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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Brick TeeVee and Whales in the Sky with Dimon!

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Whales in the Sky with Dimon Okay it's a cheesy reference to a famous Beatles song. We're busted! Just wait and it will all come clear! Now MITT HEADROOM (in CLE OH! of all places) is now saying he saved the auto industry! See NewsNet5 Mitt Romney taking credit for auto industry comeback during NewsChannel5 interview creates buzz.... "It was the UAW and the president that delayed the idea of bankruptcy. I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy, and finally when that was done and help was given, the companies got back on their feet. So I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back," Romney said. .... Romney’s piece in the NYT, titled “Let Detoit Go Bankrupt ,” said the bailout would lead to the failure of America’s auto industry. Here is an except from that publication:
“IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed." Nice flip-flop Kaptain Kolob! What Hubris! NPR unravels the story more in Romney Shifts Gears On Auto Industry Bailout.
At nakedCapitalism.com we find a guest post from Bill Black: New York Times Reporters Need to Read Krugman’s Columns To know the Washington Consensus as a regular citizen is to hate the Consensus. The Washington Consensus, as the name implies, was an “inside the beltway” series of neo-liberal policies embraced by the IMF, the World Bank, and the U.S. government. It called for a minimal State and an all-powerful private sector. .... The Consensus led to weak growth, high unemployment, and repeated privatization scandals. It enraged ordinary citizens in much of Latin America, which is why there has been a landslide of national leaders elected because of their promises to oppose the Consensus and their open disdain for Washington’s neo-colonial diktats. There is nothing unusual about the Latin American reaction to the Consensus. What is startling is that at the same time that Latin America was rising up to reject the Consensus the dominant neo-liberal politicians and economists in Europe were passionately worshiping its failed dogma with the zeal of the convert. They created the Berlin Consensus, and it rested on austerity today, austerity tomorrow, austerity always. .... German-imposed austerity, the Berlin Consensus, is even more draconian than the Washington Consensus in Latin America. Germany and the ECB are open that they are not simply demanding austerity and massive privatization – they are also demanding dramatic reductions in working class wages throughout the EU. The German’s and the ECB are not demanding any sacrifices from European elites. They explicitly target the working class and government workers’ wages and oppose any increased taxation of the wealthy. The Berlin Consensus is a road map to ever greater inequality. The reaction among Europe’s citizens has been overwhelmingly negative. Every nation that has agreed to austerity has suffered economically and every ruling party that agreed to austerity in return for EU aid has fallen. Austerity is the leading cause of disintegrating EU unity. The nice thing about democracy is that the people are often less wedded to failed economic dogma than are the academic devotees of the cult of austerity. The New York Times has a very good economist, a Nobel laureate, working for it as a regular columnist. His name is Paul Krugman and among his areas of primary study is how to recover from a severe recession. Regular readers of the paper will know that recovery is the most common subject Krugman’s columns discuss. Sunday’s elections in France, Greece, Germany, and the UK have spawned a spate of articles in the New York Times that have focused on finance and recovery from the Great Recession in Europe. The reporters’ collective take on the elections demonstrates that they are in the grip of dogmas that are so powerful that they have come to believe in anti-facts and to rely on “economic” theories that are rarely believed by economists and have been continuously falsified by reality. It is now apparent that the paper’s journalists that cover the EU do not read or do not understand Krugman.......... The dogmatic austerity devotees who consistently get it wrong are treated as undisputed authority while the New York Time’s own expert who has consistently gotten it right, and has a Nobel Prize in economics, is ignored. (Krugman was formerly more of a deficit hawk. He now takes into account how different sovereign monetary systems, e.g., the U.S. and Japan, are from currencies like the euro and is more of a dove. UMKC economics consists of deficit “owls.”) A related New York Times story about investor reactions to Hollande’s victory buys into austerity and the assault on working class wages even more wholeheartedly. It cites no contrary views by economists. It does not even mention austerity throwing the euro zone back into recession and periphery into depression. It embraces TINA and the Road to Bangladesh strategy. It sees no irony in this, warning that unless France makes deep cuts to working class wages: “‘France runs the risk of becoming more of a periphery country than remaining in core,” Mr. Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute said.” So the only way for France to avoid becoming like the periphery is to force cuts in working class wages to levels where France can outcompete China – and Germany and Bangladesh. And what does Kirkegaard think the Spanish will be forced to do under this strategy? They’ll have to make deeper cuts than the French. And what will the French do in response to the Spanish working class wage cuts? And what will Vietnam and Bangladesh do if the EU nations cut their working class wages to levels that allow them to “win” the race to the bottom? Won’t they be forced to react by further cuts in their working class wages? Who is going to buy Germany’s VWs under this strategy? To sum it up: in order to avoid becoming a part of Europe’s periphery France’s working class must become part of the third world.
OWS GOES TO COURT John Knefel at AlterNet Is the NYPD Out of Control? New Lawsuit Takes on Bloomberg's 'Private Army' .... Fifteen plaintiffs, including five elected officials, members of the press, an Iraq war veteran, and Occupy Wall Street activists are suing the city in federal court, alleging gross misconduct ranging from false arrest and imprisonment to possible conspiracy between the police department and JPMorgan Chase to chill citizen's rights to peaceably assemble. The suit is known as Rodriguez v. Winski and calls for, among other measures, the creation of an independent federal position to oversee the NYPD. The department is out of control, the suit alleges, and is incapable of holding itself accountable. I'm also a plaintiff in the case and can testify from first-hand experience that the NYPD is out of control. This is obviously not news to the hundreds of thousands of young men of color who are stopped and frisked by the cops every year, and it's always important to stress that the kind of suppression a political movement like Occupy faces is both quantitatively and categorically different than the oppression marginalized communities face. So the stories laid out below come with the caveat of “police brutality in New York isn't new, but it's crazy and maybe we can get this under control.” ..... One part of the story that hasn't been reported, until now, centers on plaintiff Justin Sullivan, who was arrested while filming arrests at a “mic check” action in Grand Central Station. Upon being taken into custody his still camera and video camera were confiscated, which is standard procedure. Sullivan was released from the precinct with several court summonses, but without his camera. It's worth quoting the complaint in full (emphasis mine):

107. When Plaintiff Justin Sullivan went back to the MTA Police Precinct located at Grand Central Station to ask for his missing video camera, he was re-arrested and held for approximately 24 more hours.
108. Additional charges were issued against Plaintiff Justin Sullivan at that time.
109. Plaintiff Justin Sullivan's still camera was not returned.
110. Plaintiff Justin Sullivan's video camera was not returned.
111. Plaintiff Justin Sullivan's data chips were not returned.
112. A witness reported that she observed an officer who fits the physical description of Officer Lakeram (who specifically requested JS's cameras – JK) instructing another officer to break the camera.

That's an astounding set of allegations. After being arrested for filming somebody being arrested (who was actually speaking out against a previous arrest), Sullivan was released, re-arrested, and issued further charges. Beyond all that, his camera – which contained evidence regarding the previous arrests – was allegedly destroyed and his data cards were either destroyed, lost, or are still being held somewhere. ..... In early October, JP Morgan issued a press release touting its $4.6 million donation to the New York Police Foundation, the largest in the NYPF's history. The contribution began in September 2010, well before the emergence of Occupy, so the money wasn't related to the protesters initially, although the relationship between the financial firm and the police remains unclear. The NYPF is closely associated with the NYPD; the homepage on its website features a photo of NYPD Commissioner Kelly. We don't know what effect that donation had on police policies and behavior. But we do know that Occupy activists were barred from exercising their rights due to the content of their speech, and more needs to be revealed about the collusion between the police and financial elites. The complaints go on and on...... Lisa Du at BusinessInsider.com points us to a Former Wall Streeter Explains Why She Joined Occupy Wall Street Alexis Goldstein worked for seven years on Wall Street before she got out. In that period, Wall Street made her a "cynical, bitter, depressed, and exhausted “knowledge worker” who felt that everyone was out to screw me over," she wrote in a piece for n+1 magazine. When Goldstein quit Wall Street in 2010, it well before Occupy Wall Street began. But since the movement caught fire last fall, Goldstein has wholeheartedly thrown herself into the cause and gained quite a bit of publicity for it. She's now a part of Occupy the SEC—a working group in OWS that focuses on financial regulation—and also recently offered her commentary to the Frontline documentary on the financial crisis. Goldstein, who spent her 7 years on Wall Street in technology developing trading models and as a business analyst, finally shares the story of her personal experience on Wall Street in the n+1 article, and the cycle of greed and envy that the culture of the financial firms nurtured, resulting ultimately in tired and paranoid employees that had completely antagonized their employers. Click over to read her whole story! Excellent! Next our own jen points us to an episode of Up With Chris Hayes May 6: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman responds to allegations that the Mortgage Fraud Task Force he heads – which investigates the mortgage and banking industries that wrecked the economy – is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Sez jen "We're doomed. (Alexis Goldstein of Occupy the SEC is on the panel. Love that woman!) I find it interesting that Schneiderman, when responding to questions from Alexis will not look her in the eyes, or even look at her face. 8-) He is sitting right next to her, so maybe that's part of it." Nice catch! Also jen snagged our TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Nouriel Roubini@Nouriel Result of Greek elections much more serious than the French one as the former leads to chaos while Hollande will turn out to be a moderate -- Newyorkist@Newyorkist American cities begin deploying new laws directed at preventing #ows related protests . @WCNC in Charlotte: http://bit.ly/JIpR3E WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS? In a very disturbing piece Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman at Wired's Danger Room describe how U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian population wherever necessary.” The course, first reported by Danger Room last month and held at the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Staff College, has since been canceled by the Pentagon brass. It’s only now, however, that the details of the class have come to light. Danger Room received hundreds of pages of course material and reference documents from a source familiar with the contents of the class. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently ordered the entire U.S. military to scour its training material to make sure it doesn’t contain similarly hateful material, a process that is still ongoing. But the officer who delivered the lectures, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, still maintains his position at the Norfolk, Virginia college, pending an investigation. The commanders, lieutenant colonels, captains and colonels who sat in Dooley’s classroom, listening to the inflammatory material week after week, have now moved into higher-level assignments throughout the U.S. military. For the better part of the last decade, a small cabal of self-anointed counterterrorism experts has been working its way through the U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement communities, trying to convince whoever it could that America’s real terrorist enemy wasn’t al-Qaida — but the Islamic faith itself. In his course, Dooley brought in these anti-Muslim demagogues as guest lecturers. And he took their argument to its final, ugly conclusion...... Read all three pages! Allison Kilkenney reports for The Nation Thousands Turn Out to Protest Bank of America Shareholders' Meeting with updates from the Day of Action and photos! NOW IN CHARLOTTE! The American Legislative Exchange Council! ALEC comes to Charlotte to craft model legislation The American Legislative Exchange Council will be in Charlotte on Friday for its spring task force meeting, where “model legislation” is considered for promotion in states across the country. ALEC brings together corporate interest and state legislators to craft free-market, conservative bills behind closed doors. .... Eight other task forces are meeting in Charlotte. Common Cause has obtained and posted agendas for the meetings online. Common Dreams has the Common Cause press release ALEC Legislators, Companies Convene in Charlotte, N.C. ACTION: On Common Cause's front page ALEC is at it again, and we're watching With hundreds of state legislators and corporate executives and lobbyists convening in Charlotte N.C. for meetings hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Common Cause announced today that it has asked attorneys general in 29 states to investigate the group's tax status and lobbying activities. “ALEC, the ‘charity’ that’s not a charity and the lobby that claims it doesn’t lobby, is at it again,” said Common Cause president and CEO Bob Edgar. “The ‘task forces’ it is convening in Charlotte this weekend are about to be spoon-fed another helping of legislation written by corporate executives and lobbyists and designed to advance private interests at public expense.” Common Cause earlier submitted more than 4,000 pages of ALEC records, including emails, "issue alerts," position papers and legislative tracking data to the IRS in support of a "tax whistleblower" complaint charging ALEC with violating the terms of its tax-exempt status. Read about our letters to state attorneys general HERE and "Tell your AG: Investigate ALEC"! Find your state HERE . MoJo's Samantha Oltman explains how N.C.'s Amendment 1 Doesn't Just Screw Over Gay People Thanks to the law's vague wording, critics argue it would likely strip away many of the legal rights associated with domestic partnerships or legal unions. This is because Amendment 1 says "Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State." While it's being called a gay marriage ban, the amendment is more than that—it's an all-out refusal to recognize any kind of partnership or union that isn't marriage. So gay North Carolinians, who couldn't get married anyway, are screwed, and so are straight, unmarried North Carolina couples. The ACLU of North Carolina released a list explaining how bad things could get for unmarried North Carolina couples if Amendment 1 passes. Here are some rights that could be at risk: [scary list here] .... As the New York Times reports: Just 36 percent of voters answered correctly that it bans both same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships. An additional 26 percent thought it banned same-sex marriage alone. Meanwhile, 10 percent of voters thought a "yes" vote on the amendment would legalize rather than ban same-sex marriage, and 27 percent weren't sure what it did. From The Hickory Record the primary drew an estimated "... statewide turnout percentage of 34.38. More than 2 million voters went to the polls Tuesday. The totals were 1,303,994 in favor of the amendment, and 832,283 against. By comparison, 880,128 voters participated in the May 4, 2010, primary. That was an off-year election. The 2008 primary drew 2,125,215 voters." This means the amendment passed with just over 20% of eligible voters voting for it! Talk about the Tyranny of the Minority! ACLU of North Carolina Executive Director Jennifer Rudinger said in her statement "The diverse and wide-ranging opposition to this discriminatory amendment has created an unprecedented and still-growing coalition of groups and individuals committed to LGBT equality in North Carolina. This fight is not over. We are confident that the new partnerships, resources, and energy that came together to oppose Amendment One will continue working to expand freedom for all people in our state and confront attacks on civil liberties wherever they occur. Last night’s numbers might not reveal it, but the wind is at our backs. As public opinion continues to shift in favor of fairness and equality, it is no longer a question of if, but when, we will provide ALL our citizens with full and equal protection under the law. That day can’t come soon enough, but as we work together to bend the arc of history, we know that despite the temporary setback of Amendment One, we will get there … together." The Winston-Salem Journal notes Legal challenges to marriage amendment possible, but experts expect little immediate success so stay tuned! Remind us again how is it that the DNC chose North Carolina for their convention? GOP WAR ON WOMEN - Dalina Castellanos at the Los Angeles Times reports New Arizona law bars public funds from Planned Parenthood via McClatchy Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill barring any public money - city, county or state - from going to Planned Parenthood, a decision that she says closes loopholes for funding abortions. The bill, known as the Whole Woman's Health Funding Priority Act, tightens existing state regulations "to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, whether directly or indirectly," Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement Friday after she signed it into law. Arizona's Republican-led Legislature passed other reproductive health care bills during a 116-day session that ended Thursday, including a measure Brewer signed last month banning most abortions after 20 weeks. Arizona already bans providing tax dollars for abortion unless the mother's life is at stake, and Planned Parenthood argues that the new law essentially stifles health care for women on Medicaid. "The problem is the state does not actually contract with Planned Parenthood or any health care providers," Bryan Howard, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said Saturday. About 4,000 women on Medicaid - 10 percent of Planned Parenthood Arizona's patients - will be affected by the law, Howard said. Then AP's Pauline Arrellago notes Women ponder how they became a campaign issue via Yahoo News .... The upshot: Whether seen as real or manufactured, something about the so-called "war" is resonating among American women who could well make the difference on Election Day. Many are acting out and speaking up. Many are, in fact, girding for battle, in one way or another. As Ramey put it: "They've woken a sleeping giant." ..... Karen Teegarden saw the congressional hearing from which Fluke was excluded, and saw the all-male witness table. And within days this 56-year-old wife, mother and marketing specialist from Birmingham, Mich., had launched UniteWomen.org. Its mission statement: "Help defend women's rights and pursuit of equality." Using social media and the Internet, Teegarden's group organized protests in cities all across the country on April 28. All told, hundreds marched in places like Phoenix, where coat hangers were on display featuring a plea: "Keep Abortion Safe & Legal." And Austin, where a Democratic state representative took to the microphone to quote a famous phrase: "Heed our warning. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned." And Ohio, where women at the state Capitol hoisted signs that read: "'Sluts' Over Nuts" and "My Vagina. My Choice." The rallies came a day after Republican Speaker John Boehner took to the floor of the U.S. House to lambast Democrats for politicizing issues that he said should transcend partisan politics. He brought up the "so-called war on women," calling it something "entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain." "Give me a break," Boehner roared as his fellow Republicans cheered. Said Teegarden, a supporter of President Barack Obama: "If you don't want to call it a war, that's fine. We are fighting something. It's not just us having 'emotions.' We are fighting very specific legislation." It's worth considering the landscape in which all of this is happening. ..... Much more! Loren Berlin reports at HuffPoAOL JPMorgan Chase Whistleblower: 'Essentially Suicide' To Stand Up To Bank When Linda Almonte alerted her boss at JPMorgan Chase about potential fraud in a major deal she was helping to close, she expected him to applaud her great catch. Instead, he fired her. "We went down fast," said Almonte, 41, about her family. She had been making $100,000 a year as a division vice president at Chase, enough to support her stay-at-home husband, their four kids, ages 12 to 22, and rent a three-bedroom house in San Antonio, Texas. Her move at Chase amounted to "essentially suicide," Almonte told The Huffington Post. No bank in town would hire her after word spread that she had stood up to the banking giant, she said. After more than a year of fruitless job hunting, Almonte and her family left town, landing at a hotel near Disney World, paying $300 a week for a two-bedroom with a kitchenette. ..... Almonte had been working at Chase for only a few months when she was asked to pitch in on a deal to sell 23,000 credit card accounts from customers behind on their payments. Debt collection agencies buy the accounts for pennies and keep any money they can collect from the customers, as reported in a series by American Banker. All the accounts had "judgments" on them, meaning that Chase had already taken these cases to court, sued the customers involved for failing to make payments and won the lawsuits. Before the sale took place, Almonte was asked to check the amount owed and the court's ruling in each case. After reviewing more than a third of the files, Almonte's team reported back to her that nearly 60 percent contained some sort of major error, including discrepancies about the amount or whether the court had indeed ruled for the bank. Concerned, Almonte went up the chain of command, flagging the errors and encouraging management to halt the sale. Instead, the bank fired Almonte and completed the deal in December 2009. Chase declined to comment for this story, as did the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is currently investigating the bank. Almonte filed a whistleblower claim with the SEC in November 2010. The amount she could potentially be paid if she wins her claim is unknown, since it depends on whether the agency considers her information crucial to successfully bringing a case against Chase, and the size of any potential associated fines and settlement fees. .... Thank you Jamie and JPMC! What a nice guy! CHASE DECLINED TO COMMENT. Surprised? Matt Taibbi at his RS Taibblog exclaims Jamie's Cryin: Dimon, J.P. Morgan Chase Lose $2 Billion ... Here’s the summation from the New York Times: ....The trading in that hedge roiled markets a month ago, when rumors started circulating of a JPMorgan trader in London whose bets were so big that he was nicknamed "the London Whale" and "Voldemort," after the Harry Potter villain. I’m still not entirely clear on what the trades by Bruno Iksil, the so-called "London Whale," were exactly. According to the excellent Felix Salmon at Reuters, Iksil had taken a massive long position on corporate CDS, and when word of this leaked out, the market turned on him and beat his brains out. From Salmon’s piece: Whenever a trader has a large and known position, the market is almost certain to move violently against that trader — and that seems to be exactly what happened here. On the conference call, when asked what he should have been watching more closely, Dimon said “trading losses — and newspapers”. It wasn’t a joke. Once your positions become public knowledge, the market will smell blood. If you’re wondering why you should care if some idiot trader (who apparently has been making $100 million a year at Chase, a company that has been the recipient of at least $390 billion in emergency Fed loans) loses $2 billion for Jamie Dimon, here’s why: because J.P. Morgan Chase is a federally-insured depository institution that has been and will continue to be the recipient of massive amounts of public assistance. If the bank fails, someone will reach into your pocket to pay for the cleanup. So when they gamble like drunken sailors, it’s everyone’s problem. Activity like this is exactly what the Volcker rule, which effectively banned risky proprietary trading by federally insured institutions, was designed to prevent. ..... Either way, the incident underscored the basic problem. If J.P. Morgan Chase wants to act like a crazed cowboy hedge fund and make wild exacta bets on the derivatives market, they should be welcome to do so. But they shouldn’t get to do it with cheap cash from the Fed’s discount window, and they shouldn’t get to do it with money from the federally-insured bank accounts of teachers, firemen and other such real people. The Big Headline Friday at MaxKeiser.com reads It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This. Sucide Banker Jamie ‘we don’t make directional bets’ Dimon ‘Self-Inflicts’ a WHOPPER!! LATimes.com: Financial giant JPMorgan Chase’s stock sinks 6% after its stunning revelation of ‘egregious mistakes’ in a trading portfolio that lost $2 billion. “These were egregious mistakes,” said Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who is considered one of the world’s savviest bankers. “We have egg on our face, and we deserve any criticism we get.” From ZeroHedge JPM Crashing After It Convenes Emergency Call To Advise Of “Significant Mark-To-Market” Losses In Bruno Iksil/CIO Group

Out of nowehere, JPM announced 40 minutes ago that it would hold an unscheduled 5pm call to coincide with the release of its 10-Q. Rumors were swirling as to why. The reason is as follows:

JPMORGAN SAYS CIO UNIT HAS SIGNIFICANT MARK-TO-MARKET LOSSES – “Fortress balance sheet” at least until Bruno Iskil gets done with it.
JPMORGAN SAYS LOSSES ARE IN SYNTHETIC CREDIT PORTFOLIO – but, but, net is NEVER, EVER Gross.
JPM WOULD NEED $971M ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT ONE-NOTCH
JPM WOULD NEED $1.7B ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT 2 NOTCHES – how about three notches?
JPMORGAN: MAY HOLD SOME SYNTHETIC CREDIT POSITIONS LONG TERM – “Level 3 CDS FTW”

“As of March 31, 2012, the value of CIO’s total AFS securities portfolio exceeded its cost by approximately $8 billion” As a reminder, the CIO unit is where Bruno Iksil was making $200 billion-sized bets. Basically JPM has suffered massive losses at its CIO group most likely due to its IG/HY positions held by Iksil.

More Zerohedge! VIDEO! 20 Second Summary Of What Just Happened What summarizes the clip below best:

Hubris
Greed
Stupidity
Moral Hazard
All of the above?

Here is the punchline: [VIDEO] The full shocking call and Q&A can be accessed here. Even More Zerohedge!

Is JPM Staring At Another $3 Billion Loss?
And Now For Something Special: "The J.P.Morgan Guide To Credit Derivatives" By Blythe Masters
Guest Post: Does Jamie Dimon Even Know What Heging Risk Is?
Long and the Short of JPMorgan Submitted by rcwhalen ....2) The irony here is that the media and investors alike have attributed magical, super human powers to Jamie Dimon and his colleagues. But JPM is like everyone else, just a partial monopoly. The interesting thing though is to see them screw up in structured products. Again, given the risks the bank takes, not at all surprised to see this type of event. Just shows how volatile and unpredictable is the investment side of the house. 3) The other point is that these losses by JPM are entirely a function of the way that exotic derivatives for which there is no cash basis (like oil or gold) create risk that would not otherwise exist. The losses by JPM are, indeed, self inflicted as Dimon said, and entirely speculative. ..... Press reports recently have claimed that JPM was shifting the trading book run by "the Whale" in London to a net long position. If so, then JPM obviously wouldn't be hedging the portfolio anymore, and would actually be increasing the overall risk of the group. Not only would this put them at risk for a big loss, but if the Whale's activity wasn't a hedge anymore, and rather "trading" risk -- then it's not clear that this activity would be permitted under Volcker. Press reports on JPM and the Whale badly underestimate the impact of the Volcker rule on the trading operations of the large banks. But Jaimie Dimon seems to have handed his head to Chairman Vocker and the advocates of regulation with this error.

As Taibbi puts it "It’s a simple concept: you either get to be a bank, or you get to be a casino. But you can’t be both. If we don’t have rules to enforce that concept, we ought to get some." WAIT! THERE'S MORE! MAX HEADLINE FRIDAY MAY 11 2012 Jamie Dimon is a threat to the Fed and global banking system. SOURCE: Coming losses to be reported are 18 (not 2) billion. It’s clear now that JPM’s stock will go the way of Enron and Lehman as we predicted more than a year ago. BY MAXKEISER

MOVE YOUR MONEY! Our LAST WORD goes to NASA Scientist JAMES HANSEN in his NYT OpEd Game Over for the Climate GLOBAL warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves “regardless of what we do.” If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate. Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk. That is the long-term outlook. But near-term, things will be bad enough. Over the next several decades, the Western United States and the semi-arid region from North Dakota to Texas will develop semi-permanent drought, with rain, when it does come, occurring in extreme events with heavy flooding. Economic losses would be incalculable. More and more of the Midwest would be a dust bowl. California’s Central Valley could no longer be irrigated. Food prices would rise to unprecedented levels. If this sounds apocalyptic, it is. This is why we need to reduce emissions dramatically. President Obama has the power not only to deny tar sands oil additional access to Gulf Coast refining, which Canada desires in part for export markets, but also to encourage economic incentives to leave tar sands and other dirty fuels in the ground. ...... We need to start reducing emissions significantly, not create new ways to increase them. We should impose a gradually rising carbon fee, collected from fossil fuel companies, then distribute 100 percent of the collections to all Americans on a per-capita basis every month. The government would not get a penny. This market-based approach would stimulate innovation, jobs and economic growth, avoid enlarging government or having it pick winners or losers. Most Americans, except the heaviest energy users, would get more back than they paid in increased prices. Not only that, the reduction in oil use resulting from the carbon price would be nearly six times as great as the oil supply from the proposed pipeline from Canada, rendering the pipeline superfluous, according to economic models driven by a slowly rising carbon price. But instead of placing a rising fee on carbon emissions to make fossil fuels pay their true costs, leveling the energy playing field, the world’s governments are forcing the public to subsidize fossil fuels with hundreds of billions of dollars per year. This encourages a frantic stampede to extract every fossil fuel through mountaintop removal, longwall mining, hydraulic fracturing, tar sands and tar shale extraction, and deep ocean and Arctic drilling. ..... The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow. This is a plan that can unify conservatives and liberals, environmentalists and business. Every major national science academy in the world has reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer we wait — we can’t wait any longer to avoid the worst and be judged immoral by coming generations. Don't bet on the Beltway Bubalas covering much of this if at all. We strongly recommend saving all your bricks for head financial terrorist JAMIE DIMON on Meet the David and watch him hit softballs from Gregory all morning long! Notes MAX below, "My analysis has concluded that liability from a rising silver price vs. loss of collateral value of the stock renders JPM’s balance sheet null and void when JPM’s stock price drops below the price of Silver. We’ve only seen this a couple of times since I made this call two years ago, BUT NEVER ON A SUSTAINED BASIS of more than a day or so. When the price of Silver popped over JPM’s stock price, the London desk quickly fabricated a few billion fresh naked silver shorts to tamp silver’s price down. ... NOTE TO HEDGE FUNDS: Sell JPM’s stock naked to Hell." Haha! Make note JPM was at $36.66 at the close Friday. Check that number on Monday to see if anybody bought Dimon's load of Whale Crap haha! Following DIMON is REINCE PRIEBUS and CARL LEVIN who will take turns defending and demonizing ole' Jamie! Of course the rest of the shows will be filled with freaks like TONY PERKINS and GARY BAUER on State of the Candy plus TED OLSEN, RALPH REED and BAY BUCHANAN on Face the Bob. RALPH REED gets another bite at the apple on This Snufagopolis with Mrs. James Carville MARY MATALIN. What a bunch of freak shows this Sunday! We've got much more sanity at our regulars so bag all that and crank up the media streaming machine! Bob Kincaid is back from his trip to Boston and the BofA Shareholders Meeting in Charlotte NC with an EXCELLENT FIRST HAND ACCOUNT! Bob was IN the shareholders meeting and got a chance to speak! Listen to the first hour then catch Hour 3 with caller Chris on Fukushima! Excellent discussion! Catch ROBERT "I'll be short" REICH on DN! while Ring of Fire has ARI BERMAN, JOSH HOLLAND and LES LEOPOLD and AntiWar Radio has PHILLIP GERALDI plus MARCY WHEELER from emptywheel.firedoglake.com. SAM has EYAL PRESS and CLIFF SCHECTER on Majority Report too so lots to watch/read/listen to keep you busy all day! And HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you mothers! Our suggestion: DON'T DO SQUAT other than hold court and have everyone answer your beck and call! YOU DESERVE IT! You hear that guys? If Mom sez "Clean under the fridge" or "Do the laundry" JUST DO IT! No grousing allowed! Have a great Sunday and a great week!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

Monday, May 7, 2012

Yanis Varoufakis, University of Athens in Greece. @ Democracy NOW! "A Political Implosion": Anti-Austerity Parties Win Historic French and Greek Elections
Steve Coll @ Democracy NOW! ExxonMobil’s Dirty Secrets, from Indonesia to Nigeria to Washington: Steve Coll on “Private Empire”

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Robert Reich @ Democracy NOW! Former Labor Sec. Robert Reich on Clinton’s Errors of Crippling Welfare to Repealing Glass-Steagall AND "We Need to Make a Ruckus": Robert Reich Hails Occupy for Exposing Concentration of Wealth and Power

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

William Robinson @ Democracy NOW! North Carolina Voters Approve Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions
Rachel LaForest & Rebecca Tarbotton @ Democracy NOW! From Coal to Foreclosures, Bank of America Faces Protest at Shareholders’ Meeting in Charlotte
Matthew Rothschild, editor and publisher of The Progressive @ Democracy NOW! Wisconsin Democrats Select Recall Challenger to Take On Gov. Scott Walker’s "Ideological Civil War"

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Playwright Tony Kushner @ Democracy NOW! Playwright Tony Kushner Hails Obama’s Support for Same-Sex Marriage: "I Felt the Earth Move" AND Maurice Sendak (1928-2012): Tony Kushner on the Life and Legacy of Legendary Children’s Author PLUS Tony Kushner on the Overlooked "Radicalism" and Lessons of Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency

Friday, May 11, 2012

Randy Parraz, president of Citizens for a Better Arizona @ Democracy NOW! The U.S. v. Joe Arpaio: Justice Department Sues Arizona Sheriff for Racial Profiling of Latinos
James Anaya, U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples @ Democracy NOW! UN Probe: U.S. Should Return Stolen Sacred Land, Including Mt. Rushmore, to Native Americans
Dalee Sambo Dorough, an Inuit from Alaska @ Democracy NOW! Sexual Violence and Natural Resource Pillaging Top Hardships Facing Alaskan Natives
Mexican Poet Javier Sicilia @ Democracy NOW! Stop the Drug War: Mexican Poet Javier Sicilia Condemns U.S. Role in Widening Drug Violence

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Chatting With Chomsky Noam Chomsky has not just been watching the Occupy movement. A veteran of the civil rights, anti-war, and anti-intervention movements of the 1960s through the 1980s, he’s given lectures at Occupy Boston and talked with occupiers across the US. A new publication from the Occupied Media Pamphlet Series brings together several of those lectures, a speech on “occupying foreign policy” and a brief tribute to his friend and co-agitator Howard Zinn. From his speeches, and in this conversation, it’s clear that the emeritus MIT professor and author is as impressed by the spontaneous, cooperative communities some Occupy encampments created, as he is by the movement’s political impact. We are a nation whose leaders are pursuing policies that amount to “suicide” Chomsky says. But there are glimmers of possibility – in worker co-operatives, and other spaces where people get a taste of a different way of living. We talked in his office, for Free Speech TV on April 24.
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» MLB Sunday TBS Braves @ Cardinals 2:15 pm et
»»» MLB Sunday Night ESPN Angels @ Rangers 8 pm et
»»» NBA PLAYOFFS First Round fnalon ABC's double-header Clippers @ Grizzlies Game 7 at 1 pm et then Pacers @ Heat Game 1 3:30 pm et. Check your local listings for more games all week on TNT and NBA TV!
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

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

October2011.org Sign the Petition to Get the 99% Deficit Proposal Heard in Congress
Please SIGN THE PETITION in support of the "99%'s Deficit Proposal" and plan direct actions to tell the Super Committee that the 99% have better solutions to our nation's crises. You can plan your own action at your Congressmember's office or join us in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC for marches to Capitol Hill. Check our calendar for announcements.
VotersForJustice.org OUR GOAL: TO EMPOWER voters with facts and perspectives necessary to decipher the spin, obtain the truth, and support candidates that best represent their interests and values.
NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org A Push for Privacy in the Wake of the Carrier IQ Controversy Remember Carrier IQ, the company that makes the secret spying software that’s installed on more than 140 million phones? You know, the software that can record our most sensitive personal data? ... Thanks in part to the 22,000 people who joined Free Press’ call for a congressional investigation, some of those questions are closer to being answered and mobile users are closer to being protected. The protection comes in the form of a bill from Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey. Markey released a draft of a bill called the "Mobile Device Privacy Act" that would require phone companies to disclose to users just what is being done with all of their data. If the bill passes, an opt-out provision would go into effect a year later and would require companies to allow users to opt out of data-collection schemes like the one developed by Carrier IQ........
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org
MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org and Bradley Manning Support Network
UPDATE! Michael Ratner on ANTIWAR RADIO Michael Ratner May 2, 2012: Michael Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses his article “Bradley Manning: a show trial of state secrecy;” Manning’s quasi-public trial (which is open to observation, yet vital evidence and court documents are withheld from the media and public); why the NY Times is just as guilty of “aiding the enemy” as Manning and WikiLeaks; how President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made a fair trial impossible; and how you can support Bradley Manning in his time of need.
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.

B R I C K T E E V E E

_{image ©2006 arkysue}
THEY report. YOU throw bricks. ©
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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,486 US Military Dead as of April 21, 2012
AFGHANISTAN: 1,968 US Military Dead as of May 12, 2012
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos
• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'
• Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
• ROUNDTABLE: Republican strategist Mary Matalin, former New York governor and host of Current TV's "Viewpoint" Eliot Spitzer, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder and chairman Ralph Reed, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, and Politico senior political reporter Maggie Haberman.
Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
• Ted Olson
• Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass
• Ralph Reed
• Evan Wolfson
• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich
• ROUNDTABLE: Obama surrogate and Democratic strategist Anita Dunn, Romney surrogate and Republican commentator Bay Buchanan and Melinda Henneberger
60 Minutes (CBS)
• Hank - Legendary retired covert CIA Officer Henry "Hank" Crumpton tells his spy stories to Lara Logan, including his role in the early war in Afghanistan as Deputy Director of the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center. Howard Rosenberg is the producer.
• The Gulen Movement - A worldwide Islamic movement that has inspired scores of public charter schools here in the U.S. is led by a Turkish cleric living in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Lesley Stahl reports on Fethullah Gulen and his message of education. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory
• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!
• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
• head of the Republican party, Reince Priebus
• Senator Carl Levin (D-MI)
• co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Andrew Ross Sorkin
• ROUNDTABLE: Lt. Governor of California Gavin Newsom; Chairman of the American Conservative Union Al Cardenas; Washington Post columnists Kathleen Parker and Jonathan Capehart; and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
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.
• number two Democrat in the Senate- Dick Durbin
• Senator John Cornyn
• Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
• Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer
• Independent Senator Joe Lieberman
• Republican Congressman Peter King
HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid

Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of 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!
• LIVE SHOW THURSDAY!!!!! Bob The Activist returns to the microphone, fresh from his trip to Boston and the BofA Shareholders Meeting in Charlotte! Bob's FHA is amazing! Listen HERE (mp3) NOW! Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!
YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT

The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment! BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!
• 'Green News Report' - May 10, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The deepest well ever dug; Cyber-attacks on the US natgas pipeline industry; Romney makes big promises to Big Oil; RFK Jr. fights Big Coal in Portland; Schizo Fox 'News' now says lower gas prices are a bad thing; PLUS: It's official: the last 12 months were the hottest on record in the US .... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
• IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Oil spill in Antarctica; VT poised to be first state to outlaw fracking; CBO: Boosting Oil Production Won’t Protect From Gasoline Price Shocks; Clean-Energy Requirements Targeted by ALEC, Norquist; Innovation: Inertial Seawave Energy Generator; Asian carp electric barrier loses power; Makers of flame retardants manipulate research findings; Anti-Wind Group Colludes on Fake Grassroots 'Subversion' Campaign ... PLUS: Flipping the Switch: First Solar Plant on Public Lands Now Delivering Power... and much, MUCH more! ...
• BRADCAST! KPFK BradCast: Massive GOP Voter Reg Fraud; Fukushima's 'Ticking Time-Bomb' Sacramento Registrar of Voters Jill Lavine joins Brad to discuss thousands of invalid registrations turned in by GOP firm; Brad Jacobson on his startling Fukushima report...
• BRADBLOG UPDATE: Bombshell Video Captures Walker Admitting 'Divide and Conquer' Strategy to Take Down Unions On Thursday night, video-taped evidence was made public supporting his opponents' contentions that the "Budget Repair" bill was about little more than breaking the unions. In the video, the Governor is seen, just before introducing the legislation in January of last year, speaking with local billionaire Diane Hendricks --- who eventually gave more money to Walker than any politician has ever received from one person in the state. .... The conversation is seen in a new film by documentary filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein whose film, As Goes Janesville, is set to be released later this year on HBO.
• Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Now up to 9,200+ Election Protection posts! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!

Listen at PeterBCollins.com!
The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.
• Holiday Break and Website Changes
• PBC Standard Podcast May 7, 2012 Gareth Porter Breaks Down the Myths of the Killing of bin Laden; author James Olson on Left-Brain/Right-Brain Differences Gareth Porter returns, as he is making news again with this investigative story from Truthout. Author James Olson explains the differences between left-brain people and right-brain types.
• PBC Standard Podcast May 10, 2012 Boiling Frogs: Jon Gold, Author and Activist, Fights for the Truth About 9/11 In this Boiling Frogs interview co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds, we talk with author and activist Jon Gold about his personal odyssey on the road to the real story of September 11.
• PBC Standard Podcast May 11, 2012 Common Cause Reports ALEC to IRS as Corporate Sponsors Flee; Investigator Larry Hancock on New Book on King Assassination Mary Boyle, VP of Common Cause, exposes the conservative legislative lobby group called ALEC, and challenges their tax exempt status; Larry Hancock reveals new angles and players to the plotting that led to Dr. King’s murder in 1968
Ring of Fire Radio

Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder
Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.
This Week on Ring of Fire! May 11, 2012
• Author Les Leopold will join us to talk about how corporate America – NOT President Obama – is driving up the price of gasoline.
• Brian Katulis from the Center for American Progress joins us for a discussion on Al Qaeda’s numbers since the death of Bin Laden.
• Author and Nation Magazine contributor Ari Berman will tell us why Mitt Romney is looking to stuff his war cabinet with former Bush officials.
• Alternet Senior Editor Josh Holland will be here to tell us about the alternate reality inhabited by Republican faithfuls.
• We’ll hear from Eco Watch dot org contributor Pilar Gerasimo about how fracking companies have made their way into Wisconsin to continue their environmentally destructive practice of hydro-fracking.
• And Michael Washburn from Nestle Waters North America will be here to discuss his company’s push for a national corporate recycling program.
• VIDEO! Papantonio: Corporate Pigs and Politicians Listen carefully to the latest Mitt Romney speech, the latest talking points from Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, and you will hear them telling you that more corporate freedom to do whatever the Hell they want is good for America – good for capitalism – Why would they still be trying to sell those disastrous ideas? Well, it’s because most Americans still don’t understand why they lost their homes, why they lost their jobs, why they are no longer members of America’s so-called middle class – Most Americans whose lives are in shambles have never stopped to figure out just how badly the Republican corporation machine trampled on them. To some degree that’s their own fault. It’s their fault because they never fought back. Many of them still don’t ask questions.
• VIDEO! RFK, Jr: How To Save American Democracy Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. gives a speech to a crowd at Mass Torts Made Perfect about how to save our Democracy from Republicans, the Tea Party, and corporate raiders.
• Support Those Who Support Progressive Media! 2011 has certainly been a great year for Ring of Fire, and we’ve had some great sponsors that have helped support the show throughout the year. We wanted to take the time to personally thank each and every one of them, and we encourage all of our listeners to take the time to support those who have support us.
• Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the "Podcast" tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!
Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• May 7 2012 Todd Gitlin, the Promise and Pitfalls of Occupy
• May 8 2012 Eyal Press, Heeding the Voice of Conscience & Jay! Tomlinson, Best of the Left
• May 9 2012 Poll Results: Wisconsin, N. Carolina & Indiana
• May 10 2012 Jerry Ensminger, Poisoning at Camp Lejeune & We’re Not Broke, Tax Dodging Corps.
• May 11 2012 Cliff Schecter, News Roundup & Lizz Winstead Lizzing Free!
• MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
On the Edge with Max Keiser Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!

"HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"
WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts "The Truth About Markets" on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s "People & Power" series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.
• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!
• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page
• Jamie wants more heroin (or he’ll throw a hissy fit and crash the system again). by maxkeiser - The largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), told the Federal Reserve that a limit on their credit exposure is unnecessary and “fundamentally flawed.” READ Largest U.S. Banks Resist Federal Reserve’s Credit Limits bloomberg.com
• The shooting of Roberto Adinolfi has similarities with 1970s attacks by Italian Red Brigades and this is what Jamie and Lloyd are really afraid of by maxkeiser READ Kneecapping of Italian nuclear power firm boss prompts terrorism fears guardian.co.uk
• The Death Cross: JPM’s stock price poised to cross below price of silver. by maxkeiser As we’ve been saying for two years. JPM uses it’s own stock to collateralize naked silver short positions (echoes of Lehman and Enron). My analysis has concluded that liability from a rising silver price vs. loss of collateral value of the stock renders JPM’s balance sheet null and void when JPM’s stock price drops below the price of Silver. We’ve only seen this a couple of times since I made this call two years ago, BUT NEVER ON A SUSTAINED BASIS of more than a day or so. When the price of Silver popped over JPM’s stock price, the London desk quickly fabricated a few billion fresh naked silver shorts to tamp silver’s price down. Given this week’s revelations regarding JPM’s reckless balance sheet incineration the ‘crash jp morgan, buy silver’ trade has never been more important as a way to take down this financial terrorist. The SLA has been winning battles all along. Now we are poised to win the war as well. Bye-bye Jamie. NOTE TO HEDGE FUNDS: Sell JPM’s stock naked to Hell. This is the easiest money you’ll make this year. The JPM losses are the whiff of a significant deflationary force in play. JPM losses as a wise PM told me – $2 billion why not $20 billion. Is this bad risk management? This loss happened in the risk mitigation unit and not a risk taking one. There have been dislocations in the credit market these last few months and now we know why. Is it that the derivatives risk is becoming more and more centered with a few banks, and collateral is just not forthcoming because the collateral has been promised many times over? As we move towards central clearing of these contracts will we see legal reconstitution of said contracts to obfuscate the reality that they are worthless. They are being exposed for the sticks of dynamite, under the foundations of the financial system, that they are. READ Ben Davies – 3rd LTRO Coming & Fed to Power Up Swap Lines
• VIDEO! Cant Pay Wont Pay! Solidarity with the People of Greece – Fourman Films by maxkeiser
• KEISER REPORT [KR285] Keiser Report: Fracking Hell We discuss the Linda Evangelista of the natural gas market and the fast and furious bubbles popping like Lawrence Welk on frack. In the second half of the show Max talks to award-winning journalist and author, Leah McGrath Goodman, about why the price of gasoline is so high and what next for the oil market.
• KEISER REPORT [KR286] Keiser Report: I Steal, Therefore I Am We discuss MF Global’s fraud playbook, Jamie Dimon’s give and take, take, take and the fact that nine out of ten tapeworms bear an uncanny resemblance to the JP Morgan CEO. In the second half of the show Max talks to Chris Whalen, senior managing partner of Tangent Capital, about fascism, too big to fail and Jamie Dimon’s problem.
• KEISER REPORT [KR287] Keiser Report: Central Bank MonarchsWe discuss the alleged meritocracy of old Etonians running the world (into the ground) while the rest of us remain wards of the state – from the President of France to PhDs on foodstamps. In the second half of the show Max talks to John Titus, producer of the new documentary, Bailout.
• ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Charles Hugh Smith! We interview Charles Hugh Smith.
• THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-359] Truth About Debtflation Download show HERE (mp3)
• Donate to ResonanceFM here!
ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
Listen at antiwar.com/radio
• Philip Giraldi May 8, 2012: Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses his article “Iran’s Tactical Strength;” the conclusion of US war simulations studying Iran’s likely retaliation to an Israeli air strike; why the media and government officials from the US and Israel are suddenly less hawkish on Iran; the decade-long scare campaign that Hezbollah sleeper cells are all over the Western Hemisphere; the unlikely story of the CIA capturing explosives-ready underwear in Yemen, which supposedly prevented a terrorist attack; the US government’s contradictory claims that Al Qaeda is decimated, yet also a rapidly expanding threat justifying more foreign interventions; and why the events of 9/11 deserve a complete reexamination.
• Marcy Wheeler May 11, 2012: Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses the CIA double-agent at the center of the latest underwear bomb plot; Saudi Arabia’s role in infiltrating AQAP and providing the US with intelligence inside Yemen; why alleged bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri hasn’t been captured or killed yet, despite having his high-profile plots foiled three times already; Congressman Peter King’s investigation of media coverage on the CIA’s double-agent – since honest journalism “may jeopardize the war on terror;” the Yemeni government’s incentive to inflate the threat of Al-Qaeda terrorism; why the Saudi government might be pretending to fight AQAP while surreptitiously pursuing a private agenda that has nothing to do with US security; and how out-of-control US government secrecy makes investigative journalism very difficult.
• Lee Tien May 11, 2012: Lee Tien, Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, discusses the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) working its way through Congress; why the government means “surveillance” when they say “information sharing;” how popular outrage derailed SOPA/PIPA and made Congress more careful about introducing bills that make Google angry; fighting against automated license plate readers used by police to scan any car, without probable cause or warrant; the comprehensive legal protections for private companies that monitor and block internet traffic; and why Congress’s implementation of cyber security is the most invasive, inefficient, and expensive method imaginable.
• Stephen Zunes May 8, 2012: Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, discusses his article “University of California Takes Aim at Human Rights Activists;” UC President Mark Yudof’s likening of pro-Palestinian student activists to swastika-carving vandals; killing the free exchange of ideas in public universities; how excessive and unwarranted accusations of anti-Semitism lends credibility to real bigots; why racists should be defeated by rational argument, not silenced by law; and the established framework for a viable Israel-Palestine 2-state solution using the 1967 borders.
• Stephen Zunes May 11, 2012: Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, discusses how the Libyan War spilled over to Mali and destabilized West Africa’s most enduring democracy; the Al-Qaeda associated Islamic militants that swarmed into Mali and desecrated a UNESCO World Heritage holy site; the US-trained African military officers who will probably be among the next generation of dictators; the double-standard of international law, where US allies are exempt from UNSC resolutions and enemies must comply or get regime-changed; how legitimate political uprisings are corrupted by foreign aid; and why picking sides in Syria is difficult for proponents of both individual liberty and anti-intervention.
• Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
fauxnews
• Senate Republican Conference Chair John Thune
• Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein.

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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Brick TeeVee and Jobs, May Day, and Torture!

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Jobs, May Day, and Torture Last Sunday Paul Krugman had to fend off multiple GOPher CANARDS coming at him from all sides. FDL's Scarecrow put together this summary ABC’s This Week Continues the Dumbing of America with VIDEO! Some time ago, after ABC began occasionally including Paul Krugman on This Week panels, which began to expose the silliness and misrepresentations of people like George Will, someone must have realized that it was highly risky to give Paul Krugman or his type too much time, because that would expose how silly and dishonest most of the This Week panelists usually are. The solution, which we saw in its extreme version today, is to swarm any fact-based panelist with enough liars and Serious People Who Have Been Wrong About Everything so that the lonely fact-based panelist can’t possibly refute all the absolute gibberish the rest of the panel spouts. ..... Now combine this with the usually clueless George Stephanopoulus and you’ve created an impossible task for anyone hoping to have a reality-based discussion break through the fog of misinformation and failed theories. Since providing a fact-based reality check is Krugman’s role, and he only gets to talk at best 1/7th, or 14% of the time — and Walker and Fiorina made sure to interrupt and talk over him repeatedly — the odds you would be dumber by the end of the show were very high. And that’s exactly how it went. So how much more misinformed would you be after watching this show? Consider what we learned: .... All in all, possibly the worst This Week panel in months, but under Stephanopoulus we’re coming to expect that. George, however, thought this was a wonderful discussion. Scarecrow adds this Update: Krugman’s reaction: We’re Doomed! So you see what I mean. We have a terrible failure of demand — and Carly Fiorina thinks the key problem is excessive taxes on corporations (our effective rate is actually fairly low). Hey, if only we had low rates like Ireland, we could have 14.7 percent unemployment … oh well, never mind. Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt thinks the problem is a shortage of workers in some high-skill fields. As Dean Baker points out, businesses were saying the same thing in 1935; so were the era’s Very Serious People. Everything makes David Walker think of the need for entitlement reform. Everything makes George Will think of Ronald Reagan. Sigh. That was my reaction after the debate on This Week, which was actually taped Friday. We had what was supposed to be a spectrum of informed opinion, and which actually was a good spectrum of what passes for informed opinion. And what we got … well, watch it. More comments after it has aired. Krugman is keeping up the pressure! Saturday on Reuters TV Krugman compares Republican economic plan to blood-letting (Eric W. Dolan - Raw Story) Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said Saturday that Republican-backed austerity measures — such as cutting government spending and reducing public services — were self-defeating. “We are very much like medieval doctors who thought the treatment for illness was to bleed you, then when the patients got sicker they bled them even more,” he said on Reuters TV. “We are doing incredibly destructive stuff that is not working.” .... Krugman said the real economic problem was mass unemployment. “I would say shelve the deficit discussion,” he said. While Congress has been debating how to cut the federal deficit, “more than 3.9 million Americans have been out of work for more than a year,” Krugman added. “Think about what that means. That should be overwhelmingly our priority. We should be focusing on the clear and present danger, and not wasting a lot of time on what might happen well down the pipe.” Watch the VIDEO at Raw Story! For more GOPher CANARDS we go to PAUL BUCHHEIT FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT Five Tax Fallacies Invented by the One Percent. They Are Entirely False which you should bookmark for that special right-wing acquaintence who spews these kinds of talking points with a straight face! Haha! Here's an item from a few weeks back we forgot to include "Politics Is at the Root of the Problem" at The European: Austerity policies are driving us towards a double-dip recession, warns US economist Joseph Stiglitz. He sat down with Martin Eiermann to discuss new economic thinking and the influence of money in politics. Here's one snip:

The European:

Stiglitz:

Very good! Go read all of this! Meanwhile WashingtonsBlog notices This Is the First Time In History that All Central Banks Have Printed Money at the Same Time … And They’re Failing Miserably with some excellent graphs showing the ever-increasing paper money supply, led by Helicopter Ben but now being ably followed by the ECB, Japan, India, England and even China! .... In fact, the whole stimulus-versus-austerity debate is a false one (as we noted last year). Let’s examine an analogy to get beyond the rhetoric and see what’s really going on … The blood pressure of the patient in the emergency room drops precipitously. The ER docs have already given 15 pints of blood over the course of many hours. But the patient is still on the verge of dying. Medical rules and regulations say that more than 15 pints of blood should never be given, as too much transfusion can cause other fatal problems. The “liberal” doctors want to give the patient more blood. After all, this is a life-or-death emergency … and if they can just buy more time, they might be able to figure out a way to save the patient. The “conservative” doctors want to stop with the transfusions. After all, giving too much blood could kill the patient … and maybe he’ll be able to pull out of it on his own. Who is right?
Well, the “liberal” and “conservative” doctors are so busy arguing their point of view that they haven’t noticed that one of the patient’s legs has been half chewed off. He’s bleeding out through the huge open wound. Unless the doctors suture up the wound, the patient will bleed out no matter how much blood they give him. The government isn’t even stimulating in an effective way …. it isn’t spending money on the types of stimulus that will have the most bang for the buck. And giving money to the little guy helps stimulate the economy much more than giving it to the big financial players. But while D.C. has thrown a couple billion dollars at jobs and the states – it is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the many tens of trillions of dollars in handouts to the giant banks. Whether or not Keynesian stimulus could help in our climate of all-pervading debt, Washington has already shot America’s wad in propping up the big banks and other oligarchs. More important still, Keynes implemented his New Deal stimulus at the same time that Glass-Steagall and many other measures were implemented to plug the holes in a corrupt financial system. The gaming of the financial system was decreased somewhat, the amount of funny business which the powers-that-be could engage in was reined in to some extent. As such, the economy had a chance to recover (even with the massive stimulus of World War II, unless some basic level of trust had been restored in the economy, the economy would not have recovered). Today, however, politicians haven’t fixed any of the major structural defects in the economy ( and see this). So even if Keynesianism were the answer, it cannot work without the implementation of structural reforms to the financial system. A little extra water in the plumbing can’t fix pipes that have been corroded and are thoroughly rotten. The government hasn’t even tried to replace the leaking sections of pipe in our economy. Bailouts, money-printing and lose monetary policy can’t patch a financial system with giant holes in it. What are the giant holes? Read on for the PARASITE analogy! At ZeroHedge we find People Not In Labor Force Soar By 522,000, Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981 it is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to 88,419,000. This is the highest on record. The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%. See the graphs there for full impact. But wait! And You Thought American Unemployment Was Bad... Europe is a different matter. Because while even at 100,000 jobs added every month, as the chart that some have dubbed the "scariest chart in the world" shows, the US is adding jobs - why: look at this chart and all shall be made clear. Yes, adding debt at a breakneck speed is helping, but all this is doing is delaying the inevitable pain at the end, but in a world where everyone is only focused on the here and now, that is all that matters. Which, however is more than can be said for Europe. Sadly, while the US is slowly converting jobs gained (at a 2% GDP growth rate, in exchange for a public debt rising at double+ that pace), Europe is about to see the cumulative job loss number since the GFC slide to the the lowest since the crisis hit, and then go bidless. At that point it will merely be a question of how long until Europe is swept up in one massive revolution as the people say "no more" to prudent fiscal strategy and demand more, more, more of the debt heroin that is making their neighbors across the Atlantic appear so healthy on the surface, if projected to be 75% obese by 2020. Prairie2 notes in Blue good, Red bad ....In short the economy is growing at a respectable rate despite the Republican efforts to impose austerity in the states they control. The growth is almost exclusively in the Blue states. If we didn’t have the conservatives dragging the economy down, we would be growing a sustained rate not seen since before Reagan. If you think I’m painting a rosy picture, I’m not. In fact we are in deep trouble. America has great potential, we’ve had fantastic productivity gains in the last 30 years, but almost all of the wealth produced by the gains has gone to the fraction of one percent at the top. These super rich aren’t shy about using this massive wealth to get their way. The debate over whether the crack down on Occupy protestors comes from Washington or is just local is moot. The billionaires control government at all levels to some degree, and can exert crippling pressure on anyone who opposes them. With decades of propaganda behind them, many officials even think they are doing the right thing, they don‘t remember “before Reagan“. ... There is some movement politically in Europe to crack down on the bankers, since they have the example of countries nearby to learn from. Americans have had it drilled into them for decades to not pay attention to Europe and will need to learn on their own before it’s too late.
MAY DAY EVENTS May Day 2012 was by most measures a fantastic success featuring music, poetry and activists' speeches, that is until the Riot Squads began their pepper spraying and arrests. The Daily Mail has a good lot of photos and stories from around the country at Re-Occupied! Thousands of activists clash with police as May Day protesters swarm dozens of U.S. cities There are so many stories, just too many to list here! The Guardian has a pretty fair round-up at Occupy May Day protests across US as activists and unions link up. Also see the official OWS #MayDay: The Whole World is Waking! Live Coverage of #M1GS at occupywallst.org. Not all May Day protests went off without a hitch, though. In our dear city Occupy Cleveland had to cancel its May Day operations. WCPN reports Five Arrested In Plot To Blow Up Northeast Ohio Bridge Debbie Kline, who is Director of Cleveland jobs for Justice and has herself been part of Occupy Cleveland, confirms that Brandon Baxter has spoken at Occupy Cleveland rallies, and takes pains to dissociate the movement from the alleged plot. “What they just did was not something that Occupy Cleveland sanctioned. It is not on behalf of Occupy Cleveland. That is not what Occupy Cleveland is about. They are a non-violent movement.” Kline says a planned demonstration at GE’s lighting plant by Occupy Cleveland and other activist and labor groups was cancelled. The demonstration was in conjunction with May Day rallies and events in other U.S. cities. From the from the anarchists-running-amok dept. TechDirt.com notices FBI Stops Yet Another (Yes Another) Of Its Own Terrorist Plots; This Time: Anarchists! right here in CLE OH no doubt! And on the biggest May Day in recent U.S. History! Coincidence? Following our post about the NY Times highlighting how the FBI seems to spend an awful lot of time foiling its own terrorist plots, some of our commenters pointed us to the news that the FBI has done it again (just in time to coincide with our story), arresting five individuals in a plot that appears to have been coordinated by the FBI itself. Even though some of the "anarchists" arrested expressed concerns about how resorting to violence would help, the FBI helped supply fake explosives and that appears to have convinced the group to move forward with its "plot." Prior to that, they seem to have had little actual ability to do much of anything, other than thumbing through The Anarchists' Cookbook and talking about what they'd like to do. No entrapment there, eh? From RT.com Operation: Entrapment - Cleveland bomb "plot" masterminded by FBI agents .... Taking a closer look at the federal complaint against the five men reveals that although the suspects are believed to have expressed anti-government sentiments and disdain for major financial corporations, the impetus in the would-be bombing was the urging of undercover agents that had infiltrated a group of friends and encouraged them to consider acts of terrorism. ..... Although it seems straight out of a spy novel, it is commonplace within domestic intelligence agencies. An exposé put together last year by Mother Jones and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California-Berkley reveals that the FBI currently has as many as 15,000 undercover agents working within their ranks, with some making as much as $100,000 per assignment from Uncle Sam. What’s more is that the FBI regularly dabbles in entrapment in order to encourage and create crime. The same study shows that of around 500 prosecutions in recent years relating to terrorism charges, the FBI used informants for about half of them. Of 158 of prosecutions that ended in convictions, around one-third acted on plots perpetrated by federal agent provocateurs. Click over for the details of how they were entrapped. And see this MoJo report RT mentions The Informants: "The problem with the cases we're talking about is that defendants would not have done anything if not kicked in the ass by government agents," says Martin Stolar, a lawyer who represented a man caught in a 2004 sting involving New York's Herald Square subway station. "They're creating crimes to solve crimes so they can claim a victory in the war on terror." Next Michael Scott of the CLE PEE DEE reports Cleveland mayor won't renew Occupy Cleveland permit for Public Square site, second site still open Occupy Cleveland is being ousted from Public Square -- or at least part of it. The action by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's office to not renew the permit for the group to use the West Roadway portion of the square comes after Occupy protesters had been camped there for about seven months. ..... Occupy members this week had distanced themselves from the five suspects in the failed bombing plot, saying they were involved, but did not represent the non-violent philosophy of the group. The FBI has also said that is is not investigating the group. (Oh no? Maybe 'infiltrate' might be a more apt word? See the MoJo story above! -Ed.) The movement has worked to peacefully defend the city from the corporate forces that have worked to cripple it and has seen great support from the general public," the Occupy news release said. "Occupy Cleveland has worked very hard to maintain a cordial relationship with the administration and the Cleveland Police Department and we hope that continues, despite the city's decision. The group said it plans a continued presence in the "Mayor Tom Johnson/Free Speech Quadrant" of Public Square, banking on an Oct. 26, 2011, agreement with the city to stay in that portion Occupy Cleveland has access to the Mayor Tom Johnson/Free Speech quadrant 24/7 and plans to utilize it for movement activities. The enite country is our Free Speech Zone and our permit is the First Amendment! Go Occupy Cleveland!
Occupy Wall St. has posted this CALL TO ACTION Converge for Justice: Occupy Wall Street South - Bank of America Call to Action!

On May 6-9 people from across the country and world will be converging in Charlotte, NC, home of Bank of America’s Headquarters and their annual Shareholder meeting, to demand an end to their practices that are bankrupting our economy and wrecking our climate. Homeowners, students, immigrants, environmentalists, workers, women’s groups, peace activists and more will be in Charlotte, bringing their stories, hearts and communities to the fight against Bank of America and the economic inequality, racial injustice and environmental destruction they have wrought. .... Bank of America, and its profits-over-people-and-planet business model, is drowning our democracy through huge financial contributions to lobbyists that are serving the interests of the 1% and are participating in corporate-funded groups like American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Financial Services Roundtable. As a global community united for real economic and racial justice, it is time that BoA is held accountable, invest in public needs and services, or face being broken up to achieve the justice we need. Whether you are a community member, homeowner, worker or student, we need to come together to challenge corporate power and create an economy and democracy that works for all of us. Join the 99% for a Week of Actions as We Break Up Bank of America’s Business As Usual! Week of Action! Go there to see the entire week's schedule! Go to occupyarrests.com for a running total of the number of Occupy protesters arrested around the U.S. since Occupy Wall Street began on Sep. 17, 2011. There have been at least 7,121 as of May 1, 2012.
Perhaps planned to overshadow the May Day actions to be the Shiny Object of the Day for our corporopress Obama swoops into Afghanistan on bin Laden death anniversary .... "Not only were we able to drive al Qaeda out of Afghanistan, but slowly and systematically we have been able to decimate the ranks of al Qaeda, and a year ago we were able to finally to bring Osama bin Laden to justice," Obama said to cheers. But he also warned U.S. troops of further hardship ahead in Afghanistan. "The battle is not over yet," he said at Bagram airbase outside of Kabul, where only months ago thousands of Afghans rioted after U.S. troops accidentally burned copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book. The incident plunged relations to their lowest point in years. Obama met Karzai at his walled garden palace in Kabul, where they signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA). "By signing this document, we close the last 10 years and open a new season of equal relations," Karzai said in a statement after the meeting. Within Afghanistan, the palace signing ceremony was aimed at sending a message to the Taliban and other groups that they cannot wait out 130,000 foreign troops and retake power. It could help push the insurgency's leaders to re-enter reconciliation talks with both the U.S. and Afghan governments. ... Not lost on the BTV Crew's Irony Meter was that only a short distance away from pResident Obomber's speech to the troops sits the infamous Bagram Prison. Face It: With Bagram, the United States Does Torture says Charles P. Pierce two years ago in Esquire! .... If the BBC's reporting this week is correct, then the U.S. military — and, by extension, the U.S. government — has been caught lying once again as to what is being done to other human beings in the name of the people of the United States. And it's becoming very plain that we have no real objection not only to the lying, but to the various exercises in inhumanity that the lying is meant to protect. The president of the United States has demonstrated very little real interest in revealing what his predecessors were about, and even less interest in punishing them for their crimes, and he has suffered no perceivable political damage as a result. We are told now, by him, and by his underlings, that the United States no longer tortures, but there is no real reason any more to trust the United States government on this score, no matter who may be temporarily in charge of it. We are a constitutional, self-governing republic that has decided to torture. Period. It would be good if we could look ourselves in the face and admit it to ourselves. At the very least, we could give ourselves a break from our own tattered sanctimony. SPEAKING OF TORTURE Did you catch 60 Minutes TORTURE MAN RODRIGUEZ last week? Jesselyn Radack with the Government Accountibility Project is demanding Prosecute Jose Rodriguez Prosecute Jose Rodriguez for violating the anti-torture statute (18 U.S.C. § 2340A). He did it. Enjoyed doing it. And would do it again. Rodriguez admitted on 60 Minutes that he organized, ordered, and destroyed evidence of "enhanced interrogation techniques." .... (It should not be lost on anyone that Simon & Schuster gave Rodriguez a book contract, 60 Minutes gave Rodriguez a main-stream-media platform, and CBS owns both Simon & Schuster and 60 Minutes.) Despite Rodriguez admitting his crimes on national television, the only person the Obama administration has criminally prosecuted in connection with the Bush-era torture program is John Kiriakou, who refused to participate in torture and blew the whistle on waterboarding. How can we be a nation of laws when a former government official can proudly boast about his criminal behavior on national television without consequence? .... Waterboarding is torture, and torture is illegal, and it violates more than just the statute specifically prohibiting torture. .... Rodriguez admitted his crimes on national television. Surely that is enough for the Justice Department to begin a prosecution, especially considering that that the Justice Department has spent millions of dollars hunting down news sources who exposed government illegalities, investigating how Guantanamo detainees found out the names of their torturers, and prosecuting whistleblowers. Contact Attorney General Holder and ask him to prosecute Rodriguez: 202-353-1555. ..... Adam Jacobson at Human Rights First outlines Jose Rodriguez’s Tortured Logic .... Rodriguez’s claims that torture worked hinge on a flimsy premise: that KSM, Abu Zubaydah, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, and the other so-called high-value detainees who were waterboarded and subjected to other forms of enhanced interrogation needed to be made “complicit” before their interrogations could proceed. ..... The unspoken implication here is that lawful interrogation methods work. But they will only work on the super bad guys if they are roughed up first. And once they’re roughed up enough, they’re just an open book. Except that’s not quite true, either. Rodriguez mentions numerous times that even after rendering the high-value detainees “complicit” through EITs, the CIA still didn’t get all the answers they wanted. “But wait,” you, a thinking person, might say, “I thought that was the point of waterboarding them. If they aren’t giving you answers, you use EITs, and then they give you all the answers because you made them complicit. If they aren’t giving up everything, why don’t you just enhanced interrogate them some more, until they become super-duper complicit?” And there’s the rub. According to its advocates, enhanced interrogation works when traditional interrogation won’t, but only so much. In real life, professional interrogators use non-coercive interrogation methods with high-value detainees and get the reliable, actionable information they’re after, without torturing or abusing anyone. And in real life, EITs and torture get you false information. The false link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, a major motivation for the war in Iraq, came largely from interrogations that involved torture. .... Read this statement by professional interrogators disputing Rodriguez’s claims here, and join Human Rights First in calling on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to release its report on CIA interrogation and detention practices here. Note this editorial at the NYT's International Herald Tribune Warrior in Chief by PETER L. BERGEN THE president who won the Nobel Peace Prize less than nine months after his inauguration has turned out to be one of the most militarily aggressive American leaders in decades.... Read all of this! Bergen GETS IT. Also at The Guardian Naomi Wolf penned Organising against the enemies of internet freedom The open web has powerful enemies, as the near-death experience of the recent battle over Sopa and Pipa demonstrated, a crisis that added fire to this discussion. Who are the incumbents threatened by an open internet? The existing global power holders, who are waging such war now against it. I would argue that the Hollywood copyright holders who seemingly led the fight for Sopa/Pipa are just being used as stalking horses by the real enemies of an open internet: the global control corporations, the war interests, banking interests, Big Pharma and big insurance.
The real enemy identified by proponents of Sopa/Pipa-type laws is not piracy, or whatever fake message they come up with next, but dissent – which all of these control corporations know will force them to open up their books and be accountable. This is the same threat that led to the violent legislative and physical crackdown against Occupy. .... And we are in a race against time. As with dissent activism, by the time an "open-sourced", open-structured pro-internet movement has coalesced, its conversations will already have been surveilled, laws against it passed and its leaders – its participants – will already be targeted. For defensive purposes, this movement should hire its own K street lawyers and organize its own lobby for a free internet, alongside building its "purer" grassroots component. Check out last Tuesday's live webchat with Naomi Wolf discussing how today's netizens can safeguard the open internet Q&A with Naomi Wolf: the open internet and its enemies. MUST READ! Visit the Electronic Freedom Fountation's Surveillance Self-Defense Project Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) exists to answer two main questions: What can the government legally do to spy on your computer data and communications? And what can you legally do to protect yourself against such spying? Read through all of this and pass it on to your lists. In the wake of the UK's The Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee Rupert Murdoch 'not fit' to lead major international company, MPs conclude The Guardian UK's David Puttnam proclaims News Corporation has sought to undermine elected governments The story that unfolded last week at the Royal Courts of Justice has roots that stretch back more than three decades. Behind the highly rehearsed faux candour of Murdoch senior, and the bland evasions of his son, lies a story in which democracy – not just in the UK, but in the US, Australia and elsewhere – has been consistently and wilfully undermined in pursuit not simply of profit but, far more corrosively, of power. For the past 30 years, the Murdoch empire has sought to undermine and destabilise elected governments, and independent regulators, in pursuit of a political agenda that, while hiding behind a smokescreen of free market orthodoxy, is in the end nothing less than a sophisticated attempt to optimise the power and influence of News Corporation and its populist, rightwing agenda. That's to say low (or better still, no) corporate taxes, minimal state regulation and the creation of an aura of "exceptionalism" sufficient to convince and recruit many of the most senior politicians in the western world to either turn a blind eye or actively help the company to achieve its commercial objectives. Back here in the States CREW Calls for FCC to Revoke Murdoch’s Broadcast Licenses Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski asking the FCC to revoke the 27 Fox broadcast licenses News Corp. holds in the United States. Under U.S. law, broadcast frequencies may be used only by people of good “character,” who will serve “the public interest,” and speak with “candor.” Significant character deficiencies may warrant disqualification from holding a license. An investigation by Great Britain’s House of Commons Committee recently condemned Rupert Murdoch as “not a fit person to exercise stewardship of a major international company.” Further, the Committee concluded that both Rupert and James Murdoch turned a blind eye to the illicit activities at News Corp. The Committee described parts of Rupert Murdoch’s testimony as “barely credible,” and said the notion that he had no inkling about the widespread illegal conduct was “simply not credible.” CREW also sent letters to the House and Senate Commerce Committees asking for hearings into whether Rupert and James Murdoch meet the FCC’s character standards. CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated, “The House of Commons report makes clear that both Rupert and James Murdoch were complicit in New Corp.’s illegal activities. If the Murdochs don’t meet the British standards of character test, it is hard to see how they can meet the American standard.” .... “News Corp. has a pattern of outrageous and illegal conduct, including bribery, wire fraud, computer, and phone hacking,” continued Sloan. “If the FCC won’t act to revoke Fox’s broadcast licenses, Congress should immediately hold hearings. Retaining U.S. broadcast licenses is a privilege, not a right.” Thanks Melanie and CREW but we're not holding our breath Congress will take any such action. Another tactic the GOPhers love to employ is to tangle up any meaningful advance of 'small d' democracy in the courts, most notably the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida and more recently the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Kirsten Boyd Johnson at Wonkette reports Democracy Canceled in Michigan Because of Incorrect Font Size on Form Over two hundred thousand people in Michigan are unhappy about a state law that allows Republican governor Rick Snyder to declare martial financial law in struggling municipalities and bypass local governments by installing wee tyrant “emergency financial managers” who are allowed to void the official status of public unions, sell off public assets, declare dead cat carcass legal tender, etc. Whatever they want, as long as all the budget savings are immediately passed on in the form of corporate tax cuts. So the unhappy citizens all signed petitions to force the state to hold a public referendum on the law and then promptly submitted the signatures. What do you think of that, Republican members of the state body responsible for certifying the petitions? Let’s check the report: “Republicans cited the wrong font size on the title of the petitions circulated by Stand Up For Democracy, a coalition of groups that launched the petition campaign, as the reason for not approving the initiative for the ballot. Opponents gathered 203,238 signatures, roughly 40,000 more than needed to get a repeal question on the ballot.” This should go over well!

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines Thursday on whether Michiganians will get to vote in November on a repeal of the controversial emergency manager law — sparking angry shouts of “shame” and “fascists” from the audience. The vote means for now the question won’t appear on the general election ballot, but supporters said they’d challenge the decision before the Court of Appeals to try to force the question onto the ballot.The printer says the petitions met the state requirement that the font size on the petition headlines be 14-point, so the Republicans are using their own standard from outer space, as usual. This reminds us of back in 2004 when then-secretary-of-state Kenny-Boy Blackwell wanted to reject voter registrations because they were on paper that was not thick enough! We take the BTV Wayback Machine to 2004 Blackwell ends paper chase VotersUnite Under fire from voting-rights advocates, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell retreated yesterday from a directive that critics said would slow voter-registration efforts and even block some people from casting a ballot Nov. 2. At issue is a reminder Blackwell issued this month to county boards of election that voter-registration forms must be printed on "white, uncoated paper of not less than 80-pound text weight," a heavy, cardlike stock. .... "We’re not the paper police. We’re not going to go to county election boards and review voter registration forms," said Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo. "We want them to process the forms." But LoParo disputed suggestions that Blackwell was reversing his Sept. 7 directive, which states that "any Ohio form not printed on this minimum paperweight is considered to be an application for a registration form. Your board should mail this appropriate form to the person listed on the application." Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Denny White said, "This is an antiquated rule and an unnecessary barrier to voter-registration efforts going on in Ohio." The requirement, LoParo said, is meant to prevent lightweight registration forms from being shredded by postal equipment. Ohio election law requires that the forms be a permanent record, and the weight requirement was set about a decade ago when Gov. Bob Taft was secretary of state. LoParo said Blackwell wants election officials to process the lightweight registration forms and send the applicants a form on heavier-stock paper to return for a permanent record. Yeah and we all know how the 2004 Election turned out in Ohio. More GOPher Money Monkeybusiness David Edwards at Raw Story reports Major GOP donor arrested in $100 million veteran charity scam The U.S. Marshal Service announced Tuesday that it had captured one of America’s Most Wanted fugitives who is accused of creating a fake charity for Navy veterans that funneled some of the $100 million collected to Republican candidates. Between the early 2000s and 2010, a man using the alias “Bobby Thompson” collected millions from unsuspecting donors for the charity U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA), which claimed to provide support for members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Officials believe that very little, if any, of the money was ever used as intended, according to the U.S. Marshal Service . To help legitimize his charity, Thompson allegedly donated part of the ill-gotten funds to Republican candidates like former President George W. Bush, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner. .... Over the years, Thompson also attended the 2008 Republican National Convention and numerous fundraisers. The Roanoke Times obtained photos of Thompson posing with Bush, Boehner and McCain — as well as Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), former Bush adviser Karl Rove and former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Thompson fled in 2010 after learning of a criminal investigation in several states. He was later charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, identity theft, fraud and money laundering. A team of Deputy U.S. Marshals captured the fugitive in Portland, Oregon at approximately 10:30 p.m. Monday night. Authorities were still unaware of Thompson’s real name and he refused to make a statement. .... FUKUSHIMA UPDATE Our LAST WORD goes to Dr. Mark Sircus at theintelhub.com Nuclear Dangers: Mankind’s Most Desperate Hour - click to see the animation!

Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This is a close-up look into the insanity of the main governments of the world over the last 67 years. It’s totally amazing what we have had to live with and get used to in the modern age. Increasing radiation is just one of the menaces building up in the background as we badly pollute our world with heavy metals like mercury and with a host of other chemicals and plastic. It looks increasingly like we are drawing the curtains over the future of all our children and that is profoundly sad. We are being blindsided from multiple sources, kicked and buffeted around on the parts per million, billion and even trillion levels and this is polluting our bodies and gumming up the works. What I call the Hun Hordes of mercury is now being joined with the Hun Hordes of uranium, Hun Hordes of a host of other radioactive particles, and even Hun Hordes of plutonium because just a little bit of that will subdue the human race, putting many into their graves. Our governments and the nuclear power industry have created a strong nuclear wind that has been circling the globe for decades but is now intensifying because of what is happening in Fukushima.

(Click over and READ THIS! -Ed.)

This past year alone we have changed the radioactive profile of the entire northern hemisphere. Imagine a nuclear war starting tomorrow and for the next 2053 days (approximately five years) a nuclear bomb going off somewhere in the world. Would you be frightened? All I hear these days from informal sources is that cancer rates are going through the roof. If so, would they tell us? Perhaps in a few years when it’s too late they might. One does not have to be a prophet to see what is coming at this point. The earthquakes are real and are intensifying and so are the volcanoes. This weekend is a super moon (see below) and the gravitational forces will be a shade different because of the closer proximity of the moon. The earth has been threatening. Yesterday Mexico got hit with two big earthquakes. I think there is a good chance something is going to tear along the ring of fire in the Pacific this weekend—could come anywhere but the last place we want this to happen is off the northern coast of Japan. The creation, accumulation, “stock-piling” and dispersal of incomprehensibly astronomical quantities of synthetic radio-nuclides represents a planetary biological weapons system aimed right down the throat of humanity and its children. We have failed ourselves and we have certainly failed humanity’s children. We are robbing them of their future and this is one of the ugliest truths about us. You can clearly see the banks and top government officials around the world doing that financially, but when it comes to radiation contamination, it’s forever. We really should all probably being praying that building No. 4 does not come down. If there was ever a moment that humanity should be praying together, it is now. If that dirty, radioactive spent-fuel pool goes down, the consequences are really too horrible to imagine. It’s mankind’s most desperate hour but you would never know that by looking at the news. Christians should know what Christ meant when he said to himself, “Devil get thee behind me.” A saint knows when their mind fabricates insane thoughts and ideas, and that is what makes them a saint. The rest of us fail pretty miserably (that’s why we are not saints). Few people know of or admit to their own ignorance and how that contributes to a matrix that is weaving our downfall. Our desperate hour is, in part, created by our failure to see or properly define what human insanity is. Everyone I know would agree that it would be insanity to inject lead into a kid’s veins via the childhood vaccination program, but doctors get away with injecting children with mercury, which is much more toxic. Dumping toxic fluoride into public water supplies is insane, but they do it and get away with it. While we are talking about Christ, he also said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Well we can see our civilization is going to end on this point so beware and take care. It is the rich men who are running the world into the ground and we are letting them. Most of us are actually with them, with the mainstream that is helpless before their supreme handlers that pull the strings from behind the curtains. They are insane and are permanently barred from the kingdom of heaven so they really don’t care the havoc they wreak and the ruin they create, it seems. Immanuel Velikovsky wrote in his book, Earth in Upheaval, “Denial, omission, marginalization, disinformation and outright lies have surrounded every aspect of ‘the peaceful atom.’ In the wake of Fukushima, public relations, the engineering of consent, and reality-inversion have reached unprecedented levels of incredulity. The global mass-media apparatus continues to be instrumental in maintaining the ‘deafening silence’ on all things nuclear. Meanwhile, the radioactive fires rage on, bringing ‘hot particles’, cancer and mutation to every corner of the globe.”

This article originally appeared on Dr. Sircus' Blog blog.imva.info Of course the Beltway Bubalas won't go near most of this. Instead we get more posturing and chest-beating like DAVID AXELGREASE battling JOHN "Crazy Train" MCCAIN on This Snufagopolis. Look for TAVIS SMILEY on their roundtable! Face the Bob somehow thinks Loon Leader MICHELE BACHMANN has something important to add to the national dialog then goes to grown-ups CHUCK SCHUMER and HOWARD "The MEK are Good Guys" DEAN. Throw bricks at TriLateral Commission founder and war hawk ZBIGNIEW BRZEZNSKI! MoJo's DAVID CORN battles some of the Beltway Bubalas on Bob's roundtable while State of the Candy wastes valuable public airtime with GNEWT "Contract ON America" GINGRICH and war profiteer DIANE FEINSTEIN and former OH Guv TED STRICKLAND and Meet the David tries to baffle VEEP JOE BIDEN. What you really need to do is listen to whistleblower SIBEL EDMONDS with PBC and read DAVID SWANSON's guest post about her at TheBradBlog. BOB EDGAR and MICHAEL MANN are on Ring of Fire Radio and Majority Report has excellent interviews with RUSS FIENGOLD, ERIC ALTERMAN and GLENN GREENWALD. Also Max has PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS and GERALD CELENTE while AntiWar Radio interviews MICHAEL RATNER about Bradley Manning and The Other SCOTT HORTON about "Rodriguez’s claim that the [CIA torture] tapes were shredded to protect CIA agents from Al Qaeda retribution". And lots in the BTV ALERTS section including an interview with NOAM CHOMSKY at GritTV! So much news! So little time! Click on anything and learn something! See you next Sunday!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Raymond De Felitta & Yvette Johnson @ Democracy NOW! "Booker’s Place": Documentary Tells Story of Black Mississippi Waiter Who Lost Life by Speaking Out
David Harvey @ Democracy NOW! Ahead of May Day, David Harvey Details Urban Uprisings from Occupy Wall Street to the Paris Commune

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

MAY DAY @ Democracy NOW! "No Work, No Shopping, Occupy Everywhere": May Day Special on OWS, Immigration, Labor Protests

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ann Wright & Tariq Ali @ Democracy NOW! Obama Touts War’s End in Afghanistan, But Critics See Election-Year Guise for Prolonged Occupation
MORE MAY DAY @ Democracy NOW! May Day Protests Span the Globe with Calls for Economic Justice, International Solidarity AND May Day Legacy of Labor, Immigrant Rights Joined by New Generation of Occupy for Historic Protests PLUS As Students Revolt over Cutbacks and Debt, NYC Occupy Stages May Day "Free University" for the 99%

Thursday, May 3, 2012

David Leigh, investigations editor at The Guardian @ Democracy NOW! Rupert Murdoch in "Unprecedented Firestorm" as U.K. Panel Finds Him Unfit to Run Global Media Empire
Robert McChesney & Justin Elliott @ Democracy NOW! U.S. Media Giants Reel as FCC Orders Disclosure of Rates for Billion-Dollar TV Campaign Advertising AND Free Press Co-Founder Robert McChesney: Murdoch Hacking Scandal a "Moment of Truth" for U.S. Media

Friday, May 4, 2012

KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN UPDATE @ Democracy NOW! As Grand Jury Clears White Plains Police in Kenneth Chamberlain’s Death, New Tape Shows Fatal Raid AND Kenneth Chamberlain’s Family Seeks Lawsuit, Federal Probe as Grand Jury Rejects Charging Officers PLUS "They Can’t Just Kill Us": Kenneth Chamberlain’s Neighbors Speak Out as Police Avoid Charges
Author Steve Coll @ Democracy NOW! "Private Empire": Author Steve Coll on the State-Like Powers, Influence of Oil Giant ExxonMobil

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Chatting With Chomsky Noam Chomsky has not just been watching the Occupy movement. A veteran of the civil rights, anti-war, and anti-intervention movements of the 1960s through the 1980s, he’s given lectures at Occupy Boston and talked with occupiers across the US. A new publication from the Occupied Media Pamphlet Series brings together several of those lectures, a speech on “occupying foreign policy” and a brief tribute to his friend and co-agitator Howard Zinn. From his speeches, and in this conversation, it’s clear that the emeritus MIT professor and author is as impressed by the spontaneous, cooperative communities some Occupy encampments created, as he is by the movement’s political impact. We are a nation whose leaders are pursuing policies that amount to “suicide” Chomsky says. But there are glimmers of possibility – in worker co-operatives, and other spaces where people get a taste of a different way of living. We talked in his office, for Free Speech TV on April 24.
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» MLB Sunday TBS Yankees @ Royals 2:10 pm et
»»» MLB Sunday Night ESPN Phillies @ Nationals 8 pm et
»»» NBA PLAYOFFS First Round coverage on Sunday ABC double-header Bulls @ Sixers 1 pm et then Heat @ Knicks 3:30 pm et. Check your local listings for more games all week on TNT and NBA TV!
»»» NASCAR on FOX It's the Aaron's 499 from the 2.66 mile tri-oval fast Talladega Superspeedway! Jeff Gordon will lead the pack Sunday with a qualifying speed of 191.624. Buckle up!
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:

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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,486 US Military Dead as of April 21, 2012
AFGHANISTAN: 1,943 US Military Dead as of April 21, 2012
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

This Week (ABC) anchor George Stephanopoulos
• Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'
• Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod
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• The Raptor - Two pilots who choose not to fly the nation's top fighter jet because of safety and health concerns risk their wings to become military whistleblowers and speak out about the F-22 Raptor. Lesley Stahl reports. Karen Sughrue is the producer.
• Cleaning Up Whitley County - A corrupt sheriff in a drug-infested Kentucky county who federal authorities initially failed to indict was finally foiled by a pair of twenty-something journalists from the local newspaper. Byron Pitts reports. Clem Taylor is the producer.
Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory
• Meet the Facts at NPR "On the Media" - Last December, NYU professor Jay Rosen proposed something simple yet revolutionary: why don't the Sunday morning chat shows fact check their guests? After "Meet the Press" host David Gregory declined, two college students launched a website to do it for him. One of them, Chas Danner, explains what they're trying to accomplish. See their website MeetTheFacts.com updating soon!
• Vice President Joe Biden
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• 'Green News Report' - May 3, 2012 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: It's WAR!; New rules on fracking to protect drinking water --- same old objections from Republicans; The state's rights versus federal regulations canard; UK: Climate protesters clash with police; Smoke-bomb dropped on French nuke plant; PLUS: Connecting the Dots: Blocking Warren Buffet's coal trains on 5/5... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
• IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Environmental group sues to halt killing practices of federal wildlife agency; Court Urged to Order Decision on Nuclear Waste Site; Dept. Of Energy Investigating Harvesting Energy From Methane Hydrates; Pollution from Pavement Sealers?; Rising Coal Exports Have Montana Rail Communities Braced for Worst; AEI& Brookings Must-Read: 'The Republicans Are The Problem'... PLUS: Plant Study Flags Dangers Of Warming World ... and much, MUCH more! ...
• BRADCAST! KPFK 'BradCast': Rupert Murdoch Found 'Not a Fit Person' to Run NewsCorp, with Eric Boehlert
• BRADBLOG UPDATE: The formerly-gagged FBI translator-turned-whistleblower's new memoir is 'a masterpiece revealing corruption and unaccountability in Washington, D.C.' and 'a rotten barrel of toxic waste that will sooner or later infect us all'. 'Classified Woman' - Sibel Edmonds Finally Wins Guest Blogged by David Swanson
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• Holiday Break and Website Changes
• PBC podcast 458 May 2, 2012 Free Podcast: Part I of Exclusive 2-part Interview with Sibel Edmonds on Her Book: “Classified Woman” Sibel Edmonds explains why she wrote Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story and shares some anecdotes as she encountered corruption and espionage in the FBI’s Language Unit
• PBC podcast 461 May 4, 2012 Free Podcast: Part II of Exclusive Interview with Sibel Edmonds on Her New Book, “Classified Woman” In this second interview installment, Sibel Edmonds reveals many of the dramatic episodes related to her reports to superiors of an active spy in the FBI Language Unit, and the unprecedented retaliation and coverup.
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Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.
This Week on Ring of Fire! May 4, 2012
• Climate scientist and author Michael Mann will be joining us to talk about the vicious attacks that have been levied against him in his quest to educate Americans about global climate change.
• Celia Wexler from the Union of Concerned Scientists will be joining us to talk about how the pharmaceutical industry is buying influence at the FDA to push their dangerous drugs on American consumers.
• Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, will join us to talk about the complaint that his organization has filed with the IRS against ALEC.
• And investigative journalist Daniel Denvir will be here to tell us about the renewed push for the privatization of our education system coming from the Right.
• VIDEO! Papantonio: JOBS Act Paves Way For Massive Corporate Fraud This week, the Justice Department announced the first criminal charges in the BP oil spill probe, involving a BP engineer who destroyed evidence relating to the flow rate of oil from the broken wellhead. These charges are a great start, but as Mike Papantonio points out to Ed Schultz, there is still much more work to be done by the Department of Justice.
• VIDEO! Papantonio: Republicans Are A Threat To National Security Recently, President Obama signed the abomination of a bill known as the JOBS Act into law. The Act is supposed to help small business owners have access to capital to expand or start their businesses and stimulate the economy. But, thanks to Republican meddling, almost all oversight and regulatory statutes were removed from the Act…
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Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!

• April 30 2012 Glenn Greenwald, Profiting off Torture & Jeff Smith, OWS May Day 2012
• May 1 2012 General Strike – Occupy May Day 2012
• May 2 2012 Russ Feingold, Legalized Extortion & Alexis Goldstein, Occupy the SEC
• May 3 2012 Eric Alterman, Liberalism in America
• May 4 2012 Cliff Schecter, News and Politics & Isabel Gillies, Movie Pick & Jeff Smith, PROP
• MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityreport.official.fm!
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WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts "The Truth About Markets" on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s "People & Power" series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.
• VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!
• NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page
• Jamie wants more heroin (or he’ll throw a hissy fit and crash the system again). by maxkeiser - The largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), told the Federal Reserve that a limit on their credit exposure is unnecessary and “fundamentally flawed.” READ Largest U.S. Banks Resist Federal Reserve’s Credit Limits bloomberg.com
• CISPA has just lost a powerful backer, with Microsoft withdrawing its support for the controversial cyber security bill by maxkeiser - READ Microsoft does about face on CISPA at RT
• KEISER REPORT [KR282] Keiser Report: How bankers stole Labor Day We discuss the bull market in discontent, MF Global clients begging JP Morgan for their money back, Zynga insiders dumping shares in an ‘innovative’ manner and Max does a mean impersonation of Jamie ‘Pick a pocket or two’ Dimon. In the second half of the show Max talks to activist Andy Stepanian about animal rights activism, Occupy Wall Street and the dangers of success against corporations.
• KEISER REPORT [KR283] – Keiser Report: Mafia vs OWS (ft. Gerald Celente) We discuss Treasury Secretary Secretary Timothy Geithner is like a monkey who sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil while Wall Street ‘elks’ are protected by the police from protestor ‘wolves.’ In the second half of the show Max talks to trends forecaster, Gerald Celente, about economic problems and years of heated geopolitical disputes to come.
• KEISER REPORT [KR284] Keiser Report: Bribe Masters on Shopping Spree We discuss how a good morning for Vietnam turned out to be a bad day for America as more families moving into self-storage units while Chinese are spending big money on European shopping sprees. In the second half of the show Max talks to Reggie Middleton of BoomBustBlog about the tech sector and austerity versus stimulus. P.S. – note the sheep-like, herd like behaviour of the Morons of Youtube, who read each other’s comments and start baaahhhing wildly in a symphony of stupid. Must be American for they are definitely imbeciles about their history. SHRIEK – China is not communist! Blah Bah Blah!” Apparently they don’t know that is why we went into Vietnam is to stop the spread of communism. Doesn’t matter if it really is communist or not, the point is that it was our STATED AIM of going in and going broke. And that is what the Vietnamese government and the Chinese government calls themselves. And yet those countries ended up rich and booming, and we ended up broke and dilapidated. Just because you’re baahhing louder than every other sheep on the page doesn’t mean you’re any less sheep-like than they are.
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ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
Listen at antiwar.com/radio
• David K. Shipler May 2, 2012: David K. Shipler, former NY Times reporter and author of Rights at Risk: The Limits of Liberty in Modern America, discusses his article “Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.;” the convicted felons used as FBI informants to ensnare the lowest-hanging fruit among potential terrorists; why an “entrapment” legal defense hardly ever works; the media’s failure to attribute domestic terrorism arrests to government sting operations; how the FBI could “entrap” terrorism suspects into working in an Islamic soup kitchen instead of pretending to blow up a bridge; the massive imbalance between surveillance data and the human analysts and investigators tasked with reading it all; and the strange story of “underbomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
• Michael Ratner May 2, 2012: Michael Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses his article “Bradley Manning: a show trial of state secrecy;” Manning’s quasi-public trial (which is open to observation, yet vital evidence and court documents are withheld from the media and public); why the NY Times is just as guilty of “aiding the enemy” as Manning and WikiLeaks; how President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made a fair trial impossible; and how you can support Bradley Manning in his time of need.
• The Other Scott Horton May 3, 2012: The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses former #3 CIA boss Jose Rodriguez’s defense of torture and the destruction of interrogation videos (that he ordered); Rodriguez’s claim that the tapes were shredded to protect CIA agents from Al Qaeda retribution, not to coverup criminal acts; how the Department of Justice erodes the rule of law by failing to prosecute former officials bragging about their crimes on television; and the systemic torture practiced by US officials that extended far beyond waterboarding.
• John Mueller May 3, 2012: John Mueller, author of Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al-Qaeda, discusses his article “Why Al-Qaeda May Never Die;” how “al-Qaeda” is used as a catchall name for terrorist groups, even those tangentially related to the original; why a large percentage of Americans fear terrorism even though dying in an attack is about as likely as being struck by lightning; US alliances with radical Islamic insurgents in Libya and Syria; and how imperial overreach hastened the Soviet Union’s collapse.
• Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
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• Senator Marco Rubio

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