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Brick TeeVee's Valentine Extinction Level Event!

2012-02-12T01:34:00.000-05:00

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Valentine Extinction Level Event From the Common Dreams staff Tens of Thousands Across Europe Protest Against ACTA with wire reports from Reuters, RT and the BBC. Also at the BBC Acta: Germany delays signing anti-piracy agreement Germany has halted signing a controversial anti-piracy accord, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), after the justice ministry voiced concerns. A foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP that the delay was to "give us time to carry out further discussions". Latvia put off ratification on Friday. Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have already delayed the process.
Following up on last week's shitstorm we have a KOMEN UPDATE: Marie Diamond at ThinkProgress reports on Tuesday BREAKING: Anti-Choice Komen VP Karen Handel Resigns, Admits Role In Planned Parenthood Decision Today, Karen Handel, Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s controversial Senior Vice President of Public Policy, resigned in protest of the organization’s decision to consider reinstating funding for cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers. Handel has been at the center of the firestorm surrounding the organization’s unpopular decision to sever ties with Planned Parenthood — a decision that was reversed just a few days later following a massive backlash from supporters and its own employees. ... Handel does not specifically defend the rules she pushed through, but decries the charity’s decision to reverse course, arguing that the proper procedure was followed: [statement] The idea that Komen wanted to stop funding cancer screenings for poor women to distance itself from controversy is particularly ironic, given that their decision accomplished just the opposite. The organization’s popularity has plummeted and they are already struggling to lure back donors. Handel not only has a long anti-choice history, but pledged to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2010. In the letter, Handel declines any severance package, which will allow her to speak openly about her differences with Komen.
Think Progress has THIS NEWS FLASH! BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Finds Proposition 8 Unconstitutional In a 2 to 1 ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed Judge Walker’s decision declaring that Proposition 8 violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution. “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the majority opinion. The Court clarified that their ruling is “unique and strictly limited” to California’s Proposition 8. Supporters of the measure can now either ask for a hearing before the full circuit or appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. It’s likely that the courts will maintain a stay on Walker’s ruling, preventing same-sex marriages from taking place. Read the decision HERE. Developing…
Dave Johnson over at OurFuture.org blogs Anti-Union FAA Bill Passes Congress The FAA reauthorization bill has passed Congress with its anti-union provisions. Once again big companies of the 1% were able to use their money and power to buy legislation that hurts 99% of us. And many Dems joined in. Watch the powerful video at the end of this post. TPM has the headline that just about covers it: Senate Dems Greenlight Key Anti-Union Bill [...] Michael McAuliff couldn't resist at HuffPoAOL Senate Passes FAA Bill With Anti-Union Measure ... Another bad day for labor, assisted by Senate Dems. CWA President Larry Cohen, saying the FAA Bill is an Attack on Workers: [Watch VIDEO!]
PRNewswire has this press release from the AFA-CWA Senate Passage of FAA Reauthorization Attacks Collective Bargaining Rights The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill that contained a vicious attack on bargaining rights for workers in the aviation and rail industries: "AFA has long been a proponent of passing a comprehensive funding bill that allows the FAA to move forward on vital safety and airport improvement projects that help to enhance the world's greatest aviation system. Corporate interests and right-wing ideologues took this vital piece of legislation and used it to destroy collective bargaining affecting workers across the country.
"The 157 House Democrats and 15 Democratic Senators who stood up for collective bargaining should be lauded as heroes. Still, the sneak attack against American workers slipped through this Congress. Elections have consequences and this vote will too. We will not forget and we will continue to build a movement of the 99% to stand up and fight back."
Then the New York Times editorializes about A Terrible Transportation Bill The list of outrages coming out of the House is long, but the way the Republicans are trying to hijack the $260 billion transportation bill defies belief. This bill is so uniquely terrible that it might not command a majority when it comes to a floor vote, possibly next week, despite Speaker John Boehner’s imprimatur. But betting on rationality with this crew is always a long shot. Here is a brief and by no means exhaustive list of the bill’s many defects... More whack-a-moles!
Brady Dennis at WaPo Business tells us Proposed settlement with banks over foreclosure practices dealt a setback New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman abruptly called off a news conference at which he could have provided a crucial endorsement of a proposed settlement with some of the nation’s biggest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices. Schneiderman’s unexplained last-minute postponement cast another cloud of uncertainty over the ongoing negotiations, which have dragged on for more than 16 months. State and federal officials have been intent on finalizing the deal by the end of the week. .... One person familiar with the negotiations said several banks wanted Schneiderman to withdraw a suit he filed on Friday against prominent financial firms, saying they had acted deceptively by filing erroneous and fraudulent foreclosure documents through a popular electronic mortgage registry designed to allow firms to save time and money by bypassing local property recording requirements. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing. It was unclear whether Schneiderman had intended on Tuesday to address the status of those lawsuits during the news conference. ... At 5:49 p.m., the office sent another alert saying that the call had been “postponed indefinitely.” The office did not respond to a request for comment. ...... Although fellow attorneys general prefer that Schneiderman support the deal, his long-standing criticism of the negotiations has caused acrimony and infighting. From the time he took office in January 2011, Schneiderman insisted that any robosigning settlement with banks should not grant a legal release from separate claims over how they bundled and sold mortgages to investors, a process known as “securitization.” Rather, he argued in favor of a more comprehensive investigation of mortgage-related misdeeds aimed at reaching a larger settlement with banks down the line. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, the top state official leading the negotiations, removed Schneiderman from the coalition’s executive committee last summer, saying he had “actively worked to undermine” the efforts to reach a settlement. The move backfired, with some lawmakers, editorial boards and liberal activists rallying behind Schneiderman and praising his skepticism of the talks and his push for more in-depth inquiries...... Shanthi Bharatwaj at TheStreet.com has more in Banks Get Respite -- Foreclosure Crisis Put on Hold New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman might be holding all the cards in a highly anticipated foreclosure settlement between the 50 states and the big banks. The deadline for the states to agree on the deal has been extended once again to Thursday from Monday, and it looks like negotiations could still fall through. States including California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and New York are yet to sign on to the deal and banks are reportedly balking at a recent lawsuit by the New York AG's office, according to recent press reports. Last Friday, Schneiderman sued Bank of America(BAC), JPMorgan Chase(JPM) andWells Fargo(WFC) over their use of Mortgage Electronic Registration System or MERS, an electronic mortgage database, saying it resulted in deceptive and illegal practices, including false documents used in foreclosure proceedings. ... Reports suggest that the New York AG might be willing to sign the settlement if it means he can proceed with his MERS lawsuit. That might be a deal-breaker for banks, however, who have been seeking immunity from future mortgage liability claims from states and believe that claims related to MERS must be included in the mortgage settlement.... Yes earlier in the week we were optimistic this deal would fall through. We'll let Yves Smith give the really bad news The Top Twelve Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement As readers may know by now, 49 of 50 states have agreed to join the so-called mortgage settlement, with Oklahoma the lone refusenik. Although the fine points are still being hammered out, various news outlets (New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal) have details, with Dave Dayen’s overview at Firedoglake the best thus far. The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that the SEC is about to launch some securities litigation against major banks. Since the statue of limitations has already run out on securities filings more than five years old, this means they’ll clip the banks for some of the very last (and dreckiest) deals they shoved out the door before the subprime market gave up the ghost. The various news services are touting this pact at the biggest multi-state settlement since the tobacco deal in 1998. While narrowly accurate, this deal is bush league by comparison even though the underlying abuses in both cases have had devastating consequences. The mortgage settlement terms have not been released, but more of the details have been leaked: .... 2. Schneiderman’s MERS suit survives, and he can add more banks as defendants. It isn’t clear what became of the Biden and Coakley MERS suits, but Biden sounded pretty adamant in past media presentations on preserving that. 3. Nevada’s and Arizona’s suits against Countrywide for violating its past consent decree on mortgage servicing has, in a new Orwellianism, been “folded into” the settlement. 4. The five big players in the settlement have already set aside reserves sufficient for this deal. Here are the top twelve reasons why this deal stinks: Go there to read all twelve! Unbelievable! This stinks. Then at businessinsider.com Julia La Roche watches Dick Bove Goes Ballistic Over The 'Mortgage Deal From Hell' Rochdale's Dick Bove went on a tirade this morning on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" claiming the joint state-federal mortgage settlement, which he dubbed in a note earlier as "the mortgage deal from hell," unfairly impacts those homeowners who pay their bills. "If you're going to do something which is going to reduce the value of existing homes where people are making payments then every American should stop making payments on his mortgages and send a letter to the Attorney General in his state and say 'I qualify to have my principal reduced because I'm not going to make any more payments on my house,'" Bove said. ... Go there and watch Bove's rant! Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi weighs in explaining Why the Foreclosure Deal May Not Be So Hot After All: ...However, now that the settlement is finalized, and I've had time to think about it and talk to people who know far more than I do about this, I'm feeling pretty queasy. It feels an awful lot like what happened here is the nation's criminal justice honchos collectively realized that a thorough investigation of the problem would require resources they simply do not have, or are reluctant to deploy, and decided to accept a superficially face-saving peace offer rather than fight it out. So they settled the case in a way that reads in headlines like it's a bite out of the banks, but in fact is barely even that. There will be little in the way of real compensation for stuggling (sic) homeowners, and there are serious issues in the area of the deal's enforceability. In fact, about the only part of the deal we can be absolutely sure will be honored in full is the liability waiver for the robosigning offenses. ...Really this looks like America's public prosecutors just wilted before the prospect of a long, drawn-out conflict with an army of highly-paid, determined white-shoe banker lawyers. The message this sends is that if you commit crimes on a large enough scale, and have enough high-priced legal talent sitting at the negotiating table after you get caught, the government will ultimately back down, conceding the inferiority of its resources.... My mistake in looking at this deal a few weeks ago, when details of it first leaked out, was in focusing on how much worse it could have been, instead of thinking about how bad it still is. The only acceptable foreclosure deal had to bring about a complete end to robosigning and the other similar corrupt practices that grew up around it ... But this deal not only doesn't end robosigning, it officially makes getting caught for it inexpensive. Shame on me for ever thinking that might be a good thing.
Also over at ZeroHedge.com is a Guest Post: Why Our Currency Will Fail submitted by ChrisMartenson.com The idea that the very same economic forces that are currently plaguing Greece, et al., are somehow not relevant to the United States' circumstances does not hold water. As goes the rest of the world, so goes the US. When we back up far enough, it is clear that money and debt are there to reflect and be in service to the production of real things by real people, not the other way around. With too much debt relative to production, it is the debt that will suffer. The same is true of money. Neither are magical substances; they are merely markers for real things. When they get out of balance with reality, they lose value, and sometimes even their entire meaning. This report lays out the case that the US is irretrievably down the rabbit hole of deficits and debt, and that, even if there were endless natural resources of increasing quality available at this point, servicing the debt loads and liabilities of the nation will require both austerity and a pretty serious fall in living standards for most people. ... And at the national level, if we say we are a nation of laws, but the Justice Department selectively prosecutes only the weak and relatively powerless while leaving the well-connected and moneyed entirely alone, then the narrative that says "we are a nation of blind justice and equal laws" falls apart. I wish this was just some idle rumination, but I see more and more examples validating the importance of alignment of narrative and behavior. Because when there is a disconnect between words and actions, anxiety and fear take root. Unfortunately, there is quite a lot to fear and be anxious about in the most recent State of the Union address and GOP response. The recent State of the Union speech by Obama, and its Republican response, are both remarkable for what they say as well as what they don't say. The summary is this: The status quo will be preserved at all costs. Here are a few examples of the sorts of disconnects between rhetoric and reality that are absolutely toxic to the morale of all who are paying the slightest bit of attention..... Good Read!
Check out this ASIA TIMES ONLINE EXCLUSIVE By Hamza Ameer and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud: Taliban eat into Afghanistan's core ISLAMABAD - As the United States steps up efforts to engage the Taliban and al-Qaeda in a peace process for Afghanistan, elements of the Taliban have initiated their own plan focusing on regaining the power they lost in 2001 following the US-led invasion. This involves hijacking the efforts and finances that the US is investing in training and equipping the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP). Well-placed sources in the Taliban who are based in the Pakistan tribal region on the border with Afghanistan have told Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity that massive numbers from both the ANA and the ANP will switch and join the Taliban on the eve of the scheduled withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. The US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) set a deadline for all security tasks to be transferred to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. However, this week, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that US troops would phase out their combat role by mid-2013. ..... The Taliban source claimed that leading commanders of both the ANA and the ANP had contacted Taliban leaders through tribal liaisons in southeastern, southwestern and northern Afghanistan and requested to join the Taliban unreservedly once the peace talks bore fruit and paved the way for the draw-down of foreign troops. Those peace talks are already a source of controversy. This week, the Afghan Taliban denied planning to hold preliminary talks with representatives from the Afghan government in Saudi Arabia. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said this was "not true". ... A top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban) commander, Mullah Nazeer Ahmad, independently confirmed the Taliban claims of planned defections from the ANA and the ANP. His militants hold sway in the South Waziristan tribal area and across the border in Afghanistan's Paktika, Zabul, Ghazni and Kandahar provinces. The sources refused to reveal the names or positions of the ANA an ANP commanders who had expressed a willingness to defect due to security reasons and the likelihood of retribution against them from the authorities. The sources said that they would join the Taliban with their arms caches. In light of this, the Taliban would stop attacking them as a sign of goodwill and focus on foreign troops.....
Next Steven Zunes of the University of San Fransisco writes about
Syrian Repression, the Chinese-Russian Veto, and U.S. Hypocrisy commondreams.org Published on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Foreign Policy in Focus As the Syrian regime continues to slaughter unarmed civilians, the major powers at the United Nations continue to put their narrow geopolitical agenda ahead of international humanitarian law. Just as France shields Morocco from accountability for its ongoing occupation and repression in Western Sahara and just as the United States shields Israel from having to live up to its obligations under international humanitarian law, Russia and China have used their permanent seats on the UN Security Council to protect the Syrian regime from accountability for its savage repression against its own citizens.On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the ongoing repression in Syria and calling for a halt to violence on all sides, unfettered access for Arab League monitors, and “a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs.” Although the joint Russian and Chinese veto of the resolution is inexcusable, the self-righteous reaction by U.S. officials betrays hypocrisy on a grand scale and fails to take into account a series of policy blunders that have contributed to the tragic impasse. Since 1970, China has used its veto power eight times, Russia (including the former Soviet Union) has used its veto power 13 times, and the United States has used its veto power 83 times, primarily in defense of allies accused of violating international humanitarian law. Forty-two of these U.S. vetoes were to protect Israel from criticism for illegal activities, including suspected war crimes. To this day, Israel occupies and colonizes a large swath of southwestern Syria in violation of a series of UN Security Council resolutions. Yet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insists that it is the Russians and Chinese who have “neutered” the Security Council’s ability to defend basic human rights..... Such double standards inevitably raise questions about what is actually motivating the United States and other Western powers, which have long been the primary backers of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and other Arab dictatorships that have unleashed state violence against unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators....
Please read all of this article.
Chomsky calls this the "International Community" aka "The Washington Consensus": Those that "go along" with "The Washington Consensus" are part of the "International Community".
Next Glenn Greenwald writes about Israel, MEK and state sponsor of Terror groups Lots to read there so here is the premise: One of the most under-reported political stories of the last year is the devoted advocacy of numerous prominent American political figures on behalf of an Iranian group long formally designated as a Terrorist organization under U.S. law. A large bipartisan cast has received substantial fees from that group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and has then become their passionate defenders. The group of MEK shills includes former top Bush officials and other Republicans (Michael Mukasey, Fran Townsend, Andy Card, Tom Ridge, Rudy Giuliani) as well as prominent Democrats (Howard Dean, Ed Rendell, Bill Richardson, Wesley Clark). As The Christian Science Monitor reported last August, those individuals “have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak in support of the MEK.” No matter what one thinks of this group – here is a summary of its activities – it is formally designated as a Terrorist group and it is thus a felony under U.S. law to provide it with any “material support.” There are several remarkable aspects to this story. ..... Yet here we have numerous American political figures receiving substantial fees from a group which is legally designated under American law as a Terrorist organization. .... Given all the prosecutions of politically powerless Muslims for far fewer connections to Terrorist groups than the actions of these powerful (paid) political figures, what conceivable argument is there for not prosecuting Dean, Giuliani, and the rest of them for providing “material support for Terrorism”? What they are providing to MEK is the definitive “material support.” Although these activities (along with those of the above-listed prosecuted Muslims) should be protected free speech, the U.S. Government has repeatedly imprisoned people for it.... Read all of it! It's unbelievable! At the end Greenwald lists these Four notes: (1) The book event I did with Noam Chomsky last November in Boston will be broadcast several times this weekend on C-SPAN; the schedule is here; (2) The New Zealand political journal Listener has an interview and profile of me and With Liberty and Justice for Some; (3) the video for two of the civil liberties events I did this week are now online: this one at Indiana University/Purdue and this one from Columbia University; and (4) I’ll be the keynote speaker at the annual dinner of the ACLU in Idaho tomorrow night; ticket information is here.
We think Erik Loomis said it best this week when he said about the KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE "This victory should remind us of the other beautiful places in the United States permanently destroyed by dirty energy's drive to maximize profit at the expense of ecological and human health." The TRANSNATIONAL EXTRACTION CORPORATIONS continue their Race To The Bottom while IGNORING SOUND GLOBAL SCIENCE by MONITIZING everything, with workers being the easiest to exploit for that positive profitable quarterly earnings report, destroying or disrupting entire cultures and ecosystems in their insatiable appetite for PROFIT driving the entire planet nearer to an Extinction Level Event. Rebecca Leber at ThinkProgress finds out BP Made $3 Million An Hour In 2011, While Spill Victims Continued To Suffer BP’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill is still affecting the lives of many Americans, particularly the tens of thousands that have not settled lawsuits with the company. Yet the company has bounced back from the billions it lost in the wake of the spill. BP announced today that its 2011 profit totaled $26 billion, a 114 percent jump from the year before, when the company’s “failure of supervision and accountability” caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history. As the company prepares for its upcoming trial, let’s take a look at how BP has made out after the Deepwater Horizon disaster... Go read the rest at Think Progress and while you're there check out these items at Joe Romm's Climate Progress NASA: Human Activity Causes Global Warming, Not Solar Activity
, Methane Emissions Measured Over Gas Field Double Industry Claims & Study: 'The Greater the Coverage of Climate Change, the Greater the Public Concern'
Erik Loomis at Alternet outlines the 5 Amazing Places in the US in Danger of Being Destroyed by Dirty Energy (h/t bob) We've won a temporary reprieve from the Keystone XL Pipeline, but there are still places greatly at risk in the country. ... This victory should remind us of the other beautiful places in the United States permanently destroyed by dirty energy's drive to maximize profit at the expense of ecological and human health. Here are five American places under grave threat from the fossil fuel industry. NUMBER ONE: WEST VIRGINIA - Nowhere in the United States has suffered more damage from the energy industry than West Virginia. The early-20th-century coal industry ran the isolated valleys of West Virginia as a medieval fiefdom until the United Mine Workers brought the industry to heel. Today, the coal industry has turned to mountaintop removal to pull the coal from the mountains. This process blows up mountains, allowing the companies to shovel out the coal at low cost. The pulverized land is dumped into the valleys below, choking streambeds and exposing local residents to hazardous chemicals. It leads to the erosion and deforestation that has contributed to widespread local flooding over the past decade. While profitable for industry, mountaintop removal is a disaster for humans and ecology. Recent studies have shown abnormally high birth defect rates in counties afflicted by mountaintop removal. The coal industry's insulting response to this study was to suggest incest was the real culprit. Even though impoverished West Virginians are desperate for coal jobs, local residents have organized to fight mountaintop removal. Groups like Mountain Justice draw attention to mountaintop removal's horrors , but while environmentalists are aware of the problem, halting the practice has never been at the top of progressives' national agenda. It should be. This is the greatest environmental and human health disaster happening in the United States today. Click over for the other four, no less important. While you're over there check out these at the AlterNet Enviro desk New Tool Reveals Country's Most Polluted Places: How Close Do You Live?, Conservatives Use Creationist Playbook to Attack Climate Change Education in Schools and Why a Likely Natural Event Could Cause Nuclear Reactors to Melt Down and Our Grid to Crash.
FUKUSHIMA UPDATE: from BeyondNuclear.org Extraordinary music video: Japanese youth speak truth to power in aftermath of Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe FRYING DUTCHMAN humanERROR rocks the street with spoken word in an anguished, angry, yet hopeful, inspiring, and empowering "No Nukes!" marathon jam session. On Saturday Japan holds peaceful march against nuclear power (Mail & Guardian, NZ) Thousands of Japanese joined a march against nuclear power as worries grow about the restarting of reactors idled after the March 11 meltdown disaster in north-eastern Japan. Harvey Wasserman writes at freepress.org We may yet lose Tokyo….not to mention Alaska…and now Georgia, too As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a construction/operating license for two new reactors in Georgia, alarming reports from Japan indicate the Fukushima catastrophe is far from over. Thousands of tons of intensely radioactive spent fuel are still in serious jeopardy. Radioactive trash and water are spewing into the environment. And nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen reports that during the string of disasters following March 11, 2011's earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima 1's containment cap may actually have lifted off its base, releasing dangerously radioactive gasses and opening a gap for an ensuing hydrogen explosion. There are some two dozen of these Mark I-style containments currently in place in the US. ..... But the biggest shock waves this week were caused by Tama University Professor Hiroshi Tasaka, a key advisor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan during the Fukushima disaster. Warning that Fukushima is "far from over," Tasaka said official assurances of the complex's alleged safety were based on "groundless optimism." Tasaka cited more than 1500 fuel rods dangerously exposed to the open atmosphere at Unit Four alone. The waste problem has gone nationwide, he said in a newly published book, as "the storage capacities of the spent fuel pools at the nation's nuclear power plants are reaching their limits." Tasaka's statements came as a new temperature spike unexpectedly stuck Fukushina Unit Two. For reasons not yet clear, heat releases in excess of 158 degrees Farenheit spewed from the core, prompting Tokyo Electric to pump in more water and boric acid meant to damp down an apparently on-going chain reaction. Prof. Tasaka and others warn that this in turn will contribute to spreading still more radiation into the water table and oceans...... More info at NukeFree.org.
All this reminds us of the intro to Busta Rhymes "Extinction Level Event".

READ ALONG!

But I'm afraid the endtime is near. The cataclysmic apocalypse referred to in the scriptures of every holy book known to mankind. It will be an era fraught with boundless greed and corruption, where global monetary systems disintegrate, leaving brother to kill brother for a grain of over-cooked rice. The nations of the civilized world will collapsed, under the oppressive weight of parasitic political conspiracies, which remove all hope and optimism from their once faithful citizens. Around the globe, generations of polluters will be punished for their sins. Unshielded by the o-zone layer they have successfully depleted, left to bake in the searing, naked rays of light. Wholesale assassinations serve to destabilize every remaining government. Leaving the starving and wicked to fend for themselves. Blood-thirsty renegade cyborgs, created by tax-dodging corporations, wreak havoc. Pissed off androids, tired of being slaves to a godless and gutless system where the rich get richer and the poor get fucked over and out, unleash total worldwide destruction by means of nuclear holocaust, annihilating the terrified masses, leaving in its torturous wake nothing but vicious, cannibalistic, mutated, and horribly disfigured hordes of satanic killers bent on revenge, but against whom? There are so few left alive. Starvation reigns supreme, forcing unlucky survivors to eat anything and anyone in their path. Massive earthquakes crack the planets crust like a hollow eggshell, causing unending volcanic eruptions. The creatures of the seven seas, unable to escape to certain death upon land, boil in their liquid prison. Disease encircles the Earth. Plagues and viruses with no known cause or cure laying waste to whatever draws breath. And humankind, having proven itself to be nothing more than a race of ruthless scavengers, fall victim to merciless attack at the hands of interplanetary alien tribes, who seek to conquer our charred remains. This is extinction level event: the final world front and there is only one year left.

So maybe instead of getting those blood diamond earrings for Valentine's Day maybe get your loved one a goat or a tribe of goats or a dozen chicks or maybe a donkey and a donkey cart or an entire farmer's flock providing traditional herders with additional livestock (one cow and a pair of sheep)! All available at OxFamAmericaUnwrapped: "Consider the unusual from Oxfam America Unwrapped for your next occasion. Browse our charitable gifts and select a unique gift for a friend or loved one. Your friend gets a card, and the money goes to those who need it most." If animals aren't your thang then maybe check out a hill of beans or fruit trees or irrigate a farmer's land for 4 months or even a cooking stove! Of course nothing says "I love you" like manure: "This green gift transforms waste into power—agricultural power. Organic manure increases crop yields and is cheaper, greener, and safer than chemical fertilizers. So, show your loved ones that you really "give a $%@#" for our planet." Haha! With so many whack-a-moles working on so many Extinction Level Events at the same time these gifts may help abate some of those effects now. If enough people do this we may even be able to begin reversing some!
Our LAST WORD comes from Tim Kinnaird's comments who posted this at the article in Asia Times:

Victory will be declared, freshly liberated school children and women will be paraded about, peace shall reign! Both "equal partners", that is until the cameras are switched off. Then, surely as night follows day, Karzei will be dumped overboard, along with his "liberated" citizens. And thus, our "Operaton Enduring Freeom" will sink with nary a murmur, a footnote for a gravestone. Amnesia will block our ears and blind our eyes, -a mere channel flick away. Afghanistan will fall to the floor, the discarded toy of a malevolent child. Worry not, nor envy the psychopath's sleep, for the horror we have wrought. All corpses rot to dust, and true human remains are found only in the minds of orphans and hearts of widows. And they too do soon turn to dust. And for all the hawks who "loved" our troops, who brayed for the bombs, the air strikes, the torture and the murder, who cheered the bravery of our soldiers, will dare not brave the stares of our victims: here come the bereaved, zombied by misery, their eyes painted in pictures of their dead. They trail galleries of the thousands, hundreds of thousands killed for nothing but our policy failures. What one thousandth child would not break your faith, what one thousandth child would not now, in the candle light of your private thought, make every cheek blush? Take heart, it is almost over. We still yet have a few more of our young men to sacrifice. As life's last light leaves the eyes of another dead soldier, who in the acute brilliance of his youth and innocence, set down childish things to take up our banners, and die in this wasteland, please whisper a reason. Say anything, pretend anything, give them something to hold on to. Only you who supported this war will be left alone to live with your reasons.

Make no mistake there will be plenty of those who supported all the wars on yer Sunday Funnies! The WH Limo picks up the brand new White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to spew forth on a host of subjects on ALL the major Bobblehead Shows. Then you have brick targets MITCH "no neck" MCCONNELL on Face the Bob, RICK SANITARIUM on Meet the David and State of the Candy and PAUL RYAN on This Snufagopolis plus JOE "Israel First" LIEBERMAN on Candy too and LIZZARD CHENEY on the ABC roundtable. Save some big bricks for Queen Moran SARAH PALIN on Fake Snooze! The Brick TeeVee crew finished digging out of our first real big snowfall and now have stocked up on adult beverages for Sunday night's 54th GRAMMY AWARDS! Stay warm, read on and have a great week!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» Chris Woods, Award-winning reporter with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London @ Democracy NOW! U.S. Accused of Using Drones to Target Rescue Workers and Funerals in Pakistan Feb 6, 2012

»»» Patrick Seale leading British writer on the Middle East @ Democracy NOW! A Struggle for Regional Supremacy: Syria Conflict Escalates as World Powers Debate Assad’s Future Feb 7, 2012

»»» Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights @ Democracy NOW! U.S. Maintains Embargo of Cuba After 50 Years, Despite International Condemnation RELATED: "Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away with Murder": New Book Ties Johnson Admin to Guevara’s Death Feb 7, 2012

»»» Nicholas Peart of the Brotherhood/Sister Sol & Jamel Mims, organizer with the Stop Mass Incarceration Network @ Democracy NOW! Ramarley Graham: NYPD Slays Unarmed Black Teen as Outrage over Targeting of People of Color Grows Feb 8, 2012

»»» Paul Roberts, adviser on international media and communications, the President’s Office, Republic of Maldives @ Democracy NOW! He is currently in an undisclosed location as he fears his own arrest. Coup in Maldives: Adviser to Ousted Pres. Mohamed Nasheed Speaks Out from Hiding as Arrest Sought RELATED: Ousted Maldives Pres. Mohamed Nasheed a Leading Voice for Island States Threatened by Global Warming with 350.org's BillMcGibbon & filmmaker Jon Schenk Feb 9, 2012

»»» YVES SMITH @ Democracy NOW! 50-State, $25B Mortgage Settlement: Relief for Struggling Homeowners or Bailout for Big Banks? Feb 10, 2012

»»» NYT's Charles Duhigg & Mike Daisey playwright and actor @ Democracy NOW! Apple, Accustomed to Profits and Praise, Faces Outcry for Labor Practices at Chinese Factories

»»» Reed Brody counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch in Brussels @ Democracy NOW! Spanish Judge Garzón Disbarred in Trial Seen as Retaliation for Trailblazing Human Rights Work Feb 10, 2012

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders

»»» FEATURED SHOW United Supreme Koch I'm just checking that everybody saw this. I particularly like the musical selection. Says Josh Bolotsky of The Other 98%: "On the second anniversary of the Citizens United decision, we joined together with the Backbone Campaign to bathe the Supreme Court building with giant dollar signs. The video turned out great, and has received a pretty incredible reception." “The Kochs and their kind are engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of our nation’s political system,” said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. “We’ve come to the scene of the crime today – the U.S. Supreme Court – to tell the justices exactly what we think of the infamous Citizens United ruling that made that takeover possible.” Enjoy.

BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©

»»» PBA on ESPN It's the WSOB CHAMELEON OPEN! Coverage begins at 3 pm et

»»» NASCAR on SPEED Daytona week is coming! Shootout practices next Saturday!

»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Celtics @ Bulls 8 pm et then Clippers @ Blazers 10:30 pm et

BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©

The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

Our permit to occupy public squares and parks is in The First Amendment, which affirms “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” When people across the Middle East occupied public squares, leaders in Washington mostly cheered those protesters and warned Middle Eastern governments not to use force to clear them. Those other societies don’t have a First Amendment. Yet Washington affirmed the universal right to assembly and protest. We do have a First Amendment. The force being used to clear nonviolent protesters from public squares in our country is unacceptable. It must stop.

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress

Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org A Push for Privacy in the Wake of the Carrier IQ Controversy Remember Carrier IQ, the company that makes the secret spying software that’s installed on more than 140 million phones? You know, the software that can record our most sensitive personal data? ... Thanks in part to the 22,000 people who joined Free Press’ call for a congressional investigation, some of those questions are closer to being answered and mobile users are closer to being protected. The protection comes in the form of a bill from Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey. Markey released a draft of a bill called the “Mobile Device Privacy Act” that would require phone companies to disclose to users just what is being done with all of their data. If the bill passes, an opt-out provision would go into effect a year later and would require companies to allow users to opt out of data-collection schemes like the one developed by Carrier IQ........

CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org

MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com

SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.

UPDATE! BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE: Robert Parry Exclusive America’s Debt to Bradley Manning So, it was useful to examine the WikiLeaks documents regarding the election of the new IAEA leader in 2009 to understand why this flip may have occurred. What those classified State Department cables show is that the IAEA’s new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, credited his victory largely to U.S. government support and promptly stuck his hand out for U.S. money. Further, Amano left little doubt that he would side with the United States in its confrontation with Iran and that he would even meet secretly with Israeli officials regarding their purported evidence on Iran’s nuclear program, despite the fact that Israel is arguably the world’s preeminent rogue nuclear state and rejects IAEA inspections of its own nuclear sites. According to U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA’s headquarters, American diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance U.S. interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t. ..... In private, Amano agreed to “consultations” with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. (It is ironic indeed that Amano would have secret contacts with Israeli officials about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, which has yet to yield a single bomb, when Israel possesses a large and undeclared nuclear arsenal.) In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano “took pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that … he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. “More candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain ‘constructive ambiguity’ about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December” 2009. In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to bend in directions favored by the United States and Israel, especially regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Amano’s behavior surely contrasts with how the more independent-minded ElBaradei resisted some of Bush’s key claims about Iraq’s supposed nuclear weapons program, denouncing some documents as forgeries. Today, with some Republican presidential contenders falling over themselves to bond with Israel over its desire to attack Iran, this sort of detail puts the IAEA report into a fuller context that can help American voters judge whether another war is necessary or whether they’re being misled again by hyped allegations. More at link...

DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

B R I C K T E E V E E

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THEY report. YOU throw bricks. ©
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The essential guide for watching government propaganda

IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011

AFGHANISTAN: 1,893 US Military Dead as of Feb 9, 2012

The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises

Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos

• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'

• Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum

• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew

• House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis

• ROUNDTABLE: George Will, political strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile, Fox News contributor and co-founder of Keep America Safe Liz Cheney, and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer this Sunday: Live from Miami

• GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX)

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew
60 Minutes (CBS) "60 Minutes Presents: Three Remarkable Women," a special hour hosted by Morley Safer

• Deception at Duke - Scott Pelley reports on a Duke University oncologist whose supervisor says he manipulated the data in his study of a breakthrough cancer therapy. Kyra Darnton is the producer.

• India's Gold -The demand for gold in India accounts for an amazing 32 percent of the worldwide market for the precious metal. And no wonder. The most important tradition at nearly all the 10 million annual weddings in India is the lavish gold jewelry. Byron Pitts reports. David Schneider is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory

• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!

• GOP Hopeful Rick Santorum

• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew

• ROUNDTABLE: head of the Super PAC supporting Pres. Obama, Bill Burton; Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan; Washington Post's EJ Dionne, and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough.
State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN)

At 9 AM ET, Candy talks to the power players: politicians, business leaders and international newsmakers who will make Monday morning's headlines. At NOON ET, Candy wraps it all up with fresh interviews and the best of the earlier hours.

• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew

• Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum

• Sen. Joseph Lieberman

• Reporter Panel: CNN’s Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash, and Time Magazine’s Washington Bureau Chief Mike Duffy.
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.

• PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Super Pope/Rabbi/Imam Bob whacks some moles! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW

• THORN IN THE SIDE THURSDAY!!!!! with Sesame Street & Justice SOTOMAYOR and some CPAC coverage too!! And of course the rest of the H.O.R.N. family chimes in! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW

Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!

BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!

• 'Green News Report' - February 9, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Santorum down the rabbit hole; New nukes for the US; Clean energy breakthroughs: seaweed ethanol, highest efficiency solar panels ever, plastic-eating fungus; PLUS: 'Betty Crocker Solar Power Cake Powder' ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Interior Dept drilling reg enforcement is ‘erratic’, ‘inadequate’; Green economy lost fewer jobs in Great Recession; Big Oil: record profits by pumping less gas; Sea to submerge Louisiana by 2100: study; Frustrated fracking co. begins eminent domain proceedings against homeowners; 9/11 experiment shows whales affected by human noise; Wind energy does not contribute to global warming ... PLUS: Good news: Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years: study ... and much, MUCH more! ...

Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

Listen at PeterBCollins.com!

The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.

• Holiday Break and Website Changes
• PBC Podcast 374 Barry C. Lynn of Harper’s on the New Monopolies; Prof. Elaine Hagopian on the Syrian Civil WarBarry C. Lynn of New America Foundation talks about his cover story in February Harper’s; Prof. Hagopian offers detailed hystory of Syria and her views on the civil war.
• PBC Podcast 377 Boiling Frogs: Shahid Buttar Fights For the Bill of Rights, Against NDAA and Police State Shahid Buttar of BORDC on the struggle to maintain our Constitutional rights in the face of our emerging police state, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds.

• PBC Standard Podcast 9/11 Case Against Cheney and Rumsfeld Thrown Out–Attorney Bill Veale Explains; Blogger Steve Horn Reveals Warren Buffet’s Profit Plans for Keystone-XL Pipeline Attorney William Veale talks about dismissal with sanctions of case against Cheney and Rumsfeld for liability for events of 9/11; Steve Horn of DeSmogBlog reveals how Warren Buffet is poised to profit from Keystone-XL pipeline.

• PBC Standard Podcast Stanford Prof. Joel Brinkley Exposes Rampant Drug Use by Afghan Troops; Prof. Steven Zunes Hammers All Hypocrites in UN Syria Resolution Veto Stanford Journalism Prof. Joel Brinkley talks about his recent column about the hopeless war in Afghanistan; USF Prof. Stephen Zunes on the rampant hypocrisy on all sides in the UN Syria resolution veto.
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder

Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.

This Week on Ring of Fire! February 10, 2012

• Eric Boehlert from Media Matters will be here to tell us how Fox News has actually helped destroy the Republican Party.

• Documentary film director Josh Fox will join us for a discussion about why he was thrown out of Congress last week.

• Author Corey Robin will join us to talk about how the conservative culture of the Republican Party was created to help keep the lower classes of society in their place.

• Author and Nation magazine contributor Ari Berman will tell us how the GOP is trying to re-segregate the South.

• And Laura Clawson, labor editor for The Daily Kos, will join us to talk about how rich executives are squeezing everything from their workers, while playing the victim to the public.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: How The Right Wing Assault on Unions Backfired When a cabal of right wing governors took power in 2010, they had a list of goals that they wanted to accomplish to make sure that they stayed in power as long as possible. On the very top of that list of goals was to demonize and then systematically destroy America’s unions and the entire organized labor movement. By doing that, they believed that they would effectively kill one of the largest Democratic fundraisers in the country. But as we’ve seen in places like Wisconsin and Ohio, the attacks on unions are backfiring, and have created a massive backlash. But that hasn’t stopped the right wing attacks on organized labor, and Mike Papantonio spoke with Nation correspondent John Nichols recently to get some insight into the GOP war on unions.

• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.

• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the “Podcast” tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!

Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• Robert Kuttner on the Prospect of Banks Doing the Perp Walk [02•06•12]

• Sara Robinson on the Paradigm Shift in American Politics [02•07•12]

• Ari Berman on the Resegregation of the South [02•08•12]

• Sarah Posner on the Birth Control / Freedom of Religion Controversy [02•09•12]

• Jeff Smith on the OWS Bus & Black Bloc in Occupy Wall Street [02•09•12]

MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"

WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts “The Truth About Markets” on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s “People & Power” series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.

• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!

• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page

• Scientists melt mystery over icecaps and sea levels by stacyherbert - STACY SUMMARY: Once again, more precise satellite data which has been collected in past few years providing more precise data for scientists to understand the totality of our great ( in terms of size and complexity) ecosystem in which satellite data is now confirming sea levels are rising exactly in the range as predicted by paper models: READ Scientists melt mystery over icecaps and sea levels (bloomberg)

• Gold/Silver Vigilante No. 1 Throws Down! See Eric King interviews Eric Sprott – Extremely important interview and listen to the mp3

• KEISER REPORT Warren Pollock responds to Keiser Report interview with Gonzalo Lira

• KEISER REPORT [KR246] Keiser Report: It’s All Legal, Folks! We discuss the supercommittee that runs America, the perils of Draghi’s “blitz” and the IMF turnaround on austerity for Greece. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Gonzalo Lira about austerity, printing and running.

• KEISER REPORT [KR247] Keiser Report: Black Holes & Gold Hills We discuss the latest discoveries of blackholes in the financial universe and the populations growing permanently poorer as a result. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Dr. Yanis Varoufakis about financial horror, a currency from which you can’t escape and the Greek situation.

• KEISER REPORT [KR248] Keiser Report: FBI vs Gold Standard ‘Extremists’ We discuss the gold standard extremism and how your dollar got to be worth just 3.8 cents. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Francine McKenna of reTheAuditors.com about the crimes and illegitimate activity of the MF Global collapse.

• ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Michael Hudson Posted on January 29, 2012 by stacyherbert

• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-352] The Truth About Markets – 11 February 2012 Download show HERE (mp3)

• Donate to ResonanceFM here!
ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton

LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!

Listen at antiwar.com/radio

• Jacob Hornberger February 5, 2012: Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses “The War on Terrorism, the Constitution, and Civil Liberties” college speaking tour, featuring Jacob, Bruce Fein and Glenn Greenwald from February 6th-9th; the rising tide of Americans who refuse to trade liberty for “security,” 9/11 justification be damned; reasserting the legal and constitutional limitations on government power; and the slippery slope of War on Terror abuses, such that the indefinite detention and torture of American citizens is the new normal.

• Flynt Leverett February 5, 2012: Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses his article “Hype or Reality: Will Israel Attack Iran Before the U.S. Presidential Election;” Israel’s inability to cripple Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities without putting boots on the ground; why the US may not join the fight if Iran’s response is limited and doesn’t result in American casualties; how Obama’s “feckless” style of leadership is failing to dissuade Bibi Netanyahu from attacking Iran; indications that Mossad accepts the 2007 Iran NIE’s conclusions, and isn’t eager to start a war; Israel’s policy choices in response to the Arab Spring; and the lost opportunity in 2003 to engage Iran in talks, which could have converted Hamas and Hezbollah into demilitarized political organizations.

• Muhammad Sahimi February 7, 2012: Muhammad Sahimi, Professor of Chemical Engineering and political columnist on Iran issues, discusses the latest anti-Iran talking point from World Net Daily and serial propagandist Reza Kahlili (“Ayatollah: Kill all Jews, annihilate Israel“); what Alireza Forghani, the blogger in question, really said about Israel and preemptive strikes; and why many Americans want to believe every anti-Muslim propaganda piece they see.

• Chris Woods February 7, 2012: Chris Woods, documentary producer and freelancer for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, discusses his article “Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals;” why these attacks qualify as state terrorism by any sensible definition; how the MSM enables government officials to smear their critics behind a veil of anonymity; the circumstantial evidence that former CIA Director Leon Panetta was responsible for the targeting of rescuers and funeral goers; and why the time is ripe for formal investigations, now that Obama himself has outed the “secret” war in Pakistan.

Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!

john amato michael steele
fauxnews

• White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew

• former Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brick TeeVee - THEY report. YOU throw bricks. ©

We're here because you're there. ©

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Brick TeeVee's Groundhog Day Whack-a-Mole Edition!

2012-02-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

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ALL LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW!!!
Click on anything below and be INSTANTLY SMARTER!
GROUNDHOG DAY WHACK-A-MOLE No matter what the topic or the policy the RW'rs keep coming like moles in a whack-a-mole game, from abortion and education to tax policy and foreign policy. Just when you think they've gone away another pops up somewhere else. And the Left/Liberal/Progressive side is once again on the defense. So to start here are a couple of long essays at tomdispatch. We think they go together. First Our Man in Pipelineistan Pepe Escobar Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Sinking the Petrodollar in the Persian Gulf then this item posted by Tom Engelhardt Tomgram: Engelhardt, Iran Through the Looking Glass both good important reads. When you're done with those check out MJ Rosenberg Senior Foreign Policy Fellow, Media Matters Action Network who explains at HuffPoAol Why the Term "Israel First" Matters The term "Israel Firster" is my flashlight. I certainly set off a firestorm with my use of the term "Israel Firster ." Other people use it too but I was the guy who popularized it recently and who used it hundreds of times. The others who utilize the term did so occasionally, often citing me. So I am the main "miscreant" on this score. And I am proud that I created the controversy because it is an important one. It is important because the underlying issue is not whether the term is polite (it isn't, merely accurate) but whether or not America is going to end up at war with Iran. Rosenberg makes note This year AIPAC's huge Washington conference will be almost exclusively dedicated to pushing war with Iran. It takes place the first week in March. For those interested see the OCCUPY AIPAC 2012 Schedule! Nice whack-a-mole opportunity! Then Glenn Greenwald reports ACLU sues Obama administration over assassination secrecy The ACLU yesterday filed a lawsuit against various agencies of the Obama administration — the Justice and Defense Departments and the CIA — over their refusal to disclose any information about the assassination of American citizens. In October, the ACLU filed a FOIA request demanding disclosure of the most basic information about the CIA’s killing of 3 American citizens in Yemen: Anwar Awlaki and Samir Khan, killed by missiles fired by a U.S. drone in September, and Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, killed by another drone attack two weeks later. The ACLU’s FOIA request sought merely to learn the legal and factual basis for these killings — meaning: tell us what legal theories you’ve adopted to secretly target U.S. citizens for execution, and what factual basis did you have to launch these specific strikes? The DOJ and CIA responded not only by refusing to provide any of this information, but refused even to confirm if any of the requested documents exist; in other words, as the ACLU put it yesterday, “these agencies are saying the targeted killing program is so secret that they can’t even acknowledge that it exists.” That refusal is what prompted yesterday’s lawsuit (in December, the New York Times also sued the Obama administration after it failed to produce DOJ legal memoranda “justifying” the assassination program in response to a FOIA request from reporters Charlie Savage and Scott Shane, but the ACLU’s lawsuit seeks disclosure of both the legal and factual bases for these executions). From a certain perspective, there’s really only one point worth making about all of this: if you think about it, it is warped beyond belief that the ACLU has to sue the U.S. Government in order to force it to disclose its claimed legal and factual bases for assassinating U.S. citizens without charges, trial or due process of any kind. It’s extraordinary enough that the Obama administration is secretly targeting citizens for execution-by-CIA; that they refuse even to account for what they are doing — even to the point of refusing to disclose their legal reasoning as to why they think the President possesses this power — is just mind-boggling. Truly: what more tyrannical power is there than for a government to target its own citizens for death — in total secrecy and with no checks — and then insist on the right to do so without even having to explain its legal and factual rationale for what it is doing? Could you even imagine what the U.S. Government and its media supporters would be saying about any other non-client-state country that asserted and exercised this power? But there’s one abuse that deserves special attention here: namely, the way in which the Obama administration manipulates and exploits its secrecy powers. ........ But when it comes time to account in a court or under the law for the legal authority and factual basis for what they have done — in other words, when it comes time to demonstrate that they are actually acting legally when doing it — then, suddenly, everything changes. When they face the rule of law, then the program is so profoundly classified that it cannot be spoken of at all — indeed, the administration cannot even confirm or deny that it exists — and it therefore cannot be scrutinized by courts at all. Worse, they not only invoke these secrecy claims to avoid the ACLU and NYT‘s FOIA requests, but they also invoked it when Awlaki’s father sued them and asked a court to prevent President Obama from executing his son without a trial. When forced to justify their assassination program in court, the Obama DOJ insisted that the program was so secretive that it could not even safely confirm that it existed — it’s a state secret – and thus no court could or should review its legality (see p.43 of the DOJ’s brief and Panetta’s Affidavit in the Awlaki lawsuit). As the ACLU said yesterday:

There’s only one place in the world where these programs cannot be discussed: in American courts

You can catch Glenn Greenwald along with Bruce Fein and FFF President Jacob Hornberger LIVE at the Future of Freedom Foundation's discussion The War on Terrorism, the Constitution, and Civil Liberties college tour all this week. Watch LIVE at the link Feb 6-9 or attend at Columbia U. (Mon), Purdue/Indiana Y. (Tue), Middle Tennessee State (Wed), and The Ohio State University (Thu)! See website for details! "SOPA, PIPA, ACTA … What’s Next?" asks Washington's Blog trying to whack the next internet mole in ACTA: “Would Usurp Congressional Authority”, “Threatens Numerous Public Interests”, a “Backroom Special Interest Deal”, a “Masquerade” We just beat back SOPA and PIPA with the web blackout. Now everyone is talking about ACTA. But – because ACTA is complicated, and is just starting to receive coverage – most are not sure exactly what ACTA really is, or why we should be concerned about it. We’ll give you an executive summary of what you need to know. Instead of giving you the specifics about what’s actually in the bill (we provide links at the end for those who want to know), we’ll explain why the procedure used is a recipe for disaster. Why are we stressing procedure over substance? Because, as awful as ACTA is, there are other horrible bills such as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement waiting in the wings … which may be even worse than ACTA. Unless we understand the rotten, anti-democratic process which is causing these bad bills to be introduced, we will be caught off-guard by the introduction of one draconian bill after another … and we will lose the fight for Internet freedom. (The problem is that powerful men are making laws in secret to protect their interests.) Please read this important article and see the links at the end including this one at GlobalResearch.ca The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): The Corporate Usurpation of the Internet by Nile Bowie ... The treaty is not limited solely to internet-related matters. ACTA would prohibit the production of generic pharmaceuticals and outlaw the use of certain seeds for crops through patents, furthering the corporate cartelization of the food and drug supply. ACTA would allow companies from any participating country (which include EU member states, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Morocco) to shut down websites without any explanation. .... The further monopolization of the existing resources of communication, exchange and expression is ever present in the form of deceptive new articles of legislation that unanimously call for the implementation of the same austere censorship measures. Even if the ACTA treaty is not implemented, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TTP) between Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Vietnam and the United States offers more extensive intellectual property regulations. Leaked documents prepared by the U.S. Business Coalition (which have been reportedly drafted by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Motion Picture Association of America) report that in addition to ACTA-style legislation, the TTP will impose fines on non-compliant entities and work to extend the general period of copy write terms on individual products. Under the sweeping regulations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, individual infringers will be criminalized and sentenced with the same severity as large-scale offenders. Within the United States, the recently announced Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) H.R. 3782 regulation seeks to install policies largely identical to SOPA and PIPA. The Obama administration is also working towards an Internet ID program, which may be mandatory for American citizens and required when renewing passports, obtaining federal licenses, or applying for social security. Spreading these dangerous measures to other countries participating in these treaties would necessitate a binding obligation on the US to retain these policies, averting any chance of reform. ACTION: Check out LaQuadrature for How to act against ACTA.
Next Yves Smith discusses ProPublica’s Off Base Charges About Freddie Mac’s Mortgage “Bets” The storyline in this piece is neat, plausible, and utterly wrong. And my e-mail traffic indicates that people who are reasonably finance savvy but don’t know the mortgage bond space have bought the uninformed and conspiratorial ProPublica thesis hook, line, and sinker. This is very long and detailed but go read and pay attention! Of course, armed with ProPublica's disinformation spread throughout the CorporoMedia another RW whack-a-mole pops up Republicans unveil Fannie, Freddie overhaul bills reporting by Ronald D. Orol and Greg Robb, MarketWatch , Charles Mead of Medill News Service A group of Republican lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a package of bills to overhaul the troubled government-seized housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including a measure to force the administration to more quickly raise the fee the two firms charge for guaranteeing mortgage securities they sell to investors. In addition, the group of lawmakers, all members of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced a bill that would limit the pay packages of executives and employees at the two firms, one that would eliminate their affordable housing goals and a provision to expedite an existing White House plan to reduce the size of their trillion-dollar-plus portfolio of mortgages. ... Rep. Spencer Bachus ... Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Texas ... Rep. Jeb Hensarling ... Rep. Judy Biggert (R., Ill.) ... all whack-a-mole targets.
Now unless you've been living in a cave you may have heard about the Susan G. Komen race halts grants to Planned Parenthood (stltoday.com in their "lifestyles" section?) Here's the money quote: Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress - a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups. .... this applies to Planned Parenthood because it's the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions. This is astonishing! (but not surprising for the whack-a-mole religious right regressives). Here's karoli at crooksandliars
Susan G Komen Foundation Pulls Breast Cancer Screening Grants From Planned Parenthood Gosh. Right-wing pressure, you say? Here's a look at some of the key players in a decision like this. There is Julie Teer, VP Development, who also was a key Romney fundraiser in 2008. There is Komen's new senior Vice President of Public Policy, Karen Handel, who has stated publicly that she does not support Planned Parenthood and vowed to de-fund screenngs back in 2010.

First, let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood. During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a “Healthy Babies Initiative.” The grant was authorized, regulated, administered and distributed through the State of Georgia. Because of the criteria, regulations and parameters of the grant, Planned Parenthood was the only eligible vendor approved to meet the state criteria. Additionally, none of the services in any way involved abortions or abortion-related services. In fact, state and federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion related services and I strongly support those laws.

Because breast cancer screenings are just like abortions, don't you know?
Their excuse seems to be concerns over this ridiculous and unfounded investigation started by winger Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-CO). But you know, abortions aren't breast cancer screenings, and breast cancer screenings do not result in more abortions. No. This is a charity who claims to be dedicated to women's health acting as a de facto death panel. Of course, it will mostly affect poor women, so what do they care, right? There will be much more from me on this topic, but for now, could you do two things? First, sign this act.ly petition protesting their decision. And second, please consider supporting Planned Parenthood with your voice or your dollars as you can spare? We urge you to spend some time reading at Gayle Sulk's pinkribbonblues.org and her book "The Book: In this compelling and provocative work, Sulik shows that while "pink ribbon culture" has brought breast cancer much attention, it has not had the desired effect of improving women's health. It may, in fact, have done the opposite." But wait! There's more! Head On Radio Chatter BENE says "You might want to check out Barbara Ehrenreich's Welcome to Cancerland" (Harper's, 2001). It's about Komen and the marketization of breast cancer." And adds "Think Before You Pink™, a project of Breast Cancer Action, launched in 2002 in response to the growing concern about the number of pink ribbon products on the market. The campaign calls for more transparency and accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions." Head On Radio Chatter sparkydunc adds "Have you heard about this? Pink Ribbons Inc: A Devastating New Film on Komen, Breast Cancer — and Pink Good items in the Head On Radio chat room! And then Judd Legum posts this EXCLUSIVE: Ari Fleischer Secretly Helped Guide Komen Strategy On Planned Parenthood at ThinkProgress Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation’s disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the position of “Senior Vice President for Communications and External Relations” at Komen last December. According to a source with first-hand knowledge, Fleischer drilled prospective candidates during their interviews on how they would handle the controversy about Komen’s relationship with Planned Parenthood. Fleischer’s relationship with Komen and the Planned Parenthood controversy was previously undisclosed. Fleischer confirmed to ThinkProgress his recent role in filling key communications positions at Komen. He stressed, however, that another communications firm (Ogilvy PR) was retained by Komen to deal with the explosive controversy over the last few days.... Our own maddy now finds more whack-a-moles Komen Statement on Planned Parenthood is a PR Move, Not A Policy Reversal
February 3 The Susan G. Komen Foundation released a statement moments ago that many are greeting as a reversal of their decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. On Twitter, the Breaking News feed called it a “pledge to continue funding Planned Parenthood,” while Glenn Greenwald called it “an amazing, Internet-driven victory.” But it’s not.
The new statement does not pledge Komen to reverse its funding decision, and it does not promise Planned Parenthood any new funding. Let’s look at the relevant passage (emphasis mine):

“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”Komen had never intended to renege on its existing grant commitments to Planned Parenthood, as PP themselves noted in their press release announcing the break between the two organizations (again, emphasis mine):

“In the last few weeks, the Komen Foundation has begun notifying local Planned Parenthood programs that their breast cancer initiatives will not be eligible for new grants (beyond existing agreements or plans).“Komen’s statement that Planned Parenthood will be “eligible” for new grants is a new development, but it commits Komen to nothing. There’s no reversal of the funding cutoff here, and no promise to reinstate Planned Parenthood funding. This isn’t a victory. Not yet.

Update | I want to be really clear about what’s going on here. Obviously, Komen has taken a huge amount of heat in the last few days, far more than they’d anticipated, and they’re scrambling to contain the damage. They’re in disarray, and trying to keep this from becoming an even bigger problem for them than it already is. This statement is a reflection of that, and in that sense it’s a good sign. But what they’re hoping this will do is take the spotlight off, and if it has that effect, they’ll have a lot of room to maneuver later. So folks who want to see Planned Parenthood refunded need to be extremely skeptical, and extremely loud in voicing their skepticism, in the near future. Keep the pressure on, keep pushing for concrete concessions. That’s the next step.
Second Update | Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards has released a response to the Komen announcement. An excerpt: “In recent weeks, the treasured relationship between the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and Planned Parenthood has been challenged, and we are now heartened that we can continue to work in partnership toward our shared commitment to breast health for the most underserved women. We are enormously grateful that the Komen Foundation has clarified its grantmaking criteria, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Komen partners, leaders and volunteers.” Richards is claiming victory, in other words, without suggesting that PP has been given any specific assurances on funding. All the more reason to keep the heat on. I’ll be sticking with this story as it develops. Feel free to follow me on Twitter for all the latest.
Third Update | A little more explication. First, on the eligibility question: yes, Komen has restored Planned Parenthood’s “eligibility” to apply for grants, but all that means is that PP can submit a request for funding. Without knowing what criteria Komen will use for evaluating those grant requests, and whether they’re actually committed to restoring the PP revenue stream, it’s impossible to say what significance this has. Again, yes, it’s a victory, but so far it’s a victory of spin and messaging, not of actual dollars and cents.Second, there’s the question of whether the new Komen position indicates that PP is likely to be reinstated as a Komen grantee. I don’t have any particular inside info, but from where I sit, yes, it’s likely, particularly given the media (mis)reading of the statement as well as PP’s (very savvy) response. It seems clear that cutting off PP down the line would be a PR disaster for Komen, and my guess is they’d rather put this behind them. But likelihood isn’t certitude, and things can change. We just don’t know what Komen’s plans are. All we have is what they’ve said. And what they’ve said so far is carefully crafted to leave the option of defunding PP very much alive.

BTV contributor Jen pronounces "Excellent catch, mad! Someone needs to alert the liberal blogosphere. More updates!" Yep BTV is ALERTING THE BLOGOSPHERE RIGHT NOW! Can you tell?

Fourth Update | The president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute calls Komen’s statement “nothing new. We have known and have reported that they are continuing five grants through 2012. This is a reference to that. The second clause about eligibility is certainly true. Any group can apply for anything. It does not mean they are going to get anything.”
Fifth Update | It’s worth remembering that according to one Komen staffer, the group’s new “grant-making criteria were adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood.”
Sixth Update | Greg Sargent of the Washington Post got a Komen board member on the phone, and he said that “it would be highly unfair to ask us to commit to any organization that doesn’t go through a grant process that shows that the money we raise is used to carry out our mission. … Tell me you can help carry out our mission and we will sit down at the table.”
“It would be highly unfair to ask us to commit to any organization.” That’s pretty cold, particularly in contrast with Cecile Richards’ “we look forward to continuing our partnership.”

More crooksandliars Komen Apologizes; Pledges To Continue Planned Parenthood Grants - Updated ....Update: Just as this news broke, I was putting together a petition to call for Karen Handel's resignation and for Komen to publicly commit to continuing to fund Planned Parenthood and stem cell research centers. If you want to sign it as a way to affirm the call for a right-wing ideologue to leave decisions about women's health to more objective people, please feel free. Here it is. And more from karoli Crooks and Liars Friday Update #3: A Komen board member confirms that there is no guarantee future grants will be awarded to Planned Parenthood. On its face, this isn't an unusual statement for a foundation to make. After all, grants are for finite periods of time and must be renewed with new applications from time to time. However, in this case it's troubling, given the political motives for their original decision. What would stop them from finding any small excuse not to fund grants? Nancy Brinker's remarks on Andrea Mitchell's show gave a preview of a panoply of excuses. Everything from "grant excellence" to the claim that they want to 'eliminate third parties' in the screening process. For this reason, it seems prudent to keep the pressure on NGKF to be transparent and accountable for their decisions. It's not enough to issue a statement to take the heat off. They need to back up their words with actions. John Aravosis: If Komen is serious, they can simply approve the application Planned Parenthood has already submitted. Yes, they turned it down once, supposedly because of the now-old rule about investigations. Fine. If the rule is gone, then approve the grant. More America's Blog this time Gaius Publius What will progressives do about apparent right-wing "fog shops" like Komen? ... Let's step back for a moment. First, we "knew" that the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which ostensibly supports breast cancer research and treatment, was "non-partisan, apolitical." How did we "know" this? Because "everyone knows that." Peeling back the veil, however, reveals what everyone (conveniently) doesn't know. ...[Publius names whack-a-mole names here]... I'm starting to believe, until proven otherwise, that the Susan G. Komen enterprises are dangerously close to becoming a right-wing "fog shop" — i.e., a Movement Conservative operation that functions on the surface as a "woman's rights"–friendly do-gooder op, while harboring within it the nasty seed of wicked right-wing intentions. ... In my opinion, if you bought the cover as the primary story, you're lost in the fog. Komen seems to think the fact that they do indeed do good, means that you'll be all a-muddle when their knife come out. Don't be confused by the do-gooder chocolatey cover story. It was designed to confuse you. Folks, always ignore the deflection and watch the hand with the knife. Which leads to my question: What will progressives do about this? Walk away, withdrawing their support as they leave? Ask nicely by sending petitions? Pull out your own metaphorical knife and, in effect, say Bring it? I know what the other side would do. How? Because they've already done it. That knife in Planned Parenthood's back is theirs. PHEW! Did you absorb all that? In a related matter Nobel Peace Prize Winner 0 gets on his knees and genuflects at the annual WH Prayer Breakfast, Obama Ties Economic Message to Christian Values (NYT's The Caucus) and see CSM's IN PICTURES: Obama prays. SURVEILLANCE ALERT: Brain waves from thoughts of sounds used to move cursor hmmmm. Coming to an O.R. near you? LOOK! We found a DAVOS link! AP Interview: Wikipedia founder hails role in US Associated Press By FRANK JORDANS | Associated Press – Thu, Jan 26, 2012 DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The founder of Wikipedia hailed the online encyclopedia's role in helping halt U.S. legislation aimed at cracking down on Internet piracy, saying the proposed bills needed to be stopped because they were flawed. So ya got dat. For yet another whack-a-mole moment we go to Zach Carter at HuffPoAOL who reports 'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At Hearing By Order Of House Republicans (UPDATES) with Republican Chairman Andy Harris as the mole. In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Initial reports from sources suggested that an ABC News camera was also prevented from taping the hearing; ABC has since denied that they sent a crew to the hearing. Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment had been taking place in room 2318 of the Rayburn building. HuffPost has obtained exclusive video of the arrest of Josh Fox. Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, can be heard at the end of the clip asking Republican Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) to halt the arrest and permit Fox to film the public hearing. Harris denies Miller's request as Fox is escorted out of the hearing in handcuffs. Go watch the video NOW! WOW! Josh Fox released this statement (courtesy IndieWire.com):

I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill. I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism. Today's hearing in the House Energy and Environment subcommittee was called to examine EPAs findings that hydraulic fracturing fluids had contaminated groundwater in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming. I have a long history with the town of Pavillion and its residents who have maintained since 2008 that fracking has contaminated their water supply. I featured the stories of residents John Fenton, Louis Meeks and Jeff Locker in GASLAND and I have continued to document the catastrophic water contamination in Pavillion for the upcoming sequel GASLAND 2. It would seem that the Republican leadership was using this hearing to attack the three year Region 8 EPA investigation involving hundreds of samples and extensive water testing which ruled that Pavillion's groundwater was a health hazard, contaminated by benzene at 50x the safe level and numerous other contaminants associated with gas drilling. Most importantly, EPA stated in this case that fracking was the likely cause. As a filmmaker and journalist I have covered hundreds of public hearings, including Congressional hearings. It is my understanding that public speech is allowed to be filmed. Congress should be no exception. No one on Capitol Hill should regard themselves exempt from the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution states explicitly "Congress shall make no law...that infringes on the Freedom of the Press". Which means that no subcommittee rule or regulation should prohibit a respectful journalist or citizen from recording a public hearing. This was an act of civil disobedience, yes done in an impromptu fashion, but at the moment when they told me to turn off the cameras, I could not. I know my rights and I felt it was imperative to exercise them. When I was led out of the hearing room in handcuffs, John Boehner's pledge of transparency in congress was taken out with me. The people of Pavillion deserve better. The thousands across the US who have documented cases of water contamination in fracking areas deserve their own hearing on Capitol hill. They deserve the chance to testify in before Congress. The truth that fracking contaminates groundwater is out, and no amount of intimidation tactics --either outright challenges to science or the arrest of journalists --will put the genie back in the bottle. Such a brazen attempt to discredit and silence the EPA, the citizens of Pavillion and documentary filmmaking will ultimately fail and it is an affront to the health and integrity of Americans. Lastly, in defense of my profession, I will state that many many Americans get their news from independent documentaries. The hill should immediately move to make hearings and meetings accessible to independent journalists and not further obstruct the truth from being reported in the vivid and in depth manner that is only achievable through long form documentary filmmaking. I will be thinking on this event further and will post further thoughts and developments. I have been charged with "unlawful entry" and my court date is February 15. Josh Fox, Washington D.C. 2/1/12

We need MORE not LESS of these kinds of actions! And now an UPDATE on the Mortgage Robo Signing fracas. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism asks Why is the Normally Astute Taibbi Sounding Like a Hopey Dopey Liberal on the Mortgage Settlement? I hate taking issue with Matt Taibbi. I’m a huge fan of his writing and think he has done more to cause the big bd banks discomfort than any single writer. But even someone as skilled as Taibbi occasionally has the writing equivalent of a bad hair day. And his post, “A Victory for the Public on Foreclosures?” is an example. And his misreading matters precisely because he has so much cred with the public that is unhappy with Big Finance. .... As we will discuss in due course, even a narrow deal around robosigning is in fact NOT a good deal. I need to get a bit granular since quite a few folks on what passes for the left have gone into hopey dopey liberal mode. This is EXACTLY what the Administration wanted. A mere gesture, appointing Schneiderman to a part time job co-chairing an under-staffed investigation, when the committee members who are likely not to be on the same page as him have the advantage of being in DC where the troops will be located and knowing their way around the relevant bureaucracies. The ONLY hope Schneiderman has of pulling this off is lots of very noisy, sustained pressure, NOT going all gooey-eyed at a blast of Administration PR. ... Go read the "granular" part. Very interesting. And then there's THIS from NC: Schneiderman Files Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Three Major Banks for Use of MERS New York filed a lawsuit against various units of JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells, MERSCORP and MERS over their use of MERS in foreclosures. This civil suit alleges that the use of MERS has “resulted in a wide range of deceptive and illegal practices,” most importantly, over 13,000 foreclosures in MERS name where MERS “often” lacked standing to foreclose. The suit claims that an undetermined number of foreclosures that were not made in the name of MERS were also deceptive by virtue of MERS “certifying officers” making improper assignments prior to the foreclosure. The suit includes the use of robosigners who failed to review the review the underlying records as required, and served to disguise gaps in the chain of title. The section of the filing with background on MERS will be familiar to most NC readers, but it does include the juicy factoid that MERS members have saved over $2 billion in recording fees. ... The suit states that 1800 foreclosures were filed in New York in MERS’ name since 2006, of which 95 were made by Bank of America, 85 by Chase, and 110 by Wells. Given the numerous reports of MERS sloppiness and dubious corporate governance (cited in this case) it is quite probable that these foreclosures were defective. However, these are not large numbers by themselves. New York does not have a statue like that of Alabama which multiplies the actual damages (the loss of the home) in the event of wrongful foreclosure. If you take 100 homes and multiply that by $250,000, you get $25 million. Now the suit would presumably enlarge the number of foreclosures by identifying other homes on which the use of MERS had resulted in wrongful foreclosures, but query how the attorney general would do that efficiently (as in the facts of particular foreclosures are so varied as to make this a labor-intensive exercise). The attorney general might be able to establish defective pattern and practice by deposing servicer employees or records, which would make for an easier way to establish that a much larger number of foreclosures were defective, but how threatening a suit this is in some measure depends on how easy it would be to establish bad practices at the servicers (note these suits will be settled; the question is whether the AG begins meaningful discovery to enable him to include more homes as being candidates for damages). The suit does discuss a number of defective practices, such as MERS falsely claiming to be the holder or even the owner of the note in court filings (MERS never owns the note), creating improper affidavits and notarizations, assigning mortgages when it lacked authority to do so, and failing to disclose the identity of the true owner of the note. It finally alleges that the MERS database is not accurate, current, or reliable. .... Update: Per Dave Dayen’s report , this Schneiderman filing is a carve-out from the settlement and hence does NOT represent a precedent as far as the other state AGs are concerned. It thus may not have broader ramifications as far as the settlement talks are concerned, save maybe making some of the AGs that were thinking of not signing on worry that they look bad by joining the deal.In addition, the long section on What MERS Did That is Bad has first a discussion of foreclosures in the name of MERS, then a discussion of bad practices that took place in foreclosures that used MERS but did not have MERS as the plaintiff in the foreclosure (out of time assignments, MERS certifying officers making assignments when they did not have authority, robosigining, etc). While this is all heinous, the big concern I have here is how you prove how many bad actions a particular bank engaged in. ... Finish reading at NC! Lots more details to be sure! The moles are clever aren't they? And at Taibbi's employer we find Julian Assange: The Rolling Stone Interview By Michael Hastings. Yes THAT Michael Hastings. Just a snip... "From the glory days of American radicalism, which was the American Revolution, I think that Madison's view on government is still unequaled," he tells me during the three days I spend with him as he settles into his new location in England. "That people determined to be in a democracy, to be their own governments, must have the power that knowledge will bring – because knowledge will always rule ignorance. You can either be informed and your own rulers, or you can be ignorant and have someone else, who is not ignorant, rule over you. The question is, where has the United States betrayed Madison and Jefferson, betrayed these basic values on how you keep a democracy? I think that the U.S. military-industrial complex and the majority of politicians in Congress have betrayed those values." Go there before it goes behind the RS firewall (accessible to PRINT RS subscribers for FREE!) MORE ASSANGE from John Pilger (h/t maddy again!) In the Assange case we are all suspects now... lots to read so GO READ PILGER NOW! Our LAST WORD goes to Prairie2's Friday post Our turn to sweat, cry and bleed

A third of million new jobs were created in January according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s household survey. This exceeds the quarter million job gain shown by the employer survey. Historically these two surveys confirm one another except when unusual growth is seen. The household survey had been diverging from the employer survey by larger and larger numbers over the past year. This divergence probably indicates exceptional growth in small business activity and among new entrepreneurs not adequately represented in the employer survey. This could be tied to the sharp growth in manufacturing jobs with 50,000 new workers added last month as reported by employers. Manufacturing is what is known as a “cluster economy”, the “finished product job” tends to support numerous other jobs that are somewhat off the grid. These can be everything from the small machine shop that does tool and die work, or a specialized factory with a few employees that makes small parts that don’t justify a major factory operation, and all manner of service and support jobs. It can’t be stressed enough how important this kind of up tick in jobs in mid-winter really is. An economy has momentum, like a ship rising to meet the crashing waves or the wreck being driven to the bottom by it. Currently the ship of the economy is rising despite all efforts from the Republicans to drill holes in the hull. Red State Republicans eliminated 14,000 teachers, firefighters, police and highway maintenance workers just last month, crippling the recovery of their own states, and putting a drag on the national economy. That’s the good news; the bad news is that real wages were down 2% last year as major corporations deliberately assaulted the wages of employees to tighten their grip on the economy and society in general. The six million long term unemployed have no chance of ever being employed by any major corporation as the universal corporate policy is to never hire them. The excuse is that their skills “are stale”, but really it is to make them an example for all who might resist. A large scale recovery would throw this policy out the window of course. Obama made a point of chiding Republicans not to get in the way of the recovery saying, “don’t muck it up”. (according to the right Obama can read the tele-prompter, but he seems to confuse his m’s and f’s) That’s not to say we don’t have huge problems with insane trade policies, a lack of enforcement of anti-trust laws, and a long laundry list of laws and policies that have been gutted, ignored or decriminalized over the past 30 plus years. It speaks to the potential of American that it has taken the 0.1 percent this long to steal and corrupt enough of the economy to reverse the New Deal, and still they haven’t quite done it. We can have it back again. All those thing our liberal grandparents gave sweat, tears and blood to accomplish can be ours again. All the things our liberal ancestors fought died for in order to wrest this continent from the British East India Company can be ours again. It’s our turn to sweat, cry and bleed to have these things again, or they will be gone forever. Well said, Prairie2, well said. As always OCCUPY SOMEWHERE! BTW the Brick TeeVee Crew sez take the Pats, give the 3 and take the over! Giants 20 Patriots 44. And enjoy the commercials especially those by anti-abortion anti-women whack-a-mole Randall Terry's Graphic Anti-Abortion Ads During Super Bowl XLVI. The Crew took a pass on the bet Madonna would have a "wardrobe malfunction" but put a few bucks on "Madonna kissing another girl" during the halftime show. Haha! Enjoy the game and your week!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

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»»» Director Eugene Jarecki @ Democracy NOW! "The House I Live In": New Documentary Exposes Economic, Moral Failure of U.S. War on Drugs Jan 31, 2012
»»» Reed Brody, counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch @ Democracy NOW! Baltasar Garzón, Trailblazing Judge Who Pursued War Criminals, Faces Trial of His Own in Spain RELATED: Is Former Haitian Dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier Off the Hook for Human Rights Crimes? Feb 1, 2012
»»» Josh Fox @ Democracy NOW! "Gasland" Director Josh Fox Arrested at Congressional Hearing on Natural Gas Fracking RELATED: Obama’s Support for Natural Gas Drilling "A Painful Moment" for Communities Exposed to Fracking Feb 2, 2012
»»» Patrick Hurd, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, Betsi Hurd, a veteran of several Susan G. Komen for the Cure fundraising races who is currently battling breast cancer & Jodi Jacobson, editor-in-chief of RH Reality Check @ Democracy NOW! After Right-Wing Campaign, Leading Breast Cancer Charity Komen Drops Funding for Planned Parenthood Feb 2, 2012
»»» Tithi Bhattacharya, an associate professor of South Asian History at Purdue University @ Democracy NOW! Occupy the Super Bowl: Indiana’s New Anti-Union Law Sparks Protest at Sport’s Biggest Spectacle Feb 3, 2012

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Where are the Peace Pundits? President Obama's 2012 State of the Union opened and closed with a celebration of the US military. That was his choice; the media chose not to raise a peep of critique. Yet US military targets proliferate—abroad—with unmanned drones assassinating unconvicted suspects in innumerable undeclared wars. And at home. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act makes indefinite military detention without charge or trial a permanent feature of the American legal system. It’s kind of the critics not to mention that—or the president's four-year-old pledge to close Guantánamo, and to restore the “rule of law.” If only peace activists were invited to contribute to those post-show pundit panels! Long time peace-builder and GRITtv regular, Kathy Kelly joined Laura in studio in June 2010 to discuss the consequences of a "robotized" U.S. military. She described the devastation she had seen and the way people are forced to live, and she questioned the logic of continuing to spend so much money on war. You can read Laura's column on the president's speech ("Not a Peep") in full at TheNation.com .
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» Superbowl XLVI Giants vs. Patriots! Coverage begins NOW!
»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Lakers @ Celtics 8 pm et then Thunder @ Kings 10:30 pm et
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress
Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org A Push for Privacy in the Wake of the Carrier IQ Controversy Remember Carrier IQ, the company that makes the secret spying software that’s installed on more than 140 million phones? You know, the software that can record our most sensitive personal data? ... Thanks in part to the 22,000 people who joined Free Press’ call for a congressional investigation, some of those questions are closer to being answered and mobile users are closer to being protected. The protection comes in the form of a bill from Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey. Markey released a draft of a bill called the “Mobile Device Privacy Act” that would require phone companies to disclose to users just what is being done with all of their data. If the bill passes, an opt-out provision would go into effect a year later and would require companies to allow users to opt out of data-collection schemes like the one developed by Carrier IQ........
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org
MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.
UPDATE! BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE: Robert Parry Exclusive America’s Debt to Bradley Manning So, it was useful to examine the WikiLeaks documents regarding the election of the new IAEA leader in 2009 to understand why this flip may have occurred. What those classified State Department cables show is that the IAEA’s new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, credited his victory largely to U.S. government support and promptly stuck his hand out for U.S. money. Further, Amano left little doubt that he would side with the United States in its confrontation with Iran and that he would even meet secretly with Israeli officials regarding their purported evidence on Iran’s nuclear program, despite the fact that Israel is arguably the world’s preeminent rogue nuclear state and rejects IAEA inspections of its own nuclear sites. According to U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA’s headquarters, American diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance U.S. interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t. ..... In private, Amano agreed to “consultations” with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. (It is ironic indeed that Amano would have secret contacts with Israeli officials about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, which has yet to yield a single bomb, when Israel possesses a large and undeclared nuclear arsenal.) In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano “took pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that … he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. “More candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain ‘constructive ambiguity’ about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December” 2009. In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to bend in directions favored by the United States and Israel, especially regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Amano’s behavior surely contrasts with how the more independent-minded ElBaradei resisted some of Bush’s key claims about Iraq’s supposed nuclear weapons program, denouncing some documents as forgeries. Today, with some Republican presidential contenders falling over themselves to bond with Israel over its desire to attack Iran, this sort of detail puts the IAEA report into a fuller context that can help American voters judge whether another war is necessary or whether they’re being misled again by hyped allegations. More at link...
DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,891 US Military Dead as of Feb 3, 2012
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos

UPDATE: CNN reported today that renowned international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will be returning to CNN with a weekday program on its International network, while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor. Former “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos will return to the program on 8 January, while continuing his role as an anchor for “Good Morning America”. FULL STORY

• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'

• Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex

• ECONOMIST DEBATE: architect of President Obama's plan, former advisor Lawrence Summers, top Romney economic advisor Glenn Hubbard, and Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial.

• ROUNDTABLE: George Will, political strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, AOL Huffington Post Media Group president Arianna Huffington, and radio host and Bigjournalism.com editor Dana Loesch
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer this Sunday: Live from Miami

• Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich

• Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani

• ROUNDTABLE: Michael Kranish, the Boston Globe editor and co-author of The Real Romney, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Norah O'Donnell and CBS News Political Director John Dickerson.
60 Minutes (CBS) "60 Minutes Presents: Three Remarkable Women," a special hour hosted by Morley Safer

• Dolly Parton, Anna Wintour & Meryl Streep
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory

• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!

• Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich

• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D), New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R).

• ROUNDTABLE: Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), NY Times columnist David Brooks, GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN)

At 9 AM ET, Candy talks to the power players: politicians, business leaders and international newsmakers who will make Monday morning's headlines. At NOON ET, Candy wraps it all up with fresh interviews and the best of the earlier hours.

• Virginia Governor and Republican Governors Association Chair Bob McDonnell

• Maryland Governor and Democratic Governors Association Chair Martin O’Malley

• Family Research Council President Tony Perkins

• Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey

• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI).

• "expert" panel: Former CBO Directors Alice Rivlin, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, and CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein.
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.

• FRONT PORCH FRIDAY!!!!! Bob reviews the week's news especially the Komen disaster! And of course the rest of the H.O.R.N. family chimes in! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW

Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!

BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!

• 'Green News Report' - January 31, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Republicans taking hostages over Keystone XL pipeline --- again; Banner year for Big Oil profits --- again; Chevy Volt cleared of all charges; Florida invaded by snakes (no, not the GOP primary); PLUS: The Muppets Strike Back (at Fox 'News') ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): World lacks enough food, fuel as population soars: UN; Carmakers support CA's new clean car regulations; Illinois tops nation in new wind turbines; Will W.Va. prepare for a post-coal future?; Canada urged EPA to disregard oilsands emissions; New faux renewable energy scandal engulfs GOP; Debunking Murdoch's Daily Mail, Wall St. Journal climate denials; GMO crops spreading in the wild; TX heat, drought caused by global warming: Hansen ... PLUS: Saudi Oil Minister Calls Global Warming "Humanity's Most Pressing Concern"... and much, MUCH more! ...

Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

Listen at PeterBCollins.com!

The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.

• Holiday Break and Website Changes
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder

Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.

This Week on Ring of Fire! February 3, 2012

• Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect and senior fellow at Demos, will tell us about the Obama administration’s decision to finally get serious about prosecuting Wall Street criminals.

• Former GOP staffer and Truthout contributor Mike Lofgren will join us to discuss his theory on why the super rich have abandoned the United States.

• Investigative journalist Daniel Denvir will tell us how the GOP is trying to mask their class-warfare with their race-baiting language.

• And environmental scientist and author Maxwell Boykoff will tell us why progressives have almost completely abandoned talking about climate change.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: How Will The Occupy Movement Evolve? When the Occupy Wall Street protesters first went down to Wall Street, they could have never imagined how far their message would spread. Since that first day last fall, the movement has spread across the globe, with Occupy groups showing up in major cities all over the world. The movement has also evolved to include Occupying foreclosed homes, occupying Washington, D.C., and occupying the ideals and vision of people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Everyday, the movement grows larger and more powerful, and Mike Papantonio spoke with author and Truthout.org contributor Maria Armoudian recently about how the movement will continue to evolve in the coming months.

• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.

• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the “Podcast” tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!

Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• Fran Lebowitz on Occupy Wall Street

• Citizen Journalist Spencer "OakFoSho" Mills on Occupy Oakland [02•01•12]

• Jeff Smith of the OWS Press Team with Occupy Wall Street Updates [02•01•12]

• Gasland's Josh Fox on His Arrest at Public Fracking Congressional Hearing [02•02•12]

• Cliff Schecter and Sam Seder Discuss Komen's Decision Reversal on Planned Parenthood [02•03•12]

MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"

WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts “The Truth About Markets” on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s “People & Power” series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.

• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!

• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page

• Jamie Dimon to MF Global clients: “Let them eat shit.” READ MF Global Clients May Lose in $700M Fight (bloomberg)

• Mr. Volcker’s statement that, “to the best of his knowledge, the U.S. has not intervened in the gold market in more than 40 years” is a patent lie. READ Manifest Destiny Derailed: Treason from Within

• KEISER REPORT [KR242] Keiser Report – State of the Banana Don’t miss Lloyd & Jamie pole dancing Artwork by WilliamBanzai7

• KEISER REPORT [KR243] Keiser Report: Starving the Economy We discuss banking zombies and clowns and their magical thinking on zero rates while starving the economy of interest income. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Ned Naylor-Leyland about the silver, gold, backwardation, manipulation and more.

• KEISER REPORT [KR244] Keiser Report – Chutzpah Economics We discuss chutzpah economics, unrequited transfers and shakedowns. In the second half of the show, Max talks to economist, Saifedean Ammous, about the standoff between Egypt and the IMF debt pushers as well as the war against the online free market by Hollywood middlemen.

• KEISER REPORT [KR245] Keiser Report – The Vaporized and the Deleted We discuss the vaporized and the deleted – the new American soap opera in which the assets, wealth, jobs and economy of the 99% have been stolen. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Daniel Collins of TheChinaMoneyReport.com about China’s imports of gold and their recent purchases of Germany’s legendary mittelstands.

• ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Michael Hudson Posted on January 29, 2012 by stacyherbert

• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-351] The Truth About ACTA, SOPA, PIPA and Falkvinge Stacy Summary: Great interview with Rick Falkvinge in today’s Truth About Markets. My favourite part though is when we have to bleep him just as he says, “censorship bullshit.” Because, of course, the Brits can murder millions in the Middle East and William Hague is probably on some tv programme as I type this arguing to the population that we now need to go bomb some Persians and that’s an a-okay morality for the tender young ones to absorb, but one cannot expose those same children to swearing, no no no. Download show HERE (mp3)

• Donate to ResonanceFM here!
ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton

LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!

Listen at antiwar.com/radio

• Michael Klare February 1, 2012: Michael Klare, professor and author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, discusses his article “No Exit in the Persian Gulf ;” how closure of the Strait of Hormuz would impact the global oil market and the already-stressed European and American economies; the tough talk and military brinksmanship of the American and Iranian governments; why the Carter Doctrine of US Mideast dominance has outlived its usefulness; and the difference between nuclear “breakout” capability and actual weapon production (and why nobody talks about Japanese nukes).

• Adam Morrow February 2, 2012: IPS News journalist Adam Morrow discusses the Egyptian revolution’s one-year anniversary; the continued demonstrations by leftist groups who were trounced by Islamist parties in parliamentary elections; how Egypt’s June presidential election will (potentially) complete the transition from military to civilian-run government; why the Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate/conservative political party, not a radical terrorist organization; how Egypt could repeal the Camp David Accords in bits and pieces through popular referendums, especially the parts limiting military deployments in self-defense; and the Egyptian raids on foreign NGOs, including the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute.

• Gareth Porter February 2, 2012: Gareth Porter, investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy, discusses Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey’s warning to Israel’s government that the US would not be dragged into war with Iran by a unilateral Israeli attack; why Iran might hold the US accountable for an Israeli strike anyway, and counterattack US targets in the region; Mossad’s general agreement with the US National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (that there is no evidence Iran has decided to pursue a nuclear weapons program); and why Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak seems to think Israel isn’t ready for military action.

Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
fauxnews

• presidential candidate Rick Santorum

• Romney Supporter, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell

• Gingrich backer, former Congressman J.C. Watts.

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We're here because you're there. ©

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Brick TeeVee's Shotgun Blasts to the Bill Of Rights!

2012-01-29T03:54:00.000-05:00

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Shotgun Blasts to the Bill Of Rights We had an opening rant that goes something like this:
"JOSE PADILLA CASE ZERO RIGHTS COURT IGNORES AND BETRAYS THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL BALANCE OF POWER - Some may call it "TROIKA!" or "Three Strikes" or "Father-Son-Holy-Spirit" or "Hook Line and Sinker". Any way you look at it ALL THREE BRANCHES of Federal Government have been taken over by transnational corporations, a likelyhood The Founders feared: One force taking over all three branches of government, "if you can keep it" Ben Franklin quipped" but the BTV Crew gets easily distracted by the day's news even though U.S. citizens can now be deemed "enemy combatants" by The pResident at whim then "renditioned" to a far-away land for "enhanced interrogation" or even assassinated, habeus corpus is non-existent, telcos can monitor and save all citizens' electronic communications and hand them over to the government all without a court warrant while the government cries "STATE SECRETS" at every trial challenging these draconian laws and the judicial branch exonerates the plaintiffs as not having "standing" in the "opinion" of "The Court" while transnational corporations can spend unlimitied money getting their cronies elected to pass even more laws like these and the U.S. "defense" budget dwarfs all other countries' military expenditures COMBINED while the U.S. Constitution's Bill Of Rights has been riddled with so many legal shotgun blasts it is practically moot. But our regular BTV readers KNOW ALL THIS, right? So we move on....
The long saga of the murders in Haditha Iraq apparently have come to an end as the BBC reports Haditha marine Frank Wuterich enters guilty plea The final US marine to face charges over the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty. Sgt Frank Wuterich was one of eight marines charged with murder or failure to investigate the killings, but now faces just three months in jail. The charges against six were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted. Sgt Wuterich reached a plea deal to bring an end to the most notorious case against US troops from the Iraq war. He faces a maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a demotion to the rank of private. Filmmaker Nick Broomfield wrote a few weeks ago in The Guardian UK
For the families of Haditha, this is a matter of honour ... My film, Battle for Haditha, which recreated the incident in all its brutality, split critics along political lines and drew cries of "unpatriotic" at a screening in front of marines in Los Angeles. Eight of those charged had their charges dropped and one was acquitted, leaving just Wuterich to stand. But if there was any doubt that the killings that day could be classed as anything other than war crimes, a number of incriminating documents have come to light in the past few weeks that place guilt beyond doubt. Some 400 pages from the military interrogation of the offending troops, which should have been destroyed as the Americans left Iraq last year, were uncovered by a New York Times reporter at a junkyard in Baghdad. One statement from a marine says Wuterich told his men to "shoot first and ask questions later", another witness recalls seeing Wuterich and other marines telling occupants of the taxi to kneel down before spraying them with bullets. One statement from soldier Steven Tatum, who has already been granted immunity, shows he changed his recollection of the day to admit he knew he was firing upon children at the time. Also recovered are the failed polygraph results of Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz, who responded "no" on both counts when asked if he shot men at close range and kneeling down, and who later confessed he was told by Wuterich to lie about what happened that day.
Raheem Salman and Patrick J. McDonnell report for the Los Angeles Times In Iraq, Haditha case is reminder of justice denied The teacher still keeps family photos of the dead, visual mementos of lives cut short in an unremitting hail of gunfire. "The Americans killed children who were hiding inside the cupboards or under the beds," said Rafid Abdul Majeed Hadithi, 43, a teacher in the city of Haditha who says he witnessed the 2005 assault by U.S. Marines that took the lives of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians. "Was this Marine charged with dereliction of duty because he didn't kill more? Is Iraqi blood so cheap?" In the United States, the brutal saga of Haditha — among the dead were seven children, including a toddler, three women, and a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair — may have concluded Monday with Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich's guilty plea to negligent dereliction of duty. A military judge said Tuesday that Wuterich will serve no time in the brig under the terms of his plea bargain. Charges were previously dropped against six others involved in the Euphrates Valley incident; a seventh Marine was acquitted. The plea closed the books on a politically charged case that sparked debate about the manner in which U.S. troops react amid the "fog of war" and the tension of combat. For many Iraqis, however, Haditha remains a visceral reminder of the most troubling aspects of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and subsequent occupation of their homeland. ... "This is the wrong message," said Yaseen Mehdi, an engineer and human rights activist. "We are not looking for financial compensation. We are looking for ethical compensation." Others have lamented what they saw as a lack of contrition. "With such crimes, the man who is responsible at least has to apologize to the families of the martyrs," said Ashwaq Jaff, a member of the Iraqi parliament's human rights committee. She has no doubt that cases such as Haditha, reinforcing the perception that U.S. forces went unpunished in the death or abuse of Iraqis, helped sully America's image. "There was a very negative reaction as a result of these incidents," said Jaff, a Kurd, one Iraqi ethnic group that did largely welcome the U.S. invasion. "This made the Iraqi street refuse their [continued] presence in Iraq." ... CBS News also reports Iraq eyes legal action over deadly Haditha raid Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a U.S. raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone U.S. Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time. Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich to avoid prison. "The Haditha incident was a big crime against innocent civilians," said Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi government. "We will follow up all legal procedures and judiciary measures" to seek justice in the case, he added. And NYT's Michael S. Schmidt adds Anger in Iraq After Plea Bargain Over 2005 Massacre ... Khalid Salman, 45, whose cousin was killed by the Marines in the massacre...vowed not to let the matter rest. “That soldier would be sent to prison for more than three months if he had thrown trash on the streets in America,” he said, adding: “We won’t be silent. We will resume the case through all international courts, and we will appeal the American resolution. Injustice has won this round, but there are many more rounds left.” Assim Omar al-Hadithi, 40, a relative of another victim, said that such a light sentence “shows the lies of the Americans, whether they are judges or members of the military.” He continued: “All the world knew that the American soldiers committed crimes in Iraq. We were extensively surprised when we heard the news, and it has made our minds even worse. It is no consolation for the victims’ families.”
SURVEILLANCE ALERT: Robert Wenzel of the Economic Policy Journal has this item at lewrockwell.com Dear Americans, We Are Surrounded ... But, now, in addition to these minor harassments, we have the NDAA, which allows the military on the President's order to grab any American off the street, who is deemed to be "aiding terrorists" and hold that American until the end of the "War on Terror", without trial or jury. And now, the DHS wants funding for more Visible Intermodal Prevention & Respons (VIPR) teams. What will these teams do? According to LaTi: As many as 25 VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention & Response) teams began patrolling train stations nationwide last summer conducting an estimated 9,300 "suspicionless" spot searches of travelers. The agency has said the presence of officers with explosive detection dogs, radiation monitors and other devices will act as a deterrent in the nation’s busiest travel hubs...A video shot in a train station in Savannah, Georgia, in February apparently showed TSA agents screening passengers as they stepped off a train — as opposed to the more common pre-boarding screening procedures..The TSA is planning to add an additional 12 VIPR teams across the country in 2012. As I said, we are surrounded, and still that doesn't mean much in and of itself, other than the minor harassment, but here's how things could get bad very fast. Serious price inflation could be only months away. It is very possible that this could result in the President putting price controls in effect at some point. Every person , who knows the first thing about price controls, knows they don't work and only result in shortages, still presidents reach for them. ... I fear price controls in a period when we are surrounded with all sorts of enforcement personnel tired of playing enforcement and looking for real enforcement. Unlike, during Nixon's price controls when there were no enforcement patrols, the enforcement teams are already in place. What could this mean? If the price inflation is high enough and the price controls tight enough, shortages could quickly develop across the country, but unlike the controls during the Nixon era, you have a built in DHS bureaucracy that will want to see the controls maintained, so they can show how necessary they are, just like we have now with the Drug Enforcement Agency. Welcome to the police state comrades!
Last Saturday marked the second anniversary of the SCOTUS's now infamous Citizens United ruling and it was met by Move to Amend Occupies the Courts! On HuffPo/AOL Mile Mogulescu explains On 2nd Anniversary of Citizens United: Why the Right, Left and Center Should Support Getting Money Out of Politics ... At least 15 constitutional amendments declaring that corporations are not people (at least for the purposes of making electoral contributions) and/or that money isn't speech have been introduced in Congress. A number of old line good government groups like Common Cause, Public Citizen and People for the American Way, as well as a number of new groups like United Republic, Move to Amend, and Free Speech for People have initiated mass citizens' movements to get money out of politics. City councils in Los Angeles, New York and a number of smaller cities have passed resolutions supporting amending the Constitution and efforts are under way to pass similar resolutions in cities, towns and states throughout the country. But even when this movement is led by non-partisan organizations like Common Cause and Public Citizen, they have been supported largely by people on the left of center and have received little support, or even been opposed by, conservatives. ... Surprisingly, many of the biggest corporations who make large campaign contributions would rather not have to. They feel that they're in an arms race in which they must make large-scale investments in political campaigns because their competitors do to. But anonymous sources tell me that many CEOs would rather not spend so much of their corporate cash in this way. If the playing field could be leveled, there may be support from elements of the business community to limiting money in politics. .... Conservatives should consider that getting money out of politics and ending the corruption of legal bribery that guarantees the continuation of wasteful government spending paid for by campaign contributions may well be in their best interest. Likewise, getting money out of politics should be a priority for "centrists" who would like to see a "grand bargain" in which the deficit is addressed by conservatives agreeing to tax increases and liberals agreeing to cutting spending, including on Medicare and Social Security. .... So on this second anniversary of the Citizens United decision, let's begin a dialogue between left, right and center on how to end the corruption of big money that is destroying American democracy. Let's create a system in which elections can produce an honest debate across the political spectrum of the best way to solve America's growing problems, based on who has the best ideas and not who has the most money. James Kwak, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, writes at The Atlantic Citizens United Turns 2—and It's Still Wrong Since then, Harvard law professor John Coates has put some effort into figuring out just what corporations are doing with their political spending, and how it affects their shareholders. The short answer, revealed in his new working paper, is that political activities are bad for shareholders. ... The glorification of the corporation over the past thirty years has been predicated in large part on the myth that corporations are solely dedicated to maximizing shareholder value. But corporations only maximize shareholder value if shareholders have a way to keep executives and employees in line and prevent them from simply lining their own pockets. Decades of research have shown numerous failings in the standard corporate governance model: boards that are stuffed with cronies of the CEO, directors who have no ability to evaluate what their companies are actually doing, massive golden parachutes that insulate CEOs against failure, and so on. Poor oversight of political activity may be another to add to the list. There is much work still to be done on corporate political activity and its implications for shareholders. But the early evidence is that we cannot simply assume, as the Supreme Court did in Citizens United, that shareholder pressure will magically ensure that a company's political spending is always in its best interests. In this context, the need for improved disclosure is even more urgent. In a related matter The Institue for Public Accuracy has some comments from the The Nation Institute's Max Blumenthal via iWatchnews about how Newt Gingrich Gets Another $5 Million Via Pro-Israeli Casino Mogul Adelson .... He said today: "After Newt Gingrich befriended Las Vegas casino baron Sheldon Adelson in the late 1990's, Gingrich's politics on the Middle East suddenly developed a hawkish, neoconservative edge. Adelson, who is America's 8th wealthiest man, is a vocal supporter of the Greater Israel project of Jewish settlements and a military strike on Iran. .... Back in the U.S., Adelson pumped millions into rehabilitating Gingrich's career after the former House Speaker's ignominious political demise and descent into personal scandal. Thanks to Adelson, Gingrich was able to found a think tank that allowed him to build the infrastructure for his coming presidential bid. "On the presidential trail, Gingrich injected an ugly tinge of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bigotry into the campaign. His remark to a right-wing Jewish news outlet that the Palestinians were 'an invented people' was met with widespread criticism — and a vigorous defense by Adelson. Days later, Adelson funneled $5 million into a pro-Gingrich Super PAC, turning the key to Gingrich's stunning upset of Mitt Romney in South Carolina. Now, with Gingrich polling ahead of Romney in Florida, Adelson has pledged another $5 million, virtually guaranteeing that Gingrich will be competitive — and that more nasty attacks on Palestinians, Muslims, and Obama's foreign policy lay on the horizon. Adelson's relationship with Netanyahu, and his motives for funding Gingrich, were outlined in detail in Blumenthal's investigative report for the new Lebanese-based Al-Akhbar English, "The Bibi Connection" earlier this month. Blumenthal wrote that Netanyahu is waging a "shadow campaign … intended to be a factor in defeating Obama and electing a Republican in his place." Of course the most radical right-wingers are lining up to start a war against Iran and the most pro-Israel group that supports this is the American Israel PAC or AIPAC. Here's an ACTION ALERT! Will You Occupy AIPAC?

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Even as Gnewt Gingrich Namedrops ‘Ronald Reagan’ More Times In Debates Than Everyone Else Combined (mediaite.com) and the Right desperately try to rewrite history (see this classic with Mike Stark of StarkReports.com Rush Limbaugh chats w/me about Ronald Reagan’s legacy) ConsortiumNews.com has this "Exclusive: Guatemala has begun a politically difficult process to make human rights violators of the 1980s accountable for their crimes, including genocide inflicted on Indian villages, but the United States still heaps praise on the killers’ chief American accomplice, Ronald Reagan, writes Robert Parry" in Reagan’s Hand in Guatemala’s Genocide (Contains graphic descriptions)
We ask you to read Activists express concern for imprisoned priest at DisarmNowPlowshares.wordpress.com [83-year-old] Jesuit Fr. Bill Bichsel was serving a three-month prison term in the Federal Detention Center near Seattle, Wash., for a July 2010 action at the Y-12 [Nuclear Resisters] National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where a new nuclear weapons manufacturing facility is being planned. The priest has not eaten since Jan. 10 to protest his placement in solitary confinement. .... Supporters say Bichsel was visited by Buddhist monks with the Nipponzan Myohoji order when he was moved to the Tacoma facility Jan. 10. They say the authorities at the facility reprimanded Bichsel for the visit and had him rearrested the next morning. According to Kremer, Bichsel started his fast partly “to unite us as one and strengthen resolve against nuclear weapons” and would be appreciative of any who would join him in the effort. UPDATE: Bix has ended his fast… and some words from him!!!
Listen to Alternet's Joshua Holland on FRIDAY's Rick Smith Show (bottom of hour 2) where Holland announces a **NEW SHOW** Alternet Radio with Joshua Holland beginning Sunday February 7th at 6 PM ET on WE ACT RADIO. More info as it becomes available!
Liam Fox at NewsJunkiePost.com asks and answers Has Ex Goldman Sachs Staff turned Democrat Campaigner Infiltrated Occupy?
And last week pResident Obomber delivered his "State of the Union" speech we're sure you all watched! For a recap we defer to Melissa McEwan who decodes So the President Gave a Speech Last Night... at shakespearessister.blogspot.com with all the dog whistles exposed. Haha! Good Item! Then Lambert at The Daily Beast deconstructs George Soros in asking
The eternal question: Are the 1% stupid and/or evil? Soros votes for both Go read this excellent deconstruction! We already know Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Don't Watch Any News so now comes a Yahoo News piece by LiveScience.com's Stephanie Pappas Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy. The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience. .... Nonetheless, there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world. "Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order," Hodson said, explaining why these beliefs might draw those with low intelligence. "Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice." In another study, this one in the United States, Hodson and Busseri compared 254 people with the same amount of education but different levels of ability in abstract reasoning. They found that what applies to racism may also apply to homophobia. People who were poorer at abstract reasoning were more likely to exhibit prejudice against gays. As in the U.K. citizens, a lack of contact with gays and more acceptance of right-wing authoritarianism explained the link. ..... This item was too late for last week's BTV we have an UPDATE from Jesse's Café Américain Corzine, MF Execs and JPM Named in RICO Lawsuit snagged from Bloomberg Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Jon Corzine, MF Global Holdings Ltd.’s former chief executive officer, was sued under U.S. racketeering law by commodity customers alleging he and other executives “unlawfully” took money from their accounts and failed to segregate their money as the law requires. The suit alleges that hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred from customers’ accounts to other MF Global units, at a time when the company was short of cash and faced calls for collateral as its risky Eurobond and other investments fell in value. Named in the suit, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the company’s banker, should have noticed the “depletion” of customer money, and should have investigated, according to the plaintiff. The customers are seeking unspecified restitution and damages. Privately sponsored RICO lawsuits have a difficult time obtaining the types of information that are required to make a conspiracy case unless they get lucky in the discovery process or find a willing whistleblower. The defendants generally lawyer up and stonewall, using the types of court maneuvers that prove so effective in mortgage fraud cases, theft of customer funds, and mass foreclosures based on forged documents. The chances of an Obama Administration investigation with teeth seems unlikely. Their Justice Department has strong ties to the big banks and mortgage companies and a very poor record of prosecuting fraud cases. Of course there is little reason to hope for anything different from any Republican administration. Ron Paul would be honest enough, but it is hard to tell which laws he would choose to enforce and which ones would be considered an intrusion on free markets. It might be more effective for the public to demand the appointment of a special prosecutor with a proven record of effective investigation of the big banks. Too bad Eliot Spitzer was taken out of the picture in a bank sponsored 'investigation' into his sex life by the Bush Justice Department. Also MAX KEISER alerts us with
Jamie Dimon to MF Global clients: “Let them eat shit” and points out this item at Bloomberg MF Global Clients May Lose in $700M Fight In another too-big-to-fail story Pat Garofalo at ThinkProgress posts this encouraging headline Bank Of America’s Offer To Homeowners: We’ll Modify Loans If You’ll Erase All The Mean Things Said About Us On Twitter ... According to BusinessWeek, Bank of America is fighting back by giving loan modifications to borrowers who have made complaints. The catch is that, in return for the modification, the borrower must agree to stay silent and expunge any previous criticisms of the bank from his or her public record: [story here] ...Now, if the Arizona officials’ claims are true, Bank of America has gone from obstruction to explicit payoffs in order to keep its mortgage mess under wraps. (HT: Naked Capitalism) Speaking of Naked Capitalism Matt Stoller posts Can the Schneiderman-Infused Financial Fraud Unit Prosecute Vikram Pandit? .... The Obama administration’s posture is not passive because Obama is weak, it is passive because President Obama and his administration believe passivity towards business interests is the appropriate role of government. Schneiderman does not believe this, he wants to govern. And that’s why he wants this Federal task force, because the Federal government has more resources and tools (including legal authority, personnel, jurisdiction, and documents) that he needs to do a reasonable job explaining to the country through the use of the Justice system what happened in the multi-trillion theft and why. But he is coupled, as co-Chair, with several of these people who, as Matt Taibbi puts it, might “in an ideal world… be targets of their own committee’s investigation.” This makes it very difficult to consider how they could possibly work well together, with such misaligned interests. There is a possible a collision coming, because the two parties have contradictory objectives. For now, the administration probably believes that this is a good political talking point, and nothing more. Perhaps the task force will go after a few mid-level people, or not, but it isn’t really going to cause any major problems for them. Schneiderman for his part has already said he’d walk away publicly if he is impeded in his investigation, as Dave Dayen noted in his terrific series of articles on the whole episode. As just one example, Jonathan Weil keeps wryly pointing out that Vikram Pandit at Citigroup may be guilty of violating Sarbanes-Oxley..... Speaking of D-Day he finds The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement ... This move opens up access to a variety of federal resources, at a larger scale available than in the New York Attorney General’s office. Schneiderman already had a deal with the Inspector General of the FHFA on information-sharing, but it was more limited. It also opens up other relevant jurisdictions that Schneiderman can pursue. But that assumes Schneiderman can get the buy-in he needs from co-chairs that seem committed to protecting the banks from harm. As Abigail Field writes, the deck looks stacked against Schneiderman if the goal is to reach consensus on prosecutions. And that could mean that the long-view goal here was not to prolong investigations and delay the settlement , as Felix Salmon believes, but precisely the opposite (though I do think Felix makes good points in that post, particularly about how this endless process has mainly delayed needed principal reductions). As one observer close to an AG told me last night, “I don’t know how Eric Schneiderman gets a wave and a wink from the President of the United States in the State of the Union address without standing behind the Administration’s agreement.” Indeed. That upsets the entire balance of power with respect to the settlement. If Schneiderman joins, it undermines the group of “Justice Democrat” AGs who were working on how to deal with investigations in the absence of a settlement. AG offices are freaking out about this, and it will be tough to keep them from acquiescing now. After all, they have a fig leaf of this new new investigation. More important, this announcement has collapsed the unified wall of objection on the left to a settlement. And I mean COLLAPSED. .... Only this isn’t a victory at all, at least not yet. Schneiderman may be trying to work from within, but he’s saddled with a panel full of co-chairs tied to banks with a history of obstructing accountability. The united front of Justice Democrats has been nicked. Kamala Harris, facing enormous pressure to go along with the settlement (she remains opposed at this point), now must contend with being the main big-state holdout AND having a family member co-chairing the investigation panel! .... I’d really like to be wrong about this. But this just reads like a gambit, a fix, a charade.
Our own BTV contributor msgeaux finds this very interesting article at GOLEM XIV from December
Plan B – How to loot nations and their banks legally. Does anyone think that if our governments fail to keep to their austerity targets and fail to keep bailing out the banking sector, that the banks will just shrug and say, “Well, thanks for trying” and accept their fate? Or do you think the banks might have a Plan B of their own? .... What I offer from here on is thinking out loud. I obvioulsy have no proof at all that there is a plan B. All I can hope to do is show you the elements which I think could make a Plan B for the banks. Then my argument is that if the mechanism I describe could work, if I have not simply misunderstood something, then I think the banks will surely have thought of it before me. And so it either already exists or it will. I think there are scraps of information that suggest it does exist and the collapse of MF Global might even be the first example of Plan B in action. The MF Global case certainly contains all the clues. .... The answer to all these questions lie in a change to Bankruptcy laws that happened around the world between 2002 and 05. This might seem like a detour into nerd city but it is not. It is the key. We urge you all to read this very carefully because this may be the linchpin of the entire global economy's collapse.
OUR LAST WORD comes from CHRIS HEDGES at TruthDig.com. Please go there to read all of this essay. We snip these....
Thank You for Standing Up

....... Our electoral system, already hostage to corporate money and corporate lobbyists, gasped its last two years ago. It died on Jan. 21, 2010, when the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission granted to corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts on independent political campaigns. The ruling turned politicians into corporate employees. If any politician steps out of line, dares to defy corporate demands, this ruling hands to our corporate overlords the ability to pump massive amounts of anonymous money into campaigns to make sure the wayward are defeated and silenced. Politicians like Obama are hostages. They jump when corporations say jump. They beg when corporations say beg. They hand corporations exemptions, subsidies, trillions in taxpayer money, no-bid contracts and massive loans with virtually no interest, and they abolish any regulations that impede profits and protect the citizen. Corporations like Goldman Sachs, because they own the system, are bailed out by federal dollars and given essentially free government loans to gamble. I am not sure what to call our economic system, but it is not capitalism. And if any elected official so much as murmurs anything that sounds like dissent, the Supreme Court ruling permits corporations to destroy him or her. And they do. Turn off your televisions. Ignore the Newt-Mitt-Rick-Barack reality show. It is as relevant to your life as the gossip on “Jersey Shore.” The real debate, the debate raised by the Occupy movement about inequality, corporate malfeasance, the destruction of the ecosystem, and the security and surveillance state, is the only debate that matters. You won’t hear it on the corporate-owned airwaves and cable networks, including MSNBC, which has become to the Democratic Party what Fox News is to the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party. You won’t hear it on NPR or PBS. You won’t read about it in our major newspapers. The issues that matter are being debated, however, on “Democracy Now!,” LINK TV, The Real News , OCCUPY websites and Revolution Truth. They are being raised by journalists such as Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi . You can find genuine ideas in corners of the Internet or in books by political philosophers such as Sheldon Wolin. But you have to go looking for them. Voting will not alter the corporate systems of power. Voting is an act of political theater. Voting in the United States is as futile and sterile as in the elections I covered as a reporter in dictatorships like Syria, Iran and Iraq. There were always opposition candidates offered up by these dictatorships. Give the people the illusion of choice. Throw up the pretense of debate. Let the power elite hold public celebrations to exalt the triumph of popular will. We can vote for Romney or Obama, but Goldman Sachs and ExxonMobil and Bank of America and the defense contractors always win. There is little difference between our electoral charade and the ones endured by the Syrians and Iranians. Do we really believe that Obama has, or ever had, any intention to change the culture in Washington? In this year’s presidential election I will vote for a third-party candidate, either the Green Party candidate or Rocky Anderson , assuming one of them makes it onto the ballot in New Jersey, but voting is nothing more than a brief chance to register our disgust with the corporate state. It will not alter the configurations of power. The campaign is not worth our emotional, physical or intellectual energy. Our efforts must be directed toward acts of civil disobedience, to chipping away, through nonviolent protest, at the pillars of established, corporate power. The corporate state is so unfair, so corrupt and so rotten that the institutions tasked with holding it up—the police, the press, the banking system, the civil service and the judiciary—have become vulnerable. It is becoming harder and harder for the corporations to convince its foot soldiers to hold the system in place. ....... “History shows the demands made by those in revolt are never initially considered by government,” [Kevin Zeese] said. “Our job is to make the politically impossible the politically inevitable.” I do not know how long it will take to dethrone the corporate state, but I do know it is a dead and terminal system of power. As the global economy deteriorates and climate change causes greater disruptions, these corporations will be increasingly discredited. I know the iron grip of corporations over our lives will, eventually, be broken. The corporate state will, like all wounded animals, lash out with a blind fury, which is why I suspect we have been given the National Defense Authorization Act, which permits the military to arrest and hold U.S. citizens without due process. It will increase pressure to become crueler and more callous at the base of the columns it depends on for survival. And eventually it will break. No one knows how long this will take. It could be months, years, maybe even a decade, although the massive assault by the fossil fuel industry on the ecosystem will probably force a popular response sooner than we expect. The only question is how much damage these corporations will be permitted to inflict. I attended a rally Friday night in Foley Square, a few blocks from the criminal court where I had spent the morning. It was part of the Occupy the Courts event held across the nation to protest America’s corporate coup and the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case. It was cold and blustery. Snow was on the way. Many in the crowd of a couple of hundred were visibly chilled. I spoke about the movement. I spoke about the lawsuit I have brought against Barack Obama and the secretary of defense to challenge the National Defense Authorization Act. I spoke about the inevitability of the Occupy movement. I realized, afterward, I had forgotten to say what was most important. I forgot to say thank you. Thank you for standing up to corporate power on a cold winter’s night. Thank you for making hope visible. You must never underestimate your power. I was sentenced in the day. I was exonerated in the night.

Well said, Mr. Hedges, well said. And we didn't have time to cover the First Anniversary of Egypt's Tahrir Square protests so see Sharif Abdel Kouddous at DN! for that story. Read, watch and listen to more of this week's stories and events below and have a good active week! OCCUPY SOMEWHERE!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Dr. Steven Nissen @ Democracy NOW! Medical Whistleblower Dr. Steven Nissen on "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare" Jan 23, 2012

»»» 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Raj Patel @ Democracy NOW! Raj Patel: In Attacks on Obama, Food Stamps, Newt Gingrich is "Racially Coding Poverty" Jan 23, 2012

»»» 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Robert Redford @ Democracy NOW! Robert Redford Praises Rejection of Keystone Pipeline: We Can’t Afford to Be at the Mercy of Big Oil

»»» 2012 Sundance Film Festival: Sheena Joyce & Kelly McMasters @ Democracy NOW! "The Atomic States of America": Exploring a Nation’s Struggle with Nuclear Power Jan 24, 2012

»»» Jared Bernstein @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Fmr. Obama Adviser: Focus on U.S. Inequality in Election-Year SOTU Has Occupy Wall Street’s Imprint Jan 25, 2012

»»» Ralph Nader @ Democracy NOW! "He Says One Thing and Does Another": Ralph Nader Responds to Obama’s State of the Union Address Jan 25, 2012

»»» Sharif Abdel Kouddous @ Democracy NOW! Egypt: Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports from Cairo as Crowds Mark 1 Year of Revolution in Tahrir Square AND "In Tahrir Square": HBO Doc on Egypt’s Revolution Through Eyes of Democracy Now!’s Sharif Kouddous Jan 25, 2012

»»» Time Magazine contributor Tim McGirk @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Iraqis Voice Outrage as Haditha Massacre Trial Ends in No Jail Time for Accused U.S. Marines Jan 26, 2012

»»» Paul M. Barrett, author of "Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun" @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Glock: As Giffords Exits, a Look at the Gun Used in Tucson Rampage and Other U.S. Mass Shootings Jan 26, 2012

»»» Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News columnist and co-host of Democracy Now! @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Despite Salary Caps, Treasury Approved Lucrative Exec Payouts at Dozens of Bailed-Out Firms Jan 27, 2012

»»» Linda Sarsour & Gal Beckerman @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Gingrich’s Extremist Anti-Palestinian Stance Follows Millions from Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson Jan 27, 2012

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders

»»» FEATURED SHOW Where are the Peace Pundits? President Obama's 2012 State of the Union opened and closed with a celebration of the US military. That was his choice; the media chose not to raise a peep of critique. Yet US military targets proliferate—abroad—with unmanned drones assassinating unconvicted suspects in innumerable undeclared wars. And at home. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act makes indefinite military detention without charge or trial a permanent feature of the American legal system. It’s kind of the critics not to mention that—or the president's four-year-old pledge to close Guantánamo, and to restore the “rule of law.” If only peace activists were invited to contribute to those post-show pundit panels! Long time peace-builder and GRITtv regular, Kathy Kelly joined Laura in studio in June 2010 to discuss the consequences of a "robotized" U.S. military. She described the devastation she had seen and the way people are forced to live, and she questioned the logic of continuing to spend so much money on war. You can read Laura's column on the president's speech ("Not a Peep") in full at TheNation.com .

BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©

»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Bulls @ Knicks 8 pm et then Nuggets @ Clippers 10:30 pm et

BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©

360.org January 24 2012 in Washington D.C. Blow the Whistle on Big Oil Corruption On Tuesday January 24th, we going to Washington DC to blow the whistle on Big Oil corruption in Congress. We'll be gathering at the Capitol dressed in referee uniforms (yep, stripes and all), and then heading to the American Petroleum Institute - Big Oil's top lobby - to do the same. It will be unavoidable, very visible, and just disruptive enough to absolutely get the attention of the oil industry's representatives in Congress and put them on notice that the era of big oil corruption will soon be coming to an end.
UPDATE: We're still working out the exact meeting place and a few other details, but here are the key things you need to know:
What: Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil Corruption in Congress
When: Tuesday January 24th, 12 Noon
Where: West Lawn, US Capitol Building, Washington DC

The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress

Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org SOPA If you've been living under an Internet-free rock the past couple of weeks, you might have managed to miss the steady drumbeat of opposition to HR 3261, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Then again, if you've been living under an Internet-free rock, you've already had a preview of what we're facing if SOPA goes into effect. AmericanCensorship.org has pulled together an infographic that explains in very basic terms the services and sites that are at greatest risk from SOPA here: Infographic: Effects of the Internet Blacklist Bill (SOPA). More info at American Censorship Day READ Internet Censorship: Not Today, Not Tomorrow SIGN NOW! Internet censorship is coming to America. It’s in the form of a bill in Congress that gives corporations unprecedented power to blacklist websites at will. If passed, the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA (HR 3261), could rip apart the open fabric of the Internet. People could see their websites disappear from the Internet for a “crime” as innocent as posting a video of themselves singing along to a favorite song. Sign this petition NOW! Keep BTV and YOUR blog alive! Listen to Sam Seder with Tim Karr of Free Press on Net Neutrality [11•10•11] UPDATE: Bypass SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) DNS Blocking with DeSopa 1.1 A new anti-SOPA add-on for Firefox, titled “DeSopa” is such a counter measure.When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).“I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe,” DeSopa developer T Rizk told....

CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org

MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com

SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.

UPDATE! BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE: Robert Parry Exclusive America’s Debt to Bradley Manning So, it was useful to examine the WikiLeaks documents regarding the election of the new IAEA leader in 2009 to understand why this flip may have occurred. What those classified State Department cables show is that the IAEA’s new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, credited his victory largely to U.S. government support and promptly stuck his hand out for U.S. money. Further, Amano left little doubt that he would side with the United States in its confrontation with Iran and that he would even meet secretly with Israeli officials regarding their purported evidence on Iran’s nuclear program, despite the fact that Israel is arguably the world’s preeminent rogue nuclear state and rejects IAEA inspections of its own nuclear sites. According to U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA’s headquarters, American diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance U.S. interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t. ..... In private, Amano agreed to “consultations” with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. (It is ironic indeed that Amano would have secret contacts with Israeli officials about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, which has yet to yield a single bomb, when Israel possesses a large and undeclared nuclear arsenal.) In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano “took pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that … he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. “More candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain ‘constructive ambiguity’ about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December” 2009. In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to bend in directions favored by the United States and Israel, especially regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Amano’s behavior surely contrasts with how the more independent-minded ElBaradei resisted some of Bush’s key claims about Iraq’s supposed nuclear weapons program, denouncing some documents as forgeries. Today, with some Republican presidential contenders falling over themselves to bond with Israel over its desire to attack Iran, this sort of detail puts the IAEA report into a fuller context that can help American voters judge whether another war is necessary or whether they’re being misled again by hyped allegations. More at link...

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The essential guide for watching government propaganda

IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011

AFGHANISTAN: 1,888 US Military Dead as of Jan 27, 2012

The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises

Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos

UPDATE: CNN reported today that renowned international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will be returning to CNN with a weekday program on its International network, while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor. Former “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos will return to the program on 8 January, while continuing his role as an anchor for “Good Morning America”. FULL STORY

• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'

• former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

• House Speaker John Boehner

• ROUNDTABLE: George Will, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, former Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee, and radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer this Sunday: Live from Miami

• Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

• Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus

• former Presidential Candidate, Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

• Businessman Donald Trump

• Florida Congressmen Republican Allen West and Mario Diaz-Balart

• ROUNDTABLE: CBS News' Political Director John Dickerson, Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy, Marc Caputo of the Miami Herald

• Florida native, humorist Dave Barry
60 Minutes (CBS) "60 Minutes Presents: Into the Wild," a special hour devoted to the natural world

• Defense Secretary Panetta - He's balanced the budget, run the CIA and eliminated Osama bin Laden. Now, Leon Panetta takes on another great challenge as U.S. Secretary of Defense, with massive responsibilities, including keeping Iran from producing a nuclear bomb. Scott Pelley reports. Henry Schuster is the producer.

• Big Game Hunting - The same kinds of exotic, sometimes endangered, species found in places like Africa can be hunted here in the U.S. for a price. The ranchers who breed them claim to be preserving them, a notion animal rights people strongly disagree with. Lara Logan reports. Max McClellan is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory

• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!

• For Romney, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

• For Gingrich, Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Law & Order)

• ROUNDTABLE: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, & NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd
State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN)

At 9 AM ET, Candy talks to the power players: politicians, business leaders and international newsmakers who will make Monday morning's headlines. At NOON ET, Candy wraps it all up with fresh interviews and the best of the earlier hours.

• Presidential Candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul

• Florida Governor Rick Scott

• Sen. Mitch McConnell

• debate with Carlos Gutierrez, a former Bush commerce secretary, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an Obama supporter
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.

• PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Uber Pope-Imam-Rabbi Bob dissects one religious pundit's obsession with gay sex! Side-splitting great show! Don't miss it! And of course the rest of the H.O.R.N. family chimes in! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW

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YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!

BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!

• 'Green News Report' - January 26, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Drill-Baby-Drill and Frack-Baby-Frack: Obama talks energy in his State of the Union address --- featuring actual clean energy! --- while climate denier Republicans double down on dirty energy; PLUS: Speaking the forbidden words --- out loud! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Conoco profits jump 66%; 5 energy issues to watch for in tonight’s GOP debate in FL; WH pressured scientists to underestimate BP spill; State Dept: Don’t mess with us on Keystone; CO2 is “driving fish crazy”; NHTSA: 'Chevy Volt is safe'; Judge blocks health studies from mine permit; NASA animation charts modern global warming ... PLUS: Raiding the bread basket: use and abuse of the Mississippi River basin ... and much, MUCH more! ...

Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

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The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.

• Holiday Break and Website Changes
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder

Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.

This Week on Ring of Fire! January 20, 2012

• MSNBC host and author Dylan Ratigan will join us to discuss his new book “Greedy Bastards.”

• University of Maryland professor and author Mark Feldstein will be joining us to talk about how muckraking journalists used to help expose political scandals, rather than helping to cover them up.

• 3rd Party presidential candidate Rocky Anderson will tell us why he’s challenging President Obama for the progressive vote in America.

• Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll will tell us about the dark money that’s influencing the GOP primary results.

• And George Washington University professor John Sides will tell us which candidates voters think will take care of the middle class the best.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: The New Right Wing Confederacy About the only consistent theme we’ve seen come from the pathetic crop of Republican presidential wanna-be’s is their eagerness to appeal to the most bigoted and racist members of their Republican Tea Party base. By attacking Muslims, African Americans, and basically anyone that isn’t a white Christian, GOP candidates like Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry are helping to further divide America with their hate. Mike Papantonio talks about how these candidates are creating a new confederacy with Theo Anderson, a contributor to In These Times magazine.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: Public Says Romney Only Cares for the Wealthy One of the biggest questions that voters will have to ask themselves this coming November is “who will take of my interests better.” The latest polls tell us that voters have already asked themselves that question, and the answer for most of the 99% is Obama. But for those in the top 1%, they overwhelmingly support Republicans like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Mike Papantonio talks about how voters’ perceptions of who is the friendliest to Wall Street will play out this year with John Sides, political science professor and contributor to The American Prospect.

• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.

• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the “Podcast” tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!

Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• No Said the Elephant, a song from the Screaming Majority [01•23•12]

• Steve Kornacki on Mitt Romney's Meltdown, South Carolina & the Race Going Forward [01•23•12]

• Digby on All Things GOP [01•24•12]

• David Dayen on the State of the Union Address & NY AG Eric Schneiderman [01•25•12]

• Jeff Smith of the Occupy Wall Street Press Team on Recent Occupy Actions [01•25•12]

MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"

WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts “The Truth About Markets” on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s “People & Power” series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.

• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!

• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page

• Jamie Dimon to MF Global clients: “Let them eat shit.” READ MF Global Clients May Lose in $700M Fight (bloomberg)

• Gold/Silver Vigilante No. 1 Throws Down! See Eric King interviews Eric Sprott – Extremely important interview and listen to the mp3

• KEISER REPORT [KR240] Keiser Report – Dangerous Species of Bankers

• KEISER REPORT [KR241] Keiser Report – Kill Hollywood! We discuss discuss killing Hollywood, poor Chris Dodd and how Mubarak’s fall brought about the assault on the internet. In the second half of the show, Max interviews Mike Ruppert about SOPA, the NDAA and Iranian oil.

• ON THE EDGE [OTE141] On the Edge with Gonzalo Lira Great interview with Gonzalo Lira. The UK government did NOT want you to see this.

• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1231] The Truth About Markets! Download show HERE (mp3)

• Donate to ResonanceFM here!
ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton

LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!

Listen at antiwar.com/radio

• Roy Gutman January 12, 2012: Roy Gutman, Baghdad Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, discusses the bureaucratic hindrances to the MEK’s move out of Camp Ashraf in Iraq; how individual asylum cases will essentially force the MEK to disband (as no country is willing to accept the whole group); Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s efforts to consolidate power in the splintered and unworkable Iraqi government system; the many Iraqi politicians with huge security forces that also function as hit squads against rivals; why Iraq’s political outcome is critical to the region, world oil market and Western world; how Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are jockeying for position in the “up for grabs” countries of Syria and Iraq; why US intervention in the Middle East is necessary to protect oil resources and fill the security vacuum; and the merits of US interventionism in general, from Iraq to Afghanistan.

• Pepe Escobar January 24, 2012: Globetrotting journalist Pepe Escobar discusses his article “Sinking the Petrodollar in the Persian Gulf ;” the increasingly divergent US and Israeli “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear program; proposed pipelines that would route oil around the Persian Gulf, marginalizing Iran’s ability to shut the Strait of Hormuz; how sanctions on Iran have lessened the US dollar’s dominance in global oil trading transactions; and the civil strife in Syria, where the opposition is no more credible than the reigning minority Assad regime.

• The Other Scott Horton January 24, 2012: The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses his article “Spanish Court Resumes Gitmo Prosecution;” the many other foreign courts, frustrated with the US’s refusal to act, restarting their own torture prosecutions; uncertainty of how high up the chain of command indictments will go, and whether the White House OLC lawyers enabling torture will be targeted; how WikiLeaks got the ball rolling again by exposing high-level US efforts to squash previous Spanish investigations of American political and military figures; the US’s repudiation of international law and universal jurisdiction, after helping establish them after WWII; and Ron Paul’s effort to repeal the NDAA’s indefinite detention provision.

Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
fauxnews

• Presidential Candidate Gnewt "Contract with Israel" Gingrich

• Congressman Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Brick TeeVee and the SOPA PIPA Internet Blackout!

2012-01-22T02:12:00.000-05:00

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ALL LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW!!!
Click on anything below and be INSTANTLY SMARTER!
SOPA PIPA INTERNET BLACKOUT
Picking up on our post from two weeks ago Jonathan Turley codifies 10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free ... While each new national security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often discussed in isolation. But they don’t operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian. Americans often proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba and China as categorically unfree. Yet, objectively, we may be only half right. Those countries do lack basic individual rights such as due process, placing them outside any reasonable definition of “free,” but the United States now has much more in common with such regimes than anyone may like to admit. These countries also have constitutions that purport to guarantee freedoms and rights. But their governments have broad discretion in denying those rights and few real avenues for challenges by citizens — precisely the problem with the new laws in this country. The list of powers acquired by the U.S. government since 9/11 puts us in rather troubling company. ... If you haven't yet committed all ten to memory already then click over! There will be a test later! Next Senator Carl Levin thought he was pulling a fast one and sent out a letter saying Turley was all wrong about indefinite detention of U.S. citizens in the NDAA! Turley quickly calls "Bullshit!" on Levin Indefinite Detention of Citizens: A Response To Senator Carl Levin

Is the Senator familiar with the fact that it was the administration which asked us to remove the very language which we had in the bill which passed the committee, and that we removed it at the request of the administration that this determination would not apply to U.S. citizens and lawful residents? Is the Senator familiar with the fact that it was the administration which asked us to remove the very language, the absence of which is now objected to by the Senator from Illinois?

“The provisions on detention of terror suspects in the bill got more attention than all these other important priorities. The criticism of these provisions has usually been wildly inaccurate; if the bill did what some of its critics claim, I would have led the opposition. . . . It does not prohibit civilian trials for terror suspects. It does not strip the FBI and other civilian law enforcement agencies of their authority. It does not allow the military to make arrests on U.S. soil. It does not enact new authority to hold U.S. citizens without trial or charge. It does not provide for indefinite detention of citizens without access to civilian courts.”

First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak out because I was Protestant. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

While people appear ready to protest over taxes against “big government,” some of the people often seem to remain silent in the face of the very abuses that the Framers sought to combat from indefinite detention to warrantless searches to assassination.

Now author, journalist and activist Chris Hedges has sued Obama over the NDAA Why I’m Suing Barack Obama Attorneys Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran filed a complaint Friday in the Southern U.S. District Court in New York City on my behalf as a plaintiff against Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force as embedded in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president Dec. 31. ... I have had dinner more times than I can count with people whom this country brands as terrorists. But that does not make me one.
Once a group is deemed to be a terrorist organization, whether it is a Palestinian charity or an element of the Uighur independence movement, the military can under this bill pick up a U.S. citizen who supported charities associated with the group or unwittingly sent money or medical supplies to front groups. We have already seen the persecution and closure of Islamic charity organizations in the United States that supported the Palestinians. Now the members of these organizations can be treated like card-carrying “terrorists” and sent to Guantanamo.
But I suspect the real purpose of this bill is to thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state. The definition of a terrorist is already so amorphous under the Patriot Act that there are probably a few million Americans who qualify to be investigated if not locked up. Consider the arcane criteria that can make you a suspect in our new military-corporate state. The Department of Justice considers you worth investigating if you are missing a few fingers, if you have weatherproof ammunition, if you own guns or if you have hoarded more than seven days of food in your house. Adding a few of the obstructionist tactics of the Occupy movement to this list would be a seamless process. On the whim of the military, a suspected “terrorist” who also happens to be a U.S. citizen can suffer extraordinary rendition—being kidnapped and then left to rot in one of our black sites “until the end of hostilities.” Since this is an endless war that will be a very long stay.
This demented “war on terror” is as undefined and vague as such a conflict is in any totalitarian state. Dissent is increasingly equated in this country with treason. Enemies supposedly lurk in every organization that does not chant the patriotic mantras provided to it by the state. And this bill feeds a mounting state paranoia. It expands our permanent war to every spot on the globe. It erases fundamental constitutional liberties. It means we can no longer use the word “democracy” to describe our political system.
The supine and gutless Democratic Party, which would have feigned outrage if George W. Bush had put this into law, appears willing, once again, to grant Obama a pass. But I won’t. ... Please go to TruthDig.com to read the rest for yourself plus the entire Text of Hedges’ Legal Complaint (Updated) & the NDAA Official Text that Professor Turley has dissected. Listen to Peter B Collins interview Attorney Carl Mayer Talks About Chris Hedges’ Suit Against Obama; Journalist Jason Leopold Exposes FBI “Blackballing” of FOIA Requests for more background and analysis. In a related story Yves Smith at nakedcapitalism explains how the Ron Paul Debate Flushes Out Gender-Baiting Right Wing Opportunists Masquerading as Progressives ... The gender card is similarly played shamelessly and with remarkable hypocrisy by Megan Carpentier in the Guardian on the Greenwald post: [...] Greenwald’s position on Paul is so blatantly distorted by Carpentier as to render her article worthy of retraction (see Greenwald’s objection for details) but her dissimulation is more important than her hatchet job. ... Who is Megan Carpentier? She’s currently the executive editor at Raw Story. And reading her salvo at Greenwald, most readers would assume she’s a progressive. She’s hectoring Greenwald from a presumed leftist position. In fact, Carpentier is no such thing. She is a conservative opportunist using her feminist fundamentalism as a cover. She was a lobbyist for seven year and wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post which is noteworthy for trying to improve the public image of lobbyists by stating that they weren’t obscenely well paid, that they really were interested in politics, and that they provide helpful research to Congressional staffers. But Carpentier is less than forthcoming about her history and her ideological leanings. Her last gig as a lobbyist was for the Tax Foundation, which was an early anti-New Deal outfit founded in 1937 by reactionary oligarchs like GM Chairman Alfred Sloan. It was “financially troubled” when the Koch brothers purchased its name and other assets and made it a unit of their’ “Citizens for a Sound Economy” (CSE in 2004 split into Americans For Prosperity and FreedomWorks). The Tax Foundation newsletter that announced she had joined touts her “extensive experience in promoting sound economic and tax policies to Congress and state legislatures.” In other words, she is a loyal and effective foot soldier for the right. ... It’s disingenuous for Carpentier to cavil about white male privilege and the need for women to have rights to abortions, when those rights are less meaningful if you can’t afford to exercise them. Soi disant feminists like Carpentier are missing in action when it comes to defending their supposed sisters on economic issues, most importantly, labor rights.
Now your might claim I’m being unfair, that Carpentier had a Pauline (pun intended) conversion from her former faith. Why is there no mention of her Koch connection?. Why hasn’t she done a David Brock mea culpa? Rather than proudly put forward why she had changed her views (which is what you’d expect if they really had changed) has she instead tried to downplay the power of lobbyists? Why, when the influence of the Koch brothers were one of the biggest progressive story of the past 3 years, has she had NOTHING to say about her time working for one of their key outfits? .... So here we have it: Carpentier, a closet libertarian, falsely depicting “progressive” support of Ron Paul as a symbol of white male bigotry and distorting Greenwald’s nuanced discussion of Ron Paul as an endorsement to create a brouhaha, apparently to cover her own tracks. With Quislings like this, the progressives don’t need enemies. So keep THAT in mind when going to Raw Story.
Wednesday's internet blackout in response to SOPA/PIPA was widespread. Here is wikipedia's explanation on their English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout TechDirt.com has A Gallery Of The SOPA Blackout Protest Screens by Dennis Yang from the mr-smith-takes-over-the-internet dept.
TechDirt's Mike Masnick lays out some facts in
An Updated Analysis: Why SOPA & PIPA Are A Bad Idea, Dangerous & Unnecessary from the enough-of-the-bull dept. ... So, let's look at the facts. PIPA & SOPA are (now) very similar bills, both with significant problems. In fact, the remaining "differences" in the bills each have serious problems , which is why neither bill is a "better" bill, since both are terrible. The claimed purpose behind these bills is to give both law enforcement and private individuals/companies tools to go after "foreign" websites that are offering infringing (either copyright or trademark) content. The bills offer two ways to do this: via the Attorney General taking action against the sites, or via a "private right of action," in which copyright or trademark holders take direct action themselves against a site they believe is dedicated to infringement. ... ... The "only impacts foreign sites" claim is also a red herring. It's a favorite of the pro-PIPA/SOPA folks, but it's a lie. While the current bill targets foreign sites, all of the remedies and enforcement require compliance by domestic sites. That's costly. I recognize that policy analysts, lawyers, lobbyists and politicians who have never actually run a business think this stuff is simple, but for those of us who actually run companies, this is terrifying. We now have to worry about staying in compliance with a broad law that's almost impossible to comply with in any realistic manner. In our debate yesterday, the US Chamber of Commerce's Steve Tepp insisted that there was "no liability" for any domestic site. This is ridiculous. What he meant was no direct monetary liability. Leave it to an out of touch policy guy to think that it's only a liability if there's the potential to cost you money in court. The liability is in the possibility of being dragged to court over this. It's in the possibility of facing additional punishment/sanctions for failing to obey an impossible-to-obey court order to cut off certain users. That is a tremendous liability. There are additional provisions that are troubling, including SOPA's inclusion of "felony streaming" provisions, that could lead to jail time for those who lip synch over songs and put that up in a YouTube video, or those who embed infringing YouTube videos on their own site. PIPA does not have that directly, but there is a companion bill in the Senate that has similar things. So why, specifically, are these two bills so bad: Read the rest and BE INFORMED! Tell yer friends and pass it on! Great stuff at TechDirt! Troll around there and find more great stories! Of course "anonymous" could not stand by idly as TechDirt's Mike Masnick also reports
The Internet Strikes Back: Anonymous Takes Down DOJ.gov, RIAA, MPAA Sites To Protest Megaupload Seizure from the doj-does-not-understand-what-has-been-unleashed dept I'll have a more detailed look at the Megaupload indictment tomorrow (there are some really ridiculous claims in there, but also some evidence of bad actions on the part of Mega, which isn't too surprising). However, even if you're 100% positive that Megaupload was a bad player in the space, you have to question both the timing and the process of completely taking down the site/company the day after practically the entire internet rose up to protest the threat of similar takedowns under SOPA/PIPA. For them not to think the reaction would be fast and furious shows (yet again) just how incredibly, ridiculously, out of touch with the internet the DC establishment is. Within minutes of the site being shut down, and DOJ releasing its statement, Anonymous sprang into action and started taking down a ton of sites -- including websites for the DOJ, the US Copyright Office, Universal Music, the RIAA, the MPAA and a bunch of other sites. They're apparently still targeting more.... But Wait! There's more! From RT Anonymous downs government, music industry sites in largest attack ever ... Only hours before the DoJ and Universal sites went down, news broke that Megaupload, a massive file sharing site with a reported 50 million daily users, was taken down by federal agents . Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand and an international crackdown led agents to serving at least 20 search warrants across the globe. The latest of sites to fall is FBI.gov, which finally broke at around 7:40 pm EST Thursday evening. Less than an hour after the DoJ and Universal sites came down, the website for the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, went offline as well. Shortly before 6 p.m EST, the government's Copyright.gov site went down as well. Thirty minutes later came the site for BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc, the licensing organization that represents some of the biggest names in music. Also on Thursday, MPAA.org returned an error as Anonymous hacktivists managed to bring down the website for the Motion Picture Association of America. The group, headed by former senator Chris Dodd, is an adamant supporter of both PIPA and SOPA legislation. ... [Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon and] adds that “more is coming” and Anonymous-aligned hacktivists are pursuing a joint effort with others to “damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.” As a side note the main sponsor of SOPA had an image on his OWN WEBSITE that he copped from Creative Commons but NEVER gave credit to the photographer! And just to show how much these politicians are only water boys for big industry and have no clue what's in the lobbiest-written legislation they try to pass The Author of SOPA Is a Copyright Violator sez Vice.com's Jamie Lee Curtis Taete US Congressman and poor-toupee-color-chooser Lamar Smith is the guy who authored the Stop Online Piracy Act. ....So I took a look back at an archived, pre-SOPA version of his site. This is a screenshot of his site as it appeared on the 24th of July, 2011. [pic] And this is the background image Lamar was using. I managed to track that picture back to DJ Schulte, the photographer who took it. [pic] I contacted DJ, to find out if Lamar had asked permission to use the image and he told me that he had no record of Lamar, or anyone from his organization, requesting permission to use it: "I switched my images from traditional copyright protection to be protected under the Creative Commons license a few years ago, which simply states that they can use my images as long as they attribute the image to me and do not use it for commercial purposes. "I do not see anywhere on the screen capture that you have provided that the image was attributed to the source (me). So my conclusion would be that Lamar Smith's organization did improperly use my image. So according to the SOPA bill, should it pass, maybe I could petition the court to take action against www.texansforlamarsmith.com." ... We need your help! Join our "Shop a SOPA" Copyright Hypocrite Hunt and help us find copyright violations on the other 31 SOPA co-sponsors' websites. Much more SOPA coverage with Max Keiser on [TaM-1231] The Truth About Markets!, Sam Seder Garlin Gilchrist of MoveOn on the SOPA / PIPA Internet Blackout [01•18•12] and Jon Fox on HeadOnRadio (mp3). In a related issue General Dynamics has been hired to "monitor" websites. We go to Washingtonsblog for details
Homeland Security Shreds Constitutional Right to Anonymous Political Speech – Not to Protect Our Security – But to Monitor Dissent ... Gene Howington provides details in a must-read essay: Do you have a right to anonymous political free speech?
According to the Supreme Court, you do. According to the Department of Homeland Security, you don’t. They’ve hired General Dynamics to track U.S. citizens exercising this critical civil right. The history of anonymous political free speech in America dates back to our founding. The seminal essays found in “The Federalist Papers” were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay under the nom de plume of “Publius” although this was not confirmed until a list of authorship complied by Hamilton was posthumously released to the public. As previously discussed on this blog, the right to anonymous political free speech has been addressed by the Supreme Court. Most notably in the cases of Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960) and McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995). In Talley, Justice Hugo Black writing for the majority said that, “Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind. Persecuted groups and sects from time to time throughout history have been able to criticize oppressive practices and laws either anonymously or not at all.” In McIntyre, Justice John Paul Stevens writing for the majority said that, “Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. [… ] an author’s decision to remain anonymous, like other decisions concerning omissions or additions to the content of a publication, is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.” That seems clear enough in defining that citizens do have a Constitutionally protected right to anonymous political free speech. .... This question about the right to anonymous political free speech is also asked over the background of the Electronic Privacy Information Center filing a FOIA request against the DHS to find out the details of the agency’s social network monitoring program. ... As part of recent disclosures related to the EPIC suit, it is revealed that the DHS has hired and instructed General Dynamics to monitor political dissent and the dissenters. The range of websites listed as being monitored is quite impressive. Notably, jonathanturley.org is not on this list [Howington's essay is a guest blog on constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley's website], but equally of note is that this list is by the DHS’ own admission “representative” and not “comprehensive”. ... Some of the more high profile and highly trafficked sites being monitored include the comments sections of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report, Wired, and ABC News. In addition, social networking sites Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are being monitored. For the first time, the public not only has an idea who the DHS is pursuing with their surveillance and where, but what they are looking for as well. General Dynamics contract requires them to “[identify] media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government, DHS, or prevent, protect, respond government activities.” The DHS also instructed General Dynamics to generate “reports on DHS, Components, and other Federal Agencies: positive and negative reports on FEMA, CIA, CBP, ICE, etc. as well as organizations outside the DHS.” In other words, the DHS wants to know who you are if you say anything critical about the government. Anybody thinking of the name “Goebbels” at this point is not out of line. This has nothing at all to do with keeping us safe:

BEFORE 9/11

start monitoring all criticism against it

using anti-terror laws to crush dissent

Protest is considered low-level terrorism, as is questioning war, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold

stocking up on more than 7 days of food

investigating factory farming

can get your harassed

a nation of powerful men arbitrarily making laws in secret

protect their power

Calling the GOP's bluff to decide on the Keystone XL Pipeline's fate by February 21 Obama puts Keystone pipeline on hold, decries 'rushed and arbitrary' deadline Mark Gaurino at csmonitor.com President Obama announced Wednesday he is putting the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline expansion project on hold, saying a decision can’t be made by the February deadline imposed by Congress. While environmental groups cheered the news, the setback is temporary and the pipeline operator says it will resubmit plans to have the pipeline running in 2014. ... Republicans in Congress, in return for their support for an extension of the payroll tax holiday, forced the new Feb. 21 deadline, a date that Mr. Obama on Wednesday called “rushed and arbitrary.” His statement stressed the decision was not a ruling on the merits of the pipeline, but on the action of Congress, which he said, “prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.” “I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil,” he said. .... The Keystone XL project is far from resolved, as TransCanada is allowed to resubmit its permitting application, which the company says it will have ready by September or October.
Following Obama’s decision, the company announced it will work with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to determine a possible new route to avoid running the pipeline over portions of the Ogallala Aquifer, a major source of fresh water for drinking and agriculture that runs under several states in the US heartland. ... Bill McGibbon of 350.org then sent this email to 350.org supporters in the United States and Canada
Big News: Obama rejects Keystone XL - but we can't stop here. We wanted to share with you the news: this afternoon the Obama Administration announced that they are denying the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. You did good work, against some of the longest possible odds. ... For years, the knock on the President Obama was that he backed down too easily in the face of opposition. Not here. When Republicans in Congress forced the issue again by passing a 60-day time limit on the President's final decision, he stood strong and denied the permit. And that was despite the most explicit threats from Big Oil: that they would exact ‘huge political consequences’ if he did the right thing on Keystone. Make no mistake—this is a brave decision.
And make no mistake about this either—Big Oil will do everything it can to overturn that decision, because they are not used to losing. They have one weapon—money. They’ve used it to buy the allegiance of many Representatives and Senators and now they’ll use Congress to try and get their dirty work done. That’s what happened when the President delayed the permit last November, and we should expect them to try again now.
That’s why we’re going to Congress and Big Oil, beginning next Tuesday the 24th. If you can join us, we’re meeting at noon on the West Lawn, and you should wear a referee’s shirt. We’re going to ‘blow the whistle’ on the corruption that passes for business as usual on Capitol Hill, where people take money from companies whose interests they vote on. Check your email for the rest and check our BTV ACTION for more details. Of course the right wing and the corporate extraction industries' "spokespeople" are HOWLING, calling Obama a "job killer" and worse. However it's all kabuki theater!
David Sirota at Salon explains The real beneficiaries of energy subsidies Don't buy the GOP's claims. Oil companies, not green alternatives, are making a killing from the government Listen to the typical conservative rhetoric about energy being thrown around on talk radio or in Republican presidential debates, and you’re likely to hear that our government primarily uses its regulatory and financial power to create a destructive green energy boondoggle — one that enriches a few politically connected Solyndra executives, appeases a bunch of wild-eyed tree huggers, but hides the fact that renewables supposedly can’t stand on their own in the private sector.
In the face of catastrophic climate change and dwindling fossil fuel resources, this cartoonish narrative has gained traction because it invokes the moment’s most powerful political metonyms, from implicit allegations of crony capitalism to hippie-themed epithets about environmentalists to “free market” fundamentalism. The underlying idea — which will only be more amplified in the wake of the Obama administration’s pipeline decision Wednesday — is that fossil fuels are being persecuted by the American government.
But the reality, of course, is something wholly different. Indeed, this mythology is a perfect example of Orwellian Newspeak in which the reverse of the rhetoric is true. As recent news highlights, the government is doing exactly the opposite of what conservatives say: It is aggressively favoring the fossil fuel industry in ways that give that industry a special economic advantage over clean energy. .... According to data compiled by the Environmental Law Institute, the United States is a big contributor to this global subsidy imbalance, “provid(ing) substantially larger subsidies to fossil fuels than to renewables.” In practice, some of the biggest of those U.S. subsidies come in the form of special tax breaks for oil and gas development , and in direct taxpayer funding of multinational corporations’ foreign mining projects (yes, you read that right — your tax dollars go to fund fossil fuel development overseas). Notably, the latter subsidies champion some of the most environmentally hazardous practices in operation such as “fracking” — a practice that our own Environmental Protection Agency has found in two separate reports to be a major potential threat to groundwater....... it all adds up to a government that is far more committed to toxic and finite sources of energy than to clean and renewable sources of energy. You may not hear that from either party’s presidential candidates or media defenders — but the facts are quite clear, even if they are inconvenient. Does it have to be this way? We go to Scotland and Brian Merchant Scotland Guns for 100% Renewable Energy by 2020 treehugger.com In 2010, Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, announced that his government was aiming to power all of Scotland with 100% renewable energy by 2025. Just a few months later, they kicked it up a notch or five: Scotland would seek to run entirely on renewable power by 2020. Most of that would come from ambitious onshore and offshore wind farms, as well as some smaller wave and tidal power projects—and there are 7 GW of such clean energy projects already completed or underway. By the end of 2011, it looked as if all was going to plan, despite the requisite naysaying from skeptics. Here's Triple Pundit on Scotland's progress thus far: [...] "The costs of offshore wind will have to be reduced by 20% to be competitive," [Alex Salmond] said at a press conference today. Efforts to analyze and improve the supply chain will be a top priority, as will examining transmission challenges inherent in efficiently transporting electricity over long distances. Salmond repeatedly emphasized the need to commercialize offshore wind to make the technology available for wider deployment (and granting Scotland a foothold in one of the next generation's most promising industries).... So where is the U.S. and its "can-do" attitude? Stuck in the morass of "drill baby drill" anywhere and everywhere (Shell’s Arctic Drilling Plan Clears Hurdle nyt), fracking (Confirmed: Fracking caused Ohio earthquakes rt.com), blowing up more Appalachian mountains (Alpha fights to block health studies from permit lawsuit wvgazette) and fighting more wars for natural resources. Global climate change is a non-starter in the "conventional wisdom" of the DC Bubalas. How many more oil spills, earthquakes and wars will it take? Grrrrr. On a happier note Our Man in Wisconsin John Nichols of The Nation reports A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker Petitions with the names of 1 million Wisconsinites were submitted to state elections officials today, in a move that will jump-start the process of removing the nation’s most notorious antilabor governor from office. A total of 540,208 valid signatures are required to recall Scott Walker, the Republican governor, who was elected in 2010. On Tuesday afternoon, the United Wisconsin movement that was organized to recall and remove the governor submitted almost twice that number. The people have spoken loud and clear and we are ready to put an early end to Governor Walker’s reign," announced Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt. In addition to the 1 million signatures seeking Walker's recall, petitions with 845,000 signatures were submitted to force the recall of Republican Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. Petitions were also filed to recall four Republican state senators: erry Moulton in northwest Wisconsin, Pam Galloway in north-central Wisconsin, Van Wangaard in southeast Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Walker's legislative point man in the struggle last year over the governor's move last year to strip collective bargaining rights from state, county and municipal employees and teachers. If just one of the four senators is recalled and removed, control of the chamber will shift from the Republicans to the Democrats—who picked up two seats in recall elections last summer. In all, close to 2 million signatures were submitted Tuesday, building the historic in-the-streets popular uprising that rocked Wisconsin in 2012 into a electoral uprising that has the potential to rock the politics not just of the state but of the nation in 2012. The movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor. No other gubernatorial recall drive in American history has gathered the signatures of so large a proportion of the electorate. .... But most indications are that the challenges raised by Walker and his agents will be acts of political theater and strategy, rather a serious threat to the recall process. That is because these petitions were not be casually submitted; they have been meticulously collected, reviewed and prepared for submission by 25,000 volunteers with the United Wisconsin movement . While some signatures will undoubtedly be disqualified in the review process, and by the Walker team’s challenges, even Republican election observers quietly acknowledge that the petitions are likely to pass muster. .... The Wisconsin democracy movement is real. And Scott Walker should be afraid, very afraid, of the opposition he has unleashed in a state where it is now clear that the people are prepared to defend their rights, and their future. ON WISCONSIN! Listen to John Nichols on Ring of Fire Radio for more info.

We end today saying good-bye to blues singer Etta James. She will be missed by many.

R.I.P. Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins)

January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» William Hartung @ Democracy NOW! Drones, Asia and Cyber War: Pentagon Shifts Priorities in New Review; Budget Still Exceeds Bush Era Jan 9, 2012

»»» Colin Goddard, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre @ Democracy NOW! As Arizona Remembers Tucson Shooting, Virginia Tech Massacre Survivor Calls for New Gun Control Jan 9, 2012

»»» Guantánamo Bay Prison’s 10th Anniversary @ Democracy NOW! Guantánamo Detainees Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Prison’s 10th Anniversary AND Guantánamo Exclusive: Former Chief Prosecutor, Ex-Prisoner Call on Obama to Close Prison PLUS NDAA: Obama Signs Law Restricting Transfer of Guantánamo Prisoners and Expands Indefinite Detention Jan 10, 2012

»»» Dale Kuehne, Arnie Arnesen, Arnie Alpert @ Democracy NOW! Rivals’ Attacks on Romney’s Corporate Record Display Occupy Wall Street’s Wide Reach RELATED: How New Hampshire Became Last U.S. State to Recognize MLK Day Holiday Jan 11, 2012

»»» Michael Copps WATCH NOW Ex-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on Media Consolidation, Broadband Expansion, Threats to Journalism Jan 12, 2012

»»» Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council @ Democracy NOW! A Path to War? Assassination of Iran Nuclear Scientist, New Sanctions Strain U.S.-Iran Relations Jan 12, 2012

»»» Randall Robinson, founder and past president of TransAfrica @ Democracy NOW! 2 Years After Devastating Earthquake, Haiti’s Rebuilding Weighed Down by Legacy of Foreign Meddling Jan 13, 2012

»»» Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW On Eve of MLK Day, Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson on the Mass Incarceration of Black America Jan 13, 2012

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders

»»» FEATURED SHOW This Video is Absurd as Corporate Personhood What will it take to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United? Perhaps a viral video! Here is “It’s Viral,” with The Nation’s own Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jim Hightower and more. Exec produced by the We the People Campaign. Think it’ll work? And while you're thinking, repost! For more on citizens' opposition to Citizen's United, read the full post at TheNation.com .

BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©

»»» NFL Conference Championship Ravens @ Patriots 3 pm et & Giants @ 49ers 6:30 pm et on Sunday!

»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Celtics @ Magic 8 pm et then Grizzlies @ Clippers 10:30 pm et

BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©

360.org January 24 2012 in Washington D.C. Blow the Whistle on Big Oil Corruption On Tuesday January 24th, we going to Washington DC to blow the whistle on Big Oil corruption in Congress. We'll be gathering at the Capitol dressed in referee uniforms (yep, stripes and all), and then heading to the American Petroleum Institute - Big Oil's top lobby - to do the same. It will be unavoidable, very visible, and just disruptive enough to absolutely get the attention of the oil industry's representatives in Congress and put them on notice that the era of big oil corruption will soon be coming to an end.
UPDATE: We're still working out the exact meeting place and a few other details, but here are the key things you need to know:
What: Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil Corruption in Congress
When: Tuesday January 24th, 12 Noon
Where: West Lawn, US Capitol Building, Washington DC

The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress

Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org SOPA If you've been living under an Internet-free rock the past couple of weeks, you might have managed to miss the steady drumbeat of opposition to HR 3261, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Then again, if you've been living under an Internet-free rock, you've already had a preview of what we're facing if SOPA goes into effect. AmericanCensorship.org has pulled together an infographic that explains in very basic terms the services and sites that are at greatest risk from SOPA here: Infographic: Effects of the Internet Blacklist Bill (SOPA). More info at American Censorship Day READ Internet Censorship: Not Today, Not Tomorrow SIGN NOW! Internet censorship is coming to America. It’s in the form of a bill in Congress that gives corporations unprecedented power to blacklist websites at will. If passed, the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA (HR 3261), could rip apart the open fabric of the Internet. People could see their websites disappear from the Internet for a “crime” as innocent as posting a video of themselves singing along to a favorite song. Sign this petition NOW! Keep BTV and YOUR blog alive! Listen to Sam Seder with Tim Karr of Free Press on Net Neutrality [11•10•11] UPDATE: Bypass SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) DNS Blocking with DeSopa 1.1 A new anti-SOPA add-on for Firefox, titled “DeSopa” is such a counter measure.When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).“I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe,” DeSopa developer T Rizk told....

CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org

MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com

SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.

UPDATE! BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE: Robert Parry Exclusive America’s Debt to Bradley Manning So, it was useful to examine the WikiLeaks documents regarding the election of the new IAEA leader in 2009 to understand why this flip may have occurred. What those classified State Department cables show is that the IAEA’s new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, credited his victory largely to U.S. government support and promptly stuck his hand out for U.S. money. Further, Amano left little doubt that he would side with the United States in its confrontation with Iran and that he would even meet secretly with Israeli officials regarding their purported evidence on Iran’s nuclear program, despite the fact that Israel is arguably the world’s preeminent rogue nuclear state and rejects IAEA inspections of its own nuclear sites. According to U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA’s headquarters, American diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance U.S. interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t. ..... In private, Amano agreed to “consultations” with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. (It is ironic indeed that Amano would have secret contacts with Israeli officials about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, which has yet to yield a single bomb, when Israel possesses a large and undeclared nuclear arsenal.) In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano “took pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that … he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. “More candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain ‘constructive ambiguity’ about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December” 2009. In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to bend in directions favored by the United States and Israel, especially regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Amano’s behavior surely contrasts with how the more independent-minded ElBaradei resisted some of Bush’s key claims about Iraq’s supposed nuclear weapons program, denouncing some documents as forgeries. Today, with some Republican presidential contenders falling over themselves to bond with Israel over its desire to attack Iran, this sort of detail puts the IAEA report into a fuller context that can help American voters judge whether another war is necessary or whether they’re being misled again by hyped allegations. More at link...

DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

B R I C K T E E V E E

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The essential guide for watching government propaganda

IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011

AFGHANISTAN: 1,886 US Military Dead as of Jan 20, 2012

The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises

Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos

UPDATE: CNN reported today that renowned international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will be returning to CNN with a weekday program on its International network, while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor. Former “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos will return to the program on 8 January, while continuing his role as an anchor for “Good Morning America”. FULL STORY

• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'

• former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum

• ROUNDTABLE: GeoGeorge Will, political strategist and ABC News analyst Matthew Dowd, National Journal's Ron Brownstein, and The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer

• Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.)

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (D-S.C.)

• ROUNDTABLE: CBS News political director John Dickerson, TIME Magazine's Joe Klein and The Wall Street Journal's Kelly Evans.
60 Minutes (CBS) "60 Minutes Presents: Into the Wild," a special hour devoted to the natural world

• The Great Migration - Scott Pelley visits Kenya, the site of the great wildebeest migration, and looks at the threats to this natural spectacle comprised of over a million animals. Henry Schuster and Rebecca Peterson are the producers.

• Qatar -The tiny and prosperous Middle Eastern country with no income taxes and free health care is an island of calm in a sea of unrest as neighbors like Syria, Egypt and Bahrain experience social upheaval. Bob Simon reports. Harry Radliffe is the producer.

• The Secret Language of Elephants -Researchers listening to elephant sounds and observing their behavior are compiling an elephant dictionary. Bob Simon goes to Central Africa to listen to the language of the forest elephants first hand. Harry Radliffe is the producer.

• Jane Goodall -Jane Goodall brings Lara Logan and 60 MINUTES cameras back to the forests of Tanzania, where she began her love affair with chimpanzees 50 years ago, to remind the public that chimps are endangered. Max McClellan is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory

• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!

• Romney Supporter Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)

• GOP Hopeful Newt Gingrich

• ROUNDTABLE: Joe Scarborough, Republican strategist Mike Murphy, the BBC’s Katty Kay, and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd.
State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN)

At 9 AM ET, Candy talks to the power players: politicians, business leaders and international newsmakers who will make Monday morning's headlines. At NOON ET, Candy wraps it all up with fresh interviews and the best of the earlier hours.

• Rick Santorum

• Newt Gingrich

• Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

• House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-SC)

• Reverend Brad Atkins, president South Carolina Baptist Convention
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.

• PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Jon Fox Hosting! TOPIC: The SOPA/PIPA Internet Blackout. Great show! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW

Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!

BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!

• 'Green News Report' - January 19, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: White House wins GOP Keystone XL pipeline game - for now; Perry's Texas tough-guy talk on EPA fails; Snowmageddon in Seattle; Snow No-show in California; PLUS: Climate change, now with slightly less apocalypse! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): TX to unlock secrets of fracking; 'No evidence' that Wind Turbine Syndrome exists; Bush speechwriter slams 'culture war' over climate change; Should we only have rules coal lobbyists agree to?; Bat deaths a catastrophe in the making; New mileage standards save money immediately; Coral reef disease hits Hawaii; Breakthrough material 'eats' CO2 in the air ... PLUS: 5 myths about the Keystone XL pipeline ... and much, MUCH more! ...

Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

Listen at PeterBCollins.com!

The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.

• Holiday Break and Website Changes
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder

Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.

This Week on Ring of Fire! January 20, 2012

• Award-winning investigative journalist Robert Parry will tell us how the Republicans are trying to turn America into a giant shanty town.

• John Nichols from The Nation will be here to talk about the continuing anti-union attacks coming from right wing state governors.

• And we’ll have a collection of interviews from this week’s Families USA‘s Health Action 2012 conference.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: Public Says Romney Only Cares for the Wealthy One of the biggest questions that voters will have to ask themselves this coming November is “who will take of my interests better.” The latest polls tell us that voters have already asked themselves that question, and the answer for most of the 99% is Obama. But for those in the top 1%, they overwhelmingly support Republicans like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Mike Papantonio talks about how voters’ perceptions of who is the friendliest to Wall Street will play out this year with John Sides, political science professor and contributor to The American Prospect.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: How Republicans Packed Our Courts While all the putrid Republican conduct was playing itself out during the Bush years, the Democrats and most Americans appeared to be virtually unaware of how the Grand Ol’ Party was doing its most serious damage. The GOP and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce knew where they could do the most harm to democracy and, at the same time, improve the balance sheets for their corporate pals.
They could accomplish both of those goals in the Court system – the civil justice system where judges are often the last line in the sand when it comes to protecting Americans from the type of reckless criminal conduct that the Bush Republicans carried out for 8 dark years. While Americans were distracted trying to figure out where the Hell the WMDs were, the Republicans were packing the federal trial courts and appellate courts from the bottom up. Not with talented experienced jurists, but with political hacks who had proven their commitment to right wing ideology completely enough that they were rewarded with a black robe and a federal courtroom gavel.

• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.

• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the “Podcast” tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!

Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• Rocky Anderson on his Presidential Run, Ron Paul & Occupy Wall Street [01•10•12]

• Corey Robin on his book The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin [01•17•12]

• Jeff Smith of the OWS Press Team with a Live in DC J17 Occupy Congress Report [01•17•12]

• Garlin Gilchrist of MoveOn on the SOPA / PIPA Internet Blackout [01•18•12]

• Tina Dupuy of Crooks and Liars Live in DC on Occupy Congress [01•18•12]

MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"

WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts “The Truth About Markets” on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s “People & Power” series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.

• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!

• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page

• The [Max Keiser's] information is so powerful they wish to keep it secret by maxkeiser. READ Voting with your dollar: More than just SOPA and PIPA (examiner): “You’re taking a traditional boycott and applying economic metrics and in this process it gives the activist more leverage,” says financial activist Max Keiser, “Think strictly in strategic results. If you have enough boycotters and activists applying the boycott you will attract attention from the global hedge fund community, which is always looking for stocks to sell short or prices to attack.”
This information is a powerful tool for activists of all spectrums be it left-wing Occupy or further to the right Tea Party. The information is so powerful they wish to keep it secret, such as the SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] iPhone app or Firefox extension. Critics claim that SOPA will destroy free speech on the internet. The app works by scanning a barcode and if the company supported ‘SOPA’ through campaign donations or lobbying a ‘stop’ sign appears encouraging you to not buy this product. Receiving a ‘clear’ status results from the company’s hands being clean of the debate.
Boycotting so such a powerful tool that already numerous Senators and Representatives have switched to the oppose column concerning PIPA and SOPA despite the Hollywood lobbyist money flowing into their individual PACs and Committees. Now you’ve got a multi-trillion dollar industry blindly working with activist to attack the stock. The result is a lower stock price,” Max Keiser continues that the only way to see if your boycott is effective is by measuring the stock price. “The only thing that an activist should look for, in terms of whether they’re successful or not—it’s not what the company says, it’s not what the company writes in its annual report, it’s not what some politician says the company says—they should only look at one thing, and that’s the stock price. The stock price goes up, they’re failing; the stock price goes down, they’re winning.”

• KEISER REPORT [KR238] Keiser Report: Scam On Epic Scale We discuss 419 scams and Tim Geithner’s gimp. In the second half of the show, Max talks to financial blogger and semi-retired Wall Street executive Warren E. Pollock about MF Global, wealth confiscation and bank holidays.

• KEISER REPORT [KR239] Keiser Report: Sinking Ship In Credit Sea In this episode, we discuss captains of the financial industry abandoning ship while tripping into TARP. In the second half of the show, Max talks to former oil market regulator, Chris Cook, about the imminent collapse of the oil market …

• ON THE EDGE [OTE141] On the Edge with Gonzalo Lira Great interview with Gonzalo Lira. The UK government did NOT want you to see this.

• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1231] The Truth About Markets! Download show HERE (mp3)

• Donate to ResonanceFM here!
ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton

LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!

Listen at antiwar.com/radio

• Roy Gutman January 12, 2012: Roy Gutman, Baghdad Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, discusses the bureaucratic hindrances to the MEK’s move out of Camp Ashraf in Iraq; how individual asylum cases will essentially force the MEK to disband (as no country is willing to accept the whole group); Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s efforts to consolidate power in the splintered and unworkable Iraqi government system; the many Iraqi politicians with huge security forces that also function as hit squads against rivals; why Iraq’s political outcome is critical to the region, world oil market and Western world; how Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are jockeying for position in the “up for grabs” countries of Syria and Iraq; why US intervention in the Middle East is necessary to protect oil resources and fill the security vacuum; and the merits of US interventionism in general, from Iraq to Afghanistan.

• Gareth Porter January 19, 2012: Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the Israeli Mossad’s false flag operation that made the CIA appear responsible for terrorist attacks inside Iran; using Jundullah to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists to provoke a military response – not set back their nuclear program; how terrorist attacks marginalize Iranian political moderates and make diplomatic negotiations with the US impossible; and the predictable nationalistic “blowback” response of Iranian students, who are defiantly switching majors to nuclear science .

• Philip Giraldi January 21, 2012: Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses his article ”What War With Iran Might Look Like;” the many layers of obfuscation (like peeling an onion) in the Jundallah/CIA/Mossad frame-up; President Bush’s “absolutely ballistic” response to Israeli operatives, posing as CIA officers, recruiting Jundullah agents to commit terrorist acts in Iran; and why the Obama administration is powerless to stop Israel from starting a war with Iran (and dragging the US along with it).

Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
fauxnews

• Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

• Speaker of the House John Boehner

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First brick is on us!

Get your Foam Bricks at ThrowThings.com HERE!

Brick TeeVee and Ten Years of Gitmo

2012-01-15T04:13:00.001-05:00

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ALL LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW!!!
Click on anything below and be INSTANTLY SMARTER!
Ten Years of Gitmo We begin with this from Face the Bob Democracy Now Headlines Monday Jan 9, 2010 On Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared on CBS’s "Face the Nation" to discuss Iran. Leon Panetta: "I think the pressure of the sanctions, I think the pressure of—diplomatic pressures from everywhere—Europe, the United States, elsewhere—is working to put pressure on them, to make them understand that they cannot continue to do what they’re doing. Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is, do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us." Did you catch that? "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No." NO! From the transcript Panetta's true hubris comes out: "We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz. That's another red line for us and that we will respond to them." Go to AntiWarRadio and listen to Scott Horton Interviews Flynt Leverett from January 1, 2012 for a more sane assessment: Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, as a response to sanctions that may eventually cut off Iran’s oil exports; why the US and Israel don’t really have a problem with Iranian nuclear weapons, just Iran’s refusal to submit to US regional hegemony; Israel’s “red line” on Iran’s uranium enrichment at Qom; why US foreign policy planners don’t learn from prior mistakes (because superpowers don’t have to); and why waging war with borrowed money is a sure sign of a declining empire. Flynt Leverett runs The Race For Iran blog for more good info.

Bloomberg.com's William D. Cohan explains How Wall Street Turned a Crisis Into a Cartel Almost 65 years ago, in 1947, the U.S. government sued 17 leading Wall Street investment banks, charging them with effectively colluding in violation of antitrust laws.
In its complaint -- which was front-page news at the time - -- the Justice Department alleged that these firms had created “an integrated, overall conspiracy and combination” starting in 1915 “and in continuous operation thereafter, by which” they developed a system “to eliminate competition and monopolize ‘the cream of the business’ of investment banking.”
The U.S. argued that the top Wall Street investment banks - - including Morgan Stanley (MS) (the lead defendant) and Goldman Sachs -- had created a cartel by which, among other things, it set the prices charged for underwriting securities and for providing mergers-and-acquisitions advice, while boxing out weaker competitors from breaking into the top tier of the business and getting their fair share of the fees.
The government argued that the big firms placed their partners on their clients’ boards of directors, putting them in the best possible position to know when a piece of business was coming down the pike and to make sure that any competitors were given a very hard time should they dare to try to win it.
The government was spot on: The investment-banking business was then a cartel where the biggest and most powerful firms controlled the market and then set the prices for their services, leaving customers with few viable choices for much needed capital, advice or trading counterparties. The same argument can be made today. .... Today, while there is no inkling of an antitrust lawsuit against Wall Street, its cartel-like behavior is very much in evidence. The remaining banks have increased their hold over the marketplace and continue to collude when it comes to pricing their services. ....

The Automatic Earth digs deeper with Ashvin Pandurangi writing about the global "Mergers and Acquisitions" (M&A) and mass "centralization" in January 7 2012: Death of an Institution: Desperate Mergers & Destructive Acquisitions ...It is, in reality, a sign of desperation and a harbinger of decreased resilience (a.k.a. "impending doom"), and that becomes quite clear when we consider the type of M&A activity that has been occurring over the last few years. Relatively large companies are suddenly finding themselves in a position of pure desperation, where they must either combine with other companies through some legal process or die. .... They are the last remaining dust particles of competition within those industries, waiting to be vacuumed up as soon as the slightest window of opportunity presents itself. These opportunities are pervasive in the current volatile environment, where share prices of public companies are frequently pummeled down in tandem and the markets remain in an indefinite state of uncertainty due to opaque asset valuations and government policy. ..... Should we be surprised that the wholesale destruction of European economies is described as presenting the "best buying opportunities" in history? Perhaps we should call them the "best opportunities for institutional cannibalism in all of history". This centralization process does not only take the form of "voluntary" mergers, especially in present times, but more often results from bankruptcy filings that force companies to liquidate or restructure their assets. ......So as the lower and upper "middle class" citizenry of the developed world are being rapidly digested in the acidic bowels of financial capitalism, the "big, yet not quite big enough" institutions are systematically having their "assets" aggregated on the books of a few supranational giants at not only cheap prices, but through illegal transfers and illegally discounted prices. As the weak wither and die, the strong draw lots to see who among them will be devoured first (JPM and Goldman always draw the biggest straw). ... Make no mistake, these are not rational economic actors acting in the best interests of their stakeholders and maximizing long-term institutional value, but desperate, irrational and short-sighted actors coerced into deals for a quick payoff. The low-level employees and mid-level managers of the acquired institutions usually find themselves joining a line in the local unemployment office or perhaps attending a "networking seminar", designed to create the illusion that they remain important to the system. Meanwhile, there are millions of new, starry-eyed faces that have been spewed out of various "educational" institutions, wading tens of thousands deep in debt, who are now "willing" to work longer hours for much less salary and fewer benefits. Your degree, work experience and interpersonal skills mean next to nothing, because there is simply no more room for your specialized "credentials" in the institutional system. ....

A Must-Read from Glenn Greenwald from a couple of weeks ago Progressives and the Ron Paul fallacies ... Whatever else one wants to say, it is indisputably true that Ron Paul is the only political figure with any sort of a national platform — certainly the only major presidential candidate in either party — who advocates policy views on issues that liberals and progressives have long flamboyantly claimed are both compelling and crucial. The converse is equally true: the candidate supported by liberals and progressives and for whom most will vote — Barack Obama — advocates views on these issues (indeed, has taken action on these issues) that liberals and progressives have long claimed to find repellent, even evil. Then read his follow-up Democratic Party priorities ....The chances that any of these issues will be debated in an Obama/Romney presidential contest are exactly zero. On all of these issues — Endless War, empire, steadfast devotion to the Israeli government, due-process-free assassinations, multiple-nation drone assaults, escalating confrontation with Iran, the secretive, unchecked Surveillance and National Security States, the sadistic and racist Drug War, the full-scale capture of the political process by bankers and oligarchs — Romney is fully supportive of President Obama’s actions (except to the extent he argues they don’t go far enough: and those critiques will almost certainly be modulated once the primary is over, resulting in ever greater convergence between the two). As National Journal‘s Michael Hirsh put it yesterday: “In truth, Obama and Romney are far closer in mindset and philosophy than anyone is willing to acknowledge just now.” ...

As the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay passes Marcy Wheeler at emptywheel explains This Gitmo Anniversary Needs to Be about Bagram, Too No one has, as far as I know, asked the more general question: “does the Administration plan to get out of the due process-free indefinite detention business?” That question would be a lot harder for Carney to answer–though the answer, of course, is “no, the Administration has no intention of stopping the practice of holding significant numbers of detainees without adequate review.” Rather than reversing the practice started by the Bush Administration, Obama has continued it, even re-accelerated it, expanding our prison at Bagram several times. That question seems to be absent from discussions about Gitmo’s anniversary, too. .... There’s a difference between what is legal under international law developed for very different wars and what is just or what is the best way to conduct that war. And the problem with Gitmo (mitigated somewhat over the decade)–and the problem with Bagram, still–is that we’re spending unbelievable amounts of money to detain and abuse people that we haven’t even adequately reviewed to make sure we need to detain them. That’s not a smart way to conduct a war, particularly not one its backers insist will never end, particularly one that depends on our ability to win support among Afghans and other Muslims. The only thing that was and is problematic about Gitmo that is not also problematic about Bagram is the publicity surrounding it (presumably, though, just here and in Europe–I imagine Afghans, Pakistanis, and al Qaeda members know as much about Bagram as they do about Gitmo). That is, by treating–and allowing the Administration to treat–Gitmo as the problem, rather than due process-free and possibly abusive indefinite detention generally, we’re all acting as if the problem is that people know we’re conducting due process-free indefinite detention, not that we’re doing it at all. We’re letting the Administration off easy with its claims that mean old Congress has prevented it from closing Gitmo, when Bagram offers proof that it wants to do so not for the right reasons–because it is wrong, because it damages our ability to claim to offer something better than corrupt regimes–but because what America has become and intends to stay is embarrassing, politically inconvenient. I understand that this anniversary will attract general attention to Gitmo. I’m thrilled that, for once, people are listening to the reporters and activists and lawyers and guards and especially the detainees who have fought to close it. But by allowing the myth that Gitmo is the problem to go unchallenged, and not our due process-free indefinite detention generally, we’re simply pretending that unjust and stupid actions that occur outside of the glare of the press don’t matter as much as those that make the news. We are led to believe (of course) that those imprisoned in Gitmo are "the worst of the worst" yet many were simple farmers or taxicab drivers, turned over to the U.S. by people motivated by revenge and a nice cash handout or "reward" offered by the military, what Noam Chomsky calls the global "unpeople" in Recognizing the "Unpeople"
...On March 12, the Arab League gained the status of people by supporting U.N. Resolution 1973. But approval soon faded when the League withheld support for the subsequent Western bombardment of Libya. And on April 10, the Arab League reverted to unpeople by calling on the U.N. also to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza and to lift the Israeli siege, virtually ignored. That too makes good sense. Palestinians are prototypical unpeople, as we see regularly. Consider the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs, which opened with two articles on the Israel-Palestine conflict. One, written by Israeli officials Yosef Kuperwasser and Shalom Lipner, blamed the continuing conflict on the Palestinians for refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state (keeping to the diplomatic norm: States are recognized, but not privileged sectors within them). The second, by American scholar Ronald R. Krebs, attributes the problem to the Israeli occupation; the article is subtitled: “How the Occupation Is Destroying the Nation.” Which nation? Israel, of course, harmed by having its boot on the necks of unpeople. ... Whatever one thinks of capturing a soldier from an attacking army, kidnapping civilians is plainly a far more serious crime – unless, of course, they are mere unpeople. The strange breed of unpeople can be found everywhere, including the U.S.: in the prisons that are an international scandal, the food kitchens, the decaying slums. But wouldn't you know the so-called "worst of the worst" Taliban leaders held at Guantánamo Bay to be released in peace talks deal reports Guardian UK's Julian Borger and Jon Boone. The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents' agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar, the Guardian has learned. According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan. More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund. Washington is reported to be considering formally handing him over to the custody of another country, possibly Qatar. The releases would be to reciprocate for Tuesday's announcement from the Taliban that they are prepared to open a political office in Qatar to conduct peace negotiations "with the international community" – the most significant political breakthrough in ten years of the Afghan conflict. The Taliban are holding just one American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, a 25-year-old sergeant captured in June 2009, but it is not clear whether he would be freed as part of the deal. Damn. MORE EMPTYWHEEL The Beat from Hell: Carol Rosenberg’s Decade Covering Gitmo For the record, Carol Rosenberg has been covering Gitmo for more than the decade that has elapsed since she arrived there on January 9, 2002 to cover the impending arrival of the first war on terror detainees. ....
But it was 10 years ago today when Rosenberg first started covering the base’s use as a prison for alleged terrorists. As I’ve heard others who have made the trip explain, Rosenberg is now the institutional memory of the place, often describing what a space was used for years before DOD’s current press minders ever showed up. Or, as she described in a National Press Club speech last year, what the rules used to be for journalists and attorneys. ....
Of course, for much of that decade, Rosenberg was one of the only ones–aside from the detainees, their attorneys, and those unlucky enough to get stationed there–paying attention. She’s often been the one to report on hunger strikes and force feeding, one new Kafkaesque rules invented for the detainees, and most recently on the high cost of keeping detainees at Gitmo–a remarkable contrast to her reporting on the cost-cutting at Gitmo from 1999. Much more on Carol Rosenberg's coverage of Gitmo at EmptyWheel.

Some good news from Bill Moyers: Back With a New Series (truthout): I'm coming back because in tumultuous times like these I relish the company of people who try to make sense of the tumult. These are the people I'll bring to our new broadcast, Moyers & Company.
Journalism has long been for me a continuing course in adult education. Given what's happening in this country, it's time to sign up for more classes. The lack of civility and common sense that has paralyzed our democracy, the vast economic and social inequality that sends both left and right raging into the streets, the corrosive influence of money in politics - we're in a tailspin with little hope for a course correction from our elected leadership or corporate-dominated media. The need for voices of reason, simple and eloquent, has rarely been stronger. ... This will be a political series, but not a partisan one. In the conversation of democracy, everyone's invited. That means you, too. You're welcome to share opinions in the marketplace of ideas we'll be offering with our all-new website, billmoyers.com. Our aim is dialogue, not diatribe, and we want you in it.

And for those who like lists, here's a few from AlterNet

Martha Rosenberg: 4 Creepy Ways Big Pharma Peddles its Drugs
Tana Ganeva: 5 Things You Should Know About the FBI's Massive New Biometric Database
Les Leopold: 7 Ways to Really Take the Ax to Wall Street

And here's one more worth a study Dr. Lawrence Britt outlines Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism at Rense.com originally at Free Inquiry. SOPA/PIPA UPDATE: From Yves at nakedcapitalism Why Banks Back SOPA, the “Bring the Chinese Internet to America” Bill So why is the American Bankers Association one of the sponsors of a bill that seems awfully remote from its terrain? The bill allows anyone to send a complain about a purported SOPA violation and get the site disappeared. This faster and more brutal than the execution of Wikileaks via cutting off its access to payment networks. From TechDirt in December (emphasis theirs): .... That’s because this section says that anyone who takes voluntary action “based on credible evidence”: basically gets full immunity. Think about what that means in practice. If someone sends a service provider a notice claiming infringement on the site under this bill, the first thing every lawyer will tell them is “quick, take voluntary action to cut them off, so you get immunity.” Even worse, since this is just about immunity, there are no counternotice rules or anything requiring any process for those cut off to be able to have any redress whatsoever… End result: SOPA 2.0 contains a crazy scary clause that’s going to make it crazy easy to cut off websites with no recourse whatsoever. And this part isn’t just limited to payment providers/ad networks — but to service providers, search engines and domain registrars/registries as well. Yes. Search engines. So you can send a notice to a search engine, and if they want to keep their immunity, they have to take the actions in either Section 102(c)(2) or 103(c)(2), which are basically all of the “cut ‘em off, block ‘em” remedies. That’s crazy. This basically encourages search engines to disappear sites upon a single notice. It encourages domain registries to kill domains based on notices. With no recourse at all, because the providers have broad immunity. Oh no, this isn’t crazy at all, it’s authoritarian. Imagine how long Goldman666 or Matt Taibbi or Karl Denninger or yours truly would be around with this rule. Wikileaks demonstrates that even Swedish domiciled sites are not safe.And it isn’t just the banks that favor SOPA. So too does the AFL-CIO... YOIKES! BTV's msgeaux offers Lessons in American History: Scapegoating "Iran is Not the Real Target," writes Gordon Duff, Senior Editor Veterans Today Some time ago, during the Clinton administration, I learned that a group of Israeli/American extremists in Washington were planning on forcing the US to invade Iran. Some of these people worked with friends in the White House, some being taped by the FBI tied to spying by their closest associates, spying on the US, nuclear secrets and such, secrets passed on by Israel to China. As soon as Bush took office, friends at every agency told me they were being asked to submit falsified intelligence about weapons programs in Iraq and terrorist cells in both Iraq and Iran. They said the orders came from the president’s national security advisor who was planning a war on Iraq. Other friends, some at the highest levels of government, Reagan onward, now working as lobbyists, told me a pattern was emerging and that war was coming. All were good friends of Israel, some had visited many times, some actually headed pro-Israeli organizations in the US. ..... The lying started long before Bush. Oklahoma City was Clinton’s gift, an attempt to paint America’s right wing as terrorists. “Working groups” were set up in several agencies, groups that met “off campus” to discuss the real work of our government, running drugs, coordinating with organized crime and planning acts of domestic terrorism. However, when the Bush gang got in, they had a plan in hand, invade Iraq, invade Iran, quadruple the size of government, tax the middle class out of existence, end Social Security, flood the country with illegal aliens. With control of Afghan opium production they could switch the cities from “crack” to cheaper heroin which was controlled by the Bush family for decades. And they could end the electoral process through using the CIA to run elections through Diebold and other companies like Wackenhut. A systematic plan was put in place to take control of Federal courts, killing the constitution, the Supreme Court was stacked with “bought and paid for” organized crime shills. Then came 9/11, planned two years before, with FBI agents infiltrating terror cells that were really Israelis, with thousands of pages of new laws annulling the constitution, some written as early as 1999 suddenly showing up. This should be the history we are teaching our children, grade school, high school, college, what our military is being taught about the wars they fight. Now we are talking about pushing Iran to war by cutting their oil revenue with an illegal blockade and starving 100 million people to death. Read on! Dahr Jamail writes at AJE Fallujah babies: Under a new kind of siege Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah's newborns. Fallujah, Iraq - While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as "catastrophic" levels of birth defects and abnormalities. Dr Samira Alani, a paediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, has taken a personal interest in investigating an explosion of congenital abnormalities that have mushroomed in the wake of the US sieges since 2005. "We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine," Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects. As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699. "There are not even medical terms to describe some of these conditions because we've never seen them until now," she said. "So when I describe it all I can do is describe the physical defects, but I'm unable to provide a medical term." ..... Alani showed Al Jazeera hundreds of photos of babies born with cleft palates, elongated heads, a baby born with one eye in the centre of its face, overgrown limbs, short limbs, and malformed ears, noses and spines. She told Al Jazeera of cases of "thanatophoric dysplasia", an abnormality in bones and the thoracic cage that "render the newborn incompatible with life". ... Alani, along with Dr Christopher Busby, a British scientist and activist who has carried out research into the risks of radioactive pollution, collected hair samples from 25 parents of families with children who have birth defects and sent them to a laboratory in Germany for analysis. Alani and Busby, along with other doctors and researchers, published a study in September 2011 from data obtained by analysing the hair samples, as well as soil and water samples from the city. Mercury, Uranium, Bizmuth and other trace elements were found. The report's conclusion states: "Whilst caution must be exercised about ruling out other possibilities, because none of the elements found in excess are reported to cause congenital diseases and cancer except Uranium, these findings suggest the enriched Uranium exposure is either a primary cause or related to the cause of the congenital anomaly and cancer increases. Questions are thus raised about the characteristics and composition of weapons now being deployed in modern battlefields." "As doctors, we know Mercury, Uranium and Bismuth can contribute to the development of congenital abnormalities, and we think it could be related to the use of prohibited weapons by the Americans during these battles," Alani said. .... In Babil Province in southern Iraq, the head of the Babil Cancer Centre, Dr Sharif al-Alwachi, said cancer rates have been escalating at alarming rates since 2003, for which he blames the use of depleted uranium weapons by US forces during and following the 2003 invasion. "The environment could be contaminated by chemical weapons and depleted uranium from the aftermath of the war on Iraq," Dr Alwachi told Al Jazeera. "The air, soil and water are all polluted by these weapons, and as they come into contact with human beings they become poisonous. This is new to our region, and people are suffering here." The US and UK militaries have sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, but Iraqi doctors like Alwachi and Alani, and along with researchers, blame the increasing cancer and birth defect rates on the weapon. Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq, has been researching the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqis since 1991. He told Al Jazeera he personally measured radiation levels in the city of Kerbala, as well as in Basra, and his Geiger counter was "screaming" because "the indicator went beyond the range". Alani explained that she is the only doctor in Fallujah registering cases of congenital abnormalities. ... Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists press release: DOOMSDAY CLOCK MOVES 1 MINUTE CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT WASHINGTON, D.C. -- January 10, 2012 -- Faced with inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation, and continuing inaction on climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced today that it has moved the hands of its famous "Doomsday Clock" to five minutes to midnight. The last time the Doomsday Clock minute hand moved was in January 2010, when the Clock's minute hand was pushed back one minute from five to six minutes before midnight. In a formal statement issued at the time of today's announcement, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists noted: "It is five minutes to midnight. Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed. For that reason, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to midnight, back to its time in 2007." Much more you need to read at TheBulletin.org! Doomsday Clock Overview The Doomsday Clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction--the figurative midnight--and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm. ... SURVEILLANCE UPDATE! Homeland Security Monitors Journalists Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what. Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms. Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.” According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency. Also included in the roster of those subjected to the spying are government officials, domestic or not, who make public statements, private sector employees that do the same and “persons known to have been involved in major crimes of Homeland Security interest,” which to itself opens up the possibilities even wider. The department says that they will only scour publically-made info available while retaining data, but it doesn’t help but raise suspicion as to why the government is going out of their way to spend time, money and resources on watching over those that helped bring news to the masses. ... SURVEILLANCE UPDATE II ! Justin Elliott at Salon The Army is reading your Bradley Manning tweets! Our LAST WORD goes to Hal Crowther at IndyWeek.com Otherwise occupied: What price revolution? Here are some highlights ... Idiot force has been deployed against Occupy at dozens of its tent cities, although assault rifles have yet to appear anywhere other than Chapel Hill. Every image of belligerent overreaction to a nonviolent protest—diligently videotaped, instantly online—is a victory for this promising experiment in civil disobedience, which in the digital age commands an audience inconceivable to Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. But those great martyrs of nonviolence, who succeeded in spite of the violence they failed to survive, laid down the rules of this game. It's about self-control: You conquer by conquering yourself. Your enemy is exposed, isolated and in the end defeated by his brutality and lack of restraint. That's all to the good, unless those are your ribs, your hair. The other lesson young rebels learn rapidly is that revolutions, in the words of one of Chapel Hill's declared anarchists, "are not like a dinner party." Civil disobedience is no walk in the park. It involves serious physical risks. There are sometimes martyrs. Pressed sufficiently, even the most benign authority will usually show its fangs. Television deceives. Was there ever a real-life lawman like Sheriff Andy Taylor, who never met a malefactor he didn't like? Or even one like Marshal Matt Dillon, who was always fair and avoided violence if he could? It's not a great secret that most people who seek authority, or defend it, fall toward the controlling side of the psychological spectrum. They tend to prize order and orderly citizens, an equilibrium that civil disobedience so rudely violates. "Disturbing the peace" is a punishable offense with deep historical roots. Disturb their peace and they will bite you, they will beat you. They might shoot you. Expect no smiles, no brownies. You make a stern, life-altering commitment when you take your grievances to the street. I had to grin at an e-mail an old friend forwarded to me, from his daughter in New York, who joined last week's night march across the Brooklyn Bridge to reclaim Zuccotti Park. "Being a revolutionary is cold work," she reports. ...... It's up to them now, the green, clean, unexpected revolutionaries one Manhattan office worker called "those terrific kids in the park." It's up to you, whoever you are, and encouraging polls indicate that most Americans don't buy the predictable smears from the right-wing coven, the ones that dismiss you as spoiled children of privilege who would rather demonstrate than work. If our self-esteem is based on the noxiousness of our enemies—I cherish mine—you should all be swollen with pride. You've been called "fascists" by Karl Rove, a criminal thug who belongs on Cellblock B instead of Fox News. Ann Coulter claims that America views you with "hilarity and revulsion," which pretty accurately sums up her own impact and her career. "Go get a bath right after you get a job," snarls Newt Gingrich, an influence-peddler who's had no legitimate job for 15 years and exists only to give the word "hypocrisy" a human face. My sympathies are obvious. What you in the tents can accomplish remains to be seen. But what I think I see, through the media fog of polarized America, is the return of the full-fledged idealists (as opposed to single-issue idealists) who seemed to go underground around 1980, possibly because the mass media abandoned them during the mudslide of self-celebration that began with Reaganism and culminated in Facebook. I say God bless them, and God will if he still has any investment in the United States of America. The Goliath they challenge has crushed a thousand Davids. The good news is that "the kids" are right on target. Their diagnosis is bull's-eye correct, and the patient is critical. For this country to survive, it must find saner ways to pursue and multiply wealth, and find them quickly. The cannibal capitalism that produced a Goldman Sachs and a Bernie Madoff is subhuman and obscene. There's no form of government more inherently offensive than plutocracy—only theocracy comes close. When a citizen comes of age in a plutocracy, he has no moral choice but to slay Pluto or die trying. .... This is beyond unacceptable, much closer to unspeakable, like an economic survey comparing the French court at Versailles to the sans-culottes. This is not what the Founders of the Great American Experiment had in mind (they thought slavery might be the fatal worm in our apple, but it turned out to be capitalism). This is what the OWS demonstrators, emerging from our underperforming high schools and colleges, found blocking their way to the future. Critics chide them for failing to establish specific demands, but a slate of demands from Occupy Chicago struck me as savvy and dead-on: repeal tax cuts and close loopholes for the rich, prosecute the Wall Street felons of 2008, separate commercial lending from investment banking, rein in lobbyists, eliminate corporate personhood and overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of 2010. This last demand is perhaps the most critical. The decision that defined campaign contributions as free speech, delivered by the court's 5-4 Republican majority, removed the last legal obstacles to a wallet-based political system that leaves the 1 percent, or one-hundredth of 1 percent, in unchallenged control of our fortunes and our public lives. It opened the floodgates for a multibillion-dollar campaign to defeat President Obama, and any candidates who might resist corporate feudalism, in 2012. In the words of the late Molly Ivins, "We either get the money out of politics or we lose the democracy." There's a grave possibility that it has already been lost. But those "terrific kids" in the tents, with their black-and-blue ribs and their eyes red from pepper spray, seem to be the only Americans who are dead sure what's at stake. The usual GOPher Circus suspects dominate yer Sunday Funnies but look for NOBEL LAUREATE PAUL KRUGMAN on THIS SNUFAGOPOLIS returning to "This Week" since Christine Anapour left to return "to CNN with a weekday program on its International network, while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor" while KRUGMAN debates the troglodytes on the class war being waged BY the GOP and how the GOP 1% is winning. Throw yer bricks at everybody else because the Klown Kar is everywhere! Meanwhile check out MAX KEISER with news dissector Danny Schechter and Nomi Prins, RING OF FIRE has Slate's Dahlia Lithwick, VIDEO with The Nation's Ari Berman and Chauncey DeVega PLUS The Atlantic's Steve Clemons and WILLIAM HARTUNG on Democracy Now! PLUS AntiWarRadio's interview with Robert Koehler discussing his article Bugsplat’: the civilian toll of war. It is truly amazing that "The Right" can claim the media is "librul" when the CONservatives DOMINATE the airwaves. Be sure to watch Ex-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on Media Consolidation, Broadband Expansion, Threats to Journalism. There just ARE NOT ANY LIBERALS on yer teevee AT ALL save KRUGMAN trying desperately to get the word out that "These people are crazy" and NONE of their "solutions" work whether it's economics, science, foreign policy or domestic policy. The entire CANARD of "The Evil Librul Media" is just that: a CANARD. And too many voters buy into this CANARD hook, line and sinker. Why? That's all they get on right-wing corporate-controlled terrestrial airwaves 24-7. We recommend Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media at informationclearinghouse "Required Viewing for every citizen in the Free World." The Brick TeeVee Crew was surfing around and found this video from Sept 2011 Tom Morello on REAL TIME with Bill Maher.... WATCH NOW! TOM MORELLO THE NIGHTWATCHMAN Enjoy Martin Luther King Day 2012!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» William Hartung @ Democracy NOW! Drones, Asia and Cyber War: Pentagon Shifts Priorities in New Review; Budget Still Exceeds Bush Era Jan 9, 2012
»»» Colin Goddard, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre @ Democracy NOW! As Arizona Remembers Tucson Shooting, Virginia Tech Massacre Survivor Calls for New Gun Control Jan 9, 2012
»»» Guantánamo Bay Prison’s 10th Anniversary @ Democracy NOW! Guantánamo Detainees Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Prison’s 10th Anniversary AND Guantánamo Exclusive: Former Chief Prosecutor, Ex-Prisoner Call on Obama to Close Prison PLUS NDAA: Obama Signs Law Restricting Transfer of Guantánamo Prisoners and Expands Indefinite Detention Jan 10, 2012
»»» Dale Kuehne, Arnie Arnesen, Arnie Alpert @ Democracy NOW! Rivals’ Attacks on Romney’s Corporate Record Display Occupy Wall Street’s Wide Reach RELATED: How New Hampshire Became Last U.S. State to Recognize MLK Day Holiday Jan 11, 2012
»»» Michael Copps WATCH NOW Ex-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on Media Consolidation, Broadband Expansion, Threats to Journalism Jan 12, 2012
»»» Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council @ Democracy NOW! A Path to War? Assassination of Iran Nuclear Scientist, New Sanctions Strain U.S.-Iran Relations Jan 12, 2012
»»» Randall Robinson, founder and past president of TransAfrica @ Democracy NOW! 2 Years After Devastating Earthquake, Haiti’s Rebuilding Weighed Down by Legacy of Foreign Meddling Jan 13, 2012
»»» Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW On Eve of MLK Day, Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson on the Mass Incarceration of Black America Jan 13, 2012

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW This Video is Absurd as Corporate Personhood What will it take to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United? Perhaps a viral video! Here is “It’s Viral,” with The Nation’s own Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jim Hightower and more. Exec produced by the We the People Campaign. Think it’ll work? And while you're thinking, repost! For more on citizens' opposition to Citizen's United, read the full post at TheNation.com .
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» NFL Divisional Playoffs 49'ers and Patriots move on! Giants @ Packers & Texans @ Ravens on Sunday!
»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Lakers @ Heat 8 pm et then Mavs @ Jazz 10:30 pm et
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress
Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org SOPA If you've been living under an Internet-free rock the past couple of weeks, you might have managed to miss the steady drumbeat of opposition to HR 3261, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Then again, if you've been living under an Internet-free rock, you've already had a preview of what we're facing if SOPA goes into effect. AmericanCensorship.org has pulled together an infographic that explains in very basic terms the services and sites that are at greatest risk from SOPA here: Infographic: Effects of the Internet Blacklist Bill (SOPA). More info at American Censorship Day READ Internet Censorship: Not Today, Not Tomorrow SIGN NOW! Internet censorship is coming to America. It’s in the form of a bill in Congress that gives corporations unprecedented power to blacklist websites at will. If passed, the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA (HR 3261), could rip apart the open fabric of the Internet. People could see their websites disappear from the Internet for a “crime” as innocent as posting a video of themselves singing along to a favorite song. Sign this petition NOW! Keep BTV and YOUR blog alive! Listen to Sam Seder with Tim Karr of Free Press on Net Neutrality [11•10•11] UPDATE: Bypass SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) DNS Blocking with DeSopa 1.1 A new anti-SOPA add-on for Firefox, titled “DeSopa” is such a counter measure.When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).“I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe,” DeSopa developer T Rizk told....
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org
MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.
UPDATE! BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE: Robert Parry Exclusive America’s Debt to Bradley Manning So, it was useful to examine the WikiLeaks documents regarding the election of the new IAEA leader in 2009 to understand why this flip may have occurred. What those classified State Department cables show is that the IAEA’s new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, credited his victory largely to U.S. government support and promptly stuck his hand out for U.S. money. Further, Amano left little doubt that he would side with the United States in its confrontation with Iran and that he would even meet secretly with Israeli officials regarding their purported evidence on Iran’s nuclear program, despite the fact that Israel is arguably the world’s preeminent rogue nuclear state and rejects IAEA inspections of its own nuclear sites. According to U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the site of IAEA’s headquarters, American diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance U.S. interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t. ..... In private, Amano agreed to “consultations” with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Pyatt reported. (It is ironic indeed that Amano would have secret contacts with Israeli officials about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, which has yet to yield a single bomb, when Israel possesses a large and undeclared nuclear arsenal.) In a subsequent cable dated Oct. 16, 2009, the U.S. mission in Vienna said Amano “took pains to emphasize his support for U.S. strategic objectives for the Agency. Amano reminded ambassador [Glyn Davies] on several occasions that … he was solidly in the U.S. court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. “More candidly, Amano noted the importance of maintaining a certain ‘constructive ambiguity’ about his plans, at least until he took over for DG ElBaradei in December” 2009. In other words, the emerging picture of Amano is of a bureaucrat eager to bend in directions favored by the United States and Israel, especially regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Amano’s behavior surely contrasts with how the more independent-minded ElBaradei resisted some of Bush’s key claims about Iraq’s supposed nuclear weapons program, denouncing some documents as forgeries. Today, with some Republican presidential contenders falling over themselves to bond with Israel over its desire to attack Iran, this sort of detail puts the IAEA report into a fuller context that can help American voters judge whether another war is necessary or whether they’re being misled again by hyped allegations. More at link...
DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,875 US Military Dead as of Jan 13, 2012
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos

UPDATE: CNN reported today that renowned international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will be returning to CNN with a weekday program on its International network, while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor. Former “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos will return to the program on 8 January, while continuing his role as an anchor for “Good Morning America”. FULL STORY

• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry

• comedian Stephen Colbert

• ROUNDTABLE: George Will and Cokie Roberts, ABC News senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl, the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, and New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer

• GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum

• GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

• Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
60 Minutes (CBS)

• Groupon - In his first major interview since taking the multibillion dollar Internet company public late last year, the founder and CEO of online daily deals site Groupon talks about the company Forbes called the fastest growing in the world. Lesley Stahl interviews Andrew Mason. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.

• Qatar -The tiny and prosperous Middle Eastern country with no income taxes and free health care is an island of calm in a sea of unrest as neighbors like Syria, Egypt and Bahrain experience social upheaval. Bob Simon reports. Harry Radliffe is the producer.

• Jake -At 13 years old, Jake Barnett is already attending college and tutoring his much older "peers." In fact, the math and science prodigy was acing college courses when he was just eight and hopes to use his gift to change the world someday. Morley Safer reports. Katy Textor is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory

• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!

• GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

• Sen. Lindsey Graham

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

• Personal finance guru Suze Orman

• Tea-Party backed freshman Rep. Tim Scott.
State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN)

At 9 AM ET, Candy talks to the power players: politicians, business leaders and international newsmakers who will make Monday morning's headlines. At NOON ET, Candy wraps it all up with fresh interviews and the best of the earlier hours.

• Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry

• senior campaign strategist David Axelrod

• Sen. John McCain (Senile-AZ)

• South Carolina evangelical leaders, Bob Jones III, chancellor Bob Jones University and

• Reverend Brad Atkins, president South Carolina Baptist Convention
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.

• PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Uber Pope Imam Bishop Rabbi Bob! Listen now HERE (mp3)!

Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!

BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!

• 'Green News Report' - January 12, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: GOP planning end-run around Obama on Keystone XL pipeline?; 2 years after massive earthquake, Haiti still devastated; Big polluters in your neighborhood? There's a map for that; PLUS: While Obama talks clean energy, Germany actually does it ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Cow (poo) Power for Seattle; Deaths in Nigerian oil subsidy riots; Oil prices rise on Iran tensions; Federal judge reinstates EPA boiler rule; Thomas Edison's revenge?; Improving TV energy efficiency saves money; Lesions on gulf fish linked to BP oil spill; NASA's Hansen: extreme heat in TX, OK, Russia "caused by global warming ... PLUS: "Profound cascading consequences" as Rocky Mountains lose snowpack ... and much, MUCH more! ...

BRADCAST UPDATE: Guest Hosting 'Malloy Show' Friday the 13th! A Nightmare on Malloy Street! TONIGHT: All of your worst 2012 nightmares, plus great news out of Wisconsin!

Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

Listen at PeterBCollins.com!

The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.

• Holiday Break and Website Changes
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder

Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.

This Week on Ring of Fire! January 13, 2012

• Legal correspondent for Slate Dahlia Lithwick will tell us why the Montana Supreme Court sent a message to corporations, informing them that they are NOT people.

• Psychologist and Alternet contributor Bruce Levine will talk to us about the over-medication of our children.

• Steve Clemons from The Atlantic will join us for a discussion on how to restore America’s super power status in the world.

• Steve Kornacki from Salon.com will tell us why Mitt Romney will have to appease Ron Paul if he wants to win the Republican nomination.

• And author and radio host Maria Armoudian will be here to tell us about the evolution of the Occupy Movement.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: Inside the GOP’s Block The Vote MachineMost Americans are under the correct assumption that the right to vote is a guarantee for every legal US citizen. But as we’ve noted during this show, the GOP is working tirelessly to prevent minorities, the elderly, and young people from being able to cast a vote in next year’s presidential election. That’s because these groups tend to favor Democrats over the GOP’s new brand of crazy Tea Party candidates. Mike Papantonio talks about the GOP’s war on voting rights with author and Nation Magazine contributor Ari Berman.

• VIDEO! Papantonio: Racism Prevalent at GOP Primaries When you drill down to the heart of the GOP’s war on voting, you’ll see that racism is the driving factor. And that racism isn’t just coming in the form of voter suppression – even the GOP Tea Party candidates are diving head first into the realm of race baiting. Mike Papantonio talks about how racism is driving the Tea Party candidates’ campaigns with blogger and author Chauncey DeVega.

• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.

• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the “Podcast” tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!

Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• Rocky Anderson on his Presidential Run, Ron Paul & Occupy Wall Street [01•10•12]

• Jeff Smith of the Occupy Wall Street Press Team on the Upcoming J17 Occupy Congress Events [01•10•12]

• Dave Weigel of Slate on the New Hampshire Primary [01•11•12]

• Matt of Occupy New Hampshire on Their Role in the NH Primary [01•11•12]

• Robert Forrant on Bread and Roses Labor Strike [01•12•12]

MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"

WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts “The Truth About Markets” on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s “People & Power” series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.

• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!

• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page

• COMPETITION FROM RT AND THE ‘KEISER REPORT’ HAS FORCED THE NYT into admitting it’s not pursuing truth and then asking its readers if they are interested in the truth… by maxkeiser. READ NYT OpEd: Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? (nyt) maxkeiser: I like to think we had a hand in this… Our reports on RT are so shockingly truthful that now the NYT is playing catch-up in the truth business. Something you would have thought they were doing all along.. But we told you otherwise. And that’s the truth. See Cenk Uygur rips New York Times over ‘truth vigilante’ column!

• VIDEO! Max Keiser on Capital Account: Presidential Futures are like “Running Man on Steroids” by stacyherbert.

• KEISER REPORT [KR233] Keiser Report: Spiral of debt towards the paranormal In this episode, we discuss Brits using payday loans to pay off interest only mortgages while Greeks bury their cash for fear of being Gaddafi’d by the banksters. In the second half of the show, Max talks to David Morgan of Silver-Investor.com about silver, Sprott and bonds.

• KEISER REPORT [KR234] Keiser Report – Hollywood Cons Congress We discuss copyright and how Hollywood cons Congress by using Wall Street accounting. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Amir Taaki about hackers, piracy, technology and bitcoin.

• KEISER REPORT [KR235] Keiser Report – Death by Thousand Revelations In this episode, we discuss death by a thousand revelations and destroying the City to save the City. In the second half of the show, Max talks to author, Nomi Prins about the role of JP Morgan in Jon Corzine’s MF Global crime.

• KEISER REPORT [236] Keiser Report: Wall Street Gangsta! We discuss corruption with a clean face and Jamie “Spaghetti Face” Dimon. In the second half of the show, Max talks to investment adviser and blogger Michael Krieger about Ron Paul, the Fed and political futures.

• ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Danny Schechter Max talks to the news dissector, Danny Schechter.

• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1228] The Truth About Markets – 10 December 2011 Download show HERE (mp3)

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ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton

LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!

Listen at antiwar.com/radio

• Flynt Leverett January 1, 2012: Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, as a response to sanctions that may eventually cut off Iran’s oil exports; why the US and Israel don’t really have a problem with Iranian nuclear weapons, just Iran’s refusal to submit to US regional hegemony; Israel’s “red line” on Iran’s uranium enrichment at Qom; why US foreign policy planners don’t learn from prior mistakes (because superpowers don’t have to); and why waging war with borrowed money is a sure sign of a declining empire. Flynt Leverett runs The Race For Iran blog.

• Mark Sheffield January 12, 2012: Mark Sheffield of the Policy on Point blog discusses his article “Skip the Turban, Check the Brain: It’s Called the Persian Gulf for a Reason;” why the Persian Gulf qualifies as US-occupied territory; the mainstream media’s spin on Iran’s naval war games and their bluff and bluster about closing the Strait of Hormuz; Iran’s asymmetrical options for counterattacking a US or Israeli airstrike; and the danger of Silkworm missiles to US naval vessels, especially aircraft carriers.

• Robert Koehler January 12, 2012: Nationally syndicated writer Robert Koehler discusses his article “‘Bugsplat’: the civilian toll of war;” robbing America’s enemies of their humanity through derisive name calling or utter indifference; how US nationalism – America’s civic religion – permits the government to commit atrocities abroad without domestic political repercussions; why all the regular people look like ants to those on high; and military recruiting through video games and high unemployment.

Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
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• Former Senator Rick Santorum

• Rick Tyler, a senior adviser to the pro Gingrich Super Pac

• Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth

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