Clippings for 17 September 2009

The New Illiteracy in American Life: Democracy and Politics in the Age of the Spectacle
Henry A. Giroux writes for Truthout: "C. Wright Mills argued 50 years ago that one important measure of the demise of vibrant democracy and the corresponding impoverishment of political life can be found in the increasing inability of a society to translate private troubles to broader public issues. This is an issue that both characterizes and threatens any viable notion of democracy in the United States in the current historical moment."

Stop Begging Obama and Get Mad
Chris Hedges writes for Truthdig: "The right-wing accusations against Barack Obama are true. He is a socialist, although he practices socialism for corporations. He is squandering the country’s future with deficits that can never be repaid. He has retained and even bolstered our surveillance state to spy on Americans. He is forcing us to buy into a health care system that will enrich corporations and expand the abuse of our for-profit medical care. He will not stanch unemployment. He will not end our wars. He will not rebuild the nation. He is a tool of the corporate state."

Ku Klux Klowns
William Rivers Pitt writes for Truthout: "How many white, middle-aged, overweight, pissed-off right-wingers does it take to unscrew a light bulb? Depends on who you ask. Organizers for this past weekend's anti-Obama protest in Washington, DC, were slinging around crowd-size estimates of two million people before the curtain was thankfully drawn on the thing, despite the fact that the number was actually in the vicinity of 30,000."

Shots from the Tea Party
Stephanie Mencimer writes for Mother Jones: "The problem with people who march in protest of big government and taxes is that they never seem to acknowledge just how much they depend on the very government those tax dollars support. Case in point: I spent several hours Saturday attending the big “9/12” march in DC, brought to you by the same people who organized the Tax Day “tea parties” and rowdy health care town hall meetings. Tens of thousands of conservatives and libertarians fanned out across Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capitol lawn, decrying the federal stimulus package, the bailout of Wall Street, and the “czaring” or America."

Colbert Goes There - The Only Media Figure In America To Call Out Corporate Control Of Government
dday writes on Crooks and Liars: " The Colbert Report last night (Tuesday 15 September) featured one of the most subversive and brutally honest half-hours of television in recent memory. It's a sad commentary that it takes a comedy program to provide more news and information on one of the most critical subjects in American politics that anywhere else in our broken media and political landscape, but I'll take this argument wherever I can get it. Colbert spent two full segments of his show focusing on the Citizens United Supreme Court case, which could - and probably will - lead to deregulating the entire campaign finance process, allowing corporations to give unlimited money to any candidate of their choosing. This severe step backwards with enormous implications has been barely discussed in any traditional media setting, but Colbert went after it vigorously, discussing the consequences and even the flawed legal rationale, a true third rail of American politics, corporate personhood."

Obama vs. the Lobbyists
Andy Kroll writes for TomDispatch.com: "At the end of this summer of discontent, of death panels and unplugging poor Grandma, of birthers and astroturfers and rifle-toting picketers, the halcyon early days of the Obama administration feel increasingly like hazy, gilt-edged memories. The president's sprawling legislative agenda - a health-care overhaul, financial regulation reform, slashing wasteful military spending, and climate change legislation legislation - is slowly grinding its way through the halls of Congress. Barack Obama's sheen, his administration's unflagging confidence, and all the bipartisan, post-racial aspirations have been replaced by the hard realities of Washington politicking. And with the media's lens more tightly focused than ever on Washington's every move and utterance 24/7, anything said a few months back feels like a lifetime ago."

Cheney and Rumsfeld's "Close Friend" Throws Out Suit Against Alleged Abu Ghraib Torturers
Jeremy Scahill reports on the Rebel Reports: "On September 11, the US appeals court for the District of Columbia announced in a 2-1 decision that it was throwing out a lawsuit against CACI International and L-3 Communications Titan unit, which are being sued by Iraqi civilians for their alleged role in the torture and abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison. The companies provided interrogators at the prison at the height of the abuses there. The suit alleges that employees of the companies conspired with US. Army reservist Charles Graner, who was convicted of prisoner abuse on January 14, 2005 and is currently serving 10 years at Fort Leavenworth, and others to torture prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Several of the plaintiffs are Iraqis whose torture was depicted in graphic photos revealed over the past several years."

US Justice Department Wants Surveillance Methods Extended
Jeremy Pelofsky reports for Reuters: "The Obama administration has asked the U.S. Congress to extend three surveillance techniques for intelligence agencies tracking suspected militants that expire this year, according to a letter to lawmakers. Approved after the September 11 attacks in 2001 at the request of the Bush administration, techniques such as roving wiretaps and accessing all kinds of personal records drew criticism from civil liberties groups and some lawmakers who said they were unconstitutional and violated privacy rights."

One Year of Bankster Bailouts and Meltdown Madness
John Nichols writes for The Nation: "But this is the anniversary of the collapse of the house of cards that was Lehman Brothers. One year ago today, the economic time bomb that George Bush and Dick Cheney had spent two terms constructing – on a platform of deregulations furnished by Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich – blew up. The explosion created the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. And it sent unemployment rates soaring to the highest levels in a quarter century"

A Factory Like a City
David Bacon writes for Truthout: "Last month, Toyota announced it would close the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California, after General Motors announced it was withdrawing from the partnership under which the plant has operated for over two decades. The plant employs 4,500 workers directly, and the jobs of another 30,000 throughout Northern California are dependent on its continued operation. Taking families into account, the threatened closure will eliminate the income of over 100,000 people."

Michael Moore's Smash and Grab
Mark Weisbrot writes for Guardian UK: "When I first met Michael Moore more than 20 years ago he was showing a half-finished documentary to a few dozen people in a classroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was funny and poignant and had a powerful message. He had taken a second mortgage on his house – equipment for filmmaking was a lot more expensive back then – and raised some money from like-minded locals for a long-shot venture. We all loved what he showed us but thought he would be lucky if a few thousand people got to see it."

Recommended Audio: As Obama Escalates War in Afghanistan, US Peace Activists Call for Near-Term Withdrawal of Foreign Troops
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!: "The coming weeks hold critical significance for the US occupation of Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to vote on the Obama administration's $128 billion request to fund war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for the coming fiscal year. Next week, the Obama administration will unveil a report on whether US benchmarks for success in Afghanistan are being achieved. It's widely believed President Obama will receive a military request to escalate the Afghan war with thousands of additional troops. The apparent congressional unease over a troop escalation comes near Friday's eight-year anniversary of the vote authorizing the attack on Afghanistan. We speak to Norman Solomon of the Institute for Public Accuracy on his recent trip to Afghanistan and CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin."

Democracy and Action in Afghanistan
James Foley writes for In These Times: "As gunshots rang out from the mountain tops of the Dewegal Valley in eastern Afghanistan, men voted under the shade of trees next to their village's mosque. Heads turned upward whenever a heavy shell or particularly loud burst echoed, but the voters appeared in no hurry to leave. This was supposed to be their election, after all."

Homeland Security Marked by Waste, Lack of Oversight
G. W. Schultz reports for the Center for Investigative Reporting: "
Soon after hijackers obliterated the World Trade Center towers eight years ago, Marin County received more than $100,000 in surveillance equipment to keep its water treatment system safe from a terrorist attack. But four years after the funds were awarded, state authorities found more than $67,000 worth of the gear still boxed in its original packaging. It had never been used."

The F-22 Lives On
Andy Kroll writes for Mother Jones: "You've got to hand it to defense contractor Lockheed Martin and its F-22 Raptor fighter jet: The much maligned, headline-grabbing plane will not go away.  The latest news on the F-22 beat is that the Senate is trying to sidestep a decade-old law to allow Lockheed to develop and export a version of the F-22 to be sold outside the US. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to insert language in its 2010 defense spending bill allowing the DOD to "conduct or participate in studies, research, design and other activities to define and develop an export version of the F-22A." Earlier last week, the same committee agreed to end F-22 production for domestic use at 187 planes after a protracted battle between the Obama administration and lawmakers in Congress on whether to extend the production run of F-22s or not. Lockheed also lobbied hard for continuing F-22 production by citing the number of jobs the plane created nationwide."

Jimmy Carter Tackles anti-Obama Racism
Devona Walker writes for The Loop: "Former President Jimmy Carter recently called America out for its current race-driven insanity. The far right has, as expected, been crying bloody murder."

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American," Carter told NBC Nightly News. "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that shares the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans."

Why is Glenn Beck Collecting Black Scalps?
Devona Walker writes for The Loop: "After a full-on assault, for more than a year now, Glenn Beck has finally gotten the goods on the community organizing group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.) Conservative activist James O’Keepe walked into ACORN’s Baltimore office posing as a pimp with a prostitute in tow and got some tax-evading advice from an ACORN staff member. In the video below, O’Keefe claimed he wanted to buy a house and was trying to figure out a way of accounting for his 'ho’s' income. The employee told the woman to list her occupation as 'performance artist.'”

Druge Has Lost His Touch
Ethan Poter writes for the Columbia Journalism Review: "If you visited the Drudge Report on July 1, you’d be forgiven for thinking that nothing had changed. A BILLION THANKS FOR MAKING JUNE 2009—TOP JUNE IN DRUDGE REPORT’S 14 YEAR HISTORY!? PAGE HIT 675,406,735 VIEWS FROM 129,922,878 VISITS … TRAFFIC ROSE 21% FOR MONTH OVER YEAR AGO blared the headline on the right of the home page. Matt Drudge’s Web site appeared to be chugging along, sinking its teeth into the news cycle just like it used to."

We Can't Afford Health Care? You Lie!
Tom H. Hastings comments for Truthout: "We see the spectacle of the US Congress unable to manage decent health care reform that will actually enable the American citizenry to join the rest of the industrialized world in having health care for all. The problems, it is clear, come from those who are lying."

Baucus Releases Health Care Blueprint With No Public Option

David Lightman reports for McClatchy Newspapers: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled on Wednesday an $856 billion plan to overhaul the nation's health care system that includes taxes on high-end insurance policies and incentives to create health care co-ops around the nation, but not the public option that President Barack Obama has sought."

Conrad Praises Baucus Bill which Contains Co-ops He Proposed after Meeting with UnitedHealth Group

Zaid Jilani writes for Think Progress: "After months of legislative deliberation aimed at forging a bipartisan health care bill that began by ejecting single-payer advocates from his hearing room, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) unveiled his committee’s health care bill today with zero Republican support. Baucus’s bill — which former Cigna executive Wendell Potter has referred to as “an absolute gift” to the health insurance industry — includes no public option, an individual insurance mandate, and the creation of health care co-ops."

CBO: Public Option Would Reduce Premiums Across the Board
Jonathan Walker writes for The Campaign For America's Future: "The CBO recently published a new letter on health care reform. They were asked to evaluate the impact of the weak (level playing field) public option in the Senate HELP committee's bill. Their conclusion was that the competitive pressure from the public option 'would probably lower private premiums in the insurance exchanges to a small degree,' and with a public plan in the exchange, 'the costs and premiums of competing private plans would, on average, be slightly lower than if no public plan was available.' By reducing the cost of buying private insurance on the exchange, a public plan 'would tend to lower federal subsidy payments through the exchanges.'"

Pentagon Study Proposes Overhaul of Defense Base Act to Cover Care for Injured Contractors

T. Christian Miller reports for ProPublica: "Congress could save as much as $250 million a year through a sweeping overhaul of the controversial US system to care for civilian contractors injured in war zones, according to a new Pentagon study."

Doctors Warm of Global Health Catastrophe Unless Climate Change is Fixed
The Telegraph (UK) reports: "But taking steps to cut the world's carbon emissions, such as eating less meat and switching to cleaner energy, will have benefits for people's health, an editorial published in both the Lancet and British Medical Journal (BMJ) said."

Census Count of Same-Sex Couples to Stir Policy Fights
Carol Morello reports for the Washington Post: "When the U.S. Census Bureau counts same-sex married couples next year, demographers expect hundreds of thousands to report they are spouses -- even though legal same-sex weddings in the United States number in the tens of thousands. Gay advocates say they plan to use A Census that Reflects America's Population, as the Census Bureau calls its plan to report same-sex marriage statistics, to push for legislative and policy initiatives, while groups opposed to same-sex marriage weigh a counteroffensive."

Mainstream Media Missing the Point of Participatory Journalism
Alfred Hermida writes for MediaShift (PBS):"The ability of anyone to play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and sharing news and information is seen as one of the big shifts in journalism over the past 10 years. But a growing body of research suggests that the advent of participatory journalism, or user-generated content (UGC), has done little to change the way the media works. At the recent Future of Journalism conference at Cardiff University, academics presented a series of studies that further illustrated how the mainstream media is trying to tame the phenomenon.

Clippings for 13 September 2009

How 9/11 Should Be Remembered
Rebecca Solnit writes for TomDispatch.com: "Eight years ago, 2,600 people lost their lives in Manhattan, and then several million people lost their story. The al-Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers did not defeat New Yorkers. It destroyed the buildings, contaminated the region, killed thousands, and disrupted the global economy, but it most assuredly did not conquer the citizenry. They were only defeated when their resilience was stolen from them by clichés, by the invisibility of what they accomplished that extraordinary morning, and by the very word 'terrorism,' which suggests that they, or we, were all terrified. The distortion, even obliteration, of what actually happened was a necessary precursor to launching the obscene response that culminated in a war on Iraq, a war we lost (even if some of us don't know that yet), and the loss of civil liberties and democratic principles that went with it."

Are We Safer than We Were Eight Years Ago?
Patrick Smith writes for Salon.com: "I'm old enough to remember Moammar Gadhafi being interviewed by Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes." It was the late 1970s. I was 13, maybe 14. Then and now, the thing about Gadhafi is that you want to like and respect him. If nothing else, his posing and preening add flash and charisma to the world stage. And how can you not appreciate a world leader so true to his Bedouin roots that he conducts state business in a tent?"

Barack Can't Speak to School Children? Why?
Dr. Ron Walters writes for The Black Commentator: "President Barack Obama wanted to do what he and his staff probably thought was an innocuous and very positive gesture – send a message to school kids at their institutions that it was a good thing for them to study hard and stay in school because their future and the future of the nation depended on it. The uproar that this has caused has also shocked and embarrassed many people who not understand why the President of the United States cannot even deliver such a positive message to children without the hard politicization of the event."

The Perfect Storm of Idiocy
Joe Conason writes for Truthdig: "The wild furor over President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren raises many questions, but there is only one that really matters. How did America surrender its political discourse—not to mention the news cycle—to the most unreasonable and unstable elements of the far right?"

Do We Get the Leaders We Deserve?
Denis Loo writes for Daily Censored: "The notion that the people get the leaders (and system) they deserve is a common, oft-repeated one. It’s really a restatement of what some scholars call the democracy-at-work thesis: the people collectively and democratically decide who will lead them. Hence, the leaders at any given point in time are the ones that the people chose"

Health Reform and Illegal Immigration: The Truth
Froma Harrop comments for Truthout: "In their tireless efforts to kill health care reform, right-wingers have fanned fears that it would attract illegal aliens. This sideshow is rather twisted because, actually, the reforms would do the opposite. They would help curb illegal immigration. Start with Canada to see how this works. Canadians have universal coverage, a big immigration program and almost no undocumented workers. These things are not unrelated. Government-guaranteed medical care is a big reason why Canada doesn't tolerate illegal immigration. No country can long afford a large subclass of poor workers that pays little in taxes and collects full benefits."

War Drums Begin Beating in Washington

Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe report for Inter Press Service: "As nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West continue to move slowly, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure from what appears to be a concerted lobbying and media campaign urging him to act more aggressively to stop Iran's nuclear programme."

Health Care vs. Warfare: The Future Costs of the Afghanistan War

Jeff Leys writes for Truthout: "On Wednesday, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on health care. Later this year, he will decide whether to deploy additional troops to the war in Afghanistan on top of the 69,000 troops already deployed. The struggle for health care and the struggle to end warfare are inextricably linked."

Still Homeless, Still Struggling in New Orleans

Jordan Flaherty writes for Counter Punch: "Crawling through a hole in a fence and walking through an open doorway, Shamus Rohn and Mike Miller lead the way into an abandoned Midcity hospital. They are outreach workers for the New Orleans organization UNITY for the Homeless, and they do this all day long; searching empty houses and buildings for homeless people, so they can offer services and support. “We joke about having turned criminal trespass into a fulltime job,” says Rohn."

The Melting Climate Change Deadline

Rachel Morris reports for Mother Jones: "Does cap-and-trade climate change legislation belong on the endangered species list? President Obama wanted to sign a measure before the international climate talks in Copenhagen in December. The House passed the Waxman-Markey bill in June, and Senate majority leader Harry Reid set a firm timetable for the Senate to follow suit. But now the Senate has jettisoned its deadline for the bill, and momentum to quickly pass legislation appears to be vanishing."

A Speech Even Insurance Companies Could Love

Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig: "President Barack Obama’s health care reform speech to Congress Wednesday night was impassioned. But the real tip-off on the shape of a final bill could be found on Page A15 of the morning’s Wall Street Journal in an advertisement by insurance industry giants Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The ad, “Healthcare Reform That Works for Everyone,” was placed by the BlueCross BlueShield Association, an organization of 45 insurance companies around the country with more than 80 million customers. The association is a major player in the Capitol. OpenSecrets.org., part of the reformist Center for Responsive Politics, says that in 2008 and 2010 the association gave $3.16 million to congressional candidates, $1.64 million to Democrats and $1.53 million to Republicans."

Republican Politicans Have No Empathy
Joe Conason writes for Salon.com: "In the lyrical conclusion of President Obama's speech on healthcare, he talked about the emotions and experiences that drove his late friend Sen. Edward Kennedy to work so tirelessly and passionately for universal coverage. He tried to describe what Kennedy must have felt as two of his children suffered through bouts of cancer. Ordeals such as those, said the president, had helped Kennedy to understand the "sheer terror and helplessness" of parents whose children are stricken by serious disease, and lack the means to save them."

In the Real World, Health Is a Human Right
Mort Rosenblum reports for GlobalPost: "In Beijing, a 50-cent walk-in EKG determined my killer chest pain was no more than a strained muscle complicated by bad dumplings. In Paris, six weeks of hospital tests and enough meds to choke a moose found an ugly lung shadow was only Balkan pneumonia. The bills came to $1,500, doctors included. And if I’d been on Chinese or French national health plans, I would have been spared even those charges. Nearly every society on earth — socialist, fascist or anything in between — regards not dying needlessly for lack of medical care as the most basic of human rights."

Inside the Mind of Joe Wilson
Richard Benjamin writes for Salon.com: "When he called the president a liar, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., apparently "forgot" he wasn't at one of those rowdy town halls.
Besides the show of disrespect, and the fact that he was wrong, the legislator's comments expose a virulent racism and paranoia against undocumented workers. As we enter Hispanic Heritage Month, America would do well to examine the legislator's political paranoia instead of rehashing his churlish, attention-seeking outburst. The legislator's behavior is uncommon, but his attitude is not."

The Tea Party Teapot Tempest Rages On
Simon Molay writes for Media Matters for America: "It's fitting that a week that began with conservatives warning about the president indoctrinating schoolchildren would end with those same conservatives acting like schoolchildren in the face of perceived indoctrination. Leading up to President Obama's September 8 back-to-school address to our nation's students, the conservative media loudly voiced their opposition to the speech, insisting that the president was recruiting children to his political goals and conscripting them into his civilian army. Of course, when none of that happened and Obama delivered the speech he intended to deliver, conservatives still managed to declare victory, claiming -- with an admitted lack of evidence and an implied lack of sense -- that the White House had secretly changed the speech in response to their heroic exposé of Obama's attempt to corrupt the minds of the youth."

The Wing-Nut Code: What Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin Are Really Saying to Their Followers
Adele Stan writes for AlterNet: "When Glenn Beck offers an odd-looking icon for his 9-12 Project, or Sarah Palin says something about her native state that sounds a bit to off-kilter to the ears of those in the lower 48, it's tempting to think, well, they're just nuts.  Perhaps they are, but that's beside the point. The point is that when Beck throws up a graphic of a segmented snake as his project's mascot, or Palin speaks of her native land as the "sovereign" state of Alaska, they're blowing a kind of dog-whistle for the armed and paranoid who make up the right-wing, neo-militia 'Patriot' movement and the broader "Tea Party" coalition."

For Wage-Earning Women a 21st Century Answer
Glenda Holste reports for The Women's Media Center: "The 127th Labor Day in the United States arrives on Monday with women still having the most to gain from belonging to a union. The struggle for fair pay, work-life balance, healthy and safe work conditions, and against discrimination has brought forth women leaders throughout the nation’s history." 

National Equality March: Are You Happy?
David Mixner comments on his blog: "Are you really happy with the progress we have made over the last eight months with this Administration and Congress? Are you really happy with the progress we have made on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)? Do you think that the leaders of our political parties have embraced marriage equality and our God given rights, benefits and protections that come with it? Are you content, relaxed and happy with where we are at this moment in history in the struggle for freedom?"
 

Think Again: Why Can't the Media Explain Our Woes

Eric Alterman writes for the Center for American Progress: "The most moving part of President Barack Obama’s powerful speech Wednesday night was undoubtedly the letter from which he read, sent to him from “our beloved friend and colleague” Ted Kennedy. Kennedy had asked, back in May when he wrote it, that the letter should not be opened until after his death. As Obama reported, Kennedy “expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform—‘that great unfinished business of our society,’ he called it—would finally pass,” and in doing so, define “the character of our country.” Indeed, it is amazing that while Kennedy served for more than four decades in the Senate and dedicated much of his energy and superb legislative skills to the passage of just such a program, the problem has only gotten worse over time."

A Line in the Sand Against Beck

James Rucker writes for Jack & Jill Politics: "Watching the Glenn Beck show this past month, one might have assumed that Van Jones had assaulted Beck, insulted his wife, and stolen his kids’ lunch money. Beck devoted time on a whopping 16 shows to crafting a distorted, despicable portrait of Van that few who know him would recognize. As political smears go, it was as serious as it gets."

10 Sept 09 - CCHW, Sex Ed @ ECM, Aggiefest

Community Bridge welcomes back Doug Benson and Bea Stoney of Community Cultural Harmony Week's planning committee to discuss this year's planned activities. CCHW will take place the week of September 20th. For the complete calendar visit: http://www.k-state.edu/cchw.

Then we will hear from Rev. David Jones of Ecumenical Campus Ministry about a human sexuality course being offer to K-State students beginning on September 14th. The nine-week, non-credit course will be taught by Dr. David E. Thompson, KSU Department of Family Studies and Human Services. For more information contact Rev. David Jones at: dajones@ksu.edu.

Finally we will close out this week's show with a return of the ever popular Evan Tuttle, Manhattan Music Coalition, to talk about the up-coming "4th Annual Multi-Genre Live Music Festival" otherwise known as Aggiefest, September 18 & 19, 2009, in Aggieville.

MP3 File

Clippings for 10 Setpember 2009

Who are the Wealth Creators?

Michael Lind writes for Salon.com: "Today is Labor Day, when we celebrate the wealth destroyers – at least if the libertarian right is to be believed. According to many free-market conservatives, economic growth is almost exclusively the result of investment decisions by a small number of rich individuals – the "wealth creators." The wealth creators, according to the conservative press, are constantly being threatened from above by government, which seeks to destroy wealth by taxation, and from below by workers, particularly those organized into unions, who threaten to destroy wealth by insisting that capitalists share a decent amount of their profits with employees. The entire basis of conservative "trickle-down" economics is the idea that the economy will grow faster if the supposed wealth creators keep more of the profits of private enterprise, with less going to taxes and worker compensation."

The Virtues of Deglobalization
Walden Bello writes in Foreign Policy In Focus: "The current global downturn, the worst since the Great Depression 70 years ago, pounded the last nail into the coffin of globalization. Already beleaguered by evidence that showed global poverty and inequality increasing, even as most poor countries experienced little or no economic growth, globalization has been terminally discredited in the last two years. As the much-heralded process of financial and trade interdependence went into reverse, it became the transmission belt not of prosperity but of economic crisis and collapse."

It Could be the End of Our Democracy as We Know It
E. J. Dionne writes for Truthdig.com: "President Barack Obama’s health care speech on Wednesday will be only the second most consequential political moment of the week.  Judged by the standard of an event’s potential long-term impact on our public life, the most important will be the argument before the Supreme Court (on the same day, as it happens) about a case that, if decided wrongly, could surrender control of our democracy to corporate interests."

A 9/11 Reality Check
Robert Scheer writes for Truthdig.com: "What if eight years ago the World Trade Center had been leveled by a small nuclear bomb that took out most of lower Manhattan as well? How many millions of innocent civilians would we have killed in retaliation? Would we still be a free society, or would Dick Cheney have attained the power of a demented king, having moved on from snooping on our phone calls and outing honest CIA agents to destroying the last vestiges of the rule of law?"

How Dick Cheney's Radical Acts in the White House Still Treaten Our Democracy
David Swanson writes for Alternert: "The following is an excerpt from David Swanson's new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union (Seven Stories, 2009), drawn from Chapter 8: "The Cheney Branch on Dick Cheney's power grab and radical transformation of the vice presidency during Bush's presidency. 

"On the same day that the CIA announced it will soon release hundreds of pages of once-classified documents that detail some of the agency's most closely guarded -- and controversial -- secrets of old, it was revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney has been resisting even his own Executive Branch's efforts to find out what kind of secret material his office has been stashing away over the last four years."

Recommended Audio - Democracy Now: Back to School: Military Recruiters Increasingly Targeting High School Teens

As millions of students prepare for the start of another school year, we focus on an issue that concerns many parents: the increasing presence of military recruiters in the nation’s high schools and the military’s ability to gather information about students. We speak with journalist David Goodman about his Mother Jones article “A Few Good Kids?” and with the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Ari Rosmarin, who works on the organization’s Project on Military Recruitment and Students’ Rights.

With US Forces in Iraq Beginning to Leave, Need for Private Guards Grows
Walter Pincus reports for The Washington Post: "As the United States withdraws its combat forces from Iraq, the government is hiring more private guards to protect U.S. installations at a cost that could near $1 billion, according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. On Sept. 1, the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) awarded contracts expected to be worth $485 million over the next two years to five firms to provide security and patrol services to U.S. bases in Iraq."

Think Vietnam Vets Were Screwed?
Penny Coleman writes for AlterNet: "Gordy Lane is a retired Syracuse police detective who served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. As a cop, it was his job to put lawbreakers behind bars, but as a veteran, he understands that when you go to war, 'you come back a little different than when you went over there.' 'Listen,' he says, 'you pop up out of a foxhole, and you blow a guy's head open like a watermelon. The other two guys in the foxhole start patting you on the back and saying, "Good job!" because you just did the worst thing that you can do to another person. How do you translate that into civilian life?' For far too many soldiers, the simple answer is, you don't." 

Censorship American Style: Hide the US War Dead from the American People

Dlindoff writes for This Can't Be Happening: "The Obama administration's freak out, as expressed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, over the Associated Press Agency's belated circulation of a photograph of a dying US soldier in Afghanistan, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard, is the latest of example of the hypocrisy of US authorities who claim to be concerned about the feelings of American military families, while really simply desiring to censor the war's horrors from the eyes of the American people."

Dr. Evil's Payday
Daniel Schulman writes for MotherJones: "Early one morning in late April, as the Today Show broadcast live from Rockefeller Center, a group of onlookers gave Matt Lauer a T-shirt emblazoned with the Web address Econ4U.org. "Scored a T-shirt here from these folks promoting economic literacy, which is really nice," the good-natured anchor said, displaying the shirt to nearly 6 million viewers. Little did Lauer know, but he'd been duped into providing that free advertising for a group that promotes payday lending—an industry long accused of preying on low-income Americans with short-term loans carrying huge interest rates."

The Murtha Method
The Center for Public Integrity: "For months, a cloud has swirled around Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and the relationship that Murtha and other subcommittee members had with the PMA Group, a lobbying firm filled with former subcommittee aides. Murtha and fellow panel members Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) steered a host of earmarks to PMA clients, and those clients and PMA staffers gave campaign contributions to the lawmakers. Aspects of those relationships are the subject of a Justice Department probe, which is thought to be looking at whether there were explicit quid pro quo exchanges of favors for cash, which would make crimes out of relationships that are otherwise legal." 

More People in the US Lack Health Insurance: Census 

Reuters reports: "The number of people living in the United States without health insurance rose to 46.3 million in 2008 from 45.7 million a year earlier, a U.S. Census Bureau official said on Thursday.  David Johnson, who heads the Census Bureau's housing and household economic statistics division, told a telephone conference the data were collected in March of 2008 -- before the sharp economic downturn in the latter part of the year which saw many more people lose jobs and health insurance."

Recommended Audio - Democracy Now: “California’s Real Death Panels”–Data Reveals California’s Private Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
President Obama begins his final drive for healthcare reform tonight with a nationally televised prime-time address to a joint session of Congress. His speech comes after an explosive August recess consumed by raucous town halls and talk of government-run “death panels.” We take a look at California’s “real death panels.” That’s what the nation’s largest nurses group is calling private insurers, as new data reveals they denied one of every five claims over the past seven years. We speak with Charles Idelson of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Mr. President, It's Time to Fight
Bill Moyers writes for Salon.com: "The editors of the Economist magazine say America's healthcare debate has become a touch delirious, with people accusing each other of being evil-mongers, dealers in death, and un-American. Well, that's charitable. I would say it's more deranged than delirious, and definitely not un-American."

Baucus May Move Health Bill Without Republicans
Donna Smith and David Alexandaer report for Reuters:  "The Democratic U.S. senator leading an effort to write a bipartisan healthcare reform bill said on Wednesday he was ready to move forward without Republican support, but still hoped for a deal.  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said his plan would be similar to one he discussed over the weekend, which included sweeping insurance market changes and a fee on companies to help pay for the uninsured." 

Food is Power and the Powerful are Poising Us
Chris Hedges writes for Tuthdig.com:  "Our most potent political weapon is food. If we take back our agriculture, if we buy and raise produce locally, we can begin to break the grip of corporations that control a food system as fragile, unsafe and destined for collapse as our financial system. If we continue to allow corporations to determine what we eat, as well as how food is harvested and distributed, then we will become captive to rising prices and shortages and increasingly dependent on cheap, mass-produced food filled with sugar and fat. Food, along with energy, will be the most pressing issue of our age. And if we do not build alternative food networks soon, the social and political ramifications of shortages and hunger will be devastating."

The Nightmare of Christianity
Max Blumenthal from his new book: Republican Gommorah: "A few miles down the road from Colorado Springs [a home to James Dobson's Focus on the Family], in the quiet bedroom community of Eldredge, a deeply disturbed young man named Matthew Murray followed the unfolding debacle at New Life Church [once under the stewardship of Pastor Ted Haggard] with an interest that bordered on obsession. Murray, a sallow-faced, bespectacled 24-year-old, had been indelibly scarred by a lifetime of psychological abuse at the hands of his charismatic Pentecostal parents. Murray's mind became crowded with thoughts of death, destruction, and the killings he would soon carry out in the name of avenging what he called his 'nightmare of Christianity.'"

‘Family Values’ California Politician Caught Bragging About His ‘Sexual Conquests’ With Married Lobbyists

Brad Johnson reports for Think Progress: "A 'family values' California legislator has been caught on tape bragging about having sex in his office with two different women, both married and both lobbyists. Michael Duvall, who sits on the 'Rules Committee that oversees member ethics,' was recorded at a public hearing by a committee room microphone he evidently did not realize was turned on. KCAL-9 reporter Dave Lopez revealed yesterday that Republican Michael Duvall, a two-time assemblyman representing Yorba Linda who is married with two grown children, was recorded “talking about a very sensitive subject into a hot microphone without realizing it..."

The toxicity of truth: White House fails to innoculate itself against rage of the paranoid right

Dan Kennedy writes for the Media Channel: "The fall of Van Jones is an example of the White House failing to innoculate itself against the rage of the paranoid right Fellow liberals, let’s be honest with ourselves. For weeks, the race-baiting right-winger Glenn Beck and his ilk had been gunning for Van Jones, a highly respected White House adviser on green jobs whose former organization, Colour of Change, is a leading force behind an advertiser boycott of Beck’s programme on the Fox News channel.

Clippings for 6 September 2008

What Workers Face this Labor Day

Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Nate Carlile, and Zaid Jilani write for The Progres Report at Think Progress: "On Monday, President Obama will celebrate America's 127th Labor Day by giving a speech on "jobs, the economy and maybe a little health care" at the annual AFL-CIO picnic in Cincinnati, OH. Despite positive indications that the U.S. economy is beginning to "climb out of the worst recession in decades," Obama's speech will come at a difficult time for America's workers as job losses continue. In the current recession, 6.7 million jobs have been lost through July, with another 216,000 jobs lost in August. Even those who are still working are facing significant challenges. Earlier this week, a new report financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes, and Russell Sage Foundations found that labor protections in America "are failing significant numbers of workers." According to the survey, which was "the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade," 68 percent of the low wage workers who were interviewed said they were subjected to pay violations in their previous work week alone. This included 26 percent who were paid less than the minimum wage and 76 percent who didn't receive legally required overtime pay. In all, the researchers discovered that "the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339," adding up to a 15 percent loss in pay. The report "clearly shows we still have a major task before us," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a statement, promising that the Department of Labor in the Obama administration "will be marked by an emphasis on the protection" of the rights of America's workers."

Bill Moyers: Uncivil Discourse

Bill Moyers comments on the Bill Moyers Journal: "Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should have said it's the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers - we're the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today's talk radio."

Progressives Pay the Price for Confusing a Party with a Movement

David Sirota writes for Truthdig.com: "The difference between parties and movements is simple: Parties are loyal to their own power regardless of policy agenda; movements are loyal to their own policy agenda regardless of which party champions it. This is one of the few enduring political axioms, and it explains why the organizations purporting to lead an American progressive “movement” have yet to build a real movement, much less a successful one."

Insist That Democrats Invoke Majority Rule in the Senate

Bernie Horn writes for The Campaign for America's Future: "It has come to this: Americans cannot get the health care reform we need without using the 'reconciliation' process in the U.S. Senate. We can't get 60 votes. Senator Kennedy's seat will remain vacant for 5 months. Senator Byrd remains very ill. A handful of 'moderate' Democrats and Republicans stand in the way of achieving cloture. It's time to craft and pass a bill that requires a majority vote."

 

Recommended Reading: Republican Gomorrah

Nation Books announces the release of Republican Gomorrah, award-winning journalist and videographer Max Blumenthal's heralded debut. As Ambassador Joe Wilson puts it, this muckracking tour de force is "a powerful study of right-wing extremism, replete with perversions perpetrated on all Americans in the name of the Culture Wars."

Republican Gomorrah exposes the deep dysfunction transforming modern conservative thought and party organization. It shows how establishment Republicans like John McCain have to bow to extreme forces from the Christian Right if they are to have any hope of running for office.

The book also explores how an alarming number of the movement's leading figures have more in common than just the power they command within conservative ranks. Their personal lives have been stained by crisis and scandal: depression, mental illness, extramarital affairs, struggles with homosexual urges, heavy medication, addiction to pornography, serial domestic abuse, and even murder. Using the work of psychologist Erich Fromm as a framework, Blumenthal examines how such histories compel these right-wingers to embrace an authoritarian ethos.

An impossible-to-put-down account, Republican Gomorrah shows us how a culture of personal crisis has defined the radical Right, how it has transformed the nature of the Republican Party for the next generation and how it has helped shape the future of American politics.

Executives at Financial Firms Who Received Bailout Funds Get Big Salaries, Report Says

Diane Stafford reports for The Kansas City Star: "Chief executives of the top 20 financial firms that received taxpayer bailout funds averaged $13.78 million in personal compensation last year, according to a report released today."

Is America Ready to Admit Defeat in Its 40-Year War on Drugs

Ed Vulliamy reports for the Guardian UK: "Bruno Avangera, a 40-year-old web designer from Tucumán in Argentina, pauses to relight a half-smoked joint of cannabis. Then he speaks approvingly of "progress and the right decision" by the country's seven supreme court judges, who decided last week that prosecuting people for the private consumption of small amounts of narcotics was unconstitutional."

Ashcroft Can Be Sued Over Jailing "Witnesses"

Bob Egelko reports for The San Francisco Chronicle: "Former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be sued for damages for ordering Muslims jailed as material witnesses in criminal cases, allegedly as a pretext to investigate their possible links to terrorism, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday."

Whistleblower Out After Embassy Expose

Roxana Tiron reports for The Hill: "A whistleblower was forced to resign after he helped a government watchdog organization expose the scandalous behavior of security contractors guarding the U.S. Embassy in Kabul." 

Why the Wars Roll on

Ralph Lopez comments for Truthout: "As public opinion tips against the US military presence in Afghanistan, and Congress talks about 'doubling down,' as the pullout from Iraq is accompanied by steadily increasing violence, and talk turns to slowing or halting the pull-out, the question the anti-war public must ask itself is: What now? War funding for Iraq continues despite two consecutive Democratic majorities elected expressly to stop it ... Very few people know that on average 80 percent of their Congress members' and senators' campaign funds come from outside the district, and largely from outside the state. They come from industries like defense, telecommunications and financial services. What do they get for these contributions, even in cases when the Congress member votes against those contributors' positions on certain bills?"

Afghanistan for Dummies

Former Community Bridge guest, Ray McGovern comments for Truthout: "I'm going to ask for my money back. I've seen this Afghanistan movie before. The first time, Vietnam was in the title. As in an early scene from the Vietnam version, U.S. military officials are surprised to discover that the insurgents in Afghanistan are stronger than previously realized." 

Afghanistan Isn't Worth One More American Life

Joseph L. Galloway comments for the McClatchy Newspapers: "The debate over our creeping military mission in distant Afghanistan grows ever hotter, and before we march even deeper into trouble, perhaps it’s time to dig out the old Powell Doctrine and answer the eight questions it poses."

Erasing Katrina: Four years on, media mostly neglect an ongoing disaster

Fairness and Accuracy in Reports reports: "August 29 marked the fourth anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The devastation wrought by both the hurricane itself and the government's inept response prompted remarkably critical corporate media coverage that promised to fight for Katrina survivors and change the way we talk about poverty and race (FAIR Media Advisory, 9/9/05)."

Is Obama Dumping the Public Option?

David Corn writes for Mother Jones: "'It had better be wrong.'  That was the response of Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) to Wednesday's Politico story  that the Obama White House, as it retools its strategy for health care reform, has no intention of fighting for the inclusion of a public option that would offer government-run health insurance to companies and people who can't obtain affordable coverage elsewhere. And Jacob Hacker, a health policy expert who can be called the godfather of the public option, says, 'The White House...has to be told in no uncertain terms that dropping the public plan is stupid and premature.'"

What Obama Must Demand From Congress on Health Care

Robert Reich writes on Robert Reich's Blog: "Congress returns next week to one of the fiercest and most important debates in recent memory -- whether and to what extent the nation will provide health care to all Americans, and how we will reign in the soaring costs of health care overall. But do not expect unusual courage from this Congress in standing up to demagogic lies and money-toting lobbyists. An unusually large portion is facing close races in 2010, both in primaries and in the general election. Republicans have many primary challenges from the right. A record number of Democrats, who took over Congress in 2006, hail from traditionally Republican or swing states and districts."

Don't Be Fooled by the Public Option

Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "While the media are transfixed by all the screaming in town halls and on television, the real work of health care reform is being done in secret by congressional staff technocrats, government bureaucrats, health industry lobbyists and sometimes even a member of the Senate or House."

Current Economic Growth Model is 'Immoral,' says Prescott

Jonathan Watts reports for The Guardian UK: "John Prescott, the former UK climate negotiator, called on developed nations today to accept a new model of economic growth that would create a more equitable spread of carbon emissions in the world. Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, Prescott said talks at Copenhagen would probably not be decided until an 11th-hour crisis, but that no global consensus could be reached without a fairer spread of emissions."

Study Finds More Evidence Rapid Arctic Warming Isn't Natural

Renee Schoof reports for the McClatchy Newspapers: "The Arctic was cooling for 1,900 years because of a natural change in Earth's orbit until greenhouse gas accumulation from the use of fossil fuels reversed the trend in recent decades, according to a study published Friday in Science magazine."

Big Names Back National Equality March

Amy Cavanaugh reports for the Washington Blave: "Lawmakers, celebrities and well-known LGBT activists are lining up to support the National Equality March, a weekend gathering set to begin Oct. 10.  Judy Shepard, the mother Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in an anti-gay attack in Wyoming in October 1998, is joining lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), bisexual actor Alan Cumming and about 140 others in endorsing the march.  Other supporters include radio host Michelangelo Signorile, actress Charlize Theron, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Daniel Choi, a U.S. Army lieutenant who was ordered out of the military after he revealed he is gay."

"Fair and Balanced" Fox Nation Urges Parents to "Sound Off" Against Obama's School Address

Ellen writes for News Hounds: "The latest example of blatant anti-Obama hate mongering on Fox Nation (Fox News’ website that boasts about its tolerance and love for civil discourse) is its latest top headline that encourages parents to “sound off” about Obama’s upcoming address to school children. You’d think that conservatives who care about family values and education would be pleased that Obama plans to speak to our country’s young students about staying in school and the importance of education. But when you’re dedicated 24/7 to undermining every thing the opposing Party’s president does, you’ll grab anything and not just oppose it but turn it into incendiary rabble rousing. Predictably, the Fox Nation article offers one side, the anti-Obama side, only. It also offers an inflammatory quote about “socialism” and “indoctrination.”"

Sept. 3, 2009 - Movies, movies, movies

Community Bridge welcomes Kansas native Steve Balderson, a film director from Wamego. Some of his films include: "Pep Squad" (1996), "Firecracker" (2005), "Watch Out" (2005) as well as the documentary "Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere" which is the first part of a trilogy of award-winning documentaries. It can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EouCltpsVo.
His new film "Stuck! Women. In Prison" is a homage to film noir women-in-prison films. It’s the story of Daisy, an innocent young woman framed for killing her mother. Condemned by the press and the public, Daisy is found guilty of murder and sentenced to die by hanging. The screen play was written by Frankie Krainz with contributions from Balderson and Jon Niccum. It is due out this fall. His film "Underbelly" will screen at the Tallgrass Film Festival on Saturday, October 24, 2009, at 7:30 PM.

Following this week's Media Minutes, we welcome Donna Schenck-Hamlin to discuss this year's Movies on the Grass program. Now in its fifth year, MOG offers campus and community new films that portray current issues in a relaxed setting, with music, entertainment, and raffles from local businesses. For more information visit: http://www.k-state.edu/moviesonthegrass/


MP3 File

Clippings for 3 September 2009

Living in a Culture of Cruelty: Democracy as Spectacle

Henry A. Giroux writes for Truthout: "Under the Bush administration, a seeping, sometimes galloping, authoritarianism began to reach into every vestige of the culture, giving free rein to those anti-democratic forces in which religious, market, military and political fundamentalism thrived, casting an ominous shadow over the fate of United States democracy. During the Bush-Cheney regime, power became an instrument of retribution and punishment connected to and fueled by a repressive state, a bullying rhetoric of war, a ruthless consolidation of economic forces and an all-embracing free-market apparatus and media-driven pedagogy of fear that supported and sustained a distinct culture of cruelty and inequality in the United States."

Bush's Third Term? You're Living It

David Swanson writes for TomDispatch.com: "It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking endlessly about a mandate for bipartisanship and the importance of taking into account the concerns of Republicans. Can't you just picture it?"

Ex-Countrywide Executives' Firm Modifies Bad Loans for Taxpayer Cash

Alexandra Andrews, ProPublica: "Among the servicers participating in the government's mortgage modification program is a new recruit that's not like the others. PennyMac, a firm founded by the former president and chief operating officer of Countrywide, buys distressed home loans on the cheap with the goal of modifying them and later selling them for a profit. The company, whose top management consists mostly of former Countrywide executives, now stands to receive up to $6.2 million in taxpayer money to modify those loans, through the Making Home Affordable program. The government's incentive payments go primarily to the participating servicer, but some of the money could also go to borrowers and investors."

Recommended Audio: Turthdig Interview - Not Really a Lifeline for Homeowners?

Turthdig interviews John Dunbar of the Center for Public Integrity who has analyzed the Obama administration’s home loan modification program, which aims to keep troubled borrowers in their homes, and finds it “highly problematic.”

Hell Hasn't Broken Out in Iraq

Juan Cole writes for Salon.com: " One of the major headlines out of Iraq today is the release of non-insurgent casualty figures for August, which are 456, as Agence France Presse reports. This was the highest monthly toll since July of 2008. I commend AFP on how it reported this story. Unlike a lot of other pieces, this one does not exaggerate the significance of August's figures and points out that there was also a surge of violence in June, when the U.S. military was still largely in charge of security, and when 367 Iraqi civilians and members of security forces were killed."

Obama's Meaningless War

Robert Scheer writes for Truthdig.com: "True, he doesn’t seem a bit like Lyndon Johnson, but the way he’s headed on Afghanistan, Barack Obama is threatened with a quagmire that could bog down his presidency. LBJ also had a progressive agenda in mind, beginning with his war on poverty, but it was soon overwhelmed by the cost and divisiveness engendered by a meaningless, and seemingly endless, war in Vietnam."

Animal House in Afghanistan

Daniel Schulman writes for Mother Jones: "Drunken brawls, prostitutes, hazing and humiliation, taking vodka shots out of buttcracks— no, the perpetrators of these Animal House-like antics aren't some depraved frat brothers. They are the private security contractors guarding the US embassy compound in Kabul." UPDATE: Here are the jaw-dropping photos.

Rachel Maddow Leaves Tom Ridge Begging for Homeland Security

Joe Coscarelliwrites for Mediaite: "When a high-ranking government official meets an establishment journalist, the ensuing fawning at the feet of power can sometimes be too much to bear. Just last weekend, blogger Andrew Sullivan compared Fox New Sunday’s Chris Wallace to a “teenage girl interviewing the Jonas Brothers” for his lack of incision in a televised segment with former Vice President Dick Cheney. And then there’s Rachel Maddow, who on last night’s episode of her MSNBC show was the most well-prepared “teenage girl” on TV, calmly dismantling every argument put forth by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge."

C.I.A. Resists Releasing Disclosure of Records on Detention

Mark Mazzetti reports for the New York Times: "The Central Intelligence Agency is refusing to make public hundreds of pages of internal documents about the agency’s defunct detention and interrogation program, saying such disclosures would jeopardize national security by revealing classified intelligence sources and operations."

The Right's "Tenther" Constitution

Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Nate Carlile, Zaid Jilani, and Ian Milhiser write for The Progress Report at Think Progress: "In a recent Fox News interview, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) accused health care reform supporters of "forg[etting] what the Constitution says." Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who once called for his Party to defeat health reform because it will "break" President Obama, claimed that health reform violates the Tenth Amendment and urged state legislators and governors to "champion individual freedom" by resisting the bill. Numerous state lawmakers -- including secessionist Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) -- have struck a similar tone, endorsing "state sovereignty resolutions" that demand the federal government "cease and desist" enforcing many laws with which conservatives disagree. (Emboldened by Perry's hardline stance, Texas "tenthers" held a pro-secession rally at the state capital yesterday, demanding that their political opponents "go back to the U.S. where you belong.") Indeed, while "birther" conspiracy theorists make increasingly outlandish attempts to dismantle President Obama's legitimacy, "tenther" constitutionalists like Bachmann, DeMint, and Perry hope to dismantle an entire century's worth of progressive legislation."

How to Identify Astroturfers and Front Groups

Chris Walters writes for The Consumerist: "Everyone likes to hate on spammers, but they're basically the houseflies of the Internet. Far more insidious and damaging are astroturfers and front groups—those corporate-funded, agenda-pushing people who don't disclose who they're really working for while they participate in online culture and the media. The Center for Media and Democracy has put together a list of tips to help you identify them from real grassroots movements, while Free Press has created a widget that reveals front groups for five large companies you frequently see on Consumerist."

Facts Are First Casualty in Health Care Debate

Joe Garofoli reports for The San Francisco Chronicle: "People relying on TV advertising or partisan sources for information about health care legislation in Congress have heard that it will 'ration' care to the nation's oldest citizens and hike premiums '95 percent.' Or that Republican voters 'might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system.' President Obama, meanwhile, has said don't worry, the plan 'will be paid for.' Such statements, made in what analysts say is likely to be one of the most expensive issue-oriented campaigns ever, are misleading - if not flat-out wrong."

A Cake Knife Is Useless in a Gunfight

Gene Lyons writes for Salon.com: "If President Obama expects Congress to pass a healthcare reform bill worth signing, he'd better grasp that "bipartisanship" is a means, not an end. After eight years of cheering themselves hoarse over one catastrophic Bush blunder after another, Republicans will start dealing with reality only when they're afraid not to. Right now, it's their talk-radio/Fox News-hypnotized base that's got GOP congressmen running scared."

Against Wall Street's Health Care Takeover

Wendell Potter writes for Common Dreams: "I would like to begin by apologizing to all of you for the role I played 15 years ago in cheating you out of a reformed health care system. Had it not been for greedy insurance companies and other special interests, and their army of lobbyists and spin-doctors like I used to be, we wouldn't be here today." 

Six Health Insurance Companies Investigated for "Purging" Small Businesses

Jared Allen reports for The Hill: "Two House committees asked six large health insurance companies for information about the 'purging' of small businesses from their plans. Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, asked the companies for data regarding the purging of small businesses when the employees of those businesses become ill and the companies' health insurance claims increase."

What's Karen Ignagni's Copay?

Stephanie Mencimer writes for Mother Jones: "What kind of health care coverage does the nation's top health insurance lobbyist have? Her trade group refuses to say.  Karen Ignagni is the health insurance industry's main defender in Washington. As the president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the industry's lobby, she represents all the big insurance companies: WellPoint, Aetna, UnitedHealth, and CIGNA, among others. As such, she's one of the leading opponents of the so-called public option—a proposed government-run health care plan that would compete with private plans as a way of lowering costs. AHIP recently organized 50,000 insurance company employees to fan out to congressional town hall meetings to fight the public option, which the industry views as a major threat to its bottom line. They recognize that without having to pay enormous executive salaries or hire corporate jets, the government-run plan might be cheap enough to steal away a big chunk of their business."

CLIMATE CHANGE: Early Warning Systems for Coming Storm

Stephen Leary reports for Inter Press Service: "Climate change is here. The challenge in Geneva this week is to find ways to help the world cope with a climate that will have more and worse extremes in terms of temperatures, floods, and storms.  More than 2,500 experts and policy-makers from 150 countries are attending the Aug. 31-Sep. 4 World Climate Conference to discuss how to improve weather forecasting and long-range seasonal weather projections, especially to help poor nations in areas such as agriculture."

New Light on Copenhagen Climate Talks

Amy Goodman writes for Truthdig.com: "On Sept. 1, the European Union stopped manufacturing and importing incandescent light bulbs. Europeans will now turn to the much more efficient compact fluorescent, halogen and LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. Incandescents, critics argue, waste up to 95 percent of energy as heat, using only 5 percent for light. The EU hopes to save the equivalent of 11 million households’ energy usage through the year 2020, worth $7.33 billion per year to the European economy."

Resisting Homophobia in the Military

Dahr Jamail writes for Truthout: "Homophobia arguably manifests itself in the worst form of discrimination in the military, surpassing even racism. Instead of enabling recruits to vanquish their prejudices and strengthening the individual and the collective spirit, all military training seems to be geared toward invoking the darkest elements in human nature - fear, hatred, pettiness, insecurity and similar aberrations. Under normal conditions, such an orientation legitimizes unacceptable behavior; under harsh and hostile conditions, it makes beasts of men. It is immaterial whether one is at the perpetrating end or the receiving end of unjust behavior."

Free Press Calls on FCC to Open Inquiry into Cable Market Competition

John Eggerton reports in Broadcasting and Cable: "Consolidation critic Free Press has called on the FCC to open a broad inquiry into competition in the cable marketplace, similar to the FCC's just-announced inquiry into wireless phone/broadband competition, citing a D.C. federal appeal's court's scrapping of the 30% ownership cap as making that inquiry more necessary."

Fox and Friends Support Blacklisting and “Stomping Out” Professors Who Aren’t “Fair and Balanced”

Priscilla writes for News Hounds: "No, they’re not playing Santa; but rather channeling that McCarthy era sport of drawing up lists – as in “black lists.” Taking a cue from their favorite political era, the good old days of publicly denouncing anyone deemed “commie,” young college Republicans are now drawing up lists of today’s “commies” – college professors deemed too liberal. In the spirit of “what’s old is new again,” today’s “conservatives” are doing a reprise of John Birch days of bobby sox and black lists in an attempt to bring back the “good old” and “happy” days of paranoia about those who are attempting to destroy the world as we know it. So it’s not surprising that Fox&Friends, a show that yearns to bring us back to the halcyon days of father knows best, is giving some face time to a young Republican who isn’t going to take it anymore so he’s making a list. Liberal college professor baiting – it’s so retro chic. Joe McCarthy would be so proud."

US Officials Cancel Contract to Profile Reporters

Richard Lardner reports for The Associated Press: "US military authorities in Afghanistan have terminated a contract with a company that was producing profiles of reporters seeking to cover a war that's becoming increasingly unpopular with the American public. The media analysis work being done by The Rendon Group had become a 'distraction to our main mission here,' Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of communications for US Forces Afghanistan, said Monday in an emailed statement."

Why Glenn Beck, and Fox News, Can't Escape the "Racist" Trap

Eric Boehlert writes for Media Matters for America: "Have so many blue-chip advertisers ever fled a program as quickly as the who's who of corporate America that's sprinted away from Glenn Beck in recent weeks? I certainly cannot recall ever seeing a mass exodus of this scale. The A-list collection of disgruntled Beck advertisers is staggering: Applebee's, AT&T, Bank of America, Best Buy, Campbell Soup, Clorox, ConAgra, CVS, Ditech, Farmers Insurance Group, GEICO, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Lowe's, Nutrisystem, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, RadioShack, Sprint, State Farm Insurance, The UPS Store, Travelers Insurance, Verizon Wireless, Vonage, and Wal-Mart, among others."

Chris Wallace, A Teenage Girl Interviewing the Jonas Brothers

Andrew Sullivan writes for The Atlantic: "Here are the tough and penetrating questions asked by Chris Wallace of a man whose critics accuse of war crimes, and whose administration presided over the death of over a hundred prisoners in interrogation, who authorized torture techniques once trade-marked by the Khmer Rouge:"