Recommended Audio: GRITtv - International Women's Day
Monday, March 8 is International Women's Day, a holiday (in some countries--but not the U.S.) honoring the contributions of women around the world. While we pause to celebrate achievements, we also have to talk about how far we have yet to go to achieve true equality.
Joining Laura Flanders to talk about women around the world are Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women in Fiji. They discuss war and peace, media use, and women's rights as human rights.
Who Runs America?
Don Monkerud writes for CoutnerPunch: "Although some Americans worry about the growing power of the government, few understand the real power that controls their everyday lives. Private monopolies determine the brand of breakfast cereal we eat, the type of car we drive, where we bank, the medical treatment we receive, the fashion of our clothes, and the kind of toothbrush we use, in addition to the beer we drink, the health insurance we buy, and what we feed our pets."
Robert Rubin: Why Won't He Go Away?
Dean Baker comments for Truthout: "As Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin put in place all the pieces that set up the economy for the disaster that we are now living through. He pushed legislation that weakened regulation of the financial sector; he cheered on a stock bubble that eventually grew to $10 trillion and he established an overvalued dollar as a matter of official policy."
Want the Good Life? Your Neighbors Need It, Too
New research shows that, among developed countries, the healthiest and happiest aren't those with the highest incomes but those with the most equality. Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson discusses why.
Brooke Jarvis writes for Yes! magazine: "We live in a world of deep inequality, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. We in the rich world generally agree that this is a problem we ought to help fix—but that the real beneficiaries will be the billions of people living in poverty. After all, inequality has little impact on the lives of those who find themselves on top of the pile. Right?"
Fiction of Marjah as City Was US Information War
Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service: "For weeks, the US public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan War against what it was told was a 'city of 80,000 people' as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marjah was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centers in Helmand."
What "Government Takeover"? The bogus Republican claim that Obamacare is a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy.
Daviel Gross writes for Slate.com: "There have been lots of absurdities in the debate—such as it is—about health care reform. There's the hypocrisy of people dependent on government-run health care complaining about government-run health care. And now comes the Republican canard that the current health care reform proposal constitutes a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy. Here are Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina making precisely that argument."
We're All in this Together
Will Shonburn writes for The Daily Censored: "Maybe it comes down to something as simple as those that care and those that don’t: those who care what happens to their fellow man/woman and those who basically don’t give a damn. It sure looks that way in these political/social/cultural times, and perhaps it was always thus. Given this (granted) over-broad premise, the following over simplified proposition is proposed: Democrats care (what happens to people) and Republicans don’t. This is an observation not a statistical study, but nevertheless I maintain that it’s the truth. I’ll lay out my arguments as to why, or more accurately how, it’s manifested, played out, on the political stage, and the reader can take it or leave it."
LISTEN NOW
Surviving Without a Safety Net
Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "When I met Irv Feldman, he was hunched over a computer monitor at a state employment center, searching for a job. I soon learned he lives in a homeless shelter and his medical care, which doesn’t include hospitalization, comes from a limited county program."
I Am Angry
John Cory, Truthout: "I am angry. I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing, media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky 'inside politics' programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of 'birthers' and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine." (Image: Jared Rodriguez / truthout; Adapted: HeyThereSpaceman., unforth, D Sharon Pruitt)
Rove Protects the Rear
David Corn writes for Mother Jones: "With his soon-to-be-released book, Karl Rove is trying to mount something of a rear-guard action in the war over George W. Bush's legacy. According to the AP, which has obtained a copy of the book, Rove blames himself for not pushing back against claims that President George W. Bush had taken the country to war under false pretenses, calling it one of the worst mistakes he made during the Bush presidency. The president, he adds, did not knowingly mislead the American public about the existence of [weapons of mass destruction]."
Glenn Beck Mocks Rural Americans
Ellen at New Hounds writes: "Glenn Beck claims to love his country so much he starts crying just thinking about it. But apparently, that love does not extend to rural Americans who, because they live in areas underserved by telecommunications companies, have the nerve to be eligible for federal stimulus funds for high-speed internet they would not otherwise be able to get. Instead of offering the “we report, you decide” network’s viewers the reasons why the Obama administration feels this is necessary for rural communities and beneficial to the American economy as a whole, Beck smeared rural Americans by painting them – with his special brand of malicious humor – as inconsequential rubes sucking at the government teat (read: undeservedly spending HIS money) for better Facebook access. With video."
The Right Wing Witch Hurt Against ACORN
Katerina vanden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "After 18 months of screaming headlines and attacks vilifying the anti-poverty group ACORN--attacks reminiscent of a New McCarthyism that threatened the group's very existence--it's clear now that this was a right-wing witch-hunt which, sadly, too many Democrats and the mainstream media failed to fact-check."
The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
Michelle Alexander writes for TomDispatch.com: "Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's 'triumph over race.' Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America."
Hate 2.0: Islamaphobia and the Internet
Barnabe F. Geisweiller comments for Truthout: "In July of last year, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, organized a mass wedding celebration for hundreds of couples in the Gaza Strip. The happy adult grooms, immaculately dressed in black suits and colorful ties, received $500 each from Hamas, no small sum in the besieged territory."
Author Sasha Abramsky to Speak in Manhattan March 27
Christopher Renner writes for the Kansas Free Press: "The Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice (MAPJ) will hold their Annual Meeting and dinner on Saturday 27 March beginning with at 6:00 pm at the Holiday Inn at the Campus, 1641 Anderson Avenue in Manhattan. The MAPJ Annual Meetings are a time for the membership and progressives from the area to come together and recharge for another year. This year's keynote speaker, Sasha Abramsky, promises to challenge as well as inform those in attendance."
Our Bodies under Attack
Sheila Velazquez writes for Dissident Voice: "A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets."
Safe Meat Requires Humane Slaughter
Greg Kaufmann writes for The Nation: "That's what Dr. Dean Wyatt, whistleblower and supervisory public health veterinarian for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), told the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy chaired by Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Thursday. The hearing was held in conjunction with the release of a Government Accountability Office report on enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA), which prohibits the inhumane treatment of livestock in slaughter plants."
Growing Low-Oxygen Zones in Oceans Worry Scientists
Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers: "Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say. They warn that the oceans' complex undersea ecosystems and fragile food chains could be disrupted."
Conservative Hall of Shame: 8 Anti-Gay Politicians and Demagogues Who Got Caught Having Gay Sex
G. L. Morrison writes for AlterNet: “'I'm gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long,' said Republican Roy Ashburn, breaking the week of silence following his arrest in an interview Monday with conservative KERN (AM1180) talk radio host Inga Barks. Ashburn had hosted a talk radio show at the same station. KERN deleted his DJ page and his show's description page from their radio station's website immediately following Ashburn's arrest.”
The Moyers Legacy
The Nation editorializes: "Even in an age of old-media uncertainty, much is still made of the transfer of network anchor and host positions. Too often the discussion is purely about personality, but there's more to it than a celebrity shuffle: the character and content of programs with rich histories and the potential for crucial contributions to civic discourse are at stake. So oceans of ink are spilled when CBS shifts the news anchor chair from Dan Rather to Bob Schieffer to Katie Couric; or when Tim Russert's Meet the Press post goes to David Gregory. Unfortunately, scant attention has been paid to the coming shift of what over the past decade has become the most significant seat in broadcast journalism--the Friday night position occupied by Bill Moyers."
Four in Five Believe Web Access a Fundamental Right
Kate Holton reports for Reuters UK: "Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right -- with those feelings particularly strong in South Korea and China -- and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey."
What You Need To Know About the National Broadband Plan
Stacey Higginbotham writes for GigaOM: "The FCC will deliver its National Broadband Plan to Congress a day earlier than originally scheduled — on March 16. Also on that day, the five FCC commissioners will vote on a “mission statement” intended to represent the spirit of the submitted documents. The plan, which Congress called for as part of the stimulus package passed last year, will recommend ways to provide universal broadband access as well as encourage Congress and industry to use broadband in health care, education and energy efficiency programs."
Rebuilding Media
Michael Corcoran writes for CampusProgress.org: "There can be no denying that the state of the news media today is a full-blown crisis. Newspapers, now working with a broken economic model, are clearing out newsrooms with layoffs at a rapid rate, closing foreign and Washington bureaus, and spending less on investigative reporting. Cable news is dominated by Fox News Channel whose viewers are shown to be grossly misinformed while most TV channels focus on horserace political coverage (often with the help of corporate lobbyists serving as analysts) and trivial entertainment issues. Freelancers are paid less than ever—if at all—and prospective young journalists attending college and graduate school, while not abandoning the craft, are facing a frightening landscape to carve out careers in the field."
Capturing Media Behaving Badly
Why Internet Content Needs the World Wide Web to Be Open
Ramon Nuez writes for The Huffington Post: "The most fundamental principles of the World Wide Web are rooted in its openness. It was built on a foundation of mutual distribution of information, on a global scale. The credit for inventing the World Wide Web falls to Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee. Today Lee is Director of the W3C and Professor at MIT. During an interview with Jon Stokes of ARS Technica, Lee was quoted as saying:
Monday, March 8 is International Women's Day, a holiday (in some countries--but not the U.S.) honoring the contributions of women around the world. While we pause to celebrate achievements, we also have to talk about how far we have yet to go to achieve true equality.
Joining Laura Flanders to talk about women around the world are Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women in Fiji. They discuss war and peace, media use, and women's rights as human rights.
Who Runs America?
Don Monkerud writes for CoutnerPunch: "Although some Americans worry about the growing power of the government, few understand the real power that controls their everyday lives. Private monopolies determine the brand of breakfast cereal we eat, the type of car we drive, where we bank, the medical treatment we receive, the fashion of our clothes, and the kind of toothbrush we use, in addition to the beer we drink, the health insurance we buy, and what we feed our pets."
Robert Rubin: Why Won't He Go Away?
Dean Baker comments for Truthout: "As Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin put in place all the pieces that set up the economy for the disaster that we are now living through. He pushed legislation that weakened regulation of the financial sector; he cheered on a stock bubble that eventually grew to $10 trillion and he established an overvalued dollar as a matter of official policy."
Want the Good Life? Your Neighbors Need It, Too
Brooke Jarvis writes for Yes! magazine: "We live in a world of deep inequality, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. We in the rich world generally agree that this is a problem we ought to help fix—but that the real beneficiaries will be the billions of people living in poverty. After all, inequality has little impact on the lives of those who find themselves on top of the pile. Right?"
Fiction of Marjah as City Was US Information War
Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service: "For weeks, the US public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan War against what it was told was a 'city of 80,000 people' as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marjah was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centers in Helmand."
What "Government Takeover"? The bogus Republican claim that Obamacare is a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy.
Daviel Gross writes for Slate.com: "There have been lots of absurdities in the debate—such as it is—about health care reform. There's the hypocrisy of people dependent on government-run health care complaining about government-run health care. And now comes the Republican canard that the current health care reform proposal constitutes a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy. Here are Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana, and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina making precisely that argument."
We're All in this Together
Will Shonburn writes for The Daily Censored: "Maybe it comes down to something as simple as those that care and those that don’t: those who care what happens to their fellow man/woman and those who basically don’t give a damn. It sure looks that way in these political/social/cultural times, and perhaps it was always thus. Given this (granted) over-broad premise, the following over simplified proposition is proposed: Democrats care (what happens to people) and Republicans don’t. This is an observation not a statistical study, but nevertheless I maintain that it’s the truth. I’ll lay out my arguments as to why, or more accurately how, it’s manifested, played out, on the political stage, and the reader can take it or leave it."
Recommended Audio: Truthdig podcast - Kucinich: ‘Heads They Win, Tails We Lose’
Rep. Dennis Kucinich tells us why he isn’t buckling under pressure to vote for the president’s health care reform bill (“Every plan that’s put forth by our government ends up benefiting the health insurance industry”).LISTEN NOW
Surviving Without a Safety Net
Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "When I met Irv Feldman, he was hunched over a computer monitor at a state employment center, searching for a job. I soon learned he lives in a homeless shelter and his medical care, which doesn’t include hospitalization, comes from a limited county program."
I Am Angry
Rove Protects the Rear
David Corn writes for Mother Jones: "With his soon-to-be-released book, Karl Rove is trying to mount something of a rear-guard action in the war over George W. Bush's legacy. According to the AP, which has obtained a copy of the book, Rove blames himself for not pushing back against claims that President George W. Bush had taken the country to war under false pretenses, calling it one of the worst mistakes he made during the Bush presidency. The president, he adds, did not knowingly mislead the American public about the existence of [weapons of mass destruction]."
Glenn Beck Mocks Rural Americans
The Right Wing Witch Hurt Against ACORN
Katerina vanden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "After 18 months of screaming headlines and attacks vilifying the anti-poverty group ACORN--attacks reminiscent of a New McCarthyism that threatened the group's very existence--it's clear now that this was a right-wing witch-hunt which, sadly, too many Democrats and the mainstream media failed to fact-check."
The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
Michelle Alexander writes for TomDispatch.com: "Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's 'triumph over race.' Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America."
Hate 2.0: Islamaphobia and the Internet
Barnabe F. Geisweiller comments for Truthout: "In July of last year, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, organized a mass wedding celebration for hundreds of couples in the Gaza Strip. The happy adult grooms, immaculately dressed in black suits and colorful ties, received $500 each from Hamas, no small sum in the besieged territory."
Author Sasha Abramsky to Speak in Manhattan March 27
Our Bodies under Attack
Sheila Velazquez writes for Dissident Voice: "A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets."
Safe Meat Requires Humane Slaughter
Greg Kaufmann writes for The Nation: "That's what Dr. Dean Wyatt, whistleblower and supervisory public health veterinarian for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), told the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy chaired by Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Thursday. The hearing was held in conjunction with the release of a Government Accountability Office report on enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA), which prohibits the inhumane treatment of livestock in slaughter plants."
Growing Low-Oxygen Zones in Oceans Worry Scientists
Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers: "Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say. They warn that the oceans' complex undersea ecosystems and fragile food chains could be disrupted."
Conservative Hall of Shame: 8 Anti-Gay Politicians and Demagogues Who Got Caught Having Gay Sex
G. L. Morrison writes for AlterNet: “'I'm gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long,' said Republican Roy Ashburn, breaking the week of silence following his arrest in an interview Monday with conservative KERN (AM1180) talk radio host Inga Barks. Ashburn had hosted a talk radio show at the same station. KERN deleted his DJ page and his show's description page from their radio station's website immediately following Ashburn's arrest.”
The Moyers Legacy
Four in Five Believe Web Access a Fundamental Right
Kate Holton reports for Reuters UK: "Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right -- with those feelings particularly strong in South Korea and China -- and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey."
What You Need To Know About the National Broadband Plan
Rebuilding Media
Michael Corcoran writes for CampusProgress.org: "There can be no denying that the state of the news media today is a full-blown crisis. Newspapers, now working with a broken economic model, are clearing out newsrooms with layoffs at a rapid rate, closing foreign and Washington bureaus, and spending less on investigative reporting. Cable news is dominated by Fox News Channel whose viewers are shown to be grossly misinformed while most TV channels focus on horserace political coverage (often with the help of corporate lobbyists serving as analysts) and trivial entertainment issues. Freelancers are paid less than ever—if at all—and prospective young journalists attending college and graduate school, while not abandoning the craft, are facing a frightening landscape to carve out careers in the field."
Capturing Media Behaving Badly
Nancy Scola writes for Personal Democracy Forum: "If, somehow, you're of the opinion that that's not actual news, and that the constant loopy of such content is strangling our democracy, then do we have the site for you. Free Press, the Massachusetts-based media reform organization, has launched MediaFail.com, an experiment in online participatory advocacy. Think of it as a 2.0-ing of Atrios' Wanker of the Day, at least in the early going, when Duncan Black hit again and again on bad political reporting in the media. Free Press has added an architecture to what Black did and made it a group project. No one man can identify all the dumb things in the news, it seems."
Why Internet Content Needs the World Wide Web to Be Open
Ramon Nuez writes for The Huffington Post: "The most fundamental principles of the World Wide Web are rooted in its openness. It was built on a foundation of mutual distribution of information, on a global scale. The credit for inventing the World Wide Web falls to Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee. Today Lee is Director of the W3C and Professor at MIT. During an interview with Jon Stokes of ARS Technica, Lee was quoted as saying:
When I invented the Web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that this is going end in the USA. "
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