On December 13, 2009, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Robert Scheer sat down with Gov. Howard Dean to have a frank discussion about the Obama administration, health care reform, and the Democratic party on the 12th Annual Seminar Cruise sponsored by The Nation.
Christopher E. Renner, host of Community Bridge, thanks The Nation for giving permission to broadcast this conversation so it can be heard by a broader audience.
MP3 File
12 February 2010
Clippings for 11 February 2010
Chris Hedges writes for Adbusters - the journal of the mental environment: "Aleksandr Herzen, speaking a century ago to a group of anarchists about how to overthrow the czar, reminded his listeners that it was not their job to save a dying system but to replace it: “We think we are the doctors. We are the disease.” All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort."
The New Deal in Reverse: How the Obama Administration Ended Up Where Franklin Roosevelt Began
Steve Faser writes for TomDispatch.com: "On March 4, 1933, the day he took office, Franklin Roosevelt excoriated the 'money changers who 'have fled from their high seats in the temples of our civilization [because...] they know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision and where there is no vision, the people perish.' Rhetoric, however, is only rhetoric. According to one skeptical congressional observer of FDR’s first inaugural address, 'The President drove the money-changers out of the Capitol on March 4th -- and they were all back on the 9th.'”
Not About Sarah Palin
David Norlin writes for the Kansas Free Press: "This is not about Sarah Palin. Instead, let's talk petro-states. Like Oman. And its sister state, Alaska. In 2007, Alaska produced approximately 719,000 barrels of oil per day. That puts it in the same ballpark as Egypt (710,000), Oman (718,000) and Malaysia (755,000). Its economy parallels Oman's. Its oil revenues account for about 75 percent of export earnings."
Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies
Thom Hartman writes for the Huffington Post: "Globalization is killing Europe, just as it's already wiped out much of the American middle class. Spain and Greece are facing immediate crises that many other European nations see on the near horizon: aging boomer workers are retiring with healthy benefit packages, but the younger workers who are paying for those benefits aren't making anything close to the income (or, therefore, paying the taxes) that their parents did."
Wall Street Wants a Refund
Robert Scheer writes for Turthdig.com: "'Buyer’s remorse' is the way Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate Republicans’ fundraiser, gleefully refers to Wall Street moguls’ current disenchantment with the U.S. president they thought they had bought. They didn’t like it when Barack Obama, after a year of throwing trillions of American taxpayer dollars into the bailout sinkhole, dared remark that he had hoped there might be some return for ordinary folks trying to save their jobs and homes. Not just huge bonuses for the folks the president dared refer to as 'fat cats.'”
Corporate Welfare Roulette
Jim Hightower comments for Truthout: "One thing that governors and mayors absolutely love to do is win a prize in the national game called 'Corporate Welfare Roulette.' It's a simple casino-style game in which politicos put down a big stack of taxpayers' money on an out-of-state corporation as an 'incentive,' hoping that their bet outbids other states and cities trying to lure that same corporation to move to their area and hire some people."
Recommended Audio: ProPublica podcast - Olga Pierce on the Unemployment Insurance Crisis
With the nation’s unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, ProPublica reporter Olga Pierce discusses how many states mismanaged their unemployment insurance funds. Pierce explains why the U.S. has the system it does, how she was able to predict when states’ funds would go broke [1], and why seniors in Virginia may get their benefits cut. Pierce has been covering the issue for nearly a year and most recently helped create our “Unemployment Insurance Tracker [1],” which lets you see just how much trouble your state’s unemployment insurance system is in. Download Podcast.
The US Economic Crisis: Jobs Continue to Vanish While the Media Applauds “Recovery”
Shamus Cooke writes for GlobalResearch.ca: “At first glance it appeared there was a typo in the headlines. The national media reported that, in January, another 20,000 more jobs were lost. Somehow, the unemployment rate dropped, from 10 percent to 9.7 percent. Nobody thought this paradox was worth explaining; instead, the media’s attitude was 'more good news' about the economy.”
Budget Lies Aren’t Helping the Deficit
David Sirota writes for Truthdig.com: “Last month, President Barack Obama proposed to freeze government spending on everything other than defense, veterans’ benefits, homeland security, Medicare and Social Security. The New York Times reported that administration officials depicted the initiative as proof of the president’s 'seriousness about cutting the budget deficit.' Such spin may fly in Orwell’s Oceania or Washington, D.C., but if you happen to live in the real world, basic arithmetic tells a far more accurate tale about what is 'serious'—and what is not.”
Give Peace Spending a Chance
Maya Schenwar comments for Truthout: "Last week, when President Obama requested the largest-ever military budget since World War II, hardly anyone batted an eyelash. The Bush years immunized many of us to the shock of colossal defense spending bills skating across the table - and zipping through Congress to sure passage - regardless of shriveling public approval."
Chart of the Day
Kevin Drum writes for Mother Jones: "The Project on Defense Alternatives sent me this email a few minutes ago:
We’ve just opened the web page Trillions to Burn? A Quick Guide to the Pentagon Budget Surge — please have a look. It’s a quick read with 9 charts that explain why the DoD budget has risen to over 700 billion and what it implies for other federal spending and the national debt.Hey, you had me at "charts"! So here's your chart of the day: a look at Pentagon spending since World War II, adjusted for inflation. Right now we're spending more than we did during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or the Reagan military buildup. And there's no end in sight. More at the link."
The 700 Military Bases of Afghanistan Black Sites in the Empire of Bases
Nick Turse writes for TomDispatch.com: "In the nineteenth century, it was a fort used by British forces. In the twentieth century, Soviet troops moved into the crumbling facilities. In December 2009, at this site in the Shinwar district of Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, U.S. troops joined members of the Afghan National Army in preparing the way for the next round of foreign occupation. On its grounds, a new military base is expected to rise, one of hundreds of camps and outposts scattered across the country."
Details of British Resident's Brutal Torture by CIA Officers Released
Andy Worthington provides the following analysis for Truthout: "Three senior UK judges on Wednesday ordered the British government to publicly disclose previously highly classified information that reveals how Binyam Mohamed, a British resident, was brutally tortured by the CIA while in Pakistani custody in April and May 2002."
The National Anthem - and Why We Need Health Care Reform So Desperately
Robert Reich, RobertReich.org: "My health insurer here in California is Anthem Blue Cross. When I first opted for it, it was just called Blue Cross. Then, a year or so back, I was notified that an entity called 'Anthem' would now be running my insurance policy. I didn't think much about it at the time. I've had the usual problems most people have with their health insurers - confusing bills, co-payments and deductibles that never seem to add up, a bureaucracy that gives every impression of being more interested in fighting me than helping me - but nothing more."
Fear of a ‘Multicultural’ Nation
Marcia Alesan Dawkins writes for Truthdig.com: “Last Thursday night former Congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo made opening-night remarks at the inaugural National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Tancredo fired verbal shots at Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain and 'the cult of multiculturalism,' stating that people who 'could not spell the word vote or say it in English” had elected the president. And that Obama’s election reveals the need for us to “have a civics [or] literacy test before people can vote in this country.'”
Republicans at Highest Levels Really Want to Do Away with Democracy for All
Mark Ames writes for AlterNet.org: "While Tea Party movement followers ran around Nashville last week dressed up in their Paul Revere period costumes, blathering about their heroic struggle against Obama's Islamosocialist tyranny, the right-wing elite that nurtures them, and their paid libertarian ideologues, have been openly advocating the abolition of America's democracy in favor of a free-market junta, because, as they say over and over, voters cannot be trusted to rule themselves."
Scalia v. The World: On Antonin Scalia
Michael O'Donnell writes for The Nation: "The dean of the modern conservative legal movement, Justice Antonin Scalia, is neither an intellectual nor a primitive. He is both. Scalia has fused the cerebral and the atavistic strains of conservatism in a manner that leaves one wondering if they were ever distinct at all. For decades Scalia has beguiled conservative law students with his abhorrence of compromise and the colorful, take-no-prisoners style of his opinions. More than any other contemporary jurist, he claims to abide by a host of scrupulous legal principles: strict fidelity to a statute's text, adherence to the Constitution's original meaning, respect for the nation's federal structure of government. But notwithstanding these "neutral" principles and his habit of adorning his defense of them with intellectual flourishes, Scalia writes his opinions in boiling ink, mixing prodigious citations and vast learning with callous disregard for others and bursts of derision bordering on bigotry."
Brain Trust to Nowhere: Meet the Advisers Behind the Sarah Palin Road Show
Justin Elliott writes for Talking Points Memo: "As Sarah Palin relaunches her image for the next stage of her political career, there's a small set of advisers who are shaping the former governor's policy positions and public persona."
Climate Catastrophe: Surviving the 21st Century
Ronnie Cummins and Will Allen write for the Organic Consumers Association: "The climate, energy, and political catastrophe we are facing is mind-boggling and frightening. Yet there is still time to save ourselves, to move beyond psychological denial, despair, or false optimism. There is still hope if we are willing to confront the hydra-headed monsters that block our path, and move ahead with a decisive plan of action. The inspirational message we need to deliver is that we're not just talking about drastically reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, but rebuilding society, creating in effect a New Woman and a New Man for the 21st Century. What we are witnessing are the early stages of a mass grassroots consciousness-raising and taking back of power from out-of-control corporations, banks, corporate-controlled media, and politicians. This cultural and political revolution will empower us to to carry out a deep and profound retrofitting of industry, government, education, health care, housing, neighborhoods, transportation, food and farming systems, as well as our diets and lifestyles."
The Press after Citizens United
Clint Hendler writes for the Columbia Journalism Review: "Over the last two weeks, reporters covering campaign finance have ably chronicled the scope and effects of the bitterly divided Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. They’ve filed stories reporting that decades, perhaps a century, of regulations governing campaign finance have been rolled back, and that corporations would now be entitled to spend unlimited amounts of money in support of any candidate they desire. Observers predict a weakening of party organizations, and a massive new cudgel for lobbyists seeking to influence legislation."
Twitter Is Not Killing Journalism, Journalists Are Killing Journalism
Tim McGuire writes for The Media Channel: "Twitter is not killing journalism, journalists are killing journalism. This rather cheap play on that ugly bromide 'guns don’t kill people' is indirectly prompted by the constant uproar in popular media over the horrors of Twitter. The latest tempest was started when George Packer in the New Yorker wailed, 'Twitter is crack for media addicts. It scares me, not because I’m morally superior to it, but because I don’t think I could handle it.'”
Conservative Activists Rebel Against Fox News: Saudi Ownership Is ‘Really Dangerous For America’
Lee Fang writes for Think Progress: "Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp — the parent company of Fox News — making him the largest shareholder outside the family of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. Alwaleed has grown close with the Murdoch enterprise, recently endorsing James Murdoch to succeed his father and creating a content-sharing agreement with Fox News for his own media conglomerate, Rotana."
Build Better Media
Megan Tady writes for In These Times: "Across the country, community media projects have been sprouting out of a dying traditional media system that has often failed to deliver what the public really wants: local news and information. Now, more than ever before, citizens are taking the media back, using this time of media chaos to forge ahead with news projects that serve their interests—regardless of whether they graduated from J-school or not."
Why Public Access Television Is Important and You Should Fight For the CAP ACT
Tracy Rosenberg writes for the Huffington Post: "In May of 2009, I became a public access television producer. Couldn't have picked a worse time. Not because I don't enjoy hosting and co-producing Media News. It's a great joy to interview guests and try to shed a little light on the issues closest to my heart including: net neutrality and the digital divide, coverage of turmoil abroad and at home, the loss of local public affairs coverage and the rise in citizen journalism. I feel privileged to bring voices that need to be heard onto my local TV dial."
Cable Comcast: Al Franken Says Hell No on the NBC Takeover
KAtrina vanden Heuvel writes for The Nation: "The 'I will mess you up' Senator is what Keith Olbermann is now calling Al Franken. He also added that 'orientation' for Minnesota's Senator is now over. Franken's toughness and savvy was on display last week at a hearing on the proposed $30 billion mega-merger between Comcast and NBC Universal."
Google’s Announcement of High-Speed Broadband Experiment Should Inspire FCC to Think Big
Responding to Google’s announcement today of a plan to build new, ultra high-speed broadband networks, Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, said:
Google’s proposed experiment with building ultra-fast, open broadband pipelines in a handful of communities follows a trail already blazed by Verizon’s FiOS network, which has fiber optic cables capable of speeds comparable to what Google proposes. The FCC should use these examples to set forward-looking goals for the future of broadband throughout the United States. In the coming years, all Americans should have access to a world-class broadband network. The world’s most advanced broadband nations already have networks capable of these speeds -- we are years behind in the race to create a national infrastructure that can support the next generation of e-commerce, e-government, health and education technologies, and much more.
08 February 2010
Town Hall on Sex Education
On November 17, 2009, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri held a community meeting to discuss sexuality education in the public school system. In particular they discussed Comprehensive Sexuality Education. This approach teaches about abstinence as the best method of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unintended pregnancy. It also teaches about condoms and contraception to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and of infection with STDs including HIV.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education teaches skills for making responsible decisions about sex, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances. It teaches interpersonal and communication skills and helps young people explore their own values, goals, and options.
Following a general introduction by Jen LaBarbera of Planned Parenthood, a panel of experts and youth give testimony to the importance of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.
Rev. Kevin Snow, Resident Pastor of Community Christian Church, acts a facilitator of the panel that includes: Sarah Gillooly, organizer for PROMO; Eden McKissick-Hawley, student at Shawnee Mission East High School; Vannella Halsall, community education; George Turner LCSCW/LCSW, mental health professional; Pam Western, nurse practitioner; and, Wendy Crim, parent.
MP3 File
Comprehensive Sexuality Education teaches skills for making responsible decisions about sex, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances. It teaches interpersonal and communication skills and helps young people explore their own values, goals, and options.
Following a general introduction by Jen LaBarbera of Planned Parenthood, a panel of experts and youth give testimony to the importance of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.
Rev. Kevin Snow, Resident Pastor of Community Christian Church, acts a facilitator of the panel that includes: Sarah Gillooly, organizer for PROMO; Eden McKissick-Hawley, student at Shawnee Mission East High School; Vannella Halsall, community education; George Turner LCSCW/LCSW, mental health professional; Pam Western, nurse practitioner; and, Wendy Crim, parent.
MP3 File
Clippings for 7 February 2010
Reality Not Celebrity: Keynote Given by George Pyle
George Pyle writes on the Kansas Free Press: "Good evening, fellow outcasts. Down in the valley, the respectable and the Republican of the community have gathered in a sports arena to hear from a self-professed maverick woman of the people. Up on the hill, we rabble of liberals and lefties are assembled in the local country club to hear a speech from a bald man who works for Warren Buffett. [though I must hasten to add that I do not speak for Mr. Buffett in any way, shape or form. He is perfectly capable of speaking for himself.] So. What's wrong with this picture?"
The GOP's Dubious Populism
Joe Conason writes for Truthdig.com: "The most revealing moments in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address were not in his remarks, but the reaction to them by those listening on the Republican side of the aisle. When he proposed to recover a “financial responsibility fee”—in plainer English, a bank tax—from the largest and most heavily leveraged Wall Street firms, the Republicans sat on their hands and scowled, while Democrats cheered and whistled. And when he warned that the Supreme Court’s latest decision would open the political process to mega-corporations and their foreign owners, the Republicans were so enraged that they have since accused him of lying."
White Racial Resentment Bubbles Under the Surface of the Tea Party Movement
Editor's Note: Rich Benjamin's commentary on the underlying "white grievance" currents in the Tea Party movement were buttressed Thursday by the statements of Republican Tom Tancredo, the opening speaker at the Tea Party convention. Tancredo told attendees that President Barack Obama was elected because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country," an allusion to how Southern states used literacy tests as part of an effort to deny suffrage to African American voters before the civil rights era.
Rich Benjamin reports for AlterNet: "The Tea Party movement, holding its first convention this weekend, is angling to be the most revolutionary force in American politics in name and in deed, since at least the 1960s counterculture. Only this time, the political insurgents command a party of Flour Power, not flower power."
Palin's Tea Party Speech Full of False and Misleading National Security Claims
Media Matters fact checks Palin's speech and writes: "During her address before the National Tea Party Convention, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin made numerous false and misleading claims about national security and foreign policy, including suggesting that the Obama administration doesn't use the word 'war,' that interrogators didn't ask alleged Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab about his training and future al Qaeda plots, and that Abdulmutallab has not provided information since he "lawyered up and invoked our U.S. constitutional right to remain silent.'"
Chart of the Day: Take Two
Kevin Drum writes for Mother Jones: " Since Bruce Bartlett has gone to the trouble of making a nice chart out of the latest Kos/Research 2000 poll, it would be churlish of me not to steal it. So here it is. Source data here. Cliff Notes version: Republicans are nuts.
But let's look on the bright side. Only 23% of Republicans want to secede from the union. Not bad! Only 21% think ACORN was able to pillage the 8 million votes it would have taken to steal the 2008 election. Reality based! And be honest: Sarah Palin does have more executive experience than Barack Obama. Especially now that she's managed that book tour. So there's nothing wrong with thinking she's better qualified to be president.
I used to talk about the Texification of the Republican Party, but that's now obsolete. We're officially seeing the Foxification of the Republican Party. It's Roger Ailes' world now, we just live in it."
Apostles of Nihilism: Republicans are winning the war of political rhetoric. Here's how the president needs to fight back.
Eliott Spitzer writes for Slate magazine: "The sense of hope that swept in with President Obama has been supplanted by existential doubt: Can the nation ever address its critical structural crises in health care, financial services, energy, and education? Governmental gridlock has frozen us while many of our competitors—most notably the BRIC nations—eat our lunch. The notion is gaining traction that our system of government cannot confront tough issues and that other, more autocratic nations will be better-suited to the nimble shifts in policy that are needed to maintain a competitive position in the world. As Tom Friedman has said, "We need to be China for a day." Who's to blame for this mess? One theory that has some merit and current appeal is that legislatures—which by their very nature and structure are designed to protect the status quo—are responsible. Legislators get re-elected in their gerrymandered districts by appealing to the current establishment. Transformative policies do not have a broad enough base of appeal to sweep away local ossifying forces."
John Yoo Renews Claim That President's Authority to Torture Depends on What Is "Necessary"
Stephen Rohde reports for Truthout: "Challenged for his 2005 statement that whether the president could lawfully torture a person's child depends on 'why the President thinks he needs to do that,' undaunted, John Yoo repeated his claim that it would depend on whether the president finds it 'necessary.'"
Fiscal Folly
Robert Kuttner writes for The American Prospect: "The economy is still very fragile, yet Washington seems more fixated on deficits than on recovery. Fiscal conservatives in Congress hope to hold recovery spending hostage for long-term caps on social outlay, and they have some company in the White House. Groups like the billion-dollar Peter G. Peterson Foundation are leading the charge."
Wall Street Angry with Their Purhase
Glenn Greenwald writes for Salon.com: "Political science professors could require students to read this article from today's New York Times and little else would be needed to convey the essence of the American political system. The article describes how Wall Street -- which poured massive amounts of money into the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party over the last several years, ensuring unparalleled access and influence -- is now threatening to support the Republicans if Obama keeps saying mean things about them. Wall Street executives are angry that, after duly purchasing the Democrats (they have receipts and everything), the Obama White House is now rousing the dirty rabble with their anti-banker rhetoric:"
The Dystopia Conservatives Built
David Sirota writes for Truthdig.com: "Judging by Tim Tebow’s much-hyped Super Bowl ad, “choose life” remains conservatives’ favorite abortion shibboleth. But really, the phrase better captures the stakes in the Great Budget Wars of 2010. Plagued by deficits, communities everywhere must now decide between tax reform and public spending cuts—between economic life and death. And thanks to two Western bellwether states, we know what each choice means."
Obama to Use Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class? Oops, not true.
Laurent Belsie reports for the Christian Science Monitor: "It says something about the state of partisanship in America when the biggest budget story of the day is a nonstory. Literally. After Reuters published a story Monday about how backdoor taxes would hit middle-class Americans under President Obama, the White House complained about inaccuracies. Reuters pulled it Tuesday morning, saying a replacement story would be coming. Later in the day, it said the story was wrong and that there would be no substitute."
Peace Talks May Follow Ex-Taliban Mediators' Plan
Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service: "If peace talks do ultimately begin between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban leadership, they may well follow a "road map" to a political settlement drawn up by a group of ex-Taliban officials who have been serving as intermediaries between the two sides. The four Taliban mediators have been encouraging both Karzai and the Taliban leadership to begin with steps toward military de-escalation and confidence-building before proceeding to the central political-military issues that must be negotiated, a member of the mediation team, Arsullah Rahmani, told IPS in an interview at his home in Kabul."
No Defense for This Budget
Katrina vanden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "Deficit hysteria has reached new levels yet where is the attention to an out of control defense budget that is now the largest since World War II? While the Obama Admistration's three-year freeze on discretionary spending is a bad idea, it's made even worse because unprecedented Pentagon spending is exempted from it."
Report: "No Strategic Value" to Afghan Outpost Where Eight Died
John Walcott and Jonathan S. Landay report for McClatchy Newspapers: "A US military investigation into a battle last October in eastern Afghanistan that cost eight American soldiers their lives has concluded that the small outpost was worthless, the troops there didn't understand their mission, and intelligence and air support were tied up elsewhere in the province."
California's Nuclear Nexus: A faux disarmament plan has roots in the Golden State's pro-nuclear lobby
Darwin Bondgraham and Nicholas Robinson and Will Parrish write for Z magazine: "In early 2007 four honored Cold Warriors published what appeared to be an unlikely op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) calling for a "world free of nuclear weapons." The essay was signed by none other than the former Secretaries of State George P. Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William S. Perry, and former Georgia Senator and long-time Chair of the Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn. Now referred to as the 'the four horsemen' by those who work on nuclear policy, they wrote that complete nuclear disarmament is 'a bold initiative consistent with America's moral heritage.' The essay implored international leaders to work 'energetically on the actions required to achieve' the lofty goals outlined within."
Health Care Spending Skyrockets and Shows No Signs of Tapering
Grace Huang reports for Truthout: "In 2009, health care spending grew by 5.7 percent, now reaching $2.5 trillion. It is the largest increase since the federal government began tracking these figures in 1960, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)."
House Likely to End Health Insurers' Antitrust Exemption
David Lightman reports for McClatchy Newspapers: "The House of Representatives plans next week to vote on - and probably approve - a measure to strip health insurers' antitrust protections, which will be Congress's first step this year to try to overhaul the nation's health care system. However, the effort to remove the 65-year-old exemption is a small step that's unlikely to have much direct impact on consumers, according to independent analysts."
Global Warming: The Hottest Decade
Saul Landau writes for The Daily Censored: "'The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show…. 2009 was the second warmest year since 1880, when modern temperature measurement began. The warmest year was 2005. The other hottest recorded years have all occurred since 1998, NASA said.' 'The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show…. 2009 was the second warmest year since 1880, when modern temperature measurement began. The warmest year was 2005. The other hottest recorded years have all occurred since 1998, NASA said.'”
Daily Newspaper Reading (Print or Online) Down to Two in Five
Jack Loechner reports for Media Post" "According to the findings of a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, of 2,136 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 14 and 16, 2009 by Harris Interactive, the era of Americans reading a daily newspaper each and every day is coming to an end."
The Right Gets Itself Wired
Robert Parry writes for Consortiumn News: "In past years when I talked to American progressives about the growing media imbalance – as the Right gained dominance in books, magazines, newspapers, talk radio and cable TV – a typical response was, “well, the Left is stronger on the Internet.” But now even that advantage is disappearing, as should have been expected."
George Pyle writes on the Kansas Free Press: "Good evening, fellow outcasts. Down in the valley, the respectable and the Republican of the community have gathered in a sports arena to hear from a self-professed maverick woman of the people. Up on the hill, we rabble of liberals and lefties are assembled in the local country club to hear a speech from a bald man who works for Warren Buffett. [though I must hasten to add that I do not speak for Mr. Buffett in any way, shape or form. He is perfectly capable of speaking for himself.] So. What's wrong with this picture?"
The GOP's Dubious Populism
Joe Conason writes for Truthdig.com: "The most revealing moments in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address were not in his remarks, but the reaction to them by those listening on the Republican side of the aisle. When he proposed to recover a “financial responsibility fee”—in plainer English, a bank tax—from the largest and most heavily leveraged Wall Street firms, the Republicans sat on their hands and scowled, while Democrats cheered and whistled. And when he warned that the Supreme Court’s latest decision would open the political process to mega-corporations and their foreign owners, the Republicans were so enraged that they have since accused him of lying."
White Racial Resentment Bubbles Under the Surface of the Tea Party Movement
Editor's Note: Rich Benjamin's commentary on the underlying "white grievance" currents in the Tea Party movement were buttressed Thursday by the statements of Republican Tom Tancredo, the opening speaker at the Tea Party convention. Tancredo told attendees that President Barack Obama was elected because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country," an allusion to how Southern states used literacy tests as part of an effort to deny suffrage to African American voters before the civil rights era.
Rich Benjamin reports for AlterNet: "The Tea Party movement, holding its first convention this weekend, is angling to be the most revolutionary force in American politics in name and in deed, since at least the 1960s counterculture. Only this time, the political insurgents command a party of Flour Power, not flower power."
Palin's Tea Party Speech Full of False and Misleading National Security Claims
Media Matters fact checks Palin's speech and writes: "During her address before the National Tea Party Convention, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin made numerous false and misleading claims about national security and foreign policy, including suggesting that the Obama administration doesn't use the word 'war,' that interrogators didn't ask alleged Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab about his training and future al Qaeda plots, and that Abdulmutallab has not provided information since he "lawyered up and invoked our U.S. constitutional right to remain silent.'"
Chart of the Day: Take Two
Kevin Drum writes for Mother Jones: " Since Bruce Bartlett has gone to the trouble of making a nice chart out of the latest Kos/Research 2000 poll, it would be churlish of me not to steal it. So here it is. Source data here. Cliff Notes version: Republicans are nuts.
I used to talk about the Texification of the Republican Party, but that's now obsolete. We're officially seeing the Foxification of the Republican Party. It's Roger Ailes' world now, we just live in it."
Apostles of Nihilism: Republicans are winning the war of political rhetoric. Here's how the president needs to fight back.
Eliott Spitzer writes for Slate magazine: "The sense of hope that swept in with President Obama has been supplanted by existential doubt: Can the nation ever address its critical structural crises in health care, financial services, energy, and education? Governmental gridlock has frozen us while many of our competitors—most notably the BRIC nations—eat our lunch. The notion is gaining traction that our system of government cannot confront tough issues and that other, more autocratic nations will be better-suited to the nimble shifts in policy that are needed to maintain a competitive position in the world. As Tom Friedman has said, "We need to be China for a day." Who's to blame for this mess? One theory that has some merit and current appeal is that legislatures—which by their very nature and structure are designed to protect the status quo—are responsible. Legislators get re-elected in their gerrymandered districts by appealing to the current establishment. Transformative policies do not have a broad enough base of appeal to sweep away local ossifying forces."
Recommended Audio: The Nation -- How to Get Our Democracy Back
Professor Lawrence Lessig has known Barack Obama for 20 years, and supported all his campaigns. In this video produced for The Nation and FixCongressFirst.org, Lessig outlines his concern over President Obama's limited approach to truly "changing Washington," and his view that Congress is a deeply broken institution in need of need reform. Learn about Professor Lessig's ideas and read about his proposed solutions in this video companion to his cover story for the February 4, 2010 issue of The Nation magazine, "How To Get Our Democracy Back."John Yoo Renews Claim That President's Authority to Torture Depends on What Is "Necessary"
Stephen Rohde reports for Truthout: "Challenged for his 2005 statement that whether the president could lawfully torture a person's child depends on 'why the President thinks he needs to do that,' undaunted, John Yoo repeated his claim that it would depend on whether the president finds it 'necessary.'"
Fiscal Folly
Robert Kuttner writes for The American Prospect: "The economy is still very fragile, yet Washington seems more fixated on deficits than on recovery. Fiscal conservatives in Congress hope to hold recovery spending hostage for long-term caps on social outlay, and they have some company in the White House. Groups like the billion-dollar Peter G. Peterson Foundation are leading the charge."
Wall Street Angry with Their Purhase
Glenn Greenwald writes for Salon.com: "Political science professors could require students to read this article from today's New York Times and little else would be needed to convey the essence of the American political system. The article describes how Wall Street -- which poured massive amounts of money into the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party over the last several years, ensuring unparalleled access and influence -- is now threatening to support the Republicans if Obama keeps saying mean things about them. Wall Street executives are angry that, after duly purchasing the Democrats (they have receipts and everything), the Obama White House is now rousing the dirty rabble with their anti-banker rhetoric:"
The Dystopia Conservatives Built
David Sirota writes for Truthdig.com: "Judging by Tim Tebow’s much-hyped Super Bowl ad, “choose life” remains conservatives’ favorite abortion shibboleth. But really, the phrase better captures the stakes in the Great Budget Wars of 2010. Plagued by deficits, communities everywhere must now decide between tax reform and public spending cuts—between economic life and death. And thanks to two Western bellwether states, we know what each choice means."
Obama to Use Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class? Oops, not true.
Laurent Belsie reports for the Christian Science Monitor: "It says something about the state of partisanship in America when the biggest budget story of the day is a nonstory. Literally. After Reuters published a story Monday about how backdoor taxes would hit middle-class Americans under President Obama, the White House complained about inaccuracies. Reuters pulled it Tuesday morning, saying a replacement story would be coming. Later in the day, it said the story was wrong and that there would be no substitute."
Peace Talks May Follow Ex-Taliban Mediators' Plan
Gareth Porter reports for Inter Press Service: "If peace talks do ultimately begin between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban leadership, they may well follow a "road map" to a political settlement drawn up by a group of ex-Taliban officials who have been serving as intermediaries between the two sides. The four Taliban mediators have been encouraging both Karzai and the Taliban leadership to begin with steps toward military de-escalation and confidence-building before proceeding to the central political-military issues that must be negotiated, a member of the mediation team, Arsullah Rahmani, told IPS in an interview at his home in Kabul."
No Defense for This Budget
Katrina vanden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "Deficit hysteria has reached new levels yet where is the attention to an out of control defense budget that is now the largest since World War II? While the Obama Admistration's three-year freeze on discretionary spending is a bad idea, it's made even worse because unprecedented Pentagon spending is exempted from it."
Report: "No Strategic Value" to Afghan Outpost Where Eight Died
John Walcott and Jonathan S. Landay report for McClatchy Newspapers: "A US military investigation into a battle last October in eastern Afghanistan that cost eight American soldiers their lives has concluded that the small outpost was worthless, the troops there didn't understand their mission, and intelligence and air support were tied up elsewhere in the province."
California's Nuclear Nexus: A faux disarmament plan has roots in the Golden State's pro-nuclear lobby
Darwin Bondgraham and Nicholas Robinson and Will Parrish write for Z magazine: "In early 2007 four honored Cold Warriors published what appeared to be an unlikely op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) calling for a "world free of nuclear weapons." The essay was signed by none other than the former Secretaries of State George P. Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William S. Perry, and former Georgia Senator and long-time Chair of the Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn. Now referred to as the 'the four horsemen' by those who work on nuclear policy, they wrote that complete nuclear disarmament is 'a bold initiative consistent with America's moral heritage.' The essay implored international leaders to work 'energetically on the actions required to achieve' the lofty goals outlined within."
Health Care Spending Skyrockets and Shows No Signs of Tapering
Grace Huang reports for Truthout: "In 2009, health care spending grew by 5.7 percent, now reaching $2.5 trillion. It is the largest increase since the federal government began tracking these figures in 1960, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)."
House Likely to End Health Insurers' Antitrust Exemption
David Lightman reports for McClatchy Newspapers: "The House of Representatives plans next week to vote on - and probably approve - a measure to strip health insurers' antitrust protections, which will be Congress's first step this year to try to overhaul the nation's health care system. However, the effort to remove the 65-year-old exemption is a small step that's unlikely to have much direct impact on consumers, according to independent analysts."
Global Warming: The Hottest Decade
Saul Landau writes for The Daily Censored: "'The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show…. 2009 was the second warmest year since 1880, when modern temperature measurement began. The warmest year was 2005. The other hottest recorded years have all occurred since 1998, NASA said.' 'The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show…. 2009 was the second warmest year since 1880, when modern temperature measurement began. The warmest year was 2005. The other hottest recorded years have all occurred since 1998, NASA said.'”
Daily Newspaper Reading (Print or Online) Down to Two in Five
Jack Loechner reports for Media Post" "According to the findings of a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, of 2,136 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 14 and 16, 2009 by Harris Interactive, the era of Americans reading a daily newspaper each and every day is coming to an end."
The Right Gets Itself Wired
Robert Parry writes for Consortiumn News: "In past years when I talked to American progressives about the growing media imbalance – as the Right gained dominance in books, magazines, newspapers, talk radio and cable TV – a typical response was, “well, the Left is stronger on the Internet.” But now even that advantage is disappearing, as should have been expected."
06 February 2010
Howard Zinn, State of the Union, Citizens United, and more
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train,” Howard Zinn famously said. He didn’t believe in staying closeted in the academy, though he was a brilliant historian whose book, A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present changed the way many people view history. Recently, a documentary based on his work, The People Speak, brought to life the many Americans whose lives and activism would otherwise have been forgotten.
Zinn died on January 27th at age 87. He lived a long, full life and was an inspiration to all of us at. We will listen to a clip from GRITtv when he spoke to Laura Flanders in 2008.
Then we broadcast another clip from GRITtv focusing on President Obama's State of the Union speech. In it he called for jobs, health care reform, and fighting the influence of corporations on our government processes, but after the past year, many progressives are skeptical that he’ll actually fight. He did include a sharp critique in his speech of the decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a decision that Steve Cobble called an “intellectually dishonest power grab.”
Steve Cobble, a fellow at the Insitute for Policy Studies, joins Laura Flanders to talk about the state of our union and what people can do to fight the corporate power. Also in studio are Mike Lux, founder of Progressive Strategies and author of The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, and Lisa Dodson, professor at Boston College and author of The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy.
Next we hear from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's CounterSpin. The Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that corporations may not be limited in their spending to influence elections, because they have the same free speech rights as people. Among the many questions raised are not just what this means for elections, but what it means for "free" speech. CounterSpin interviews Charlie Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy on that story.
We conclude with a segment from Riz Khan of Al Jazeera entitled: The Role of Media in the US. Khan interviews Any Goodman of executive producer and host of Democracy Now! and John Maxwell Hamilton, author of Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of Foreign Reporting, about the crisis American journalism is facing and what this means for informing the public debate.MP3 File
Zinn died on January 27th at age 87. He lived a long, full life and was an inspiration to all of us at. We will listen to a clip from GRITtv when he spoke to Laura Flanders in 2008.
Then we broadcast another clip from GRITtv focusing on President Obama's State of the Union speech. In it he called for jobs, health care reform, and fighting the influence of corporations on our government processes, but after the past year, many progressives are skeptical that he’ll actually fight. He did include a sharp critique in his speech of the decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a decision that Steve Cobble called an “intellectually dishonest power grab.”
Steve Cobble, a fellow at the Insitute for Policy Studies, joins Laura Flanders to talk about the state of our union and what people can do to fight the corporate power. Also in studio are Mike Lux, founder of Progressive Strategies and author of The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, and Lisa Dodson, professor at Boston College and author of The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy.
Next we hear from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's CounterSpin. The Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that corporations may not be limited in their spending to influence elections, because they have the same free speech rights as people. Among the many questions raised are not just what this means for elections, but what it means for "free" speech. CounterSpin interviews Charlie Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy on that story.
We conclude with a segment from Riz Khan of Al Jazeera entitled: The Role of Media in the US. Khan interviews Any Goodman of executive producer and host of Democracy Now! and John Maxwell Hamilton, author of Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of Foreign Reporting, about the crisis American journalism is facing and what this means for informing the public debate.MP3 File
Funding Public Schools
Community Bridge takes up the issue of Funding Public Education with Terry Forsyth, Kansas NEA; Mark Tallman, Kansas Association of School Boards; Kathy Cook, Kansas Families for Education; and Susan Marshall, vice-chair the USD 383 School Board. Social conservatives are doing everything in their power to bankrupt our schools and damage our state's infrastructure. Our guests will discuss what is happening in the Kansas legislature, what the cuts carried out this year have meant for the quality of education in Kansas, and what you can do to put an end to wrecking our state's infrastructure.
MP3 File
MP3 File
04 February 2010
A discussion with Charles Schollenberger
In December, 2009, Charles Schollenberger was a guest on the Community Bridge radio program on KSDB 91.9 FM, Manhattan. This podcast is an edited version of the live show. Schollenberger discusses his reasons for running for the US Senate, his positions on key issues like the war in Afghanistan, and the kind of campaign he will run.
MP3 File
MP3 File
31 January 2010
Clippings for 31 January 2010
A Memory of Howard
Daniel Ellsberg writes for Truthdig.com: "I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, 'Howard Zinn.'”
Howard Zinn: A Public Intellectual Who Mattered
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "In 1977 I took my first job in higher education at Boston University. One reason I went there was because Howard Zinn was teaching there at the time. As a high school teacher, Howard's book, 'Vietnam: the Logic of Withdrawal,' published in 1968, had a profound effect on me."
Haiti’s Tragedy: A Crime of US Imperialism
Bill Van Auken writes for the World Socialist Website: "The immense death and suffering inflicted upon the people of Haiti by the January 12 earthquake has laid bare a massive international crime by US imperialism, which prepared this catastrophe with a century of oppression and is now attempting to exploit the disaster for its own ends."
Obama's Secret Prisons: Night Raids, Hidden Detention Centers, the "Black Jail" and the Dogs of War in Afghanistan
Anand Gopal comments for TomDispatch.com: "One quiet, wintry night last year in the eastern Afghan town of Khost, a young government employee named Ismatullah simply vanished. He had last been seen in the town's bazaar with a group of friends. Family members scoured Khost's dust-doused streets for days. Village elders contacted Taliban commanders in the area who were wont to kidnap government workers, but they had never heard of the young man. Even the governor got involved, ordering his police to round up nettlesome criminal gangs that sometimes preyed on young bazaar-goers for ransom."
Obama Ignores Key Afgan Warning
Ray McGovern writes for Consortium News: "No longer is it possible to suggest that Obama was totally deprived of good counsel on Afghanistan; Eikenberry got it largely right. Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain."
Regardless of Polls, Afghans Say Mood in Country is Worsening
Jean MacKenzie reports for GlobalPost: "There is a loud sound of head-scratching in Kabul these days as Afghans and foreigners alike ponder the results of a poll conducted jointly by ABC News, the BBC and German television company ARD."
Justice Department Clears Torture Memo Authors John Yoo, Jay Bybee of Misconduct
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "A long-awaited Department of Justice watchdog report that probed whether John Yoo and his former boss Jay Bybee violated professional standards when they provided the Bush White House with legal advice on torture has cleared both men of misconduct, according to Newsweek, citing unnamed sources who have seen the document."
Democracy Inc.
The Nation comments in the following editorial: "The Citizens United campaign finance decision by Chief Justice John Roberts and a Supreme Court majority of conservative judicial activists is a dramatic assault on American democracy, overturning more than a century of precedent in order to give corporations the ultimate authority over elections and governing. This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law by making it possible for the nation's most powerful economic interests to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests but political discourse itself. As such, it demands a vigorous response, uniting progressive activists and good-government reformers of every stripe along with those conservatives who are also troubled by the decision. We must now fight for legislative and constitutional remedies to this threat to the American experiment."
The Supreme Coup
Jim Hightower writes for Truthout.org: "Despite 234 years of progress toward the American ideal of equality for all, we still have to battle unfairness. How happy, then, to learn that a handful of our leaders in Washington took bold and forceful action last week to lift another group of downtrodden Americans from the pits of injustice, helping them gain more political and governmental power. I refer, of course, to corporations."
10 Ways to Stop Corporate Dominance of Politics: It's Not Too Late to Limit or Reverse the Impact of the Supreme Court's Disastrous Decision in Citizens United v. FEC
Fran Korten writes for Yes! Magazine: "Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanisms to prevent or counter the millions of dollars that corporations can now draw from their treasuries to push for government action favorable to their bottom line. The outrage ignited by the Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission extends to President Obama, who has promised that repairing the damage will be a priority for his administration."
Nice Speech. Now What?
Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "If words alone could do the trick, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech worked. But this time, words were not enough. Words won’t put people to work. Not even Obama’s eloquence—and he did reach that point on occasion—will be enough to inject courage into the gutless Democrats running from a mild heath care reform bill. Nor will words turn Republicans away from the unrelenting opposition they think will bring down the Democrats."
Two Cheers for Obama on Foreign Affairs
Robert Dreyfuss writes for The Nation: "Make no mistake -- to use one of President Obama's favorite phrases -- the United States faces a difficult and daunting foreign policy challenge over the next three years of Obama's first term. Still, it was a pleasure to listen to a State of the Union address, especially after eight years of his predecessor's alarmist warnings and warlike thundering, in which war, terrorism, and 'rogue states' went almost unmentioned."
How to Reform our Financial System
Paul Volcker comments in the New York Times: "PRESIDENT OBAMA 10 days ago set out one important element in the needed structural reform of the financial system. No one can reasonably contest the need for such reform, in the United States and in other countries as well. We have after all a system that broke down in the most serious crisis in 75 years. The cost has been enormous in terms of unemployment and lost production. The repercussions have been international."
Obama Needs to Teach the Public How to Get Out of the Mess We're In
Robert Reich writes on RobertReich.org: "The President wants businesses that hire new employees this year to get $5,000 per hire, in the form of a tax credit. That will come to about $33 billion. It's good step. He's also supporting a cut in the capital gains tax for small businesses. That makes sense; after all, small businesses generate most jobs."
HealthCareFAIL: How The Dems Botched Their Signature Legislation
Brian Buetler writes for Talking Point Memo: "Talk about fits and starts. A year ago Democrats committed to passing comprehensive health care legislation; six months ago, it became clear that their project wouldn't go smoothly; one month ago it was full speed ahead; and a week and a half ago it all fell apart. Health care reform is now on life support. To mix metaphors, it's on life support and the back burner at the same time. How the Democrats' signature agenda item went from a foregone conclusion to a prospect in peril is a tale of missteps and bad luck. No single player or event brought us to where we are today. But if any of the below episodes had gone...more smoothly, this might've been a done deal"
Rep. Grayson: Obama Needs to Push Health Care In Earnest -- With a Public Option
Adele Stan writes for AlterNet: "Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., has a message for Senate Democrats: Pass health care with a public option -- and pass it quickly. On Wednesday, Grayson joined Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Jim Dean of Democracy for America in delivering some 225,000 petitions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that demand the Senate leadership use a procedure it has avoided so far in the health care fight in order to pass a bill that contains a public health insurance option. CREDO Action also co-sponsored the petition."
Obama Orders Cut in Federal Government's Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama Friday told federal agencies to cut energy use to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 28 percent by 2010. Agencies are taking measures ranging from using more solar energy to switching from gasoline vehicles to hybrid vehicles."
Coalition of Women's Groups Protests Focus on the Family Super Bowl Ad
National Partnership for Women and Families writes: Some national women's groups on Monday told CBS not to broadcast a Super Bowl commercial featuring former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother that is expected to include an antiabortion-rights message, the AP/Washington Post reports. Tebow and his mother, Pam, will appear in the 30-second commercial on behalf of the Christian group Focus on the Family. They are expected to discuss Pam's personal story of falling ill while in the Philippines when she was pregnant with Tim and ignoring doctors' recommendations to have an abortion."
Rise in Teen Pregnancy Rate Invigorates Debate Over Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Programs
National Partnership for Women and Families writes: "The recent release of a new study by the Guttmacher Institute showing a 3% increase in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate from 2005 to 2006 is "likely to intensify the debate over federal financing for abstinence-only sex education," the New York Times reports. The Guttmacher study showed higher pregnancy rates for white, black and Hispanic teens, as well as the first increase in the teen abortion rate in more than a decade."
The Most Hated Name in News: Will Al Jazeera English Revolutionize America's TV News Landscape?
Deborah Campbell writes for The Walrus: "There are three forces shaping the world, an Arab reporter I met in the Gaza Strip once told me: money, women, and journalism. On the first and third counts, he might have been thinking of Qatar, where I pass by luxury shopping malls, glittering real estate developments, and, in a spirit of reasonableness, traffic signs that advise caution when driving the wrong way down one-way streets. Over the past decade, this tiny desert emirate of a million and a half people -- a bump on the rib cage of Saudi Arabia, directly across the Persian Gulf from Iran -- has asserted itself on the world stage in large measure by pouring money into, of all things, journalism. Since 1996, it has been funding Al Jazeera (Arabic for "the island"), the network that revolutionized the Arab media and is poised to do the same for the English-speaking world."
Not-so-Breitbart and the Story of James O'Keefe
Karl Frisch writes for Media Matters: "Back in September, right-wing activist James O'Keefe told Fox News host Glenn Beck that he was "willing to serve prison time" for his work. That just may happen. According to an affidavit from the FBI, O'Keefe and three others were arrested on Monday in connection with an alleged plot to "interfer[e]" with the phone system in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. O'Keefe is perhaps best known for the heavily edited and misleading undercover videos he and Hannah Giles shot of low-level ACORN employees while the right-wing duo were dressed as a pimp and prostitute, an escapade that itself may have violated state criminal statutes."
Report Details Long History of Government Support of Journalism
FreePress reports: "A new report released today examines the history of the U.S. government's role in subsidizing the gathering and distribution of news and information. The report, Public Policy and Funding the News, by David Westphal and Geoffrey Cowan, was published by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy." Download full report.
As Murdoch and Sulzberger Dream of Paywalls, Consider Poor Newsday's Example
David Weir writes for BNET: "Perhaps the only way to figure out what is actually going on in the media industry these days is to not get too mired in the daily, weekly, or even monthly details, because the pace of news has quickened to the extent that even the small army of us here at BNET could never hope to cover everything of interest to the average media exec. Take the issue of paywalls. Everyone knows about Rupert Murdoch’s threats, and the The New York Times’ plans, but while those industry leaders prepare their well-publicized initiatives, what is the actual experience of the publications that are out ahead of the curve on this?"
RESEARCH: "Bolshevik plot": Right-wing media declare Obama a radical who threatens America
Media Matters reposts: "Urging that 'we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality,' President Obama stated during his January 29 question and answer session with House Republicans that 'if you were to listen to the debate' over health care reform 'you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot.' Throughout Obama's administration thus far, conservative media have embraced such rhetoric, routinely attacking Obama's agenda as socialist, communist or fascist and telling audiences that Obama and health care reform are a threat to America itself."
Why Media and Journalism Scholars Support Network Neutrality
Bill Herman reports for DaveTheInternet.com: "Academic associations tend to be politically conservative. I don't mean that they revere Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman, though plenty of scholars do. Rather, each group – representing a field's professors and graduate students – tends to evade controversy, rarely taking a public stance on an issue that might divide the membership. Thus, it is remarkable that the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has declared its support for Network Neutrality."
Why the Opinion Industry Hates 'Most People'
Timothy Karr writes for the Huffington Post: "They've called us pirates, pigs, lunatics and communists. They've funneled their money to PR firms that spin the media about the "evils" of Net Neutrality -- the principle that protects our online freedom. Because nearly two million people have stood up for an open Internet, they're trying to knock us down."
Daniel Ellsberg writes for Truthdig.com: "I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, 'Howard Zinn.'”
Howard Zinn: A Public Intellectual Who Mattered
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "In 1977 I took my first job in higher education at Boston University. One reason I went there was because Howard Zinn was teaching there at the time. As a high school teacher, Howard's book, 'Vietnam: the Logic of Withdrawal,' published in 1968, had a profound effect on me."
Recommended Audio: Bill Moyers - Haiti's Problems Are Rooted in Its Colonial Legacy
Bill Moyers comments on Bill Moyers Journal: "Even some of the most hardened reporters I know, old hands at covering famine, disaster, and war, are shaken by the carnage in Haiti. Over my own long life in journalism I've had my share of the sounds and smells that linger in your head long after you have left the scene. But I've found it especially hard this past week to absorb the pictures coming from Haiti." Haiti’s Tragedy: A Crime of US Imperialism
Bill Van Auken writes for the World Socialist Website: "The immense death and suffering inflicted upon the people of Haiti by the January 12 earthquake has laid bare a massive international crime by US imperialism, which prepared this catastrophe with a century of oppression and is now attempting to exploit the disaster for its own ends."
Recommended Audio: Haiti Untold - Nonviolence and Humanization at the Grassroots
Randall Amster writes for Waging Nonviolence: "A number of commentators have questioned the accepted logic that disasters bring out the worst in people, directly challenging the pervasive “looters run amok” imagery often perpetuated by the media and held out by lawmakers as a rationale for military occupation. Having done relief work following Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, I have found that people are more likely to work together – even if only out of necessity – when severe hardship strikes. In fact, it is precisely the isolation and individualism of ordinary daily life that tap into our worst instincts, while the removal of these impediments can actually liberate our better qualities." Read more here. Obama's Secret Prisons: Night Raids, Hidden Detention Centers, the "Black Jail" and the Dogs of War in Afghanistan
Anand Gopal comments for TomDispatch.com: "One quiet, wintry night last year in the eastern Afghan town of Khost, a young government employee named Ismatullah simply vanished. He had last been seen in the town's bazaar with a group of friends. Family members scoured Khost's dust-doused streets for days. Village elders contacted Taliban commanders in the area who were wont to kidnap government workers, but they had never heard of the young man. Even the governor got involved, ordering his police to round up nettlesome criminal gangs that sometimes preyed on young bazaar-goers for ransom."
Obama Ignores Key Afgan Warning
Ray McGovern writes for Consortium News: "No longer is it possible to suggest that Obama was totally deprived of good counsel on Afghanistan; Eikenberry got it largely right. Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain."
Regardless of Polls, Afghans Say Mood in Country is Worsening
Jean MacKenzie reports for GlobalPost: "There is a loud sound of head-scratching in Kabul these days as Afghans and foreigners alike ponder the results of a poll conducted jointly by ABC News, the BBC and German television company ARD."
Justice Department Clears Torture Memo Authors John Yoo, Jay Bybee of Misconduct
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "A long-awaited Department of Justice watchdog report that probed whether John Yoo and his former boss Jay Bybee violated professional standards when they provided the Bush White House with legal advice on torture has cleared both men of misconduct, according to Newsweek, citing unnamed sources who have seen the document."
Democracy Inc.
The Nation comments in the following editorial: "The Citizens United campaign finance decision by Chief Justice John Roberts and a Supreme Court majority of conservative judicial activists is a dramatic assault on American democracy, overturning more than a century of precedent in order to give corporations the ultimate authority over elections and governing. This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law by making it possible for the nation's most powerful economic interests to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests but political discourse itself. As such, it demands a vigorous response, uniting progressive activists and good-government reformers of every stripe along with those conservatives who are also troubled by the decision. We must now fight for legislative and constitutional remedies to this threat to the American experiment."
The Supreme Coup
Jim Hightower writes for Truthout.org: "Despite 234 years of progress toward the American ideal of equality for all, we still have to battle unfairness. How happy, then, to learn that a handful of our leaders in Washington took bold and forceful action last week to lift another group of downtrodden Americans from the pits of injustice, helping them gain more political and governmental power. I refer, of course, to corporations."
10 Ways to Stop Corporate Dominance of Politics: It's Not Too Late to Limit or Reverse the Impact of the Supreme Court's Disastrous Decision in Citizens United v. FEC
Fran Korten writes for Yes! Magazine: "Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanisms to prevent or counter the millions of dollars that corporations can now draw from their treasuries to push for government action favorable to their bottom line. The outrage ignited by the Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission extends to President Obama, who has promised that repairing the damage will be a priority for his administration."
Nice Speech. Now What?
Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "If words alone could do the trick, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech worked. But this time, words were not enough. Words won’t put people to work. Not even Obama’s eloquence—and he did reach that point on occasion—will be enough to inject courage into the gutless Democrats running from a mild heath care reform bill. Nor will words turn Republicans away from the unrelenting opposition they think will bring down the Democrats."
Two Cheers for Obama on Foreign Affairs
Robert Dreyfuss writes for The Nation: "Make no mistake -- to use one of President Obama's favorite phrases -- the United States faces a difficult and daunting foreign policy challenge over the next three years of Obama's first term. Still, it was a pleasure to listen to a State of the Union address, especially after eight years of his predecessor's alarmist warnings and warlike thundering, in which war, terrorism, and 'rogue states' went almost unmentioned."
How to Reform our Financial System
Paul Volcker comments in the New York Times: "PRESIDENT OBAMA 10 days ago set out one important element in the needed structural reform of the financial system. No one can reasonably contest the need for such reform, in the United States and in other countries as well. We have after all a system that broke down in the most serious crisis in 75 years. The cost has been enormous in terms of unemployment and lost production. The repercussions have been international."
Obama Needs to Teach the Public How to Get Out of the Mess We're In
Robert Reich writes on RobertReich.org: "The President wants businesses that hire new employees this year to get $5,000 per hire, in the form of a tax credit. That will come to about $33 billion. It's good step. He's also supporting a cut in the capital gains tax for small businesses. That makes sense; after all, small businesses generate most jobs."
HealthCareFAIL: How The Dems Botched Their Signature Legislation
Brian Buetler writes for Talking Point Memo: "Talk about fits and starts. A year ago Democrats committed to passing comprehensive health care legislation; six months ago, it became clear that their project wouldn't go smoothly; one month ago it was full speed ahead; and a week and a half ago it all fell apart. Health care reform is now on life support. To mix metaphors, it's on life support and the back burner at the same time. How the Democrats' signature agenda item went from a foregone conclusion to a prospect in peril is a tale of missteps and bad luck. No single player or event brought us to where we are today. But if any of the below episodes had gone...more smoothly, this might've been a done deal"
Rep. Grayson: Obama Needs to Push Health Care In Earnest -- With a Public Option
Adele Stan writes for AlterNet: "Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., has a message for Senate Democrats: Pass health care with a public option -- and pass it quickly. On Wednesday, Grayson joined Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Jim Dean of Democracy for America in delivering some 225,000 petitions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that demand the Senate leadership use a procedure it has avoided so far in the health care fight in order to pass a bill that contains a public health insurance option. CREDO Action also co-sponsored the petition."
Obama Orders Cut in Federal Government's Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama Friday told federal agencies to cut energy use to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 28 percent by 2010. Agencies are taking measures ranging from using more solar energy to switching from gasoline vehicles to hybrid vehicles."
Coalition of Women's Groups Protests Focus on the Family Super Bowl Ad
National Partnership for Women and Families writes: Some national women's groups on Monday told CBS not to broadcast a Super Bowl commercial featuring former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother that is expected to include an antiabortion-rights message, the AP/Washington Post reports. Tebow and his mother, Pam, will appear in the 30-second commercial on behalf of the Christian group Focus on the Family. They are expected to discuss Pam's personal story of falling ill while in the Philippines when she was pregnant with Tim and ignoring doctors' recommendations to have an abortion."
Rise in Teen Pregnancy Rate Invigorates Debate Over Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Programs
National Partnership for Women and Families writes: "The recent release of a new study by the Guttmacher Institute showing a 3% increase in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate from 2005 to 2006 is "likely to intensify the debate over federal financing for abstinence-only sex education," the New York Times reports. The Guttmacher study showed higher pregnancy rates for white, black and Hispanic teens, as well as the first increase in the teen abortion rate in more than a decade."
Recommended Audio: The Nation - Tony Kushner on LGBT Rights and Obama's Agenda
Clarissa León writes for The Nation: "Eighteen years after Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America explored the controversial themes of sexuality and religion, Kushner continues to be one of the country's leading voices on gay rights. With President Barack Obama celebrating his first year in office, we asked Kushner to reflect on Obama's tenure so far and his progress in regards to LGBT issues."The Most Hated Name in News: Will Al Jazeera English Revolutionize America's TV News Landscape?
Deborah Campbell writes for The Walrus: "There are three forces shaping the world, an Arab reporter I met in the Gaza Strip once told me: money, women, and journalism. On the first and third counts, he might have been thinking of Qatar, where I pass by luxury shopping malls, glittering real estate developments, and, in a spirit of reasonableness, traffic signs that advise caution when driving the wrong way down one-way streets. Over the past decade, this tiny desert emirate of a million and a half people -- a bump on the rib cage of Saudi Arabia, directly across the Persian Gulf from Iran -- has asserted itself on the world stage in large measure by pouring money into, of all things, journalism. Since 1996, it has been funding Al Jazeera (Arabic for "the island"), the network that revolutionized the Arab media and is poised to do the same for the English-speaking world."
Not-so-Breitbart and the Story of James O'Keefe
Karl Frisch writes for Media Matters: "Back in September, right-wing activist James O'Keefe told Fox News host Glenn Beck that he was "willing to serve prison time" for his work. That just may happen. According to an affidavit from the FBI, O'Keefe and three others were arrested on Monday in connection with an alleged plot to "interfer[e]" with the phone system in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. O'Keefe is perhaps best known for the heavily edited and misleading undercover videos he and Hannah Giles shot of low-level ACORN employees while the right-wing duo were dressed as a pimp and prostitute, an escapade that itself may have violated state criminal statutes."
Report Details Long History of Government Support of Journalism
FreePress reports: "A new report released today examines the history of the U.S. government's role in subsidizing the gathering and distribution of news and information. The report, Public Policy and Funding the News, by David Westphal and Geoffrey Cowan, was published by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy." Download full report.
As Murdoch and Sulzberger Dream of Paywalls, Consider Poor Newsday's Example
David Weir writes for BNET: "Perhaps the only way to figure out what is actually going on in the media industry these days is to not get too mired in the daily, weekly, or even monthly details, because the pace of news has quickened to the extent that even the small army of us here at BNET could never hope to cover everything of interest to the average media exec. Take the issue of paywalls. Everyone knows about Rupert Murdoch’s threats, and the The New York Times’ plans, but while those industry leaders prepare their well-publicized initiatives, what is the actual experience of the publications that are out ahead of the curve on this?"
RESEARCH: "Bolshevik plot": Right-wing media declare Obama a radical who threatens America
Media Matters reposts: "Urging that 'we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality,' President Obama stated during his January 29 question and answer session with House Republicans that 'if you were to listen to the debate' over health care reform 'you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot.' Throughout Obama's administration thus far, conservative media have embraced such rhetoric, routinely attacking Obama's agenda as socialist, communist or fascist and telling audiences that Obama and health care reform are a threat to America itself."
Why Media and Journalism Scholars Support Network Neutrality
Bill Herman reports for DaveTheInternet.com: "Academic associations tend to be politically conservative. I don't mean that they revere Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman, though plenty of scholars do. Rather, each group – representing a field's professors and graduate students – tends to evade controversy, rarely taking a public stance on an issue that might divide the membership. Thus, it is remarkable that the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has declared its support for Network Neutrality."
Why the Opinion Industry Hates 'Most People'
Timothy Karr writes for the Huffington Post: "They've called us pirates, pigs, lunatics and communists. They've funneled their money to PR firms that spin the media about the "evils" of Net Neutrality -- the principle that protects our online freedom. Because nearly two million people have stood up for an open Internet, they're trying to knock us down."
29 January 2010
Jana's Campaign to End Domestic Violence
This week's Community Bridge opens with a conversation on domestic violence with Curt Brungardt, Executive Director at the Center for Civic Leadership, Ft. Hays State University, who along with his wife, Christie, are the co-founders of Jana's Campaign to End Domestic Violence.
Jana's Campaign is a grassroots, community-based advocacy effort developed for the purpose of working in the domestic violence public policy arena. According to a recent United Nations report, one in every three women worldwide will directly experience violence in their lifetime. The overwhelming majority of these women will be physically harmed by their intimate partners. In the United States, domestic violence is recognized as the leading cause of injuries experienced by women. And data from the US Department of Justice says on an average, three women every day are killed by their current or former partners. On July 3, 2008, Jana Lynne Mackey, a University of Kansas law student was one of these fatalities.
MP3 File
Jana's Campaign is a grassroots, community-based advocacy effort developed for the purpose of working in the domestic violence public policy arena. According to a recent United Nations report, one in every three women worldwide will directly experience violence in their lifetime. The overwhelming majority of these women will be physically harmed by their intimate partners. In the United States, domestic violence is recognized as the leading cause of injuries experienced by women. And data from the US Department of Justice says on an average, three women every day are killed by their current or former partners. On July 3, 2008, Jana Lynne Mackey, a University of Kansas law student was one of these fatalities.
MP3 File
Jan. 28, 2010: Part 2 - Is there an Obama doctrine in foreign policy?
The Nation magazine has given Community Bridge permission to broadcast some of the seminar panels which took place on their 12th annual cruise in December, 2009. Community Bridge thanks The Nation for this permission.
In this broadcast we will hear "Is There an Obama Doctrine in Foreign Policy?" The panel discusses foreign policy in the first year of the Obama administration and features: Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation as moderator, with panelists: Robert Scheer, editor Truthdig; Steve Cohen, American scholar of Russian studies and professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University; Gov. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont and Chair of the Democratic Party; and William Greider, author of numerous books, including Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) Of Our Country, contributor to The Nation, wrote for Rolling Stone magazine during the 1980s and 1990s, and has worked as an on-air correspondent for Frontline on PBS.
MP3 File
In this broadcast we will hear "Is There an Obama Doctrine in Foreign Policy?" The panel discusses foreign policy in the first year of the Obama administration and features: Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation as moderator, with panelists: Robert Scheer, editor Truthdig; Steve Cohen, American scholar of Russian studies and professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University; Gov. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont and Chair of the Democratic Party; and William Greider, author of numerous books, including Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) Of Our Country, contributor to The Nation, wrote for Rolling Stone magazine during the 1980s and 1990s, and has worked as an on-air correspondent for Frontline on PBS.
MP3 File
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