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"As Yet Unnamed"
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More vicious than Tricky Dick John Dean says the Bush team's leaks are even viler than his former boss's -- and that Plame and Wilson should file a civil suit. - - - - - - - - - - - - By John W. Dean Oct. 3, 2003 | I thought I had seen political dirty tricks as foul as they could get, but I was wrong. In blowing the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame to take political revenge on her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for telling the truth, Bush's people have out-Nixoned Nixon's people. And my former colleagues were not amateurs by any means. http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/10/03/dean/index.html (Salon dot com has begun demanding payment for its
articles. As a free alternative to this story, Dean
wrote a piece for findlaw dot com. Here's the link:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030815.html
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What are you talkin' about, Wes?
By SEAN GONSALVES, 9/23/2003 Cape Cod Times
Though Bill Clinton is considered to be the poster boy for the "New Democrat," historians may end up regarding him as the symbol of the Last Democrat.
By out GOP-ing the Republicans in the 90s, the Donkey Party is now facing an identity crisis. And the field of candidates out there right now, with Howard Dean leading the mule pack, doesn't appear to have enough guts or vision to appeal to the millions of disillusioned, war-weary, financially struggling would-be Democratic voters in America itching for "regime change" in Washington, D.C.
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits/seang.htm
Your
man on the culture beat
Jon Carroll on NPR's new "Day to Day" show // San
Francisco Chronicle August 20 2003
It is generally accepted that people in the TV business don't watch TV. They have been inside the sausage factory; they have seen the sausages made; they'll be having the vegetarian plate.
It seems equally true that the people at National Public Radio do not listen to their own programs. They study demographic trends and focus-group results; they fend off complaining affiliates; they seek funders. When they drive, they turn their radios to a "less talk, more rock" station.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/20/DD277990.DTL
Military,
media meet off battlefield to debate war coverage
by John Cook, Chicago Tribune
staff writer // August 18, 2003
Journalists
who covered the war in Iraq and the generals who prosecuted it met in suburban
Chicago last week in an unusual, informal gathering to debate the successes and
failures of the media's reporting on the conflict and how the war changed the
relationship between reporters and the military...
...Many journalists present expressed concern that by embedding reporters with
military units, the Pentagon was able to ensure that coverage of the war favored
the American perspective.
"The embedded process proved to be more beneficial to the government than
to the media," said George Wilson, defense correspondent for the National
Journal and longtime military reporter for The Washington Post, who traveled
with an artillery unit in Iraq. "The rah-rah coverage of the units we were
embedded with eclipsed a lot of larger questions."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0308180200aug18.story
Confessions
of a Baggage Screener
I
used the CTX 5500 to keep bombs off your plane. I also go elbows deep in your
underwear.
By Beth Pinsker
The suitcase was ticking.
It was my third week on the job as one of 55,000 new airport screeners employed by the Transportation Security Administration, and the first day of the war in Iraq. The nationwide terror alert was at orange, and a pair of National Guardsmen patrolled the sprawling departure lobby of the US Airways terminal at LaGuardia, rifles at the ready, gas masks strapped to their thighs. All this made the egg-timer click coming from the bag, a black rolling cart with a pull-up handle, a matter of some urgency.
http://wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/bagscan.html
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THE NATION |
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http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030901&s=alterman
Channeling Contempt
America's biggest broadcasting behemoth makes exhibitors an offer they
can't refuse.by
MIKE NEWALL (mnewall@philadelphiaweekly.com)
August 13, 2003
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/article.asp?ArtID=5969
EDWARD
WASSERMAN
"Pictures of war and the tales they tell
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6399152.htm
The press gives Bush a free ride on his lies
By Robert Kuttner, 7/16/2003 (Boston Globe)
I'M GLAD THAT the press is finally making an issue of President Bush's knowing use of a faked intelligence report on Iraq's supposed nuclear weapons program. But most of the press keeps missing the larger story. Deception has become the hallmark of this president.
Whether the issue is leaving no child behind or who actually benefits from the tax cuts or what kind of drug coverage the administration's Medicare amendments will really provide or how the Bush Clear Skies Act actually degrades clean-air standards, the press has given the administration an astonishingly free ride.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/197/oped/The_press_gives_Bush_a_free_ride_on_his_lies+.shtml
The
Fire This Time: Why Kucinich May be the Right Guy at the Right Time
July 7, 2003
By Daniel Patrick Welch
Editor's Note: Democratic Underground welcomes articles promoting individual Democratic candidates for political office. Publication of these articles does not imply endorsement of any candidate by the editors of Democratic Underground.
Kucinich may be the only guy who can win this [US Presidential] election. Sounds far-fetched, right? What the Brits would call Loony Left delusional thinking. The U.S. press would just ignore the whole thing, naturally, until it's no longer possible. Just plain crazy. But is it? Every finely tuned ear has recorded the spike in interest every time someone has had the guts to speak up about various aspects of the nascent fascism we are confronting. From Gore's early comments breaking the taboo of criticizing Bush to Byrd's articulate blasts, mainstream politicians have received a grateful roar from the rabble with each thrust, the bolder the better.
By STAN GOFF
In 1970, when I arrived at my unit, Company A, 4th Battalion/503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, in what was then the Republic of Vietnam, I was charged up for a fight. I believed that if we didn't stop the communists in Vietnam, we'd eventually be fighting this global conspiracy in the streets of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I'd been toughened by Basic Training, Infantry Training and Parachute Training, taught how to use my weapons and equipment, and I was confident in my ability to vanquish the skinny unter- menschen. So I was dismayed when one of my new colleagues--a veteran who'd been there ten months-- told me, "We are losing this war."
http://www.counterpunch.org/goff07032003.html
OPERATOR….
Would You help me place this nightmare?
The Hidden Costs of Telecommunications & Towers
by keith harmon snow
Cell phone towers have drawn minor criticism by Mass hilltown residents for their ugliness. Like the manipulation of local government and local people’s control by the mega-companies involved, this has been scantily reported, often putting the corporate interests first. Invariably, even the local newspapers treat the issue as if the public interests were on a level playing field with the corporate interests. Such is the corporate bias, based in billions of dollars of propaganda, denied by most reporters, in the local newspapers.
http://www.allthingspass.com/docs/CELL_PHONES_Voice.doc
Rotten, Old-Fashioned Corruption at the FCC
AUSTIN, Texas – This is a gross scandal. The Center for Public Integrity has a stunning study out on the concentration of ownership in telecommunications. The even more stunning news is that the Federal Communications Commission, which theoretically represents you and me, is about to make all of it even worse. And behind this betrayal of the public trust is nothing but rotten, old-fashioned corruption. It's the old free-trip-to-Vegas ploy, on a grand scale.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16032
Published on Friday, May 23, 2003 by The Statesman (Calcutta, India)
After Iraq: Dark Roads
by Huck Gutman
THE war in Iraq is over. US President George W Bush has proclaimed victory. At present, his administration it is trying to govern and reconstruct post-war Iraq. But the results are sorry. Crime is rampant in Baghdad, electricity and water unreliable at best. Former Baath Party functionaries – despite Saddam Hussein’s defeat – often appear to have US support in the ‘‘reconstruction’’ effort.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0523-08.htm
MEDIA
ADVISORY:
Is Killing Part of Pentagon Press Policy?
April 10, 2003
http://www.fair.org/press-releases/iraq-journalists.html
They lay in lines, the car salesman who'd just lost his eye but whose feet were still dribbling blood, the motorcyclist who was shot by American troops near the Rashid Hotel, the 50-year-old female civil servant, her long dark hair spread over the towel she was lying on, her face, breasts, thighs, arms and feet pock-marked with shrapnel from an American cluster bomb. For the civilians of Baghdad, this is the real, immoral face of war, the direct result of America's clever little "probing missions" into Baghdad.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/095/region/Principal_stops_screening_of_d:.shtml
So This Is What War Looks Like? 4/02/2003
by Tim Wise
Not to take the focus off of the dead Iraqis, for indeed they are the ones who paid the ultimate price in this scenario, the Times report also indicated a more subtle, yet all too real set of casualties from that attack; namely, the effect it had had on those who carried it out.
The reporter quoted a Lieutenant by the name of Matt Martin, whose wife had given birth to their third child while he was headed to the Gulf.
"Did you see all that?" he asked, his eyes filled with tears. "Did you see that little baby girl? I carried her body and buried it as best I could but I had no time. It really gets to me to see children being killed like this, but we had no choice."
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-04/02wise.cfm
Personal Stories from Iraq and Jordan, written and edited by American Friends Service Committee Correspondent, Doug Hostetter
http://www.afsc.org/human-face/personal_stories/entries/02.htm
http://www.afsc.org/human-face/personal_stories/entries/040203.htm
http://www.afsc.org/human-face/personal_stories/entries/033003.htm
From the website of the Iraq Peace Team and Voices in the Wilderness: 4/01/2003
AMMAN,
Jordan (AP) The American peace activists' account was the first
confirmation of a report last week that a hospital in Rutbah was bombed
Wednesday,
with dead and injured. The travelers said they saw no significant Iraqi military
presence
near the hospital or elsewhere in Rutbah. The doctor did not discuss casualties,
the Americans said.
http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org/pages/iraq_updates.html#team_arrives
Lack
of trust in media turns many to alternative sources
The Muslim view of al-Jazeera
and alternative websites sought out amid suspicions that western networks are
biased
Faisal al Yafai
Friday March 28, 2003
The Guardian
http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,924223,00.html
Arrogance
of Power - Today, I Weep for my Country...
by US
Senator Robert Byrd
Speech delivered on the floor of the US Senate
March 19, 2003 3:45pm
I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.
But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0319-04.htm
US
media: Telling it like it isn't
By Akhilesh
Upadhyay (Inter Press Service)
NEW YORK - In submitting too easily to the official line on Iraq, the United
States media have grandly fallen short of their all-important
responsibilities to reflect diversity and to keep the government at arm's
length, according to a group of journalism educators and working journalists.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EC07Aa01.html
William Greider on the Washington Post's "...enthusiasm for war."
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030324&s=greider
Howard Zinn on "The Opposition and the Death Count"
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7337
Bill Moyers on "Patriotism."
http://www.pbs.org/now/commentary/moyers19.html
Linda McQuaig on a "Reckless President Bush."
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0309-06.htm
Laura Flanders on "...the INS is out of control."
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=14606
Greg Palast asks "Did President Bush spike the investigation into Saudi funding of terrorist groups?"
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=195&row=0
(Greg Palast - in his columns in the London Observer and Guardian Newspapers and on BBC TV's Newsnight - broke the story of how Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and computer database company DBT Choicepoint systematically and maliciously prevented thousands of blacks and democrats from exercising their right to vote during the 2000 presidential election. His book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, comes highly recommended.)
- See the following for another angle on the problems of computers and voting. -
Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600.com and the radio program "Off the Hook" on "tainted voting booths."
http://www.2600.com/news/view/article/1559