Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The site is a sister to Atlantic Free Press and Brick Ogden an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
Courage for a Small Planet
by John Nichols Frances Moore Lappé has, for the better part of four decades, done her very best to guide the United States toward a more rational relationship with the planet and its inhabitants.
It has not been easy work, and the current circumstance would suggest that it has not been nearly so successful as Lappé or the readers of her groundbreaking books would have hoped.
But the truth is that Lappé has succeeded, masterfully.
What passes for Christianity among the people, like so many things American, is not the genuine article. The sermons that rise from many of the pulpits of the churches of America are, I suspect, as counterfeit as a six dollar bill; as phony as the people running the country. But those whose faith is blind are incapable of seeing truth. That is the trouble with blind faith. It does not, it cannot, see. I have always been wary of organized religion.
Every pastor, every minister of every church in the land should denounce what is happening in America and violently projected upon the world. They should criticize the wretched lies of the president and his murderous regime. They should condemn union busting, racism and sexism, corporate greed and war. They should deplore the obscene accumulation of property and wealth, while emphasizing service to the community and the poor. Most often, however, a perverted version of Christianity gives the appearance of moral credence to war and conquest.
Elections, Capitalism, and Democracy
by Charles Sullivan Because so many of the people on the political left fear that John McCain will become the next president, they have allowed themselves to see the very moderate democratic candidate, Barack Obama, as a desirable alternative to the decidedly ghoulish McCain, rather than supporting a genuine progressive like Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, or Ralph Nader. They thus perceive Obama to be far more progressive than he really is.
Such comparisons lead us down a dichotomous pathway that assures a continuous drift to the right.
FEMA Disregards Health Threats
Statement of Carl Pope,
Sierra Club Executive Director In the wake of last week’s Congressional hearing on formaldehyde in FEMA trailers and FEMA’s statement to the Associated Press that it will continue to sell and distribute surplus disaster relief trailers the Sierra Club issued the following statement.
"It is reprehensible that FEMA plans to continue selling and distributing trailers with the knowledge that these trailers could have potentially toxic levels of formaldehyde.
We are in a race with the clock of injustice. John Graham will be shipped to South Dakota for a trial that Leonard Peltier says is certain to be a miscarriage of justice by July 26, 2007.
Handwritten letters to the people below today will have an impact in preventing this. Black Panther Angela Davis said that bags of mail going to the judge that presided over her case were more important than any legal procedure in getting her acquitted, after being framed up on accessory to murder charges and imprisoned for two years. Phone calls have the next most impact and emails are the weakest.
First Nations join Bear Mountain Interchange Rally
Event dedicated to Squamish elder Harriet Nahanee
Langford, BC—First Nations are joining other CRD residents for a 4:00PM rally at the Trans-Canada Highway and Savory Road, the site of the proposed Bear Mountain Interchange. The event is being dedicated to Harriet Nahanee, a 71-year-old Squamish elder who passed away February 24 after serving a 14-day prison sentence in the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre for opposing the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion at Eagle Ridge Bluff.
"Harriet was a true warrior and a true elder," says Cheryl Bryce, a Songhees First Nation member who attended memorial services for Nahanee in Squamish and Vancouver earlier this week.
First There Was an Earthquake, then There Was no Earthquake
by C. L. Cook Monday, July 16th, 2007 will not be a date that will live in infamy. Not at least within the marbled corridors and high haunts of the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) editorial board.
Listening to the Beeb's World Service radio dispatches, aired on the hour, the two massive earthquakes that struck Japan, destroying hundreds of buildings, killing nine at last count, and injuring more than a thousand people rated only a fourth story position in the six minute, eight news item segment.
This despite the marginally pertinent fact of the natural disaster: The temblor proved too much for the local nuclear power plant, triggering fires, a spill of radioactive water, and the venting of radioactive gases.
Josh Wolf, freelance journalist and independent videographer, is currently in “coercive custody” at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California. HE IS NOT CHARGED WITH ANY CRIME and is being held under civil contempt.
This limited edition screen-printed poster was created for the
Free Josh Wolf Coalition to help raise money and awareness of Josh’s
case. A portion of profits (at least 50%) from each poster sold will go
directly to the Free Josh Wolf Coalition. Shipping is included.
www.joshwolf.net
Saturday, 17 February 2007 | 907 Hit(s)0 comment(s)
Update: An Unbroken Agony (Haiti: From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President) by best-selling writer and social justice activist Randall Robinson, has just been released.
I have not received my copy yet, but Mr. Robinson is a compelling writer and insightful social critic, and he had a front row seat to the unfolding of Haiti’s 2004 coup d’etat in Washington, Port-au-Prince, the CARICOM countries and the Central African Republic.
Mr. Robinson was interviewed Monday, along with Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, Kevin Pina and Jean St. Vil on KPFA’s Flashpoints (click here to listen). He’ll be interviewed on C-SPAN’s Q & A program this Sunday, at 8 and 11 PM (also available by podcast from the Q & A archives).
Future Shock: A Deadly Harbinger of Post-Surge Iraq
by Chris Floyd From AP, July 21: Aircraft fired missiles and dropped a bomb in a Shiite stronghold in northeastern Baghdad, killing six militants, the U.S. military said Saturday. Iraqi officials claimed a higher death toll, saying 18 civilians were killed.
The Husseiniyah airstrikes began after American forces came under small-arms fire from a building just before midnight, prompting helicopters to fire missiles at the structure, the military said, adding that three of the gunmen fled into another building.Aircraft dropped a bomb that destroyed that house, setting off at least seven secondary explosions believed caused by explosives and munitions stored inside, according to the military statement. Iraqi police inspected the site and reported six militants killed and five wounded, it said.
Fallujah Revisited: Bush, Petraeus Prepare 'Cleansing' of Sadr City
by Chris Floyd I. George W. Bush and David Petraeus are preparing to make a new Fallujah in Sadr City, home to two million Shiites in Baghdad. Thousands of people are already fleeing the area before the full-scale slaughter and destruction begin.
image: Fallujah 2004
As in Fallujah, the multitudes who cannot escape will be trapped in a "free fire zone", subjected to ruthless bombardment and ground assault. Thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- of innocent civilians stand in the shadow of imminent death.
The assault is part of the run-up to the coming attack on Iran -- an attempt to secure the rear of that new front by destroying Iraq's Shiite nationalist forces. It is also part of an on-going effort to eliminate the strongest rival to the Shiite extremists that Bush has installed in office in Iraq, before the conquered land's fall elections.
Excerpt: President Bush formally launched a sweeping internal review of Iraq policy yesterday, pulling together studies underway by various government agencies, according to U.S. officials. The initiative… parallels the effort by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group to salvage U.S. policy in Iraq, develop an exit strategy and protect long-term U.S. interests in the region…The White House's decision changes the dynamics of what happens next to U.S. policy deliberations. The administration will have its own working document as well as recommendations from an independent bipartisan commission to consider as it struggles to prevent further deterioration in Iraq.
When I saw the Newsweek cover featuring Big Daddy Bush muscling toward the front with a diminished little Dubya skulking in the background, my first thought was: How is Junior going to react to this? Bush II's resentment toward his father is well-known -- a resentment no doubt compounded by his lifelong, abject dependence on Daddy's financial and political pull -- and I knew that Little Bush would not simply accept this media humiliation and move on.
13. Feeding Moloch (Opinion/Opinion)
Author : Chris Floyd
Feeding Moloch: Last Barriers to War on Iran Come Down
by Chris Floyd
Anyone who thinks the Bush Administration does not intend to attack Iran either has rocks in the head or their head in the sand. The warmongers have raised their cacophonous howling of threat and accusation against Iran to entirely new levels. Every day now, some major Administration figure makes fiery charges that Iran is directly, deliberately killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq: a clear casus belli, if it were true, which it almost certainly is not.
(That is, it a clear cause for war in the perverted logic of Establishment discourse, which ignores the fact that U.S. forces have illegally invaded and occupied Iraq, and the fact the Bush Administration itself supports the same violent sectarian Shiite factions that Iran does in Iraq, factions responsible for killing thousands of innocent people. What's more, Bush and his beloved General Petraeus are now directly paying extremist Sunni factions, including members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who are likewise engaged in murder, repression and "ethnic cleansing," like their Bush-supported Shiite counterparts. George W. Bush and his minions and handlers have deliberately, knowingly, purposely created a slaughterhouse in Iraq, and they keep it going 24/7 with the fresh meat of murdered innocents. This is the true context of the Administration's charges against Iran: mass murderers accusing others of malevolent intent.)
Masters of Disaster: The Bush Gang Opens the Floodgates Again
by Chris Floyd At first glance, the Washington Post story seems to be a rather routine piece about a turf war between state officials and the federal government over disaster planning.
But upon closer examination, it turns out to be a doorway into the dark, fetid heart of the Bush Regime's hell. As the Post's Spencer Hsu reports:
A decision by the Bush administration to rewrite in secret the nation's emergency response blueprint has angered state and local emergency officials, who worry that Washington is repeating a series of mistakes that contributed to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago.
Bush Tucker: The Fatal Diversions of Would-Be Dissidents
by Chris Floyd The ever-intrepid Arthur Silber has somehow procured an advance copy of General Petraeus' upcoming report on the "surge." You can check out this amazing feat of investigative journalism here: Conundrum.
Silber has also identified the greatest threat to the life of the Republic -- nay, to human civilization itself -- that we face today: Tucker Carlson's pathetic fantasies about gay-bashing. (Yes, fantasy; I would bet $10 million of Dick Cheney's money that the little bow-tied twerp never went back to that bathroom -- even with a big burly friend at his side -- to confront anyone. He just thinks that's what a "real man" would do.)
Falling Cedars: Fomenting War in Lebanon -- and Beyond
by Chris Floyd
What's going on in Lebanon? Nothing you haven't seen before -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Palestine and other places where "the United States is basically instigating and funding civil wars."
So says Professor As’ad AbuKhalil -- better known perhaps as the "Angry Arab," for his indispensable website of the same name. AbuKhalil was born and raised in Lebanon and has an intimate knowledge of troubled land's warring factions there -- and their external backers. Needless to say, the American media's framing of the current flare-up of violence in Lebanon is the usual sinister caricature of reality, with "bad guys" attacking "our friends" out of pure, malevolent, world-gobbling evil.
I don't know that much about Jim Webb. I don't know how he will actually vote when lobbyist push comes to corporate shove in the Senate. And I certainly don't buy into the propensity of so many in the blogosphere (not to mention the mainstream media) to fall into swoons of hero worship over this or that politician.
But I will say this: Webb's recent opinion column – in the Wall Street Journal, no less – put the facts about the elitist rapine of the American people about as squarely as you could hope for from an elected official writing in an Establishment paper. If Webb backs up these insights with political guts, he could serve as a formidable champion for economic justice – or at least (and more likely, given the near-total corporate-elite control of Congress) an outspoken gadfly, in the Proxmire mold, who by stating bald truth draws constant attention to the hypocrisy and servility of his colleagues.
What I found especially interesting was Webb's insider exposé of the true attitudes of the corporate elite – their overwhelming sense of entitlement, their utterly callous dismissal of the rabble they squeeze their riches from. Let us have more of this, Senator Webb.
Some excerpts:
The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.
In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death…
The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as a U.S. security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburbans — the type used by U.S. government convoys — had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English, according to senior U.S. military and Iraqi officials.
I.
Has anyone considered the possibility that these gunmen dressed as Americans, speaking English, driving American-style security vehicles and carrying American weapons were, well, Americans? Given the Pentagon's never-repudiated plan to foment terrorism to achieve the Bush Regime's geopolitical objectives; given the fact that Iraq is filled with private military "contractors," some of whom are almost certainly on retainer to U.S. security organs for various bits of "wetwork" and other ops on what Dick Cheney calls "the dark side"; given that we are already being told that the people who carried out this killing were "Iranian operatives" or Iraqis funded, armed and trained by same; and given the fact that the Bush Regime is now openly seeking any half-plausible pretext to launch its long-planned attack on Iran – would it not be irresponsible of us not to speculate on the ultimate origin of this bloody strike?
After all, who benefits from such a raid? All those who want more war and chaos in Iraq. This desire is not exclusive to the Bush Regime, of course – but the latter are definitely the beneficiaries of continued bloodshed, as it justifies their current policies, obscures past policies -- their deep-dyed crime against humanity in launching the war in the first place -- and it will most definitely be used to justify future policies: the "surge," the coming hellstorm of intensified urban warfare in Baghdad and the attack on Iran.
The obvious benefits that accrue to the Bush gang from this atrocity don't necessarily mean they are responsible for it; but it certainly puts them in the frame along with several other suspects.
Ground Zero: On the Front Lines of a War Crime
by Chris Floyd
During the holidays, whilst I was sojourning in that strange land that used to be America (I don't know what it is now; some kind of cheapjack, funhouse-mirror simulacrum of itself, I guess), I missed one of the most important stories about the ongoing war crime in Iraq to come down the pike in a long time: As the Iraqis See It, by Michael Massing, in the New York Review of Books.
There are mountains of commentary (making Ossa like a wart) that I could and should say about this devastating article, but time and circumstances are against me at the moment. So let me just urge you to run to the piece and read all of it for yourself. If you want to know what's really going on in Iraq -- behind all the ludicrous and sickening conventional wisdom about the "success" of the "surge" (which we see now consists largely of two main elements: bribing and arming Sunni extremists, and bombing the hell out of civilian neighborhoods) -- if you want to know what the Iraqis themselves think of what America (or the cheapjack, funhouse simulacrum of America) has wrought in their native land, then get thee not to a nunnery but to the NY Review of Books, pronto.
Nightmare On Main Street: More On Bush's Anti-Dissent Order
by Chris Floyd We wrote recently here of Bush's new executive order granting himself and his minions the arbitrary power to seize the entire assets of any American citizen without warning, without any criminal charges whatsoever solely by declaring that their victim somehow poses an unspecified threat to "the peace or stability of Iraq" or else is "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq." In other words, Bush now claims the power to strip you of your assets if you oppose American policy in Iraq.
This latest tyrannical outburst from the Outrager-in-Chief has passed largely without notice. Even some of the Administration's fiercest critics have downplayed its significance. The always-admirable Dave Neiwert at Orcinus has been among the skeptics, on the reasonable grounds that right-wing militia groups were forever reading vast conspiracies into ordinary government decrees in the 1990s, and that one should wait for more informed legal analyses before leaping to scarifying conclusions. Fair enough although Dave himself has done as much as anyone out there in detailing the extremism of the Bush Regime and its supporters. To his credit, Dave has kept an open mind on the question, and co-blogger at Orcinus, Sara Robinson, has taken a far darker view of the executive order.
[I would not normally post consecutive, or repeat pieces, but Chris Floyd's excellent, Empire Burlesque site is again the target of hackers. It seems some people can't take the truth as Floyd dishes it out. - lex]
Since bloggers discovered that Polonium 210 could be bought on the Internet, one of the on-line isotope stores took down its website.
It’s back up today with a new front-page setting the record straight about Polonium. The copy contains this wonderful line: ‘Although it obviously works, Polonium-210 is a poor choice for a poison.’
Reporting hasn’t made much of when Polonium-210 is a good choice. A quick digest from Perfect UK:
Polonium 210, when mixed with beryllium, becomes a source of neutrons and because of this is used to initiate fission reactions (bombs). Compared with tritium initiators (the main alternative) the polonium / beryllium design is simpler; it appears to be first choice in a start-up nuclear weapons programme.
Fallujah Fears a 'Genocidal Strategy'
Inter Press Service by Ali al-Fadhily
FALLUJAH, Mar 30 (IPS) - Iraqis in the volatile al-Anbar province west of Baghdad are reporting regular killings carried out by U.S. forces that many believe are part of a 'genocidal' strategy.
Since the mysterious explosion at the Shia al-Askari shrine in Samara in February last year, more than 100 Iraqis have been killed daily on average, without any forceful action by the Iraqi government and the U.S. military to stop the killings.
U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces working with them are also executing people seized during home raids and other operations, residents say.
"Seventeen young men were found executed after they were arrested by U.S. troops and Fallujah police," 40-year-old Yassen of Fallujah told IPS. "My two sons have been detained by police, and I am terrified that they will have the same fate. They are only 17 and 18 years old."
Fallujans Defiant Amidst Chaos
by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
FALLUJAH, Feb 22 (IPS) - Resistance attacks against U.S. forces have been continuing in Fallujah despite military onslaughts and strong security measures. Two U.S. military onslaughts in 2004 left the city in a shambles and displaced an estimated 250,000 of the 350,000 residents of the city. The military operations, and more that followed have done nothing to reduce resistance in and around Fallujah city in the al-Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. Last month U.S. forces introduced a new phase of 'security' along with local Iraqi police, and supported by some local Sunni militias.
Resistance groups have taken the fight to the security forces. In one instance resistance fighters in four cars attacked one of the biggest police stations in the city with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.
With Donkeys for Transport, All Is Well
by Ali al-Fadhily
A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse.
Former Iraqi minister of state for foreign affairs Rafi al-Issawi visited Fallujah, 60 km west of Baghdad, Aug. 22. Issawi, who resigned Aug. 1 when the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front withdrew from the government, visited the city with other members of the Sunni Accordance Bloc, al-Tawafuq.
BAGHDAD (IPS) - Expressions of outrage over the conduct of the trial and the
manner of Saddam Hussein's rushed, chaotic execution are continuing
unabated here as lawyers and human rights groups voice their criticism –
although some are still cautiously asking the media to withhold their
names from publication.
Iraqi and international legal experts appear in agreement that the
special court that sentenced the former Iraqi leader to the gallows was
illegally set up and failed to meet international recognized standards.
They recalled that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Sept.
16, 2004, that the invasion and occupation of Iraq violated the UN
Charter. This made the setting-up of the so-called Iraqi High Tribunal
to try Saddam illegal.
Two others sentenced to death, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half
brother and a former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the
former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were hanged early Monday.
Barzan was decapitated – accidentally, authorities said.
The manner of the executions has added to the disquiet over the
execution of Saddam and the trial that led to it.
Fidel Steps Down, Press Puts Him Down; Obama, McCain Win Again
by Danny Schechter A wall of predictable mostly one-sided media hostility, sarcasm, criticism and contempt in the press, laced with a large dose of anti-communism and “democratic” pretension greeted the announcement that Fidel Castro was stepping down as the President of Cuba in a peaceful transfer of power after having outsurvived 8 US presidents, most of who tried to ignore, isolate and even kill him. That in itself is quite a political achievement.
I am sure if a global poll was taken tomorrow on who is more admired, the Cuban President or our own, you know which would get the most votes.
Annual Media Awards Recognize the Best of the Brave–who are the media
heroes of 2006? Danny Schechter shares his; who are yours?
New York, New York: A year ago, in late December, MediaChannel.org honored colleagues and journalists we admire because our heroes deserve recognition. It’s not helpful to just trash the media. We know its pervasive influence and all find ourselves copying and forwarding mainstream media columns and reports we like or think others need to read. We have to critique media wrongs and praise media rights.
The media industry, meanwhile, has a vast institutionalized awards apparatus/culture to honor achievements and praise their own. From the Emmys to the Pulitzers, and soon the Oscars, we are constantly deluged with ritzy festivals and star-studded orgies of adulation and often conformity.
In many cases what is worn to these events gets more notice than the work being feted. (I, for one, am never comfortable around journalists in black tie and made that point some years back by getting one of those statues while festooned in a Tux T Shirt. It made Ted Koppel smile.)
At the same time, it is important to celebrate our own heroes if only as role models to what we aspire and from whom we learn. Last year, Helen Thomas, the White House press warrior was our Media Freedom award winner and we were thrilled when she came to New York to personally accept our makeshift statuette. Who can deny her stand up courage over all these decades?
SOS: Financial Whistleblowers Under Attack From Industry
by Danny Schechter
Credit Bubble, Toil and Trouble. Yes, I promised myself not to blog during my vacation here in Australia. But two things have have forced me to reconsider. First, it is clear that the housing lending crisis that I have been tracking has surfaced down under as well and throughout the world. We need to keep our eye on the global tidal wave of economic destruction it is creating.
More urgently, one of the websites, Mi-implode, that I have been referencing and that does a great job of tracking all the imploding lenders and criminal mortgage practices, has come under attack from the industry. They are amazing whistle-blowers and deserve our support now that one of the financial companies they have been exposing tries to put them out of business with a malicious law suit.
29. Free the Press (Opinion/Opinion)
Author : Danny Schechter
May 3: World Press Freedom Day
by MediaChannel
“The rights to life and to liberty and integrity and security of person and also to freedom of expression are fundamental human rights that are recognized and guaranteed by international conventions and instruments.” (UNESCO Resolution, General Conference 1997)
May 3rd is the annual World Press Freedom Day. This year’s theme is violence against journalists. MediaChannel has put together this special coverage package with resources for those concerned about freedom of the press.
There was a word missing from President Bush’s pathetic State of the Union Address. That word was "domino."
With all his arguments for continued war in Iraq now exposed as lies and shams, our "war president" and would-be generalissimo has fallen back on the same last straw that Tricky Dick Nixon clutched to the end of his sorry presidency: the domino theory.
As Bush the Lesser put it last night, to a skeptical Congress and an even more disbelieving American public: "If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists backed by Al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country, and in time the entire region could be drawn into the conflict."
I had just gotten to the gym yesterday, and had started on the treadmill, when a barrel-chested young former marine recently returned from a second tour in Iraq walked past. Looking at my shirt, which sports the slogan "No US War on Iraq" on the front, and a peace sign on the back, surrounded with the number of U.S. dead in the war, he stopped and said coldly, "If I see you here again in that shirt, I'll tear it off you myself."
Momentarily taken aback, I looked him in the eye and said, "This is a free country, buddy, and if you touch me or my shirt, I'll have you charged with assault."
Forget all the talk about civility and compromise.
It's clear that President Bush and his aiders and abettors in the Congress are going to do their damndest to cover their tracks over the next few weeks, using their "lame duck" majorities in House and Senate to pass legislation, while they still can, protecting them as much as possible from future investigation and retaliation.
Bush clearly wants a bill granting him retroactive immunity for his crime of violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--probably the surest path to his impeachment in a growing list of some dozen crimes against law and Constitution. He may push other actions insulating himself and his cohorts from future prosecution too, as he already did just before the election in ramming through a bill immunizing him against prosecution for authorizing torture.
While the Democrats won't have a majority in either branch of Congress until early January, when newly elected Democrats are sworn in and replace some 30 Republican members of the House and six members of the Senate, they have plenty of members already in place to perform a blocking action--particularly in the Senate, where the Democrats can fillibuster to death any bill they want by just keeping 40 of their 45 caucus members together.
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David Howell was born in 1972 in Elmhurst, Illinois. He started drawing
shortly afterwards. In 1998, he moved to San Francisco where he
attended art school, accumulated a lot of debt, graduated with an MFA,
fell in love, and got married. He now lives in Savannah, Georgia with
his wife. His work can be found at http://www.davidhowellillustrator.com/
Larry Everest made an interesting comment on a panel we did in Memphis last weekend. He said that if Nancy Pelosi, who claims her top priority is ending the war and who claims to support democracy, were to ask people to come to Washington, D.C., on January 27th to march against the war, probably 20 million people would come. Such an action by Pelosi would not require that she take any controversial position, merely that she lead.
Rev. Glenda Hope sent around an Email that was forwarded to me and a lot of other people. She has a ministry in Pelosi's district and recently met with Pelosi's office. Hope was joined in the meeting by the President of the University of San Francisco (a Catholic priest), the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church (the largest church in San Francisco), the Senior Rabbi of the largest synagogue in San Francisco (Congregation Emanu-el), and Richard Smoak, a Presbyterian minister and founder/director of San Francisco Network Ministries (a 34-year-old ministry among the poor in San Francisco's Tenderloin). They met for 45 minutes with Pelosi's District Director Dan Bernal and Deputy District Director Melanie Nutter in Nancy Pelosi's office.
Military Mouthpiece to Al Jazeera Correspondent
by Amy Goodman Four years ago our first guest today helped sell the Iraq war to the American public. Armed with talking points from the Bush administration, Josh Rushing served as a Marine spokesperson at CENTCOM in Doha as the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Josh Rushing has since retired from the Marines and has started working at an unlikely outlet – the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera International.
Rushing became famous in the Arab world after he appeared – almost by chance – in the documentary Control Room about Al Jazeera. After the film was released, the Marines ordered Rushing to stop speaking to the press because he had begun publicly defending Al Jazeera.
When the network launched an English language channel, Rushing was offered a job. Josh Rushing writes about his transition from the Marines to Al Jazeera in his new book “Mission Al Jazeera: Build A Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World.” Josh Rushing joins me today in the firehouse studio.
Pity the Poor Mainstream Media!
by Ernest Partridge
It is very difficult for an old liberal like me to be sympathetic about the plight of the corporate media, given the way they have behaved of late. But the simple fact of the matter is that the commercial news media have fallen into a deep financial pit, and that is both good news and bad news for the political health of our republic.
In 2005, newspaper circulation declined over the previous year by 2.6 percent, with the largest declines posted in the major newspapers. Still worse, in 2007, newspaper advertising revenue fell by 9.4 percent. As a result of this shrinkage, in 2007 2,400 journalists lost their jobs, and 15,000 have been canned in the last decade.
Just when you think it can't get any sillier, any more mundane, along comes a news (sic) that restores your faith in the bizarre. I suppose that I could never be a fashion writer like Elizabeth Wellington of the Inky
(that’s the Philadelphia Inquirer to the nicknamed challenged). There
are just so many nuances contained within the sartorial spectrum that I
just could never master. One must be knowledgeable in all aspects of
fashion runway demeanor, verbiage and just when a particular designer
is “making a statement.”
And I will admit, whenever the
occasion arises that I must wear something other than jeans, sweats,
cut-offs or pj’s my lovely wife goes into DEFCON-1 mode
automatically. No way would I ever get out the door – in her company,
or sans her company – until I pass a style assessment. As a reader,
writer and journalist I’m always open to new ideas and/or trends,
keeping my finger on the pulse as it were. I am also aware that fashion
trends with the varying color schemes and other trappings always
somehow – at least according to fashion writers and ‘other’ experts
– have an underlying theme. I mean like it’s not just a suit, skirt or
shoes, it means something and that something denotes just who and what
you are on some fashionista’s real or imagined pecking order.
Ms. Wellington – with a few comments from supposed fashionistas’ - in a recent offering entitled "State of the attire"
opined on just what we could infer (psychobabble-wise, one supposes) by
paying attention to how those in attendance at Bush’s State of the
Union fiesta were dressed. As proof of this her sub-hede “Powerful prefer pastels” spells
it out for those of us who are fashion challenged. Dick Cheney – a true
fashion maven – offset his usual stern countenance by sporting a “pink
tie.” One supposes this is meant to convey his power look but tempering
it with “pink tie” approachability; Cheney as teddy bear as it were.
The boy Prez himself opted for a “sky-blue tie” to offset his dark-blue
suit, hidden by the dais was the unanswered question as to the color of
his cowboy boots though.
Terms of Use 
Frances Moore Lappé has, for the better part of four decades, done her very best to guide the United States toward a more rational relationship with the planet and its inhabitants. 
What passes for Christianity among the people, like so many things American, is not the genuine article. The sermons that rise from many of the pulpits of the churches of America are, I suspect, as counterfeit as a six dollar bill; as phony as the people running the country. But those whose faith is blind are incapable of seeing truth. That is the trouble with blind faith. It does not, it cannot, see. I have always been wary of organized religion.
Because so many of the people on the political left fear that John McCain will become the next president, they have allowed themselves to see the very moderate democratic candidate, Barack Obama, as a desirable alternative to the decidedly ghoulish McCain, rather than supporting a genuine progressive like Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, or Ralph Nader. They thus perceive Obama to be far more progressive than he really is. 
In the wake of last week’s Congressional hearing on formaldehyde in FEMA trailers and FEMA’s statement to the Associated Press that it will continue to sell and distribute surplus disaster relief trailers the Sierra Club issued the following statement. 
We are in a race with the clock of injustice. John Graham will be shipped to South Dakota for a trial that Leonard Peltier says is certain to be a miscarriage of justice by July 26, 2007. 
Langford, BC—First Nations are joining other CRD residents for a 4:00PM rally at the Trans-Canada Highway and Savory Road, the site of the proposed Bear Mountain Interchange. The event is being dedicated to Harriet Nahanee, a 71-year-old Squamish elder who passed away February 24 after serving a 14-day prison sentence in the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre for opposing the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion at Eagle Ridge Bluff.
Monday, July 16th, 2007 will not be a date that will live in infamy. Not at least within the marbled corridors and high haunts of the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) editorial board. 
Josh Wolf, freelance journalist and independent videographer, is currently in “coercive custody” at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California. HE IS NOT CHARGED WITH ANY CRIME and is being held under civil contempt.
Update: 
From 
Bush Initiates Iraq Policy Review Separate From Baker Group's
At first glance, the 
The ever-intrepid Arthur Silber has somehow procured an advance copy of General Petraeus' upcoming report on the "surge." You can check out this amazing feat of investigative journalism here: 
What's going on in Lebanon? Nothing you haven't seen before -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Palestine and other places where "the United States is basically instigating and funding civil wars."
I don't know that much about Jim Webb. I don't know how he will actually vote when lobbyist push comes to corporate shove in the Senate. And I certainly don't buy into the propensity of so many in the blogosphere (not to mention the mainstream media) to fall into swoons of hero worship over this or that politician.
We wrote recently here of Bush's new executive order granting himself and his minions the arbitrary power to seize the entire assets of any American citizen without warning, without any criminal charges whatsoever solely by declaring that their victim somehow poses an unspecified threat to "the peace or stability of Iraq" or else is "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq." In other words, Bush now claims the power to strip you of your assets if you oppose American policy in Iraq. 
FALLUJAH, Mar 30 (IPS) - Iraqis in the volatile al-Anbar province west of Baghdad are reporting regular killings carried out by U.S. forces that many believe are part of a 'genocidal' strategy.
FALLUJAH, Feb 22 (IPS) - Resistance attacks against U.S. forces have been continuing in Fallujah despite military onslaughts and strong security measures. Two U.S. military onslaughts in 2004 left the city in a shambles and displaced an estimated 250,000 of the 350,000 residents of the city. The military operations, and more that followed have done nothing to reduce resistance in and around Fallujah city in the al-Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. Last month U.S. forces introduced a new phase of 'security' along with local Iraqi police, and supported by some local Sunni militias. 
A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse.
BAGHDAD (IPS) - Expressions of outrage over the conduct of the trial and the
manner of Saddam Hussein's rushed, chaotic execution are continuing
unabated here as lawyers and human rights groups voice their criticism –
although some are still cautiously asking the media to withhold their
names from publication.
New York, New York: A year ago, in late December, MediaChannel.org honored colleagues and journalists we admire because our heroes deserve recognition. It’s not helpful to just trash the media. We know its pervasive influence and all find ourselves copying and forwarding mainstream media columns and reports we like or think others need to read. We have to critique media wrongs and praise media rights.
Credit Bubble, Toil and Trouble. Yes, I promised myself not to blog during my vacation here in Australia. But two things have have forced me to reconsider. First, it is clear that the housing lending crisis that I have been tracking has surfaced down under as well and throughout the world. We need to keep our eye on the global tidal wave of economic destruction it is creating.
“The rights to life and to liberty and integrity and security of person and also to freedom of expression are fundamental human rights that are recognized and guaranteed by international conventions and instruments.” (UNESCO Resolution, General Conference 1997)
There was a word missing from President Bush’s pathetic State of the Union Address. That word was "domino." 
I had just gotten to the gym yesterday, and had started on the treadmill, when a barrel-chested young former marine recently returned from a second tour in Iraq walked past. Looking at my shirt, which sports the slogan "No US War on Iraq" on the front, and a peace sign on the back, surrounded with the number of U.S. dead in the war, he stopped and said coldly, "If I see you here again in that shirt, I'll tear it off you myself." 
Forget all the talk about civility and compromise. 
Larry Everest made an interesting comment on a panel we did in Memphis last weekend. He said that if Nancy Pelosi, who claims her top priority is ending the war and who claims to support democracy, were to ask people to come to Washington, D.C., on January 27th to march against the war, probably 20 million people would come. Such an action by Pelosi would not require that she take any controversial position, merely that she lead.
Four years ago our first guest today helped sell the Iraq war to the American public. Armed with talking points from the Bush administration, Josh Rushing served as a Marine spokesperson at CENTCOM in Doha as the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Just when you think it can't get any sillier, any more mundane, along comes a news (sic) that restores your faith in the bizarre. I suppose that I could never be a fashion writer like Elizabeth Wellington of the Inky
(that’s the Philadelphia Inquirer to the nicknamed challenged). There
are just so many nuances contained within the sartorial spectrum that I
just could never master. One must be knowledgeable in all aspects of
fashion runway demeanor, verbiage and just when a particular designer
is “making a statement.”