"There is no sworde to bee feared more than the Learned pen"

Archive for December, 2010|Monthly archive page

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Sarah Palin: Misinformer of the Year-LETTER TO THE EDITOR

In LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Media Matters for America, Sarah Palin: Misinformer of the Year on kp32 at 311028
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Dear Editor,

This year, we’ve chosen Sarah Palin — former half-term governor, current Fox News contributor and prolificFacebook user — as our Misinformer of the Year.

It was a tough competition. On issues like health care, net neutrality, climate change and immigration, the conservative media offers an unprecedented flood of distortions, exaggerations and utter fabrications. We atMedia Matters for America work around the clock to expose, fact-check and counter this non-stop flood of lies and attacks.

Click here to watch the “Misinformer of the Year” video and support Media Matters for America with a tax-deductible donation.

This year, Palin stood out for her sheer ability to dominate our national conversation and draw the attention of the entire news media to her factually challenged claims and vicious attacks. She has blurred the line completely between media figure and political activist.

When Glenn Beck’s over-the-top rhetoric and conspiracy theories inspired unhinged gunman Byron Williams to target the Tides Foundation with violence, Palin could have stood up for responsibility and helped rein Beck in. Instead, she legitimized him and his attacks, saying “I stand with you, Glenn.”

From spreading lies about “death panels” to cropping Obama’s comments about “American exceptionalism,” from her comfortable perch at Fox News to her self-promoting books and reality show, Palin has truly broken new ground in misinformation.

In the year to come, Palin is sure to keep up her efforts at dominating the headlines, influencing the political process and advancing falsehoods and distortions at every turn — aided and abetted by millions in free airtime and glowing coverage from her friends at Fox News. We are prepared to fight back — but we need your help.

Click here to watch the “Misinformer of the Year” video and support Media Matters for America with a tax-deductible donation.

Thank you for your support.

David Brock
Founder and CEO
Media Matters for America

 

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Wikileaks and torture

In Bradley Manning, Quantico Marine Base, Wikileaks and torture on kp07 at 311023

Dear Editor

 

Bradley Manning spent his 23rd birthday on Friday completely isolated, just as he has every day for the last five months months in his cell at the Quantico Marine Base.

Manning is the Marine Private accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. Since July, he has been held in cruel and inhumane conditions akin to how the US detains “enemy combatants.” He spends each day completely isolated, with severe restrictions placed on basic activities like sleep and exercise. Yet he has not been convicted of any crime.

The extreme isolation in which Manning has spent every day of the last five months is soul-crushing. It’s already taking its toll: Bradley Manning’s physical and mental health are suffering, according to his attorney and friend who have seen him in prison.

Bradley Manning deserves humane treatment while he awaits trial. Can you please add your name to our letter urging Commanding Officer of Quantico Marine Corp Base to lift the heavy restrictions of Manning’s detention?

 

Bradley’s friend, David House, will deliver your letter to the Commanding Officer at the Quantico Marine Base brig when he visits Bradley next month.

While Manning is held in “maximum custody,” the military’s most severe detention policy, he is also under a longstanding “Prevention of Injury” (POI) order that adds additional restrictions beyond those of other prisoners. While POI orders typically last a week or two, Manning has been held under a POI order for the entirety of his detention.

A day in the life of Bradley Manning is isolating, lonely, and frustrating. 

  • Manning stays in his cell for 23 hours a day
  • Guards must check on him every 5 minutes, and he must respond each time
  • He is not allowed to sleep between 5am and 8pm
  • Substantive exercise is not allowed beyond walking, potentially in chains
  • Communication with other people in the brig is banned, and he cannot write to people outside beyond the few a list approved by the brig commander; any unapproved letters he receives are destroyed.
  • He has not been allowed to read newspapers or watch international news during TV time
  • Comfortable sleep is impossible; he must surrender his clothes each night, has only a heavy “suicide blanket” akin to an x-ray vest, and guards must be able to see his face at all times.

A psychologist has said Manning isn’t a danger to himself or others, and the POI order is unnecessary. His lawyer has also been unable to have the POI order lifted. But it is clear that Bradley Manning has been subjected to inhumane and unnecessary punishment without being convicted of a crime, and it must stop now.

Stop the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning. Please add your name to our letter urging the Marine Commander in charge of Manning lift the unnecessary POI order.

 

No matter what you think of Manning’s alleged acts, there is no reason to subject him to these extreme conditions. Thank you for standing up for human rights.

 

- Michael Whitney
Firedoglake.com

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The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time-Letter to the Editor

In AL FRANKEN, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, SAVE THE INTERNET on kp29 at 311020
Logo for NetNeutrality

Image via Wikipedia

This Tuesday is an important day in the fight to save the Internet.

As a source of innovation, an engine of our economy, and a forum for our political discourse, the Internet can only work if it’s a truly level playing field. Small businesses should have the same ability to reach customers as powerful corporations. A blogger should have the same ability to find an audience as a media conglomerate.

This principle is called “net neutrality” — and it’s under attack. Internet service giants like Comcast and Verizon want to offer premium and privileged access to the Internet for corporations who can afford to pay for it.

The good news is that the Federal Communications Commission has the power to issue regulations that protect net neutrality. The bad news is that draft regulations written by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski don’t do that at all. They’re worse than nothing.

That’s why Tuesday is such an important day. The FCC will be meeting to discuss those regulations, and we must make sure that its members understand that allowing corporations to control the Internet is simply unacceptable.

Although Chairman Genachowski’s draft Order has not been made public, early reports make clear that it falls far short of protecting net neutrality.

For many Americans — particularly those who live in rural areas — the future of the Internet lies in mobile services. But the draft Order would effectively permit Internet providers to block lawful content, applications, and devices on mobile Internet connections.

Mobile networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be able to shut off your access to content or applications for any reason. For instance, Verizon could prevent you from accessing Google Maps on your phone, forcing you to use their own mapping program, Verizon Navigator, even if it costs money to use and isn’t nearly as good. Or a mobile provider with a political agenda could prevent you from downloading an app that connects you with the Obama campaign (or, for that matter, a Tea Party group in your area).

It gets worse. The FCC has never before explicitly allowed discrimination on the Internet — but the draft Order takes a step backwards, merely stating that so-called “paid prioritization” (the creation of a “fast lane” for big corporations who can afford to pay for it) is cause for concern.

It sure is — but that’s exactly why the FCC should ban it. Instead, the draft Order would have the effect of actually relaxing restrictions on this kind of discrimination.

What’s more, even the protections that are established in the draft Order would be weak because it defines “broadband Internet access service” too narrowly, making it easy for powerful corporations to get around the rules.

Here’s what’s most troubling of all. Chairman Genachowski and President Obama — who nominated him — have argued convincingly that they support net neutrality.

But grassroots supporters of net neutrality are beginning to wonder if we’ve been had. Instead of proposing regulations that would truly protect net neutrality, reports indicate that Chairman Genachowski has been calling the CEOs of major Internet corporations seeking their public endorsement of this draft proposal, which would destroy it.

No chairman should be soliciting sign-off from the corporations that his agency is supposed to regulate — and no true advocate of a free and open Internet should be seeking the permission of large media conglomerates before issuing new rules.

After all, just look at Comcast — this Internet monolith has reportedly imposed a new, recurring fee on Level 3 Communications, the company slated to be the primary online delivery provider for Netflix. That’s the same Netflix that represents Comcast’s biggest competition in video services.

Imagine if Comcast customers couldn’t watch Netflix, but were limited only to Comcast’s Video On Demand service. Imagine if a cable news network could get its website to load faster on your computer than your favorite local political blog. Imagine if big corporations with their own agenda could decide who wins or loses online. The Internet as we know it would cease to exist.

That’s why net neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time. And that’s why, this Tuesday, when the FCC meets to discuss this badly flawed proposal, I’ll be watching. If they approve it as is, I’ll be outraged. And you should be, too.

Al Franken

 

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Viva WikiLeaks! SiCKO Was Not Banned in Cuba! LETTER TO EDITOR

In mainstream media and right-wing haters, Orwellian nature of bureaucrats, State Depart, Viva WikiLeaks! SiCKO Was Not Banned in Cuba on kp14 at 311018
Cover of "Sicko (Special Edition)"

Cover of Sicko (Special Edition)

Yesterday WikiLeaks did an amazing thing and released a classified State Department cable that dealt, in part, with me and my film, ‘Sicko.’

It is a stunning look at the Orwellian nature of how bureaucrats for the State spin their lies and try to recreate reality (I assume to placate their bosses and tell them what they want to hear).

The date is January 31, 2008. It is just days after ‘Sicko’ has been nominated for an Oscar as Best Documentary. This must have sent someone reeling in Bush’s State Department (his Treasury Department had already notified me they were investigating what laws I might have broken in taking three 9/11 first responders to Cuba to get them the health care they had been denied in the United States).

Former health insurance executive Wendell Potter recently revealed that the insurance industry — which had decided to spend millions to go after me and, if necessary, “push Michael Moore off a cliff” — had begun working with anti-Castro Cubans in Miami in order to have them speak out and smear my film.

So, on January 31, 2008, a State Department official stationed in Havana took a made up story and sent it back to his HQ in Washington. Here’s what they came up with:

XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that Cuban authorities have banned Michael Moore’s documentary, “Sicko,” as being subversive. Although the film’s intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, he said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.

Sounds convincing, eh?! There’s only one problem — the entire nation of Cuba was shown the film on national television on April 25, 2008! The Cubans embraced the film so much so it became one of those rare American movies that received a theatrical distribution in Cuba. I personally ensured that a 35mm print got to the Film Institute in Havana. Screenings of ‘Sicko’ were set up in towns all across the country. In Havana, ‘Sicko’ screened at the famed Yara Theater.

But the secret cable said Cubans were banned from seeing my movie. Hmmm.

We also know from another secret U.S. document that “the disenchantment of the masses [in Cuba] has spread through all the provinces,” and that “all of Oriente Province is seething with hate” for the Castro regime. There’s a huge active underground rebellion, and “workers there readily give all the support they can,” with everyone involved in “subtle sabotage” against the government. Morale is terrible throughout all the branches of the armed forces, and in the event of war the army “will not fight.” Wow — this cable is hot!

Of course, this secret U.S. cable is from March 31, 1961, three weeks before Cuba kicked our asses at the Bay of Pigs.

The U.S. government has been passing around these “secret” documents to itself for the past fifty years, explaining in painstaking detail how horrible things are in Cuba and how Cubans are quietly aching for us to come back and take over. I don’t know why we write these cables, I guess it just makes us feel better about ourselves. (Anyone curious can find an entire museum of U.S. wish fulfillment cables on the website of the National Security Archive.)

So what do you do with about a false “secret” cable, especially one that involves you and your movie? Well, you wait for a responsible newspaper to investigate and shout what it discovers from the rooftops.

But yesterday WikiLeaks gave the ‘Sicko’ Cuba cable to the media — and what did they do with it? They ran it as if it were true! Here’s the headline in the Guardian:


WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting ‘mythical’ healthcare system


Authorities feared footage of gleaming hospital in Michael Moore’s Oscar-nominated film would provoke a popular backlash

And not one scintilla of digging to see if Cuba had actually banned the movie! In fact, just the opposite. The right wing press started to have a field day reporting a lie (Andy Levy of Fox – twice – Reason Magazine and Hot Air, plus a slew of blogs). Sadly, even BoingBoing and my friends at the Nation wrote about it without skepticism. So here you have WikiLeaks, who have put themselves on the line to find and release these cables to the press — and traditional journalists are once again just too lazy to lift a finger, point and click their mouse to log into Nexis or search via Google, and look to see if Cuba really did “ban the film.” Had just ONE reporter done that, here’s they would have found:

June 16, 2007 Saturday 1:41 AM GMT [that's 7 months before the false cable]

HEADLINE: Cuban health minister says Moore’s ‘Sicko’ shows ‘human values’ of communist system

BYLINE: By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: HAVANA

Cuba’s health minister Jose Ramon Balaguer said Friday that American filmmaker Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Sicko’ highlights the human values of the island’s communist-run government… “There can be no doubt this documentary by a personality like Mr. Michael Moore helps promote the profoundly human principles of Cuban society.”

Or, how ’bout this little April 25, 2008 notice from CubaSi.Cu (translation by Google):


Sicko premiere in Cuba 


25/04/2008 


The documentary Sicko, the U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore, which deals about the deplorable state of American health care system will be released today at 5:50 pm, for the space Cubavision Roundtable and the Education Channel.

Then there’s this from Juventudrebelde.cu (translation by Google). Or this Cuban editorial (translation by Google). There’s even a long clip of the Cuba section of ‘Sicko’ on the homepage of Media Roundtable on the CubaSi.cu website!

OK, so we know the media is lazy and sucks most of the time. But the bigger issue here is how our government seemed to be colluding with the health insurance industry to destroy a film that might have a hand in bringing about what the Cubans already have in their poverty-ridden third world country: free, universal health care. And because they have it and we don’t, Cuba has a better infant mortality rate than we do, their life expectancy is just 7 months shorter than ours, and, according to the WHO, they rank just two places behind the richest country on earth in terms of the quality of their health care.

That’s the story, mainstream media and right-wing haters.

Now that you’ve been presented with the facts, what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna attack me for having my movie played on Cuban state television? Or are you gonna attack me for not having my movie played on Cuban state television?

You have to choose one, it can’t be both.

And since the facts show that the movie played on state TV and in theaters, I think you’re better off attacking me for having my films played in Cuba.

¡Viva WikiLeaks!

Michael Moore

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UP TO THE MINUTE RELEASE 12/17/2010 ARRESTS AT WHITE HOUSE

In Arrested for Civil Disobedience White House, citrus county florida, citrus county news, UP TO THE MINUTE RELEASE 12/17/2010 ARRESTS AT WHITE HOUSE on kp50 at 311017

A few OEN folks (me, Josh Mittledorf, Cheryl Biren) were down in DC, in the cold and snow, covering the Veterans for Peace civil disobedience action against the war, which also turned into an event strongly supporting Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and Julian Assange.
There’s one article and a short video up now and more will be coming.
That article shows, in one photo, MANY of the leading activists of our time.
We went to cover the even because we feared it would not be covered by the MSM. Sure enough, we have yet to hear that any mainstream media org, including MSNBC covered it.
With all the snow and the icy cold temperature– below 25 F, there were those in attendance, particularly Viet Nam Vets, who described the day as another Winter Soldier event.
Photo by Cheryl Biren
It was great to be warmly greeted by OEN regular contributors like Ray McGovern, David Swanson, Coleen Rowley, Kevin Zeese, to name a few.
OpEdNews.com does the job that the mainstream media are supposed to do.

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Gov. Ventura probes Pentagon attack, unreleased 9/11 video and missing trillions

In citrus county florida, citrus county news, crystal river, deaths, Gov. Ventura probes Pentagon attack on kp52 at 311017
Original caption:"Shaking Hands: Iraqi Pr...

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Aaron Dykes

December 17, 2010

Jesse Ventura’s Conspiracy Theory will continue to dole out groundbreaking information tonight on TruTV at 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST with the “9/11 Pentagon” Episode, yet another in a line of subjects that have, until this point, been too controversial to cover at all on television. Tonight’s episode features the unknowns about the dozens of suppressed video angles, the lack of physical or photographic evidence that a plane hit the building and the impossibility of an unskilled pilot circling around his target or hitting at ground-level without even scorching the earth beneath him.

From TruTV:

Pentagon – NEW!
Airs: Fri, December 17 at 10P
The idea that a missile or explosives—not a hijacked jetliner—damaged the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 seems the most unlikely of 9/11 theories. That is, until you look at all the factors, which include eyewitness testimony, crime scene video, expert analysis and the question why, with 85 cameras trained on the building, have only five frames of crash footage have ever been released? Jesse Ventura leads a serious investigation into a tangled web of clues that some say are too sacred to even touch.

Ventura appeared on the Alex Jones Show today, in part to discuss the episode. He attests thatConspiracy Theory tracked down and talked to the real sources– survivors and eye witnesses.

Perhaps as significant as what is unknown about the Pentagon attack is what has been forgotten. Just prior to the September 11 attacks in 2001, it was announced that the Department of Defense could not account for more than $2.3 trillion dollars. Donald Rumsfeld was questioned about it the day before by Rep. Cynthia McKinney, with little to say in accounting for the astonishing sum of money. But all the evidence of this accounting fraud, or error, was destroyed in the 9/11 attack during which the Pentagon was fortuitously struck in the very area where some of this evidence was being held for investigation. Oddly, a great deal of important financial & investigative information was also destroyed in the collapse of WTC7 on the same day.

Former Gov. Ventura & co. follow up on the reports about the training ofalleged hijacker Hani Hanjour who scored very poorly during flight instruction. Though the official story seems to ignore this smoking gun– roughly equivalent to Lee Harvey Oswald’s poor shooting ability– Hanjour’s one-time instructor was dumbfounded by his complete lack of ability. He couldn’t successfully fly a single-engine Cessna plane during training– casting serious doubt that he could ever wield a commercial jet aircraft like Flight 77 at all, much less execute an expert turn circling into a direct hit without even disturbing the lawn beneath it. Expert pilots have attested that such a maneuver is almost impossible.

Researchers and skeptics alike have all pondered the inconsistent evidence at the Pentagon. In attempt to find out more, Jesse speaks with a former NASA engineer who investigates the incident, concluding that the damage at the Pentagon was NOT the result from a plane strike. But the best way to confirm whether or not a plane caused this damage would be to consult the many security camera angles at the Pentagon which either filmed the incident or the surrounding area at the time of the incident; yet only two of those angles have ever been released. The show consults with the FBI who confirm that in fact there were 84 security cameras filming on 9/11; but without seeing those angles none of the outstanding questions can be answered.

We can honor the 189 people killed at the Pentagon only by pursuing the truth about their deaths. Simply waving American flags and standing by as our nation continues to go to war against shadowy enemies will not bring us any closer to justice. Victims’ family members of the World Trade Center attacks, the Pentagon and Flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania demanded the 9/11 Commission be formed, but were left with more questions than answers after the official government investigation that its own members described as a “cover-up.”

With this in mind, Gov. Ventura tracked down a lawyer for the 9/11 Commission, who admitted to the television program that, “Government has a penchant for secrecy.” That’s an understatement.

Ventura previously spoke with Alex Jones about Jonathan Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, and his warning to the country. Farmer’s own 2009 book, The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11, strongly critiqued the way the commission was carried out, blasting that the truth was not allowed to come out. Ventura commented that the 9/11 Commission was little different from the Warren Commission, which quite evidently covered-up the truth about the JFK assassination.

Gov. Jesse Ventura & Alex Jones October 2009 Discuss 9/11 Commission Lawyer Jonathan Farmer and other issues

 

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RON PAUL on House Floor

In citrus, citrus citizens, citrus county florida, Ron Paul Defends WikiLeaks on kp57 at 311017

An American who hasn’t fallen prey to the Propaganda Machine and so states on the House of Representative Floor, you will not see this clip on the nationally controlled media, FREEDOM OF THE NET, our last vestige of the FREE PRESS! The whole world condition is based upon a False Flag operation, 911 was the planned catalyst for our military venture into the Middle East! The military-industrial complex scam that has cost so many lives and that has bankrupt our Nation, the collapse of the dollar is just around the corner and your life savings will be gone with the wind.

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It’s official! You’re on your own

In It's official! You're on your own, Obama-Republican plan on kp53 at 311016

 

By Michael Collins


Sunrise by geriberryng

Some of us have known this for a long time.  Some of us just found out and some will find out very soon.  There are few, if any,  elected officials who really care about our interests unless we’re one of the few thousand ultra rich who control  Congress and the White House.

The Obama-Republican tax plan was just approved in the United States Senate.  It will become law soon.  What did we lose?

The Senate put the Social Security system at risk with a 33% cut to employee payroll taxes, from 6.2% to 4.2% of wages.  Social Security is doing well with a $2.5 trillion surplus.  But this major change begins the starvation of the system.  Those who voted in favor will turn around sometime soon and say that Social Security is faltering.  Of course, their cynical actions will be at fault. They’ll conveniently avoid mentioning that.


The Obama-Republican plan keeps the tax rate on investment income (capital gains) well below the rates for income taxes and below the capital gains  rates in 2000.  Wall Street ruins the economy with their shady deals then gets more tax breaks on their shady stock deals.

The wealthiest citizens get an extension of the “temporary” Bush era tax cuts.

Employment levels by Michael Collins

We’re told that these huge tax cuts are worth it because they’ll get the economy going again by producing jobs.  We had nearly 10 years of the Bush tax cuts and guess how many new jobs have been added to the economy?  None, when you factor in population growth.

These tax cuts will cause $900 billion in lost revenues.  Supporters of these tax breaks will talk your ear off about balanced budgets.  Apparently, they see no connection between giving away $900 billion and increasing the budget deficit.

This legislation has nothing to do with new jobs or a balanced budget.  It’s all about enhancing income of those at the very top.

Heroes

Senator Bernie Sanders said he’d stop the madness.  Last Friday he stood up and spoke for hours outlining the glaring problems with the Obama-Republican program.  People thought it was a filibuster.  It wasn’t.  There was no legislation to filibuster on Friday.   Yesterday, when it really counted, Senator Sanders sat on his hands as the one sided brawl between The Money Party and the people took place on the Senate floor.  There was no filibuster.  Mighty Bernie had struck out.

But Sen. Sanders performed a valuable public service for those in charge.  He provided the appearance that there might be at least one principled Senator left who was ready to hold the line.

We need our “heroes.”  Without them, we might realize that we’re entirely on our own in the fight against the wholesale theft of the peoples’ hard work and wealth.

Before Sen. Sanders, there were the liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives.  They promised to vote against the president’s health care reform bill if it didn’t have a viable public option.  Guess what?   They sat on their hands just like Senator Sanders as health care reform became a health insurance industry bailout.

Before Sanders there was presidential candidate Obama.  He was the breath of fresh air, the sincere man for the people with the brains to pull off real “change.”  But we had to have “hope” and before that, we had to believe him.

These public figures and many more promised to correct the chaos and depravity of the Bush era.   It’s all a scam.  A new war, more bailouts for Wall Street, the continued assault on the Constitution, and lower taxes for the super rich are what we got.

One Winner Only

The appearance of a political opposition is the essential window dressing required to fool people into thinking that there’s actually more than one side that will be heard on any public issue.  There isn’t.  The ultimate winners are the great accumulations of wealth represented by that bipartisan coalition that has no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests - The Money Party.

Nation’s Income Gains to Top 1% by Rebel Capitalist

The Money Party is on a roll.  From 2002 through 2007, 70% of the nation’s income growth has gone to just 1% of the population.  That 1% wants an end to Social Security, even more tax cuts, and capital gains tax rates well below the income taxes the rest of us pay.

There is no time to feel disappointed, upset, or betrayed by the big con game masquerading as democracy.  There is no reason to expect that any political leader will be honest.  For those we allow to lead, the only incentive for honesty is a fear by politicians that they’ll be tossed out of office and prosecuted for fraud if they fail to do their jobs.

The United States is still a great country because the vast majority of people are hard working, honest, and willing to live peacefully with their neighbors and, when given a chance, with the rest of the world.  The enemies of greatness and progress are the politicians and their patrons who insist on having their way on every issue, who take every thing that isn’t nailed down; and, who create fake dramas and diversions to further the distortions and censorship of the corporate media .  They will not go quietly into the night. They will employ every trick available to retain power.

An effective movement for real change should express the positive values of the vast majority.  Of fundamental importance, it requires citizens who trust elected and appointed official only while those officials prove their fidelity to the peoples’ interests and the laws of the land.  If you want heroes to do the  job, just remember all the false heroes we’ve endured.

If we’re willing to reach the end our life justified by the fight rather than the victory, informed by principals rather than personalities, we acquire an enduring wealth beyond the reach of those in charge.

END


Author’s Website: http://www.themoneyparty.org/main/

Author’s Bio: Michael Collins is a writer in the DC area who researches and comments on the corruptions of the new millennium. His articles focus on the financial manipulations of The Money Party, the abuse of power by government, and features on elections and election fraud. His articles can be found athere. His website is called The Money Party.

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NET NEUTRALITY-FAILURE-dear Editor

In Al Franken U.S. Senator MN, Internet FREEDOM, NET NEUTRALITY-FAILURE-dear Editor on kp07 at 311014

Dear Editor,

A couple weeks ago, I told you that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski had released a proposal on net neutrality–but that we didn’t have enough of the details to know whether it was a strong one.

Unfortunately, now that we’ve got more information about his proposal, it’s becoming clear that without significant changes it would take us in the wrong direction.

Although the Obama administration is on record as supporting net neutrality, the draft leaves far too many loopholes for corporations to prioritize certain content on the Internet, and even legitimizes some discriminatory behavior.

In short, as it’s currently written, it’s worse than nothing.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE FCC’S NET NEUTRALITY FAIL.

 

Rest assured, I won’t settle for regulations that do more harm than good. And I won’t stop fighting until we have real net neutrality.

Thanks for sticking with me in that fight.

Al
Al

Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota

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Why I’m Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange-Letter to Editor

In Bail Money, EYEONCITRUS.COM, Iraq lies, Julian Assange, WikiLeaks on kp32 at 311014


Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail.

Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.

We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.

So why is WikiLeaks, after performing such an important public service, under such vicious attack? Because they have outed and embarrassed those who have covered up the truth. The assault on them has been over the top:

**Sen. Joe Lieberman says WikiLeaks “has violated the Espionage Act.”

**The New Yorker‘s George Packer calls Assange “super-secretive, thin-skinned, [and] megalomaniacal.”

**Sarah Palin claims he’s “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands” whom we should pursue “with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.”

**Democrat Bob Beckel (Walter Mondale’s 1984 campaign manager) said about Assange on Fox: “A dead man can’t leak stuff … there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch.”

**Republican Mary Matalin says “he’s a psychopath, a sociopath … He’s a terrorist.”

**Rep. Peter A. King calls WikiLeaks a “terrorist organization.”

And indeed they are! They exist to terrorize the liars and warmongers who have brought ruin to our nation and to others. Perhaps the next war won’t be so easy because the tables have been turned — and now it’s Big Brother who’s being watched … by us!

WikiLeaks deserves our thanks for shining a huge spotlight on all this. But some in the corporate-owned press have dismissed the importance of WikiLeaks (“they’ve released little that’s new!”) or have painted them as simple anarchists (“WikiLeaks just releases everything without any editorial control!”). WikiLeaks exists, in part, because the mainstream media has failed to live up to its responsibility. The corporate owners have decimated newsrooms, making it impossible for good journalists to do their job. There’s no time or money anymore for investigative journalism. Simply put, investors don’t want those stories exposed. They like their secrets kept … as secrets.

I ask you to imagine how much different our world would be if WikiLeaks had existed 10 years ago. Take a look at thisphoto. That’s Mr. Bush being handed a “secret” document on August 6th, 2001. Its heading read: “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.” And on those pages it said the FBI had discovered “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings.” Mr. Bush decided to ignore it and went fishing for the next four weeks.

But if that document had been leaked, how would you or I have reacted? What would Congress or the FAA have done? Was there not a greater chance that someone, somewhere would have done something if all of us knew about bin Laden’s impending attack using hijacked planes?

But back then only a few people had access to that document. Because the secret was kept, a flight school instructor in San Diego who noticed that two Saudi students took no interest in takeoffs or landings, did nothing. Had he read about the bin Laden threat in the paper, might he have called the FBI? (Please read this essay by former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, Time’s 2002 co-Person of the Year, about her belief that had WikiLeaks been around in 2001, 9/11 might have been prevented.)

Or what if the public in 2003 had been able to read “secret” memos from Dick Cheney as he pressured the CIA to give him the “facts” he wanted in order to build his false case for war? If a WikiLeaks had revealed at that time that there were, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction, do you think that the war would have been launched — or rather, wouldn’t there have been calls for Cheney’s arrest?

Openness, transparency — these are among the few weapons the citizenry has to protect itself from the powerful and the corrupt. What if within days of August 4th, 1964 — after the Pentagon had made up the lie that our ship was attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin — there had been a WikiLeaks to tell the American people that the whole thing was made up? I guess 58,000 of our soldiers (and 2 million Vietnamese) might be alive today.

Instead, secrets killed them.

For those of you who think it’s wrong to support Julian Assange because of the sexual assault allegations he’s being held for, all I ask is that you not be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey. Please — never, ever believe the “official story.” And regardless of Assange’s guilt or innocence (see the strange nature of the allegations here), this man has the right to have bail posted and to defend himself. I have joined with filmmakers Ken Loach and John Pilger and writer Jemima Khan in putting up the bail money — and we hope the judge will accept this and grant his release today.

Might WikiLeaks cause some unintended harm to diplomatic negotiations and U.S. interests around the world? Perhaps. But that’s the price you pay when you and your government take us into a war based on a lie. Your punishment for misbehaving is that someone has to turn on all the lights in the room so that we can see what you’re up to. You simply can’t be trusted. So every cable, every email you write is now fair game. Sorry, but you brought this upon yourself. No one can hide from the truth now. No one can plot the next Big Lie if they know that they might be exposed.

And that is the best thing that WikiLeaks has done. WikiLeaks, God bless them, will save lives as a result of their actions. And any of you who join me in supporting them are committing a true act of patriotism. Period.

I stand today in absentia with Julian Assange in London and I ask the judge to grant him his release. I am willing to guarantee his return to court with the bail money I have wired to said court. I will not allow this injustice to continue unchallenged.

Michael Moore

P.S. You can read the statement I filed today in the London court here.

P.P.S. If you’re reading this in London, please go support Julian Assange and WikiLeaks at a demonstration at 1 PM today, Tuesday the 14th, in front of the Westminster court

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