Brick TeeVee Memorial Day Special!

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Memorial Day Special! Well there was President Not Sure in Ireland (tracing his Irish roots) and then in Jolly Old England to meet the Queen and that irreverant G8 meeting in France. Oh and that former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic was captured after 16 year on the lam. Ho hum. Instead we go with Steven D at the Booman Tribune to begin our Sunday! GOP to Hungry: Let Them Eat Nothing: Here's the GOP agenda in a nutshell: Anything Government does that helps people and saves lives should be eliminated. That is, Public Schools, Social Security, Medicare, Disaster Relief, etc., etc. etc., need to be eradicated and their ashes spread tossed into the sea, but anything that helps private business and rich people rip off the American taxpayers (fraud and abuse in government contracts, wasteful defense spending, tax cuts for the top 1% of Americans, et alia) should be promoted and increased until the Middle Class has a waist size roughly equivalent to that of a person in end stage anorexia. So cutting funds for food for hungry people? Yeah, that's Soooooo Republican. And the new U.S. version of the Nazi Enabling Act is in Congress now as David Swanson explains at warisacrime.org Republicans in Congress to Crown Obama King In what will come as a shock to the Tea Party and yet probably not rival the recent royal wedding in London for viewership, Republican Congressman Buck McKeon and Republican Senator John McCain plan to crown President Barack Obama King of America. They're not kidding, and this is no stunt.... But what if you can create laws that violate the Constitution, and then obey those laws, the Constitution be damned? And what if being a Republican today means striving to expand presidential power as far as possible -- in fact beyond the power ever held by any king? And what if being a Democrat today means the very same thing? Then you get something like H.R.1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, and in particular Section 1034:

"Congress affirms that-- (1) the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces and that those entities continue to pose a threat to the United States and its citizens, both domestically and abroad; (2) the President has the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note); (3) the current armed conflict includes nations, organization, and persons who-- (A) are part of, or are substantially supporting, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners; or (B) have engaged in hostilities or have directly supported hostilities in aid of a nation, organization, or person described in subparagraph (A); and (4) the President's authority pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) includes the authority to detain belligerents, including persons described in paragraph (3), until the termination of hostilities."

Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. This language would put into law the perilous policies now acted upon outside of the law. President Obama's war in Libya is absolutely unconstitutional, and nobody is about to do anything about that; so perhaps this doesn't matter. But with this language on the books, Obama and every future president would be able to legally, albeit unconstitutionally, justify launching any war at pleasure. This new "legal" language would get presidents around the restrictions of the War Powers Resolution, which does not permit unauthorized wars when the United States has not been attacked, which requires the reporting of information to Congress that, in the case of Libya, has not been reported, and which only permits wars -- when it does permit wars -- for 60 days, a deadline that has now been reached in Libya. According to the War Powers Resolution: ... Go to the link to read the rest! Robert Reich has some interesting thoughts on his blog (via alternet.org) Military Contractors' Secret Sway Over Our Politics -- Does Obama Have the Guts to Make Them Disclose Their Political Spending? Now, in the wake of the grotesque Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, there's no limit on what Lockheed can spend on politics. That's why the president should go the next step and ban Lockheed and all other government contractors that get more than half their revenues from government from engaging in any political activities at all. Otherwise, you and I and other taxpayers indirectly pay for Lockheed and Northrop Grumman to lobby for a larger military budget and support politicians who will vote for it. We indirectly pay for Blackwater to lobby for -- and support politicians who will demand -- more use of contract workers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We indirectly pay for Raytheon and General Dynamics to lobby for, and support politicians who will push for, more high-tech weapons systems. And so on. Disclosure is a start. But in this post-Citizens United world, it's only a beginning of what's needed. He goes on in The Republican Death Wish: The 2012 Election Is Going to Be All About Medicare Forty Senate Republicans joined their colleagues in the House to support Paul Ryan’s plan that would turn Medicare into vouchers that funnel money to private health insurers. ... This spells trouble for the GOP. Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans — even a majority of Republican voters — want to preserve Medicare. They don’t want to turn it over to private insurers. ... Can we be clear about that budget problem? It’s not driven by Medicare. It’s driven by the same relentlessly soaring health-care costs that are pushing premiums through the roof and causing middle-class families to shell out more and more money for deductibles and co-payments. ...That’s why Democrats should be proposing that anyone be allowed to sign up for Medicare. Medicare is cheaper than private insurance because its administrative costs are so much lower, and it has vast economies of scale. If Medicare were allowed to use its potential bargaining leverage over America’s hospitals, doctors, drug companies, and medical providers, it could drive down costs even further. ... If Medicare paid for results — not tests, procedures, drugs, and hospital stays, but results — it could give Americans better health at lower cost. Thanks Bob but that danged "post-Citizens United world" includes massive unaccounted-for PAC money that will buy ads that will make the electorate think black is white and up is down. And frankly, getting Dems elected isn't what it used to be, according to Chris Hedges Why Liberal Sellouts Attack Prophets Like Cornel West (truthdig.com) The liberal class, despite becoming an object of widespread public scorn, prefers the choreographed charade. It will decry the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or call for universal health care, but continue to defend and support a Democratic Party that has no intention of disrupting the corporate machine. As long as the charade is played, the liberal class can hold itself up as the conscience of the nation without having to act. It can maintain its privileged economic status. It can continue to live in an imaginary world where democratic reform and responsible government exist. It can pretend it has a voice and influence in the corridors of power. But the uselessness and irrelevancy of the liberal class are not lost on the tens of millions of Americans who suffer the indignities of the corporate state. And this is why liberals are rightly despised by the working class and the poor. The liberal class is incapable of reforming itself. ... The corporate forces, which have taken control of the press and which break unions, run the universities, fund the arts and own the Democratic Party, demand the banishment of all who question the good intentions of the powerful. Liberals who comply are tolerated within the system. They are permitted to busy themselves with the boutique activism of political correctness, inclusiveness or multiculturalism. If they attempt to fight for the primacy of justice, they become pariahs. Speaking of said Democrat pariahs we go to OpEdNews.com with Uri Avnery for coverage of Israeli PM Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress Bibi and the Yo-Yos IT WAS all rather disgusting. There they were, the members of the highest legislative bodies of the world's only superpower, flying up and down like so many yo-yos, applauding wildly, every few minutes or seconds, the most outrageous lies and distortions of Binyamin Netanyahu. It was worse than the Syrian parliament during a speech by Bashar Assad, where anyone not applauding could find himself in prison. Or Stalin's Supreme Soviet, when showing less than sufficient respect could have meant death. What the American Senators and Congressmen feared was a fate worse than death. Anyone remaining seated or not applauding wildly enough could have been caught on camera -- and that amounts to political suicide. It was enough for one single congressman to rise and applaud, and all the others had to follow suit. Who would dare not to? The sight of these hundreds of parliamentarians jumping up and clapping their hands, again and again and again and again, with the Leader graciously acknowledging with a movement of his hand, was reminiscent of other regimes. Only this time it was not the local dictator who compelled this adulation, but a foreign one. The most depressing part of it was that there was not a single lawmaker -- Republican or Democrat -- who dared to resist. When I was a 9-year-old boy in Germany, I dared to leave my right arm hanging by my side when all my schoolmates raised theirs in the Nazi salute and sang Hitler's anthem. Is there no one in Washington DC who has that simple courage? Is it really Washington IOT -- Israel Occupied Territory -- as the anti-Semites assert? ... Now Netanyahu is having his Khartoum. NO return to the 1967 borders. NO Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. NO to even a symbolic return of some refugees. NO military withdrawal from the Jordan River -- meaning that the future Palestinian state would be completely surrounded by the Israeli armed forces. NO negotiation with a Palestinian government "supported" by Hamas, even if there are no Hamas members in the government itself. And so on -- NO. NO. NO. The aim is clearly to make sure that no Palestinian leader could even dream of entering negotiations, even in the unlikely event that he were ready to meet yet another condition: to recognize Israel as "the nation-state of the Jewish people" -- which includes the dozens of Jewish Senators and Congressmen who were the first to jump up and down, up and down, like so many marionettes. Netanyahu, along with his associates and political bedfellows, is determined to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state by all and any means. That did not start with the present government -- it is an aim deeply embedded in Zionist ideology and practice. The founders of the movement set the course, David Ben-Gurion acted to implement it in 1948, in collusion with King Abdallah of Jordan. Netanyahu is just adding his bit. "No Palestinian state" means: no peace, not now, not ever. Everything else is, as the Americans say, baloney. ... NETANYAHU SPAT in Obama's eye. The Republicans in the audience must have enjoyed that. Perhaps some Democrats too. It can be assumed that Obama did not. So what will he do now? ... Another nice speech, however beautifully phrased, just will not do. After this week's deluge of speeches, we have had enough. Speeches can be important if they accompany actions, but they are no substitute for action. Churchill's speeches helped to shape history -- but only because they reflected historic deeds. Without the Battle of Britain, without Normandy, without El Alamein, those speeches would have sounded ridiculous. Now, with all the roads blocked, only one path remains open: the recognition of the State of Palestine by the United Nations coupled with nonviolent mass action by the Palestinian people against the occupation. The Israeli peace forces will also play their part, because the fate of Israel depends on peace as much as the fate of Palestine. Sure, the US will try to obstruct, and Congress will jump up and down, But the Israeli-Palestinian spring is on its way. Glenn Greenwald shares more observations in Great American Patriots Indeed, according to ABC News, Netanyahu received more standing ovations from the U.S. Congress (29) than the U.S. President did the last time he spoke (25); all of the ones Netanyahu received were from the super-patriots of the GOP caucus (and most from the Democratic caucus as well), whereas those right-wing patriots joined in only a small fraction of the ones received by their own country's President. What makes this more remarkable still is that this foreign leader whom they were cheering so boisterously and continuously just completed a public, ugly conflict with the American leader and has a long record of demonstrated indifference to American interests; yet the super-patriots of the American Right sided so brazenly and publicly with this foreign leader over their own country's President. Meanwhile, both political parties in Congress are in a frantic competition to see which one can lavish Netanyahu with more obsequious praise; this statement sent out in the name of Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey is typical of the entries. For his part, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ran to AIPAC to undercut (and rebuke) his own President and the leader of his own party on Israel, something that -- as Andrew Sullivan correctly observed -- would be inconceivable on any foreign policy issue other than Israel. In sum, the same faction that spent the last decade demanding fealty to the Commander-in-Chief in a Time of War upon pain of being accused of a lack of patriotism (or worse) now openly sides with a foreign leader over their own President. The U.S. Congress humiliates itself by expressing greater admiration for and loyalty to this foreign leader than their own country's. And because this is all about Israel, few will find this spectacle strange, or at least will be willing to say so. Then Greenwald exposes more of the Beltway Bubala mindset in David Brooks' political dream It has long been the supreme fantasy of establishment guardians in general, and David Brooks in particular, that American politics would be dominated by an incestuous, culturally homogeneous, superior elite "who live in [Washington] and who have often known each other since prep school." And while these establishment guardians love to endlessly masquerade as spokespeople for the Ordinary American, what they most loathe is the interference by the dirty rabble in what should be their exclusive, harmonious club of political stewardship, where conflicts are amicably resolved by ladies and gentlemen of the highest breeding without any messy public conflict. ... But more generally, what Brooks so envies about British political culture -- a small, incestuous, aristocratic, homogenized group of trans-ideological elites harmoniously resolving their differences -- is exactly what already drives American policy and politics. And that is what establishment spokespeople like Brooks always mean when they yearn for "bipartisanship": wise old men getting together in secret and reaching agreements that exclude democratic debate and render irrelevant genuine differences among the citizenry. ... Most of what the U.S. Government does of any significance takes place behind closed doors: dominated by corporatist elites and their lobbyists (whom Brooks charmingly considers noble "experts") and away from the knowledge or involvement of the prying, ignorant masses; that, for instance, was how President Obama's health care legislation was actually shaped, and it's obviously how virtually all foreign policy is shaped and implemented. Indeed, the Congress -- from top to bottom -- is now structured to avoid any actual democratic debate and instead ensures the resolution of all matters in secret. In response to last night's 74-8 cloture vote on the Patriot Act, the always-superb, hyper-informed commenter pow wow -- in a comment that I highly recommend everyone read -- explained perfectly how this works. Citing the joint efforts of both parties' leadership to block any debate over authorization of the war in Libya, he explained: "the Party (= fundraising) organizations and their leadership [] operate almost entirely off the public record and out of public view. Their objective at all times: avoid unpredictable democratic floor action, and the accountability of public debate." ... UPDATE II: Someone who actually understands British politics -- this British journalist from the British newspaper Telegraph -- explains that Brooks has no idea what he's talking about. Haha! Watch Top Secret America The Video now on Frontline (after the expose by the same name by Dana Priest and William Arkin). Haha all you Phayce Buch "activists"! Our intrepid msinla reports What's up with da Buuk up and political groups??"Facebook’s managers are deploying a new software upgrade that will dismantle myriad groups of like-minded political activists unless they get a special software-key from the company. But the managers are providing very limited information about which groups are being favored with the new key, prompting some activists to complain about possible political favoritism among Facebook managers, and many other activists to experiment with techniques and tricks to get the needed upgrade-key.The new software-upgrade will automatically archive all groups. Once archived, each group’s past activity will be still be visible on Facebook, but the groups’ administrators will lose access to their lists of group members. That means the administrators lose contact with everyone in their groups, and will be forced to recruit all those members again – unless Facebook provides them with the special upgrade software." Then this from a fellow poster at the Japan blog today:"I actually had a personal experience with FB censorship the other day. My account and the accounts of all members of a group I belong to was locked down for several hours for "security reasons". Facebook then deleted an event that was planned for July. The group is anti-chemtrail. Haha Phayce Buch has its own little War on Anti-Chem-Trail activists! Where does is stop? Bill McKibben of 350.org opines at the WaPo A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never! Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that (which, together, comprised the most active April for tornadoes in U.S. history). No, that doesn’t mean a thing. It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events. It is not advisable to try to connect them in your mind with, say, the fires burning across Texas — fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires have in previous years. Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they’ve ever been — the drought is worse than that of the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if they’re somehow connected. If you did wonder, you see, you would also have to wonder about whether this year’s record snowfalls and rainfalls across the Midwest — resulting in record flooding along the Mississippi — could somehow be related. And then you might find your thoughts wandering to, oh, global warming, and to the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet, since warm air holds more water vapor than cold air. It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods — that’s the important thing. Just be careful to make sure you don’t let yourself wonder why all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity — that is, why there have been unprecedented megafloods in Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan in the past year. Why it’s just now that the Arctic has melted for the first time in thousands of years. No, better to focus on the immediate casualties, watch the videotape from the store cameras as the shelves are blown over. Look at the news anchorman standing in his waders in the rising river as the water approaches his chest. Because if you asked yourself what it meant that the Amazon has just come through its second hundred-year drought in the past five years, or that the pine forests across the western part of this continent have been obliterated by a beetle in the past decade — well, you might have to ask other questions. Such as: Should President Obama really just have opened a huge swath of Wyoming to new coal mining? Should Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sign a permit this summer allowing a huge new pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta? You might also have to ask yourself: Do we have a bigger problem than $4-a-gallon gasoline? Better to join with the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted 240 to 184 this spring to defeat a resolution saying simply that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.” Propose your own physics; ignore physics altogether. Just don’t start asking yourself whether there might be some relation among last year’s failed grain harvest from the Russian heat wave, and Queensland’s failed grain harvest from its record flood, and France’s and Germany’s current drought-related crop failures, and the death of the winter wheat crop in Texas, and the inability of Midwestern farmers to get corn planted in their sodden fields. Surely the record food prices are just freak outliers, not signs of anything systemic. Nah, Bill Nothing to see there Bill, nope nada! At ThinkProgress Zaid Jilani breaking news on Thursday Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin Makes History By Signing Into Law Single Payer Health Care The governor’s office just confirmed for ThinkProgress that Shumlin signed the legislation into law this morning, making the state the first in American history to pass legislation that will establish a single payer health care system to provide care to all citizens. Now that the law is signed, Vermont will spend the next four years setting up the system and preparing it for implementation. In order to actually enact the system, the state needs a waiver from the Affordable Care Act health reform law. Currently, the federal government will start handing out state waivers in 2017 — three years after Vermont wants to implement its system. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) has introduced an amendment that would move the waiver date up to 2014, an idea that President Obama has endorsed. UPDATE: In a statement provided to ThinkProgress, Shumlin explained that he had an economic and moral imperative to champion Vermont's new health care law: "This law recognizes an economic and fiscal imperative – that we must control the growth in health care costs that are putting families at economic risk and making it harder for small employers to do business. We have a moral imperative to fix this problem, with 47,000 Vermonters uninsured and another 150,000 underinsured and worried about how to afford keeping their families healthy" Then in Wisconsin Zaid notes Wisconsin Judge Strikes Down GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s Anti-Collective Bargaining Law Now, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi has struck down Walker’s anti-union law, saying its passage violated the state’s open meetings law and “the public’s trust”:

On Thursday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that Republican legislators violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law by calling the meeting without a 24-hour notice. She said that renders the law void. She had put the law on hold while she considered the case. Sumi said violating the open-meetings law betrays the public’s trust. “The court must consider the potential damage to public trust and confidence in government if the Legislature is not held to the same rules of transparency that it has created for other governmental bodies,” she wrote in a 33-page decision. “Our form of government depends on citizens’ trust and confidence in the process by which our elected officials make laws, at all levels of government.”

Thanks Judge Sumi. Now, can you do anything about those "faith-based" voting machines? Check out the Institute for Economics and Peace - VisionOfHumanity.org Global Peace Index 2011 See the STATE OF PEACE 2011 Rankings where Israel is #145, Pakistan is #146, Afghanistan is #150, Iraq is #152, and Iceland is #1, New Zealand is #2, Canada is #8. Hmmmm. The former Yugoslavia is Serbia 84, Croatia 37, Bosnia and Herzegovina 60, Montenegro 89, Macedonia 78, Slovenia 10, Kosovo (not listed, still not a 'state'). Double Hmmmmmmmmm. The United States? #82 between #81 Gabon and #83 Bangladesh. Why is that? For this Memorial Day we return to David Swanson Our New Iraq-Afghanistan War National Holiday Memorial Day is nice, I suppose. Veterans Day is all right. Patriots Day can be fun. Yellow Ribbon Day's not bad. But you will be pleased to hear that on Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted, in pure bipartisan harmony, to add the following gem to the big war-funding, war-expanding, bill that now goes to the Senate: "The President shall designate a day entitled a National Day of Honor to celebrate members of the Armed Forces who are returning from deployment in support of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other combat areas." Catchy, ain't it? I can't wait to find out what day the President will so designate. I do hope it's my birthday, but I'm not trying to be greedy -- I know you all just had the same thought. While, oddly, not a single newspaper took notice, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (Dem., Texas) proposed this historic bit of legislation on the floor of the House on Thursday... The amendment passed on a voice vote, but Jackson Lee insisted on a roll call, upon which it passed unanimously. The same bill proposes April 9th be made Yellow Ribbon Day, honors in various ways the veterans of a wide variety of past wars, defunds the U.S. Institute of Peace (thus saving the cost of 5 hours in Afghanistan), and requires that all suspected foreign terrorists who are not killed be tried, if they are tried, by the military and not in courts. This is, I repeat, the same bill that formally gives presidents virtually unlimited power to make war. This may be the worst bill ever deemed likely to pass into law. A holiday for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars somehow just doesn't make up for that in my mind. I'd rather party like it was 1999, before the current madness really kicked in. I hope we all still have jobs from which to get time off for Jackson Lee's holiday. The Brick TeeVee worked the grounds in between scattered thundershowers all week and the place looks good! The Crew has a gourmet hot dog & sausage buffet scheduled for the weekend's festivities including everything you could imagine putting on a hot dog! Of course the Crew has its sights on The BRICK Yard for the 95th running of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing! The Wiki sez "The race will be the third of the three-year long Centennial era, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the track (1909) and 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 (1911). The race was suspended during WWI (1917–18) and WWII (1942–45), therefore the 100th running of the event will not occur until 2016." Of course the Left turn League has its own spectacle, the Coca-cola 600 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, And how about that First-Place Tribe! After Sunday's rubber match with the Rays they head North of The Border for a three-game set with the Blue Jays! Have a nice holiday, take in your local parade on Monday and enjoy family, friends and community.

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

JAPAN IN CRISIS JAPAN IN CRISIS Democracy Now! reports on the disaster in Japan following a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and the resulting nuclear crisis.
»»» Former top federal mine safety official J. Davitt McAteer @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Massey Energy Guilty: West Virginia Probe Finds Coal Giant Systemically Failed to Comply with Law May 23, 2011
»»» Robert Kennedy Jr. & Filmaker Bill Haney @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy”: New Documentary with Robert Kennedy, Jr. Chronicles Campaign to Halt Mountaintop Removal We speak with environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr., and filmmaker Bill Haney about the new documentary, The Last Mountain, which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. May 23, 2011
»»» WBAI broadcaster Bob Fass & music writer Elizabeth Thomson @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW The Legendary Bob Dylan Turns 70: Democracy Now! Airs Rare Interviews and Songs from Pacifica Radio Archives May 24, 2011
»»» Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative. @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress Dashes Palestinian Hopes of a Just Mideast Peace Agreement May 25, 2011
»»» CodePink's Rae Abileah @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW “Netanyahu is the Main Obstacle to Peace”: CodePink Activist Disrupts Israeli PM Speech to Congress May 25, 2011
»»» Dr. Deb Richter, president of Vermont Health Care for All @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Vermont Poised to Become 1st State to Enact Single-Payer Healthcare May 26, 2011
»»» 350.org's Bill McKibben @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Bill McKibben: From Storms to Droughts, Devastating Extreme Weather Linked to Human-Caused Climate Change May 26, 2011
»»» The Nation's John Nichols @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW The Battle for Wisconsin: Court Strikes Down Gov. Scott Walker’s Anti-Union Bill May 27, 2011
»»» MoveOn's Eli Pariser @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Eli Pariser on "The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You” May 27, 2011
»»» Biologist Sandra Steingraber @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Sandra Steingraber on the Health Crisis Surrounding Natural Gas Extraction May 27, 2011

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» BIG NEWS @ GRITtv GRITtv is becoming The Laura Flanders Show! As you know, we have been pursuing national syndication. We are now pleased to announce that starting later this summer, The Laura Flanders Show will appear on public TV stations across the country -- including in major markets in San Francisco, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, distributed by EPS, Executive Program Services Inc. (more...) And read more at The F Word @ GRITtv from May 13th, 2011 The F Word: Goodbye For Now from GRITtv
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» Indianapolis 500 It's the 95th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing! Coverage begins on ABC at NOON et
»»» NASCAR on FOX It's the Coca-cola 600! Coverage begins on FOX at 5 pm et
»»» MLB on TBS Red Sox @ Tigers 1 pm et
»»» Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Reds @ Braves 8 pm et
»»» Monday Night Baseball on ESPN Giants @ Cardinals! 7 pm et
»»» NBA PLAYOFFS It's the Mavs vs. The Heat for the 2011 Championship beginning 9 pm et Tuesday on ABC. All finals games are in prime-time on ABC.
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
ACCESS NOW At BTV we're all about Net Neutrality but apparently the G8 is not. G8: Protect the Net by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: For the first time, the leaders of the G8 developed countries are going to discuss internet policy. Instead of promoting net neutrality and user privacy and combating online censorship, the French government has locked civil society out of these conversations, while inviting CEOs -- some of whom paid $100,000 for their seat at the table -- who are pushing policies like strict intellectual property enforcement, which will line corporate pockets while curtailing our digital rights. Unless we speak out now, decisions about internet policy are going to be made at the highest levels without our voices represented. Please sign this urgent petition calling on the G8 to adopt citizen-centered internet policies, which we’ll deliver at a press conference to the world media on Monday in Paris. Much more at www.accessnow.org
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. Today the Campaign for America’s Future is sending letters to all the major media demanding that the views of the American Majority be represented in the news programs, print articles and opinion pages, and in the non-stop daily and Sunday talk shows in which the debate about America’s future is being conducted as we move toward the showdown over the budget. We are demanding representation in the media proportional to the size of the American Majority. And we are making the point that the views of the majority are not irrational—and that in a democracy the majority deserves to be heard, not patronized. We are also supplying the media with an extensive list of economists, experts and advocates who share the majority view that deficits are not now the major threat to U.S. prosperity, and that getting revenue back into the budget is far less damaging (and more just) than cutting spending and crippling important programs for the poor and the elderly. And we are telling them that occasionally featuring the great Paul Krugman, as though his views represent a lonely majority, is not enough. ... 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
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! A Typical Day For PFC Bradley Manning at Fort Leavenworth 1 PFC Manning was transferred to the Joint Regional Corrections Facility (JRCF) at Fort Leavenworth on April 20, 2011. I was able to tour the facility and meet with PFC Manning last week. PFC Manning is now being held in Medium Custody. He is no longer under Prevention of Injury watch and is no longer subjected to harsh pretrial confinement conditions. Unlike at Quantico, PFC Manning cell has a large window that provides adequate natural light. His cell also has a desk, a bed, and a toilet. The cell is approximately 80 square feet. He is provided with a normal mattress, sheets and a pillow. None of his clothing is taken away from him at night. PFC Manning is able to have all of his personal items in his cell, which include his clothing, his legal materials, books and letters from family and friends. He is also able to have a pen and paper at all times in his cell, and is able to write whenever he chooses. ...... Correspondence can be sent to PFC Manning at the following address: Bradley Manning 89289, JRCF, 830 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2315 More at link.
EMAIL UPDATE! Help us reach our goal of a half million by signing the petition, and passing it on. Add your name! AND Vote for Bradley in the 2011 Time Magazine 100 Poll here!
Add your name to this petition Eminent US legal scholars protest 'torture' of Bradley Manning.
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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,454 US Military Dead as of May 27, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,595 US Military Dead as of May 27, 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'
  • Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty
  • Gov. Mitch Daniels
  • ROUNDTABLE: ???

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer - Topics: Jobs, Medicare reform and campaign 2012
  • House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
  • Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the DNC

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • Medal of Honor - The first living soldier to win the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War tells Lara Logan in an emotional interview just what he did to earn the nation's highest combat honor and how the recognition makes him uncomfortable. Sal Giunta has now possessed the medal for six months and says he is just as uncomfortable wearing it as he was to be named its winner. Max McClellan and Jeff Newton are the producers. THIS IS A DOUBLE-LENGTH SEGMENT.
  • A Relentless Enemy - Lara Logan's report takes viewers to the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the unit she was covering came under heavy and regular enemy fire from fighters the U.S. military says keep coming from their sanctuary in Pakistan. Max McClellan and Jeff Newton 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!
  • Democratic Policy Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY).
  • Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY)
  • ROUNDTABLE: Fmr. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN); GOP Strategist Alex Castellanos; Washington Post Columnist Ruth Marcus and New York Times Columnist David Brooks.

• 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.
  • Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army
  • Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
  • Tim Tetz, legislative director for The American Legion
  • Sen. Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
  • Dale Beatty, co-founder of Purple Heart Homes.
  • Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon

• HEAD ON RADIO with Bob Kincaid
  
  Headon Radio with Bob Kincaid 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, 2300 GMT. Duration: 3 hrs. To be part of the conversation on Head-on Radio, call toll-free (877) 443-2366, or use our Liberal community line at 304-658-3333. Email: bob [at] headonradio [dot] com.
  • FRONT PORCH FRIDAY!!!!!! Grab a cold one and put yer feet up! Listen HERE (mp3)!
  Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE!

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!
  Go see greennews.bradblog.com!
  • 'Green News Report' - May 26, 2011 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another day, another deadly outbreak of tornadoes in a record season; Japan admits three meltdowns and turns to solar; Electric cars for the federal fleet; PLUS: House Republicans hold disaster aid hostage... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
  IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Suing the FDA over antibiotics in livestock feed; New US mpg labels now include emissions; Switzerland to phase out nuclear power; Norway plans billion-dollar clean energy fund for poor; What does a great sustainable city look like?; World Bank's coal electricity headache; Water scarcity impacts energy options in West; Will 10 Billion people use up the planet's resources?; Swine flu likely came from China; Cancer now leading cause of death in polluted China; Curious: AEI's budget proposal includes a carbon tax; GM recycles BP spill booms for ChevyVolt; Very cool liquid-cooled LED bulb introduced; A dark day for Brazil's Amazon jungle ... PLUS: Oil speculators charged with price manipulation. How does oil speculation raise gas prices? ... Links to STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT' at Green News Report! Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
  UPDATE! Federal Judge Denies 'First Amendment' Defense by O'Keefe, Giles in ACORN Worker Law Suit Rightwing activists and propagandists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, employees of con-artist and propagandist Andrew Breitbart, may not use the First Amendment as an excuse for breaking the law in California, according to a federal judge's ruling this week. Judge M. James Lorenz rejected the defendants' argument and motion for summary judgment in federal court, as part of the civil lawsuit filed against them by former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera....more at BradBlog.com.

• 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 254 Boiling Frogs: Top Whistleblower Attorney Steve Kohn Latest installment in the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. Our guest is Stephen M. Cohn of the National Whistleblower Center and author of the new book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook.
  • PBC Podcast 255 Journalist Russ Baker’s Not Afraid to Ask the Tough Questions; Will Durst Taunts Gingrich Russ Baker, founder of WhoWhatWhy.com and author of Family of Secrets, returns for a wide ranging conversation about the failings of the corporate media and its coverage of the bin Laden raid and other recent events. Will Durst, in a rare burst of self-interest, says “Run, Newt, Run!”

• Ring of Fire Radio
  
  Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder
  Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.
  This Week on Ring of Fire! May 27th, 2010
  • This week on Ring of Fire: blogger and author David DeGraw will be joining us to talk about the big money special interests that are threatening to destroy our democracy.
  • We’ll also hear from author Cliff Schecter about how American voters – even the most conservative ones – will support Democrats when Republicans threaten to cut off their Social Security and Medicare.
  • We’ll also be talking with attorney and author Joe Burns about why American workers need strong union protection today more than ever.
  • Attorney Peter Mougey will be here to tell us how the Securities and Exchange Commission has avoided regulations by employing former members of Congress and their staffers.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Obama Fails on Oil SubsidiesThe same way that we have grown to expect the Republicans to ignore and change the science about issues like global climate change, we now have a White House who agrees to ignore the science that shows us that drilling 18,000 feet below the sea is inherently dangerous and can’t be done safely. But the White House is even giving the oil thugs an extra gift. He’s going to give them a break on the royalties they pay to drill – that’s a royalty along with the $40 billion dollars a year taxpayers give them in subsidies and tax loopholes and exemptions.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: The Truth About Oil Subsidies Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio talks with Tyson Slocum from Public Citizen about the truth behind oil subsidies and the government’s other oil industry giveaways. Here’s a hint, that $4 billion number being thrown around by the media is only one-tenth of what they actually get from the government.
  • 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 8 pm (4 pm on 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!
  
  • Eli Pariser on his new book "The Filter Bubble", Google & Facebook [05•23•11]
  • Dennis vanEngelsdorp talks Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious reason why bees are dying off [05•24•11]
  • Ari Berman of The Nation talks Medicare, NY-26 & More! [05•25•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!
  • VIDEO! The Official Silver Liberation Army! See SilverLiberationArmy.com !
  • VIDEO! Silver Price Manipulation: JP Morgan -v- Bunker Hunt (HSBC and JPM control over 75% of silver shorts)
  • The Funky Poet From Harlem Finally Escapes Whitey by maxkeiser Gil Scott-Heron, credited with inspiring rap, dies Poetic anger. Gil Scott-Heron took anger to the edge of violence in song, poetry and ‘spoken word.’ But you didn’t have to raise a fist or a gun. You could nod you head up and down, ‘uh huh.’ – “Makes you want to holler sometimes, throw up both of your hands” (from the track, “Inner City Blues”) The first time I heard GSH I was dozing off to sleep listening to WRVR Jazz. I was 15 or 16 at the time and living in extremely white Westchester County when “My sister Nell got bit by a rat . . . And Whitey’s on the Moon,” this GSH classic, burst through the speakers and I got hooked. Poetic anger. Beautiful rage.... (more at link)
  • The fall of the Soviet Union = decline in Soviet oil production caused by peak oil. Read Peak oil and the Fall of the Soviet Union: Lessons on the 20th Anniversary of the Collapse at TheOilDrum.com
  • GIABO & Mutant Capitalism Read Bankrupt Nations Try To Stop The Future From Happening, Fail at zerohedge
  • KEISER REPORT Keiser Report: Savers vs Speculators
  • KEISER REPORT Keiser Report: Gold Stands Rock Hard We talk to Ned Naylor-Leyland of Cheviot.
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1201] The Truth About Markets – 28 May 2011 Download mp3 HERE Donations to ResonanceFM here.
  • ON THE EDGE [OTE109] On the Edge with John Perkins
  • ON THE EDGE [OTE112] On the Edge with Stefan Molyneux

• ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
  LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
  Listen at antiwar.com/radio
  • Eric Margolis May 26, 2011: Eric Margolis, foreign correspondent and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj, discusses the close watch the US is keeping on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons sites, creating suspicions that a confiscatory raid is being planned; how recent events make the Pakistani military look weak and incompetent; how the crucial and fragile US supply line from Pakistan to Afghanistan could be the object of retaliation against further military incursions; how billions in US “aid” convinces Pakistan’s elite to wage a very unpopular war in the tribal areas; and the open question of who could replace CIA-asset Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan to make a legitimate government.
  • Joshua E.S. Phillips May 26, 2011: Joshua E.S. Phillips, independent journalist and author of None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture, discusses his article on the post-Abu Ghraib investigations of Iraqi prisoners abused in US custody, “Inside the Detainee Abuse Task Force;” attorney Susan Burke’s lawsuit against private military contractors, on behalf of 337 Iraqi torture victims; the sincere efforts of many DATF investigators, who were given insufficient guidelines and resources to do their jobs; suspicions that investigations were reopened in response to particular FOIA requests from the ACLU (an open investigation is immune from FOIA); and why all the evidence points to a systemic culture of abuse and torture, far beyond the “few bad apples” at Abu Ghraib.
  • Robert Parry May 28, 2011: Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses his snazzy new website; his article on the US Congress’s love-fest for Israel’s Prime Minister, “Cheering Netanyahu’s Intransigence;” how, with members of Congress competing for the role of top Israel cheerleader, all pressure to negotiate with the Palestinians is relieved; walking back long established understandings, like a reversion to 1967 borders and a shared Jerusalem capital; Likud Party member Danny Danon’s NY Times op-ed proposing the annexation of the West Bank, should Palestinians declare statehood in September; and the Likud Party’s influence in US politics since the Carter administration.
  • Gareth Porter May 28, 2011: Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses David Sanger’s latest inflammatory and inaccurate NY Times article on Iran’s nuclear program (you’d think the second paragraph alone would have killed the article – how are multiple bullet-points on page 7, of a 9 page report, in any way “buried”); how the IAEA goes beyond its mandate when dealing with Iran, demanding information they have no right to; Israel’s document forgeries and efforts to frame up Iran; and why the IAEA is a political organization with an agenda, heavily influenced by the US, not the neutral scientific observer the media portrays it as.
  • Daniel Ellsberg May 28, 2011: Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, discusses the espionage trial of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, scheduled to start on June 13 – also the 40th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers leak; why Bradley Manning, even if guilty of everything he’s accused of, still didn’t commit a federal crime; the history, applicability and common use of the Espionage Act of 1917; why using the Act for prosecuting whistleblowers who disclose classified information violates the First Amendment and should be unconstitutional; how Manning’s possible conviction would fundamentally damage the relationship between Americans and their government; and the disturbing trend of increasing government secrecy and decreasing public privacy.
  Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!

• fauxnews
  • Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Ranking Member, Armed Services Cmte.
  • Rep. Allen West (R-FL)
  • Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD)

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The Day After May 21st Okay everybody still here? See Dana Milbank's LAST CHAT at WaPo Dana Milbank's final chat...maybe: End of the world, Aaron Schock's revealing photos and more for some comic relief to start your rapture-free Sunday. So for the superstitious, what about Friday the 13th? Barry Ritholtz explains how Jezebels Undermining Financial Overhaul The ongoing attempt to turn the nation over wholesale to our corporate overlords continues apace. Leading the charge are the Republican harlots, who seem to have never met a corporate phallus they could not find new and clever ways to debase themselves to. Aiding their charge are Democrat trollops, who have tried to out-GOP the GOP as fellatrix in search of campaign contributions. Ever since the Clinton-era embracing of Wall Street, representative democracy, at least as far as flesh and blood humans are concerned, has suffered greatly. We are a one party nation, morphed into a Corporatocracy, with laws and regulations written by the Corporate campaign donor, for the benefit of the Corporate donor. You humans are merely cannon fodder, who exist mostly to buy corporate products and pay taxes. The national government has become a giant grift, populated by Jezebels and strumpets. We have a holodeck version of reality, a smash and grab financial policy, an endless stream of corporate giveaways, tax loopholes and bailouts. That the sheeple tolerate does not mean they are dumb or foolish, but it does speak to the eradication of Democracy. The complete institutionalization of this process has created some angst, but an embedded policy of Bread & Circuses usually serves to distract the masses. We can throw the bums out every two years, but it matters little. A new set of bums merely push the buttons and pull the levers of the machinery — but it is the machine itself that has become so corrupted. To quote P. J. O’Rourke “Voting just encourages the Bastards.” Today, we learn of more Republicans blocking appointments to all manner of regulatory oversight offices. Because, you know, bankers can self-regulate. And Democrats lack the balls to ram through someone like Paul Volcker to oversee the 5 years-olds we call bankers. They would not want to offend the overlords. Rule 1 in modern politics: Never upset the donors. The threat to our once great republic is not our deficit or our extended military or terrorism or China — it is our phlegmatic, wheezy, impotent leadership (and I use that last word lightly). The lack of vision, the inability to recognize reality, the selling out to the highest bidder in Washington DC — THAT is our biggest worry. Any of the aforementioned problems could be handled if only the political classes had not sold their collective souls for a handful of shiny beads. When it comes to financial regulations, our choices are the Party of Make Believe versus the Party of Castrati. It’s Friday the 13th every day in America. Thanks Barry (h/t MADDY) who adds, "We need to take a lesson from the Scottish National Party" finding Steve Hynd at newshoggers A win in Scotland, a Republican debate, and Pakistan For those of you who don't yet listen, I thought maybe I should summarize last night's Polizeros Radio. It was one of our widest ranging discussions yet, with a lot packed into 60 minutes. Our host Josh Mull dived straight in with the Scottish National Party's landmark win in the elections there and its possible impact. As my co-panellist Bob Morris puts it:

The SNP describes itself as center-left, which by US standards would be considered far left. They favor no fees at universities and have already instituted free prescriptions for drugs. Scotland has huge mostly untapped wind, wave, and tidal power and could easily support itself should it vote for independence, something the SNP plans on bringing to referendum within five years. The SNP, who have been around for decades, won because they a) never gave up, b) clearly stand for something. This is how to win in America too.

The SNP's members, as lefties, could have decided to be a part of the larger UK Labour Party but didn't because they had that one agenda item - greater representation and eventual independence for Scotland - that Labour was never going to have. Over the years, and especially under Blair, the Labour Party moved towards the center and that left the SNP's members with a realization: they were now the only party advocating the rest of their democratic socialist agenda too. The lesson for American lefties should be obvious. Why vote for a party that will only ever enact a small portion of your agenda? You deserve to have a party to vote for that will represent you 100%. If that party doesn't exist, form it and build it, even if it takes decades. At Slate Shadi Hamid outlines "What Obama needs to convey in this week's Middle East speech" in Say Sorry, Mr. President Facing a Middle East in turmoil, President Obama will have a chance to regain the initiative and articulate his vision for the region on Thursday, when he is scheduled to give a major address. This time, platitudes about America's commitment to democracy will not do, because they ring hollow to Arab audiences. No one really questions that Washington believes in democracy and universal human rights—in theory. What they doubt is the ability and willingness to translate such abstractions into real policy changes on the ground. Any major speech should address this dilemma head on. ... Instead of saying things that most Arabs view as inaccurate descriptions of reality (such as "wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States"), he should speak frankly and explain that sometimes competing interests guide American policy, including in ways that contradict our ideals. This is inevitable, as even foreign-policy idealists will admit. At the same time, the president should lay out his vision of how ideals and interests now converge. If democracy is the eventual endpoint of all Arab regimes, it is obviously in America's interest to be on the right side of that change. Aligning with regimes at the expense of publics will be damaging wherever regimes fall, as some surely will. So President Not Sure gave his speech at the State Department (see WaPo White House invites Arab bloggers to Obama’s Middle East speech) and Shadi Hamid then wrote at CNN Where was passion, purpose, plan? The speech was supposed to offer a corrective to criticisms that Obama lacks vision on the Middle East. Instead, it promised more of the same -- a largely ad-hoc policy that reacts to events, rather than trying to shape them. Obama had an opportunity to reframe the debate over America's role in a troubled region. That opportunity was squandered. To be sure, Obama affirmed that it is U.S. policy to support reform across the region. He spoke of the importance of Egypt's transition to democracy. But where was the road map for getting there? How does the U.S. plan to stop Syria's brutal crackdown, which has claimed many hundreds of lives? Crucially, Obama offered pointed criticisms of growing repression in Bahrain, host of the Navy's Fifth Fleet. But, again, there were no new policy prescriptions....Obama even failed to so much as acknowledge America's past mistakes. President Bush did precisely that in November 2003, when he said: "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe." ...The passion and purpose -- the sense of seizing a historic moment that may not come again -- have been lacking. In place of bold gestures, we have a president who has insisted on care and deliberation. There is, to be sure, a time for caution. Today's speech was not one of those times. MARK MAZZETTI and EMILY B. HAGER of the New York Times investigate a Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder Mr. [Erik] Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times. The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts, the documents show. Such troops could be deployed if the Emirates faced unrest in their crowded labor camps or were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year. ... In outsourcing critical parts of their defense to mercenaries — the soldiers of choice for medieval kings, Italian Renaissance dukes and African dictators — the Emiratis have begun a new era in the boom in wartime contracting that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. And by relying on a force largely created by Americans, they have introduced a volatile element in an already combustible region where the United States is widely viewed with suspicion. The United Arab Emirates — an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state — are closely allied with the United States, and American officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington. ...Still, it is not clear whether the project has the United States’ official blessing. Legal experts and government officials said some of those involved with the battalion might be breaking federal laws that prohibit American citizens from training foreign troops if they did not secure a license from the State Department. Just what the Middle East needs now, an influx of American right-wing evangelical XTAIN Warriors with guns and helicopters, eh? Isn't this a U.A.E. State-sponsored evangelical terrorist organization? See JEREMY SCAHILL on DN! below for more grim details. Now compare and contrast these two articles describing protesters being fired on by Israeli soldiers: First read Pepe Escobar at AsiaTimes.com Sunday, bloody Sunday It was a Sunday, bloody Sunday - with no uplifting U2 anthem to "celebrate" it. In Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, tens of thousands of Palestinians marched to the borders with Israel to mark the anniversary of the [May 14] 1948 Nakba - the displacement that accompanied the creation of Israel. The Israeli response, with "maximum restraint": killing 10 people in Lebanon, eight in Syria, two in Gaza and one in the West. And Nathan Bronner at NYT Israeli Troops Fire as Marchers Breach Borders Israel’s borders erupted in deadly clashes on Sunday as thousands of Palestinians — marching from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank — confronted Israeli troops to mark the anniversary of Israel’s creation. More than a dozen people were reported killed and scores injured. With an unprecedented wave of coordinated protests, the popular uprisings that have swept the region touched Israel directly for the first time. Like those other protests, plans for this one spread over social media, including Facebook, but there were also signs of official support in Lebanon and Syria, where analysts said leaders were using the Palestinian cause to deflect attention from internal problems. Read both side-by-side for full effect (h/t malloy). Next we go to International Intrigue Desk with THE DSK FILES. First Steve Cleamons at TheWashingtonNote.com explains The Meaning of Strauss-Kahn But Strauss-Kahn was never a manic neoliberal nor what financier George Soros derisively calls a "market fundamentalist." ... Strauss-Kahn has long been the living embodiment of an ideological hybrid between Milton Friedman and Joseph Stiglitz, two antagonists profiled in journalist Michael Hirsh's Capital Offense: How Washington's Wise Men Turned America's Future Over to Wall Street. And this is what the highly regulated world of French socialist-capitalism needed, and also what the world needed and got when Strauss-Kahn became Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund. ... Strauss-Kahn, even when we discussed his views of the global economy in 1998, was a storm of contradictions that nonetheless made sense. He could see deeper global economic dependencies growing and simultaneously increasing the speed and scale of financial transactions but in contrast to the US ruling triumvirate of Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers and Alan Greenspan, Strauss-Kahn believed in healthy and robust regulation and monitoring. Strauss-Kahn has always been concerned about the human and national victims of an amoral global economic order. ... Strauss-Kahn's latest IMF patient has been Greece, helping it to work through its debt nightmares. Virtually everyone gives the IMF Director high marks for his ability to keep in mind human faces when sorting through and dealing with the tough disciplines wrought by globalization. I know nothing of Strauss-Kahn's rumored aggressiveness towards women and think that President Nicolas Sarkozy is right that he should be presumed innocent until the charges against him for sexual battery are sorted out. Nouriel Roubini has publicly speculated that it can't be discounted that this may be some sort of a set up. I won't speculate one way or another as I think at the time of this writing, none of us know the truth of what did or didn't happen. What is clear is that Strauss-Kahn who is one of the few major economic gladiators in the world to defend the rights and privileges of people is human himself. We sometimes forget that. Greg Palast begs to differ and tells about how Strauss-Kahn Screws Africa Now that I've dispensed with the obvious and obnoxious teaser headline, let's drop the towel and expose Dominique Strauss-Kahn's history of arrogant abuse. The truth is, the grandee of the IMF has molested Africans for years. ... Since taking over the IMF in 2007, erstwhile "Socialist" Strauss-Kahn has tightened the screws in an attempt to maintain the free-market finance mania that ruined this planet in the first place. [That's worth a story in itself – and that's coming. Our team has a stack of inside documents from the IMF that we will be releasing in my new book in the Fall.] It was DSK who, last year, personally insisted on brutal terms for the so-called bail-out of Greece. "Strong conditionality" is the IMF term. Strauss-Kahn demanded not just a devastating cut in pensions and a deliberate increase in unemployment to 14%, but also the sell-off of 4,000 of 6,000 state-owned services. The DSK IMF plan allowed the financiers who set the financial fires of Greece to pick up the nation's assets at a fire-sale price. The Strauss-Kahn demands were not "tough love" for Greece: The love was reserved solely for the vulture bankers who received the IMF funds but were not required to accept one euro in lost profit in return. DSK, despite the advice of many, refused to ask the banks and speculators to reduce their usurious interest charges that were the root of Greece's woes. Juan Cole at his website Informed Comment Why was Strauss-Kahn Arrested but W. & Cheney went Free? What is it about the United States that makes for harsh prosecutions over sex crimes but lets leaders off the hook when it comes to war crimes? New York police rushed to arrest Dominique Strauss-Kahn , the head of the international Monetary Fund, on Saturday on learning of charges against him by a hotel maid of sexual assault. This quick action against a wealthy and powerful individual, seeking justice for a person at the bottom rung of the American social hierarchy, is praiseworthy. It affirms the principle that no one is above the law. But the widows and orphans of Iraq cannot hope that the New York police would similarly frog-march George W. Bush off his first-class flight and arrest him for crimes against humanity. Glenn Greenwald argues that the lessons of the Nuremberg trials have been forgotten and that Bush and other members of his administration should be tried for war crimes. His piece builds on earlier journalism on this subject, such as that of Jan Frel. Not only should Bush and his cronies be tried for launching an aggressive war, but many jurists want them tried for crimes against humanity such as torture, in which they have admitted engaging. ... I agree entirely with Greenwald that it is dangerous to let members of the Bush administration off the hook for their war crimes (which go beyond the initial transgression of launching a war of aggression with no UNSC sanction). There is no difference in principle between what Bush and Cheney did and what Slobodan Milosevic did, except that we live in a hypocritical world of victor’s justice. To shield the rich and powerful makes a mockery of Chapter 7. But I would argue that it is precisely the contrast between an action like the UNSC-sanctioned intervention in Libya and Bush-Cheney’s cowboy invasion and occupation of Iraq that helps underline how criminal the latter enterprise was. Mike Whitney tells us at IMF chief Strauss-Kahn caught in "Honey Trap" I have no way of knowing whether the 32-year-old maid who claims she was attacked and forced to perform oral sex on IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is telling the truth or not. I'll leave that to the braying hounds in the media who have already assumed the role of judge, jury and Lord High Executioner. But I will say, the whole matter smells rather fishy, just like the Eliot Spitzer story smelled fishy. Spitzer, you may recall, was Wall Street's biggest adversary and a likely candidate to head the SEC, a position at which he would have excelled. In fact, there's no doubt in my mind that if Spitzer had been appointed to lead the SEC, most of the top investment bankers on Wall Street would presently be making license plates and rope-soled shoes at the federal penitentiary. So, there was plenty of reason to shadow Spitzer's every move and see what bit of dirt could be dug up on him. As it turns out, the ex-Governor of New York made it easy for his enemies by engaging a high-priced hooker named Ashley Dupre for sex at the Mayflower Hotel. When the news broke, the media descended on Spitzer like a swarm of locusts poring over every salacious detail with the ebullient fervor of a randy 6th-grader. Meanwhile, the crooks on Wall Street were able to breathe a sigh of relief and get back to doing what they do best; fleecing investors and cheating people out of the life savings. Strauss-Kahn had enemies in high places, too, which is why this whole matter stinks to high-Heaven. First of all, Strauss-Kahn was the likely candidate of the French Socialist Party who would have faced Sarkozy in the upcoming presidential elections. The IMF chief clearly had a leg-up on Sarkozy who has been battered by a number of personal scandals and plunging approval ratings. But if Strauss-Kahn was set up, then it was probably by members of the western bank coalition, that shadowy group of self-serving swine whose policies have kept the greater body of humanity in varying state of poverty and desperation for the last two centuries. Strauss-Kahn had recently broke-free from the "party line" and was changing the direction of the IMF. His road to Damascus conversion was championed by progressive economist Joesph Stiglitz in a recent article titled "The IMF's Switch in Time". Here's an excerpt: Go read the sordid rest. DAI-ICHI UPDATE: Our own intrepid msgeaux tells us "Good thing we have the sexcapades to divert attention from 3 meltdowns at Fuku clusterf**k in Japan." Tepco Misleading Public Over Nuclear Crisis by Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada: Tokyo Electric Power Co. has made misleading statements about when it will stabilize its nuclear reactors crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, said Tetsuo Ito, head of the Atomic Energy Research Institute at Kinki University in western Japan. The company, known as Tepco, yesterday reiterated the schedule on its so-called road map announced a month ago to achieve cold shutdown of the three radiation-leaking reactors as early as October. Setting a timetable without knowing the condition of the reactor cores doesn’t make sense, Ito said in a phone interview from Osaka. “Only after understanding what’s going on inside the buildings and reactors, will it be clear what parts of the timetable are achievable,” Ito said. “Devising a road map without that will give the public a false sense of security.” On May 15, or more than two months after the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, Tepco said conditions were worse than expected in reactor No. 1 when it found all uranium fuel rods had melted. Today it sent four workers into reactor No. 2 for the first time since March 14 to measure radiation levels and assess whether work can be done to fix gauges that will show the condition of the core. “It’s highly likely No. 2 and No. 3 reactors are worse than thought,” Ito said. “Tepco devised the first (road map) before fully grasping the situation inside the reactor buildings; a scientist wouldn’t do such a thing.” Ito has headed the institute, which started running Japan’s first university-based nuclear reactor in 1961, for more than five years. He has spent 35 years in nuclear engineering research.... Since the accident, Tepco shares have lost 82 percent of their value. They traded at 392 yen at 2:32 p.m. in Tokyo today compared with 2,153 yen on March 10. Our Lightworker correspondent jen snags Eric Boehlert @ Media Matters Irony Is Dead: Fox Warns About Foreign-Born Billionaire Spending Millions To "Influence" American Media Earlier this week, writing at Foxnews.com, the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor published a very ominous look at the media world of George Soros, and how the progressive billionaire was trying to "influence" the American press by funding various journalism institutions, such as ProPublica and the Columbia School of Journalism. The piece contained some sizable holes, however.... So what's the big deal? We're still not sure. Nonetheless, Gainor has returned with another riveting installment, and now the bogeyman exercise is becoming comical. It's almost funny reading Gainor's latest because there's no point to the endeavor, other than' "OMG, George Soros donates lots of money to journalism institutions!" Right, but that's no secret, so what's the conflict? Because once again Gainor can't point to anything wrong with the journalism in question. Gainor can't find any examples, or even allegations, of Soros trying to influence reports. Nor does Gainor suggest Soros' financial support in any way has an impact on the stories produced. So no, Gainor can't point to anything questionable about the journalism that Soros has helped fund. I suppose readers are supposed to be shocked and horrified by the amount of money Soros has reportedly spent in recent years helping out journalism institutions: $48 million! But honestly, I feel like Dr. Evil should read that number out loud to give it its proper due. And I'm sorry but somebody writing for Fox News, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, pretending that a billionaire spending $48 million over eight years is a big deal and cause for concern? Gimme a break. Murdoch loses $48 million (let alone spends that amount) on the New York Post every year between January and September. The daily lost $70 million in 2009, which means in the eight years Soros has spent $45 million buying media "influence," Murdoch has lost perhaps $600 million on the New York Post alone. (Not gonna see THAT FACT on Fake sNooz TeeVee, are ya? -Ed.) But yes, readers should be deeply, deeply concerned about all the influence Soros is trying to buy up by spending a fraction of what Murdoch does on American media. HAHA! Maybe Soros could drop a cool MILLION on BTV? AND jen also snags emptywheel @ FiredogLake.com Jared Bernstein Opens a Twitter Account, and a Cabinet of Quashed Ideas You see, Joe Biden’s economic advisor, Jared Bernstein, was recently liberated from the White House. And, as part of that liberation process, it seems, he got himself a blog and twitter feed. His inaugural post explained he could do more and better on the outside, speaking truth. .... And he’s got all the smarts of Paul Krugman with–excuse me, the Shrill One–better voice. But what’s more fascinating to me is the way his blog reads like the exploding diarrhea of common sense ideas that were quashed within the Obama White House: Go read at FDL for full exposure! Only emptywheel can get away with "exploding diarrhea" and "common sense ideas" in the same sentence! Check out MAX KEISER with PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS and COEHM JOHN PERKINS, SAM SEDER with MATT TAIBBI and DIGBY, PETER B has and EXCLOO with JASON LEOPOLD who is also on AntiWarRadio and so much more real information below! Take yer Brick Aim at PAUL "MEDICARE VOUCHER" RYAN on Meet the David and NEWT "CONTRACT ON AMERICA" GINGRINCH on Face the Bob. Then it's KING ABDULLA and GEORGE MITCHELL on This Anampout while State of Candy gets Dem Whip DICK DURBIN and DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER (we're not making that name up!) and Fake News gets a fake GOP prez candidate HERMAN CAIN and Head Troglodyte MITCH MCCONNELL. As far as we can tell all the Brick TeeVee Crew did not get raptured and were busy enjoying the Tribe's 10-run-innning 19-1 blowout against the Royals on Monday and put Vin Mazzaro in the record book as pitching the worst game in Royals history giving up 14 runs on 11 hits in 2 1/3 innings. Ouch! The 1st-place Tribe lost two to the ChiSox to finish the road trip 2-2 then started Inter-League play against state rival Cincy Reds with two wins! The rains finally let up so the Crew were busy mowing, painting, trimming and other non-recreational outdoor activities. Garden Prep is their mission for Sunday plus a breakout inaugural fund-raiser from long-time BTV friend Anthony Fossececa running for OH House District 17! Send yer sofa change to Call Me Foss! Someone's got to take a stand against Herr Kasich and Anthony is just the guy to do it! Here's good summary of A Brief History of the Battle for Wisconsin which is similar to what Herr Kasich is trying in Ohio so let's get Anthony elected! The BTV Crew is also actively gathering sigs for the state-wide ballot initiative to repeal S.B. 5. Contact WE ARE OHIO or any union local to sign up! As Hunter S. Thompson proclaimed, "When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro." Have a gonzo week!

BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

JAPAN IN CRISIS JAPAN IN CRISIS Democracy Now! reports on the disaster in Japan following a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and the resulting nuclear crisis.
»»» Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies, University of Missouri-Kansas City @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW "Getting Wise to Breitbart’s Lies": Missouri Professors Survive Right-Wing Smear Campaign by Andrew Breitbart Watch Pt. 2 of the interview HERE. May 17, 2011
»»» Fadi Quran, youth leader in Ramallah @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW A New Nonviolent Resistance Movement Grows as Palestinians Mark Nakba Day with Protests at Syria, Lebanon and Gaza Borders May 17, 2011
»»» Jeremy Scahill @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater Founder Erik Prince’s Private Army of “Christian Crusaders” in the UAE May 18, 2011
»»» Shahien Nasiripour, senior business reporter for the Huffington Post @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Will the Justice Department Prosecute Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo for Mortgage Fraud? May 18, 2011
»»» Zaheer Ali @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention": Manning Marable’s Exhaustive Biography of the Civil Rights Leader RELATED: Manning Marable’s Controversial New Biography Refuels Debate on Life and Legacy of Malcolm X with acclaimed poet, playwright, music historian and activist Amiri Baraka, Harlem-based activist, teacher, author and journalist Herb Boyd and University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University Michael Eric Dyson. May 19, 2011
»»» Democracy Now! Roundtable @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW Did Obama’s Mideast Speech Signal U.S. Shift on Israel-Palestine? Democracy Now! Roundtable with author Norman Finkelstein, Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat and president of J Street Jeremy Ben-Ami. May 20, 2011
»»» Retired Irish soldier and peacekeeper Col. Desmond Travers @ Democracy NOW! WATCH NOW U.N. Gaza Inquiry Panelist Desmond Travers Challenges Goldstone’s Recantation of Key Finding May 20, 2011

»»» GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders
»»» BIG NEWS @ GRITtv GRITtv is becoming The Laura Flanders Show! As you know, we have been pursuing national syndication. We are now pleased to announce that starting later this summer, The Laura Flanders Show will appear on public TV stations across the country -- including in major markets in San Francisco, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, distributed by EPS, Executive Program Services Inc. (more...) And read more at The F Word @ GRITtv from May 13th, 2011 The F Word: Goodbye For Now from GRITtv
BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©
»»» Indianapolis 500 All the anguish, anxiety, and drama of who will and who won't make the field for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 will be determined on Sunday, May 22nd at Bump Day on Versus beginning NOON et
»»» MLB on TBS Subway Series concludes Met @ Yankees 1 pm et
»»» Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Cubs @ Red Sox 8 pm et
»»» Monday Night Baseball on ESPN Red Sox @ Indians! 7 pm et
»»» NBA PLAYOFFS Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 tied at 1-1 Bulls @ Heat 8:30 pm et on TNT. More playoff games all week with TNT broadcasting the Eastern Conference and ESPN with the Western Conference Mavs-Thunder matchup. Check yer local listings!
BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©
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. Today the Campaign for America’s Future is sending letters to all the major media demanding that the views of the American Majority be represented in the news programs, print articles and opinion pages, and in the non-stop daily and Sunday talk shows in which the debate about America’s future is being conducted as we move toward the showdown over the budget. We are demanding representation in the media proportional to the size of the American Majority. And we are making the point that the views of the majority are not irrational—and that in a democracy the majority deserves to be heard, not patronized. We are also supplying the media with an extensive list of economists, experts and advocates who share the majority view that deficits are not now the major threat to U.S. prosperity, and that getting revenue back into the budget is far less damaging (and more just) than cutting spending and crippling important programs for the poor and the elderly. And we are telling them that occasionally featuring the great Paul Krugman, as though his views represent a lonely majority, is not enough. ... 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
SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org UPDATE! A Typical Day For PFC Bradley Manning at Fort Leavenworth 1 PFC Manning was transferred to the Joint Regional Corrections Facility (JRCF) at Fort Leavenworth on April 20, 2011. I was able to tour the facility and meet with PFC Manning last week. PFC Manning is now being held in Medium Custody. He is no longer under Prevention of Injury watch and is no longer subjected to harsh pretrial confinement conditions. Unlike at Quantico, PFC Manning cell has a large window that provides adequate natural light. His cell also has a desk, a bed, and a toilet. The cell is approximately 80 square feet. He is provided with a normal mattress, sheets and a pillow. None of his clothing is taken away from him at night. PFC Manning is able to have all of his personal items in his cell, which include his clothing, his legal materials, books and letters from family and friends. He is also able to have a pen and paper at all times in his cell, and is able to write whenever he chooses. ...... Correspondence can be sent to PFC Manning at the following address: Bradley Manning 89289, JRCF, 830 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2315 More at link.
EMAIL UPDATE! Help us reach our goal of a half million by signing the petition, and passing it on. Add your name! AND Vote for Bradley in the 2011 Time Magazine 100 Poll here!
Add your name to this petition Eminent US legal scholars protest 'torture' of Bradley Manning.
DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackeberries, Droid and other phonesto help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. The T.J. Martell Foundation is the music industry's largest foundation funding cutting edge medical research focused on finding cures for leukemia, cancer and AIDS. The Foundation sources and supports early-stage research projects aimed at developing more effective treatments for patients which otherwise might not be funded. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org

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The essential guide for watching government propaganda
IRAQ: 4,452 US Military Dead as of May 15, 2011
AFGHANISTAN: 1,572 US Military Dead as of May 15, 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'
  • Former Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell
  • King Abdullah II of Jordan
  • ROUNDTABLE: George Will, political strategist Matthew Dowd, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl
  • ROUNDTABLE II: Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl author of "Le Seduction" Elaine Sciolino, Michelle Cottle of "The Daily Beast" and "Newsweek," and ABC's Cokie Roberts and her husband, journalist Steve Roberts.
  • ROUNDTABLE III: former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller and ABC's Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer Topic: Boehner throws down the debt limit gauntlet
  • Former House Speaker and GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • The FBI and The Grim Reaper (7 p.m. ET/PT) - A former FBI agent says he considered his star Mafia informant - a hit man nicknamed "The Grim Reaper" - a friend and did not investigate when this informant let him know he had killed a rival mobster. CNN's Anderson Cooper reports. Andy Court is the producer.
  • U.S. v. Drake (8 p.m. ET/PT) - Tom Drake, a former National Security Agency senior executive indicted last year for espionage after leaking to the media allegations that the nation's largest intelligence organization had committed fraud, waste and abuse will appear in his first television interview. Scott Pelley reports. Glenn Silber and Graham Messick are the producers.
  • Children in the Fields (8 p.m. ET/PT) - In agriculture, children as young as 12 are allowed to work unlimited hours outside of school. Byron Pitts reports on the "Migrant Stream" and the families who are part of it whose children work alongside them in the fields for minimum wage. David Schneider is the producer.
  • Al Sharpton (8 p.m. ET/PT) - The former street activist has tempered his style, become friends of the president and broadened his civil rights activism to include causes like immigration and same-sex marriage. Lesley Stahl reports. Ira Rosen 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!
  • House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI)
  • ROUNDTABLE: Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Mike Murphy, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, WaPo's Eugene Robinson, and NYT's Andrew Ross Sorkin.

• 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.
  • Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin
  • two members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, Reps. Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger.
  • Former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey
  • former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain
  • Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

• 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 Bob lets the Religious Right have it! Listen HERE (mp3)!
  Amen to the White Rose Society! Donate to Head On HERE!

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment!
  Go see greennews.bradblog.com!
  • 'Green News Report' - May 19, 2011 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Big Oil's big subsidies survive the Senate; Federal investigators find "deviant practices" by Massey Energy; Faulty equipment at Japanese nuke plant also installed at US nuke plants; PLUS: It's the End of the World as we know it! So drive safely! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
  IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): NOAA scientists see 'unprecedented' ocean changes; US weather disasters are the 'new normal'; Are environmental regulations really 'job killers'?; 100% solar plane makes another successful flight; Hauling icebergs to deserts; CA hybrid owners to lose carpool lane privileges; Exposing babies to carcinogenic flame-retardants; Big fines for PA 'fracking' violations; Deforestation in Brazil escalates; Where has MT's water gone?; TX drinking water shows radioactive contamination; MS River flood making Gulf Dead Zone much worse; Bringing solar to the masses at Lowe's; Climate denier's retracted report exposes workings of the Denial Industry; Climate change deniers now like birthers ... PLUS: Is climate sanity the kiss of death for Republican presidential candidates? ...... Links to STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT' at Green News Report! Visit BradBlog.com to see who counts yer votes! Reference yer background/research at Who's Counting? too.
  UPDATE! Kentucky election officials get 156 years for rigging e-voting machines, buying/selling votes It is now officially impossible to know whether thousands of paper ballots being counted in the state of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election “recount” are the same ones actually cast on Election Day. It didn’t have to be that way, unlike in Kentucky, where the voters never had a chance, and where high-ranking election officials have now been sentenced to more than 150 years in federal jail following “decades” of manipulated elections. Thanks to serious chain of custody violations in Wisconsin — such as ballot bags discovered to have been left “wide open” and unsealed in Waukesha County, and ballots left completely unsecured for weeks in the office of the Verona City Clerk in Dane County — that now make it quite likely the real winner of the April 5th election for a 10-year term on the bench of that state’s highest court will never be known for certain. That, even though thousands of votes have now been verified as having been miscounted during the state’s partial hand-count, and even as the hotly-contested seat in question will determine the ideological balance of the court during one of the most contentious moments in Badger State history. The majority of voters in Wisconsin cast their votes on hand-marked paper ballots. However, due to a failure to count those ballots publicly on Election Night, at the precinct, in front of the public (as per “Democracy’s Gold Standard”), citizens are left guessing and forced to place misguided trust in partisan election officials like GOP activist and Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus and her unsecure chain of custody and election reporting procedures...more at BradBlog.com.

• 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 247 Fight Against Patriot Act Renewal and FBI Police-State Tactics Heats Up; Florida Criminalizes Poverty and Cuts Unemployment Benefits Shahid Buttar, the rhymin’ executive director of Bill of Rights Defense Committee returns to talk about FBI abuses, this month’s vote in Congress on extending the Patriot Act, and the appointment of a new FBI director this year; Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, reports on the efforts in Florida...
  • PBC Podcast 251 Boiling Frogs: Turkish Exile Gulen Runs Madrasas in Asia, Charter Schools in US Dr. Aland Mizell, a worldwide expert on Turkey and its oppressed Kurdish minority, exposes the Gulen movement. This is the latest instalment in the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds.
  • PBC Podcast 252 Jason Leopold Excloo: Abu Zubaydah “Lost an Eye”; PBC on Arnold’s Bastards; Will Durst Sez Men Are Pigs Jason Leopold’s Truthout exclusive: alleged “high-value” detainee Abu Zubaydah had his left eye removed shortly after he was captured in 2002–and doesn’t know why! PBC comments that it wasn’t just the housekeeper who got screwed by Schwarzeneger, and Will Durst comments on the current sex scandals.
  • PBC Podcast 253 Two Views on Obama’s Speech on Mideast: Prof. Steven Zunes and Col. Ann Wright President Obama gave a speech at the State Department on May 19, defining US policies toward the Arab uprisings and offering his clearest views to date on Israel/Palestine. We get comments from J. Stephen Zunes, Chair of Mideast Studies and Professor of Politics at University of San Francisco, and US Army Col. (retired) Ann Wright.

• Ring of Fire Radio
  
  Find us at http://ringoffireradio.com and http://goleft.tv/ hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder
  Ring of Fire Radio - GoLeft TV - Robert F. Kennedy, Mike Papantonio, Sam Seder - Politics, Commentary, and News.
  This Week on Ring of Fire! May 20th, 2010
  • This week on Ring of Fire: Rolling Stone correspondent Matt Taibbi will be here to give us the case against one of the largest criminal institutions in America – Goldman Sachs.
  • Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, will be joining us to discuss his group’s efforts to force the Chamber of Commerce to disclose whose campaigns they are pouring money into.
  • Dr. Scott Noren will be here to tell us how we can take the lessons from Wisconsin and create a strong progressive activist base to fight back against the Tea Party.
  • And author Seth Fletcher will tell us why foreign auto manufacturers have managed to get the upper hand in clean hybrid technology, leaving American auto companies in the dust.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Blue Dog Democrat Losers Mike Papantonio and Ed Schultz rip the Democrat turncoats who are pushing for more oil drilling and more big oil subsidies, in spite of the fact that the general public is against giving these behemoths any more money.
  • VIDEO! Papantonio: Koch Bros Driving Up Gasoline Prices American consumers are paying astronomical prices for gas today, and economists are warning us that this increase in cost could cause the economy to slip back into a recession. The Republicans’ plan to solve the crisis is simple – let’s just drill for oil in every available square inch of America. Not only would this destroy our environment and our health, it completely ignores the root of the problem – it isn’t a shortage of oil driving up our prices, it’s the actions of oil speculators and brokers on Wall Street. These people drive the price of oil up, and reap huge profits as a result. Mike Papantonio talks about how this happens with Lee Fang, an investigative journalist with Think Progress.
  • 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 8 pm (4 pm on 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!
  
  • Digby of Hullabaloo on the Debt Ceiling [05•16•11]
  • Matt Taibbi on The People vs. Goldman Sachs [05•17•11]
  • The Supreme Court Has OK'd Warrantless Searches [05•18•11]
  • Princeton Prof. Eddie Glaude on Cornel West and Pres. Obama [05•19•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!
  • VIDEO! The Official Silver Liberation Army! See SilverLiberationArmy.com !
  • INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IS BACK!!!! MATT TAIBBI’S SCATHING EXPOSE OF GOLDMAN KNOCKS BILLIONS OF STOCK PRICE Read Dick Bove Cuts Goldman To Sell, Lowers Price Target From $163 To $120 at zerohedge and Matt Taibbi – The People vs Goldman Sachs at RollingStone.com
  • KEISER REPORT Keiser Report: Snow Globe of Denial & Starbucks’ Schultz is Financially Illiterate We interview Reggie Middleton. ZEROHEDGE: Reggie Middleton and Max Keiser Discussing Goldman Sachs, the Super-Powered race to the bottom three, banks as the “new tobacco companies” and Choking on ZIRP WANT MORE STARBUCKS SCANDALS!!!!! U.S. sues Starbucks for firing dwarf …
  • KEISER REPORT Keiser Report: Suicide Banking We interview Gregor Macdonald.
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TAM1199] The Truth About Markets – 14 May 2011 OUR 1200′th RADIO/PODCAST!!!!!!! Download mp3 HERE
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TAM1200] The Truth About Markets – 21 May 2011 OUR 1200′th RADIO/PODCAST!!!!!!! Download mp3 HERE Donations to ResonanceFM here.
  • ON THE EDGE [OTE109] On the Edge with John Perkins
  • ON THE EDGE [OTE110] On the Edge with Paul Craig Roberts

• ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
  LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
  Listen at antiwar.com/radio
  • Imad-ad-Dean Ahmade May 16, 2011: Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, founder of the Minaret of Freedom Institute, discusses the typically sycophantic White House response to Israel’s shooting of peaceful Nakba protesters; Israel’s core founding myth, especially to Americans: no indigenous population existed (a.k.a. there is no such thing as a Palestinian); Palestinian peace activists initiating a third, peaceful, intifada in the spirit of the Arab Spring revolutions; the unquestioned absurdity of Israel “defending its borders” of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, from Syrians; the Egyptian-moderated Fatah/Hamas unity agreement for new elections and a functioning coalition government; the interminable “peace process” that remains fatally flawed while the US refuses to act as a genuine “honest broker;” and how the hopelessly-devoted US Congress sees Israel as a crucial domestic priority, not an object of foreign policy.
  • Jason Leopold May 16, 2011: Investigative reporter Jason Leopold discusses his article “Filling in the Gaping Holes in WikiLeaks’ Guantanamo Detainee Files;” how the FBI emails (available here) on Guantanamo prisoner detention conditions indicate torture was the primary means of extracting “evidence;” the torture of Mohammed al-Qahtani, choreographed in the White House by top Bush administration officials; Bush speech writer Marc Thiessen’s admission that KSM was tortured for compliance, not actionable intelligence (which is the whole torture program writ large); and why evidence beyond WikiLeaks documents – especially photos and videos – is needed to get the public’s attention.
  • Mark Sheffield May 20, 2011: Mark Sheffield of the Policy on Point blog discusses his article “Screwing the Swedes: Lockheed vs. SAAB;” how Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter beat out SAAB’s JAS-39 Gripen fighter (with much lobbying help from the US government) for the contract to modernize Norway’s air force; a behind-the-scenes look at the cutthroat business of international arms dealing, courtesy WikiLeaks; how Russia has been surrounded by fleets of top-end jets in neighboring Western-allied and NATO countries; and how the US delayed the transfer of hi-tech radar to SAAB – which would have made the Gripen more competitive – until the Norwegian deal was complete.
  • John Feffer May 20, 2011: John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the Afghanistan debate following Osama bin Laden’s death; his disagreement with Jonathan Landay, who says we can’t withdraw for fear of the terrible consequences; the sea-change in public opinion (and even in Congress and among elite opinion-makers) on the wisdom of staying in Afghanistan; why Syria may be a bridge too far for US intervention; the failed “kill the chicken to scare the monkey” US strategy in Libya; bin Laden’s partial victory, wherein the US empire is bankrupt and failing, but Islamic radicalization was eschewed in favor of a democratic, non-fundamentalist Arab Spring; how neoconservatives and antiwar libertarians are close cousins with similar backgrounds who have arrived at diametrically opposed worldviews; whether the US empire is a stabilizing force globally, or an impediment to ending unhealthy stalemates (as on the Korean peninsula); and the complex (wonkish even) history of N. Korea’s uranium enrichment program, plutonium nuclear weapons, and broken deals with successive US administrations.
  Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!

• fauxnews
  • Herman Cain
  • Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R) Kentucky / Minority Leader

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