March 24 - Abolishing the Kansas Death Penalty

Community Bridge opens this week with a previously recorded interview that host Christopher Renner conducted with Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ.  Prejean's work on death row was showcased in her book, Death Man Walking and the film of the same title.   Her second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, tells the story of two innocent men she accompanied to their deaths. Then we hear some commentary on what's been happening in the Kansas legislature from the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty and close out with two syndicated clips: Chris Hayes's program, The Breakdown, takes on corporate personhood and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s CounterSpin takes on the issue of taxes with Chuck Collins of US Uncut.

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An Interview with Tim Wise

This week's Community Bridge opens with Ruth Douglas Miller giving an overview of the next Science Cafe that will take place on Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00 pm at Radina's.

Then we hear a previously-recorded interview Christopher Renner conducted with Tim Wise when he was at K-State earlier in February.  Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. Recently named one of “25 Visionaries Who are Changing Your World,” by Utne Reader.  

Wise is the author of five books, including White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son; Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama, and his latest, Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity. He has contributed essays to twenty-five books, and is one of several persons featured in White Men Challenging Racism: Thirty-Five Personal Stories (Duke University Press). He received the 2001 British Diversity Award for best feature essay on race issues, and his writings have appeared in dozens of popular, professional and scholarly journals.

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The Crisis in Mental Health Care in Kansas

This week's Community Bridge opens with a discussion of the crisis in mental health care that has been caused by the budget cuts to essential social services in the State of Kansas. As a result, mental health clients with limited resources are finding it impossible to obtain the medications they need to live normal lives. Without medications, mental health clients face a downward spiral including the loss of independent living, their social safety net and since the state mental hospitals are cannot accept new patiences, our communities have no choice put to place mental health clients in jail.

Robbin Waldner Cole, Executive Director of Pawnee Mental Health Services, Rich Cagan, Executive Director, National Alliance on Mental Illness Kansas, and Mike Hammond, Executive Director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, join us to discuss how Kansas is treating its citizens with mental health concerns.

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Clippings for 11 March 2010

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."

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”).
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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

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. "

Clippings for 4 June 2009

Dr. George Tiller Didn't Have to Die
Amy Goodman writes for Truthdig: "George Tiller did not have to die. He was assassinated while in church in Wichita, Kan., on Sunday, targeted for legally performing abortions. His death might have been prevented simply through enforcement of existing laws. His alleged killer was seen vandalizing a Kansas City clinic, Aid for Women, both the week before and the day before the murder, putting glue into its door locks. The manager of that clinic, who calls himself “Jeff Pederson” to protect his identity, told me he called the FBI and local police both times, but the vandal, the alleged killer Scott Roeder, was not arrested. Pederson had Roeder’s first name and his license-plate number. He had images of him on the security video. He recognized him from previous protests."

Recommended Audio: Rachel Maddow - Red Flags Ignored in the Run-up to Tiller Assassination?

O'Rielly's Campaign Against Murdered Doctor
Gabriel Winant writes for Salon: "When his show airs tomorrow (June 1), Bill O'Reilly will most certainly decry the death of Kansas doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday while attending church services with his wife. Tiller, O'Reilly will say, was a man who was guilty of barbaric acts, but a civilized society does not resort to lawless murder, even against its worst members. And O'Reilly, we can assume, will genuinely mean this."

Is Bill O'Reilly Spawning Killers?
Nathan Robinson writes for AlterNet: "The killing of Dr. George Tiller is, of course, the second recent politically-motivated church shooting. The first occurred in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on July 27th of last year. And although one was targeted at a doctor, and the other at liberals in general, both share a common element: Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly had targeted Tiller repeatedly on his show, claiming he ran a 'death mill' and quoting a description of him as 'Tiller the Baby Killer.' And as for the Unitarian killing, the shooter infamously had a copy of O'Reilly's book in his home, and wrote a vitriolic screed about his hatred for liberals."

A Brief History of the Radical Right
James Ridgeway writes for Mother Jones: "The revelation that Scott Roeder, the alleged murderer of Dr. George Tiller, belonged to an anti-government, white separatist group called the Montana Freemen might seem like an unlikely twist. After all, such groups are generally thought of as either indifferent to the issue of abortion or actively enthusiastic about its potential for reducing the nonwhite population. As it turns out, however, the journey from radical racialist to anti-abortionist isn't as unusual as you might think."

Color of Law: Plea Bargins and the Criminal McJustice System
David A. Love writes for Black Commentator: "In Philadelphia, it is time for a new district attorney. The current D.A. Lynne Abraham is retiring, and none too soon - after 18 years in the position, she has been called “America’s deadliest D.A.” for her exceptionally voracious appetite in seeking the death penalty. Without question, most of the people sentenced to death were African American."

To Counter Terror, Build Justice
Former Community Bridge guest Kathy Kelly writes for Truthout: "Shortly after arriving in Pakistan, one week ago, we met a weaver and his extended family, numbering 76 in all, who had been forcibly displaced from their homes in Fathepur, a small village in the Swat Valley. Fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban had intensified. Terrified by aerial bombing and anxious to leave before a curfew would make flight impossible, the family packed all the belongings they could carry and fled on foot. It was a harrowing four-day journey over snow-covered hills."

There Are Already 355 Terrorists in American Prisons
Fred Kaplan writes in Slate Magazine: "President Obama's remark that some Guantanamo detainees might be transferred to American prisons has prompted an extraordinary, and intellectually feeble, storm of protest. Former Vice President Dick Cheney kicked off the campaign when he said, during his May 21 speech at the American Enterprise Institute, that 'to bring the worst terrorists inside the United States would be a cause for great danger and regret in the years to come.' Sitting lawmakers - especially those from states such as Kansas and Colorado where federal prisons are based - raised the same specter and shouted the ancient cry of principled rebellion: 'Not In My Back Yard!'"

War is Sin
Chris Hedges writes for Truthdig: "The crisis faced by combat veterans returning from war is not simply a profound struggle with trauma and alienation. It is often, for those who can slice through the suffering to self-awareness, an existential crisis. War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation. God and fate have not blessed us above others. Victory is not assured. War is neither glorious nor noble. And we carry within us the capacity for evil we ascribe to those we fight."

Replace Petraeus
Fred Branfman writes for Truthdig: "Gen. David Petraeus’ aura of success resulting from reduced violence in Iraq has blinded normally sensible observers to his far greater failure in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His ill-conceived effort to deny al-Qaida and the Taliban “safe havens” in Pakistan—through drone aircraft bombing, special-forces assassination and perhaps torture (by way of association with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his new Afghanistan military commander)—has backfired, driving the Taliban east into Pakistan, where they have joined local allies to weaken the Pakistani government. It has also strengthened, not weakened, al-Qaida and alienated growing numbers of Pakistanis. The Petraeus strategy has thus dramatically strengthened America’s enemies and helped destabilize a nuclear-armed nation of 170 million whose importance dwarfs Iraq and Afghanistan combined. More alarmingly, he now intends to escalate his failed strategy, which could cause unimaginable catastrophes in coming months and years."

Military Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan Increase
Jeremy Scahill writes for Rebel Reports: "A couple of years ago, Blackwater executive Joseph Schmitz seemed to see a silver lining for mercenary companies with the prospect of US forces being withdrawn or reduced in Iraq. 'There is a scenario where we could as a government, the United States, could pull back the military footprint,' Schmitz said. 'And there would then be more of a need for private contractors to go in.' When it comes to armed contractors, it seems that Schmitz was right.

Former Interrogator Presses for McChrystal's Stance on Torture
Spencer Ackerman reports for The Washington Independent: "A former military interrogator who contributed to the manhunt for a senior Iraqi terrorist has urged the Senate Armed Services Committee staff to press Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Obama administration's nominee to lead US troops in the Afghanistan war, on what he knew about detainee abuse committed by troops in Iraq under his command when McChrystal goes before the panel Tuesday morning for his confirmation hearing. 'Gen. McChrystal, he was there in Iraq often, and he may have been separated from these things by couple layers [of subordinates] but it would've been his responsibility to know what was going on,' said Matthew Alexander, the pseudonym of a former Air Force interrogator whose non-coercive interrogations in 2006 helped identify and kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Union Backers Target Starbucks With New-Media Campaign
Patrick McDonnell reports for The Los Angeles Times: "Starbucks a hub of union-busting and worker exploitation? Say it ain't so, Howard Schultz! The Starbucks chief executive, who actively cultivates a socially progressive image, is in the cross hairs of a new-media campaign designed to bolster union representation at the retail giant and beyond. For five years, Starbucks has been the target of a limited but sometimes nasty unionization drive that has tarnished its reputation for high-minded benevolence."

Progressive Groups Push Public Plan
Chris Frates reports for Politico: "Billing it as their largest health reform campaign ever, progressive leaders are planning to spend at least $82 million to push reforms that include a public health insurance plan option. The campaign, expected to be announced Monday, is designed to put public plan opponents on notice that supporters are ready for a fight."

Swiftboating Health Care Reform
Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers report for The Progress Reprot: "Yesterday, immediately following NBC's Meet the Press, the right-wing group Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR) aired a 30-minute paid advertisement titled 'The End of Patients' Rights: The Human Consequences of Government Run Health Care.' Hosted by former CNN reporter Gene Randall, the program featured 'horror stories' aimed at chipping away public support for reforming the U.S. health care system. As Fox News explained, 'the new infomercial, despite the "paid programming" label in the upper-left hand corner of the screen, had the appearance of a '60 Minutes' special' -- without the credibility, of course. The disgraced former CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare and now chairman of CPR, Rick Scott, appeared multiple times in the program warning that health care reform would result in the rationing of care, long waiting lists, and diminished quality. CPR's ad was premised on the false notion that "certain nefarious Democrats want to import British and Canadian health care into the United States." But as Wonk Room health care blogger Igor Volsky has noted, 'CPR conflates deficiencies of the foreign health care systems with American reform efforts, but fails to cite a single Democrat who would want to copy-and-paste the British or Canadian examples.' CPR's infomercial 'presents the Democrats' reforms not as they are, but as conservatives wish for them to be,' and as such, spends time warning Americans about the so-called 'horror stories' of foreign health care system on which they will never have to rely."

Will Obama End "War on Drugs"?
Sherwood Ross writes for Consortium News: "Efforts by President Obama to put an end to the nation's failed 'War on Drugs' can't come an hour too soon - if that's his intent. From his actions, it's hard to know. Drug offenses account for about half the 200,000 Federal prison inmates behind bars, compared to just 15 percent of prisoners convicted of violent crimes involving weapons, explosives, or arson. If America leads the world with 2.3 million prisoners in all its prisons, jails, and assorted lock-ups, it is largely because we have criminalized drug addiction, not treated it."

Congresswoman Barbara Lee - a Rebel Inside the House
Emily Wilson reports for The Women's Media Center: "Now in her sixth full term in the House of Representatives, the congresswoman holds to her radical roots, explaining in her new book just how mainstream those revolutionary programs have become. Currently chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, she spoke to author Emily Wilson of her need to define herself. Barbara Lee, the Democratic congresswoman who represents California's 9th district, which includes Oakland and Berkeley, gained national attention when she cast the only opposing vote to a resolution authorizing then-President Bush to use 'all necessary and appropriate force' against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11. This vote won her both praise and death threats."

World's Next Big Climate Pact Begins to Take Shape
Peter N. Spotts reports for The Christian Science Monitor: "A two-year march toward a new treaty to combat global warming is pausing briefly in Bonn to give negotiators from 182 countries their first crack at tackling a rough draft of an agreement. Despite differences over some difficult issues, there is cautious optimism that negotiators could make progress, especially now that the US is playing what many see as a more constructive role than it did under the Bush administration."

Recommended Audio: Cleaning UP Coal
Is there such a thing as clean coal? The industry wants you to think so. But clean doesn't mean non-polluting. The questions around coal's future as an energy source are part of a bigger debate over the earth's environmental future.


Obama Reiterates Promise to 'End' 'Don't Ask'
Ben Smith writes for Politico: "The President signed a gay pride proclamation today, reiterating deferred campaign pledges, including ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' but making no mention of same-sex marriage."

What a non-neutral 'Net looks like, UK-style
Nate Anderson writes for Ars Technica: "The UK government is in the final stages of creation for its "Digital Britain" report, which will lay out positions on everything from file sharing to broadband. Tucked into the report's interim conclusions are a few nuggets about network neutrality, which has never generated the same heat and light in Europe as it has in the US. The interim report says that 'the Government has yet to see a case for legislation in favour of net neutrality. In consequence, unless Ofcom find network operators or ISPs to have Significant Market Power and justify intervention on competition grounds, traffic management will not be prevented.'"

Julius Genachowski to Ramp Up Efforts to Ensure Equal Access on the Internet
Jean Cummings writes for Politico: "The political sea change brought by Democratic dominance that’s already affecting the energy and health care sectors is about to wash over a new one: technology. President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate later this month — and activists expect him to ramp up efforts to ensure equal access on the Internet.

Capitol Improvement
Megan Tady writes for In These Times: "Many players in the journalism world hope that one short string of letters and numbers can save our crumbling media system: 501(c)(3). And no, it’s not a lottery number. It’s the IRS code for nonprofit status, and veteran journalists are eyeing it hungrily. As newspapers crumble, leaving thousands of journalists unemployed, nonprofit news models are emerging as possible replacements for failing commercial media."

Sotomayor, Gingrich, and the Demise of Our Press Corps
Eric Boehlert writes for Media Matters: "Last week's press coverage of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court was gruesome in so many ways, as reporters routinely fell down and failed to reflect even the most basic tenets of journalism. One of the most disturbing examples of how fundamentals were ignored involved Sotomayor's now-infamous quote from eight years ago about a "Latina woman" judge reaching a "better conclusion" on the bench than her white male counterparts. Sotomayor made the comment as part of a speech she gave at University of California, Berkeley, in 2001 in which she explored what it would mean to have more women and minorities on the bench."