narrower.” Then he proceeds to write a huge post in McCain’s defense, sort of like one of those 60 or so lobbyists McCain uses on his campaign would have penned.
OK, Michael, did he say “Tear it down?” Yes or no? It’s a simple question. He doesn’t answer that question at all in his column and that was where the criticism comes from. It’s unbelievable.
Has anyone ever seen a defense of a Democratic politician like this before from any of the Kool Kidz?
END
REPUBLICANS STOP E-VOTING REFORM BILL (a pretty weak one, but would have been better than nothing for the states and localities that want to switch to paper ballots)
C&L: Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-N.J.) Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act seemed like the kind of bill that should sail through Congress. The legislation would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines, adding safeguards to potential recounts and a layer of integrity to the election process. Indeed, Holt’s bill was so obviously worthwhile, when it came for a vote in the House Administration Committee a few weeks ago, even House Republicans voted for it — unanimously.
It was a very encouraging development. Five years ago, Holt nearly passed a similar bill, before it was blocked by far-right lawmakers. That the bill cleared committee unanimously suggested the elections in 2008 would not be marred by some of the problems we’ve seen in recent cycles. Finally, something everyone could agree on.
Or not.
[T]wo weeks later, those same Republican members voted against moving the bill to the House floor. It would have taken a two-thirds vote to push the bill to the floor; with most House Republicans opposed, the bill didn’t make it that far. […]
The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race.
IRAQIS UNITING TO…KILL AMERICANS?
l-Sadr ups the pressure in Iraq:
Under pressure from Iraqi government troops and the American military, Moktada al-Sadr called on his followers to stop the bloodshed, unite with all Iraqis and focus their firepower on driving out the “occupation forces,” meaning the United States military and its foreign allies.
He instructed his followers to “to wage open war against the Americans” but forbade them from “raising a hand against another Iraqi citizen.” He also urged the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police to stop cooperating with the Americans, and he asked the government to purge the militias within the ranks of the police and the army. He said he would oppose any American military bases in Iraq.
He also issued a “final warning” to the Iraqi government to end its crackdown or face an “open war until liberation.”…
read on
END
King Coal's Future
Coal-fired plants provide over 50 percent of the electricity in the United States and over 83 percent of the global-warming pollution from the power sector. A large coal-fired power plant emits the carbon dioxide equivalent of one million SUVs, and the United States has nearly 500 plants. Because power plants are a generational investment -- the average age of U.S. coal plants is 40 years -- the decision to construct new plants in a world at risk from global warming is monumental. NASA climatologist James Hansen argues that a "firm choice to halt building of coal-fired power plants that do not capture CO2 would be a major step toward solution of the global warming problem." In addition to the pressing issue of climate change -- exacerbated by the surge in coal-fired electricity in the developing world -- "the conventional coal fuel cycle is among the most destructive activities on earth." Coal is contaminated with toxic elements like mercury, arsenic, and lead that end up in the air, water, and soil. The costs of coal are disproportionately borne by the poor communities where it is mined and by children exposed to its pollution.
A GROWTH INDUSTRY: In the United States, "power companies have pushed to build more than 150 new coal-fired power plants." "European countries are slated to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years." "China is completing two new coal plants per week." Since the rise of the Industrial Age, economic growth has been tied to increased electricity demand. Although the price of coal, like all other commodities, is rising to record levels, its economics are attractive to companies wary of the even greater price jump in natural gas, its primary fossil fuel competitor. But part of this drive to build new plants in the United States is driven not by demand, but by political calculus. The United States is poised to join Europe in placing mandatory limits on greenhouse emissions. Electric utilities hope they can successfully lobby for existing plants to be grandfathered into a new system of regulation, as they did in 1970 with the Clean Air Act, shifting the "significant financial and environmental risk" from the companies to everyone else.
THE POLITICAL BATTLE: Public opposition to coal plants due to their mercury, acid rain, smog, and carbon emissions has helped kill 60 coal plants in the past several years. Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), the $40 million coal-industry public relations effort, is no more. In recent months, youth, environment, and health activists exposed ABEC's efforts to attack green-collar jobs and propagandize coal. ABEC and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED), the trade organization that started the front group, have now become the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Writing for Grist, Sean Casten translates the retooled message of ACCCE: "We need to burn more coal. We need taxpayers to pay for the cost of that coal. And we've got enough money to make sure it happens." Jim Rogers, President and CEO of coal-heavy Duke Energy, an ACCCE member, has become one of the most prominent industry voices calling for the regulation of global warming pollution from power plants and other sectors of the economy. In making his case for action, Rogers includes a very important caveat: regulate greenhouse gases, but regulate in a way that ensures that the American taxpayer foots the bill for cleaning up the company's aging and high-emitting power plants. The European Union this week signaled it is willing to invest government dollars into finding a possible future for coal, "pushing forward proposals for a dozen demonstration projects" of coal plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). CCS is still unproven but may be the "key enabling technology for a future in which we can continue to use our vast coal resources and also protect the climate."
ANOTHER PATH: If not hundreds of new coal plants a year, then what? Energy efficiency is the most powerful choice. A study this week by the electric utilities found that "energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce the need for new electric generation by an additional 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades." McKinsey and Co. has found that improving energy efficiency could "offset some 85 percent of the projected incremental demand for electricity in 2030, largely negating the need for incremental coal-fired plants." Even with limited public investment, renewable technology is making dramatic gains. Wind turbines, once used primarily for farms and rural houses far from electrical service, are becoming more common in heavily populated residential areas as homeowners are attracted to ease of use, financial incentives, and low environmental effects. In addition to wind turbines and solar power, which can provide increasingly inexpensive but variable power, there is a host of renewable power sources that can be used for base-load electric capacity instead of a coal-fired plant. Solar thermal systems "gather heat from the sun, boil water into steam, spin a turbine and make power," like other solar thermal plants, and are designed to store the heat for hours or even days. Geothermal and tidal power are also available technologies. Although the challenge of transitioning away from coal-fired power is monumental, the first steps are clear.
I'm still too busy to do much commentary or post major articles yet...but lots of good stuff nonetheless...
Also, check out our new site I just finished helped create: The Consumer Federation of California
"Public opinion of the [Iraq] war effort eroded when we were losing the war on the ground. Now that we're making progress, public support has rebounded."
-- Conservative commentator Max Boot, 4/23/08
VERSUS
"In this poll, 64 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting. ... It been a steady majority for nearly 3½ years, and opposition is more intense, with strong opponents of the war outnumbering strong supporters by 2-1."
-- ABC News, 4/17/08
FUN FACTS: 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets either with clinical depression of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The suicide rate of among veterans is anywhere between three and seven times higher than the rest of the country and this number of suicide attempts at a 1000 per month.
VIDEO SECTION
FROM C&L: "PBS did an excellent report on the explosive NY Times story which says: the Pentagon may influence the analysis of some retired military personnel who appear on television news programs. Oh, really? Wow, I never would have guessed. I’ve covered this scandal at length already, but since Network News refuses to comment on this report, I’ll keep pushing it. And I thank PBS for also not sticking their heads in the sand."
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/cnn-fox-and-msnbc-decline-pbs-interview-request-over-the-military-generals-scandal/
Decide for yourself…Moyers interviews Rev. Wright...the guy is right on about a whole lot of things...of course, I'll just never understand all the talk about "God"...why does a mythical old man in the sky have to be brought into the discussion about social and economic justice? Or peace versus war? But, at least people like Wright and MLK assume that if there is a God, he stands for those principles...not against them.
I do question - a little - just how much he's taking the spotlight now, though he deserves the right to defend himself against all the lies and attacks. Still, it may just cost Obama the Presidency, and it's a bit overboard, in that, he seems to be milking the limelight a bit too much, and is a little cavalier about some of the things he says about Obama in particular...almost as if there's a problem between he and Barack. More on this when I have time...
If you don't have time to watch the whole interview, check out this clip on Wright explaing his "God damn America" comment:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83691/
Here's the whole interview:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
The Daily Show continues to expose the McCain myth far better than the corporate media…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/25/draft-the-daily-show-on-mccain-the-sweet-talk-express/
Bill maher discusses sustainability, the food crisis and much more…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/real-time-with-bill-maher-on-sustainabilty/
Boston Legal clip in which the lead character tears our fascist majority in the Supreme Court…better than any politician I’ve seen do it to date. Excellent writing….
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/26/boston-legal-takes-apart-the-supreme-court/
Olbermann’s Bushed…from the abstinence only “lie”…now PROVEN…and other scandals…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/25/countdowns-bushed-shameful-silence-edition/
What possible rationalization will Hillary and her goons come up with next? As we know, apparently elected delegates aren’t what should determine the winner of the democratic nomination anymore…but now it’s the popular vote. But not your normal popular vote mind you, but instead, only the total that counts Michigan and Florida…two states ALL candidates agreed wouldn’t count.
But I will say, the way the media, the republicans, and the clintons have decided to work together in tearing down Obama...and the Wright bull shit continues to get 24/7 airplay, while nary a word about the Pentagon scandal, the global food crisis, or the Iraq War...suddenly the fascist grip on our spiraling downward country is re-establishing itself, and everything is now in doubt.
Here’s Dean trying to be diplomatic in saying…it’s the elected delegates stupid:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/27/meet-the-press-dean-on-healing-the-party/
And if you still haven't come to grips with the Clinton machine tactics, check out the latest Greenwald video on the Clinton embracement of Fox News.
"It is deeply detrimental to the longterm interests of democracy when Democrats praise and support FOX News. This would be true regardless of who that Democrat is, but it's particularly heinous when Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is singing their praises."
"Let me congratulate FOX," McAuliffe said this past week, "because you were the first ones to call [the Pennsylvania primary] for Hillary Clinton." McAuliffe, who is also chairing Clinton's Presidential committee, actually echoed the FOX mantra by calling them "fair and balanced." What is so dangerous about McAuliffe's praise is that FOX is now using his words as a TV ad to prove just how fair and balanced they are. The rest of us know the truth.
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83606/
The double talk express is in overdrive these days and there is no better example than his shameless pandering on Katrina this week…this man is a threat to our nation. You need to see the direct comparisons between what McCain is saying on Katrina versus his record…will blow your mind. Like these tidbits:
Voted against unemployment benefits for victims
Voted against any investigations into what went wrong
Voted against providing Medicaid service to victims
Was flying around with bush while new Orleans residents drowned
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/83493/
MORE MCCAIN LIES: MLK, Katrina
McCain claimed to have voted against a federal holiday for MLK before changing his mind a “very short time after that.” But McCain voted against the federal holiday in 1983, opposed a state holiday in 1987 (four years later), opposed a new federal holiday in 1989 (six years later) and voted against funding for the commission established to encourage all states to recognize the King holiday in 1994—11 years after his vote. Although, when you’ve been around the block for as long as McCain has, maybe 11 years feels like a short time.
MCCAIN ON NEW ORLEANS (and the media's rush to defend him)
C&L: McCain said he didn’t know what his plans would be. “That’s why we need to go back,” he said, “to have a conversation about what to do about it. Rebuild it? Tear it down? Ya know, whatever it is.”
I would have to say that he turned his visit against himself. And what do we know, another member of McCain’s Media has jumped in to defend his honor. I give you TIME’s Michael Scherer:
Three days later, a writer for CBS News who was not traveling with the campaign, used this quote in a blog post. This was interpreted by Clinton and ACORN as a smoking gun–proof that McCain would not fund efforts to help the people of New Orleans recover. Now I was not on the bus when McCain said that quote, but I was traveling with McCain during this time. And all available evidence suggests that McCain meant something far narrower–not that he wanted to tear down the Ninth Ward, but that he wanted to speak with the people of the Ninth Ward about how they want to move forward. Why do I say this?
He was not on the Bus either (Michael must have missed some tasty doughnuts too) so instead becomes McCain’s interpreter. He writes ”All the available evidence suggests that McCain meant something narrower.” Then he proceeds to write a huge post in McCain’s defense, sort of like one of those 60 or so lobbyists McCain uses on his campaign would have penned.
OK, Michael, did he say “Tear it down?” Yes or no? It’s a simple question. He doesn’t answer that question at all in his column and that was where the criticism comes from. It’s unbelievable.
Has anyone ever seen a defense of a Democratic politician like this before from any of the Kool Kidz?
END
REPUBLICANS STOP E-VOTING REFORM BILL (a pretty weak one, but would have been better than nothing for the states and localities that want to switch to paper ballots)
C&L: Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-N.J.) Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act seemed like the kind of bill that should sail through Congress. The legislation would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines, adding safeguards to potential recounts and a layer of integrity to the election process. Indeed, Holt’s bill was so obviously worthwhile, when it came for a vote in the House Administration Committee a few weeks ago, even House Republicans voted for it — unanimously.
It was a very encouraging development. Five years ago, Holt nearly passed a similar bill, before it was blocked by far-right lawmakers. That the bill cleared committee unanimously suggested the elections in 2008 would not be marred by some of the problems we’ve seen in recent cycles. Finally, something everyone could agree on.
Or not.
[T]wo weeks later, those same Republican members voted against moving the bill to the House floor. It would have taken a two-thirds vote to push the bill to the floor; with most House Republicans opposed, the bill didn’t make it that far. […]
The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race.
IRAQIS UNITING TO…KILL AMERICANS?
l-Sadr ups the pressure in Iraq:
Under pressure from Iraqi government troops and the American military, Moktada al-Sadr called on his followers to stop the bloodshed, unite with all Iraqis and focus their firepower on driving out the “occupation forces,” meaning the United States military and its foreign allies.
He instructed his followers to “to wage open war against the Americans” but forbade them from “raising a hand against another Iraqi citizen.” He also urged the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police to stop cooperating with the Americans, and he asked the government to purge the militias within the ranks of the police and the army. He said he would oppose any American military bases in Iraq.
He also issued a “final warning” to the Iraqi government to end its crackdown or face an “open war until liberation.”…
read on
END
King Coal's Future
Coal-fired plants provide over 50 percent of the electricity in the United States and over 83 percent of the global-warming pollution from the power sector. A large coal-fired power plant emits the carbon dioxide equivalent of one million SUVs, and the United States has nearly 500 plants. Because power plants are a generational investment -- the average age of U.S. coal plants is 40 years -- the decision to construct new plants in a world at risk from global warming is monumental. NASA climatologist James Hansen argues that a "firm choice to halt building of coal-fired power plants that do not capture CO2 would be a major step toward solution of the global warming problem." In addition to the pressing issue of climate change -- exacerbated by the surge in coal-fired electricity in the developing world -- "the conventional coal fuel cycle is among the most destructive activities on earth." Coal is contaminated with toxic elements like mercury, arsenic, and lead that end up in the air, water, and soil. The costs of coal are disproportionately borne by the poor communities where it is mined and by children exposed to its pollution.
A GROWTH INDUSTRY: In the United States, "power companies have pushed to build more than 150 new coal-fired power plants." "European countries are slated to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years." "China is completing two new coal plants per week." Since the rise of the Industrial Age, economic growth has been tied to increased electricity demand. Although the price of coal, like all other commodities, is rising to record levels, its economics are attractive to companies wary of the even greater price jump in natural gas, its primary fossil fuel competitor. But part of this drive to build new plants in the United States is driven not by demand, but by political calculus. The United States is poised to join Europe in placing mandatory limits on greenhouse emissions. Electric utilities hope they can successfully lobby for existing plants to be grandfathered into a new system of regulation, as they did in 1970 with the Clean Air Act, shifting the "significant financial and environmental risk" from the companies to everyone else.
THE POLITICAL BATTLE: Public opposition to coal plants due to their mercury, acid rain, smog, and carbon emissions has helped kill 60 coal plants in the past several years. Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), the $40 million coal-industry public relations effort, is no more. In recent months, youth, environment, and health activists exposed ABEC's efforts to attack green-collar jobs and propagandize coal. ABEC and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED), the trade organization that started the front group, have now become the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Writing for Grist, Sean Casten translates the retooled message of ACCCE: "We need to burn more coal. We need taxpayers to pay for the cost of that coal. And we've got enough money to make sure it happens." Jim Rogers, President and CEO of coal-heavy Duke Energy, an ACCCE member, has become one of the most prominent industry voices calling for the regulation of global warming pollution from power plants and other sectors of the economy. In making his case for action, Rogers includes a very important caveat: regulate greenhouse gases, but regulate in a way that ensures that the American taxpayer foots the bill for cleaning up the company's aging and high-emitting power plants. The European Union this week signaled it is willing to invest government dollars into finding a possible future for coal, "pushing forward proposals for a dozen demonstration projects" of coal plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). CCS is still unproven but may be the "key enabling technology for a future in which we can continue to use our vast coal resources and also protect the climate."
ANOTHER PATH: If not hundreds of new coal plants a year, then what? Energy efficiency is the most powerful choice. A study this week by the electric utilities found that "energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce the need for new electric generation by an additional 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades." McKinsey and Co. has found that improving energy efficiency could "offset some 85 percent of the projected incremental demand for electricity in 2030, largely negating the need for incremental coal-fired plants." Even with limited public investment, renewable technology is making dramatic gains. Wind turbines, once used primarily for farms and rural houses far from electrical service, are becoming more common in heavily populated residential areas as homeowners are attracted to ease of use, financial incentives, and low environmental effects. In addition to wind turbines and solar power, which can provide increasingly inexpensive but variable power, there is a host of renewable power sources that can be used for base-load electric capacity instead of a coal-fired plant. Solar thermal systems "gather heat from the sun, boil water into steam, spin a turbine and make power," like other solar thermal plants, and are designed to store the heat for hours or even days. Geothermal and tidal power are also available technologies. Although the challenge of transitioning away from coal-fired power is monumental, the first steps are clear.
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