Click here to view this media This topic came up for some brief discussion on Real Time With Bill Maher that ought to be part of a larger one, and that is just how sorry the state of our corporate media is with misinforming the public. Everything that is supposed to be “news” is either, as they described it here, “disaster porn” where you’re making a buck chasing one ambulance after the other in order to increase your ratings, meanwhile, informing the public about nothing, or if you’re not doing that you’re putting up two people supposedly on different sides of an issue and at least one or both of them are lying to the viewers in the name of being “fair and balanced.” What’s really pitiful about this ambulance chasing is the fact that they do it, and get the public worked up over an issue, and then ignore it. How many reports have we seen about what’s going on in Egypt now that things are constantly turning there? What happened to the reporting on Haiti that they were so breathlessly reporting right after the disaster there? And we all watched them cover the gusher of oil BP had pouring into the Gulf until they got tired of that story as well. I could go on and on but won’t since it’s not necessary to make the point I wanted to here. If our media wants to chase ambulances and pretend like they’re not just doing “disaster porn”, is it too much to expect them to do some follow up on the people and those countries that they feigned so much concern for in their previous breathless coverage we watched just a few months before? Apparently it is too much to ask for them to chase more than one ambulance at a time. And that’s exactly what Maher described here. It’s disaster porn feeding off of the latest ambulance of the day to chase while ignoring most of what’s going on around the world and calling yourself “news.” And it’s a damned shame that media consolidation in America has assured us we won’t get much better until these companies are broken up .
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• French planes in action as dictator given ultimatum • Loyalists launch attack on last rebel stronghold Western planes led strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s military as world leaders ordered the biggest intervention in the Arab world since allied forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The patience of the international community finally ran out as Gaddafi’s troops pounded the rebel stronghold of Benghazi hours after the Libyan dictator had promised a full ceasefire and invited foreign officials into his country to monitor it. After US, European and Arab leaders met for urgent talks in Paris, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said his aircraft were already in action to stop what he described as Gaddafi’s “murderous madness”. He said: “Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gaddafi against the population of Benghazi. As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town. As of now, other French aircraft are ready to intervene against tanks, armoured vehicles threatening unarmed civilians.” David Cameron said action was needed to stop Gaddafi slaughtering his own people and flouting the will of the international community. “Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen. He has lied to the international community. He has promised a ceasefire. He has broken that ceasefire. He continues to brutalise his own people. The time for action has come,” the prime minister said. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the people of Libya had appealed for help and the international community had been united in its determination to respond: “We have every reason to fear that, left unchecked, Gaddafi will commit unspeakable atrocities. His campaign of violence must stop.” Even before the summit, military sources said French Rafale planes were carrying out reconnaissance missions. Rafales are designed for bombing, reconnaissance and air defence purposes, but can also be equipped with laser-guided bombs for air strikes. A French official said a French fighter jet had fired on a Libyan military vehicle in the first exchanges with Gaddafi’s forces. French defence ministry spokesman Thierry Burkhard said the strike had been reported around 16.45 GMT. France expects to carry out most of its air missions from its base on Corsica while it is believed UK fighters would be deployed from southern Italy or Cyprus. An American official said that the US intended to limit its involvement to protecting allied air missions by taking out Libyan air defences with missile strikes launched from US Navy ships stationed in the Mediterranean. Six Danish F-16 fighter jets landed at a US air base in Sicily, while Canadian CF-18 Hornets were also in the region. The Gaddafi regime announced on Friday that it would lay down arms after the UN security council passed resolution 1,973, authorising “all necessary measures” short of foreign occupation to protect the civilians of Libya. But as world leaders gathered in Paris, it was clear that forces loyal to the Libyan dictator had no such intention as they rushed to storm Benghazi – apparently in the belief that if they could embed themselves among the city’s large civilian population it would be more difficult for allied forces to oust them. Early yesterday, a rebel plane was shot down over Benghazi sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. Fighting in Benghazi continued even as French military jets began patrols over the city. It was not immediately clear whether a large explosion that rocked the edge of Benghazi after dusk was caused by Libyan forces on the ground or marked the beginning of the western air assault. “Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The security council resolution is invalid,” Gaddafi wrote earlier in an open letter to Cameron, Sarkozy and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. “You will regret it if you dare to intervene in our country.” He was more conciliatory in a message to US President Barack Obama, asking him: “If you found them taking over American cities by the force of arms, tell me, what you would do?” British sources said Cameron held discussions with Sarkozy before they joined Clinton for a session of the “leadership of the coalition of the willing”. A session with all international leaders gathered in Paris then took place. Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi’s foreign minister, insisted that Libya was abiding by the UN security council resolution passed on Thursday and that the ceasefire he announced on Friday was still in place. Libya has blamed rebels it describes as “armed gangs linked to al-Qaida” for breaching it. But the ceasefire was widely seen as a tactic to try to buy time and fuel international divisions over intervention. Any attack would be the first foreign military action against Libya since the US bombing of 1986 after a terrorist attack on US personnel in a Berlin nightclub. The 1988 Lockerbie bombing was widely seen as Libya’s retaliation for that. Jana, the official Libyan news agency, reported that volunteers were heading to strategic sites that might be targeted by UN-mandated attacks to act as “human shields”. Al-Jamahirya TV showed protests at Tripoli international airport, Gaddafi’s Bab al-Azizya barracks in the capital, and the airports in his home town of Sirte and in Sebha in the south of the country, a regime stronghold and the site of an important military base. Libyan opposition sources reported government forces forcibly taking people away from Zawiya, Zuwara and other areas where there has been resistance to the regime. Another claim said the families of personnel who might be tempted to defect were being taken to Bab al-Aziziya. A communiqué issued after the Paris talks described the actions of the Libyan regime as “intolerable”. It said that the Libyan people had been peacefully expressing their rejection of their leaders and their aspirations for change, adding: “In the face of these legitimate requests coming from all over the country, the Libyan regime has carried out a growing brutal crackdown, using weapons of war against its own people and perpetrating against them grave and massive violations of humanitarian law.” Libya Middle East Nicolas Sarkozy United Nations Muammar Gaddafi France France Europe United States David Cameron Chris McGreal Ian Black Toby Helm Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …You don’t suppose they’re going to start acting like those brown people in New Orleans , are they? With petrol running low, delivery trucks are struggling to get supplies to those hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And as provisions decline, tension rises. Al Jazeera’s Steve Chao reports from Morioka.
Continue reading …Arizona Senate wises up: Pearce’s latest round of immigrant-bashing bills summarily tossed
March 19, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media People tried to warn Russell Pearce, president of the Arizona Senate and the father of SB1070, that it might not be a good idea to push hard on yet another round of immigrant-bashing legislation while Arizona’s economy continued to suffer and groan from the weight of his previous “landmark”. And there were plenty of warning signs that Arizonans were waking up to the cold reality of what they had done to themselves. But of course, Pearce being the extremist nutcase that he is, there was no persuading him to turn back. Which produced yesterday’s stark repudiation by his fellow Republicans in the Senate: The state Senate voted down a package of birthright-citizenship bills, with Republicans split over the measures and Democrats opposed. Four other significant Senate immigration measures also failed. Those bills would have banned illegal immigrants from state universities, made it a crime for illegal immigrants to drive a vehicle in Arizona, required school districts to check the legal status of students, and required hospitals to check the legal status of patients. The impetus for the bills’ defeat, as it happens, came from the Arizona business community, whose leaders penned a letter to the Senate warning them that the bills were a horrendous idea : A coalition of Arizona business groups delivered a letter to the Arizona State Senate Tuesday saying it would be unwise for the Legislature to pass additional immigration legislation, despite lack of action on the federal level. Sixty CEOs – from a wide swath of industries and including heavyweights such as Doug Parker, Gerrit van Huisstede and Linda Hunt – signed the letter as legislators mull a new slate of immigration bills. Last year’s passage of Senate Bill 1070 created a firestorm of criticism and boycotts against the state. The CEO’s point to its “unintended consequences.” The letter’s reasoning was quite clear: Arizona’s lawmakers and citizens are right to be concerned about illegal immigration. But we must acknowledge that when Arizona goes it alone on this issue, unintended consequences inevitably occur. Last year, boycotts were called against our state’s business community, adversely impacting our already-struggling economy and costing us jobs. Arizona-based businesses saw contracts cancelled or were turned away from bidding. “Sales outside of the state declined. Even a business which merely had ‘Arizona’ in its name felt the effects of the boycotts, compelling them to launch an educational campaign about their company’s roots in Brooklyn. It is an undeniable fact that each of our companies and our employees were impacted by the boycotts and the coincident negative image. “Tourism, one of our state’s largest industries and employment centers, also suffered from negative perceptions after the passage of SB 1070. The fact Gov. Brewer directed $250,000 to repairing Arizona’s reputation strongly suggests these efforts – whether fair or unfair – are harmful to our image. Pearce’s main gopher, State Sen. Ron Gould, was typically petulant about the reversal : On Twitter he provided the names of all the Republicans who voted against the bills and told his followers to “contact them.” Following the session he said that too many Republicans talk tough on the campaign trail but don’t deliver when it comes to votes. He was especially pissy toward the business community: Senator Gould was asked if that letter perhaps played a role to which he replied, “Well there’s some people who are bought and paid for by the Chamber of Commerce.” When asked if he will try to introduce similar legislation next session he said, “Maybe we will put everybody through the same misery one more time.” You’ll note in the video above that the reporter talks to one of the signees — a local small businessman. Unsurprisingly, he was inundated with hate mail and threatening phone calls. Kos has more on the larger immigration picture around the nation.
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Click here to view this media Well, you’ve got to give Republicans credit for one thing. When they decide to attack someone, they stick together on their talking points. It looks like this is where Rep. Scott Garrett got his in the clip above where he’s going after Elizabeth Warren during a House oversight hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s priorities in regulating consumer credit . Ex-Goldman Banker Behind WSJ ‘Smear Campaign’ Against Elizabeth Warren : A Wall Street Journal editorial writer who has been closely involved with the paper’s recent attacks on Elizabeth Warren is a former Goldman Sachs banker. The same editorial writer, Mary Kissel, is readying another piece critical of Warren and the new consumer agency, according to a source familiar with the coming article. Like most major newspapers, the Journal does not disclose the authors of its editorials. Kissel recently appeared on the John Batchelor radio show as a representative of the Journal ‘s editorial board do discuss Warren, and repeated the main arguments used in the editorials. The editorials paint both Warren and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as an immensely powerful, unaccountable organization. The nascent agency is assuming the consumer protection duties currently exercised by regulators at the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The author, Mary Kissel, worked for Goldman between 1999 and 2002 as a fixed income research and capital markets specialist . On Wednesay, Warren testified before a House subcomittee , providing 34 pages of written answers while submitting to two-and-a-half hours of aggressive questioning from congressional Republicans, who deployed talking points similar to those used in the recent Journal editorials. “There has definitely been an uptick in attacks on her and on the agency over the past few weeks, it’s hard to imagine it hasn’t been well-coordinated by somebody,” said a source close to Warren. “The smear campaign by The Wall Street Journal ‘s editorial board this week includes the most unfactual and outrageous hit pieces on her yet. If it’s true that the author of the editorials and Goldman Sachs coordinated on them, they should both be exposed and called to account.” Read on… It’s not surprising to see Republicans go after Elizabeth Warren since she’s one of the few out there actually looking out for the little guy as they noted in the rest of the article.
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Click here to view this media It’s not enough to criminalize poverty . It’s not enough to defund public radio. It’s not enough to try to repeal what health care reform we were able to get. No, now we have the US House of Representatives passing legislation requiring the IRS to audit abortions. And no, I am NOT exaggerating. Mother Jones : Under a GOP-backed bill expected to sail through the House of Representatives, the Internal Revenue Service would be forced to police how Americans have paid for their abortions. To ensure that taxpayers complied with the law, IRS agents would have to investigate whether certain terminated pregnancies were the result of rape or incest. And one tax expert says that the measure could even lead to questions on tax forms: Have you had an abortion? Did you keep your receipt? In testimony to a House taxation subcommittee on Wednesday, Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff of the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee, confirmed that one consequence of the Republicans’ “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” would be to turn IRS agents into abortion cops—that is, during an audit, they’d have to detemine, from evidence provided by the taxpayer, whether any tax benefit had been inappropriately used to pay for an abortion. Digby has already warned about how they’re using HR3 as a negotiating tool to codify the Hyde amendment, but it seems as though they’re very serious about making sure not one penny of federal money goes to abortions. So serious they’re writing in provisions for IRS auditors to request evidence of any abortions performed. Not only that, but in their zeal, it appears they could actually even attack payments from HSAs for it. Yes, it is tax jihadism , right here in the US of A.
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Referendum is first major test of transition to democracy in wake of Mubarak’s resignation Eager for their first taste of a free vote in decades, Egyptians lined up by the hundreds on Saturday to vote on constitutional amendments sponsored by the ruling military. The nationwide referendum is the first major test of the country’s transition to democracy after a popular uprising forced Hosni Mubarak to step down five weeks ago, handing the reins of power to the military. Early signs show an unusually big turnout, with lines forming in the hours before polls opened. They snaked along the streets in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, with men and women standing in separate lines as is customary in the conservative and mainly Muslim nation. The vote promises to be the freest in Egypt since 1952 when the monarchy was ousted and the multiparty democracy that functioned under British colonial rule was ended. Egypt has since been ruled by men of military background, with fraud and extremely low turnout defining every nationwide vote. “This is a historic day for Egypt,” deputy prime minister Yahya al-Gamal said after casting his vote in Cairo. “I had never seen such large numbers of voters in Egypt. Finally, the people of Egypt have come to realise that their vote counts.” Voters were asked to choose yes or no for the whole package of nine changes, which would open elections to independent candidates, impose presidential term limits and curtail 30-year-old emergency laws that give police near-unlimited powers. Preliminary results will be announced on Sunday. A yes vote would allow parliamentary and presidential elections to be held later this year or early in the next, a time frame that critics say is too soon for the dozens of political groups born out of the 18-day anti-Mubarak uprising to organise themselves and be able to compete in elections. They say the timetable would benefit Mubarak’s one-time ruling National Democratic party (NDP) and the Muslim Brotherhood, the two most powerful and best-organised political groups in Egypt. The NDP is blamed for the rampant corruption and fraud that marred every election in Egypt during Mubarak’s 29-year rule. The brotherhood, which has strongly campaigned for the adoption of the changes, advocates the instalment of an Islamic government in Egypt. The ambivalence of its position on the role of women and minority Christians worry large segments of society. Leading the no campaign are two presidential hopefuls, the Nobel laureate and former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei, and Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, who is a former foreign minister in Egypt. “This is a truly democratic process,” Moussa said after he voted in Cairo. ElBaradei said in New Delhi that Egypt’s newly formed political parties need more time to prepare for elections after decades of repression. Egypt’s Coptic Christians were also overwhelmingly against the amendments. Comprising 10% of the population, Christians complain of institutional discrimination and fear their quest for equal rights would suffer a serious setback if the brotherhood gains influence in post-Mubarak Egypt. “If the Brotherhood comes to power, they will not benefit anyone, Muslims or Christians,” said Fawziya Lamie, a 39-year-old Christian nanny, after casting a no vote in the Cairo district of Manial. More than half of Egypt’s 80 million people are eligible to vote. The military, in a bid to get the vote out, has decreed that voters would be allowed to cast ballots at any polling centre in the country with their national ID cards as the only required proof of identity. They are required to dip their index finger in ink after voting to prevent multiple balloting. “My vote today will make a difference. It’s as simple as that,” first-time voter Hossam Bishay, 48, said as he waited in line with about 300 others outside a heavily guarded polling centre in Cairo’s upmarket Zamalek district. “I am very excited to be doing this,” Alaa al-Sharqawy, an engineering lecturer, said. “It’s true that the amendments have polarised us, but I am glad we are voting.” The constitutional amendments drawn up by a panel of military-appointed legal scholars are intended to bring just enough change to the 1971 constitution, which was suspended by the military, to ensure presidential and parliamentary elections are free and fair. In addition to allowing independent and opposition candidates to run, they would restore full judicial supervision of votes, a measure seen as vital to preventing fraud. They would also limit presidents to two four-year terms and curb the emergency laws that have long been a chief complaint of the people. Critics have used social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and full-page advertisements in newspapers to argue that the entire constitution must be scrapped and a new one drawn up to guarantee Egypt is spared future dictators. Egypt Middle East Arab and Middle East protests Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …So far, so good. Sounds like the U.S. won’t have any imminent danger from Japan’s nuclear accident: WASHINGTON–U.S. officials detected the presence of a radioactive isotope in California on Friday that appeared to come from the Fukushima nuclear-power plant in Japan, but the levels they detected were minuscule–far less than a person would normally receive from the sun, rocks or other natural sources. U.S. officials say the levels are consistent with their expectations and pose no risk to human health. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department said in a statement a radiation monitor in Sacramento, Calif., detected minuscule quantities of the radioactive isotope xenon-133. The readings validated similar ones from March 16 and 17 taken from monitors in Washington state, they said. The agencies said the radioactive isotope appears to have come from the Japanese power plant damaged in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami there. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said earlier in the week he believed a “partial meltdown” had occurred at the plant..
Continue reading …The back and forth between Washington Post syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob (“Jack”) Lew continues. Thus far, Krauthammer has won both rounds, including his punch-out on Thursday. It all started on February 21, when Lew
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Hundreds of soldiers set up checkpoints in Sana’a as two prominent members of ruling party resign in protest Troops and security forces blanketed Yemen’s capital Sana’a on Saturday, enforcing a state of emergency imposed after rooftop snipers shot dead up to 42 anti-government protesters on Friday. Hundreds of soldiers moved into the streets to set up checkpoints and enforce a ban on carrying firearms in public, going so far as to check for hidden guns inside the ornamental scabbards of traditional Yemeni jambiya daggers. Tanks were deployed for the first time in weeks of civil disturbance in which more than 70 people have been killed. With mass protests convulsing the Arab world, Yemen became the second country in the region to announce emergency rule this week. Bahrain declared martial law on Tuesday. Defying the crackdown, the Yemeni opposition vowed to keep up its “peaceful revolution” in the state, a neighbour of Saudi Arabia and a US ally against al-Qaida. Meanwhile, two prominent members of Yemen’s ruling party resigned in protest over the killing of the protesters. Nasr Taha Mustafa, head of the state news agency, said he had resigned from his job and the party in protest over Friday’s killings of up to 45 protesters by rooftop snipers in the capital. Mohamed Saleh Qara’a, a prominent member of the ruling party, also stood down, citing the “completely unacceptable” violence against protesters. Their resignations follows that of Nabil Hasan al-Faqih, the tourism minister, who stood down on Friday. The bloodshed has prompted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, struggling to keep his grip on power after 32 years of rule, to declare a state of emergency for 30 days that restricts freedom of movement and the right to gather. It grants police greater leeway in carrying out inspections and arrests. Snipers opened fire from rooftops on crowds that flocked to a protest encampment at Sana’a University after prayers. Protesters said they had caught at least seven snipers carrying government identity cards, but Saleh denied this, blaming gunmen among the protesters for the violence. Yemen’s opposition said it could not negotiate with Saleh’s government after the bloodshed. “Sending tanks to the streets is a sign that the regime is in a state of panic. But Yemenis are determined to move forward with their peaceful revolution until the fall of the regime,” said opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri. Saleh has rejected demands to step down immediately, promising instead to leave office when his term expires in 2013 and offering a new constitution giving more powers to parliament. Two out of every five Yemenis live on less than $2 (£1.23) per day. The government faces separatists in the south, maintains a shaky truce with rebels in the north and is fighting an aggressive local wing of al-Qaida. In the southern port city of Aden, police shot and wounded six protesters as they tried to disperse demonstrators holding a sit-in in a main street, residents said. “Tanks don’t scare us. They have killed dozens of us and hundreds were wounded. And we are not leaving until Ali Abdullah Saleh leaves,” said Abdullah Saif, one of the protesters. As Saleh’s government hardened its stance towards increasingly entrenched opposition, the US and France both condemned the violence on Friday. President Barack Obama urged authorities to protect peaceful protesters and said those responsible must be held accountable. Arab and Middle East protests Yemen Middle East guardian.co.uk
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