Progressive News Digest - May 19, 2008
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PROGRESSIVE NEWS DIGEST
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Volume IV, Issue #50 Monday, May 19, 2008
Welcome to another edition of Progressive News Digest, still rolling along in
its fourth year (almost at the end of Year 4, BTW, and with rare
exception this has appeared every week at some point).
This week, we're back to semi-normal, with a Table of Contents and all that.
However, I will not attempt to summarize those contents; I'll let you do that
for yourselves.
Also, a head's up: Next week might look a bit light, since for the VERY first
time in it's 5+ years in existence, Rational Review News Digest will be going
on sabbatical, May 22-27. (Half the staff'll be in Denver, trying to salvage
Liberty, while the rest of us have other plans or commitments.) Since RRND
is the core source for the info that goes into Progressive News Digest,
there's likely to be less to work with, but we'll try to give what we have. (You
may also get some links to podcasts and bloggings centered around the
Libertarian Party convention, and its Presidential nominee mudfights.)
Meanwhile, If the impulse strikes you, we could sure use donations, both here
and at the parent-site:
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(Dec. 23st marked our FIFTH year overall in operation, without missing a SINGLE
(non-holiday) day in that span!). We still have not missed one since, but we
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... enjoy and see you next week! Check the site for constant
updates each day:
NEWS
01 - MA: Kennedy in hospital after seizure
02 - Drug cartels to Mexican police: “Join us or die”
03 - Farm bill highlights rich-poor debate
04 - Poland: Catholic Church offers therapy to “cure” gays
05 - Microsoft seeking alternative Yahoo deal
06 - Pirates take aid ship off Somali coast
07 - VT: State may rethink civil unions
08 - CA: High court ends marriage apartheid
09 - McCain: Troops (some, at least) out of Iraq … by 2013
10 - Sweet sorghum could be biofuel hit
11 - TN: Lawmakers to divert conservation money for budget
12 - CA: MO woman indicted in MySpace cyber-bullying case
13 - TN: Neighbors affected by pollution may seek legal action
14 - If inflation’s up 3.9 percent, why does it feel worse?
15 - AZ: Arpaio cut out of state funding
16 - Not as green as they claim to be
17 - Court bars Bush administration’s logging plans for Sierra
18 - WA: Did state worker fake brain cancer to avoid work?
19 - MPP disputes NIDA marijuana study risk findings
20 - CA: San Francisco parking meters retooled to aid homeless
21 - TX: FLDS mom not a minor after all
22 - Virtual schools see growth, calls for oversight
23 - McCain: Let free trade limit global warming
24 - Bill’s OK may halt delivery of reserve oil
25 - Supreme Court refuses to hear forced abortion case
COMMENTARY
26 - Blacklisted by the Bush government
27 - Iron Man versus the imperialists
28 - Boogeyman foreign policy
29 - Barack Obama, Muslim apostate?
30 - The Great American Rebate Scam
31 - Security gone wild
32 - Obama not feelin’ the love from Smiley
33 - Is the party over?
34 - McCain’s Supreme wrongheadedness
35 - The big farm scam
36 - Anarchism shouldn’t be a dirty word
37 - What’s next for the Ron Paul Revolution?
38 - Put your money where evil’s mouth is
39 - Manufacturing a food crisis
40 - John McCain and al Qaeda
41 - TN: Economic problems might test property tax freeze
42 - Race, gender & hardball politics
43 - American as reluctant warrior
44 - Big Brother close up
45 - You won’t fool the children of the rEVOLution
46 - Celebrate clean coal, come on!
47 - Defining deviancy down
48 - Constant sorrow
49 - Radioactive hypocrisy
50 - What would really rebuild Iraq?
51 - Mississippi turning: Dems grab another GOP seat
52 - Sexism … stoked by the media
53 - Bad news for Obama?
54 - Losing Lebanon
55 - The Kosovo dilemma
NEWS
01 - MA: Kennedy in hospital after seizure
Boston Herald
“Massachusetts and the political world is holding its collective breath today as
the state’s legendary senior senator, Edward M. Kennedy, lies in a Hub hospital
recovering from a seizure — the latest health scare for the colorful 76-year-old
statesman. Kennedy was conscious, talking and “joking” with family members in
his room last night at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was flown after
being stricken at his family’s Hyannis Port compound, family said. … In a
statement, Kennedy aides said he would remain in the hospital until at least
tomorrow. ‘He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital
to determine the cause of the seizure,’ the statement read. ‘Senator Kennedy is
resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next
48 hours.’” (05/18/08)
=====
02 - Drug cartels to Mexican police: “Join us or die”
Fox News
“Drug cartels are sending a brutal message to police and soldiers in cities
across Mexico: Join us or die. The threat appears in recruiting banners hung
across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops get warnings over
their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned
down this month, including Mexico’s acting federal police chief. Mexico has
battled for years to clean up its security forces and win them the public’s
respect. But Mexicans generally assume police and even soldiers are corrupt
until proven otherwise, and the honest ones lack resources, training and the
assurance that their colleagues are watching their backs. Here, the taboo on
cop-killing familiar to Americans seems hardly to apply.” (05/18/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356532,00.html
=====
03 - Farm bill highlights rich-poor debate
Christian Science Monitor
“At the heart of the standoff between the White House and Congress over a $307
billion farm bill is the question: Should taxpayers subsidize rich farmers — and
who counts as rich? What income levels qualify — or disqualify — Americans from
federal aid programs has figured in several clashes between the Bush
administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress. The farm bill on the way to
the president’s desk this week limits eligibility for farm subsidies to
individuals with an adjusted gross farm income of less than $750,000; $1.5
million for couples. That’s down from the $2.5 million for couples under current
law, but President Bush wants the eligibility cap for farm subsidies to be much
lower: $200,000.” (05/19/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0519/p02s01-uspo.html
=====
04 - Poland: Catholic Church offers therapy to “cure” gays
Raw Story
“The sixth-ever International Day Against Homophobia is held May 17, but many
homosexuals in Poland will not celebrate it. The Catholic Church has created
rehabilitation centers in Poland to rehabilitate gay people and ‘get them back
on the right path.’ The Odwaga Center uses therapy, prayer and chastity to teach
its patients to resist their homosexual impulses. Men at the center are taught
to play football and women are taught to cook. ‘When you want a candy for
example, you can resist and have it later,’ said Lena Wojdan, a psychologist at
the center. ‘And you can trade it for a piece of chocolate.’ But gay
associations said that such psychological treatment can be dangerous for the
patients’ mental health.” (05/18/08)
=====
05 - Microsoft seeking alternative Yahoo deal
San Francisco Chronicle
“Microsoft Corp. is once again trying to team up with Yahoo Inc. to challenge
Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc., although at this point the
renewed talks haven’t escalated to another attempt to take over Yahoo. The
Redmond, Wash.-based software maker disclosed the revived discussions Sunday
without providing any specifics about the nature of the deal being explored
except to say it involved bolstering the companies’ position in the online
search and advertising markets.” (05/18/08)
=====
06 - Pirates take aid ship off Somali coast
Arizona Republic
“Somali pirates hijacked a Jordanian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Mogadishu
on Saturday in the latest in a string of attacks off the lawless Somali coast,
the head of a seafarer’s association said. Andrew Mwangura of the East Africa
Seafarers Assistance Program said the attack occurred early Saturday morning.
The pirates seized the ship not far from the Somali capital of Mogadishu and
were taking it north, he said. Jordan’s minister of transportation, Ala’a
al-Batayneh, said about a dozen crew members from Pakistan, India, Tanzania and
Bangladesh were on board the ship, according to Jordan’s official Petra news
agency.” (05/18/08)
=====
07 - VT: State may rethink civil unions
Boston Globe
“People on both sides of the gay-marriage debate in Vermont say they expect a
California Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage in that state will be
used as ammunition if, as expected, Vermont lawmakers take up the issue next
year. ‘There will be an effort in the next legislative session to have a bill
that would move marriage forward for all Vermonters,’ said Bari Shamas of the
Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force. ‘Vermont’s civil union law does not go far
enough, and this California decision matters,’ Shamas added. ‘The Legislature
will have yet another example of why it is important. Each time the wheels turn
in that direction it helps create momentum that says this is really the right
thing to do.” (05/18/08)
=====
08 - CA: High court ends marriage apartheid
Christian Science Monitor
“California joins Massachusetts as the second state to legalize gay marriage
following a decision Thursday by the state’s highest court. Ruling 4 to3, the
court found marriage to be a ‘fundamental constitutional right,’ and to deny
that right to same-sex couples would require a compelling government interest.
The Republican-dominated court said the state had failed to show such an
interest. Unlike in Massachusetts, nothing prevents out-of-state same-sex
couples from coming to California to get married. ‘The invitation is going to be
a kind of come one, come all, and that’s going to produce a large number of
[gay] marriages,’ says Douglas Kmiec, law professor at Pepperdine University.
‘They will then return to their home communities and will insist the states
recognize their marriages as valid.’ The decision also sets up political
confrontations at the ballot box in November, at the state level and possibly
within the presidential contest.” (05/16/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516/p25s17-usju.html
=====
09 - McCain: Troops (some, at least) out of Iraq … by 2013
Los Angeles Times
“Republican John McCain, in a speech forecasting what the country would look
like after his first term in office, said today that he expects the war in Iraq
to be won and most troops to be home by January 2013. The prediction marks a
major departure for McCain, who railed against rival Mitt Romney shortly before
the Florida primary for his remark in April 2007 that he thought President Bush
and Iraqi leaders should privately discuss a timetable for withdrawing troops
from Iraq. At the time, McCain suggested that the comment would embolden
America’s foes in Iraq. The Arizona senator leveled the same criticism at
Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, stating that their
advocacy for withdrawing troops from Iraq amounted to setting a date for
’surrender.’” [editor’s note: Keep rattlin’ them sabers, Old John; time for
housecleaning, anyway - SAT] (05/15/08)
=====
10 - Sweet sorghum could be biofuel hit
Arizona Republic
“Sweet sorghum is grown in the U.S. for cooking and livestock feed. But the tall
plant also could help at the gas pump. A sugary sap inside the plant’s stalk,
which grows as tall as 12 feet, can be turned into a potent biofuel, and experts
and companies are studying its potential with hopes that farmers will want to
plant more of it. Ethanol made from the stalk’s juice has four times the energy
yield of the corn-based ethanol, which, unlike sweet sorghum, is already in the
marketplace. Sweet sorghum produces about eight units of energy for every unit
of energy used in its production. That’s about the same as sugarcane but four
times as much as corn.” (05/15/08)
=====
11 - TN: Lawmakers to divert conservation money for budget
Tennessean
“Most of a $30 million fund for land and soil conservation programs in Tennessee
appears likely to fall victim to the state’s budget crunch. Lawmakers confirmed
Thursday that they plan to use about $12 million from the fund to help make up
for a rejected plan to end a tax exemption for family-owned businesses. Gov.
Phil Bredesen has proposed using another $12 million from the pool to help
bridge other budget gaps. That real estate transfer tax money is currently spent
on wetlands acquisition, local and state parks and soil conservation. The fund
is drawn from a 37-cent tax on every $100 of real estate deals. Bredesen’s
original budget plan this year had envisioned restoring the fund its full $30
million level after it had been raided for other purposes in previous years. But
that was before the extent of the budget shortfall for the upcoming budget year
became clear earlier this month.” [editor’s note: Sure, anything’s fair game to
avoid CUTTING that bloated budget! - SAT] (05/15/0
8)
=====
12 - CA: MO woman indicted in MySpace cyber-bullying case
Fox News
“A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted a Missouri woman Thursday for her
alleged role in a MySpace hoax on a teen neighbor who committed suicide after
being spurned by the ‘boy’ in the fake profile. Lori Drew, of Dardenne Prairie
near St. Louis, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of
accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to
inflict emotional distress on the girl. Drew allegedly helped create a
false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was
chatting with a 16-year-old boy named ‘Josh Evans.’” [editor’s note: Frankly, I
hope they find a way to fry her; this was one of the most vicious crimes in
memory! - SAT] (05/15/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356056,00.html
=====
13 - TN: Neighbors affected by pollution may seek legal action
Tennessean
“Homeowners near Egyptian Lacquer Manufacturing Co. say they’re prepared to take
the paint manufacturer to federal court to sue them to clean up the pollution
under their homes if action on the matter isn’t taken in the next three months.
Environmental attorney Elizabeth Murphy says three homeowners she represents are
worried about their health, families and homes because of the continued exposure
to pollution flowing to Liberty Creek and the Harpeth River.” [editor’s note: It
will be interesting to watch this story, since back before federal courts
intervened (back in the 1930s IIRC?) to protect corporatist polluters, this was
how “water pollution disputes” were settled … in court! - SAT] (05/14/08)
=====
14 - If inflation’s up 3.9 percent, why does it feel worse?
Christian Science Monitor
“Between the gas pump and the grocery checkout, Americans have plenty of reasons
to list inflation as Economic Enemy No. 1. But how bad is it, really? The short
answer: bad enough, but don’t judge the problem only by what it costs to fill a
fuel tank. It’s not surprising that many people feel as if inflation is running
hotter than the government’s consumer price index (CPI) suggests: just under 4
percent over the past year. … Another cause for worry: Wages are not keeping up
with inflation.” [editor’s note: When do they ever? - SAT] (05/15/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0515/p01s04-usec.html
=====
15 - AZ: Arpaio cut out of state funding
Arizona Republic
“An executive order signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano has prompted state police to
cancel a $1.6 million agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and,
instead, use the money to create a fugitive task force. The move effectively
stripped two squads of Sheriff’s Office deputies from a statewide multiagency
team designed to go after crimes dealing with human smuggling. It also took away
Arpaio’s ability to tap some of the squad members to supplement immigration
sweeps at the state’s expense. In response, Sheriff Joe Arpaio accused the
governor of orchestrating with others to pull the money from his department as
political payback. House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, meanwhile, called for an
audit of the Department of Public Safety.” [editor’s note: Some of the stuff
happening in this state … at ALL levels of gummint! Ernie Hancock must be
drooling, once again - SAT] (05/14/08)
=====
16 - Not as green as they claim to be
Boston Globe
“Just how green should you feel driving the new Chevy Tahoe hybrid sport utility
vehicle? The eight-passenger vehicle is plastered with ‘hybrid’ labels. An
automobile magazine panel that included the executive director of The Sierra
Club named it the ‘Green Car of the Year.’ But the Tahoe gets only about 20
miles per gallon — not much better than the nonhybrid Honda Pilot SUV, which
also seats eight. The celebrated Toyota Prius gets around 46 miles per gallon.
‘How a 6,000-pound behemoth can be the green car of the year is beyond me,’ said
David Champion, director of Consumer Reports Auto Test Division. ‘It’s a
marketing exercise rather than reality.’” (05/14/08)
=====
17 - Court bars Bush administration’s logging plans for Sierra
San Francisco Chronicle
“A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration’s plans today for
logging three tracts in the northern Sierra and said the government has failed
to justify a critical element in its plan for the forests — selling trees to
lumber companies to pay for removing brush that increases the threat of fire.
Preventing fires is important, ‘but are there no alternative ways of getting
money to do the clearing?’asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco. The court said the U.S. Forest Service has not explored the obvious
alternatives: finding the money elsewhere in its budget or asking Congress for
more.” (05/14/08)
=====
18 - WA: Did state worker fake brain cancer to avoid work?
Fox News
“A former Washington state social worker has been accused of faking brain cancer
to avoid work. Theft charges were filed Tuesday against 40-year-old Sandra Dee
Martinez, formerly of Mountlake Terrace, who was employed by the Department of
Social and Health Services in Arlington. According to investigators, Martinez
presented fake letters that appeared to be from doctors saying she had malignant
brain tumors. Prosecutors wrote that she received $21,000 worth of paid leave
and took advantage of sick days donated by co-workers last year. Prosecutors
wrote that Martinez came under scrutiny after using a neighbor’s computer and
leaving one of the letters on the printer. Arlington Police Chief John Gray says
Martinez has moved to another state and won’t speak with investigators.”
(05/14/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355773,00.html
=====
19 - MPP disputes NIDA marijuana study risk findings
Raw Story
“Heavy marijuana use can boost blood levels of a particular protein, perhaps
raising a person’s risk of a heart attack or stroke, U.S. government researchers
said on Tuesday. Dr. Jean Lud Cadet of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
part of the National Institutes of Health, said the findings point to another
example of long-term harm from marijuana. But marijuana activists expressed
doubt about the findings. … Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Bruce Mirken
said, for example, the study involved people who were extremely heavy users: ‘I
think the low end was 78 joints a week. That’s 10 or 11 joints a day. We’re
talking about people who are stoned all the time … the marijuana equivalent of
the guy in the alley clutching a bottle of cheap wine. If you do anything to
that level of excess, it might well have some untoward effects, whether it’s
marijuana or wine … or broccoli,’ Mirken added.” (05/13/08)
=====
20 - CA: San Francisco parking meters retooled to aid homeless
San Francisco Chronicle
“Rather than tossing loose change into a panhandler’s empty cup, San Francisco
officials want you instead to slide your spare quarters and nickels into a
homeless meter. The city’s latest attempt to deal with one of its most vexing
problems will be announced in coming weeks in the form of 10 old parking meters
installed in some of the most heavily panhandled areas. Money deposited in the
meters would go directly to charities that help the homeless. The goal,
officials say, is to reduce panhandling and to educate tourists and residents
about the problem of giving money directly to people on the streets.” (05/13/08)
=====
21 - TX: FLDS mom not a minor after all
Fox News
“Texas child welfare officials conceded Tuesday that a newborn’s mother, held in
foster care as a minor after being removed from a polygamous sect’s ranch, is an
adult. A Child Protective Services attorney told state District Judge Barbara
Walther that the mother of a boy born April 29 is not a minor, as CPS had
claimed as justification for holding her. The woman had been held along with
more than 400 children taken last month from a west Texas ranch run by the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. State officials say
the children were endangered by underage and polygamous spiritual marriages.”
[editor’s note: And if this surprises anyone, they’ve just not been watching
close enough - SAT] (05/13/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355504,00.html
=====
22 - Virtual schools see growth, calls for oversight
Christian Science Monitor
“Rather than send her kids off on the yellow bus, Briana LeClaire has school
come to her home. Her kids attend a virtual public school, connecting online to
teachers and coursework. Everything from books to microscopes to radish seeds
arrives via brown trucks. Mrs. LeClaire describes it as the 21st-century,
middle-class version of the private tutor. Her 6th-grader can move quickly
through her strong subjects, such as literature, and spend more time on her
weaker areas, like math. Enrollment in online classes last year reached the 1
million mark, growing 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North
American Council for Online Learning. That’s just the start, says a new paper by
the Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. Its
authors predict that by 2019 half of courses in Grades 9 to 12 will be delivered
online.” (05/14/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p03s08-usgn.html
=====
23 - McCain: Let free trade limit global warming
Arizona Republic
“Arizona Sen. John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican
Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached
out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes
capping carbon-fuel emissions. The GOP presidential contender also prodded China
and India, two major emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for the planet’s
warming, to join the effort, although he muted planned talk of tariffs against
them in favor of ‘effective diplomacy’ to encourage their compliance. An aide
later said that McCain didn’t want to be interpreted as being ‘at odds with his
commitment to open trade.’ [editor’s note: Let’s hope the “true conservatives”
are willing to hold Old John’s feet to the fire on this claim, even though
neither has the foggiest idea what “free trade” actually means - SAT] (05/13/08)
=====
24 - Bill’s OK may halt delivery of reserve oil
Boston Globe
“Sponsors of a measure to halt shipments of oil to the US Strategic Petroleum
Reserve — offered as a way to help bring down record gasoline prices — say they
are confident the bill will pass. The proposal was the lone measure endorsed in
both Senate Republican and Democratic gasoline price plans. House and Senate
plans set for a vote today would halt deliveries to the reserve until December
unless oil falls to $75 a barrel for more than 90 days. ‘Everyone expects it to
pass,’ said Bill Wicker, a spokesman for New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman,
speaking of Senate prospects. ‘Oil got up to $125 per barrel, and it no longer
made sense,’ Wicker said of Republicans decision to support the measure.”
(05/13/08)
=====
25 - Supreme Court refuses to hear forced abortion case
Christian Science Monitor
“The US Supreme Court has declined to take up a case examining whether a Chinese
national should be granted political asylum in the United States because his
wife was forced to abort their first child under China’s harsh
population-control measures. The action, announced on Monday, means that lower
court rulings rejecting the Chinese citizen’s asylum claims remain in place. At
issue in the case was whether the spouse of someone who had suffered directly
under the Chinese program — enduring a forced abortion or sterilization — could
claim political asylum in the US.” (05/13/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0513/p25s07-usju.html
COMMENTARY
26 - Blacklisted by the Bush government
Salon
Tim Shorrock
“Ever since a New York Times report uncovered warrantless domestic spying by the
Bush administration, the issue of NSA surveillance and the 1978 law governing it
has been intensely scrutinized and debated. Until now, however, little attention
has been paid to dubious activities directly connected with the domestic spying.
The Bush administration has used expanded national security powers to undermine
the legal rights of people in the United States who are identified as al-Qaida
supporters, but who are not charged with terrorist-related crimes. The U.S.
Treasury Department and other agencies investigating domestic organizations and
U.S. persons rely on the NSA to spy and collect evidence for them — a
fundamental shift from the past, when the NSA’s vast eavesdropping powers were
used only for foreign intelligence gathering. And in the name of protecting
national security, the Bush administration has regularly withheld what it claims
is key evidence against those accused — insisting,
essentially, that the public accept without question its private conclusions
about the suspects’ guilt.” (05/19/08)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/05/19/al_haramain/
=====
27 - Iron Man versus the imperialists
The American Prospect
Spencer Ackerman
“For any fan of the Iron Man comic books, Jon Favreau’s new movie adaptation
isn’t just good, it’s glorious. Robert Downey Jr. delivers an emotionally raw,
ironic, and compelling portrait of brilliant billionaire defense mogul Tony
Stark. … Even more amazing is Favreau’s refusal to lift Iron Man out of the
context of America’s current endless wars. Within the first five minutes, an IED
disables a Humvee carrying Stark through Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, setting
off a series of events whereby a jihadist gang with dreams of overrunning Asia
kidnaps our hero and forces him to use his weaponry against the innocent. … But
what’s missing in the movie is what has sustained the character for most of its
history. Iron Man is a scathing critique of American imperialism.” [editor’s
note: We’ve seen very few first-run (pre-Netflix) movies over the last few
years, but we did see Iron Man the other night at a drive-in. Not sure what
movie Mr. Ackerman saw, that he did not consider a “scathing
critique of American imperialism” … but it was NOT this film; Iron Man rips and
slashes, at the present situation as well as the longstanding jingoism and
tyranny of the USofA! (However, the co-feature, 21, was a far superior piece of
film!) - SAT] (05/16/08)
=====
28 - Boogeyman foreign policy
Slate
John Dickerson
“The quickest way to understand the emerging foreign-policy debate between John
McCain and Barack Obama is to look at the unpopular world leader each is trying
to turn into the other’s running mate. McCain has picked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for
Obama, and Obama has selected George W. Bush for McCain.” (05/16/08)
http://www.slate.com/id/2191497/
=====
29 - Barack Obama, Muslim apostate?
Christian Science Monitor
Shireen K. Burki
“Osama bin Laden must be chuckling in his safe house. After all, the 2008
campaign could very well give Al Qaeda the ultimate propaganda tool: President
Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim apostate. The fact that Senator Obama -– the son of
a Muslim father -– insists he was never a Muslim before becoming Christian is
irrelevant to bin Laden. In bin Laden’s eyes, Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst
type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith
of Islam. There are two types of apostates according to sharia (Islamic law) and
the Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him). The first type
is murtad milli, one who converted to Islam and later renounced the faith. The
second, and most egregious, type is murtad fitri. It refers to a person born of
a Muslim father who renounces his birthright.” (05/19/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0519/p09s02-coop.html
=====
30 - The Great American Rebate Scam
from Reason to Freedom
Michelle L
“There has been much ballyhooing lately about the ‘economic stimulus rebate’ and
many otherwise intelligent economic experts and talking heads have been busy
advising the public how best to invest and/or spend their windfall. Merchants as
varied as car dealerships to your local mega-store have been running ads
enticing you to spend ‘your money’ at their places of business — with the
underlying theme being to parrot the administration’s assertion that by
spending, rather than saving this bonanza, you can do your patriotic part to
help the staggering economy get back on its feet and focus our national
attention once more to spreading democracy around the world. The real problem
here is that no one seems to want to talk about the elephant in the room; the
elephant being that the funds that make up this generous hand out by our beloved
government is, in fact, stolen from you in the first place.” (05/16/08)
=====
31 - Security gone wild
Fox News/Heritage Foundation
James Jay Carafano
“Weapons proliferation is a growing threat, but the spread of nuclear weapons
technology and ballistic missiles may not be the gravest danger facing free
people everywhere. The biggest problem could well be governments that
increasingly want to classify every global challenge as a ’security’ issue. In
the wake of World War II, ‘national security’ became a popular term of art. In
1947, the U.S. government created a National Security Council in the White House
based on the idea that protecting the nation from its enemies required more than
just military force. All the elements of national power (political, economic,
diplomatic, etc.) had to work together to keep Americans safe, free and
prosperous.” [editor’s note: Just seeing a self-styled “conservative”
publication running a piece as critical as this one is, of the “Islamo-fascist”
neocon claims, has to be a little encouraging - SAT] (05/16/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356361,00.html
=====
32 - Obama not feelin’ the love from Smiley
In These Times
Laura S. Washington
“Now that Sen. Barack Obama has taken care of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tavis
Smiley appears to be the next black contender for an ‘08 smackdown with the
presidential candidate. But this time, black folks are taking care of it on
their own. Obama’s April was a month full of stormy Mondays, thanks to Wright,
the senator’s former spiritual adviser and longtime pastor at Trinity United
Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side. Obama’s campaign endured a hail- storm
as the controversial preacher dominated the cable talk fests, a presidential
debate and multiple news cycles. Wright’s April 28 appearance before the
Washington Press Club provoked Obama to do something he should have done more
than a year ago — deep-six Wright and his anti-American rantings. Now, it’s
Tavis’ turn.” (05/15/08)
=====
33 - Is the party over?
The Nation
Eyal Press
“Two long years ago, veteran political reporter Thomas Edsall published Building
Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power.
In the course of several hundred fluidly argued, thoroughly dispiriting pages,
Edsall threw a wet blanket on the hopes of Democrats who thought their party
stood a fighting chance of wresting power back from Karl Rove & Co. Republicans
were more ruthless, more unified and more generously bankrolled by big business,
Edsall maintained, in addition to being inordinately savvier. He was, of course,
hardly alone in this view.” [editor’s note: The only question now is, WHICH
party he is talking about … and when? - SAT] (05/15/08)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/press
=====
34 - McCain’s Supreme wrongheadedness
Boston Globe
Jeff Jacoby
“In a speech on the federal judiciary last week, John McCain sounded the
familiar conservative call for judges who know their place. ‘My nominees,’ he
promised, ‘will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial
power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power.’ The judiciary’s moral
authority depends on self-restraint, said McCain, and ‘this authority quickly
vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it.’” (05/14/08)
=====
35 - The big farm scam
Mother Jones
Jonathan Stein
“It’s something environmental activists and almost everyone in DC can attest to:
the farm bill is a boondoggle. A pork-laden behemoth that is sold to the public
as family farmers’ only hope for survival in a modernizing world, the bill is
written by lawmakers from agricultural states to protect the interests of large,
cash-flush agricultural operators who spread around hundreds of millions in
lobbying funds and donations. The end result? A bill that doesn’t do enough for
the environment, subsidizes all the crops needed to prolong America’s obesity
epidemic, and takes money out of the pockets of third-world farmers.” (05/16/08)
=====
36 - Anarchism shouldn’t be a dirty word
AlterNet
Ziga Vodovnik
Interview with Howard Zinn. Zinn: “I am an anarchist, and according to anarchist
principles nation states become obstacles to a true humanistic globalization. In
a certain sense the movement towards globalization where capitalists are trying
to leap over nation state barriers, creates a kind of opportunity for movement
to ignore national barriers, and to bring people together globally, across
national lines in opposition to globalization of capital, to create
globalization of people, opposed to traditional notion of globalization. In
other words to use globalization — it is nothing wrong with idea of
globalization — in a way that bypasses national boundaries and of course that
there is not involved corporate control of the economic decisions that are made
about people all over the world.” (05/17/08)
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/85427/
=====
37 - What’s next for the Ron Paul Revolution?
Christian Science Monitor
John Dillin
“Ron Paul and his 1 million supporters aren’t going away. And that’s probably a
good thing for America’s future. Remember Dr. Paul? He — not John McCain — was
the real maverick in this year’s fight for the Republican presidential
nomination. While Senator McCain often sneered at Paul during their debates,
many voters cheered Paul and poured $35 million into his campaign. Paul, a Texas
congressman and longtime gynecologist, remains in the hunt for delegates to
September’s Republican National Convention. But his focus has now broadened —
widening to what the Idaho Observer calls a ‘national civics lesson.’” [editor’s
note: A rather respectful MSM analysis of what Ron’s real purposes might be? -
SAT] (05/16/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516/p09s02-coop.html
=====
38 - Put your money where evil’s mouth is
Strike the Root
B.R. Merrick
“From now on, whenever I get a refund from our benevolent government, it will go
directly to assist the innocents who survived what my money has purchased. While
the Iraqi Red Crescent can take direct donations, the Afghans would receive help
probably from this link. (Since there are three e-mail addresses for the Afghan
group, I am assuming that you could send a donation via PayPal.) If there are
any other charities that are more directly involved, or have greater efficiency
at getting the resources to those most in need, I would appreciate hearing about
them, and will update this article as soon as I get the information.” (05/14/08)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/81/merrick/merrick7.html
=====
39 - Manufacturing a food crisis
The Nation
Walden Bello
“When tens of thousands of people staged demonstrations in Mexico last year to
protest a 60 percent increase in the price of tortillas, many analysts pointed
to biofuel as the culprit. Because of US government subsidies, American farmers
were devoting more and more acreage to corn for ethanol than for food, which
sparked a steep rise in corn prices. The diversion of corn from tortillas to
biofuel was certainly one cause of skyrocketing prices, though speculation on
biofuel demand by transnational middlemen may have played a bigger role.
However, an intriguing question escaped many observers: how on earth did
Mexicans, who live in the land where corn was domesticated, become dependent on
US imports in the first place?” [editor’s note: This one is noteworthy, if only
because the writer knows enough to put quotes around “free trade” as practiced
by the current set of manipulators - SAT] (06/02/08)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/bello
=====
40 - John McCain and al Qaeda
Huffington Post
Gary Hart
“Historians of early 21st century American politics will remark the degree to
which radical forces, usually called neoconservatives, perverted language as
recommended by the National Socialist Party in 1930s Germany. Continue to
demonize liberals, blame them for all social and economic problems, and soon
enough no one will be willing to admit to being a liberal. Claim that liberals
and Democrats are too soft to combat terrorists and soon enough a majority, even
in the oldest democracy on earth, will believe it. Open up entire electronic
networks, such as Fox, and chains of radio stations, such as Clear Channel, and
buy enough newspaper chains, and make all these media available to
pre-programmed neoconservative ditto heads, and sure enough a subculture will
emerge which distrusts its own government and believes that an entire political
party is not to be trusted.” (05/15/08)
=====
41 - TN: Economic problems might test property tax freeze
Tennessean
staff
“One of the most popular steps in government in Tennessee in recent years has
been the move to freeze property taxes for seniors. Voters nailed down the
concept with an amendment to the state constitution in 2006. The following year,
enabling legislation in the General Assembly put the matter into the hands of
individual communities. … Tennessee was right to take the step to help seniors,
who are frequently on fixed incomes and get hammered when local government
raises property taxes. But the entire issue is beginning to get interesting,
because some of the warnings that came with the senior property tax freeze loom
ominously over elected officials who will have to make difficult decisions in
the near future.” [editor’s note: Watch this one for how they weasel out of the
commitment - SAT] (05/15/08)
=====
42 - Race, gender & hardball politics
Boston Globe
Joan Vennochi
“The Hillary Nutcracker is sexist. Keeping Florida and Michigan out of each
candidate’s primary vote tally is not. It’s hardball politics. Hillary Clinton’s
female supporters are playing hardball politics of their own to get Howard Dean
to acknowledge that those votes deserve to be counted. During a private meeting
last week, a group of Massachusetts women asked the chairman of the Democratic
National Committee to confront the ugliness of sexism, just as Democrats are
confronting the ugliness of racism as a result of Barack Obama’s presidential
bid.” (05/15/08)
=====
43 - American as reluctant warrior
Information Clearinghouse
Michael Sherry
“Most Americans see their nation as essentially peace-loving, a reluctant
warrior that fights only when fanatical enemies force it to. But measured by its
actions rather than its self-image, the United States is a warrior nation more
than any other major modern power is. Since 1898, it has entered 10 conflicts
most people recognize as wars, and only twice — in World War II and the recent
Afghanistan war — directly in response to major attacks on its people or forces.
In other cases, provocations — some delivered, some received, some grossly
exaggerated (as with the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incidents) — preceded war, but the
U.S. initiated full-scale action. Hundreds of other military actions have gone
forward without the ‘war’ moniker.” (05/15/08)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19933.htm
=====
44 - Big Brother close up
CounterPunch
Stan Cox
“I’d never had to show my driver’s license to speak at a conference before, but
not being the type to seek out trouble — especially at this conference — I
obediently handed the card over to the woman at the registration desk. She ran
it through a scanner, looked at her screen, paused, and, for the first time,
smiled. ‘It’s real!’ she announced. ‘Now put your license in the clear pocket
below your namecard and keep it visible at all times.’ She pointed to the big
black pouch I was to hang around my neck. It read, ‘FBI — 3rd Annual
International Symposium on Agroterrorism.’” (05/15/08)
http://counterpunch.org/cox05152008.html
=====
45 - You won’t fool the children of the rEVOLution
Reason
David Weigel
“[Ron] Paul is 72 years old. He has been reading libertarian philosophy for
close to 50 years and writing it for more than 30. That his labors should
finally bear fruit now, at the end of a presidential bid where he succeeded
beyond a fool’s dream by simply reiterating all those decades’ worth of
opinions, carries a kind of irony. All of the quirks of his presidential bid
make more sense. Why did he give the same dense, 40-minute speech at every stop?
Why didn’t he get into the muck with the rest of the GOP candidates, even when
he started to out-fundraise them? Hey, he was trying to tell you people: He
wasn’t running for president; he was spreading a message. It is impossible to
imagine his new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, selling in droves, or even
being published at all, if Paul had not run his quixotic presidential race.”
(05/14/08)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/126457.html
=====
46 - Celebrate clean coal, come on!
Salon
Diane Silver
“In one TV commercial, Kool and the Gang warble their celebration of good times
because coal, yes, coal, makes the party possible in America. In another, white
and black, young and old, male and female, and even someone in a doctor’s green
scrubs, stare into the camera and soulfully declare: ‘I believe’ American
know-how will make coal clean and stop it from contributing to climate change.
Not sold? Maybe you missed the newspaper ads and billboards warning that turning
away from coal could mean blackouts, unemployment and higher electric bills.
These messages and other variations on the coal-is-great theme are flooding the
nation courtesy of the coal industry, coal-fueled utilities, railroads and
related industries. The pro-coal marketing campaign — known by its tag line
‘Clean Coal’ — has kicked into high gear as prospects for new plants have turned
bleak. Wall Street is tightening financing, leading to what one analyst told the
Christian Science Monitor is a ‘de facto moratorium
on coal power.’” (05/15/08)
=====
47 - Defining deviancy down
Slate
Bruce Reed
“Human weakness may be a renewable resource, but public attention is not — so,
no matter how many cads live in the tri-state area, only the most shameless can
make the front page of the tabloids. According to the tabloids, Rep. Fossella’s
troubles began in December 2002, when he fell for Air Force legislative liaison
Laura Fay on a junket to Malta. The Daily News marvels that their union could
take root on such rocky soil: ‘Malta is not an obvious place for a love affair
to flourish. Not unlike Staten Island, it tends to be a conservative place.’ Of
course, in those days, so was the House of Representatives.” (05/13/08)
http://www.slate.com/id/2191293/
=====
48 - Constant sorrow
Mother Jones
Bernice Yeung
“It wasn’t Toto Constant’s human rights violations that finally landed the
Haitian paramilitary leader in prison. It was mortgage fraud in Long Island.”
(05/08)
=====
49 - Radioactive hypocrisy
AlterNet
Tad Daley
“‘Why can’t we have them when they can?’ That, for the ‘nuclear have-nots,’ has
long been the essence of what some call the nuclear double standard, what others
call nuclear narcissism, what others still call America’s nuclear hypocrisy. The
bitterness about that double standard has steadily intensified for almost
exactly four decades now (the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, was
signed on July 1, 1968, and came into force in 1970). Why? Because in the basic
bargain of the NPT, the non-nuclear weapon states promised forever to forego
nuclear weapons, in exchange for a pair of promises from the nuclear weapon
states. First, the nuclear weapon states conceded — quite explicitly, in Article
IV — that the non-nuclear weapon states possess an ‘inalienable right’ to
develop ‘nuclear energy for peaceful purposes’ and even promised ‘to facilitate’
their efforts to do so. Second, the nuclear weapon states promised — quite
explicitly, in Article VI, and reiterated quite explicitly a
t the NPT Review Conferences in 1995 and 2000 — to negotiate the complete
elimination of their own nuclear arsenals, and eventually to deliver to the
human race a nuclear-weapon-free world.” (05/15/08)
http://www.alternet.org/story/85375/
=====
50 - What would really rebuild Iraq?
Christian Science Monitor
Walter Rodgers & Yasmeen Alamiri
“‘Iraqi mothers want the same thing for their children American mothers want for
theirs,’ President Bush has said. ‘A place for their child to grow up and get a
good education and be able to realize dreams.’ The president is correct. The two
institutions Iraqis prize most are family and education. But the US military
occupation and the insurgency have produced a total disruption of both. Can
Iraqis return to social normalcy so long as US troops — and their enemies — are
engaged there? One has to look no further than the Palestinian territories to
discover the long-term effects of children not going to school. Israel’s
occupation and perennial lockdown of Palestinians created a new uneducated
generation seeking salvation through the radical Islam of Hamas.” [editor’s
note: Hint … Although the “nation building” solution is unclear, and the
non-interventionist one is untried … continuing to occupy, control and devastate
the place is not the right path - SAT] (05/14/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p09s01-coop.html
=====
51 - Mississippi turning: Dems grab another GOP seat
The Nation
John Nichols
“Not since a Republican president named Richard Nixon was trying to explain away
the Watergate scandal has the Grand Old Party been on such a losing streak in
special elections for congressional seats vacated by Republican incumbents. For
the third time in four months, a Democrat has won a special election for a House
seat representing a district that George Bush won overwhelmingly in 2000 and
2004 and where Democrats hadn’t had been out of the congressional competition
for years. This time, the Republican lost a U.S. House seat in a north
Mississippi, where Democrat Travis Childers prevailed over Republican Greg Davis
by a remarkably comfortable 54-46 margin.” (05/13/08)
=====
52 - Sexism … stoked by the media
Boston Globe
Michal Regunberg
“Time for a history lesson. In 1964, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was
the first woman to be placed into nomination at the Republican convention, a
nomination that Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona had all but wrapped up. They
asked her why she didn’t drop out of the GOP nomination fight when it was clear
Goldwater had the nomination in his grasp, and she said, ‘I never had any
intention of giving up until the final vote was cast. When I announced my
candidacy, I was in to stay all the way. To do otherwise would have let down my
supporters. … I wasn’t just running, I was breaking the ice for women running
for the highest office in the land … I think I made a gain for women of the
future.’” [editor’s note: Fascinating! So could the same be said of Ron Paul
now, operating for “liberty-lovers of the future?” Maybe not so much - SAT]
(05/14/08)
=====
53 - Bad news for Obama?
Fox News
Susan Estrich
“There is good news and bad news for Democrats in the wake of Tuesday’s voting
in West Virginia and Mississippi. The good news is that Democrats are now
three-for-three in the contests for open House seats, adding Mississippi to the
list where a Democrat, albeit one running as pro-life and pro-gun, defeated his
Republican opponent in a traditionally Republican, conservative district. The
bad news is that Barack Obama, who has been crowned by the media as the
‘presumptive nominee’ of the Democratic Party, got trounced in a state that
every Democrat to be elected president in recent generations has carried on his
way to the White House.” (05/14/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355756,00.html
=====
54 - Losing Lebanon
The American Prospect
Gershom Gorenberg
“The time, according to Hilal Khashan, was ten minutes past the ceasefire. That
was another way of saying ten minutes after another Hezbollah victory, Khashan
explained. I phoned Khashan — head of the political science department at
Beirut’s American University — several days into Lebanon’s latest armed
upheaval. He spoke in a strangely dispassionate tone I’ve heard before in
Jerusalem and Ramallah, the voice of a man taking refuge from chaos in careful
analysis. So far, Khashan said on Sunday night, the crisis that erupted last
week has yielded ‘a major achievement’ for Hezbollah. Iran, Hezbollah’s patron,
has extended its influence in Lebanon. The obvious loser is the pro-Western
government of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. From Beirut, U.S. support
appears to be a phantom; Bush unwilling or incapable of supporting its Lebanese
allies.” (05/14/08)
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=losing_lebanon
=====
55 - The Kosovo dilemma
In These Times
Stuart Anderson
“In 1990, Yugoslavia was a country comprising six republics. By the beginning of
2008, it had splintered into six independent countries, with Kosovo remaining a
southern province of Serbia. Kosovo’s independence, declared on February 18,
continues to divide the international community, with the United States and
nearly all European Union states supporting the declaration and Russia, China
and Serbia refusing to recognize it. Drawing on overlooked or forgotten
reportage from mainstream and underground news sources, this essay will
re-examine the causes and effects of NATO’s 78-day ‘humanitarian’ bombing of
Serbia in 1999 — which resulted in at least 1,500 civilian causalities, 10 years
of international sanctions, 20 percent unemployment and more than $12 billion of
debt, according to Z Magazine.” [editor’s note: At last, someone explores the
history, so that not only the current “nation builder” is to blame - SAT]
(05/14/08)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3675/the_kosovo_dilemma/
Peace, Love and Liberty
Steve Trinward, Editor