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ALL LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW!!! Click on anything below and be INSTANTLY SMARTER! New Year 2012 EDITION! Here's a late xmas present from ILARGI at The Automatic Earth: December 25 2011: Most. Tragic. Species. Ever. Very long read so here's a small snip ...What may be worse than all of this is a conflict that is brewing, slowly simmering, and that will tear our societies apart from within. It happens slow enough to perhaps not be much noticed next year, but that is not a good thing: it would be better to put out the fire before it spreads. Unfortunately, there is no way in sight to put it out. It looks like it will have to burn it course before it fades. This one will pit parents against their own children and grandchildren. That's how you tear a society apart. ...... Yes, it's not just generation versus generation, not just parents against their children. The problem is much more perverted. We no longer have a functioning financial system, a functioning banking system, or a functioning political system for that matter. All these systems died on the same battlefield. Credit. WaPo provides this shocker Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents ...the financial gap between Americans and their representatives in Congress has widened considerably since then, according to an analysis of financial disclosures by The Washington Post. Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home ­equity. Over the same period, the wealth of an American family has declined slightly, with the comparable median figure sliding from $20,600 to $20,500, according to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the University of Michigan. ... The Center for Responsive Politics [...] reports that 37 Senate Democrats and 30 Senate Republicans reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million, as did 110 House Republicans and 73 House Democrats. Jeez can you guess which ones work for the 1%? Or are PART of the 1%? MoJo Editors Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery explain "Grotesque income inequality is just a symptom of our larger political disease" in Occupied Washington (January/February 2012 Issue) ... In chronicling Occupy Wall Street, it struck us that the protesters, the passersby, and even the cops weren't just pissed about being permanently gated off from the spoils of the über-rich. Oh no. What they were really pissed about is that the megawealthy and Washington have become so symbiotic as to be a single entity. Indeed, Occupy's best move, as conservative blogger/financier Gregory Djerejian noted at TheAtlantic.com, was "directing their ire squarely toward the real elites of the country, rather than their bought-and-paid marionettes sitting in Washington." You didn't have to spend long at the edge of Zuccotti Park before you heard the phrase Citizens United, as folks who'd come to see the camp from New Jersey, Texas, and Montana began to contemplate the connection between their anemic bank accounts and political decisions that line the pockets of those already most advantaged. Americans are not opposed to the rich getting richer—as John Steinbeck is said to have noted, "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." But this prospect only satisfies so long as people believe that with luck and hard work, their ship, or at least their kids' ship, may some day come in. In a system overrun by piracy—a system in which the pirates also, sorry to stretch the metaphor, run the Navy—the dream becomes hard to sustain. .... While the media and political professionals fixated on the movement's lack of demands, they missed the real story. It wasn't about demands; it was about diagnosis. The occupations provided a catalyst, but the most interesting conversations haven't taken place in the camps via the human mic. They've happened among the millions of people who found that kids in tents were quite effectively articulating their own sense of abandonment. What comes next is the question that should occupy us in 2012, and beyond. Also see MoJo's Aaron Ross for "A short, shady history of how American elections are bought and paid for" in Timeline: The Best Government Money Can Buy. Next Tyler Durdan at zerohedge reports Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps First it was Zero Hedge. Then Ron Paul joined in. Now it is the turn of a former Dallas Fed Vice President, Gerald ODriscoll, to outright accuse the Fed of bailing out Europe courtesy of "incomprehensible" currency swaps, and implicitly accusing Bernanke of lying that he would not bail out Europe even as he has done precisely that. And not only that: by cutting the USD swap spread from OIS+100 to OIS+50, the Fed has made sure it gets paid less than ever for extended Europe the courtesy of bailing it out all over again. Incidentally, O'Driscoll says, "America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here." One thing we can say proudly - it has been noticed loud and clear here... From the WSJ:... The two central banks are engaging in this roundabout procedure because each needs a fig leaf. The Fed was embarrassed by the revelations of its prior largess with foreign banks. It does not want the debt of foreign banks on its books. A currency swap with the ECB is not technically a loan. The ECB is entangled in an even bigger legal and political mess. What the heads of many European governments want is for the ECB to bail them out. The central bank and some European governments say that it cannot constitutionally do that. The ECB would also prefer not to create boatloads of new euros, since it wants to keep its reputation as an inflation-fighter intact. To mitigate its euro lending, it borrows dollars to lend them to its banks. That keeps the supply of new euros down. This lending replaces dollar funding from U.S. banks and money-market institutions that are curtailing their lending to European banks—which need the dollars to finance trade, among other activities. Meanwhile, European governments pressure the banks to purchase still more sovereign debt. This Byzantine financial arrangement could hardly be better designed to confuse observers, and it has largely succeeded on this side of the Atlantic, where press coverage has been light. Reporting in Europe is on the mark. ... Continue reading at WSJ. Art Cashin Exposes The Behind The Scenes Panic In Europe Think "all is fine" in Europe after today's largely irrelevant Italian bill auction (the auction was for 6 month debt - even Greece can raise that kind of money)? Think again. Here is the Fermentation Committee Chairman explaining why Europe is so hard pressed to create a fake sense of calm, allowing those who know the real story to take advantage of the situation while they still can, and sharing the behind the scenes truth you won't get anywhere else. From UBS:

Europe Rumbles Continue Beneath More Upbeat Headlines - Ever since last week’s liquidity operation, most headlines out of Europe have leaned toward the reassuring side. Beneath those headlines, however, there are signs the strains remain and may, in fact, be growing. European banks are making great use of the ECB’s overnight deposit facility. Last night they parked $590 billion at the ECB breaking the record they had set the night before. They are clearly unwilling to lend to other European banks, highlighting the distrust and fear in the interbank marketplace. While the ECB’s lending initiative calmed the markets somewhat, it apparently has done nothing to free up the logjam blocking interbank lending. The distrust on the streets is said to be growing also. Barroom gossip says that safe-deposit boxes are in a demand that borders on frenzy. They allow you to take your Euros and covert them into something of value (gold, Swiss Francs, etc.) and sock it away in a safe place. Others are said to be buying property in London and elsewhere lest you awake one day and discover that your Euros have reverted to drachmas or lira. Savvy bankers are said to be setting up personal and communal trusts domiciled in places like the Bahamas, the Caymans or the Isle of Jersey. Some banks are offering depository accounts denominated (and repayable) in alternate currencies like the dollar or the yen. We think a Lehman-like event would most likely be triggered by a run on a bank or a series of banks. The scramble for currency (value) protection among the public could turn into that bank run in the same way that a crowd can instantly turn into a mob. Watch the money flows out of Greece and Italy very carefully. The pot continues to bubble.

Glenn Greenwald dissects WaPo's Greg Miller Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing in Snapshots of Washington’s essence The article, by Greg Miller, is being promoted by the Post this way: “In 3 years, the Obama administration has built a vast drone/killing operation”; it describes the complete secrecy behind which this is all being carried out and notes: “no president has ever relied so extensively on the secret killing of individuals to advance the nation’s security goals.” ... Because it’s a Democrat (rather than big, bad George W. Bush) doing this, virtually no members of that Party utter a peep of objection (a few are willing to express only the most tepid, abstract “concerns” about the possibility of future abuse). And even though these systematic, covert killings are widely known and discussed in newspapers all over the world — particularly in the places where they continue to extinguish the lives of innocent people by the dozens, including children — Obama designates even the existence of the program a secret, which means our democratic representatives and all of official Washington are barred by the force of law from commenting on it or even acknowledging that a CIA drone program exists (a prohibition enforced by an administration that has prosecuted leaks it dislikes more harshly than any other prior administration). ..... This media invisibility of America’s victims is due in part to the fact that it’s considered unpatriotic to discuss them in any prominent way (as MSNBC’s Ashleigh Banfield pointed out in the 2003 speech that led to her demotion and firing), but also because, at this point, there’s no partisan gain to be had from it: given that it’s a policy supported by both parties, it doesn’t help one side or the other win an election, so what’s the point of talking about it? Anyone who does raise it will be immediately met with these vapid questions from election-obsessed partisans .... (2) I have an Op-Ed in today’s print edition of The Guardian regarding the challenge faced by GOP presidential candidates in attacking President Obama given that he has governed, in Paul Krugman’s words, as a “moderate conservative” (at least in the domestic policy realm; he’s further to the Right in the foreign policy/civil liberties realm). That Op-Ed can be read here. Joe Kishore of wsws.org also has a take on the Post's drone article at Global Research Obama’s Global Murder, Inc. .... The Post provides a description of competing “kill lists” drawn up by the CIA and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with no publicly available information on the criteria used to select targets for assassination. The CIA’s list is apparently shorter than the military’s, which some in the drone program attribute to the fact that it has had less time to compile it. “Over time, officials said, the agency would catch up.” Among those killed have been three US citizens, including Anwar Al-Awlaki by the CIA on September 30 and his 16-year old son by the JSOC a few weeks later, both in Yemen. In the latter attack, the Post claims, the young Awlaki was not the intended target. “A US citizen with no history of involvement with al-Qaeda,” he was, instead, “an unintended casualty.” In explaining the increase in drone assassinations, the Post cites the official closure of CIA detention programs and an end to new transfers to Guantanamo Bay. This left “few options beyond drone strikes…” In other words, instead of locking alleged “terrorists” in prison camps and torture centers, the Obama administration decided it would be more efficient to simply kill them in secrecy. ... The actions of the Obama administration, and the vast growth in the secret powers of the CIA and the military, go far beyond these past crimes. Extra-judicial state-sanctioned killing is a metastasis of the global “war on terror,” an escalation of international criminality that has included the launching of aggressive wars, indefinite detention, and torture. It has become a central component of US military policy, including the war in Libya, which was concluded with the US-backed assassination of Muammar Gaddafi. Obama has singled out the extra-legal killing of Osama bin Laden as a high point and defining moment of his administration. Unbridled violence and the suppression of democracy are two sides of the same process. The revelations by the Post come less than two weeks after the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which for the first time provides an explicit congressional imprimatur on the indefinite military detention of US citizens and non-citizens alike, at the discretion of the president. The act effectively abolishes the writ of habeaus corpus and basic constitutional guarantees of due process. The administration that is overseeing this assertion of quasi-dictatorial powers, headed by Obama, is essentially an alliance of powerful financial interests and the military-intelligence apparatus. This government of extreme reaction has the crucial support of sections of the affluent middle class, which, on the basis of identity politics, has reconciled itself to policies that go beyond even those carried out by the Bush administration. Anything is acceptable, even “progressive,” so long as it is carried out by an African-American president. David S. Cloud at the Los Angeles Times discovers Civilian contractors playing key roles in U.S. drone operations America's growing drone operations rely on hundreds of civilian contractors, including some — such as the SAIC employee — who work in the so-called kill chain before Hellfire missiles are launched, according to current and former military officers, company employees and internal government documents. Relying on private contractors has brought corporations that operate for profit into some of America's most sensitive military and intelligence operations. And using civilians makes some in the military uneasy. At least a dozen defense contractors that supply personnel to help the Air Force, special operations units and the CIA fly their drones are filling a void. It takes more people to operate unmanned aircraft than it does to fly traditional warplanes that have a pilot and crew. The Air Force is short of ground-based pilots and crews to fly the drones, intelligence analysts to scrutinize nonstop video and surveillance feeds, and technicians and mechanics to maintain the heavily used aircraft. ... Writing in a military law journal in 2008, Lt. Col. Duane Thompson, chief lawyer for the Air Force Operations Law Division, warned that allowing nonmilitary personnel to communicate targeting information directly to pilots would violate international laws of war. Moreover, civilians are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which subjects military personnel to prosecution for war crimes or for violations of rules of engagement on when to use force. "Persons who relay target identification for an imminent real-world mission to persons causing actual harm to enemy personnel or equipment should be uniformed military," Thompson wrote. The "involvement of civilians in intelligence collection, analysis and planning" is "less objectionable" because it is "further removed" from actual combat, he added. That involvement is now substantial. In a recent job advertisement, SAIC said it had 450 employees working for the Air Force Special Operations Command and other units analyzing video feeds from the battlefield. BAE Systems Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of a British aerospace firm, posted an ad seeking an Air Force Special Operations Command veteran to manage "several hundred employees while conducting ISR/FMV missions." ISR and FMV are military abbreviations for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and Full Motion Video, both of which commonly come from drones..... Washington's Blog has some cool videos at Fly Your Own Spy Drone … For $300 with this Disclaimer: We don’t know whether there are any Department of Homeland Security, FAA or other regulations or laws prohibiting flying your own spy drone. Consult with a representative of all appropriate Federal, state, county and local agencies to determine whether or not you may fly your own drone. Russ Baker at WHO WHAT WHY points out Justifying War with Iran A growing body of evidence points to a concerted campaign to prepare Americans and the world for war against Iran. This is not idle speculation. It fits a pattern that repeatedly preceded previous hostilities. Here are the recent examples on Iran: [...] ... And here are a few past examples (1990 to 2011). Add your own in the COMMENTS section below: [...] ... You don’t have to approve of these regimes to see that these appear to be (and in many cases certainly were) false provocations that reek of ulterior motives (hint: how many of these countries are oil exporters?) In fact, you can abhor these regimes and hope that they will not survive, and still realize how problematical it is for the American government to repeatedly foist big lies on its own people. This kind of thing is beneath any administration claiming lofty ideals and purporting to serve the public interest—and something that none of us should feel comfortable being party to. If the public interest is defined as “seizing oil wherever it may be found,” then, well, that’s a conversation we need to have…and quick. There are severe consequences of this definition. Among them, the empowerment of those forces, both corporate and governmental, that profit most from the unbridled development of fossil fuels—and that have good reasons to block the development of renewable sources of energy. They’re known today as the One Percent, and they are destroying our world. Read all of it at whowhatwhy.com. Next Iranian writer, Middle East expert, Iranologist and lexicographer Dr. Ismail Salami writes for Global Research Building Another Pretext to Wage War on Iran: US Court Holds Tehran Responsible for the 9/11 Attacks - $100 billion in damages In line with its silent war with Iran, a US court in Manhattan made a mockery of justice, issued a default judgment against Iran, and accused Tehran of being involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an allegation which stands in stark contrast to reason in view of the plethora of evidence pointing with force and logic to the joint role of the CIA and the Mossad in the tragic incident. Juxtaposing Iran with the Taliban and the al-Qaeda is an outrageously calculated move devised to further drag Iran into the margins of isolation on the one hand and to sway the sympathy of the international community to support a US-led invasion of Iran on the other. Any time there is a new allegation against Iran, one should not ignore the prominent role the Zionist lobby plays in the matter. In this case too, a Zionist-funded Birmingham law firm had an important part to play in contributing to the warps and wefts of the plot. Among the eight law firms colluding in this case is Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis. ... The Manhattan court decided in late December that Iran and Hezbollah materially and directly financed and supported al-Qaeda in the attacks, thereby holding them legally responsible for to-be-determined monetary damages to family members. ... READ MORE! Then listen to Scott Horton's interview with Gareth Porter on AntiWarRadio! Porter blows GIANT HOLES in this court's ruling! Excellent! And David Swanson chimes in with this headline at WarIsACrime.org US Tells Israel Under What Specific Circumstances It Would Commit an International Crime of Mass Slaughter, Israel Insists on Full Commitment From the Daily Beast: The Obama administration is trying to assure Israel privately that it would strike Iran militarily if Tehran’s nuclear program crosses certain “red lines”—while attempting to dissuade the Israelis from acting unilaterally. Eli Lake reports exclusively. With all the talk of aggression against Iran (again) let us not forget how this might unfold. We go to an article by USAF veteran Douglas Herman at rense.com from January 2005 Day One -The War With Iran The war began as planned. The Israeli pilots took off well before dawn and streaked across Lebanon and northern Iraq, high above Kirkuk. Flying US-made F-15 and F-16s, the Israelis separated over the mountains of western Iran, the pilots gesturing a last minute show of confidence in their mission, maintaining radio silence. Just before the sun rose over Tehran, moments before the Muslim call to prayer, the missiles struck their targets. While US Air Force AWACS planes circled overhead--listening, watching, recording--heavy US bombers followed minutes later. Bunker-busters and mini-nukes fell on dozens of targets while Iranian anti-aircraft missiles sped skyward. The ironically named Bushehr nuclear power plant crumbled to dust. .... The Iranian air force, like the Iranian navy, never really knew what hit them. Like the slumbering US sailors at Pearl Harbor, the pre-dawn, pre-emptive attack wiped out fully half the Iranian defense forces in a matter of hours. By mid-morning, the second and third wave of US/Israeli raiders screamed over the secondary targets. The only problem now, the surprising effectiveness of the Iranian missile defenses. The element of surprise lost, US and Israeli warplanes began to fall from the skies in considerable numbers to anti-aircraft fire. At 7:35 AM, Tehran time, the first Iranian anti-ship missile destroyed a Panamanian oil tanker, departing from Kuwait and bound for Houston. Launched from an Iranian fighter plane, the Exocet split the ship in half and set the ship ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. A second and third tanker followed, black smoke billowing from the broken ships before they blew up and sank. By 8:15 AM, all ship traffic on the Persian Gulf had ceased. US Navy ships, ordered earlier into the relative safety of the Indian Ocean, south of their base in Bahrain, launched counter strikes. Waves of US fighter planes circled the burning wrecks in the bottleneck of Hormuz but the Iranian fighters had fled. At 9 AM, Eastern Standard Time, many hours into the war, CNN reported a squadron of suicide Iranian fighter jets attacking the US Navy fleet south of Bahrain. Embedded reporters aboard the ships--sending live feeds directly to a rapt audience of Americans just awakening--reported all of the Iranian jets destroyed, but not before the enemy planes launched dozens of Exocet and Sunburn anti-ship missiles. A US aircraft carrier, cruiser and two destroyers suffered direct hits. The cruiser blew up and sank, killing 600 men. The aircraft carrier sank an hour later. .... By 9:30 AM, gas stations on the US east coast began to raise their prices. Slowly at first and then altogether in a panic, the prices rose. $4 a gallon, and then $5 and then $6, the prices skyrocketed. Worried motorists, rushing from work, roared into the nearest gas station, radios blaring the latest reports of the pre-emptive attack on Iran. While fistfights broke out in gas stations everywhere, the third Middle Eastern war had begun. ... Read on! Remember this is already six years old. To find out more about Iran go to StopIranWar.com. Boston University Professor of International Relations Andrew J. Bacevich at The Atlantic compares the warnings Eisenhower gave in 1961 on the Military-Industrial Complex we are all familiar with to today's global U.S. hegemony and military empire and its “military metaphysics” properties in The Tyranny of Defense Inc. In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed a threat to democracy. Judged 50 years later, Ike’s frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern system—and the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on..... In his 1956 book, The Power Elite, C. Wright Mills, a professor of sociology at Columbia, dubbed this perspective “military metaphysics,” which he characterized as “the cast of mind that defines international reality as basically military.” Those embracing this mind-set no longer considered genuine, lasting peace to be plausible. Rather, peace was at best a transitory condition, “a prelude to war or an interlude between wars.” Perhaps nothing illustrates military metaphysics more vividly than the exponential growth of the U.S. nuclear stockpile that occurred during Eisenhower’s presi­dency. In 1952, when Ike was elected, that stockpile numbered some 1,000 warheads. By the time he passed the reins to John F. Kennedy in 1961, it consisted of more than 24,000 warheads, and it rapidly ascended later that decade to a peak of 31,000. ...... If anything, Eisenhower’s characterization of the cozy relations between the military and corporate worlds understates the contemporary reality. C. Wright Mills came closer to the mark when he wrote of “a coalition of generals in the roles of corporation executives, of politicians masquerading as admirals, of corporation executives acting like politicians.” Add to that list the retired senior officers passing as pundits (often while simultaneously cashing the checks of weapons manufacturers), policy wonks pretending to be field marshals, and journalists eagerly competing to carry water for heroic field commanders. Throw in the former members of Congress who lobby their successors on behalf of defense contractors, and the serving members who vote in favor of any defense appropriations that send money to their districts, and one begins to get a sense of the true topography. With what result? Not peace, and not prosperity. Instead, American soldiers traipse wearily from one conflict to the next while the nation as a whole suffers from acute economic distress. What has gone amiss? Be sure to read all of this as you begin to absorb the mass media hypnosis cheerleading the next war. As Bascevich points out, If anything, Eisenhower’s characterization of the cozy relations between the military and corporate worlds understates the contemporary reality. C. Wright Mills came closer to the mark when he wrote of “a coalition of generals in the roles of corporation executives, of politicians masquerading as admirals, of corporation executives acting like politicians.” Add to that list the retired senior officers passing as pundits (often while simultaneously cashing the checks of weapons manufacturers), policy wonks pretending to be field marshals, and journalists eagerly competing to carry water for heroic field commanders. Throw in the former members of Congress who lobby their successors on behalf of defense contractors, and the serving members who vote in favor of any defense appropriations that send money to their districts, and one begins to get a sense of the true topography. Go to AntiWarRadio and listen to Scott Horton Interviews Andrew Bacevich November 14, 2011: Author of The Short American Century: A Postmortem , Andrew Bacevich discusses his article “The Passing of the Postwar Era;” the major factors leading to a “transformative” decline in US power and prestige on the world stage; the American political elites who are driving the country into a ditch; the redundancy or counter-productivity of overseas bases (excepting the Asia Pacific region); and the lack of “prudent” decision making in Washington D.C. For a good bird's eye view of the current global situation see this interview with Brazilian-born journalist Pepe Escobar "Our Man in Pipelineistan" by German journalist Lars Schall at Consortium News Shifting Ground for Vital Resources. Very long and very good! READ ALL OF IT! And catch PBC Podcast 340 Back Story on Syria: Sibel Edmonds and Journalist Pepe Escobar too! Also at Global Research Homeland Security's Covert Surveillance of Facebook and Twitter: Electronic Privacy Information (EPIC) files lawsuit against DHS EPIC has filed a Freedom of information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to force disclosure of the details of the agency's social network monitoring program. In news reports and a Federal Register notice, the DHS has stated that it will routinely monitor the public postings of users on Twitter and Facebook. The agency plans to create fictitious user accounts and scan posts of users for key terms. User data will be stored for five years and shared with other government agencies.The legal authority for the DHS program remains unclear. EPIC filed the lawsuit after the DHS failed to reply to an April 2011 FOIA request. For more information, see EPIC: Social Networking Privacy. SOPA UPDATE at Washington's Blog Sopa Would DESTROY Jobs and the Economy … So Why are Unions Supporting It? with a long list of groups and people AGAINST the bill. AND from TechDirt.com Who Will Be The First Politician To Be GoDaddy'd? Having GoDaddy back off its support for SOPA/PIPA is one thing, but it hardly kills off these bills. Politicians are still very much in support of the bills, and both bills are poised to move forward in Congress when it comes back into session in late January. Of course, 2012 is an election year, which means that all of the members of the House who are supporting SOPA are up for re-election, and 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election. If I were a candidate looking to challenge the incumbents, I'd be paying close, close attention to what happened to GoDaddy, and seeing how the "netroots" community was willing to band together quickly to make things happen. I'd be especially focused on this if I were running against one of the key supporters of SOPA, like Lamar Smith, John Conyers, Bob Goodlatte or Mel Watt (whose opponent should just play that video of him saying he doesn't understand technology, but believes the experts are wrong anyway, over and over and over again). Perhaps a little crowdsourcing is in order. Can we figure out who's already registered to run against the incumbent supporters of SOPA and PIPA, and reach out to get their opinions on the bills and of censorship of the internet? ... It seems that anyone running against these folks would be missing out on a huge opportunity not to make the incumbent's support of censoring the internet into a campaign issue. GOOD ITEM! Suburban Guerilla Susie has more on the Dai-Ichi Fukushima nuclear catastrophe Clusterf**k with VIDEO! I have to think this is in our future, too. (After all, we’re giving a loan guarantee to TEPCO to build a nuclear plant in Texas .) And it’s pretty clear that when it comes to these corporate disasters, the financial needs of the corporations are always going to override the public’s health:

TOKYO — Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, a report revealed Monday. .... ...The 507-page interim report authorities had grossly underestimated tsunami risks, assuming the highest wave would be 6 meters (20 feet). The tsunami hit at more than double those levels. The report criticized the use of the term “soteigai,” meaning “outside our imagination,” which it said implied authorities were shirking responsibility for what had happened. It said by labeling the events as beyond what could have been expected, officials had invited public distrust. “This accident has taught us an important lesson on how we must be ready for soteigai,” [the report] said.

But wait, there’s more! Health experts are also extremely critical

International authorities have urged Japan to expand the exclusion zone around the plant to 80 kilometres but the government has instead opted to “define the problem out of existence” by raising the permissible level of radiation exposure for members of the public to 20 millisieverts per year, considerably higher than the international standard of one millisievert per year, Gould adds. This “arbitrary increase” in the maximum permissible dose of radiation is an “unconscionable” failure of government, contends Ruff. “Subject a class of 30 children to 20 millisieverts of radiation for five years and you’re talking an increased risk of cancer to the order of about 1 in 30, which is completely unacceptable. I’m not aware of any other government in recent decades that’s been willing to accept such a high level of radiation-related risk for its population.”

Mark Crispin Miller reports On Election Day 2008, ’09 & ’10, ES&S op-scans blocked the (Democratic) vote in Cuyahoga County, Ohio! (2 items) The scanners are “defective,” finds the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC). One in ten would “miss some votes,” freeze up “inexplicably,” etc. Although ES&S “tried to fix the problems earlier this year… the upgrade actually created more problems.” “Defective”? Not really. Those scanners have been performing as intended by ES&S—an outfit started up and managed by right-wing Republicans, whose goods are always pooping out, or screwing up, in Democratic areas, like Cuyahoga County. That their goods thus deliver for the party means there’s really nothing wrong with them per se. What’s “defective,” rather, is the US voting system overall—and the vision of all those (the EAC included) who refuse to see what’s happening right before their eyes. -MCM Click over to News from Underground for the two items MCM lists from the CLE Pee Dee. BradBlog.com scoops GINGRICH ADMITS CAMP COMMITTED MASSIVE 'VOTER FRAUD' IN VA! Can you imagine? Next OpEdNews.com has this Stop Elections from Being Stolen: Election Integrity's Victoria Collier Speaks Up Write Voterfraud@foxnews.com and give them some good examples of REAL voter fraud! InsightOutNews hopes to be live streaming Occupy Rose Bowl LIVE on Monday! Tune into InsightOutNews to see if they get it going while you watch the parade. Get more info and updates at Occupy The Rose Parade. And you might want to get started with this in the New Year too! Occupy Facebook: The Occupy Movement is Planning and Launching Their Own Social Network January 2012. Good item for the New Year! We close our first post of 2012 with this call to action from The Peoples Congress

The recent spate of corporate scandals is only the tip of an iceberg that is on a rapid collision course with our democratic Republic. Although the call for government accountability to the People is getting louder, our representatives will not heed the cries for meaningful reform until we organize into one unified voice for real change. That is the intention of the Peoples Congress. There are so many organizations, groups, and individuals working to create a better world. We all share a common problem. Runaway corporate power is preventing the free and meaningful exercise of democracy. Now with the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, there is simply no restraint on corporations and unless we act decisively, our voice will soon be forgotten. We are a group of American citizens organizing this grassroots call to action because it is the only solution to our escalating crisis. With your participation in the Peoples Congress, the era of global dominance by multinational corporations may close and a new era of democracy, hope, and justice may begin. Our dreams for a sustainable world do not have to remain dreams. If we gather our strength, collect our will, focus our energy, demand to be heard, tomorrow will be more than a shadow of our hopes. ... Peoplescongress.org is calling for a week long action in which We the People pass specific legislation which, when enacted by Congress, will put an immediate end to the corporate take-over of our government, revitalize and re-democratize elections, allow for a more responsible and open media, and end the secrecy in policy making. Until we reform these institutions and the laws governing them, our goals for a just and sustainable world will remain elusive at best. An earnest national dialog about our future cannot happen until we re-balance the wheels of democracy. It is the intention of the People’s Congress to secure that change directly in accordance with the will of the People and the principles established by our Constitution. This action may persist beyond the planned one-week horizon if necessary. Over the course of 5 days, we will collect our voices and determination, present a People’s State of the Union message, seat a “People’s Congress” on the Mall and pass legislation to be ratified by our national legislature. Finally, we will celebrate our unity and commitment to a just and sustainable world centered on peace.
The People’s Congress will take place the week(s) preceding the Congressional Summer Recess, 2012. Currently, the Majority Leader’s office has not published a calendar for 2012, so an exact date is not yet possible to determine. Once our steering committee has this information, a specific date will be announced. For now, plan for late May through early July, 2012 Official notice, Executive Committee
This is your invitation to dream. Success is only limited by our imaginations. If we are to live in a just and sustainable world, we must all have the courage to set our imaginations free. Now is the time to choose your future. You can remain stuck in the past and hope change will come, or charge ahead with the courage of your convictions and demand change together! The potential of this event is undeniable just as surely as it is unavoidable. It is time to end the corruption and dysfunction that has become to appear all too normal. We the People do have the Power. The time has come to use it. If you wish to participate in the development of the People’s Congress, please visit our Forum page now and log in to the subject which is of most interest to you.

As we head into 2012 we hope you resolve to become engaged in this process, get involved locally and be ready to OCCUPY somewhere with your own MIC CHECK at the ready! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union & George Schulz, works with the Center for Investigative Reporting @ Democracy NOW! The War at Home: Militarized Local Police Tap Post-9/11 Grants to Stockpile Combat Gear, Use Drones Dec 27, 2011
»»» Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria @ Democracy NOW! Oil Slick from Massive Spill in Nigeria Threatens Coastline, May Be Largest Spill in a Decade Dec 27, 2011
»»» Alaa Abd El Fattah, Egyptian Blogge @ Democracy NOW! Alaa Abd El Fattah, Egyptian Blogger and Critic of Military Regime, Speaks Out After Months in Jail Dec 28, 2011
»»» Syrian cyber-activist Karam Nachar & Syrian activist and filmmaker Bassel @ Democracy NOW! Syrian Activist Speaks Out from Hiding as Arab League Mission Fails to Slow Deadly Crackdown Dec 29, 2011
»»» Bruce Cumings, professor of history at the University of Chicago @ Democracy NOW! North Korea’s New Leader Kim Jong-un Inherits Father’s Nuclear Legacy & Country’s Uncertain Future Dec 29, 2011
»»» Lorenzo Lopez, Korina Lopez & Dr. Rodolfo Acuña @ Democracy NOW! Tucson Orders Closure of Mexican-American School Program as Ethnic Studies Faces Nationwide Threat Dec 29, 2011
»»» Scott Olsen @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Scott Olsen, U.S. Vet Wounded at Occupy Oakland, on Recovery, Protests, Iraq and Bradley Manning Dec 30, 2011
»»» Stephen Cohen, professor of Russian studies at New York University WATCH NOW Election Fraud Galvanizes Russian Opposition, Communist Party 20 Years After Soviet Union’s Collapse Dec 30, 2011

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Nobel Prize Winner Laymeh Gbowee on Sex, War & Invisible Heroes 2011 Nobel Paace-Prize winner, Laymeh Gbowee of Liberia talks to Laura Flanders of GRITtv about sex as an organizing tool, the prospects for women in Eqypt and where NGOs - and the US - go wrong when it comes to making peace after war.
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» NFL Week 17 Check you local listings
»»» College Bowl Games The traditional New Year's Day games will be on Monday including The Outback, Gator, Capital One, TicketCity, Fiesta and Rose Bowl! Check your local listings. The rest of the bowls will be on the rest of the week with the majority on ESPN.
»»» NBA on TNT! Double-header Thursday! Heat @ Hawks 8 pm et then Lakers @ Blazers 10:30 pm et
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

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

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

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

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

B R I C K T E E V E E
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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,863 US Military Dead as of Dec 31, 2011
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

• This Week (ABC) with Christiane Amanpour
  • Fact Checking ABC's "This Week" at NPR "On the Media" - Jake Tapper, interim host of ABC's "This Week," liked the idea of fact-checking his guests' comments, so he set up a partnership with Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking organization. See Politifact Statements ABC News 'This Week'
  • Rep. Ron Paul
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann
  • Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad
  • BC News' senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl
  • Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson
  • ROUNDTABLE: ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent and Fox News contributor Byron York, and former Iowa Republican Party political director Craig Robinson, founder and editor-in-chief of The Iowa Republican.

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
  • Sen. Rand Paul
  • former Sen. Jim Talent
  • former Congressman J.C. Watts
  • ROUNDTABLE: Mike Allen of Politico; John Dickerson of CBS; Norah O’Donnell of CBS; and David Yepsen of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • The Majority Leader - Lesley Stahl profiles House Majority Leader Eric Cantor about his life and the recent bipartisan wars in Congress. Karen Sughrue is the producer
  • The Perfect Score - In his first interview about his criminal fraud, Sam Eshaghoff tells how he was able to take the SAT and ACT college admissions exams for others who paid him up to $2,500 per test. Alison Stewart reports. Katherine Davis 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!
  • Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum
  • IOWA PREVIEW: NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd and Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, Matt Strawn.
  • ROUNDTABLE: Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich, GOP strategist Mike Murphy, the New York Times’ David Brooks, Time’s Mark Halperin, and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

• 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.
  • Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)
  • Rep. Steve King, (R-Iowa)
  • Iowa Governor Terry Branstad (R)
  • Dan Balz of the Washington Post and Neil King of the Wall Street Journal.

• HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid
  
  Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.
  • PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Uber Pope Imam Bishop Rabbi Bob! Listen now HERE (mp3)!
  Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!
  BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!
  • 'Green News Report' - December 22, 2011 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Breaking: More aid to Africa for drought/famine relief; Good year-end news for anyone who breathes: new rules to clean up toxic mercury and arsenic from coal plants; 30k Chinese 'occupy' to protest coal plants; Meet today's World's Newest Oil Spill, now in Nigeria; PLUS: Um... "explosive" trends in a melting Arctic ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
  IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): House GOP earns ‘Worst Environmental Record Of Any Congress’; Record TX drought kills 500m trees; Genetic mutations in farm-raised salmon; New material breakthrough could double solar efficiency - with cheap plastic; Seattle bans plastic bags; Keystone XL would ship oil to China; USDA deregulates Monsanto GMO seed; Top clean energy stories of 2011 ... PLUS: Don't paint it black: US researchers invent paint-on solar cells ... and much, MUCH more! ...
  BRADCAST UPDATE: Brad sits in AGAIN on the Mike Malloy Show Thursday & Friday!
  • THU 12/29: The GOP's 'Voter Fraud' Fraud, the IA Caucuses & Occupying the LAPD... THE GOP LOVES VOTER FRAUD! And tonight, I'll prove it! With lots of "fraud" news to cover from the caucuses of Iowa to the primary ballots of Virginia and beyond! OCCUPYING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY I'll be joined in studio by several OccupyLA'ers who will share their stories of horrific treatment at the hands of the LAPD, as we try to bring some accountability. Also will speak with the great independent citizen journalist/web-streamer Spencer "OakFoSho" Mills on his quest for accountability for LAPD Officer Escamilla. PLUS! More than I have time to mention here,
  • FRI 12/30: The 2012 circus begins, w/ Bev Harris, Desi Doyen & Ernie Canning!... END OF THE YEAR/BEGINNING OF ELECTION YEAR ROUND-UP: Everything we've yet to get to this year, and everything you'll need to know as the zany 2012 election year circus will finally get under way! VISITS FROM FRIENDS: In addition to (hopefully) lots of calls from you guys, we may have a few visits from a few friends o' the blog! PLUS! Anything and everything that's on your minds at year's end as 2012 awaits
  • Check out the LIVE CHAT you can read through on these links! Excellent commentary and more links!
  AND BRAD on Thom Hartman's THE BIG PICTURE Tuesday My Appearance on Thom Hartmann's TV Show Last Night... My appearance last night on The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann was a round-up of a bunch of the latest voting news, from the DoJ's rejection of South Carolina's Photo ID restriction, to Newt's failure to get enough signatures to make it onto the VA Primary ballot, to the 93-year old woman who cleaned the TN state capitol for decades being told she may not be able to vote with her expired state ID, to the U.S. EAC finding, finally, that hackable ES&S paper ballot op-scan computers fail to count some votes without notice to anybody...
  Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.

• The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!
  
  Listen at PeterBCollins.com!
  The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.
  • PBC Live! Weekly on KGO PBC Live! Weekly on KGO Your humble host has been remiss in keeping you apprised of his other media activities. Since February, I’ve been hosting a regular weekly show on KGO, the leading San Francisco talk station with a huge coverage area–at night, you can hear it anywhere on the West Coast. TFN (till further notice), you can hear me every Friday night–or, more precisely, Saturday morning, from 1-5 am (PDT) on 810-AM or streaming at www.kgoradio.com. If you’d like to be alerted each week, sign up on Facebook as a fan of “Peter B. Collins Show” or you can follow me on Twitter, @pbcsf
  • PBC Podcast 340 Back Story on Syria: Sibel Edmonds and Journalist Pepe Escobar Cutting through the disinformation and spin, Sibel Edmonds and Pepe Escobar reveal back stories about the conflict in Syria that are not reported in the mainstream media.
  • Holiday Break and Website Changes
  To my valued listeners: We are on a holiday break until the first week of January. You have my warm holiday wishes and best for the New Year. If you are in the Bay Area, I will be on KGO 810 AM 12/24 from 8-11am and 1/7 from 11am to 2pm. Others can catch the stream at kgoradio.com. We are making some changes to the website and our terms, effective in January. We will continue to offer free podcasts–my new daily news and commentary. Our in-depth interviews will be available for $1 per episode, or to subscribers who pay $5 per month or more. Loyal listeners who simply can’t afford it should send an email to peter@peterbcollins.com, as we will be offering a limited number of scholarships to our friends who are hurting during these tough times. More information will be posted as we complete the revisions. I’m grateful to each of you for listening and supporting this work, and hope that the new model will enable us to keep it going well into the future. All the best, -pbc

• 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 The Best of Ring of Fire! December 30, 2011
  • Brave New Films founder Robert Greenwald will join us to discuss his latest film that will expose every shady activity being carried out by the Koch Brothers.
  • Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center will be here to tell us about the rising numbers of anti-government hate groups that have popped up in the last year.
  • Investigative journalist Chris Hayes will be joining us to discuss the real reason behind skyrocketing gas prices at the pump.
  • And author Rick Perlstein will be here to give us an update on the situation in Wisconsin.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: GOP War On Voting Heats Up There is going to be a race taking place between Republicans trying to prevent minorities, elderly, and 18 -25 year olds from voting and Democrats who believe the right to vote is important. The race is taking place in the courts – in an effort to enforce the guidelines laid out in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
  • 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 Sunday nights at 7 pm ct 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! NEW SHOWS NEXT WEEK!
  
  • David Graeber, one of the original Occupy Wall Street organizers, on Debt: the First 5,000 Years, OWS & D12 [12•12•11]
  • Jason Benlevi on Our Digital Life: How We're Changing and Who Benefits? [12•19•11]
  • Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo on the Payroll Tax Cut Fiasco [12•21•11]
  • Digby on Ron Paul, Libertarianism & the 2012 Elections [12•22•11]
  • An Update from Occupy New Hampshire! [12•22•11]]
  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
  • VIDEO! MISH’s year end predictions by maxkeiser. READ Mish 2012 Predictions; 2011 Year in Review with Max Keiser (globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
  • VIDEO! Max Keiser on Capital Account: Presidential Futures are like “Running Man on Steroids” by stacyherbert.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR228] Keiser Report – Parasites with bailouts
  • KEISER REPORT [KR229] Jamie Dimon Suckles on Ben Bernanke’s Quantitative Easing We discuss London brokers shrinking, boycotting JP Morgan, boycotting the financial system and command and control credit derivatives. In the second half of the show, Max talks to JS Kim of SmartknowledgeU about the MF Global fraud and gold and silver.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR230] Keiser Report: Outrageous Predictions for 2012 This week we discuss virtual dollars and American plots and tinned goods and small-caliber weapons. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Detlev Schlichter about elastic money and financial crises.
  • ON THE EDGE Euro crisis-On the Edge with Max Keiser-12-09-2011 Guest: Greg Hunter
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1228] The Truth About Markets – 10 December 2011 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
  • Barbara Slavin December 24, 2011: Barbara Slavin, author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation, discusses her article “Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms;” how MEK leader Maryam Rajavi is using the camp residents as pawns while pressuring the State Department to remove the group’s terrorist status; the proposed 2003 prisoner swap (MEK for al-Qaeda) between the US and Iran that was scuttled by Doug Feith and Paul Wolfowitz; and how UN interviews with MEK members (to arrange relocation after Camp Ashraf’s closing) could reveal brainwashing and other unflattering cult-like behavior.
  • Stephen Zunes December 26, 2011: Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, discusses the Arab Spring as the culmination of decades of peaceful rebellion against tyrannical governments; why nonviolent protests are more inclusive and tougher to eradicate; why the Libyan revolution was not in the Arab Spring mold (more like a foreign intervention/regime change); how violent revolutions tend to breed more violence and result in authoritarian governments; how the Bush administration helped bring down Middle East/North African client dictators (without meaning to); and the status of Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and Algeria.
  • Jason Ditz December 26, 2011: Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the large bombings in Iraq after US withdrawal; Prime Minister Maliki’s attempt to arrest Vice President Tareq Hashemi as a “terrorist;” Iraq’s coalition government falling apart, as Maliki overreaches; the 700 US troops scheduled to remain behind as trainers; the military’s report justifying the fatal US air attack on Pakistani border posts; back-channel negotiations between the US and Pakistan’s civilian government to undermine the Pakistani military’s power; and indications NATO is staying in Afghanistan for the long haul.
  • Gareth Porter December 30, 2011: Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, ‘Serial Fabricators’ and the Tale of Iran and 9/11;” the US court judgement finding Iran liable for the 9/11 attacks in a civil lawsuit brought by victims’ families; the testimony of an Iranian defector, previously discredited as a “serial fabricator;” the alleged secret meeting between Iran’s leadership and OBL’s son, complete with miniaturized models of 9/11 targets and an ominously dangling toy missile; the anti-Islam groups peddling a grossly exaggerated, conspiratorial narrative in “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” style; and how Iran’s passport-stamping practices have become the basis of “material support” of al-Qaeda charges.
  Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!

• fauxnews
  • Congressman Ron Paul
  • Texas Governor Rick Perry
  • Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Brick TeeVee's XMAS Edition!

Your Guest List for Sunday's Talking Head News Shows beamed across America by Corporate Media PLUS reports from the best lib/prog media! If you have related STORIES share below! DEBUNK HERE! Throw Bricks!
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ALL LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW!!! Click on anything below and be INSTANTLY SMARTER! XMAS EDITION! Happy Holidays to all! Winter Solstice has come and gone and Christmas is here! But no amount of praying to supernatural gods will erase THE FACT of the Dai Ichi Fukushima tsunami/earthquake DISASTER and its millennial consequences. DAIACHI FUKUSHIMA UPDATE: READ this Report: 45 tons of highly radioactive water leaked from Fukushima the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), announced recently that a purification mechanism has leaked at least 45 tons of highly radioactive water, some of which ended up flowing directly into the ocean. ... But according to information posted on TEPCO's website, a decontamination device that had been purifying radioactive cooling water sprung a leak, which sent at least 45 tons of highly radioactive water outside the containment facility. Cracked concrete also allowed some of that water to leak into a gutter that drains directly into nearby ocean waters . And this recent story from the DailyMail.co.uk Japanese tsunami debris washes up on U.S. West Coast nine months after disaster (and there's 100 MILLION more tons on its way) Large black floats are the first remnants of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami to begin washing up on the American coastline. The debris traveled 4,500 miles on Pacific Ocean currents, pushed by wind and water, to reach the beaches of Neah Bay in far northwestern Washington state 280 days after the Japanese disaster. Some 100 million tons of debris -- from wrecked fishing vessels to household furniture and even body parts -- is bearing down on the West Coast, raising environmental fears about the impact of massive amounts of wreckage clogging beaches. ... Body parts are also expected to wash up on US shores, the Daily News reported. The Sacramento Bee reports Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Impact Seen As Roughly Comparable to Radiation-Related Deaths After Chernobyl; Infants Are Hardest Hit, With Continuing Research Showing Even Higher Possible Death Count. WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.The IJHS article will be published Tuesday and will be available online as of 11 a.m. EST at http://www.radiation.org. Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four reactors at Fukushima on March 11, scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived over American shores. Subsequent measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above normal across the U.S. The highest detected levels of Iodine-131 in precipitation in the U.S. were as follows (normal is about 2 picocuries I-131 per liter of water): Boise, ID (390); Kansas City (200); Salt Lake City (190); Jacksonville, FL (150); Olympia, WA (125); and Boston, MA (92). Epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, MPH MBA, said: "This study of Fukushima health hazards is the first to be published in a scientific journal. It raises concerns, and strongly suggests that health studies continue, to understand the true impact of Fukushima in Japan and around the world. Findings are important to the current debate of whether to build new reactors, and how long to keep aging ones in operation."Mangano is executive director, Radiation and Public Health Project, and the author of 27 peer-reviewed medical journal articles and letters. Internist and toxicologist Janette Sherman, MD, said: "Based on our continuing research, the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults." Dr. Sherman is an adjunct professor, Western Michigan University, and contributing editor of "Chernobyl - Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment" published by the NY Academy of Sciences in 2009, and author of "Chemical Exposure and Disease and Life's Delicate Balance - Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer."The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues weekly reports on numbers of deaths for 122 U.S. cities with a population over 100,000, or about 25-30 percent of the U.S. In the 14 weeks after Fukushima fallout arrived in the U.S. (March 20 to June 25), deaths reported to the CDC rose 4.46 percent from the same period in 2010, compared to just 2.34 percent in the 14 weeks prior. Estimated excess deaths during this period for the entire U.S. are about 14,000. EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio replay of a related news event will be available on the Web at http://www.radiation.org as of 4 p.m. EST/2100 GMT on December 19, 2011. Embargoed copies of the medical journal article are available by contacting Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com. SOURCE Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman, International Journal of Health Services Our intrepid watcher of U.S. corporonews (so you don't have to) geaux opines

Just heard on CNN, your trusted name in news: Dr. Gupta, replacing Anderson Cooper, just had a report about a country with a revered leader. The controlled media completely manipulates the message about this man. According to the made up accounts, he was born in adversity. As a young man, the story goes, he was always ahead of the curve. People are led to believe that he wrote many books, but not even this is true. Citizens are forced to believe totally ridiculous stories about the power and almost god-like features of the leader. People thank him in tears for anything good that happens to them.

In case you're wondering which country we point you to Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media at informationclearinghouse: Required Viewing for every citizen in the World. WATCH Thom Hartmann's Big Picture on RT.com Thursday's show Tea Party Tax Increase (RT interview with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com below on tuesday's show) an interview with the priest who scaled the ladder first at the OWS attempt to enter a New York church's property AND fukushima report author Joseph Mangano PLUS a story on Animal Rights "terrorists" FBI 2003 inquiry File - ALEC DENNIS tried to stop it! Center for Constitutional Rights - ccrjustice.org Here are two stories to read to get more background: Gitmo in the Heartland AND Appeals judge upholds sentencing for Holy Land Foundation Five So the U.S. House has agreed to the 2 month extension of the Social Security robbing "Payroll Tax Cut" after whining and stomping their feet like a 2-year-old. Embattled House Leader JOHN "Crybaby" BOEHNER explained the surrender this way "We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it's not exactly what we want," Boehner told a news conference. – byline Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan | Reuters via Yahoo – with this "outrageous" headline Speaker Boehner bows to pressure on tax deal. NOW JUST WAIT A GODDAMN MINUTE. Read that statement again: "Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it's not exactly what we want." LOOK AT what Boehner just said! If you had any doubt about the GOPher agenda going "forward" it is RIGHT THERE: Screw the American people because "doing the RIGHT THING" is "NOT EXACTLY WHAT" the GOPhers want! Of course we have been against the whole idea back in September pointing to The real threat to Social Security by Susie Madrak and our own post where we wrote our U.S. Senators demanding an "Opt In/Opt Out" so workers can decide if they'd rather pay the difference directly into their OWN SS ACCOUNT or take home that extra ten bucks now. No word back from our congresscritters on our proposal yet. And Monkeyfister at correntwire echoes our position in Yes, Republicans Are Assholes, But I Can't Support The Payroll Tax Holiday... ... But, as much as I cannot understand how the horribly unnecessary XL Pipeline, or these other provisions remotely relate to Medicare or Long-Term Unemployment, I simply cannot support the HEADLINE Payroll Tax Holiday. Even when I was making only $20K per annum, even when I was unemployed for 18 months post-9/11, $20 in my paycheck was still of nominal value to me. It meant I drank cheap beer, and rolled my own smokes, instead of buying premium. Twenty bucks per pay period is not worth what the Teabaggers are demanding as ransom, without offering a damned thing in their so-called "negotiations." The de-funding of Social Security should be questioned by EVERY AMERICAN from age eight to eighty. I'd prefer the Senate get their over-paid asses back in session, split the Payroll Tax Holiday nonsense out, pass the necessary Medicare and UI extensions as a "clean" Bill for the entire year, and deal with the rest of the crap Legislation at a later date. This is no fucking way to govern a Nation in crisis, and I am shocked that Congress retains even an 11% approval rate. Moreover-- the Left needs to stop and give some SERIOUS thought as to just what the fuck it is championing with this Payroll Tax cut. Fuck the lot of them, I am so goddamned pissed. I'm over 40, and dammit-- I WANT Social Security to simply EXIST in twenty years. This shit is fucked up, and BULLSHIT. Well said! Of course there is a "poison pill" inserted in this bill to push the Obomber Administration to make a decision on the proposed Keysone XL pipeline. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune exposes The Keystone XL Pipeline Scam (HuffPo/AOL) With all the political posturing in Congress over the Keystone XL tar-sands oil pipeline, it's easy to lose sight of the real issue: This pipeline is dangerous, unnecessary, and would cost the American people far more than we can afford. What we're watching unfold in Washington, D.C., is more than just a high-stakes political power play -- it's a scam undertaken by Big Oil's congressional puppets on the orders of oil companies that have billions of dollars at stake. The politicians pushing the pipeline are (how can I put this politely?) lying to the American people and pandering for dirty oil money. ... pipeline advocates aren't really concerned about what's best for the U.S. At least one oil company backing the pipeline, Valero, has made it clear that its main goal is to reach growing foreign diesel fuel markets. Port Arthur, TX, where the Keystone XL would end, is a Foreign Trade Zone. That means oil companies would avoid paying U.S. taxes on oil that is imported from Canada, refined in Texas, and then exported to China, Latin America, or Europe. The American people get to assume all of the risk, but would see none of the benefits, not even the tax revenues. This pipeline is a bad deal that would generate billions in profits for oil companies while leaving Americans to pay the price in higher fuel costs, energy insecurity, and polluted air and water. At a time when we need to be doing everything we can to get off oil and reduce global-warming pollution, the Keystone XL would take us in exactly the wrong direction. Tar sands oil is a gigantic climate disaster waiting to happen. At recallfitz.org "working to recall Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald" is this post Interesting fundraising appeal Today a friend sent me one of Scott Fitzgerald’s recent fundraising e-mails, which reads in part: “I need you to … help me fight the fraud that is happening right now on recall petitions in my district and others.” I find his approach both amusing and offensive. Mr. Fitzgerald apparently feels that his best hope of building a campaign war chest is not to remind prospective donors of his recent record, but rather to throw out baseless claims against our hard-working volunteers. It’s certainly understandable: although he campaigned on jobs and economic development, his work this past year has resulted in divisive policies, dismal job figures, a slew of lawsuits, and a bitterly divided legislature. If Mr. Fitzgerald needs more money, his fundraising attempts should rest on his merits and his record. Basing his fundraising appeals on false claims of our malfeasance is insulting and absurd. Here’s the full text of the e-mail... Once again another GOPher claiming the CANARD of virtually NON-EXISTENT "voter" fraud. But the GOPher HYPOCRACY reaches a new level in Indiana! Here is a CLEAR EXAMPLE of VOTER Fraud. From the AP via ChiTrib Judge refuses to dismiss charges against Indiana Secretary of State ... A Marion County judge is expected to rule soon on a civil lawsuit by Democrats that seeks to have White declared ineligible for office because he allegedly committed voter fraud. A Hamilton County grand jury indicted White in March on seven felony counts alleging that he used his ex-wife's address on voter registration and other documents while he actually lived at a condo where he intended to live with his new wife, and that he collected his town council salary after moving out of the district he represented. ... Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation rejected the Republican officeholder's motion to dismiss the seven felony counts and ruled that his trial will begin Jan. 30. Nation's ruling said an Indiana Recount Commission decision upholding White's 2010 election had no bearing on the court case and there was no legal authority limiting a prosecution of White, who is Indiana's top election official. ... White won election despite accusations that he lied about where he lived in the 2010 primary so he could continue collecting his salary from the Fishers Town Council. The Recount Commission ruled unanimously in June that White was eligible to run for office last year. That's right "Indiana's top election official" voted in a district where he DID NOT RESIDE! And in Wisconsin ScottWalkerWatch.com reports Theocratic zombie group “Christian Civil Liberty Union” being investigated for ruse to sign “Adolf Hitler” on petition form yet another case of REAL right-wing VOTER Fraud! Also at ScottWalkerWatch.com More than half of Republican contributions for Walker’s recall fight are from outside Wisconsin Scott Walker is not only getting untold and unaccountable amounts of money from the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove right-wing factions. He’s also getting oodles of cash from many out-of-state Republican contributors who seem very interested in making sure he stays the Grand Demogogue of Fitzwalkerstan. When it comes to how Walker has been given the opportunity to have unlimited amounts of campaign contributions and is still going to get recalled, it shows the power of Wisconsin grassroots efforts are much stronger than the astroturf versions devised by Walker supporters. Leading the pack is the scumbag who funded the disgusting and discredited “Swiftboat” campaign against John Kerry in 2004, Bob Perry. Karl Rove has stated that Perry is “willing to write checks to support Republican candidates”. Perry has given at least $7 million to Karl Rove’s superPAC “American Crossroads“. Foster Friess, second on the list, is part of the oh-so-exclusive Koch Brothers’ Million-Dollar Donor Club. Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has the numbers and this list is sorted with contributors from the highest amount (nearly a quarter million dollars) to $10,000 from between July 1 and December 10, 2011 Go see the Big Chart over there! Fitzwalkerstan! Ha! Love it! Go get 'em! As Mike Malloy mentioned on his show Wednesday, "Fascist all have names and addresses" so maybe send them an email! Or OCCUPY them! NEXT Raw Story's Muriel Kane reports Anonymous declares war on Congress with #OpAccountable Now the hacktivist collective Anonymous has joined the battle in its own distinctive manner, declaring war on the members of Congress who voted for the legislation under the operation name #OpAccountable. “This is an open letter to the US leaders,” the operation wrote in a document released on Friday, which cited both the NDAA and attempts to pass so-called anti-piracy legislation that critics fear would amount to preemptive censorship of the Internet. ... After quoting all ten articles of the Bill of Rights, it concludes, “Every time you violate these amendments we will ensure the people are aware of your actions. You may have previously succeeded in concealing your actions, but that time has come to an end. You were elected by us, and you can be removed by us.” The letter was accompanied by a document listing all available Twitter accounts of members of Congress, including both those who voted for and those who voted against the legislation. Another document has since been posted giving basic biographical and political information on three senators, with the promise of more to come. It is not clear, however, what Anonymous intends to do with these releases. AlterNet's Joshua Holland discovers how PolitiFact, Fearing a Right-Wing Backlash, Calls Democrats' 100% True Claim About the GOP Medicare Plan the "Lie of the Year" PolitiFact clearly chose the claim to avoid charges that it holds a liberal or Democratic bias. ...The accurate claim that the Republicans had voted to end Medicare (as we know it) might not have even made the final five if not for Paul Ryan's intervention. Dave Weigel reported for Slate that Ryan, author of the GOP plan, sent an email to supporters urging them to stuff the ballot box. ... It's so clear that Politifact went out of its way to find a “lie” told by Democrats that the American Prospect's Paul Waldman, a long-time media observer, actually caled it two weeks ago. “Giving the 'Lie of the Year' award to Republicans three years in a row would just invite too much criticism from the right," he wrote, "and if there's one thing the right is good at, it's screaming at journalists about 'liberal bias.'" ... The most enduring conspiracy theory in America is that the institutions charged with offering some semblance of objective reality – the media, the academy, scientists – are hopelessly biased towards the left, if not outwardly hostile to “traditional American values.” The right has not only developed its own dedicated, ideological media to do battle with traditional news outlets, but also an activist network, built around well funded organizations like the Media Research Center and Accuracy in Media, that can direct conservative ire at reporters and editors whom they portray as showing insufficient deference to their perspective. It's worked in the past, it worked on the editors of PolitiFact this year, and it will continue to pay dividends as long as "neutral" media outlets like PolitiFact give equal credence to the right's alternative reality. Paul Krugman put it this way in his headline Politifact, R.I.P. The answer is, of course, obvious: the people at Politifact are terrified of being considered partisan if they acknowledge the clear fact that there’s a lot more lying on one side of the political divide than on the other. So they’ve bent over backwards to appear “balanced” — and in the process made themselves useless and irrelevant. Way to go, guys. For more corporomedia coverage Alex Pareen presents Salon's War Room HACK 30 "a list of our least favorite political commentators, newspaper columnists, political news show hosts, and constant cable news presences, ranked roughly (but only roughly) in order of awfulness and then described rudely. Criteria for inclusion included being wrong about literally everything, shameless sycophancy, appearing on “Morning Joe” and being “Morning Joe.” " Start at the end with No. 30 David Brooks and work your way down to No. 1 (and of course our favorite insuffable No. 11 George Will or as Pareen writes, "The bow-tied pundit is as slimy and amoral as a spitball ... a sanctimonious moralist, a pretentious hypocrite, a congenital liar and a boring pundit, to boot.") Have fun! Over at AlterNet Rania Khalek has 8 Stories Buried By the Corporate Media That You Need to Know About. George Washington at zerohedge gives this advice: Democrats: Here’s How to Force President Obama to Debate Endless War, Assaults on Our Freedom and the Out-Of-Control Fed And Nomi Prins has a Guest Post: Jon Corzine, MF Global, And Unaccountability ... After days of political-reality TV, we knew nothing more about its evaporation. Corzine and his stewards, Abelow and Chief Financial Officer, Henri Steenkamp, executed a perfect chorus of ‘I don’t recalls’, ‘I didn’t intends’ and ‘the butler did its’. For the most part, testimony from the various regulators didn’t shed additional light on the ‘missing’ funds either (everyone’s extremely sorry and deep in search mode) but they did reveal extreme, pass-the-blame incompetence, in the spirit of AIG. Acronym alert. SEC director, Robert Cook testified that MF Global Holding Company (like AIG) had no official consolidated supervisor regulating it; one of its subsidiaries, MF Global UK Limited, fell under the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA.) The other one, MF Global Inc. (MFGI) was registered under the Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) as a FCM (futures commission merchant) and also, under the SEC as a broker-dealer. It was the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) supposedly overseeing MFGI’s broker-dealer activities, while its futures activities fell under the CFTC, National Futures Association and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Somewhere in the mix lurked the private self-regulatory body, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Really, how many inept regulatory bodies does it take to screw customers out of $1.2 billion? But, here’s how we know Corzine was lying – besides the nervous body movements. ...... We’re supposed to believe this ‘thorough and exacting’ man knew nothing about where it went? Or that his sense of entitlement and bravado was so big, he didn’t think it was wrong to take that money? Or that he wasn’t aware it was available? At all? No. Not possible. And yet, over half a dozen regulatory bodies were oblivious to the fund heist. Finding Corzine guilty of a crime would be like asking them to indict themselves.... William K. Black has his own solution to the Wall Street frauds in Dante's Divine Comedy: Banksters Edition ...I ignore for this purpose the fact that the fraudulent loans caused the bubble to hyper-inflate and drove the financial crisis that caused millions of people to lose their jobs. The financial accounting control frauds are the weapons of mass destruction of wealth, employment, and happiness. I also ignore the fact that the frauds described here made the perpetrators wealthy. My scale, therefore, systematically and dramatically understates the perpetrators' moral turpitude. I have also excluded the massive foreclosure frauds from my scale because they did not cause the underlying crisis. When Obama reveals the bankers actions he claims to be legal but highly unethical readers should keep my conscious understatement of the moral depravity of the illegal acts by bankers that drove this crisis in mind when they compare the relative ethical failings. As a criminologist, I do not favor sentencing criminals to the fates they richly deserve. I would never torture prisoners or place them at risk of assault, rape, or psychological trauma. I do not believe that extremely longer terms of imprisonment are desirable except in rare circumstances. As a lawyer and a criminologist I emphasize that any sentence should come only after a conviction in a trial providing due process protections or a guilty plea. My scale provides a label for the comparative moral depravity of the perpetrator, the deserved punishment (which when vicious is not the far more humane one I would actually impose), and a brief description of the specific frauds that are characteristic of this level of immorality and the number of perpetrators falling in each category. My inspiration was Dante's circles of hell as described in his Divine Comedy. Read on to see which bankers get into which Ring of the Inferno! Excellent! TVNEWSLIES has this Military to Designate U.S. Citizens as Enemy During Collapse Infowars has discovered new FEMA documents that confirm information received from DoD sources that show military involvement in a FEMA-led takeover within the United States under partially-classified Continuity of Government (COG) plans. It involves not only operations for the relocation of COG personnel and key officials, population management, emergency communications and alerts but the designation of the American people as ‘enemies’ under a live military tracking system known as Blue Force Situational Awareness (BFSA). Read the rest at InfoWars who state, "Within an hour of posting this article and linking to the pertinent document, the feds at FBO.gov have pulled the link and implied that it was a classified posting. We believe this was public and of interest to American citizens, taxpayers and peoples of the world and are in the process re-establishing an archive link of the material. Obviously, however, this information is revealing and certain parties do not wish it to be widely known. If you believe this material is important, please archive it and share it with your contacts. In the meantime, here are links to many of the pages." Bob Alexander asks I Wish We’d Stop Doing This at TVNEWSLIES Commentary The Dominant Culture of The United States, and most of the countries on this Earth, is Capitalism. We were taught it in school, we were told it was Gawd’s Will in church, we work within it during the day, it pours out of our televisions when we come home, and the only time we can escape from it is when we are asleep. Maybe. Corporate Capitalism dominates our planet. We can describe it as an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism or … we can describe it as A Self-Devouring Beast. Your choice. I don’t care. Either description is accurate. All I know is it’s a Capitalist world … we just live in it. .... What the hell … I’ll throw caution to the winds and go waaaaaay out on a limb and say it looks like Capitalism is fairly well-established here. Capitalism’s pathological pursuit of profit and power is: a.) A neat example of alliteration and b.) The engine of destruction killing the planet and ourselves. Our air, water, and land is fouled because it boosts the corporate bottom line. Our food is genetically modified, grown using toxic chemicals, and then refined to the point where it has little or no nutritional value to increase profits. Our health care system is designed to make money from people’s suffering and illness. Our social safety net programs are being dismantled while trillions of taxpayer dollars are funneled to the richest people in the world. And last but not least, as Socrates said, “All wars are fought for money.” Capitalists have corrupted our political and judicial systems, our media, and have successfully eroded the gains the labor and civil rights movements have made in this country. Anyone who doesn’t agree with everything I’ve just written is delusional. Who else is to blame? Socialists? Commies? Muslims, Catholics, or Jews? Black or Brown people? … Martians? From Wikipedia, “In US Criminal law, means, motive, and opportunity is a popular cultural summation of the three aspects of a crime needed to convince a jury of guilt in a criminal proceeding. Respectively, they refer to: the ability of the defendant to commit the crime (means), the reason the defendant had to commit the crime (motive), and whether or not the defendant had the chance to commit the crime (opportunity).” Capitalists are the only group that had the means, motive, and opportunity to destroy the country. I rest my case. Now that that’s settled … I only have one more question: Why do we keep voting for these people? And lastly we present the BTV HOLIDAY CHALLENGE! READ all of TIM DICKENSON How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich at Rolling Stone RS. DO IT NOW before it goes behind the pay wall (unless you have a hard copy or don't subscribe). Tim lays it all out HOW THIS HAPPENED over the past decade or three. NOW LOOK UP all those bills DICKENSON calls out that MADE LEGAL the 1% taking the 99%'s wealth. This is the hardest part because DICKENSON doesn't link to or mention the actual Congressional Bill NUMBERS nor the LEGAL NAMES that PASSED and MADE LAW (extra points for which pResident signed it). So get busy!

• START. Go to Thomas Registry and FIND THESE BILLS. SHARE your findings below! From here you can now find out WHO voted FOR these billls! ESPECIALLY YOUR U.S. House Representative in YOUR DISTRICT. (Watch out - many districts have been redrawn for 2012)
• Next LINE UP THESE VOTES for YOUR DISTRICT's Rep(s) chronologically. Some of us live in districts where we've had the same Rep for years or decades while many may have had Reps that got retired? chose not to run again? overtaken by a teabagger? became a lobbyist? retired to "write a book"? or "spend time with familiy"? or is in prison? died? - so make sure you write down any name changes. If you've moved then try to think back where you were voting in those years
• Now here's where it gets good. Once you've IDENTIFIED and PLACED yer congrescritters in this melee IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER you now have a PRETTY GOOD INDICTMENT AGAINST (or FOR) YOUR rep's RE-ELECTION. Some of us actually live in districts where our reps actually voted AGAINST these 1% giveaways and are still in office! And they deserve access to YOUR "oppo research" so SHARE this info with your Rep and get involved with their campaign!
• SHARE THIS INFO. Brick TeeVee has TWO posts you can save your info Brick TeeVee's Party of The Rich Bills! & Brick TeeVee's Party of The Rich by District! Add your info!

The Brick TeeVee Crew wishes all of you Happy Holidays! See you next week in 2012, hangovers in tow!

IMAGINE PEACE. War is over. If you want it.

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

»»» BRADLEY MANNING UPDATE @ Democracy NOW! Bradley Manning Hearing: Alleged WikiLeaks Whistleblower in Military Court, 19 Months After Arrest AND Adrian Lamo, Bradley Manning Informant, Defends Role in Turning in Alleged WikiLeaks Whistleblower and Bradley Manning Faces Life Sentence, While Criminals WikiLeaks Exposed Have Suffered No Consequences–Glenn Greenwald Dec 19, 2011 PLUS Bradley Manning’s Defense Strategy on Display as Military Prosecutors Rest Case in Pretrial Hearing AND Iraq Combat Veteran Dan Choi Forcibly Ousted, Barred from Bradley Manning Hearing at Ft. Meade Dec 21, 2011 AND As Bradley Manning Hearing Concludes, Military Prosecutors Say WikiLeaks Disclosures Aided al-Qaeda Dec 23, 2011
»»» Glenn Greenwald @ Democracy NOW! Obama Prepares to Authorize Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens for First Time Since McCarthy Era–Glenn Greenwald on NDAA Dec 19, 2011
»»» Chung-in Moon, professor of political science at Yonsei University in Seoul & Christine Ahn, executive director of the Korea Policy Institute @ Democracy NOW! The Death of Kim Jong-il and the Future of U.S. Relations with the Two Koreas Dec 20, 2011
»»» Democracy Now! reporter Ryan Devereaux @ Democracy NOW! Occupy Protesters Shut Down Major West Coast Ports, Targeting Goldman Sachs Dec 20, 2011
»»» Tim McGirk @ Democracy NOW! In Exiting Iraq, U.S. Military Discards Trove of Found Documents on 2005 Haditha Massacre of Iraqis Dec 21, 2011
»»» Nick Baumann, Mother Jones magazine @ Democracy NOW! With Indefinite Detention Measure, Has Congress Also Expanded Rendition of U.S. Citizens Abroad? Dec 22, 2011
»»» Randy Parraz, president of Citizens for a Better Arizona & Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Mounting Storm of Anti-Latino Bias, Prisoner Abuse, Sex-Crimes Negligence Dec 22, 2011
»»» Margaret Chin, New York City Council member (District 1) & Banny Chen, first cousin of Danny Chen WATCH NOW U.S. Troops Charged After Fellow GI, Hazing Victim Danny Chen Found Dead in Afghanistan Dec 23, 2011
»»» Greg Gordon, investigative reporter for McClatchy Newspapers’ Washington, D.C. bureau & Peter Stone, reporter at the Center for Public Integrity @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Newt Gingrich’s Campaign Resurgence Funded by Secretive Coterie of Super PACs, Wealthy Backers Dec 23, 2011

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» FEATURED SHOW Singing the Recall Carol in Wisconsin Solidarity singers faced down a new set of state policies intended to regulate and put a price on assembly and free speech at the Wisconsin state capitol, Monday.
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» Football Night in America on NBC Bears @ Packers! Kickoff at 8:20 pm et
»»» Monday Night Football on ESPN Falcons @ Saints! Kickoff at 8:30 pm et
»»» Welcome Back NBA! Christmas Day 5-game special on TNT, ABC and ESPN! Check your local listings!
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
The 1st Amendment is Our Permit WASHINGTON - October 14 - This is an emergency appeal. Spread it widely. Our permit to occupy is called “The First Amendment.” This morning, Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated when New York authorities beat a last-minute retreat from clearing Liberty Plaza – as hundreds of labor and other activists rushed to defend the square. But at the same time this morning, dozens of state troopers in riot gear cleared out Occupy Denver protests. In cities across the country, Occupy protesters have faced police violence and arrests. Some occupations have been forcibly removed while others have stood their ground successfully. The authorities say we don’t have the proper permits to occupy public spaces. 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.

Action for a Progressive Future (the organization that runs RootsAction) is a nonprofit, progressive, public policy advocacy group that will engage citizens in the democratic process and help make sure legislators hear their voices. (h/t jen)
October2011.org October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions. Take this pledge at October2011.org

"I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day or the days immediately following, for as long as I can, with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza to demand that America's resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning."

Do it NOW!
NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.org SOPA If you've been living under an Internet-free rock the past couple of weeks, you might have managed to miss the steady drumbeat of opposition to HR 3261, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Then again, if you've been living under an Internet-free rock, you've already had a preview of what we're facing if SOPA goes into effect. AmericanCensorship.org has pulled together an infographic that explains in very basic terms the services and sites that are at greatest risk from SOPA here: Infographic: Effects of the Internet Blacklist Bill (SOPA). More info at American Censorship Day READ Internet Censorship: Not Today, Not Tomorrow SIGN NOW! Internet censorship is coming to America. It’s in the form of a bill in Congress that gives corporations unprecedented power to blacklist websites at will. If passed, the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA (HR 3261), could rip apart the open fabric of the Internet. People could see their websites disappear from the Internet for a “crime” as innocent as posting a video of themselves singing along to a favorite song. Sign this petition NOW! Keep BTV and YOUR blog alive! Listen to Sam Seder with Tim Karr of Free Press on Net Neutrality [11•10•11] UPDATE: Bypass SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) DNS Blocking with DeSopa 1.1 A new anti-SOPA add-on for Firefox, titled “DeSopa” is such a counter measure.When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers, bypassing all domestic DNS blockades and allowing the user to browse the site though the bare IP-address (if supported).“I feel that the general public is not aware of the gravity of SOPA and Congress seems like they are about to cater to the special interests involved, to the detriment of Internet, for which I and many others live and breathe,” DeSopa developer T Rizk told....
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org
MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net And Alan Grayson is running again in FL-8! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed at wired.com plus The Deeply Personal Details in New Bradley Manning Chat Logs and Bradley Manning Support Network Much more at link.
UPDATE! DANIEL ELLSBERG on Countdown CURRENT TV - Activist Daniel Ellsberg weighs in on the importance of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning’s case Keith and Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower and author/activist, discuss the meaning of the Bradley Manning case—Manning is the Army intelligence analyst at the heart of the WikiLeaks controversy. Ellsberg claims that President Barack Obama is setting a precedent by allowing Manning to be charged under the Espionage Act. “The life sentence that he is facing is clearly to break him [Manning] down to incriminate Julian Assange,” says Ellsberg.
DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

B R I C K T E E V E E
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THEY report. YOU throw bricks. ©
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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,484 US Military Dead as of Dec 17, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,857 US Military Dead as of Dec 17, 2011
The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises
Considering Democracy: 8 Things to ask your Representative

• This Week (ABC) with Christiane Amanpour
  • 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'
  • "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour examines the key events in "The Year in the World."
  • ROUNDTABLE: Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass and U.S. Institute of Peace fellow Robin Wright, the author of "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World."

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
  • 2011 year in review
  • ROUNDTABLE: Chief White House Correspondent Norah O'Donnell, Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes, National Security Correspondent David Martin, Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Bob Orr, Senior Business Correspondent Anthony Mason, Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer and Political Director John Dickerson.

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • The Library - No one is allowed to borrow a book from the Vatican Library except the pope. And no wonder: the archive holds some of the oldest and most precious works of art and treasure known to man. Morley Safer and "60 Minutes" cameras get to see the best of the best. David Browning is the producer.
  • Mount Athos - Bob Simon steps back in time when he gets rare access to monks in ancient monasteries on a remote Greek peninsula who have lived a Spartan life of prayer in a tradition virtually unchanged for a thousand years. Cameras capture the monastic life, including chanting, prayers, rituals, and the priceless relics and icons from the Byzantine Empire stored on The Holy Mountain, Mt. Athos. Harry Radliffe and Michael Karzis are the producers.

• 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!
  • Special Christmas Edition: Morial, Friedman, Brokaw, Parker
  • ROUNDTABLE: NBC Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw, New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and former mayor of New Orleans, now president of the National Urban League, Marc Morial. Plus a special Christmas Day reflection from the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC

• State of the Union With Candy Crowley (CNN) Joe Johns fills in
  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.
  • Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Indiana)
  • The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard and CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein.
  • previously unseen portion of our interview with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

• HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid
  
  Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.
  • PRAYER MEETIN' WEDNESDAY!!!!! Coincidentally broadcast on Winter Solstice Eve! Listen now HERE (mp3)! AND Front Porch Friday!!!!! Bob wraps up the week! Listen NOW HERE (mp3)!
  Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE! And join Coal River Mountain Watch at www.crmw.net!

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!
  BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!
  • 'Green News Report' - December 22, 2011 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Breaking: More aid to Africa for drought/famine relief; Good year-end news for anyone who breathes: new rules to clean up toxic mercury and arsenic from coal plants; 30k Chinese 'occupy' to protest coal plants; Meet today's World's Newest Oil Spill, now in Nigeria; PLUS: Um... "explosive" trends in a melting Arctic ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
  IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): House GOP earns ‘Worst Environmental Record Of Any Congress’; Record TX drought kills 500m trees; Genetic mutations in farm-raised salmon; New material breakthrough could double solar efficiency - with cheap plastic; Seattle bans plastic bags; Keystone XL would ship oil to China; USDA deregulates Monsanto GMO seed; Top clean energy stories of 2011 ... PLUS: Don't paint it black: US researchers invent paint-on solar cells ... and much, MUCH more! ...
  BRADCAST UPDATE: Brad sits in AGAIN on the Mike Malloy Show Friday! FRI 12/23: TONIGHT: A VERY MERRY Christmas Show tonight! Trust me!
  • A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS SHOW! Man alive do we have a ton of good (and some less-than-good) news stories to, happily, cover tonight! Including, but not limited to, the voter fraud-charged GOP Sec. of State being ordered removed in IN yesterday; the DoJ's rejection today of SC's voter suppression law; the findings of flawed op-scan ballot machines in OH; the GOP folding in their attempt to raise taxes on 160 million Americans; Arrests in violent assaults on "Recall Walker" workers; news about Progressive radio staying on air in San Francisco; long-overdue new EPA rules to curb pollution and much more!
  • LORI COMPAS, the leading organizer of WI's "Recall Fitzgerald" campaign, demanding an apology from state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald who inaccurately claimed that she and her fellow petitioners were committing fraud in their signature gathering efforts to have him recalled along with Gov. Scott Walker.
  • PLUS! Everything else that's on your minds, via your calls over your public airwaves at 877-520-1150 and your tweets to @TheBradBlog!...
  AND BRAD on Thom Hartman's THE BIG PICTURE Tuesday Tea Party Tax Increase about 15-20 minutes in! go look!
  Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.

• The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!
  
  Listen at PeterBCollins.com!
  The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.
  • PBC Live! Weekly on KGO PBC Live! Weekly on KGO Your humble host has been remiss in keeping you apprised of his other media activities. Since February, I’ve been hosting a regular weekly show on KGO, the leading San Francisco talk station with a huge coverage area–at night, you can hear it anywhere on the West Coast. TFN (till further notice), you can hear me every Friday night–or, more precisely, Saturday morning, from 1-5 am (PDT) on 810-AM or streaming at www.kgoradio.com. If you’d like to be alerted each week, sign up on Facebook as a fan of “Peter B. Collins Show” or you can follow me on Twitter, @pbcsf
  • PBC Podcast 337 Convicted Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff Hangs Up Mid-Interview, Rather than Apologizing to Native American Leader Jack Abramoff’s rehabilitation media tour hit the rocks today, as he abruptly hung up and ended the interview rather than talk with Tom Rodgers of the Blackfoot Nation.
  • PBC Podcast 339 Progressives Have a Choice: Meet Jill Stein, Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein is the leading presidential candidate for the Green Party for 2012. In this wide-ranging interview, she makes a strong impression as a smart, well-informed progressive.
  • PBC Podcast 340 Back Story on Syria: Sibel Edmonds and Journalist Pepe Escobar Cutting through the disinformation and spin, Sibel Edmonds and Pepe Escobar reveal back stories about the conflict in Syria that are not reported in the mainstream media.
  • Holiday Break and Website Changes
  To my valued listeners: We are on a holiday break until the first week of January. You have my warm holiday wishes and best for the New Year. If you are in the Bay Area, I will be on KGO 810 AM 12/24 from 8-11am and 1/7 from 11am to 2pm. Others can catch the stream at kgoradio.com. We are making some changes to the website and our terms, effective in January. We will continue to offer free podcasts–my new daily news and commentary. Our in-depth interviews will be available for $1 per episode, or to subscribers who pay $5 per month or more. Loyal listeners who simply can’t afford it should send an email to peter@peterbcollins.com, as we will be offering a limited number of scholarships to our friends who are hurting during these tough times. More information will be posted as we complete the revisions. I’m grateful to each of you for listening and supporting this work, and hope that the new model will enable us to keep it going well into the future. All the best, -pbc

• 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 The Best of Ring of Fire! December 23, 2011
  • Actor, comedian, and documentary filmmaker Harry Shearer will join us to talk about his new documentary “The Big Uneasy.
  • Author Frank Schaeffer will join us to talk about the radical right wing evangelicals who have helped shape Michelle Bachmann’s worldview.
  • We’ll be talking with new MSNBC host Chris Hayes about how the gross income inequality in America is finally starting to hurt the elite on Wall Street.
  • Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, will be here to talk about how government regulations are helping to save American lives.
  • Author Chris Mooney will talk with us about the continuing assault on climate science that has now infiltrated our school system.
  • And political strategist and author Mike Lux will be here to tell us why our current economic policies are leading America to ruin.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Corporate Courts Will Aid GOP Voter Suppression Mike Papantonio appears on MSNBC’s The Ed Show to discuss how the GOP’s voter suppression efforts are going to be aided by the corrupt corporate court system in America. Papantonio: Why The Occupy Movement Needs Your Support Mike Papantonio talks with activist Jesse LaGreca about the meaning behind the Occupy Movement, and what the movement is ultimately hoping to accomplish.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Wall Street’s Secret Government One of the main issues that the Occupy Movement has with Wall Street bankers is that they took billions of dollars in bailout money from the federal government, and rather than using that money to create jobs, they used it to pay themselves record-breaking bonuses. But that’s just the beginning of the story. Thanks to a recent Freedom of Information Act request, the public now has access to records showing that the federal government did even more for Wall Street bankers than was previously thought. Mike Papantonio talks about the secret deals that took place between the federal government and Wall Street with Les Leopold, author of the book “The Looting of America.”
  • 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 Sunday nights at 7 pm ct 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!
  
  • David Graeber, one of the original Occupy Wall Street organizers, on Debt: the First 5,000 Years, OWS & D12 [12•12•11]
  • Jason Benlevi on Our Digital Life: How We're Changing and Who Benefits? [12•19•11]
  • Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo on the Payroll Tax Cut Fiasco [12•21•11]
  • Digby on Ron Paul, Libertarianism & the 2012 Elections [12•22•11]
  • An Update from Occupy New Hampshire! [12•22•11]]
  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
  • In fact, Europe is not the basket case many believe by maxkeiser. READ You Want The Truth? You CAN Handle The Truth! (zerohedge)
  • MUST READ: Trustee to Seize and Liquidate the Customer Gold and Silver Bullion From MF Global by maxkeiser. READ Trustee to Seize and Liquidate the Customer Gold and Silver Bullion From MF Global (Jesse's Crossroads Cafe)
  • VIDEO! GIABOzilla II: The Keiser Report Occupies JP Morgan by maxkeiser.
  • LEAKED REPORT: David Cameron was warned that bankers are, in fact, undermining the UK economy by “actually destroying value for the UK investor at least as fast as the stock market can create it” by stacyherbert. We should applaud this for now these bankers have more of our wealth to trickle back down upon us. But as Max Keiser says, “you can’t have capitalism without capital!” READ LEAKED REPORT: David Cameron was warned that bankers are, in fact, undermining the UK economy by “actually destroying value for the UK investor at least as fast as the stock market can create it” (Guardian UK)
  • KEISER REPORT [KR224] Keiser Report: Exotic pet banking fraudsters We discuss central banks and governments ‘saving the day’ and hostage taking paper silver markets and gold for bonds in Japan. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Satyajit Das, author of Extreme Money, about the European debt crisis.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR255] (They mean KR225) Keiser Report: Victims of Banking Terrorists This week we discuss virtual dollars and American plots and tinned goods and small-caliber weapons. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Detlev Schlichter about elastic money and financial crises.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR226] Keiser Report: Capitalism Without Capital? After after revealing that the Lizard King is back, we discuss the radical redistribution of gold and silver property in the US and the radical experiment in the UK to have capitalism without capital. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Professor Steve Keen about the UK’s financial sector debt which is at least 4 times as large as US financial sector debt before the global financial crisis began.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR227] Keiser Report – Merry X-Max & Happy New GIABO
  • ON THE EDGE Euro crisis-On the Edge with Max Keiser-12-09-2011 Guest: Greg Hunter
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1228] The Truth About Markets – 10 December 2011 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
  • Tom Engelhardt December 23, 2011: Tom Engelhardt, creator of Tomdispatch.com and author of The United States of Fear, discusses why the US withdrawal from Iraq seemed a lot like defeat, despite the “success” story peddled by Obama; how the ambitious Bush administration, confident of a “cakewalk” victory, never got the “enduring bases” and tens of thousands of permanent occupation soldiers they wanted; a catalog of what the US took home, and what remains behind; Dick Cheney’s reasonable explanation (in 1994) why George H.W. Bush was wise not to go all the way to Baghdad in the Gulf War; how the State Department has become a junior version of the DoD, more interested in war-making than diplomacy; and the militarized transformation of the US, in response to an al-Qaeda terrorist organization that (in its best days) could pull off an attack every few years.
  • Marcy Wheeler December 23, 2011: Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses the conviction of US citizen Tarek Mehanna on material support of terrorism charges, in part for posting “jihadist” videos online; the SCOTUS ruling (Holder v. HLP) that defines “material support” so broadly a lawyer could be arrested for representing alleged terrorist organizations (except those favored by the government, like MEK); whether provisions in the NDAA authorize the indefinite detention of Americans or not; the legal precedents set by the Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla and Anwar Al-Awlaki cases; and the ways presidents can avoid judicial review altogether – should a court ever get reacquainted with the Constitution and stop deferring to Executive power.
  • Adam Morrow December 21, 2011: IPS News journalist Adam Morrow discusses his article “Muslim Brotherhood Looks Beyond Tahrir;” the Islamic political parties sweeping Egypt’s parliamentary elections; continuing protests from Egyptian liberals, frustrated at getting trounced in the polls; the meeting with US Ambassador Anne Patterson, Senator John Kerry and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party; and whether Egypt’s second-place – and very conservative – Islamic party will inspire more paranoid talk of a burgeoning Islamic caliphate, poised to conquer the world and convert your children.
  Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!

• fauxnews
  • former presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee
  • Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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