Sunday, October 7, 2012

Brick TeeVee's "Debate" Wrap-up!


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"Debate" Wrap-up We heard there was some sort of debate last week! Salon's Alex Seitz-Wald did a real-time Debate fact check Your comprehensive, real-time fact check of the first presidential debate and WaPo's Glenn Kessler has Factchecking the first presidential debate of 2012
Robert Parry of Consortium News asks Did Romney ‘Win’ the Debate? In the presidential debate that I watched on Wednesday night, Republican challenger Mitt Romney was shiftier than Dick Nixon in 1960 and less coherent than George W. Bush in 2000, but the TV pundits, including on MSNBC, overwhelmingly declared him the winner. When I tried to follow Romney’s logic, I couldn’t. Somehow the federal government was supposed to rein in rising health care costs but his only idea for doing so was to let the free-market work when it is clear that – whatever the shortcomings of “Obamacare” – the old model of health insurance was broken. Romney also claimed that his health-insurance plan would cover people with pre-existing conditions and do other positive things that are in the Affordable Care Act, but, as President Barack Obama noted, Romney hasn’t offered a serious explanation as to how that would happen. Romney treated any reference to his 20 percent across-the-board tax cut costing $5 trillion over decade as a lie, likening the President to his “five boys … saying something that’s not always true but just keep on repeating it.” After all, Romney has declared that his plan would be revenue-neutral. But he continued his pattern of refusing to specify how he would make it so. In the debate that I saw, Romney seemed to be on the defensive, in large part, due to the incoherence and incompleteness of his arguments. And that reflected itself in his body language. He shifted nervously, blinked rapidly and displayed a forced smile. It looked like he was about to tear up during his closing remarks. I saw a man struggling at the end of his rope. By contrast, Obama looked, well, presidential. ...... So, I came away from watching the 90-minute debate thinking that Romney had come as close to melting down in front of a huge national audience as anyone I have ever seen in my half century of watching presidential debates. Pundits often fall back on the cliché that “no one landed a knock-out punch,” but this was as close to having one candidate lying on the mat as I have ever seen, although it was mostly Romney doing the damage to himself. Yet, immediately after the debate – even on liberal-leaning MSNBC – Republican commentators were given the floor and allowed to set the tone of the meeting. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow deferred to GOP campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, who gushed over Romney’s performance. The verdict was “Romney won.” Everyone on the set except for Al Sharpton fell in line. Ed Schultz blasted Obama for not lashing out at Romney and especially for not blasting Romney’s portrayal of 47 percent of the U.S. population as irresponsible moochers. .... What was particularly startling about the MSNBC commentary was its lack of substance – except for Sharpton, who zeroed in on the discrepancies between Romney’s months of campaign statements as a “severely conservative” ex-governor of Massachusetts and his reinvention of himself as a caring fellow on Wednesday. Yet, even on style, it was amazing to me that the pundits were favoring Romney, who looked more ill at ease than Nixon did in his infamous 1960 debate debacle with Kennedy and goofier than Bush in 2000, who was so unserious that he elicited a famous “sigh” from Al Gore. Romney wasn’t as much on the offensive all night as he was testy. He talked fast, lacked specifics and nagged Lehrer about getting more time....... Much more! Of course Glenn Greenwald puts all of this into perspective in The US presidential debates' illusion of political choice The issue is not what separates Romney and Obama, but how much they agree. This hidden consensus has to be exposed Wednesday night's debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney underscored a core truth about America's presidential election season: the vast majority of the most consequential policy questions are completely excluded from the process. This fact is squarely at odds with a primary claim made about the two parties – that they represent radically different political philosophies – and illustrates how narrow the range of acceptable mainstream political debate is in the country. In part this is because presidential elections are now conducted almost entirely like a tawdry TV reality show. Personality quirks and trivialities about the candidates dominate coverage, and voter choices, leaving little room for substantive debates. But in larger part, this exclusion is due to the fact that, despite frequent complaints that America is plagued by a lack of bipartisanship, the two major party candidates are in full-scale agreement on many of the nation's most pressing political issues. As a result these are virtually ignored, drowned out by a handful of disputes that the parties relentlessly exploit to galvanise their support base and heighten fear of the other side. Most of what matters in American political life is nowhere to be found in its national election debates. ..... A long list of highly debatable and profoundly significant policies will be similarly excluded due to bipartisan agreement. The list includes a rapidly growing domestic surveillance state that now monitors and records even the most innocuous activities of all Americans; job-killing free trade agreements; climate change policies; and the Obama justice department's refusal to prosecute the Wall Street criminals who precipitated the 2008 financial crisis. On still other vital issues, such as America's steadfastly loyal support for Israel and its belligerence towards Iran, the two candidates will do little other than compete over who is most aggressively embracing the same absolutist position. And this is all independent of the fact that even on the issues that are the subject of debate attention, such as healthcare policy and entitlement "reform", all but the most centrist positions are off limits. The harm from this process is not merely the loss of what could be a valuable opportunity to engage in a real national debate. Worse, it is propagandistic: by emphasising the few issues on which there is real disagreement between the parties, the election process ends up sustaining the appearance that there is far more difference between the two parties, and far more choice for citizens, than is really offered by America's political system. One way to solve this problem would be to allow credible third-party candidates into the presidential debates and to give them more media coverage. Doing so would highlight just how similar Democrats and Republicans have become, and what little choice American voters actually have on many of the most consequential policies. That is exactly why the two major parties work so feverishly to ensure the exclusion of those candidates: it is precisely the deceitful perception of real choice that they are most eager to maintain. See the third-party candidates debate on DN with Rocky Anderson and Dr. Jill Stein below along with an interview with George Farah, Founder and Executive Director of Open Debates!
In King Jamie Dimon News, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Sues J.P. Morgan over mortgage securities (MarketWatch) — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman late Monday filed a lawsuit against J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in civil court, alleging widespread fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities. The suit relates to mortgage-backed securities issued by Bear Stearns & Co., which was acquired by J.P. Morgan (US:JPM) in 2008 amidst the global financial crisis. The complaint argues that Bear Stearns defrauded “thousands of investors.” The charges, which came partly as a result of a federal mortgage task force formed in January by the Justice Department, assert that the misconduct was in connection with the firm’s “due diligence and quality control processes” that “constituted a systemic fraud on thousands of investors.” The complaint alleges that Bear Stearns and its mortgage unit “committed multiple fraudulent and deceptive acts” in promoting and selling residential mortgage-backed securities. It alleges that the bank “systematically failed to fully evaluate the loans” while leading investors to believe that the securities have been “carefully evaluated.” A spokesman for J.P. Morgan said the bank plans to contest the allegations. “We’re disappointed that the NYAG decided to pursue its civil action without ever offering us an opportunity to rebut the claims and without developing a full record – instead relying on recycled claims already made by private plaintiffs,” the spokesman said. Dennis Kelleher, president of advocacy group Better Markets, said in a statement that he hopes the lawsuit is the first of many and that lawbreakers on Wall Street will be punished..... YES! We go to Teri Buhl for How the NY AG built his RMBS case against JP Morgan for Bear Stearns Sins One documentary film maker, one investigative journalist, and one law firm willing to take a risk led to the lawsuit the New York Attorney General just filed against JP Morgan for a system wide effort to defraud mortgage investors by Bear Stearns. My readers and viewers of RT’s The Keiser Report know they first learned about Bear Stearns fraud back in 2010 after I was the first journalist to report for The Atlantic Bear Stearns whistleblowers were on the record saying they were directed to make up loan level detail for the mortgage bond raters. From there I broke news again at The Atlantic in January 2011 detailing how Bear’s own internal documents showed the RMBS traders, under Tom Marano, were literally stealing billions from the clients they’d sold the mortgage bonds to via a double dipping scheme. The documents to outline the double dipping by Bear traders was discovered by PBWT attorney Eric Haas – who also has an accounting background. It was this evidence that enabled him to add a fraud claim, that survived a motion to dismiss, to Ambac’s suit and year and a half later JP Morgan had to admit in their regulatory filings for shareholders that they were now looking at $120 billion in possible RMBS fraud and putback suits. These additional suits filed by the FHFA for the GSE’s and tons of other mortgage investors would have never happen if PBWT hadn’t been first to do the gritty research and detail to build their claims against $JPM/$BS/$EMC. While this is likely the most impactful reporting of my career it couldn’t have happen with out one documentary film maker, Nick Verbitsky of BlueChip Films. He was first to find former EMC/Bear analyst to go on camera and detail the methods of deceit and fraud by the billions. It was Verbitsky’s unedited interviews that led to my first The Atlantic story. And it was that story to helped open up research for attorneys at Paterson Belknap for their client Amabc ..... What’s next – I think PBWT and other Big Law firms, who have copied their suit and sued $JPM, are going start taking some serious settlement offers from $JPM and I expect it to be in the billions. I mean look at all additional whistleblowers that came forward from other firms Bear Stearns hired to help them sell mortgage bonds. As far as JP Morgan shareholders go, if the bank’s payout to settle rmbs fraud and putback claims is in the double-digit billions then I’d expect lawyers to start filing class actions suits against JP Morgan for not disclosing enough rmbs putback risk. This is an issue I wrote about in May. There is also the fact that the SEC went to $JPM back in 2010 and told them they are not holding enough capital for putbacks – I reported this on Max Keiser’s show in November 2010. So why did the SEC allow this big bad bank to under-reserve for the last two years and report higher earnings? We go to APM's Marketplace for an Interview by Kai Ryssdal with Schneidermann New York AG on Bear Stearns mortgage bonds: "flamboyant fraud" so give a listen, especially toward the end when Ryssdal askes pointedly "Why isn't anybody in jail yet?"
But D-Day over at FDL explains Those Hoping for “Large Damages” from JPMorgan MBS Lawsuit Bound to Be Disappointed AND Schneiderman Signed Tolling Agreements With MBS Issuers to Extend Statute of Limitations One of the criticisms I have issued at New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase was that it was filed so late, it allowed much of the statute of limitations to run out, in the process capturing just a small sliver of the actions of Bear Stearns in their issuance of mortgage backed securities. Furthermore, if this was the model suit, Schneiderman had even less time to file the rest without losing nearly all of the legal exposure on the MBS deals, which petered out around mid-2007. However, it turns out that Schneiderman signed tolling agreements with 12 firms, including JPMorgan Chase. This means that the clock on the statute of limitations stops for a prescribed time. [...] Actually, they create a strong possibility that other cases won’t be filed, or that they will be filed in a very narrow fashion. A financial firm or any other defendant doesn’t allow a tolling agreement out of the goodness of their heart. It comes out of a negotiated process. The prosecutor gets to stop the clock on the statute of limitations, but must give up something in return. Maybe they’re given the opportunity to stop Schneiderman from filing a case at all, or maybe they’ve moved immediately to the settlement phase. Or maybe Schneiderman got the tolling agreement in exchange for agreeing not to prosecute or name any individuals in the cases. A tolling agreement isn’t free, in other words. And it would be good to know the cost of this. I still have to call into question the need for a tolling agreement, the equivalent of filing an extension with the IRS. As evidenced in the JPMorgan filing, there are no new or innovative legal theories here. The NY AG built off work done by private litigants, work that JPMorgan Chase’s lawyers have handled for years now, and which they know implicitly. It would have been both better for the case and would have made an agreement of this type unnecessary to charge earlier. Meanwhile, the existence of a tolling agreement can be time-limited in its own right. It doesn’t stop the clock forever. And the other unknown is whether federal participants in the RMBS working group also have agreements in hand. If not, they could see their ability to prosecute go away, not that they’re doing anything with that. And ZeroHedge poster rcwhalen adds this Memo to Jamie Dimon: You Still Think Bear Stearns is Not Material?? .... What is really troubling is that while Schneiderman is making a big fuss about suing JPM over the Bear Stearns RMBS, he refuses to go after Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Ally and other large banks for precisely the same type of fraud and deliberate criminal acts as were committed by Bear Stearns. The degree of negligence and stupidity displayed at Bear Stearns may have been more egregious than that at say Countrywide, but only in degree. Once again it is shown that the politicians like Schneiderman, who have aspirations for higher office, have no problem making an example of a small firm, but will never move directly against the top four banks for their own grotesque errors and omissions. Schneiderman has been dragging his feet with respect to Countrywide and Bank of New York for years, yet suddenly he has time to sue JPM over Bear Stearns? What’s wrong with this picture?
GOPher War on Science UPDATE: Benjy Sarlin reports for TPM Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang ‘Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell’ Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) tore into scientists as tools of the devil in a speech at the Liberty Baptist Church Sportsman’s Banquet last month. “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell,” Broun said. “And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.” According to Broun, the scientific plot was primarily concerned with hiding the true age of the Earth. Broun serves on the House Science Committee, which came under scrutiny recently after another one of its Republican members, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), suggested that victims of “legitimate rape” have unnamed biological defenses against pregnancy. “You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth,” he said. “I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.” ..... In his speech, a clip of which was provided to TPM by The Bridge Project, a non-profit progressive tracker, Broun credited his literal Biblical interpretation with driving his approach to government. The full 47-minute speech, posted by the Liberty Baptist Church, can be found here.
Then the Medical News Today staff report $430 Million False Billing Medicare Fraud, 91 People Charged Ninety-one people from seven US cites have been charged with $430 million's worth of Medicare fraud, the Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder and Health announced today. People being charged include nurses, doctors and other certified health care professionals. They are accused of false billing and being involved in fraudulent schemes. Attorney General Holder said:"Today's enforcement actions reveal an alarming and unacceptable trend of individuals attempting to exploit federal health care programs to steal billions in taxpayer dollars for personal gain. Such activities not only siphon precious taxpayer resources, drive up health care costs, and jeopardize the strength of the Medicare program - they also disproportionately victimize the most vulnerable members of society, including elderly, disabled and impoverished Americans." HHS Secretary Sebelius said: "Today's arrests put criminals on notice that we are cracking down hard on people who want to steal from Medicare. The health care law gives us new tools to better fight fraud and make Medicare stronger. In addition to the arrests made today, HHS used new authority from the health care law to stop future payments to many of the health care providers suspected of fraud, saving Medicare resources and taxpayer dollars from being lost to fraud in the first place." As indictments were unsealed across the country, dozens of people either turned themselves in or surrendered. Indictments (charges) included over $230 million in home health care fraud, about $100 million in mental health care fraud, and over $49 million in ambulance fraud - there were also other charges involving millions of dollars in other frauds. Thirty health care providers were either suspended or faced with administrative action after inspectors had analyzed credible evidence of fraud. The Affordable Care Act authorizes the HHS to stop payments until an investigation has been resolved. The HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force and the Department of Justice created a multi-agency team of local, state and federal investigators and prosecutors whose aim was to fight Medicare fraud by using Medicare data analysis techniques. This particular takedown involved 500 law enforcement agents from HHSOIG, the FBI, several Medicaid Fraud Control Units, and other local and state enforcement agencies, the HHS informed...... Then in the Miami Herald this related story Medicare fraud crackdown nets 33 arrests in South Florida At the crack of dawn Thursday, federal agents arrested Hollywood Pavilion’s chief executive officer, Karen Kallen-Zury, on charges of paying kickbacks to recruiters and patients so that the hospital could bilk Medicare of more than $50 million. .... Nationwide, an additional 58 suspects were charged in six other cities from New York to Los Angeles. Those defendants filed fraudulent claims totaling $225 million, authorities said. Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a joint news conference to spotlight the Justice Department’s “strike force” arrests by 500 agents with the FBI, HHS and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Today’s enforcement actions reveal an alarming and unacceptable trend of individuals attempting to exploit federal healthcare programs to steal billions in taxpayer dollars for personal gain,” Holder said. The Obama administration has carried out a series of crackdowns in an effort to stem the estimated theft of tens of billions of dollars a year in Medicare funds earmarked for the elderly and disabled. Meanwhile, Medicare, with a notorious history of lax oversight, has developed more sophisticated technology to flag suspicious billing patterns. Medicare’s anti-fraud czar, Peter Budetti, said the agency’s goal is to move beyond its “pay-and-chase model” of targeting fraud offenders after they have already received millions in taxpayer dollars and blown the money. He said Medicare’s objective is to “stop fraudsters before they can successfully bill Medicare.”
We go to Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi for our LAST WORD Presidential Debate Aftermath: Mitt Romney Wins All-Important BS Contest I didn't watch the debate – I just couldn't. I read it in transcript form afterwards. I know it is widely believed that Mitt Romney won, but I don't agree. I think both candidates lost. I think they both sucked. Romney told a series of outright lies – the bit about the pre-existing conditions was incredible – while Barack Obama seemed unaccountably disinterested in the intellectual challenge of the exercise, repeatedly leaving the gross absurdities hurled his way by Romney unchallenged. Romney's performance was better than Obama's, but only if you throw out criteria like "wasn't 100% full of shit from the opening bell" and "made an actual attempt to explain who he is and what his plans are." Unfortunately, that is good enough for our news media, which drools over the gamesmanship aspects of these debates, because it loves candidates who sink their teeth into the horse-race nonsense that they think validates their professional lives. ..... Journalists who cite that Nixon-Kennedy debate always forget that the lesson of that night is that the new broadcast media technology made superficiality and nonsense more important – that thanks to the press, it was now possible to get someone elected to the most powerful office on earth because he had a superior tan. Reporters love this story because it reminds everyone that the medium they work in has the power to overcome substance and decide elections all by itself. What's amazing is that they don't have the good sense to be ashamed of this. I read the transcript of the debate and all I got from Romney was either outright factual lies, or total rhetorical dishonesty. He even tried out a version of the for-years-debunked death panel business: In order to bring the cost of health care down, we don't need to have a -- an -- a board of 15 people telling us what kinds of treatments we should have.
Really? Hey, Mitt – what do you think health insurance is? It is, by definition, a bunch of people deciding what kinds of treatments we should have. .... Romney's entire debate performance was like this. He said absolutely nothing, but got lots of credit for style points. Here's Romney's answer on what budget cuts he would make, addressing perhaps-soon-to-be-ex-PBS employee, Jim Lehrer: [....] .... Reporters should have instantly pelted Romney with bags of dogshit for insulting the American people with this ridiculous non-answer, but he was instead praised for the canny "strategy" hidden in the response. Despite the fact that Romney is running as a budget hawk and yet has refused to name any actual programs (except Obamacare and PBS) he will cut, reporters gave him credit in the debate for being willing to be the bearer of bad budgetary news, because he essentially advance-fired Jim Lehrer on TV. Many also complimented the "humor" of the line about Big Bird. Typically, Obama is the recipient of the breathless media plaudits for meaningless imageering and iconography, but Romney scooped it all up this time. Ugh. At least there are only two more!
Hear Hear! We concur! And in Alternet The following is an excerpt from Greg Palast’s new book, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps , including a comic book by Ted Rall and an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (7 Stories Press, 2012). READ Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: Karl Rove and the Republican Dark Art of Election Theft Good Item! Get your copy of this NYT Best-seller at ballotbandits.org! For the Sunday Funnies as Greenwald puts it "all but the most centrist positions are off limits" and the spin machines will be in full swing. The WH Limo drops off BOB GIBBS on This Snufagopolis and Meet the David and DAVID AXELROD on Face the Bob while the Mitt Headroom Kamp sends ED GUILESPIE to Snufagopolis, NEWT "Contract ON America" GINGRINCH on Press the Meat while RINSE PROBISCUS spins State of Candy, also featuring a grudge match between OH SoS MIKE DEWINE vs. former OH Guv TED STRICKLAND. This Week shows their true colors by inviting BILL "loofa" O'REILLY plus the Dynamic Duds MARY "Iraq Study Group" MATALIN and George's Big-Dawg buddy JAMES CARVILLE on the roundtable with Nobel Laureate PAUL KRUGMAN who wonders out loud if GEORGE WILL is out getting fitted for presidential Mormon underwear! Haha! Forget all that and catch a fantastic Ring of Fire Radio with Ari Berman, Greg Palast, Adele Stan and Brad Freidman. Brad also has some good news for PA and OH voters plus a new Green News Report and MAX is all over the JPM/Bear lawsuit and talks to Dr. Michael Hudson and Professor William K. Black and more! The Brick TeeVee Crew worked furiously before the weather broke for the colder and cemented in the stone pavers for the top of the rebuilt porch. By our estimate the porch must weigh upwards of SIX TONS of rock, stone, brick, mortar and concrete! All that's left is filling in between the pavers with mortar and getting railings fabricated to fit. All in all a smashing brick success! And we're still winding down the garden with way too many green tomatoes and hot banana peppers looking to be pickled. Yum! Enjoy your Sunday and we'll see you next Sunday for more glittering hyperbole and brick throwing! Click something ANYTHING and be instantly smarter!




BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!©

Democracy NOW!

Third Party Candidates To Join in Real Time on Democracy Now!’s Live Coverage of First Pres. Debate As President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney square off in the first presidential debate in Denver on October 3, Democracy Now! will broadcast live from Denver with a special expanded presidential debate from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. ET. We will air the debate, pausing after questions to include equal time responses from two presidential contenders who were shut out of the official debate: Jill Stein of the Green Party and Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party.


Monday, October 1, 2012 Tuesday, October 2, 2012 Wednesday, October 3, 2012 Thursday, October 4, 2012 Friday, October 5, 2012 GRITtv »»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Laura Flanders and Rashad Robinson on Fighting ALEC In another special for Moyers & Company, Laura Flanders talks with Color of Change’s Rashad Robinson about his efforts to convince corporations to drop their ALEC memberships.
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!©
»»» NASCAR on ESPN - Chase Race #4 It's the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Talladega pres. by Pennzoil! Coverage begins at 2 pm et
»»» MLB Division Playoffs on TBS, MLBTV A's @ Tigers (MLBTV) 12:07 pm et; TBS has Nationals @ Cardinals 3:07 pm et; Yankees @ Orioles 6:07 pm et; Reds @ Giants 9:37 pm et. More playoff baseball all week! Check yer local listings!
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.

STOP the ACHE Appalachian Community HEALTH EMERGENCY Advocating for government action and protection of the public from the health crisis in mountain top removal communi ties
    Lawmakers concerned about the health effects on humans from mountaintop removal coal mining set forth legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives today. Representatives Dennis Kucinich (OH), Louise Slaughter (NY), Maurice Hinchey (NY), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), John Yarmuth (KY), Lynn Woolsey (CA), Judy Chu (CA), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), James Moran (VA), Michael Honda (CA), John Conyers (MI), and Keith Ellison (MN) introduced the Appalachian Communities Health Emergency (ACHE) Act [H.R. 5959] which would place a moratorium on permitting for mountaintop removal coal mining until health studies are conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. The ACHE coalition presently consists of participants from Coal River Mountain Watch, Mountain Health and Heritage Association, and Christians for the Mountains. “We encourage you, if you’re concerned about mountaintop removal’s effect on your community’s health, to join us in making your voice heard,” said Allen Johnson, executive director of Christians for the Mountains. “Please contact us, learn about the issue, and take action to protect your community.”

Community-Wealth.org community-wealth.org a project of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland Community-Wealth.org brings together, for the first time, information about the broad range of community wealth building activity. Featuring Community Wealth Building in Action: The Cleveland Model Something important is happening in Cleveland. The Democracy Collaborative—the host of C-W.org—in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Shorebank Enterprise Cleveland, the City of Cleveland, and the city's major hospitals and universities—is helping to implement a new model of large-scale worker-owned and community-benefiting businesses. The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation's decaying economy. Increasingly, this model is being referred to nationally as The Cleveland Model. Initial planning is now underway to assist other cities in Ohio and nationwide to replicate and adapt this innovative approach to economic development, green job creation, and neighborhood stabilization. Find more many resources at Community-Wealth.org!
NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.com Declaration of Internet Freedom Tired of fighting bad bills like SOPA, PIPA and CISPA? Want to stand up against those who are trying to control what we do and say online? It's time for something different. A group of more than 1,500 organizations, academics, startup founders and tech innovators has come together to produce a Declaration of Internet Freedom, a set of five principles that put forward a positive vision of the open Internet. Our goal: Get millions of Internet users to sign on to this Declaration. Build political power for Internet users to make sure that we get a seat at the table whenever, and wherever, the future of the Internet is being decided. It's time to stop playing defense and start going on the offensive. The open Internet is central to people’s freedom to communicate, share, advocate and innovate in the 21st century. But powerful interests want to censor free speech, block the sharing of information, hinder innovation and control how Internet users get online. And all too often, people in power are making political decisions behind closed doors about how the Internet should operate — and they're doing this without the involvement of actual Internet users. The result: policies that could close down the open Internet and destroy our freedom to connect. It’s time for us to reclaim the Internet for its users. Take action now and sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom..
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! And check out more actions on the Move to Amend Calendar featuring David Cobb's Barnstorming Tour! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net GET INVOLVED! And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org and Bradley Manning Support Network UPDATE! BuzzFlash Commentary Military Makes a Mockery of Bradley Manning’s Right to a Speedy Trial September 28, 2012: “PFC Manning’s statutory and constitutional speedy trial rights have been trampled upon with impunity,” writes David Coombs, defense lawyer for accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning, in a new motion posted to his blog yesterday. The 117-page comprehensive motion takes a long and thorough look at the ways in which the Convening Authority and prosecution have utterly failed to act according to their obligations to provide Manning a speedy trial. Coombs concludes that the only remedy for these extremely long delays is a dismissal of charges with prejudice. At the time of Coombs’ filing, Manning had been imprisoned for 845 days. Coombs emphasizes just how long this is......
DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATIONHelp 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 CELLULAR PHONE TASK FORCE EDUCATION, ADVOCACY, SUPPORT at CellPhoneTaskForce.org The Cellular Phone Task Force is dedicated to halting the expansion of wireless technology because it cannot be made safe. We provide: education to the public concerning electromagnetic pollution (electrosmog); advocacy for an electromagnetically cleaner environment; support for individuals disabled by radiation from wireless technology and other sources.


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The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

  • This Week (ABC) Host George Stephanopoulos
    • Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs
    • Romney campaign senior adviser Ed Gillespie
    • Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly
    • ROUNDTABLE: Democratic strategist James Carville; Republican strategist Mary Matalin; Nobel Prize-winning New York Times columnist Paul Krugman; Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan; and ABC News senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl.


  • Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
    • David Axelrod, Obama's senior campaign adviser
    • Page Two - baseball roundtable: Tony LaRussa, the manager of the current reigning world champions, the Cardinals, Tommy Lasorda, the legendary Dodgers manager. Jane Leavy, author of "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood'
    • ROUNDTABLE: The Washington Post's MIichael Gerson, The American Spectator's John Fund, and our own CBS News' Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson


  • 60 Minutes (CBS)
    • Huawei - The Chinese telecom giant Huawei, a global company seeking to do business in the U.S., may pose a security risk to the U.S. government, industry and citizens says the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. Steve Kroft reports. Graham Messick is the producer.
    • Sticker Shock - Lesley Stahl reports on the world's largest eye-wear company, the Italian firm Luxottica, responsible for putting glasses on half a billion people. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.


  • Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory
    Microsoft, NBC News Dissolve MSNBC.com Joint Venture NBC is buying Microsoft's 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount. MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com. Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news service this fall. Although he declined to provide many details about the operation general manager of MSN.com Bob Visse said the news staff will be about the same size as the roughly 100 people who created original content for the MSNBC.com. "There is no question that we are going to have more flexibility to make our own decisions," said Vivian Schiller, NBC News' chief digital officer. "This is really an amicable breakup. We think competition will make us better." Okay then.
    • One-on-one with Arnold Schwarzenegger
    • ROUNDTABLE: special Political Roundtable discussion with Senior Adviser to the Obama campaign, Robert Gibbs; former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen; Republican strategist Mike Murphy; and NBC’s 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.
    • RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
    • Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
    • Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
    • former Democratic Governor Ted Strickland
    • ROUNDTABLE: Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi, Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, The New York Times' White House Correspondent Jackie Calmes and CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin.


  • HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid
    HEAD ON
    Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of Conversation Radio 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 during the show!
    • FRONT PORCH FRIDAY!!!!! Grab a cold one and put up yer feet! 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
    desi-n-bradObamaRomneyDebate
    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' - October 4, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama vs. Romney vs. Facts: fact-checking & debunking the 1st Presidential debate; Total Oil slams Shell Oil's Arctic drilling; PLUS: A whole lotta shakin' going on: more fracking earthquakes in Texas ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
    • IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): "Culture of fear" at San Onofre nuclear plant; 'Hundreds of problems' at EU nuclear plants; Gasoline shortage closes CA gas stations; Enbridge CEO floats new light oil pipeline plans; US Solar industry pushes for China trade sanctions; Alaska-to-Asia natural gas pipeline plan timeline set; Exxon plans to drill near atomic waste dump in Arctic; Ocean acidification emerges as new climate threat ... PLUS: Clean energy showdown in Arizona ... and much, MUCH more! ...
    • BRADBLOG UPDATE! JUST THE FACTS: What the PA Photo ID Ruling Means for the November 2012 Election Today, democracy in Pennsylvania was granted a reprieve. For now. Of a sort. In response to a recent state Supreme Court remand, unanimously voiding his previous August ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, a Republican, issued his new ruling [PDF] today on the state GOP's polling place Photo ID restriction law. He enjoined just a part of the law, but it effectively strikes down the most onerous provision of it --- but only for this November's Presidential election.....
    • BRADBLOG UPDATE! CRIMINAL PROBE OPENED IN FLORIDA INTO ROMNEY-TIED FIRM AT CENTER OF GOP VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL An official criminal probe has been launched into the GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal we first reported just over one week ago. The investigation, confirmed by Reuters tonight, comes on the heels of an election fraud complaint filed on Friday by the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) after an initial batch of more than 100 apparently fraudulent voter registration applications were discovered in Palm Beach County......
    • BRADBLOG UPDATE! Another Voting Rights Victory in Ohio: Appellate Court Upholds Restoration of Early Voting for All on Weekend Before Election Day Via Ryan Reilly at TPM: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that Ohio must make early voting during the three days before the election available to all voters if it's available to military members and voters who live overseas. The ruling upheld a lower court's decision. "The State's asserted goal of accommodating the unique situation of members of the military, who may be called away at a moment's notice in service to the nation, is certainly a worthy and commendable goal," the court ruled. "However, while there is a compelling reason to provide more opportunities for military voters to cast their ballots, there is no corresponding satisfactory reason to prevent non-military voters from casting their ballots as well." In short, the attempt by Ohio Republicans to keep Democratic-leaning voters, who turned out in droves to support Obama in 2008 on the final weekend before Election Day from voting, has failed yet again......
    • BRADCAST UPDATE! VIDEO: Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...
    • BRADCAST UPDATE! VIDEO: CBS4 Miami: The E-Vote Tabulators Still Don't Work Local reporters notice that private computer systems used to tally votes in all 50 states are still unreliable (at best). New investigative series picks up on big issue lost amid recent GOP voter suppression concerns...
    • BRADCAST UPDATE! VIDEO: RT America's Special Report on Continuing E-Voting Concerns Brad is featured in the English language Russian news outlet's new special report on old concerns about e-voting and e-tabulation, once again, in this year's election...
    • Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Now up to 9,600+ Election Protection posts! Find out who's counting your votes and how at ElectionIntegrity.org too.


  • The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!
    pbc show
    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
      To my valued listeners: We are making some changes to the website and our terms, effective in January. We will continue to offer free podcasts–my new daily news and commentary. Our in-depth interviews will be available for $1 per episode, or to subscribers who pay $5 per month or more. Loyal listeners who simply can’t afford it should send an email to peter@peterbcollins.com, as we will be offering a limited number of scholarships to our friends who are hurting during these tough times. More information will be posted as we complete the revisions. I’m grateful to each of you for listening and supporting this work, and hope that the new model will enable us to keep it going well into the future. All the best, -pbc
    • PBC Standard Podcast October 1, 2012 Podcast Special: Words. Prof. Geoffrey Nunberg on “A**holes, a Powerful, Colorful Term; Wordcatcher Phil Cousineau Shares Words from His New Book
    • PBC Standard Podcast October 5, 2012 Globetrotting Activist Col. Ann Wright Comments on Drones, Targeted Killing, Israel/Palestine, and Rape in the US Military


  • Ring of Fire Radio
    rofheader
    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 October 5, 2012
    • Investigative journalist Greg Palast returns for an extended discussion of his new book “Billionaires and Ballot Bandits.”
    • Author Ari Berman will join us to talk about this week’s debate, and what we can expect from the candidates in the upcoming debates.
    • Alternet’s Washington correspondent Adele Stan will join us to talk about the return of Ralph Reed, and why the GOP needs him to help resurrect the Religious Right.
    • And investigative journalist Brad Friedman will give us the latest on the GOP’s attempts to keep Democratic voters away from the polls this year.
    • VIDEO! THE HISTORY OF CORPORATE CORRUPTION & FRAUD with Robert Kennedy Jr & Mike Papantonio “Call us if you have a personal story about Fraud on Taxpayers or False Claims for Payment made by Corportations at 1-866-389-FIRE (3473)or contact us by email at info@ringoffireradio.com if you have evidence of fraud that robbed taxpayer dollars. If our government is paying too much due to fraud by a corporation, Ring of Fire wants to do a story on it.”
    • VIDEO! Papantonio: Democrats Need To Abandon The South Mike Papantonio talks about how the Democratic Party needs to stop wasting their time attempting to sway the conservative red state south, and focus their energy in areas where they can actually make a difference.
    • 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!

    • October 1, 2012 Eugene Jarecki, “The House I Live in”
    • October 2, 2012 Nan Aron, on the New Supreme Court Term
    • October 3, 2012 Tech Day & An Archival Interview With Noam Chomsky for Members
    • October 4, 2012 Ari Berman, Voter Rights News and Debate Recap
    • October 5, 2012 Cliff Schecter, Casual Friday
    • MORE Podcast Interviews at Majority.fm!


  • On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!
    maxheaderhiyall
    "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 official Facebook pages for Max Keiser & Keiser Report STACY SUMMARY: For once and for all, here are our real Facebook pages, the other ones are fake. But if you feel like chatting to the fake ones, by all means, go ahead. Max Keiser & Keiser Report PLUS Stacey Herbert
    The “Keiser Report” has been begging europe to do this for years by maxkeiser READ European Banks Preparing To Boycott Big Three Rating Agencies (zerohedge.com)
    CNBC’s Admission, yes: Silver market is manipulated (skip to 9:30) by maxkeiser READ CNBC Host States Silver Manipulation is a Fact, NOT a Conspiracy! sliverdoctors.com with VIDEO! Once Barclays pointed the finger at BoE as colluding on Libor manipulation (instead of denying it), the roof got ripped off decades of blatant manipulation in these markets. The dollar and U.S. bonds have been protected with Fed interference and outright manipulation; same thing in the UK. And to bolster the price for sovereign bonds, the price of Gold and Silver has been manipulated down alongside the upside price movements of worthless paper. Ratings at CNBC have been plummeting this year – as the audience is way ahead of their talking heads on these points. When CNBC admits that markets, especially silver, are rigged, the few remaining viewers they have collectively sigh; ‘I heard that on Keiser Report three years ago.’ READ CNBC: Silver and Financial Markets Are Manipulated, But So What? Jesse's Crossroads Cafe
    Catherine Austin Fitts Commentary on Financial Holocaust
    Huffpo Live provides PR spinning platform for bankster scheme exposed on Keiser Report! Stacy Summary: In response to an expose by Teri Buhl, first discussed on Keiser Report, Huffington Post’s new online tv station provided a bizarre PR spinning platform that included John Cusack of all people to whitewash a dodgy eminent domain scheme in California: READ Do Friends Of Actor John Cusack Want To Steal Money From Grandma’s Pension? (mfi-miami.com)
    Teri Buhl unwrapped on her Birthday READ Readers Asked: I Answered – Teri Buhl unwrapped on her Birthday (teribuhl.com)
    • KEISER REPORT [KR348] Keiser Report: Debt Erasers We discuss the nine scariest words in the English language – “I’m from JP Morgan and I’m here to help you.” They also discuss deferred prosecution agreements and celebrities and bloggers shilling for banksters in California’s mortgage contract-asset seizure market. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Jaromil about bitcoin as a digital charm bracelet and the revolution in accounting science – triple entry accounting.
    • KEISER REPORT [KR349] Keiser Report: Cadavers Collateralized Debt We bring a bankster rat onto set to discuss the civil suit against JP Morgan’s mortgage fraud. We revisit episode 97 of the Keiser Report on which journalist Teri Buhl had first warned you about the residential mortgage back security fraud issue on JP Morgan’s balance sheet – thanks to their purchase of Bear Stearns. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Dr. Michael Hudson, author of The Bubble and Beyond: Fictitious Capital, Debt Deflation and Global Crisis, about Timothy Geithner’s role in facilitating the takeover of the banking system by the Wall Street mafia and about the oligarchic counter revolution against democracy in Europe.
    • KEISER REPORT [KR350] Keiser Report: Mr. Gold vs Chump ‘Economists’ We demonstrate the effects of money printing and Central Bank madness with a hyperinflationary chicken. They also discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission losing its mind as it sues the one rating agency NOT on the payroll of Wal Street. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Professor William K. Black about Deferred Prosecution Agreements, the Financial Conduct Authority and London as the capital of fraud.
    • ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Wolf Richter
    • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM1251] The Truth About Markets – 29 September 2012 Download show HERE (mp3)
    • Donate to ResonanceFM here!


  • ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
    antiwarradio.jpg LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
    Listen at antiwar.com/radio
    Pepe Escobar June 30, 2012: Globetrotting journalist Pepe Escobar discusses his article “Syria and Turkey’s Phantom War;” Turkey’s violation of Syrian airspace in a purposeful, measured provocation and test of Syria’s defenses; the near-invocation of NATO Article 5 and a wider war (an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all); looking for ways to bypass the UN on Syria, since China and Russia won’t let an interventionist resolution pass the Security Council; grand plans for NATO expansion in the official “Assured Security, Dynamic Engagement” plan; counterrevolutions in the Middle East and South America, as the US looks to rebuild its portfolio of client states; and how Qatar has become the new superpower in the Middle East, surpassing even Saudi Arabia.
    SCOTT HORTON July 5, 2012: Scott says goodbye to Antiwar.com. Scott Horton is the former host of Antiwar Radio. Visit his blog Stress. Due to budget cuts Scott lost his gig at AntiWarRadio.com! Whoa! See ScottHortonShow.com for archives! Send emails to Scott at scotthorton.org to help Scott keep his podcast going!
    • Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!


  • fauxnews
    • Romney Supporter Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
    • Obama Supporter Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD)
    • Political Debate Coach Brett O'Donnell

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