... I was one of two journalists subpoenaed to testify in Lt. Watada's court-martial. I objected on the grounds that members of the military must be free to speak with journalists without fear of retribution or censure. That so few critical voices in the military are given an ongoing platform in the media contributes to an inaccurate view of the Iraq War and erroneous ideas about how to ameliorate the problems. Supporting the troops requires that we listen to what they have to say. ...
Stanford University's School of Medicine announced a $33 million grant Tuesday to help build a center for stem cell research.
The gift from Stanford alumnus Lorry Lokey, founder of the Business Wire press-release service, is the medical school's largest single gift from an individual.
Lokey, a 1949 graduate, started Business Wire in San Francisco in 1961. He sold the business, valued at $500 million, to Berkshire Hathaway last year.
Stanford hopes to open the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in 2011.
Gov't revision shows we aren't doing as well as Bush says we are:
From the AP:
The economy grew at a sluggish 2.2 percent pace in the final quarter of last year, much slower than initially estimated, the government reported Wednesday in the sort of unusually large revision that has happened only seven times in the last 30 years.
The latest reading on the gross domestic product released by by the Commerce Department came a day after stocks on Wall Street and around the globe took a nosedive and showed the economy in a considerably weaker state than the government first estimated. It had initially reported the expansion in the last three months of 2006 to be at a 3.5 percent pace. The principal reason for the new, significantly lower estimate: Businesses tightened their belts amid fallout from the troubled housing and automative sectors.
The new GDP figure for the October-to-December quarter was a tad slower than the 2.3 percent growth rate economists were forecasting and clearly less sunny than that original estimate. The GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States, is the best overall barometer of economic health.
Although the fourth quarter's showing marked a slight improvement from the third quarter's mediocre 2 percent growth rate, it didn't alter the overall picture that economic activity in both quarters was restrained by the housing slump and the ailing automotive sector.
Senator Matt Murphy from Illinois, the legislator who has introduced the most restrictive ban on social networking sites in the nation, held a very interesting "live chat" online tonight. It took place at 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the comments on his blog at http://senmattmurphy.blogspot.com/, which is an interesting use of blogging I haven't seen before. There are 69 comments that constitute the discussion, a back-and-forth between Murphy and the commenters.
In the blog post itself, Murphy sounds fairly reasonable and balanced, saying he filed the bill "to raise awareness of the threat predators on these sites pose to our kids" and "to advance a dialogue on how we can minimize this threat." Neither of these reasons really explains why he chose to introduce a full ban on a class of sites he can't even define (nowhere does the legislation explain what is meant by the term), but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt as I read his responses anyway.
Unfortunately, I got as far as the 12th comment, in which Detective Bob Riordan, who is working with Murphy on this legislation, notes that Blogger is in the list of "top 10 social networking sites."
What site is Murphy's blog on? Blogger. So apparently, Murphy's current bill would ban his own site - where he hosted the "live chat" to discuss banning social networking sites in libraries - from being accessed in libraries, even by adults.
In addition, I got *really* scared by the following statement from the police detective: ...
Katha Pollitt has made the important point that women are grossly underrepresented on the op-ed pages of America's newspapers.
Here's another grossly underrepresented demographic in the media: young people. Millennials-- roughly defined as those 28 and under-- make up one-quarter of the population, yet we are nowhere to be found in the mainstream media.
Yesterday on TAPPED, Mark Schmitt acknowledged the phenomenon:
Here are the regular op-ed columnists for the New York Times and the Washington Post in ascending order of age:
Anne Applebaum, Washington Post, 42. (Does not live in the U.S.)
Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post, early 40s, graduated Oxford 1986.
David Brooks, Times, 45
Nick Kristof, Times, 48
and up they go from there. And they wonder why young people don't read newspapers!
Young people don't follow the news for a variety of reasons-- but the fact that they don't see anyone from their generation reporting the news is a huge factor. ...
Rush Lintball was talking today about the Murtha Plan bill and saying that it STILL left Bush an "out" for sending more troops regardless of training or equipment.
Trusting my instincts that he's wrong....but worried.....????
How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place Innocent people across the world are now paying the price of the "Iraq effect", with the loss of hundreds of lives directly linked to the invasion and occupation by American and British forces.
It is now generally accepted that the seven were asked to resign because the Bush Administration desires shifts in the direction of prosecution. Speculation has ranged from these new policy directions as:
• Federal enforcement of capital punishment (Charlton) • Less focus on Republican political corruption (Lam) • More focus on "opposition" investigation into Democrats (Cummins, McKay) • More prosecution and focus on illegals (Lam, Iglesias)
Last Throes of Cheney’s Credibility By Joe Conason
as the White House has loudly proclaimed, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney will ignore any Congressional action that would cut short their bloody misadventure. Rather than engage in honest debate over a saner course in Iraq, the Vice President has resorted to the same discredited rhetoric used by him and his allies from the beginning.
Seeking to intimidate the Congressional leaders last week, he recited the misleading old formula conflating war in Iraq with the struggle against Al Qaeda. His theories on that subject have been blown up with the same force and frequency as those daily explosions on Baghdad’s streets. Only a few days ago, the Pentagon Inspector General issued a devastating report describing how Mr. Cheney’s agents in the Defense Department distorted intelligence to “prove” the mythical linkage between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Moreover, every credible analysis of the Iraq insurgency estimates that only a tiny fraction of the fighters are linked to Al Qaeda in any significant way. While the jihadist movement is growing, Mr. bin Laden and his lieutenants can profit from our mistakes without leaving their strongholds thousands of miles away.
But Mr. Cheney cares nothing for those facts. As the official who most vehemently assured us of the certain existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he remains immune to the kind of embarrassment that would have required an honorable man to resign from office long ago.
During his latest foreign trip, he warned Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Jack Murtha (D-Penn.) that the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq would “validate the Al Qaeda strategy,” as if Mr. bin Laden somehow lured the United States into invading Mesopotamia. Reiterating the point later, he added: “Al Qaeda functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy: that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home.”
Actually, we now know that the occupation of Iraq—the Cheney strategy—has strengthened Al Qaeda immeasurably by recruiting thousands of young Muslims to its cause. We know that because the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for the Bush administration a year ago said so. According to The Washington Post, a newspaper whose editorial page supports the war, officials familiar with the classified document said the N.I.E. concluded that “rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position.”
Very amusing bit on 'Family Guy' 2 weeks ago, Cheney as a Wal-Mart greeter, standing at the door in his little blue vest "Go eff yourself" to everyone who comes through...
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking on the floor of the Senate just now, urged the committee to issue subpoenas to the ousted U.S. Attorneys to have them testify, so she could ask some "hard questions." She said that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the chairman of the relative subcommittee was "interested in doing this."
U.S. Attorney David Iglesias told McClatchy that he would only testify before the committee if subpoenaed.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Tuesday to consider the nomination of Sam Fox, a wealthy St. Louis businessman, to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. While it is not unusual for big political donors to be rewarded with ambassadorships -- and Fox is a huge donor to all things Republican -- what made everyone take note of this guy is that Fox gave a whopping $50,000 to help fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry in 2004.
* Significant ties to illegal paramilitaries found in Colombia’s Congress and President Álvaro Uribe’s Administration * Colombia negotiating with and showing leniency to mass-murdering “narcoterrorists” * U.S. acting suspiciously uncritical of Colombia’s refusal to extradite known drug traffickers * Elimination of extradition undermines the Colombian phase of the “war on drugs” * White House increases annual aid levels to Colombia from about $728 million to $750 million
Soon President Bush will be visiting Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the hemisphere, where he is expected to discuss the current state of U.S. - Colombian counter-narcotics initiatives. However, this trip inauspiciously comes at a time when Bogotá is witnessing an unprecedented series of political scandals. ...
American workers need help - and there's something you can do about it.
Regardless of where you live or what you do, labor unions are our first line of defense for worker's rights. What do they fight for? Raising the minimum wage. Improving labor standards. Expanding health care benefits. Protecting retirement security.
And these fights don't only make a difference in the workplace: They are critical to providing economic security for families, strengthening our communities and rebuilding America's middle class. Every day, millions of Americans work hard and play by the rules but are still struggling to get by. Democrats understand the important role that labor unions play to fix this crisis.
The Senate is set to debate a bill that will restore American workers' right to freely choose whether or not to form a union. Join the Democratic majority in the Senate and show your support for the Employee Free Choice Act:
Research shows union members earn 30% more than nonunion workers. What's more, union workers are 63% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.
The benefits of union membership are clear. That's why nearly half of American workers who are not currently represented by unions -- 60 million people -- say that they'd join one if they had the chance. But every year since 1981, union membership has declined. And a major reason for that fall-off is the many obstacles workers face when they try to form a union or negotiate a union contract.
Savage on Media Matters: "a gay website that attacks me every day"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702280010
On the February 27 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage responded to a Media Matters for America item that quoted him saying: "I don't like a woman married to a woman. It makes me want to puke. ... I think it's child abuse." In his response, Savage said, "I don't know why they're attacking me for what I believe in," and added, "I stick by every word I wrote." Savage, although reading directly from the Media Matters item, did not refer to Media Matters by name, calling it instead "a gay website that attacks me every day." On his January 30 show, Savage vowed, "I'm not even going to read [Media Matters'] name anymore."
As Media Matters has documented, Savage has repeatedly claimed that Media Matters has an "obsession" with him and has referred to Media Matters as "a group of swine."
The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show. The Creative Artists Agency, one of the world's leading talent and literary agencies, recently announced that it had signed Savage for "representation in all areas," including television and film.
****
I love how everyone who is ever [even once] a subject of Media Matters' scrutiny and 'outing', always claims that Media Matters is "obsessed" with them.
Top US Officials: US Has Six Months To Win Iraq War The Guardian | Simon Tisdall | February 28, 2007 05:53 PM
An elite team of officers advising US commander General David Petraeus in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.
The officers - combat veterans who are leading experts in counter-insurgency - are charged with implementing the "new way forward" strategy announced by president George Bush on January 10. The plan includes a controversial "surge" of 21,500 additional American troops to establish security in the Iraqi capital and Anbar province.
Cronkite: Iraq "A Disaster...We Should Have Gotten Out A Long Time Ago" CBS 5 | Hank Plante | February 28, 2007 08:42 PM
It was in 1968, when CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite did a tour of Vietnam, and came back highly critical of that war.
His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America.
Dowd now believes Gore "prescient" on several issues, despite previously belittling him
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703010001
In her February 28 column, titled "Ozone Man Sequel" (subscription required), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd described former Vice President Al Gore as the "man who was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism and Iraq," and wrote that "[i]t must be excruciating not only to lose a presidency you've won because the Supreme Court turned partisan and stopped the vote, but to then watch the madness of King George and Tricky Dick II as they misled their way into serial catastrophes." Dowd wondered who Gore must blame more for his defeat in the 2000 election: "Does he blame himself? Does he blame the voting machines? Ralph Nader? Robert Shrum? Naomi Wolf? How about Bush Inc. and Clinton Inc.?" Yet, as blogger Bob Somerby noted, Dowd omitted an obvious other potential target of blame: the media. Indeed, Dowd herself, while now praising Gore for being "prescient" on such issues, relentlessly mocked Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign and onward for what she described as Gore's "obsessions about global warming and the information highway." Dowd has also compared Gore to the "wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party" for his criticism of the Iraq war; and has repeatedly furthered numerous falsehoods about Gore, such as that Gore once claimed to have "invented the Internet;" and, as Somerby noted on his Daily Howler weblog, that feminist author Wolf advised Gore on his wardrobe and how to be an "alpha male."
***
Dowd is such a twit.
I have to smile, though ... she is making enemies fast, though...
David Geffen, for one, has got to be pretty pissed at her.
Tonight on Letterman, McCain will announce his run for the Presidency. Per MSNBC with video.
I thought he already announced!
I guess it was the Media that was pushing.
Giuliani is ahead of McCain. This I can't believe! The republicans don't seem to like McCain so they are getting behind Giuliani, even the religious right. The repubs have already lost the election, barring something way out there happening.
Wallace failed to challenge Standard editors on debunked story
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702280011
On two consecutive episodes of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, on February 18 and 25, host Chris Wallace said that -- in conflict with former undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith's statement on the February 11 edition of Fox News Sunday that "[n]obody in my office said there was an operational relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda" -- Feith "did make that case" of an "operational relationship" in a memo that was the subject of a November 14, 2003, Weekly Standard article. But Wallace never asked Standard editor William Kristol, who appeared on both the February 18 and 25 programs, or executive editor Fred Barnes, who appeared on the February 25 edition, to explain the conflict on the air. The Standard article used the phrase "operational relationship" to describe the findings of a memo, produced by Feith's office, on the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, while Feith has reportedly stood by his comment that neither he nor anyone in his office said there was such an "operational relationship."
Feith's appearance on Fox News Sunday came two days after the Department of Defense's inspector general produced a report (PDF) that was highly critical of the work of Feith's Office of the Undersecretary for Defense Policy, specifically in regard to prewar intelligence estimates that office made about connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The report asserted that Feith's office "produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent will the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers." The inspector general also wrote that Feith's work was "inappropriate given that the intelligence assessments were intelligence products and did not clearly show the variance with the consensus of the Intelligence Community."
I have to smile, though ... she is making enemies fast, though...
David Geffen, for one, has got to be pretty pissed at her.
Bad move, Maureen. ---------
Maureen is still in high school and gossiping about other people and putting them down. She seems to be biparisan though. Twit! That's a good word for her.
House and Senate call on purged attorneys to testify. “Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate vowed to hold a new round of hearings to determine if partisan politics played a role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys across the country. … The controversy flared up early Wednesday afternoon after David Iglesias, the departing U.S. attorney from New Mexico, told McClatchy Newspapers that he believes he was forced out because he refused to speed up an indictment of local Democrats a month before November’s congressional elections.” TPM is covering the story closely, and has fingered Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) as the likely member of Congress who requested the rushed indictment. Carpetbagger has a wrap-up.
These repubs always have to blame someone else. Now it's Murtha. He caused the stock market to go down!
Rep. Gohmert: Murtha Caused Market Plunge » Today on the House floor, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) blamed yesterday’s market drop — the largest since the September 11 terrorist attacks — on members of Congress supposedly “talking about…more regulation” and “undermin[ing] the President’s national security policy.”
Gohmert said, “In two months of talking about raising taxes and more regulation and [referring to Murtha] one committee chairman talking about how he’s going to undermine the President’s national security policy — two months! — we have this terrible damage to the stock market, to the economy. Unbelievable.” He added: “I just encourage my friends across the aisle, be careful. We built a great economy. Don’t blow it quite so quickly.”
Gen. Clark And Jon Soltz Launch StopIranWar.com » VoteVets.org has teamed up with Gen. Wesley Clark to promote a new campaign warning against a military strike on Iran. StopIranWar.com is calling on Americans to build political pressure on U.S. policymakers to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and economic option at our disposal to deal with Iran.
In a web-ad released today, Clark warns, “We’re approaching the last moments in which the administration can change its policy and head off a looming confrontation with Iran.” Watch it:
A crowd had gathered around Mrs. Winter. The commotion at the graveside vibrated with suppressed hilarity. Me, I wasn't able to keep properly solemn. When my shoulders had started shaking with silent laughter, I'd ducked behind the plain pine coffin still on its stand outside the grave.
I bit my lips to keep the giggles in, and peeked around the coffin to watch the goings-on.
Mrs. Winter had given up the attempt to discreetly pull her bloomers back up. Through the milling legs of the mourners, I could see her trying desperately instead to kick off the pale pink nylon that had slithered down from her haunches and snagged around her ankles. ...
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/78/0446576913/chapter_excerpt24200.html
Giuliani is ahead of McCain. This I can't believe! The republicans don't seem to like McCain so they are getting behind Giuliani, even the religious right. The repubs have already lost the election, barring something way out there happening.
February 28, 2007 6:13 PM
***
Hi Toni - did you already see Olbermann tonight? He talked about that, and the woman he had on about the polls said what I was thinking ... Giuliani being ahead of McCain was just a poll very early on, likely showing Republicans were just showing that they weren't that thrilled with McCain, and it doesn't likely mean anything this early on.
Senators Vow To Block White House Effort To Defund Office Of Women’s Health The Washington Post reported yesterday that the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health “just had more than one-quarter of this year’s $4 million operating budget quietly removed.” The office had stood up for scientific research that ultimately led to the approval of Plan B. Because the remaining $2.8 million has already been spent or allocated, the funding cut will “effectively halt further operations for the rest of the year.”
Today, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) wrote a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach demanding a halt to the agency’s efforts to de-fund the office. The letter stated:
"His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."
It's good we have cable and so many other new sources. It's scary to think that one man could influence so many. I think Cronkite should own some of the responsibility for how that war turned out.
From the makers of UFO NEWS comes last in an eight part interview series with author, Robert Anton Wilson. The interviews were videotaped over 15 years ago in his Santa Monica apartment. Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was a prolific American novelist, essayist, philosopher, psychologist, futurologist, anarchist, and conspiracy theory researcher. Many of his books delt with the infamous Illuminati and UFOs.
On the frontline show about news media, Bob Woodward says he wishes he were more forceful in telling about no WMD's....I think he's said that before this show too tho..
Eavon said... "His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."
It's good we have cable and so many other new sources. It's scary to think that one man could influence so many. I think Cronkite should own some of the responsibility for how that war turned out.
-----------
Were you around then eavon?
We have cable but the msm is owned by big corps so the news is slanted.
Back then there were real reporters not the megalomaniac stars we have today.
And the war was not going well way b4 Cronkite said those words. He challenged the powers that were because they lied to us.
"Never give a sucker an even break" When he's breaking through to a new level of consciousness There always seems to be more obstacles in the way - Van Morrison ...
Bangor: U.S. military, media link under fire By Anne Ravana Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
The U.S. military’s ability to handpick members of the media to report on foreign interventions influences the media’s characterization of the interventions and in turn, influences public opinion, a University of Maine professor said Monday.
Dr. Shannon Martin, professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine, presented her published research on the placement of reporters in foreign countries during U.S. military interventions abroad, and its influence on news delivery and public opinion.
Martin spoke to the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum, a group of area professionals that gathers regularly to learn about international issues. Monday’s discussion attracted 28 people, who listened over breakfast at the Bangor Public Library.
The U.S. military has become increasingly involved in selecting reporters to gather information in the form of "media pools," Martin said. In a media pool, reporters convene and share information they have gathered with other media.
Martin said working together allows reporters to distribute, question and evaluate each other’s information. However, her research shows that media pools in the 1980s and 1990s were more likely to characterize interventions as facilitating political change, a characterization that is positively received by the American public, Martin said.
"Americans are much more sympathetic to the belief that what’s happening to our troops is enhancing political change, particularly to a democracy," Martin said.
Martin said that when media are not mandated to pool, the military intervention is characterized as facilitating humanitarian efforts, and public opinion is less favorable.
"The State Department has protested this because sometimes intervention is related directly to humanitarian efforts," Martin said.
In the past, the U.S. military would allow news outlets to choose which reporters they wanted to send to cover foreign interventions, limiting only the number of reporters from each outlet.
"Now the military is much more selective of which reporters may come," Martin said.
Martin mentioned an alternative to media pools: "embedding" a single media person in a military unit, a method used in the Iraq war. This practice can cause the journalist to identify and bond with troops, rendering the reporter unable to remain objective, Martin said.
"There’s no perfect way to act as a reporter. You’re always a surrogate in one way or another," Martin said.
* The sovereign beauty which I do admire, Witness the world how worthy to be praised: The light whereof hath kindled heavenly fire In my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised; That being now with her huge brightness dazed, Base thing I can no more endure to view; But looking still on her, I stand amazed At wondrous sight of so celestial hue. So when my tongue would speak her praises due, It stopped is with thought's astonishment: And when my pen would write her titles true, It ravish'd is with fancy's wonderment: Yet in my heart I then both speak and write The wonder that my wit cannot endite. * ~ Amoretti III: The Sovereign Beauty, by Edmund Spenser ~
toniD said... I keep adding to that blog when I can. Don't know if anyone outside of our group is reading it, but it's good therapy for me. February 28, 2007 3:48 PM
Hiya, Toni! Works for me, too :) Hope your day goes well! Later.
While the newly scheduled meetings may not include direct negotiations between the United States and Iran, and are to focus strictly on stabilizing Iraq rather than other disputes, they could crack open a door to a diplomatic channel.
Iraqi officials had been pushing for such a meeting for several months, but Bush administration officials refused until the Iraqi government reached agreement on pressing domestic matters, including guidelines for nationwide distribution of oil revenue and foreign investment in the country’s immense oil industry, administration officials said. The new government of Iraq maintains regular ties with Iran
More imagination needs to be injected into Iraq's newly implemented security plan to put an end to the bloodletting in Baghdad if it is to succeed, a former Iraqi army officer told IRIN. "There should be an imaginative effort to augment the military operations. You can easily deploy thousands of soldiers in the streets and seal off whatever you want in neighborhoods or streets for unlimited periods, but you can't stop a suicide bomber with a belt of explosives or [bomb-laden] car," said retired army General Salaheddin Baqer al-Hammad. "What is happening is that Shia militias have now disappeared from the streets to have time to organize themselves while Sunni militants are trying to show that they are still active."
Reports of the gang-rape of 20-year-old Sabrine al-Janabi by three policemen has set off new demands for justice from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. Janabi, who lives in the Hai al-Amil area of southern Baghdad with her husband, was taken from her home Feb. 18 to a police station and accused of assisting resistance fighters. Janabi told al-Jazeera channel Feb. 19 that three police commandos raped her in the police garrison after accusing her of cooking for resistance fighters. Stories of rape committed by both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have appeared since the early days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first stories emerged from inside Abu Ghraib prison. These, along with photographic evidence of sexual humiliation, provoked widespread anger across Iraq. Rape victims in Iraq rarely come forward because they fear public scorn and humiliation. A Muslim woman who acknowledges being raped risks death at the hands of male relatives seeking to restore family honor.
87 comments:
Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light
*
LOVE for love, and moments sweet,
Lips returning kiss for kiss,
Word for word, and eyes that meet;
Breath for breath, and bliss for bliss.
Thus at eve, and thus the morrow!
Yet thou feeblest, at my lay,
Ever some half-hidden sorrow;
Could I Joseph's graces borrow,
All thy beauty I'd repay!
*
DN:
Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran
Show mp3
Lt. Watada Is Not Alone Military dissenters step forward, by Sarah Olson
...
I was one of two journalists subpoenaed to testify in Lt. Watada's court-martial. I objected on the grounds that members of the military must be free to speak with journalists without fear of retribution or censure. That so few critical voices in the military are given an ongoing platform in the media contributes to an inaccurate view of the Iraq War and erroneous ideas about how to ameliorate the problems. Supporting the troops requires that we listen to what they have to say.
...
Katzenhosen?
February 28, 2007 9:57 AM
da!
Very nice, Bib.. :)
kittenpants.com
i found it thru benjo's website for tinkle
US accused on 'missing' prisoners
Thirty eight people believed to have been held in secret CIA prisons - or black sites - are missing, according to a report by a US human rights group.
Sam's IP?
STANFORD: $33 million grant for stem cell center
Stanford University's School of Medicine announced a $33 million grant Tuesday to help build a center for stem cell research.
The gift from Stanford alumnus Lorry Lokey, founder of the Business Wire press-release service, is the medical school's largest single gift from an individual.
Lokey, a 1949 graduate, started Business Wire in San Francisco in 1961. He sold the business, valued at $500 million, to Berkshire Hathaway last year.
Stanford hopes to open the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in 2011.
Gov't revision shows we aren't doing as well as Bush says we are:
From the AP:
The economy grew at a sluggish 2.2 percent pace in the final quarter of last year, much slower than initially estimated, the government reported Wednesday in the sort of unusually large revision that has happened only seven times in the last 30 years.
The latest reading on the gross domestic product released by by the Commerce Department came a day after stocks on Wall Street and around the globe took a nosedive and showed the economy in a considerably weaker state than the government first estimated. It had initially reported the expansion in the last three months of 2006 to be at a 3.5 percent pace. The principal reason for the new, significantly lower estimate: Businesses tightened their belts amid fallout from the troubled housing and automative sectors.
The new GDP figure for the October-to-December quarter was a tad slower than the 2.3 percent growth rate economists were forecasting and clearly less sunny than that original estimate. The GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States, is the best overall barometer of economic health.
Although the fourth quarter's showing marked a slight improvement from the third quarter's mediocre 2 percent growth rate, it didn't alter the overall picture that economic activity in both quarters was restrained by the housing slump and the ailing automotive sector.
LINK
thanks ToniD
what is sams ip?
just wondering if we're
being eased out of the loop.
the two way was the reason to get
involved here along with being able to
see everyone elses opinion and data in real time. eh?
Sunshine Jim said...
Sam's IP?
That's what it said to me when I signed up. I think they mean the address samsedershow.com.
Anyway, fou have to add that to your contacts.
Yea Jim, I wasn't to pleased with that today. We do have a working blog for the show so he could have gone to that.
thanks T.
pretty much what i figgered.
have'nt tried it during the show yet.
seems a good way to 'buzz' sam with a comment though
seeing as he's paying attention to it now.
Later guys!
i'm reading more and commenting less, getting serious here about getting out of debt and getting more projects going.
we'll see how Laura does with her intention of having more two way involvement with her bloggie community.
that intrigues me.
Senator Matt Murphy of Illinois Set to Ban His Own Blog from Libraries?
Senator Matt Murphy from Illinois, the legislator who has introduced the most restrictive ban on social networking sites in the nation, held a very interesting "live chat" online tonight. It took place at 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the comments on his blog at http://senmattmurphy.blogspot.com/, which is an interesting use of blogging I haven't seen before. There are 69 comments that constitute the discussion, a back-and-forth between Murphy and the commenters.
In the blog post itself, Murphy sounds fairly reasonable and balanced, saying he filed the bill "to raise awareness of the threat predators on these sites pose to our kids" and "to advance a dialogue on how we can minimize this threat." Neither of these reasons really explains why he chose to introduce a full ban on a class of sites he can't even define (nowhere does the legislation explain what is meant by the term), but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt as I read his responses anyway.
Unfortunately, I got as far as the 12th comment, in which Detective Bob Riordan, who is working with Murphy on this legislation, notes that Blogger is in the list of "top 10 social networking sites."
What site is Murphy's blog on? Blogger. So apparently, Murphy's current bill would ban his own site - where he hosted the "live chat" to discuss banning social networking sites in libraries - from being accessed in libraries, even by adults.
In addition, I got *really* scared by the following statement from the police detective:
...
Bye Toni!
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/28/18370068.php
Iraq: 4 US GIs killed; Army of Heaven Cult Arrested, by juan cole
How cute is this....(wfc's blog)
uh oh!
WFC with a serious case of "Cup Mouth".
used to be as bad a problem as hoof in mouth disease till they came up with a treatment.
I S H !!!
talkin with an ol bud in Idaho.
they're shutting down deep well irrigators...
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Hey Jim
bbl -
Where Are the Young Voices?
Katha Pollitt has made the important point that women are grossly underrepresented on the op-ed pages of America's newspapers.
Here's another grossly underrepresented demographic in the media: young people. Millennials-- roughly defined as those 28 and under-- make up one-quarter of the population, yet we are nowhere to be found in the mainstream media.
Yesterday on TAPPED, Mark Schmitt acknowledged the phenomenon:
Here are the regular op-ed columnists for the New York Times and the Washington Post in ascending order of age:
Anne Applebaum, Washington Post, 42. (Does not live in the U.S.)
Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post, early 40s, graduated Oxford 1986.
David Brooks, Times, 45
Nick Kristof, Times, 48
and up they go from there. And they wonder why young people don't read newspapers!
Young people don't follow the news for a variety of reasons-- but the fact that they don't see anyone from their generation reporting the news is a huge factor.
...
Somebody give me some hope....
Rush Lintball was talking today about the Murtha Plan bill and saying that it STILL left Bush an "out" for sending more troops regardless of training or equipment.
Trusting my instincts that he's wrong....but worried.....????
How the war on terror made
the world a more terrifying place
Innocent people across the world are now paying the price of the "Iraq effect", with the loss of hundreds of lives directly linked to the invasion and occupation by American and British forces.
LINK
Two of the Gonzales Seven Step Down Today - Daniel Bogden & David Iglesias
by ePluribus Media
Excerpt:
Full stories on each of the seven are available The Gonzales Seven: Who They are and Who is Replacing Them
It is now generally accepted that the seven were asked to resign because the Bush Administration desires shifts in the direction of prosecution. Speculation has ranged from these new policy directions as:
• Federal enforcement of capital punishment (Charlton)
• Less focus on Republican political corruption (Lam)
• More focus on "opposition" investigation into Democrats (Cummins, McKay)
• More prosecution and focus on illegals (Lam, Iglesias)
Last Throes of Cheney’s Credibility
By Joe Conason
as the White House has loudly proclaimed, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney will ignore any Congressional action that would cut short their bloody misadventure. Rather than engage in honest debate over a saner course in Iraq, the Vice President has resorted to the same discredited rhetoric used by him and his allies from the beginning.
Seeking to intimidate the Congressional leaders last week, he recited the misleading old formula conflating war in Iraq with the struggle against Al Qaeda. His theories on that subject have been blown up with the same force and frequency as those daily explosions on Baghdad’s streets. Only a few days ago, the Pentagon Inspector General issued a devastating report describing how Mr. Cheney’s agents in the Defense Department distorted intelligence to “prove” the mythical linkage between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Moreover, every credible analysis of the Iraq insurgency estimates that only a tiny fraction of the fighters are linked to Al Qaeda in any significant way. While the jihadist movement is growing, Mr. bin Laden and his lieutenants can profit from our mistakes without leaving their strongholds thousands of miles away.
But Mr. Cheney cares nothing for those facts. As the official who most vehemently assured us of the certain existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he remains immune to the kind of embarrassment that would have required an honorable man to resign from office long ago.
During his latest foreign trip, he warned Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Jack Murtha (D-Penn.) that the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq would “validate the Al Qaeda strategy,” as if Mr. bin Laden somehow lured the United States into invading Mesopotamia. Reiterating the point later, he added: “Al Qaeda functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy: that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home.”
Actually, we now know that the occupation of Iraq—the Cheney strategy—has strengthened Al Qaeda immeasurably by recruiting thousands of young Muslims to its cause. We know that because the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for the Bush administration a year ago said so. According to The Washington Post, a newspaper whose editorial page supports the war, officials familiar with the classified document said the N.I.E. concluded that “rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position.”
LINK
Very amusing bit on 'Family Guy' 2 weeks ago, Cheney as a Wal-Mart greeter, standing at the door in his little blue vest "Go eff yourself" to everyone who comes through...
Heh!
Cheney as a Wal-Mart greeter
Feinstein: Subpoena U.S. Attorneys
By Paul Kiel - February 28, 2007, 3:47 PM
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking on the floor of the Senate just now, urged the committee to issue subpoenas to the ousted U.S. Attorneys to have them testify, so she could ask some "hard questions." She said that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the chairman of the relative subcommittee was "interested in doing this."
U.S. Attorney David Iglesias told McClatchy that he would only testify before the committee if subpoenaed.
Major Swift Boat Donor To Kerry: "You're A Hero"
You have to read this.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Tuesday to consider the nomination of Sam Fox, a wealthy St. Louis businessman, to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. While it is not unusual for big political donors to be rewarded with ambassadorships -- and Fox is a huge donor to all things Republican -- what made everyone take note of this guy is that Fox gave a whopping $50,000 to help fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry in 2004.
You have to read what Kerry put him through!!
Bob Gieger at Huff Post
President Bush to Visit Colombia as Part of his Trip to Latin America, Where He Will See No Evil
* Significant ties to illegal paramilitaries found in Colombia’s Congress and President Álvaro Uribe’s Administration
* Colombia negotiating with and showing leniency to mass-murdering “narcoterrorists”
* U.S. acting suspiciously uncritical of Colombia’s refusal to extradite known drug traffickers
* Elimination of extradition undermines the Colombian phase of the “war on drugs”
* White House increases annual aid levels to Colombia from about $728 million to $750 million
Soon President Bush will be visiting Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the hemisphere, where he is expected to discuss the current state of U.S. - Colombian counter-narcotics initiatives. However, this trip inauspiciously comes at a time when Bogotá is witnessing an unprecedented series of political scandals.
...
(February 28, 2007 -- 05:36 PM EST // link [TPM home])
It's truly TPM entering Nirvana: Doug Feith sets up his own website to clear his good name! (via WashingtonWire)
-- Josh Marshall
From Howard Dean:
American workers need help - and there's something you can do about it.
Regardless of where you live or what you do, labor unions are our first line of defense for worker's rights. What do they fight for? Raising the minimum wage. Improving labor standards. Expanding health care benefits. Protecting retirement security.
And these fights don't only make a difference in the workplace: They are critical to providing economic security for families, strengthening our communities and rebuilding America's middle class. Every day, millions of Americans work hard and play by the rules but are still struggling to get by. Democrats understand the important role that labor unions play to fix this crisis.
The Senate is set to debate a bill that will restore American workers' right to freely choose whether or not to form a union. Join the Democratic majority in the Senate and show your support for the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://www.democrats.org/WorkersRights
Research shows union members earn 30% more than nonunion workers. What's more, union workers are 63% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.
The benefits of union membership are clear. That's why nearly half of American workers who are not currently represented by unions -- 60 million people -- say that they'd join one if they had the chance. But every year since 1981, union membership has declined. And a major reason for that fall-off is the many obstacles workers face when they try to form a union or negotiate a union contract.
Hi Cat Chew! Saw your comment at my blog and wanted to get back to you.
I keep adding to that blog when I can. Don't know if anyone outside of our group is reading it, but it's good therapy for me.
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
Cop shot dead in apparent suicide
Sono ancora handsome!!!
"NEWS CONSUMER" said...
22-month-old hops on train without parents
Irv Rosenfeld's HB 5470 Michigan Medical Marijuana Testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvzX8aNwxgM
Savage on Media Matters: "a gay website that attacks me every day"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702280010
On the February 27 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage responded to a Media Matters for America item that quoted him saying: "I don't like a woman married to a woman. It makes me want to puke. ... I think it's child abuse." In his response, Savage said, "I don't know why they're attacking me for what I believe in," and added, "I stick by every word I wrote." Savage, although reading directly from the Media Matters item, did not refer to Media Matters by name, calling it instead "a gay website that attacks me every day." On his January 30 show, Savage vowed, "I'm not even going to read [Media Matters'] name anymore."
As Media Matters has documented, Savage has repeatedly claimed that Media Matters has an "obsession" with him and has referred to Media Matters as "a group of swine."
The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show. The Creative Artists Agency, one of the world's leading talent and literary agencies, recently announced that it had signed Savage for "representation in all areas," including television and film.
****
I love how everyone who is ever [even once] a subject of Media Matters' scrutiny and 'outing', always claims that Media Matters is "obsessed" with them.
It tells you a lot about their ego [problems].
Top US Officials: US Has Six Months To Win Iraq War
The Guardian | Simon Tisdall | February 28, 2007 05:53 PM
An elite team of officers advising US commander General David Petraeus in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.
The officers - combat veterans who are leading experts in counter-insurgency - are charged with implementing the "new way forward" strategy announced by president George Bush on January 10. The plan includes a controversial "surge" of 21,500 additional American troops to establish security in the Iraqi capital and Anbar province.
LINK
toniD said...
Top US Officials: US Has Six Months To Win Iraq War
The Guardian | Simon Tisdall | February 28, 2007 05:53 PM
***
"WIN" Iraq War?!
Cronkite: Iraq "A Disaster...We Should Have Gotten Out A Long Time Ago"
CBS 5 | Hank Plante | February 28, 2007 08:42 PM
It was in 1968, when CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite did a tour of Vietnam, and came back highly critical of that war.
His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America.
LINK
Catharine said...
toniD said...
Top US Officials: US Has Six Months To Win Iraq War
The Guardian | Simon Tisdall | February 28, 2007 05:53 PM
***
"WIN" Iraq War?!
-------
That was my thought when I first read the header. And from the Guardian?
That was my thought when I first read the header. And from the Guardian?
February 28, 2007 6:01 PM
Exactly.
Dowd now believes Gore "prescient" on several issues, despite previously belittling him
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703010001
In her February 28 column, titled "Ozone Man Sequel" (subscription required), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd described former Vice President Al Gore as the "man who was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism and Iraq," and wrote that "[i]t must be excruciating not only to lose a presidency you've won because the Supreme Court turned partisan and stopped the vote, but to then watch the madness of King George and Tricky Dick II as they misled their way into serial catastrophes." Dowd wondered who Gore must blame more for his defeat in the 2000 election: "Does he blame himself? Does he blame the voting machines? Ralph Nader? Robert Shrum? Naomi Wolf? How about Bush Inc. and Clinton Inc.?" Yet, as blogger Bob Somerby noted, Dowd omitted an obvious other potential target of blame: the media. Indeed, Dowd herself, while now praising Gore for being "prescient" on such issues, relentlessly mocked Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign and onward for what she described as Gore's "obsessions about global warming and the information highway." Dowd has also compared Gore to the "wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party" for his criticism of the Iraq war; and has repeatedly furthered numerous falsehoods about Gore, such as that Gore once claimed to have "invented the Internet;" and, as Somerby noted on his Daily Howler weblog, that feminist author Wolf advised Gore on his wardrobe and how to be an "alpha male."
***
Dowd is such a twit.
I have to smile, though ... she is making enemies fast, though...
David Geffen, for one, has got to be pretty pissed at her.
Bad move, Maureen.
Tonight on Letterman, McCain will announce his run for the Presidency. Per MSNBC with video.
I thought he already announced!
I guess it was the Media that was pushing.
Giuliani is ahead of McCain. This I can't believe! The republicans don't seem to like McCain so they are getting behind Giuliani, even the religious right. The repubs have already lost the election, barring something way out there happening.
LEAVE LABOR UNION PROTECTIONS IN THE ANTITERROR BILL S. 4 AND H.R. 800
ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/support_unions.php
Wallace failed to challenge Standard editors on debunked story
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702280011
On two consecutive episodes of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, on February 18 and 25, host Chris Wallace said that -- in conflict with former undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith's statement on the February 11 edition of Fox News Sunday that "[n]obody in my office said there was an operational relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda" -- Feith "did make that case" of an "operational relationship" in a memo that was the subject of a November 14, 2003, Weekly Standard article. But Wallace never asked Standard editor William Kristol, who appeared on both the February 18 and 25 programs, or executive editor Fred Barnes, who appeared on the February 25 edition, to explain the conflict on the air. The Standard article used the phrase "operational relationship" to describe the findings of a memo, produced by Feith's office, on the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, while Feith has reportedly stood by his comment that neither he nor anyone in his office said there was such an "operational relationship."
Feith's appearance on Fox News Sunday came two days after the Department of Defense's inspector general produced a report (PDF) that was highly critical of the work of Feith's Office of the Undersecretary for Defense Policy, specifically in regard to prewar intelligence estimates that office made about connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The report asserted that Feith's office "produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent will the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers." The inspector general also wrote that Feith's work was "inappropriate given that the intelligence assessments were intelligence products and did not clearly show the variance with the consensus of the Intelligence Community."
Catharine said...
Dowd is such a twit.
I have to smile, though ... she is making enemies fast, though...
David Geffen, for one, has got to be pretty pissed at her.
Bad move, Maureen.
---------
Maureen is still in high school and gossiping about other people and putting them down. She seems to be biparisan though. Twit! That's a good word for her.
Alice said...
LEAVE LABOR UNION PROTECTIONS IN THE ANTITERROR BILL S. 4 AND H.R. 800
ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/support_unions.php
Done!
House and Senate call on purged attorneys to testify. “Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate vowed to hold a new round of hearings to determine if partisan politics played a role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys across the country. … The controversy flared up early Wednesday afternoon after David Iglesias, the departing U.S. attorney from New Mexico, told McClatchy Newspapers that he believes he was forced out because he refused to speed up an indictment of local Democrats a month before November’s congressional elections.” TPM is covering the story closely, and has fingered Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) as the likely member of Congress who requested the rushed indictment. Carpetbagger has a wrap-up.
LINK
These repubs always have to blame someone else. Now it's Murtha. He caused the stock market to go down!
Rep. Gohmert: Murtha Caused Market Plunge »
Today on the House floor, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) blamed yesterday’s market drop — the largest since the September 11 terrorist attacks — on members of Congress supposedly “talking about…more regulation” and “undermin[ing] the President’s national security policy.”
Gohmert said, “In two months of talking about raising taxes and more regulation and [referring to Murtha] one committee chairman talking about how he’s going to undermine the President’s national security policy — two months! — we have this terrible damage to the stock market, to the economy. Unbelievable.” He added: “I just encourage my friends across the aisle, be careful. We built a great economy. Don’t blow it quite so quickly.”
Watch it:
LINK
Gen. Clark And Jon Soltz Launch StopIranWar.com »
VoteVets.org has teamed up with Gen. Wesley Clark to promote a new campaign warning against a military strike on Iran. StopIranWar.com is calling on Americans to build political pressure on U.S. policymakers to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and economic option at our disposal to deal with Iran.
In a web-ad released today, Clark warns, “We’re approaching the last moments in which the administration can change its policy and head off a looming confrontation with Iran.” Watch it:
LINK
A crowd had gathered around Mrs. Winter. The commotion at the graveside vibrated with suppressed hilarity. Me, I wasn't able to keep properly solemn. When my shoulders had started shaking with silent laughter, I'd ducked behind the plain pine coffin still on its stand outside the grave.
I bit my lips to keep the giggles in, and peeked around the coffin to watch the goings-on.
Mrs. Winter had given up the attempt to discreetly pull her bloomers back up. Through the milling legs of the mourners, I could see her trying desperately instead to kick off the pale pink nylon that had slithered down from her haunches and snagged around her ankles.
...
The New Moon's Arms
by Nalo Hopkinson
http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/78/0446576913/chapter_excerpt24200.html
I thought he already announced!
I guess it was the Media that was pushing.
Giuliani is ahead of McCain. This I can't believe! The republicans don't seem to like McCain so they are getting behind Giuliani, even the religious right. The repubs have already lost the election, barring something way out there happening.
February 28, 2007 6:13 PM
***
Hi Toni - did you already see Olbermann tonight? He talked about that, and the woman he had on about the polls said what I was thinking ... Giuliani being ahead of McCain was just a poll very early on, likely showing Republicans were just showing that they weren't that thrilled with McCain, and it doesn't likely mean anything this early on.
Senators Vow To Block White House Effort To Defund Office Of Women’s Health
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health “just had more than one-quarter of this year’s $4 million operating budget quietly removed.” The office had stood up for scientific research that ultimately led to the approval of Plan B. Because the remaining $2.8 million has already been spent or allocated, the funding cut will “effectively halt further operations for the rest of the year.”
Today, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) wrote a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach demanding a halt to the agency’s efforts to de-fund the office. The letter stated:
LINK
He added: “I just encourage my friends across the aisle, be careful. We built a great economy. Don’t blow it quite so quickly.”
Watch it:
LINK
February 28, 2007 6:26 PM
Wow.
Clearly hasn't the foggiest idea of how to make money, let alone a good economy.
What great economy?
By the way, Gomer Pyle, the assholes on Wall Street [like Larry Kudlow] don't agree with you. They say this was a needed "correction".
Spin. Spin. Spin.
And by the way, the economy sucks, go ask your constituents.
I was watching Olberman but I didn't see that. Of course I was away from the TV for awhile finishing dinner.
That's what I figured. I just couldn't see how they would wrap themselves around Giuliani. I'll watch the repeat for that segment.
"His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."
It's good we have cable and so many other new sources. It's scary to think that one man could influence so many. I think Cronkite should own some of the responsibility for how that war turned out.
Robert Anton Wilson 8: Origin of Ideas
From the makers of UFO NEWS comes last in an eight part interview series with author, Robert Anton Wilson. The interviews were videotaped over 15 years ago in his Santa Monica apartment. Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was a prolific American novelist, essayist, philosopher, psychologist, futurologist, anarchist, and conspiracy theory researcher. Many of his books delt with the infamous Illuminati and UFOs.
Eavon said...
On the frontline show about news media, Bob Woodward says he wishes he were more forceful in telling about no WMD's....I think he's said that before this show too tho..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9teojBfh7NQ
Buddy Guy
Eavon said...
"His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."
It's good we have cable and so many other new sources. It's scary to think that one man could influence so many. I think Cronkite should own some of the responsibility for how that war turned out.
-----------
Were you around then eavon?
We have cable but the msm is owned by big corps so the news is slanted.
Back then there were real reporters not the megalomaniac stars we have today.
And the war was not going well way b4 Cronkite said those words. He challenged the powers that were because they lied to us.
Maybe you should read up on it.
If I sound harsh Eavon, it's because I lost someone very special in that war. I can remember much about it and the politics of it.
jbenet said:
malloy is great.
that's just how I feel.
Three people were arrested on charges of swapping a 5-month-old boy for a downpayment on a used Dodge Intrepid and cash, police said Tuesday
_______
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
"Never give a sucker an even break"
When he's breaking through to a new level of consciousness
There always seems to be more obstacles in the way - Van Morrison
...
Bangor: U.S. military, media link under fire
By Anne Ravana
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
The U.S. military’s ability to handpick members of the media to report on foreign interventions influences the media’s characterization of the interventions and in turn, influences public opinion, a University of Maine professor said Monday.
Dr. Shannon Martin, professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine, presented her published research on the placement of reporters in foreign countries during U.S. military interventions abroad, and its influence on news delivery and public opinion.
Martin spoke to the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum, a group of area professionals that gathers regularly to learn about international issues. Monday’s discussion attracted 28 people, who listened over breakfast at the Bangor Public Library.
The U.S. military has become increasingly involved in selecting reporters to gather information in the form of "media pools," Martin said. In a media pool, reporters convene and share information they have gathered with other media.
Martin said working together allows reporters to distribute, question and evaluate each other’s information. However, her research shows that media pools in the 1980s and 1990s were more likely to characterize interventions as facilitating political change, a characterization that is positively received by the American public, Martin said.
"Americans are much more sympathetic to the belief that what’s happening to our troops is enhancing political change, particularly to a democracy," Martin said.
Martin said that when media are not mandated to pool, the military intervention is characterized as facilitating humanitarian efforts, and public opinion is less favorable.
"The State Department has protested this because sometimes intervention is related directly to humanitarian efforts," Martin said.
In the past, the U.S. military would allow news outlets to choose which reporters they wanted to send to cover foreign interventions, limiting only the number of reporters from each outlet.
"Now the military is much more selective of which reporters may come," Martin said.
Martin mentioned an alternative to media pools: "embedding" a single media person in a military unit, a method used in the Iraq war. This practice can cause the journalist to identify and bond with troops, rendering the reporter unable to remain objective, Martin said.
"There’s no perfect way to act as a reporter. You’re always a surrogate in one way or another," Martin said.
LINK
From Kevin's blog..
Army Times: Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
a cutie eh?
was just thinking
it was one of the coolest
cars i ever had, wish i had another!
*
The sovereign beauty which I do admire,
Witness the world how worthy to be praised:
The light whereof hath kindled heavenly fire
In my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised;
That being now with her huge brightness dazed,
Base thing I can no more endure to view;
But looking still on her, I stand amazed
At wondrous sight of so celestial hue.
So when my tongue would speak her praises due,
It stopped is with thought's astonishment:
And when my pen would write her titles true,
It ravish'd is with fancy's wonderment:
Yet in my heart I then both speak and write
The wonder that my wit cannot endite.
*
~ Amoretti III: The Sovereign Beauty, by Edmund Spenser ~
toniD said...
I keep adding to that blog when I can. Don't know if anyone outside of our group is reading it, but it's good therapy for me.
February 28, 2007 3:48 PM
Hiya, Toni!
Works for me, too :)
Hope your day goes well! Later.
Plugola: Read toniD's Ya Think?
This is so very wrong...
This is more like it.
While the newly scheduled meetings may not include direct negotiations between the United States and Iran, and are to focus strictly on stabilizing Iraq rather than other disputes, they could crack open a door to a diplomatic channel.
Iraqi officials had been pushing for such a meeting for several months, but Bush administration officials refused until the Iraqi government reached agreement on pressing domestic matters, including guidelines for nationwide distribution of oil revenue and foreign investment in the country’s immense oil industry, administration officials said. The new government of Iraq maintains regular ties with Iran
Sam why don't you spruce up the shadow blog a little bit.
You know maybe you can use some banners that listeners have sent you. *hint* *hint*
eya, cat chew
those wellington grey toons really hit the spot...
Things I teach at a girl's school
^
BON VOYAGE, CRANKY!
god speed, safe return,
etc
^
New security plan makes slow progress
More imagination needs to be injected into Iraq's newly
implemented security plan to put an end to the
bloodletting in Baghdad if it is to succeed, a former
Iraqi army officer told IRIN. "There should be an
imaginative effort to augment the military operations. You
can easily deploy thousands of soldiers in the streets and
seal off whatever you want in neighborhoods or streets for
unlimited periods, but you can't stop a suicide bomber
with a belt of explosives or [bomb-laden] car," said
retired army General Salaheddin Baqer al-Hammad. "What is
happening is that Shia militias have now disappeared from
the streets to have time to organize themselves while
Sunni militants are trying to show that they are still
active."
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2926.shtml
Rape Cases Emerge From the Shadows
Reports of the gang-rape of 20-year-old Sabrine al-Janabi by three policemen has set off new demands for justice from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. Janabi, who lives in the Hai al-Amil area of southern Baghdad with her husband, was taken from her home Feb. 18 to a police station and accused of assisting resistance fighters. Janabi told al-Jazeera channel Feb. 19 that three police commandos raped her in the police garrison after accusing her of cooking for resistance fighters. Stories of rape committed by both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have appeared since the early days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first stories emerged from inside Abu Ghraib prison.
These, along with photographic evidence of sexual humiliation, provoked widespread anger across Iraq. Rape victims in Iraq rarely come forward because they fear public scorn and humiliation. A Muslim woman who acknowledges being raped risks death at the hands of male relatives seeking to restore family honor.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2925.shtml
up early brushing snow off of the truck.
got a good 4 inches on the roof, a layer of slush under the snow on the blacktop.
"A Muslim woman who acknowledges being raped risks death at the hands of male relatives seeking to restore family honor."
never made sense to me. wonder why that is?
eya CrunchyKnee
just got back from driving Bgurl to work.
ya theres a lot of confusion no matter who they say the 'prophets' are.
i like the old sufi saying...
"when the teacher dies what you have left is a political organization"
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