carapace – Not your father's america

#7 of The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths)

Spirits of Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians had several creation myths. All begin with the swirling, chaotic waters of Nu (or Nun). Atum willed himself into being, and then created a hill, otherwise there’d be no place for him to stand. Atum was genderless and possessed an all-seeing eye. He/she spat out a son, Shu, god of the air. Atum then vomited up a daughter, Tefnut, goddess of moisture. These two were charged with the task of creating order out of chaos. Shu and Tefnut generated Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky. First they were entwined, but Geb lifted Nut above him. Gradually the world’s order formed, but Shu and Tefnut became lost in the remaining darkness. Atum removed his/her all-seeing eye and sent it in search of them. (Just how all-seeing it was, and what did Atum do without, remains a mystery.) When Shu and Tefnut returned, thanks to the eye, Atum wept with joy. (Presumably he/she re-inserted the eye first.) Where the tears struck the earth, men sprang up.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.livescience.com/history/top10_intelligent_designs-1.html

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Center for Inquiry (CFI) Releases New Position Paper

May 29, 2007

Understanding The Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals

At:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/Forrest_Paper.pdf

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MUSEUM GROUP SUED BY FELLOW CREATIONISTS

An excellent report now posted on Kentucky.com by staffer Andy Mead. “There is trouble in paradise with a fight of biblical proportions raging between a Kentucky-based creationist group and the Australian group from which it sprang.”

At:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/100183.html

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THE LIPPARD BLOG, CREATIONIST DISPUTE

This page has links to some of the impressive and detailed investigative reporting by blogger Jim Lippard. Consider this a “must read” for background on the AIG dispute. Highly recommended.

At:

http://lippard.blogspot.com/2007/06/kentucky-newspaper-covers-creationist.html

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KIDS DON’T NEED RELIGION TO BE GOOD, WRITER SAYS

“It doesn’t take religion to raise a kid with good values, says Minnesota writer, editor and teacher Dale McGowan in his new anthology…”

At:

http://www.startribune.com/614/story/1248341.html

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GOD HATES SHRIMP!

“Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God’s law unto the heathens and
the sodomites. We call upon all Christians to join the crusade against Long John Silver’s and Red Lobster. Yea, even Popeye’s shall be cleansed. The name of Bubba shall be anathema. We must stop the unbelievers from destroying the sanctity of our restaurants.”

At:

http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/

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The duty of Christians to impeach Bush and Cheney

OpEdNews – Newtown,PA,USA

They believed Pat Robertson, who “anointed” him to lead America. They thought he would bring about God’s kingdom on earth. Now they don’t like what he has …

At:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_carol_wo_070617_the_duty_of_christia.htm

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CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN RESERVES RIGHT TO PREACH GAY BASHING

By Evan Derkacz

What next? Women in the clergy?

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/54491/

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Family Research Council prays for surgeon general nominee

The group’s “Prayer Team” has been asked to: “Pray that Dr. Holsinger will receive an honest and fair hearing from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.”

Excerpted from FRC’s “Dear Praying Friends” letter, which was released this week…

“Surgeon General Nominee under Fire – Dr. James Holsinger, President Bush’s nominee for Surgeon General, has been harshly condemned by pro-homosexual activists for a 1991 paper he wrote for the Methodist Church describing male gay sex as unnatural and unhealthy. Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL) attacked Holsinger and President Bush saying, “…The Surgeon General’s office is no place for bigotry…that would trump sound science.” But Holsinger’s work catalogued the obvious. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that of over 600,000 American men with AIDS, the largest category is men who practice homosexuality. Other diseases such as hepatitis, cancer, gonorrhea, and syphilis are increasingly prevalent in the homosexual community. Dr. Holsinger’s credentials are impeccable. He served as Kentucky’s health secretary, chancellor of the University of Kentucky’s medical center, has taught at several medical schools and spent over three decades in the Army Reserve, retiring in 1993 as a major general. Holsinger is being subjected to character assassination for doing precisely what a Surgeon General should do, bring health facts to light. (see Resume, Negative Effects, Fairness)

Pray that Dr. Holsinger will receive an honest and fair hearing from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

May the larger effort to make approval of the homosexual lifestyle a qualification for public office not succeed (Pr 6:16-18; 17:15; Ps 31:11-13; Zec 8:16-17; Eph 4:25; Rev 12:10).”

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Congress Should Block Backdoor Move To Endorse Discrimination By Colleges, Says Americans United

June 21, 2007

AU’s Lynn Says Education Measure Could Be Used To Support Educational Institutions That Push Discriminatory Policy

The U.S. Senate should halt a backdoor effort to endorse discrimination by religious universities, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In a June 20 letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Americans United and other civil liberties groups called for changes to the Higher Education Amendments of 2007.

Currently the measure includes language that could allow the U.S. Department of Education to force the nation’s accrediting agencies to grant accreditation to universities with histories of religiously based discrimination, such as Bob Jones University. The measure states that educational accrediting groups must “consistently appl[y] and enforce standards that respect the stated mission of the institution of higher education, including religious missions.”

Some religious colleges are aggressively lobbying Congress to force accrediting agencies to override their nondiscrimination policies and to accredit colleges claiming a religious reason to discriminate against students and staff.

“I am appalled that the Senate would consider giving a green light to discrimination in our nation’s colleges and universities,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The Senate should ensure that our nation’s accrediting agencies will not be strong-armed into approving religiously based discrimination against students and staff.”

The Americans United letter notes that “the nation has a long and shameful history of colleges and universities that have discriminated against faculty and students,” citing Bob Jones University as an example. The university, founded in 1927, pushed policies barring admission of African-Americans and prohibited students from interracial dating. The university’s founder also attacked the Catholic Church as a “satanic cult” and claimed that gay alumni could not return to campus.

“If the bill passes,” the letter states, “without removing the accreditation provision at issue, the historical role of accreditation associations in ending discrimination in education will be thrown into jeopardy.

“We expect that colleges and universities that would like to discriminate will pressure the Department of Education to stop accrediting bodies from refusing to accredit universities that engage in discrimination,” the letter continues. “We urge the Committee to amend the Higher Education Amendments to provide explicit protection for accrediting associations to enforce their own nondiscrimination provisions, as well as require compliance with federal, state, and local nondiscrimination laws.”

The other groups signing onto the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and People For the American Way.

Tell your Senator that you oppose efforts to endorse discrimination by religious universities!

http://www.au.org/site/R?i=9ARZj4OlCJtbk3qLITvjNA..

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

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Religious extremists in 3 faiths share views: report

Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:48pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Violent Muslim, Christian and Jewish extremists invoke the same rhetoric of “good” and “evil” and the best way to fight them is to tackle the problems that drive people to extremism, according to a report obtained by Reuters.

It said extremists from each of the three faiths often have tangible grievances — social, economic or political — but they invoke religion to recruit followers and to justify breaking the law, including killing civilians and members of their own faith.

The report was commissioned by security think tank EastWest Institute ahead of a conference on Thursday in New York titled “Towards a Common Response: New Thinking Against Violent Extremism and Radicalization.” The report will be updated and published after the conference.

The authors compared ideologies, recruitment tactics and responses to violent religious extremists in three places — Muslims in Britain, Jews in Israel and Christians in the United States.

“What is striking … is the similarity of the worldview and the rationale for violence,” the report said.

It said that while Muslims were often perceived by the West as “the principal perpetrators of terrorist activity,” there are violent extremists of other faiths. Always focusing on Muslim extremists alienates mainstream Muslims, it said.

The report said it was important to examine the root causes of violence by those of different faiths, without prejudice.

Continued…

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-06-13T224549Z_01_N13366859_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-USA-EXTREMISM.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2

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Pastor Charged with Sexual Offense … And More

A preacher in Gaston County has been charged with 32 counts of sexual offense.

http://www.wbtv.com/news/topstories/7988747.html

Victims of priest’s abuse seek accountability from church

The Coloradoan – Fort Collins,CO,USA

Evans was convicted in March and sentenced in May to 14 years to life in prison for molesting Gerber in 1998 and 1999 while Evans was a priest at St. …

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/NEWS01/706170361/1002

LA Clergy Abuse Trials Loom

Tuscaloosa News (subscription) – Tuscaloosa,AL,USA

After years of legal wrangling, the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese may finally move to settle hundreds of clergy sex abuse claims against it …

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070617/APA/706170622

Memphis diocese settles 3 lawsuits alleging sex abuse by priest

WMC-TV – Memphis,TN,USA

(AP) – Three civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children by a former Memphis priest have been settled. Additionally, an investigation to determine the …

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6676176

Another Priest Sex Abuse Case Begins

Jury selection begins Monday for another civil suit involving a former priest with the Vermont Catholic Diocese.

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=6671095

Denver minister to be charged in insurance probe

Denver Post – Denver,CO,USA

By AP A Denver minister accused of filing fraudulent life-insurance claims on behalf of parishioners expects to be criminally charged, according to court …

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6199892

Winston-Salem Preacher Arrested in Raleigh

WRAL.com – Raleigh,NC,USA

Rodney Keith Boothe, 39, was found in Raleigh and charged with four counts of indecent liberties with a minor, three counts of statutory rape and one charge …

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1525913/

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three thousand words

Calvin & Hobbes: Do You Think There’s a God?

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/2007/ch070619.gif

Mikhaela Reid: Alberto Gonzales’s Civil Rights Lite: Taking the “Justice” Out of Justice Department!

http://www.mikhaela.net/uploaded_images/boil070621civilrights-784871.gif

Jeff Swenson: THE MORMONS ARE COMING

http://freethunk.net/cynic-mormons/mormons1.gif

Mindmapping Wikipedia

At:

http://www.wikimindmap.org/viewmap.php?wiki=en.wikipedia.org&topic=learning

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Beck guest said he wanted to see Clintons killed in Sopranos spoof; Beck previously fantasized about killing Michael Moore

During the June 20 edition of his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck hosted Michael Graham, a conservative radio talk show host, who said that, while watching a spoof of a scene from the series finale of HBO’s The Sopranos filmed by former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), he wanted to see someone “whack” the Clintons. Beck, while smiling, said he “did not want to see that.” Graham’s comments were not edited out of subsequent airings of the program. Instead, CNN aired the same version of the show — including Graham’s remark about wanting to see “somebody come in … and just whack” the Clintons — at 7 and 9 p.m. ET on June 20 and at midnight on June 21.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706210013?src=other

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‘I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions.’ Waxman Decries Cheney Security Exemption

June 21 2007

House Democrats on Thursday denounced Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney’s idea of abolishing a government office charged with safeguarding national security information – and criticized him for refusing to cooperate with [abolish] the agency.

Read more

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/21/ap3846812.html

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US Army rebids Halliburton Iraq contract

June 20  2007

The US Army will rebid the multi billion-dollar contract under which a Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been providing services to troops around the world after years of complaints over how the deal has worked in Iraq. Critics of the contract said the move was overdue and that hundreds of millions of dollars had probably been wasted. [See: Justice Dept. opts out of whistle-blower suits --Cases allege fraud in Iraq contracts 20 Jun 2007 The Justice Department has opted out of at least 10 whistle-blower lawsuits alleging fraud and corruption in government reconstruction and security contracts in Iraq, and has spent years investigating additional fraud cases but has yet to try to recover any money. Lawmakers sought to determine why the federal government has not done more to recover tens of millions of dollars that allegedly have been misused or misspent in Iraq.]

Read more

http://www.iraqdevelopmentprogram.org/idp/news/new1662.htm

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CASUALTIES OF BUSH’S CONTRACT ARMY

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Posted by Jim Hightower

Here comes another dirty little secret about the Bushites’ disastrous Iraq war: Many more American troops have died there than they have admitted. These troops aren’t part of the Army or other official military units….

Read more

http://jimhightower.com//node/6148

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The CIA and Fatah; Spies, Quislings and the Palestinian Authority

by Mike Whitney
 

Global Research, June 21, 2007
informationclearinghouse.info 

When Hamas gunmen stormed the Fatah security compounds in Gaza last week they found huge supplies of American-made weaponry including 7,400 M-16 assault rifles, dozens of mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, 7 armored military jeeps, 800,000 rounds of bullets and 18 US-made armored personnel carriers. They also discovered something far more valuable— CIA files which purportedly contain “information about the collaboration between Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza.” (Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily.com)

If the documents prove to be authentic, they will confirm what many critics of Fatah believed from the beginning; that US-Israeli intelligence agencies have been collaborating with high-ranking members of the PA to help crush the Palestinian national liberation movement. The information could be disastrous for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his newly-appointed “emergency government”. It could destroy their credibility before they even take office.

The extent of Fatah’s cooperation with the CIA is still unknown, but an article in The New York Sun, (“Hamas Takes over Gaza Security Services” 6-15-07) suggests that the two groups may have been working together closely. Former Middle East CIA operations officer Robert Baer, who was interviewed in the article, said that the discovery of the documents was “a major blow to Fatah” and will show “a record of training, spying on Hamas”.

Baer added ironically, “Fatah equals CIA is not a good selling point.”

Baer is right. The uncovering of the documents is “big trouble” for Abbas who is already facing a loss of public confidence from his closeness to Israel and for his appointment of Salam Fayyad, the ex-World bank official who the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz calls “everyone’s favorite Palestinian.”

Perhaps more significant is the fact that members of Hamas who spoke with WorldNetDaily claimed that “the files contain, among other information, details of CIA networks in the Middle East” and that Hamas plans to “use these documents and make portions public to prove the collaboration between America and traitor Arab countries.” Imagine what a headache it will be for the Bush administration if Hamas exposes the broader network of US spies and Arab quislings operating throughout region.

Bush Support for “Regime Change” in the PA

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WHI20070621&articleId=6104

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

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Hearing on Investigating Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security

 

Hacking the Homeland: Investigating Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, Wednesday, June 20, 2007. [links to prepared statements, testimony and relevant correspondence]

http://hsc.house.gov/hearings/index.asp?ID=65

Information Security: Homeland Security Needs to Enhance Effectiveness of Its Program, GAO-07-1003T, June 20, 2007. “To protect and mitigate threats and attacks against the United States, 22 federal agencies and organizations were merged to form the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002. One of the department’s components, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is responsible for securing the nation’s borders. DHS and CBP rely on a variety of computerized information systems to support their operations and assets. GAO has reported for many years that poor information security is a widespread problem with potentially devastating consequences. In reports to Congress since 1997, GAO has identified information security as a governmentwide high-risk issue. In this testimony, GAO discusses DHS’s information security program and computer security controls for key information systems. GAO based its testimony on agency, inspector general, and GAO issued and draft reports on DHS information security.”

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White Paper on Economic Consequences of Gasoline “Price Gouging” Legislation

Council of Economic Advisors, June 20, 2007: “The Nation’s drivers, the Administration, and Members of Congress are rightfully concerned about high gasoline prices and the burden high prices impose on families and businesses, particularly on those low-income households least able to adjust to high prices.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/Price_Gouging_WP_062007.html

All policymakers firmly oppose any anticompetitive practices perpetrated by firms. Any instances of illegal collective anticompetitive action can and should be vigorously fought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and, if criminal conduct is involved, by the Department of Justice.”

A White Paper on The Economic Consequences of Gasoline “Price Gouging” Legislation, June 20, 2007″

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/Price_Gouging_WP_062007.html

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National Security Archive Update, June 21, 2007

THE CIA’s FAMILY JEWELS

Agency Violated Charter for 25 Years, Wiretapped Journalists and Dissidents

CIA Announces Declassification of 1970s “Skeletons” File, Archive Posts Justice Department Summary from 1975, With White House Memcons on Damage Control

For more information contact:
Thomas Blanton – 202/994-7000

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington DC, June 21, 2007 – The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots, and human experimentation led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s, according to declassified documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden announced today that the Agency is declassifying the full 693-page file amassed on CIA’s illegal activities by order of then-CIA director James Schlesinger in 1973–the so-called “family jewels.” Only a few dozen heavily-censored pages of this file have previously been declassified, although multiple Freedom of Information Act requests have been filed over the years for the documents. Gen. Hayden called today’s release “a glimpse of a very different time and a very different Agency.”

Hayden also announced the declassification of some 11,000 pages of the so-called CAESAR, POLO and ESAU papers–hard-target analyses of Soviet and Chinese leadership internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations from 1953-1973, a collection of intelligence on Warsaw Pact military programs, and hundreds of pages on the A-12 spy plane.

“This is the first voluntary CIA declassification of controversial material since George Tenet in 1998 reneged on the 1990s promises of greater openness at the Agency,” commented Thomas Blanton, the Archive’s director.

Click on the link below for more on today’s release:

http://www.nsarchive.org

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They Were Right on Iraq

by Bill Steigerwald – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Guess who was right all along about the folly of going to war in Iraq?

That is, not counting Pat Buchanan, this newspaper, 156 members of Congress (seven brave Republicans) and thousands of others who opposed or voted against the Bush administration’s war plans for a multitude of good moral, principled, pragmatic, partisan or personal reasons?

The French.

…

Complete article at:

http://buchanan.org/blog/?p=669

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three thousand words

Dana Summers: pope presents ten commandments of driving

http://img.slate.com/media/43/070621_ed.gif

RJ Matson: my fellow republicans, tear down this wall

http://cagle.com/news/ImmigrationIssues07/images/matson.jpg

Mike Peters: this war may take a little longer than expected …

http://www.grimmy.com/images/MP_Archive/MP_2007/MP0622.gif

NEW PULSE POSTED

At:

http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/pulse_v237_07.htm

That’s the url to the June 18, 2007, issue of DOE Pulse. Pulse is a newsletter about accomplishments at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories. Here is some of what you’ll find in this issue:

* Brookhaven: Better radiation detectors

* Ames: Screening plants for ethanol

* Argonne: Flexible electronics

* Fermilab: Neutrino experiment begins

Feature: Pacific Northwest and Oak Ridge team on Biopilot supercomputing project

Researcher profile: Los Alamos’s Malcolm Andrews

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CNN’s King failed to challenge claim that Bush “has stood up for” “wisely spending the taxpayers’ dollar”

On the June 19 edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, CNN chief national correspondent John King failed to challenge outgoing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Robert Portman’s claim that while the Republicans lost their congressional majority because voters believed they were “not as focused on wisely spending the taxpayers’ dollar,” President Bush “has stood up for” doing so. In fact, Bush signed every appropriations bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, which produced large budget deficits.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706200007?src=other

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Are you ready for the Fox challenge?

Dear Reader,

“I don’t think there’s anything offensive about any variation of faggy, faggotry, faggot, fag. It’s a schoolyard taunt.”

- Ann Coulter, after calling John Edwards a fag

“[T]o be honest about this, I’m convinced that some of these left-wingers, like [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [D-MA], and some of these other groups — they’re not going to be happy until we have a repeat of …
mass slaughter.”

- Sean Hannity, Fox News Host referring to the war in Iraq

“I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel.”
- Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, we accept your challenge!
We have no problem with Fox News being an unashamed outlet for conservative propaganda in what is a free marketplace of ideas. But when Fox frames its distorted point of view as “fair and balanced,” we are all in trouble.

That’s where we come in. AlterNet speaks out with the truth and takes Murdoch and his “journalists” — Coulter, Hannity, O’Reilly and the others — to task.

As you know, voices like ours — that speak out against tyranny — are critical to a healthy democracy. So, as our country prepares to celebrate our democracy this Fourth of July, I hope you will support the hard-hitting voice AlterNet brings to the fight against Fox every day. Support an AlterNet Independence Day.

Make a gift and your donation will be doubled through July Fourth.

http://www.alternet.org/donate/JN07E02C

The Fox crew aims to silence dissenting voices by cutting off their microphones, by repeatedly telling guests to “shut up,” and by limiting coverage of stories that might hurt their right-wing agenda. But they won’t silence us.

At AlterNet, we’re doing everything we can to fight the distortions of Fox and other corporate media fat cats. While mainstream media fixated on sensational entertainment stories like Paris Hilton’s jail sentence, AlterNet broke the story that the Iraqi parliament passed a binding resolution that will guarantee an opportunity to block the U.N. mandate that keeps coalition troops in Iraq.

Marty Kaplan of the Huffington Post, quoted in the Washington Post wrote, “If you didn’t read that in an exclusive AlterNet.org story by Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland … you might not know that a majority of Iraqi lawmakers has now fashioned a two-by-four to thump President Bush on the head and end our occupation.”

But we need your support to keep telling these hard-hitting stories and expressing the opinions that get ignored or distorted by Murdoch and his political cronies. Make a gift and support our fight.

http://www.alternet.org/donate/JN07E02C

As you know, Fox News journalism is not really journalism at all. According to the Project of Excellence in Journalism, in the first quarter of 2007, Fox News has spent almost as much time covering Anna Nicole Smith’s death as they did covering Iraq. Meanwhile, Fox also neglected to cover the political firings of the U.S. Attorneys.

Your support will ensure that we can tell the important stories — the ones that get ignored or distorted by mainstream media. Make a gift now and your donation will be matched dollar for dollar by one of our generous supporters. Plus, you will receive a special recipe from America’s populist voice Jim Hightower. Take his “Red, White & Blue BBQ” to your July Fourth picnic and spread the word about our AlterNet Independence Day.

http://www.alternet.org/donate/JN07E02C

Thank you so much for your support. As Jim Hightower says, “Now is the time for those who truly value the principles of democracy — especially dissent — to be the most forceful in standing up and speaking out.”

Your continued support is crucial as we sustain our unrelenting challenge of the Fox News network and corporate media. Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org

PS — Are you receiving AlterNet’s headlines and breaking news in your inbox? Go here to sign up now!

http://www.alternet.org/newsletter/subscribe/

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The Media Can Legally Lie

CMW REPORT, Spring 2003
Title: “Court Ruled That Media Can Legally Lie”
Author: Liane Casten

ORGANIC CONSUMER ASSOCIATION, March 7, 2004

Title: “Florida Appeals Court Orders Akre-Wilson Must Pay Trial Costs for $24.3 Billion Fox Television; Couple Warns Journalists of Danger to Free Speech, Whistle Blower Protection”

Author: Al Krebs

Faculty Evaluator: Liz Burch, Ph.D.
Student Researcher: Sara Brunner

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited about the series. But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox’s actions to the FCC, they were both fired.(Project Censored #12 1997)

Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station and on August 18, 2000, a Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre was wrongfully fired by Fox Television when she refused to broadcast (in the jury’s words) “a false, distorted or slanted story” about the widespread use of BGH in dairy cows. They further maintained that she deserved protection under Florida’s whistle blower law. Akre was awarded a $425,000 settlement. Inexplicably, however, the court decided that Steve Wilson, her partner in the case, was ruled not wronged by the same actions taken by FOX.

FOX appealed the case, and on February 14, 2003 the Florida Second District Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the settlement awarded to Akre. The Court held that Akre’s threat to report the station’s actions to the FCC did not deserve protection under Florida’s whistle blower statute, because Florida’s whistle blower law states that an employer must violate an adopted “law, rule, or regulation.” In a stunningly narrow interpretation of FCC rules, the Florida Appeals court claimed that the FCC policy against falsification of the news does not rise to the level of a “law, rule, or regulation,” it was simply a “policy.” Therefore, it is up to the station whether or not it wants to report honestly.

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so. After the appeal verdict WTVT general manager Bob Linger commented, “It’s vindication for WTVT, and we’re very pleased… It’s the case we’ve been making for two years. She never had a legal claim.”

UPDATE BY LIANE CASTEN: If we needed any more proof that we now live in an upside down world, the saga of Jane Akre, along with her husband, Steve Wilson, could not be more compelling.

Akre and Wilson won the first legal round. Akre was awarded $425,000 in a jury trial with well-crafted arguments for their wrongful termination as whistleblowers. And in the process, they also won the prestigious “Goldman Environmental” prize for their outstanding efforts. However, FOX turned around and appealed the verdict. This time, FOX won; the original verdict was overturned in the Appellate Court of Florida’s Second District. The court implied there was no restriction against distorting the truth. Technically, there was no violation of the news distortion because the FCC’s policy of news distortion does not have the weight of the law. Thus, said the court, Akre-Wilson never qualified as whistleblowers.

What is more appalling are the five major media outlets that filed briefs of Amici Curiae- or friend of FOX – to support FOX’s position: Belo Corporation, Cox Television, Inc., Gannett Co., Inc., Media General Operations, Inc., and Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. These are major media players! Their statement, “The station argued that it simply wanted to ensure that a news story about a scientific controversy regarding a commercial product was present with fairness and balance, and to ensure that it had a sound defense to any potential defamation claim.”

“Fairness and balance?” Monsanto hardly demonstrated “fairness and balance” when it threatened a lawsuit and demanded the elimination of important, verifiable information!

The Amici position was “If upheld by this court, the decision would convert personnel actions arising from disagreements over editorial policy into litigation battles in which state courts would interpret and apply federal policies that raise significant and delicate constitutional and statutory issues.” After all, Amici argued, 40 states now have Whistleblower laws, imagine what would happen if employees in those 40 states followed the same course of action?

The position implies that First Amendment rights belong to the employers – in this case the five power media groups. And when convenient, the First Amendment becomes a broad shield to hide behind. Let’s not forget, however; the airwaves belong to the people. Is there no public interest left—while these media giants make their private fortunes using the public airwaves? Can corporations have the power to influence the media reporting, even at the expense of the truth? Apparently so.

In addition, the five “friends” referred to FCC policies. The five admit they are “vitally interested in the outcome of this appeal, which will determine the extent to which state whistleblower laws may incorporate federal policies that touch on sensitive questions of editorial judgment.”

Anyone concerned with media must hear the alarm bells. The Bush FCC, under Michael Powell’s leadership, has shown repeatedly that greater media consolidation is encouraged, that liars like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are perfectly acceptable, that to refer to the FCC interpretation of “editorial judgment” is to potentially throw out any pretense at editorial accuracy if the “accuracy” harms a large corporation and its bottom line. This is our “Brave New Media”, the corporate media that protects its friends and now lies, unchallenged if need be.

The next assault: the Fox station then filed a series of motions in a Tampa Circuit Court seeking more than $1.7 million in trial fees and costs from both Akre and Wilson. The motions were filed on March 30 and April 16 by Fox attorney, William McDaniels—who bills his client at $525 to $550 an hour. The costs are to cover legal fees and trial costs incurred by FOX in defending itself at the first trial. The issue may be heard by the original trial judge, Ralph Steinberg—a logical step in the whole process. However, Judge Steinberg must come out of retirement if he is to hear this, so the hearing, set for June 1, may go to a new judge, Judge Maye.

Akre and her husband feel the stress. “There is no justification for the five stations not to support us,” she said. “Attaching legal fees to whistleblowers is unprecedented, absurd. The ‘business’ of broadcasting trumps it all. These news organizations must ensure they are worthy of the public trust while they use OUR airwaves, free of charge. Public trust is alarmingly absent here.”

Indeed. This is what our corporate media, led by such as Rupert Murdoch, have come to. How low we have fallen.

Jane Akre and be reached at: jakre@bellsouth.net.

From: http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/11.html

==========

FAIR AND BALANCED, MY ASS! THE BIZARRE REALITY OF FOX NEWS

By Joseph Minton Amann, Tom Breuer, Nation Books

Watching Fox News can be as funny as it is frustrating. But the new book “Fair and Balanced, My Ass!” shows we dismiss them at our peril.

Read more

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/54228/

==========

HOW TO END THE RIGHT WING DOMINATION OF TALK RADIO

By Faiz Shakir

A new report explores the disparity between progressive and conservative radio talk and what can be
done about it.

Read more

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/54775/

==========

Slim Chance of Finding an Arabic Speaker at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

June 20 2007

Of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic, according to the State Department.

Read more

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/slim_chance_of_.html

==========

Bin Laden may have arranged exit from US for fleeing relatives: FBI docs

June 20 2007

Osama bin Laden may have chartered a plane that carried his family members and Saudi nationals out of the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to FBI documents released Wednesday.

Read more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070620/pl_afp/usattackssaudi_070620192624

==========

For many, ethanol is losing steam as biofuel of choice

Houston Chronicle

By Loren Steffy

Loren Steffy is the Chronicle’s business columnist

June 19, 2007

BP, the oil patch’s self-proclaimed king of green, says it sells more ethanol than anybody. But it doesn’t produce a drop.

And it doesn’t plan to….

…

Complete article at:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/4904371.html

Loren Steffy is the Chronicle’s business columnist. His commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact him at loren.steffy@chron.com. His blog is at http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy/.

==========

Great con job by ethanol industry … and more …

The Desert Sun – Palm Springs,CA,USA

For close to two years, this column has inveighed against ethanol as a solution to energy dependence on the Middle East, Russia, Nigeria, and Venezuela, …

Ethanol requires much closer look

St. Petersburg Times – St. Petersburg,FL,USA

The Senate would require increased ethanol production, mostly from corn, to six times the current production capacity by 2022. It’s a feel-good issue in a …

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/19/Opinion/Ethanol_requires_much.shtml

Ethanol fuels higher food prices

KARE – Minneapolis,MN,USA

But Swanson says an even bigger factor is hundreds of millions of bushels of corn that used to feed people and livestock, now being converted into ethanol. …

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=257771

Editorial: Guaranteed supply of subsidies is really ethanol …

Naples Daily News – Naples,FL,USA

It may be a little late in the game, but Congress should slow down and give the ethanol boondoggle the skeptical scrutiny it deserves. …

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/18/editorial_guaranteed_supply_subsidies_really_ethan/

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/COLUMNS03/706170302/1215/COLUMNS15

China Bars Corn Ethanol Due to Food Cost

The Conservative Voice – Kernersville,NC,USA

China has just banned further expansion of its corn ethanol industry, after a radical 43-percent increase in pork prices over the past year. …

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/26039.html

==========

three to see

Ann Telnaes: white house greased pig contest

http://img.slate.com/media/35/070619_ed.gif

David Horsey: the orient express

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070620/cartoon20070620.gif

Jack Ohman: boots on the ground

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmjoh/2007/tmjoh070619.gif

US Army Awards Top 10 Inventions of 2006

The US Army held its 5th annual “top 10 greatest inventions” ceremony recently in Arlington, VA, recognizing the Top 10 inventions of 2006. The top picks were chosen by Soldiers from active-Army divisions and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command according to three criteria: impact on Army capabilities, potential benefits outside the Army and inventiveness.

Three of this year’s top inventions are geared toward defeating IED land mines, and there’s even one tracked armored blast from the past. Most inventions have already been fielded to soldiers on the front lines, and the list includes….

Continue reading…

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2007/06/us-army-awards-top-10-inventions-of-2006/

                          ==========

Newsweek touted Thompson’s “willing[ness] to buck his party” in committee investigation, but not his later reported capitulation

A Newsweek article cited former Sen. Fred Thompson’s leadership of a 1997 investigation into Republican campaign finance irregularities as evidence that he “was willing to buck his party.” However, Thompson shut down the investigation before Democrats could introduce evidence linking GOP lawmakers to a fundraising group they claimed had skirted campaign finance laws.

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706190012?src=other

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‘Signing Statements’ Study Finds Administration Has Ignored Laws

June 19 2007

President [sic] Bush has asserted that he is not necessarily bound by the bills he signs into law, and yesterday a congressional study found multiple examples in which the administration has not complied with the requirements of the new statutes. Bush has been criticized for his use of “signing statements,” in which he invokes presidential [dictatorial] authority to challenge provisions of legislation passed by Congress. The president has challenged a federal ban on torture, a request for data on the administration of the USA Patriot Act and numerous other assertions of congressional power. As recently as December, Bush asserted the authority to open U.S. mail without judicial warrants in a signing statement attached to a postal reform bill.

At:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801412.html

                          ==========

NEW REPORT SHOWS BUSH’S PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS HAVE BEEN USED TO NULLIFY LAWS

By Brian Beutler, Media Consortium

A Government Accountability Office report confirms that Bush’s use of presidential signing statements have the effect of nullifying the law in question in about 30 percent of cases.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/54543/

                          ==========

New GAO Opinion on White House Signing Statements

From the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the text of a GAO Opinion on White House Signing Statements, June 18, 2007 (43 pages, PDF) Related government documents and news: Senate Committee on Appropriations Committee press release in response to the GAO opinion.

http://appropriations.senate.gov/News/2007_06_18_Text_of_GAO_Opinion_on_White_House_Signing_Statements.pdf

or

http://tinyurl.com/3y93fb

AP: GAO Examines Signing Statement Cases – “The Bush administration sometimes fails to follow all provisions of laws after President Bush attaches “signing statements” meant to interpret or restrict the legislation, congressional examiners say.”

http://appropriations.senate.gov/News/2007_06_18_GAO_Examination_Shows_White_House_Power_Grab.pdf

or

http://tinyurl.com/3y93fb

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070618/D8PRH8QG0.html

Statement on Presidential Signing Statements of the Constitution Project’s Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances

http://www.constitutionproject.org/pdf/Statement_on_Presidential_Signing_Statement.pdf

                          ==========

US agencies disobey 6 laws that president challenged –Officials regarded some as advisory

19 Jun 2007

Federal officials have disobeyed at least six new laws that President [sic] Bush challenged in his signing statements, a government study disclosed yesterday. The report provides the first evidence that the government may have acted on claims by Bush that he can set aside laws under his executive powers.

At:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/19/us_agencies_disobey_6_laws_that_president_challenged/

or

http://tinyurl.com/3yf55d

                          ==========

G7 Play Thermonuclear Chess with Putin

by F. William Engdahl
 

Global Research, June 18, 2007
GlobalResearch.ca

The most significant outcome of the recent G8 Summit at Heiligendamm was not Chancellor Merkel’s “victory” on the contentious issue of greenhouse gas emissions. It was the shrewd chess play by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on the US Missile Defense strategy for Europe.

Putin outplayed his US counterpart Bush as he laid on the table a new proposal to deal with Washington’s ostensible argument why it must build its ballistic missile defense system in Poland, the Czech Republic and perhaps also Ukraine and Bulgaria. The proposal was as simple as it was devastating for the US argument in favor of Czech and Polish ABM sites.

At a joint press conference following their private talks, Putin declared, “We have our own ideas. I outlined them in detail. The first proposal involves the joint use of the Gabala radar station that Russia leases from Azerbaijan. I spoke with the President of Azerbaijan about this just yesterday. Our present agreement with Azerbaijan would allow us to do this and the President of Azerbaijan stressed that he would be happy if his country could contribute to ensuring global security in this way.”

“We can do this automatically,” Putin added, “and in this case the system we established would include all of Europe without exception, rather than simply one part of the continent. This would completely eliminate the possibility of missiles falling on European countries because they would fall either into the sea or into the ocean. It would eliminate the need — or, more accurately — allow us to refrain from changing our position and retargeting our missiles…”

US replies

…

Complete article at:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20070618&articleId=6020

From: www.GlobalResearch.ca

                          ==========

Iraq’s Oil Law: Backsliding on Benchmarks

By Spencer Ackerman – June 18, 2007

For months, sectarian acrimony in the Iraqi parliament has stalled passage of an oil law — a crucial “benchmark” for national unity. That’s been especially distressing to U.S. officials, who frequently invoke the oil law’s potential for fostering national unity. One of its chief proponents, former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, wrote in a valedictory March op-ed that the measure represents “the first time since 2003 that all major Iraqi communities have come together on a defining piece of legislation.”

But UPI energy correspondent Ben Lando, perhaps the most diligent and thorough reporter focusing on the oil law, points out that the actual text of the legislation doesn’t represent anything of the sort. For starters, the law punts on the hard questions:

…

Complete article at:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003461.php

                          ==========

The Tears of a Clone – Conyers Closes in on Karl and his Rove-bots…

The Tears of a Clone
Conyers Closes in on Karl and his Rove-bots …

By Greg Palast
June 18, 2007

Special to BRAD BLOG

Boo-hoo! I made Tim Griffin cry.

He cried. Then he lied.

You remember Tim. Karl Rove’s right hand (right claw?) man. The GOP’s ragin’ cagin’ man.

Griffin is the Rove-bot exposed by our BBC Newsnight investigations team as the man who gathered and sent out the infamous ‘caging’ lists to Republican state chairmen during the 2004 election.

Caging lists, BBC discovered, were used secretly as a basis to challenge the right to vote of thousands of citizens – including the homeless, students and soldiers sent overseas. The day after BBC broadcast that the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, sought our evidence on Griffin, Tim resigned his post as US Attorney for Arkansas. That job was a little gift from Karl Rove who made room for his man Griffin by demanding the firing of US prosecutor Bud Cummins.

Last week, our cameras captured Griffin, all teary-eyed, in his humiliating kiss-off speech delivered in Little Rock at the University of Arkansas where he moaned that, “public service isn’t worth it.”

True. In the old Jim Crow days in Arkansas, you could get yourself elected by blocking African-Americans. (The voters his caging game targeted are – quelle surprise! – disproportionately Black citizens.)

But today, Griffin can’t even get an unemployment check. When he resigned two weeks ago following our broadcast, the cover story was that the voter persecutor-turned-prosecutor had resigned to work for Presidential wannabe Fred Thompson. But when Thompson’s staff was asked by a reporter why they would hire the ‘cagin’ man,’ suddenly, the ‘Law and Order’ star decided associating with Griffin might take the shine off Thompson’s badge, even if it is from the props department.

Griffin, instead of saying that public service “isn’t worth it,” should have said, “Crime doesn’t pay.” Because, according to experts such as law professor Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ‘caging,’ when used to target Black voters’ rights, is a go-to-prison crime.

By resigning, Tim may not avoid the hard questions about caging – or the hard time that might result. When I passed the first set of documents to Conyers (a real film noir moment, in a New York hotel room near midnight), the soft-spoken Congressman said that, resignation or not, “We aren’t done with Mr. Griffin yet…”

Tears Not Truth

Back in Little Rock, when asked about caging, Rove’s guy linked a few fibs to a few whoppers to some malefactious mendacity. That is, he lied.

“I didn’t cage votes. I didn’t cage mail,” Griffin asserted.

At the risk of making you cry again, Tim, may I point you to an email dated August 26, 2004. It says, “Subject: Re: Caging.” And it says, “From: Tim Griffin – Research/Communications” with the email tgriffin@rnchq.org. RNCHQ is the Republican National Committee Headquarters, is it not, Mr. Griffin? Now do you remember caging mail?

If that doesn’t ring a bell, please note that at the bottom is this: “ATTACHMENT: Caging-1.xls”. And that attachment was a list of voters.

In last week’s pathetic farewell, Mr. Griffin averred that the accusation he was involved in caging voters, “Goes back to one guy – whose name I won’t mention.” (FYI, Mr. Griffin: My mother calls me, “Gregory.”)

Yes, I first reported the story for BBC London – back in 2004 which, as Griffin correctly noted, it was ignored by my US press colleagues until, as Tim put it, “I became embroiled in the US Attorney thing.” By ‘the US Attorney thing,’ I assume you are referring to your involvement in firing and smearing honest prosecutors and grabbing one of their salaries for yourself.

You say, Mr. Griffin, that the unmentionable reporter, “Made [it] up out of whole cloth.” You flatter me, Mr. Griffin. We could not possibly be so creative at The Beeb as to construct the thousands of names of voters on your caging lists.

And by the way, we don’t have just one of your “caging” emails, but scores of them.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for sending them to us – even if that was not your intent. You copied your caging missives to ‘bdoster@georgewbush.org.’ Mr. Doster was Chairman of the Florida Bush campaign – but that address was not his but John Wooden’s pretending to be the Bush campaigners. Wooden then sent your notes to me.

Rove in Range

By the way, Mr. Griffin, if you want an explanation of ‘caging voters,’ just read an email dated February 5, 2007 by…Tim Griffin.

In that email, Griffin references the Bush campaigns mailing out thousands of letters. The letters returned (‘caged’) as undeliverable were used as the GOP’s supposed evidence that these were “thousands of fraudulent voter registrations.” These voters were subject to challenge. However, these caging lists of “fraudulent” addresses, like the 2000 “felon” lists which in fact contained no felons, contained no fraudulent voters. But that wouldn’t necessarily save them from the massively successful Republican voter-challenge campaign.

During the appearance he made in Arkansas last week, Griffin said he’d never heard of ‘caging.’ “I had to look it up,” he said. Griffin discovered that “caging” is “a direct mail term.”

I don’t doubt Griffin’s ignorance. Griffin’s just a good ol’ boy, a former military lawyer, who wouldn’t know direct mail terminology from a hole in the ground. Until he went to work for the RNC.

So where did Tim get this direct mail term he used in his emails? Well, before Karl Rove signed on with George W. Bush, he owned Karl Rove & Co ….a direct mail firm. Rove made millions making up lists of voters, doing more ‘caging’ than a zoo-keeper.

Am I saying caging-expert Rove had something to do with the allegedly illegal caging games of his boy Griffin? Does a bear…?

Mr. Griffin wouldn’t answer BBC’s requests for comment. So I suggested to an Arkansas local, Luther Lowe, a former army reservist and himself a victim of a challenge to his vote, that at the Little Rock send-off for Griffin, he ask the fallen US Attorney about Rove’s involvement in caging. Lowe did so, politely. Griffin wove, ducked, blathered and blubbered. But wouldn’t answer.

Maybe a subpoena would encourage a Griffin response. And a grant of immunity from the Conyers committee. That’s Rove’s nightmare. Because unless Griffin joins Alberto Gonzales in Club Amnesia, Griffin has a lot to tell us about Mr. Rove and targeting Black voters.

Will he? It’s not Conyers’ style to hunt down Rove. The congressman is not, despite what Republicans say, a partisan hit man. He is, however, one tenacious legislator who told me he would like his committee, “to follow where the evidence leads.”

But that’s not necessarily going to happen. Conyers told me he sees the evidence in the prosecutor firing investigation leading to the much bigger, nastier issue of voter suppression – in simpler terms, fixing elections.

Unfortunately, many on his committee from both parties see the hearings as limited to the single issue of the firing of prosecutors. They want to scrutinize the elephant’s trunk but refuse to acknowledge it’s attached to an elephant: election rigging. Racially poisoned, direct-mail driven, computer implemented election rigging.

But Conyers may get there yet, to the issue of elections manipulation. I didn’t get that from the Chairman (too circumspect to let his future intensions slip out). I got it from the Big Bubba. When I ran into Ol’ Silver Eyes himself at an Air America soiree, Bill Clinton (man, he’s gotten thin!) told me, “When we really get going on these prosecutor hearings, when we really dig deep, we’re going to get right to the issue of voter suppression.”

But what do you mean “we,” Bill? Conyers is dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has an abiding concern and painful experience with illegal vote suppression of all types: caging, purging, challenging, lynching. But whether Conyers can convince his committee, mostly members of the Congressional White Caucus, to “dig deep” on vote suppression, is an open question.

In the meantime, Conyers has convinced his committee to drop subpoenas on Harriett Miers (the lady tight with Griffin, Rove and, notably, George W. Bush) and Sara Taylor, Rove’s Gal Friday. Conyers, methodically, determinedly, is circling in on Rove, “Bush’s Brain,” a man known to surrender the corpses of his allies in place of his own (eh, Mr. Libby?). No wonder Griffin’s in tears.

So here’s a hanky, Mr. Griffin. This unnamable reporter would rather you save your tears for Randall Prausa. The African-American soldier was on active military duty when he ended up on one of your caging lists, what you term a suspected ‘fraudulent’ voter subject to GOP challenge because he was not home to get his fraudulent, ‘Welcome, voter,’ letter from the GOP.

Can you guess, Mr. Griffin, why Prausa wasn’t at home? Well, unlike Messrs. Rove and Bush, Prausa was serving his country overseas.

And that’s what caging is all about. If you’re Black, you get shipped to Baghdad and you lose your vote. Mission Accomplished, Mr. Griffin. Mission Accomplished, Mr. Rove.

The confidential Griffin e-mail, “Subject: Re: Caging,” is reproduced in Greg Palast’s New York Times bestseller, ARMED MADHOUSE: Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild. Available at www.GregPalast.com

Also: Catch the film of Randi Rhodes and Greg Palast on “Bush’s and Giuliani’s favorite vultures,” the men with connections to the Bush Administration who have siphoned off the money meant for Africa’s poorest.

From:   The BRAD BLOG  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4701

                          ==========

Politicians give the idiots what they want 

The Economist: Anyone who follows an election campaign too closely will sometimes get the feeling that politicians think voters are idiots. A new book says they are.

June 19, 2007

Politicians give the idiots what they want
THE ECONOMIST

Anyone who follows an election campaign too closely will sometimes get the feeling that politicians think voters are idiots. A new book says they are. Or rather, Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University, makes the slightly politer claim that voters systematically favor irrational policies.

In a democracy, rational politicians give them what they (irrationally) want. In “The Myth of the Rational Voter,” Caplan explains why this happens, why it matters and what we can do about it.

The world is a complex place. Most people are ignorant about most things, which is why TV shows such as “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” are funny. Politics is no exception. Only 15 percent of Americans know who Harry Reid (Senate majority leader) is, for example.

…

Complete article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/320439_idiotvoters20.html

                          ==========

three thousand words

This Modern World: The Youstabees

http://www.workingforchange.com/webgraphics/WFC/TMW061707.jpg

Mike Keefe: Attention to Polls

http://www.intoon.com/toons/2007/KeefeM20070616.jpg

Brian Fairrington: Romney For President?

http://cagle.com/news/RomneyPresident/images/fairrington.jpg

MICHAEL MEDVED BELIEVES TV MAKES PEOPLE GAY AND CAUSES ABORTION

By Melissa McEwan

A recent Medved piece is so terrible, so fact-mangled, so deranged, so rife with stinking horseshit, that it’s almost beautiful in its grotesquery.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/54503/

==========

Savage on same-sex marriage vote: “[G]ay mafia bought the votes … like cheap tricks in a gay bathhouse”

On the June 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage attacked the Massachusetts state legislature for defeating a proposal that would have called for a referendum on an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage, saying of the legislators who voted against putting the amendment on the ballot for 2008: “The gang that answers to the gay mafia controls the state.” Savage characterized opponents of the amendment, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), as “criminals” who told voters to “drop dead.” He added: “Gay marriage was to go before the people in an even vote … [b]ut at the last minute, the gay mafia bought the votes of state representatives up and down the line — bought them lock, stock, and barrel, like cheap tricks in a gay bathhouse.” He also called same-sex marriage “an affront to all of civilization.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180005?src=other

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U.S., Russia: Iraq had no WMDs

June 16 2007

The U.S. and Russia have agreed to dismantle the U.N. agency that searched Iraq for weapons of mass destruction and affirm that Saddam Hussein’s government had no such arms at the time of the American invasion in March 2003. The Security Council will adopt a resolution the last week in June to close the U.N. Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission, created in 1999 to search Iraq for biological and chemical weapons, Belgian and British diplomats said.

At:

http://www.star-telegram.com/279/story/139036.html

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Report: Bush “Signing Statements” May Have Affected Implementation of Laws By Paul Kiel

18 June 2007

President [sic] Bush has claimed that his executive powers allow him to bypass more than 1,100 laws enacted since he took office [literally, *took* office] — in what are called “signing statements.” But what has been unclear ever since The Boston Globe’s landmark story on the statements… is just what effect these obscure little statements, published in the federal register, have. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) wanted to know just that, so they asked for an analysis by the Government Accountability Office… of last year’s appropriations bills… The agency examined a sample of appropriations bills from last year, focusing on 19 provisions that were affected by a presidential signing statement added to a bill — in each case, Bush invoked the “unitary executive” theory or some other justification for disputing the bill. The result: of the 19 provisions, six were not executed as authorized by Congress.

At:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003457.php

==========

The Use of RNC E-mail Accounts by White House Officials and Possible Violations of the Presidential Records Act

Chairman Waxman releases a report detailing the use of RNC political e-mail accounts by 88 White House officials. Senior advisor Karl Rove sent and received at least 140,216 e-mails on his RNC e-mail account, more than any other White House official, including over 75,000 e-mails communicating with individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Deposition testimony from Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, provides evidence that the White House Counsel’s office may have known in 2001 that Mr. Rove was using his RNC e-mail account for official correspondence but took no action to preserve these official communications.

Click here to read learn more about the report.

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1362

==========

Congressman Ron Paul’s weekly column for Monday, June 18th – Earmark Victory May Be A Hollow One

Without taking a serious look at the actual total spending in these appropriations bills, we will miss the real threat to our economic security. Failed government agencies like FEMA will still get tens of billions of dollars to mismanage when the next disaster strikes. Corrupt foreign governments will still be lavishly funded with dollars taken from working Americans to prop up their regimes. The United Nations will still receive its generous annual tribute taken from the American taxpayer. Americans will still be forced to pay for elaborate military bases to protect borders overseas while our own borders remain porous and unguarded. These are the real issues we must address when we look at reforming our yearly spending extravaganza called the appropriations season

Full article here:

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst061807.htm

==========

Public Interest Group Launches Searchable Farm Bill 2007 Database

Press release:

http://new.ewg.org/node/21277

“For decades, American taxpayers have provided tens of billions of dollars in federal farm subsidies to some of the largest and wealthiest farm businesses in the nation. But thousands of people who benefited from the subsidy flow were shielded from public view behind layers of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability corporations, cooperatives, and other business structures that obscured their personal subsidy claims. Not anymore. A new Web site [Farm Bill 2007 Database Home], developed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from millions of previously unpublished USDA subsidy records…provides nearly full disclosure of federal farm subsidy beneficiaries for the first time.

http://www.ewg.org/sites/farmbill2007/index.php

The disclosures include individuals, sometimes numbering in the dozens, whose subsidy benefits pass through one or more plantation-scale farm businesses that produce vast quantities of subsidized cotton, rice and other crops. Many of those businesses receive millions in USDA crop subsidies each year, and according to the new USDA data, pass six-figure benefits through to many people. In many cases, these individuals have not previously had subsidy benefits attributed to them by name.”

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Maize of Deception: How Corn-Based Ethanol Can Lead To Starvation … and more

Council On Hemispheric Affairs – Washington,DC,USA

As the Bush administration continues to push its alternative fuels agenda, it has become increasingly evident that corn-based ethanol could be as much the …

http://www.coha.org/2007/06/12/maize-of-deception-how-corn-based-ethanol-can-lead-to-starvation-and-environmental-disaster-2/

The dark side of ethanol

AXcess News – Georgetown,KY,USA

By Eric Stevenson (AXcess News) Georgetown, KY – These are boom years for farmers as the price of corn hits record highs thanks to demand for ethanol, …

http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/11280

Corn ethanol unprofitable by 2008, says Iowa State

So party like it’s 1999 while you can.

http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1292

Ethanol could keep price of gas high

MSNBC – USA

Ric Francis / AP WASHINGTON – A push from Congress and the White House for huge increases in biofuels such as ethanol, is prompting the oil industry to …

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19276523/

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Iraq’s Oil Law: Backsliding on Benchmarks

By Spencer Ackerman – June 18, 2007, 4:31 PM

For months, sectarian acrimony in the Iraqi parliament has stalled passage of an oil law — a crucial “benchmark” for national unity. That’s been especially distressing to U.S. officials, who frequently invoke the oil law’s potential for fostering national unity. One of its chief proponents, former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, wrote in a valedictory March op-ed that the measure represents “the first time since 2003 that all major Iraqi communities have come together on a defining piece of legislation.”

But UPI energy correspondent Ben Lando, perhaps the most diligent and thorough reporter focusing on the oil law, points out that the actual text of the legislation doesn’t represent anything of the sort. For starters, the law punts on the hard questions:

A separate revenue-sharing law would decide how the oil revenue is spread around the country. It is currently being negotiated, though far behind the hydrocarbons law in the Iraqi legislative process. …

Only a small portion of the law mentions revenue, and explicitly states that, according to the Iraqi Constitution, a separate “federal revenue law” is required to dictate how the revenue is spent.

Got that? The law doesn’t even establish who owns the revenue generated by oil sales — the mechanism that’s supposed to mollify Sunnis in the oil-starved center-west of the country — and it’s still bottled up in the Iraqi parliament. Talk about a benchmark that marks few benches.

Full article here:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003461.php

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three thousand words

Tom Toles: president bush returns to the u.s or attempts to

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20070612/ltt070612.gif

Steve Benson: CAFE cafe

http://azcentral.com/sshow/News/Benson/4776_84792.jpg

Ted Rall: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/RallT/2007/RallT20070618_low.jpg

TWENTY THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CORPORATE CRIME

By Russell Mokhiber, AlterNet

Did you know that corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined? This and 19 more amazing facts about the state of corporations in America.

At:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/54093/

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In Tucker discussion, Weekly Standard’s Ferguson on Clinton and liberal Protestants: “[T]hey believe in everything but God”

On the June 14 edition of MSNBC’s Tucker, host Tucker Carlson asked Weekly Standard senior editor Andrew Ferguson if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) “could, in the end, be a Jimmy Carter in the sense that she gets a significant percentage … of evangelical votes,” later asking: “Can you imagine a scenario, though, where the Democrat gets religious voters? Or is abortion is still the stumbling block?” Ferguson answered: “Only in — religious in the way that Hillary Clinton is religious, which is to say of a very liberal Protestant sort of view, in which they believe in everything but God.” Carlson said later, “I have never met anybody less sincere than the religious left.”

Read more

http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706170001?src=other

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Blair knew US had no post-war plan for Iraq –PM committed troops despite chaos fears –Bush ‘offered to fight without UK’

June 17 2007

Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country. In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair have revealed the Prime Minister repeatedly and unsuccessfully raised his concerns with the White House.

At:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2104989,00.html

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Iraq Contractors Face Growing Parallel War –Majority of more than 100 security companies operate outside of Iraqi [and international] law

June 16 2007

Private security companies, funded by billions of dollars in U.S. military and State Department contracts, are fighting ‘insurgents’ on a widening scale in Iraq, enduring daily attacks, returning fire and taking hundreds of casualties that have been underreported and sometimes concealed, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and company representatives.

At:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061502602.html

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Iraq deployment could last a decade: US

June 18 2007

The US commander in Iraq says American troops could be needed in the country for a decade to battle ‘insurgents.’ General David Petraeus has told Fox News there is broad recognition that Iraq’s daunting challenges will not be resolved “in a year or even two years”. “In fact, typically, I think historically, counter-insurgency operations have gone at least nine or 10 years,” he said. [Yes, and historically -- the insurgency still wins.]

At:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1953696.htm

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G.I.s’ Guide to Iraq (1943)

By Noah Shachtman June 12, 2007

In 1943, some American troops were stationed in Iraq.  Here is a PDF of a War Department handbook introducing them to the country (‘i-RAHK”), and providing some do’s and don’ts when interacting with the Iraqi people.  Some highlights:

NEVER discuss religion or politics or women with Moslems.

Don’t stare at anyone. Remember the fear of the “evil eye”.

Knock before entering a private house.  If a woman answers, wait until she has had time to retire.

If you see grown men walking hand in hand, ignore it.  They are not queer.

You can usually tell a mosque by its high tower. Keep away from mosques. [Emphasis in the original]
If you try to enter one, you will be thrown out, probably with a severe beating. 

There are four towns in Iraq which are particularly sacred to the Iraq Moslems: Kerbala, Najaf, samarra, and Kadhiman.  Unless you are ordered to these towns it is advisable to stay away from them.

Moslems here are divided into two factions something like our division into Catholic and Protestant  denominations — so don’t put in your two cents when Iraqis argue about religion.

There are also political differences in Iraq that have puzzled diplomats and statesmen.  You won’t help matters any by getting mixed up in them.

And then there’s this:

American success or failure in Iraq may well depend on whether the Iraqis (as the people are called) like American soldiers or not.  It may not be quite that simple.  But then again it could.
Amen, brother!

UPDATE: Check out the differences between this guide, and the one given to troops in 2003.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/06/gis_guide_to_ir_1.html

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/06/gis_guide_to_ir.html

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FBI Audit Finds Thousands of Violations of Privacy

The Washington Post reports today: “An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism. … The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request and were not authorized to collect. The agents
retained the information anyway in their files…”

[See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061302453.html
for more information.]

LISA GRAVES, lgraves@cnss.org,

http://www.cnss.org

Graves is the deputy director at the Center for National Security Studies. She said today: “It is no surprise that the FBI violated the rules for the collection of information on people in the U.S. after Congress unwisely expanded its unchecked power to do so. The National Security Letter, which was converted into a National Security Subpoena last year by a Congress willing to do the administration’s bidding, remains a very powerful and intrusive tool that has virtually no independent checks against its abuse. But for this mandatory audit, the American people would continue to be misled by this administration’s false assurances that these post 9-11 powers were not being abused.”

Graves added: “There is now clear proof that Americans’ privacy has been violated countless times and also that the FBI has created a massive ‘Investigative Data Warehouse,’ with more records than there
are people in the U.S. and which includes private information about people who have done nothing wrong or been cleared of any wrongdoing. Congress should investigate this further and pass wise legislation by Congresswoman Harman to require judicial approval before an American’s financial, insurance, phone or Internet records are turned over to the FBI and disseminated through this new data warehouse.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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Bush Shafts Enron Victims

Robert L. Borosage
June 14, 2007

Robert L. Borosage is co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. This article first appeared in The Huffington Post.

Wall Street’s investment banks just got another one step closer to making defrauding investors an accepted line of business. And Enron’s employees who lost their pensions and the small investors who got fleeced in the Enron frauds just got shafted again—this time at the urging of President George W. Bush.

Wall Street’s most powerful investment banks and their friends in high places lobbied the U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement to reject the recommendation of the Securities and Exchange Commission that the Justice Department support defrauded investors in their appeal to the Supreme Court.

The case before the Supreme Court is called Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta, but the Court decision will directly impact the millions of victims of Enron’s collapse—and say much about the honesty of U.S. markets.

…

Complete article at:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/14/bush_shafts_enron_victims.php

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Two Huge Issues to Hit Screens in Washington the Same Night: D.C. Premieres of “Sicko” and “War Made Easy” on June 20

Two pathbreaking documentary films on major political issues will be unveiled in the nation’s capital on Wednesday evening (June 20). The targets are the healthcare industry and the warfare industry.

Shortly before “Sicko” is shown that night at an invitation-only screening, “War Made Easy” — based on the acclaimed book by Norman Solomon and narrated by Sean Penn — will make its Washington premiere a couple of miles away.
 

The editor of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Jay Cassidy, previewed “War Made Easy” and called it “a total tour de force.”
 

For more information, go to: www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org

 

The screening of “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” — open to journalists and the general public — is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 20, at the Lankford Auditorium, True Reformer Building, 1200 U St., NW. To ensure seating, RSVP to <hollie@mediaed.org>.

Solomon and the producer/director of the 73-minute film, Loretta Alper, will respond to questions at the theater immediately after the showing. The discussion will be moderated by award-winning journalist Robert Parry, former investigative reporter for The Associated Press and Newsweek and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com.

Drawing on meticulous research, “War Made Easy” exposes a pattern of deception that has dragged the United States into one war after another, spanning from Vietnam to Iraq. The filmmakers have exhumed rarely seen footage from LBJ to George W. Bush, and from Walter Cronkite to present-day TV news professionals.

The day after its scheduled Washington premiere, “War Made Easy” will go directly into nationwide distribution as a DVD. Dozens of “house meetings” and community gatherings have already been scheduled to screen the film as part of grassroots antiwar efforts. The film’s producer, the nonprofit Media Education Foundation, anticipates hundreds of such gatherings nationwide in the next few weeks.

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

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three thousand words

Jack Ohman: … blind eye toward illegal immigration

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Pat Oliphant: see anything you’d want to vote for alice?

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Mike Luckovich: governor romney you have 30 seconds to rebut yourself

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