Brick TeeVee and U.S. Austerity!

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U.S. Austerity! Last week we correctly called the inaction of Congress and the WH to do NOTHING and let The Sequestration hit. Surprised? Amid the headline-grabbing Sequestration Hysteria™ several other things were overshadowed.
F.I.S.A. R.A.T.S.: The SCOTUS fascists Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia and their sidekick Kennedy say you can't sue that you were eaves-dropped on illegally because you can't prove you were secretly surveilled upon! Justices Turn Back Challenge to Broader U.S. Eavesdropping The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back a challenge to a federal law that broadened the government’s power to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails. The decision, by a 5-to-4 vote that divided along ideological lines, probably means the Supreme Court will never rule on the constitutionality of that 2008 law. More broadly, the ruling illustrated how hard it is to mount court challenges to a wide array of antiterrorism measures, including renditions of terrorism suspects to foreign countries and targeted killings using drones, in light of the combination of government secrecy and judicial doctrines limiting access to the courts. “Absent a radical sea change from the courts, or more likely intervention from the Congress, the coffin is slamming shut on the ability of private citizens and civil liberties groups to challenge government counterterrorism policies, with the possible exception of Guantánamo,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at American University. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates who challenged the constitutionality of the law could not show they had been harmed by it and so lacked standing to sue. The plaintiffs’ fear that they would be subject to surveillance in the future was too speculative to establish standing, he wrote. ..... It is of no moment, Justice Alito wrote, that only the government knows for sure whether the plaintiffs’ communications have been intercepted. It is the plaintiffs’ burden, he wrote, to prove they have standing “by pointing to specific facts, not the government’s burden to disprove standing by revealing details of its surveillance priorities.” In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote that the harm claimed by the plaintiffs was not speculative. “Indeed,” he wrote, “it is as likely to take place as are most future events that common-sense inference and ordinary knowledge of human nature tell us will happen.” ..... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas joined the majority opinion, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined the dissent. Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U., said the decision “insulates the statute from meaningful judicial review and leaves Americans’ privacy rights to the mercy of the political branches.” ....
NEXT Jonathan Turley adds Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To Secret Surveillance The Supreme Court ruled yesterday and dealt another blow to public interest lawsuits by rejecting the standing of civil liberties groups and citizens to challenge the Obama Administration’s surveillance programs. President Obama has long been criticized for his opposition to such lawsuits and his Justice Department has continued a successful attack on the ability of citizens to challenge the unconstitutional actions of their government in the war on terror. The 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. insulates such programs from judicial review in yet another narrowing of standing rules. Alito rejected the ability of an array of journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates to challenge the constitutionality of the 2008 law allowing secret surveillance without meeting constitutional standards of probable cause. Alito simply said that the parties could not prove that they were subject to surveillance — since the Obama Administration has classified such evidence — and insisted that their fears and precautionary actions are merely efforts to “manufacture standing by incurring costs in anticipation of nonimminent harms.” Alito wrote that just because no one may be able to challenge the law is no reason to recognize standing — a position that guts the separation of powers principles underlying judicial review. He also cites to the secret FISA as judicial review — a truly laughable proposition. I have been in that court as a NSA legal intern and the thought that it constitutes any real form of review is a preposterous notion. I have written and testified on this court in the past. In dissent, Justice Breyer correctly noted that “Several considerations, based upon the record along with commonsense inferences, convince me that there is a very high likelihood that Government, acting under the authority of §1881a, will intercept at least some of the communications just described.” Alito and his colleagues had to work hard bar these constitutional claims from review. It is a signature for Alito who has had a consistent and disturbing record of yielding to police powers. Absent a religious practice or gun claim or environmental claim where Alito turns on the government, he is the very symbol not of blind justice but the blind justice on government abuse. The decision is Clapper v. Amnesty International, No. 11-1025, and it is a true nightmare for civil liberties. Alito and his colleagues have essentially guaranteed that even blatant unconstitutional programs can be insulated from judicial review by allowing the very same accused Administration to classify the evidence needed to bring any lawsuit.
So in short: Citizens cannot challenge the illegal secret spying law because they cannot prove they were spied on in secret. Chicken meet egg meet chicken. At Wired.com's Threat Level David Kravets explains in Supreme Court Thwarts Challenge to Warrantless Surveillance .... But even if the Supreme Court sided with the ACLU on Tuesday, that does not necessarily mean the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act would have been litigated. That’s because the only issue before the high court was whether the plaintiffs had the legal standing to bring the case. Because they don’t, the case is over. Had the justices gone the other way, the lawsuit would have returned to a New York federal courtroom where, if past is prologue, the Obama administration likely would play its trump card: an assertion of the powerful state secrets privilege that lets the executive branch effectively kill lawsuits by claiming they threaten to expose national security secrets. The courts largely defer to such claims. But in a rare exception in 2008, a San Francisco federal judge refused to throw out a wiretapping lawsuit against AT&T under the state secrets privilege. The AT&T lawsuit was later killed anyway, because the FISA Amendments Act also granted the phone companies retroactive legal immunity for their alleged participation in the NSA spying program.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU: The Copyright Police are out to get YOU! Writing for Wired.com David Kravets alerts us to ISPs Now Monitoring for Copyright Infringement The nation’s major internet service providers on Monday said they are beginning to roll out an initiative to disrupt internet access for online copyright scofflaws. The so-called “Copyright Alert System” is backed by the President Barack Obama administration and was pushed heavily by record labels and Hollywood studios. The plan, more than four years in the making, includes participation by AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. Others could soon join. ..... The program monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing services via internet snoop MarkMonitor of San Francisco. The surveillance was to have been deployed sooner. But the various delays included Hurricane Sandy and ISP reluctance to join. .... The agreement, heavily lobbied for by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, does not require internet service providers to filter copyrighted material transiting their networks. U.S. internet service providers and the content industry have openly embraced that kind filtering. The Federal Communications Commission, in crafting its net neutrality rules, has all but invited the ISPs to practice it. On a scofflaw’s first offense, internet subscribers will receive an e-mail “alert” from their ISP saying the account may have been misused for online content theft. On the second offense, the alert might contain an “educational message” about the legalities of online file sharing. On the third and fourth infractions, the subscriber will likely receive a pop-up notice “asking the subscriber to acknowledge receipt of the alert.” Corynne McSherry of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) adds The Copyright Propaganda Machine Gets a New Agent: Your ISP .... Just because content is copyrighted doesn’t mean sharing it is illegal. It would be better to have a rigorous process that ensures the use identified is actually infringing. It would be even better to have a process that was vetted by a truly independent entity, and public review of the full results. .... In other words, if you’ve received a notice, you’ve better lock down your network, and fast. As we’ve explained, this seems designed to undermine the open Wi-Fi movement, even though open wireless is widely recognized to be tremendously beneficial to the public. "Subscribers are responsible for making sure their Internet account is not used for copyright infringement." Not so—at least not under copyright law, unless additional conditions are met. We don’t all have to sign up to be copyright police, though if your ISP is part of the deal—AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon—you’ve signed up to BE policed. ......Equally worrisome: the CCI site directs users to the Copyright Alliance to learn more about the history of copyright. The Copyright Alliance is hardly a neutral “resource”—it was a leader in the battle to pass SOPA and remains a staunch advocate of copyright maximalism...... Not to toot our own horn, but EFF has developed a copyright curriculum that explains what copyright law permits as well as what it forbids and, we hope, encourages students to think critically about creativity, innovation and culture. And it’s CC-licensed, so the CCI should feel free to save itself some time and money by using it. In the meantime, we are disappointed if not surprised by the tenor of the CCI’s approach to surveillance and education. Watch this space for more on the CAS and what you can do to challenge it.
Here are a few more items at Wired.com you should read:

• Feds Used Aaron Swartz’s Political Manifesto Against Him
  
• Here’s How AT&T Is Planning to Rob Americans of a Free Public Telco Network By putting the last nail in the coffin of the public telecommunications network, AT&T’s plan poses an even greater threat to the future of American innovation and internet freedom.
  
• Don’t Touch That Dial! Low-Power Radio Is About to Make FM Hot Again Later this year, the FCC will start distributing FM radio licenses to nonprofits, allowing them to broadcast with 100 watts or less. The goal is to dot the country with 100-watt transmitters, primarily in urban areas, and restore some of the diversity lost to corporate consolidation of radio.
  

At the Guardian.co.uk Jo Confino reports Oxfam report shows multinational companies failing on CSR goals Corporate social responsibility programmes not focusing on transparency and supply chain operations, report says Food and drink multinationals are under unprecedented pressure from civil society, and Oxfam has turned the screw further with a report showing that even the more progressive-minded companies have failed to use their enormous power to create a more just system for farmers and local communities. At a time when public confidence in food production has been hit by the horsemeat scandal and concerns over obesity and diabetes are growing, research by Oxfam shows that none of the 'Big 10' multinationals score a good overall rating on their public policies and commitments covering their supply chains. Oxfam's Behind the Brands report also accuses businesses of being overly secretive, making claims of sustainability and social responsibility difficult to verify on the ground. What Oxfam highlights is the limits of corporate social responsibility, which focuses on iteratively improving the current capitalist system, rather than transforming it. It points out that up to 80% of the global population considered 'chronically hungry' are farmers, yet huge tracts of fertile land is used for the production of unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks. Oxfam further argues that although the relationship between the food and beverage industry and endemic poverty and hunger is now well understood, the sourcing of commodities – cocoa, sugar, potatoes, tomatoes, soy, coffee, tea and corn – "is still plagued with injustice and inequity, much as it was 100 years ago." The report criticises corporate sustainability programmes for typically being tightly focussed around specific projects such as water use or training women farmers, while failing to address the root causes of hunger and poverty because companies lack adequate policies to guide their own supply chain operations. ..... See the Democracy Now! interview below with Chris Jochnick, director of private sector engagement at Oxfam America. Then check Oxfam's interactive website BehindTheBrands.org which tracks "Who owns the brands you love and how they have scored". Also overshadowed by the Sequestration Hysteria™ was the House Judiciary committee's drone policy hearing. John Knefel writing for Rolling Stone explains how House Hearing Fails to Address Major Concerns With Targeted Killing Program The House Judiciary Committee held a full member hearing today on when it is acceptable for the government to designate a U.S. citizen for targeted killing – the first hearing to focus specifically on this hot-button issue. Despite the session's serious shortcomings, it was a small step towards some modicum of Congressional oversight of a program that remains shrouded in secrecy. The hearing included four expert witnesses, all of whom contribute to the right-leaning website Lawfare. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, was invited to attend but declined to show up, much to the frustration of many committee members. The session was remarkable for the near-constant agreement between three of the four witnesses – lawyers John Bellinger and Robert Chesney and Brookings Institution scholar Benjamin Wittes – regarding issues such as the constitutionality of killing Yemeni cleric and U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in a 2011 drone strike, as well as the reasoning behind the recently leaked DOJ white paper summarizing the secret Office of Legal Counsel opinions that authorize lethal strikes against American citizens. Little was gained by having these three similar viewpoints on the panel, especially at the exclusion of human rights experts or those actually affected by U.S. drone strikes. .... Also remarkable was what was missing from the discussion – namely, any serious questioning of the fundamental logic of the war on terror, or any suggestion that it may ever come to an end from either members of Congress or the witnesses. Instead, the witnesses argued that Congress should update the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force to better fit the new realities of the war on terror, with barely a word that the drone-based U.S. foreign policy which has resulted in 4,700 deaths, by Sen. Lindsay Graham's own admission, might itself be the problem. "The lawyers at this hearing made the case for this lethal authority during wartime, but the problem is that there's no end in sight to this war," says Naureen Shah, lecturer in law at the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University Law School, in an email. "The war against Al Qaeda is at best a war against groups with a shared ideology, but on that basis, the war and the authority to kill citizens on U.S. soil could last lifetimes." ..... More details at Rolling Stone but David Swanson figured this all out last weekend. At WarIsACrime.org Swanson calls out Witnesses at a Drone Hearing ....... Congress ought to question the administration on its program of drone killing, regardless of what title the hearing is given, right? But this is where things get really odd. The witness list doesn't include the president or a single person who works for him, no one from the CIA, no one from the White House, no one from the Pentagon, nobody from the Office of Legal Counsel. As far as we know, and it seems extremely likely to be the case, the committee has not subpoenaed any documents. If it invited any government witnesses, it has not subpoenaed them or made any plans to figuratively or literally hold them in contempt. Instead, all the witnesses are outside "experts" who won't know any more about what's going on than the rest of us. A defender of this approach explained it to me thus: Senators and Representatives are often remarkably ignorant. Senator Dianne Feinstein doesn't even know that all military aged males killed by drone strikes are being declared militants. Congress Members don't even read newspapers. If some smart experts testify at a public hearing, then elected officials can't deny as many facts. Plus, inviting government witnesses would just produce stonewalling or lying. In my view, stonewalling and lying are reasons for subpoenas and contempt, not a complete abdication of the power of oversight. It's not that I think glorified public newspaper reading is worse than nothing. I just think more is called for. On the other hand, the notion that Congress needs more information before it should act is ludicrous. What sort of memo could legalize murder? What sort of due process could be applied to murder to make it not be murder? As long as Congress is bringing in experts to talk about what's already public knowledge, I'd like to propose a different type of witness. If witnesses from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen are not deemed relevant, newspaper interpreters are not going to make them so. I'd like to propose, then, as one of many actually useful witnesses a gentleman by the name of Leo Tolstoy, who had this to say well over a century ago:

..... "Not to speak of all the other contradictions between modern life and the conscience, the permanently armed condition of Europe together with its profession of Christianity is alone enough to drive any man to despair, to doubt of the sanity of mankind, and to terminate an existence in this senseless and brutal world. This contradiction, which is a quintessence of all the other contradictions, is so terrible that to live and to take part in it is only possible if one does not think of it—if one is able to forget it. "What! all of us, Christians, not only profess to love one another, but do actually live one common life; we whose social existence beats with one common pulse—we aid one another, learn from one another, draw ever closer to one another to our mutual happiness, and find in this closeness the whole meaning of life!—and to-morrow some crazy ruler will say some stupidity, and another will answer in the same spirit, and then I must go expose myself to being murdered, and murder men—who have done me no harm—and more than that, whom I love. And this is not a remote contingency, but the very thing we are all preparing for, which is not only probable, but an inevitable certainty. .....

Read all of this! Also visit Swanson's Talk Nation Radio (Syndicated by Pacifica Network) for interviews with EmptyWheel's Marcy Wheeler, TomDispatch Editior Nick Turse and more! MORE AUSTERY PROTESTS: Paul Day reports for Reuters from last Saturday Tens of thousands in Spain protest economic policy, corruption Gathering under the banner of the "Citizen Tide", students, doctors, unionists, young families and pensioners staged rowdy but non-violent demonstrations as a near five-year economic slump shows no sign of recovery and mass unemployment rises. "I'm here to add my voice. They're cutting where they shouldn't cut; health, education ... basic services. And the latest corruption scandal is just the tiniest tip of a very large iceberg," said Alberto, 51, an account administrator for a German multinational in Madrid, who preferred not to give his surname. ...... Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has introduced some of the deepest budget cuts in Spain's democratic history in an attempt to convince investors the country can weather the economic crisis without falling back on international aid. But, with more than half of the country's young people out of work and growth not expected until sometime next year, the measures have only scratched the surface of the budget shortfall which is expected to be more than double the target in 2014. Meanwhile, corruption scandals which have hit the ruling party as well as the once-popular royal family has left many Spaniards disenchanted with their leaders on all sides of the political spectrum. At DailyKOS blogger ProLegs caught this media tidbit Clear Channel Loses $424 Million in 2012, StopRush Rolls On Buried on the business page of mysanantonio.com today, so brief you could easily have missed it, was the news that Clear Channel Media Holdings just reported losses for the last quarter of 2012 of $191 million, and $424 million for all of 2012. Clear Channel has been in trouble for a long time for a variety of reasons, but one factor that contributed to their losses in 2012 was the death spiral of their golden boy radio host Rush Limbaugh. Just shy of a year ago, Limbaugh launched a cruel 3 day attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, following her testimony before a Congressional panel regarding health care and birth control. His advertisers have been heading for the doors ever since, thanks in large part to groups like The Flush Rush Facebook community and #StopRush Twitter. Here are the current number of sponsors who have voluntarily removed their ads from Limbaugh's show... NEXT Jason Ditz at AntiWar.com reports Israel Okays Cheney-Murdoch Firm to Drill in Occupied Golan In what is certain to be an enormously controversial decision, the Israeli government has issued a permit to the Genie Energy company to begin drilling for oil in the occupied Golan Heights, despite it still be internationally recognized as part of Syria. Genie Energy International’s President is retired Israeli General Effi Eitam, a former Likud Housing Minister and MP who has repeatedly called for Israel to “cleanse” the occupied territories of all Arabs, and predicting in a New Yorker interview that eventually “we will have to kill them all.” ....... Genie is well politically connected beyond Eitam, with a special Strategic Advisory Board that includes former Vice President Dick Cheney, News Corporation Head Rupert Murdoch, and several other high profile figures. ...... The decision to allow drilling seems certain to start an international incident since it will have major ramifications on any future peace settlement between Israel and Syria. Kai Ryssdal of PRI's Marketplace caught this item last Wednesday CEO Jamie Dimon: JPMorgan 'benefits from downturns' This final note today, which we'll file under the heading: Things that kill mere mortals only make JPMorgan Chase stronger. CEO Jamie Dimon was speaking at an investor conference yesterday. Turns out, he's not so worried about things. "Well, we have a battleship. We were a port in the storm in the last storm, we will be a port in the storm in the next storm. And I read this thing by the guy who talked about "anti-fragile" -- I think our bank is anti-fragile, we actually benefit from downturns. That's how we like to run the company." Yeah like the multi-billion-dollar BAILOUT from We the Peeps that lines yer Armani suit. There's a special Ring of Hell waiting for you Jamie. When we read THIS we just about fell off our chairs! Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage By Sheryl Gay Stolberg NYT WASHINGTON — Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election. The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. .....Legal analysts said the brief had the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments. The list of signers includes a string of Republican officials and influential thinkers — 75 as of Monday evening — who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the first time and others who have changed their previous positions. ..... In making an expansive argument that same-sex marriage bans are discriminatory, the brief’s signatories are at odds with the House Republican leadership, which has authorized the expenditure of tax dollars to defend the 1996 marriage law. The law defines marriage in the eyes of the federal government as the union of a man and a woman. .... Go read the list yourself and see if you fall off your chair! In a related matter DOWN UNDER March 2 is the Annual Gay & Lesbian March Thousands line Sydney streets for Gay Mardi Gras .... Popular motorcycle groups "Dykes on Bikes" and "Boys on Bikes" rallied the crowd before the parade's official start. Supporters from "First Australians," an Aboriginal group, were the first to march. Extravagant works of pageantry dominated Oxford Street - a gay bar and nightclub strip in Sydney's inner east - as 135 floats and nearly 8,500 participants danced, sang, and cheered their way along the route. Spectacular and outrageous costumes didn't seem to hold any of the marchers back. ..... At HuffPoAOL Looking@Democracy Multimedia Challenge Seeks Your Radical Ideas For $100,000 In Prizes Looking@Democracy, a competition launched by The Illinois Humanities Council and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is asking great minds to create multimedia that offers suggestions on strengthening democracy. The foundation will be giving away $100,000 in prizes for short provocative submissions that create a dialogue about government's role, according to the foundation's statement. Submissions such as videos, graphics, podcasts, public service announcements and music videos qualify -- as long as they are digital and share a story about rethinking and improving democracy. Submissions can be made online through April 30, 2013, according to the event's official website. Learn more at lookingatdemocracy.org! Get busy! XL PIPELINE UPDATE: John M. Broder reports at the NYT Report May Ease Path for New Pipeline The State Department issued a revised environmental impact statement for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline on Friday that makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be. The 2,000-page document also makes no statement on whether the pipeline is in the United States’ economic and energy interests, a determination to be made later this year by President Obama. But it will certainly add a new element to the already robust climate change and energy debate around the $7 billion proposed project. The new report does not make any policy recommendations, but its conclusion that the environmental and climate change impacts are manageable could provide Mr. Obama political cover if he decides to approve the pipeline........ The new impact statement says that extracting, shipping, refining and burning oil from the tar sands produces more climate-altering greenhouse gases than most conventional oil, but less than many of the project’s critics claim. The State Department study says that tar sands oil produces 5 percent to 19 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than other crude, depending on what oil was compared and who performed the calculations. It predicts that Canada and its oil industry partners will probably continue to develop the oil sands even if the Keystone XL pipeline is not built. It states that building or not building the pipeline will have no significant impact on demand for heavy crude in the United States. ..... Justice Tony Scalia mocked the Voting Right Act last week by calling it a "Perpetuation of Racial Entitlement", a clear dog whistle to the regressives. Watch Thom Hartmann & Mike Papantonio on Thursday's Big Picture explain Should Scalia take off his black robe & put on his white hood? According to Pap Alabama has been REVERSED by the court 240 times for violations of the Voting Rights Act. And The BradBlog has more on this so check those stories below. Also read Ari Berman at The Nation Why Are Conservatives Trying to Destroy the Voting Rights Act? Also at the Big Picture check out Hanford Nuclear Waste is Leaking...on the way to the Columbia River Kevin Kamps,Beyond Nuclear, joins Thom Hartmann. Hundreds of gallons of nuclear waste are leaking out of so-called storage tanks at a nuclear waste facility in Washington state. What dangers are these leaks posing to the American people - and will this latest nuclear nightmare wake politic and up to the dangers of nuclear power? Also from AP/YahooNews Washington Gov. Inslee says Hanford tanks could be leaking in range of 1,000 gallons per year ....The 1,000-gallon figure is a rough estimate based on the early assessment of six identified leakers. Inslee said the leakage numbers are still being evaluated to determine exactly how much has been lost and how fast the waste is leaving the tanks. Inslee said there's no available technology to plug the leaks, so federal and state officials are working to find the best available solution to remove the sludge. Inslee said that solution could come in weeks or months. "We want to find the most expeditious way to get this job done," Inslee said. Hanford has 177 aging tanks that store millions of gallons of radioactive sludge. Inslee said faulty data analysis meant officials did not properly catch signs of leaking before now, and Inslee expressed concern about the other tanks at the reservation. ..... Writing at Alternet.org George Lakoff: Why Extreme Conservatives Like the Sequester Paul Krugman, Joe Stiglitz, Robert Reich and other major economists have pointed out that the deficit is not an urgent economic problem and that, to the contrary, the economy would be helped by an increase in public investment and harmed by drastic cuts. The Sequester would hurt the economy, millions of people, and the country as a whole. President Obama has detailed the vast range of harms that the sequester would bring. They are well-known. And they are not necessary. The president sees the sequester, if it happens, as an enormous self-inflicted wound, inflicted on America by a Republican-dominated House elected by Americans. But pointing out Republican-caused harms to millions of people — many of them Republicans — does not sway the ultra-right. Why? Democratic pundits say that Republicans want to hurt the president, to show government doesn’t work by making it not work, and to protect “special interests” from higher taxes. All true. But there is an additional and deeper reason. Ultra-conservatives believe that the sequester is moral, that it is the right thing to do. ...... Their moral sense requires that they do all they can to make the government fail in providing for the common good. Their idea of liberty is maximal personal responsibility, which they see as maximal privatization — and profitization — of all that we do for each other together, jointly as a unified nation. They also believe that if people are hurt by government failure, it is their own fault for being “on the take” instead of providing for themselves. People who depend on public provisions should suffer. They should have rely on themselves alone — learn personal responsibility, just as Romney said in his 47 percent speech. In the long run, they believe, the country will be better off if everyone has to depend on personal responsibility alone. Moreover, ultra-conservatives do not see all the ways in which they, and other ultra-conservatives, rely all day every day on what other Americans have supplied for them. They actually believe that they built it all by themselves. ..... Much more so click over and read the rest! In resigning as Pope Ratzinger said "I have asked God, earnestly in prayer, to enlighten me and, with His light, make me take the right decision, not for my good, but for the good of the church" which typifies what authoritarians demand of their followers: give up self for the whole. Be sure to watch DN!'s interview with Matthew Fox a former Catholic priest who was silenced and expelled by the pope, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, in the 1980s. This is a fantastic interview! And also watch the interview with The Nation's John Nichols & Lisa Graves from the Center for Media and Democracy on exposing Pete Peterson and his "Campaign to Fix the Debt" with a new website PetersonPyramid.org. Also watch DN!'s interview with Michael Ratner, lawyer to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks about Bradley Manning's recent statement and more stories below from the Bradley Manning Support Network. Much more to click on and be instantly smarter in all out regulars and BTV Alerts! THROW BRICKS at JOHN "Crybaby" BOEHNER on Meet the David, JOHN "Crazy Train" MCCAIN & his sidekick LINDSAY GRAHAM on Face the Bob while the WH Limo drives Economic Director Gene Sperling to This Snafugopolis and State of The Candy. Don't forget the NEW Ring of Fire show on FSTV at Noon ET! And with Spring Training open it's time to think about getting some of your summer garden plants going indoors. We ordered our seeds this week from Gardens Alive! So get busy! We'll see you next week! BRICK TEEVEE ALERTS!_©

Monday, February 25, 2013

• Highlights from the "Forward on Climate" rally in Washington D.C EXCLUSIVE: Rarely Seen Film "King: A Filmed Record" Traces MLK’s Struggle from Montgomery to Memphis In a Black History Month special, we air excerpts of a rarely seen Oscar-nominated documentary about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the rise of the civil rights movement. Produced by Ely Landau, "King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis" is made from original newsreel footage and other original video footage shot of marches, rallies and church services.
  

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

• John Nichols, political writer for The Nation & Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy Billionaires for Austerity: With Cuts Looming, Wall Street Roots of "Fix the Debt" Campaign Exposed
  
• Betsy West, executive producer of Makers: Women Who Make America "Makers: Women Who Make America": New Film Chronicles Past 50 Years of Feminist Movement
  
• Bassam Aramin & Rami Elhanan United by Loss, Israeli & Palestinian Dads Call for a Joint Nonviolent Intifada Against Occupation
  

Wednesday, February 27

• Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU Blasts Supreme Court Rejection of Challenge to Warrantless Spying Without Proof of Surveillance AND Obama’s Chilling Secrecy, from Denying Drone Program’s Existence to Stonewalling on Legal Memos
  
• Bob Edgar, president and CEO of Common Cause Selling the White House? Obama-Linked Group Promises Top Donors Access to President
  
• Chris Jochnick, director of private sector engagement at Oxfam America Behind the Brands: On Food Justice, Oxfam Gives Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Nestlé & Pepsi Failing Grades
  

Thursday, February 28, 2013

• Ari Berman, contributing writer for The Nation magazine A Racial Entitlement? Supreme Court Threatens Voting Rights Act, One of Civil Rights Era’s Key Gains
  
• Matthew Fox Fascism in the Church: Ex-Priest on "The Pope’s War," Clergy Abuse and Quelling Liberation Theology
  
• Robert King, the only freed member of the Angola 3 After 40 Years in Solitary, Angola 3 Prisoner Albert Woodfox Ordered Freed for 3rd Time in Louisiana
  

Friday, February 22, 2013

• Michael Ratner, lawyer to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks WikiLeaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning Says He Wanted to Show the Public the "True Costs of War"
  
• NYT's Michael Moss Salt Sugar Fat: NY Times Reporter Michael Moss on How the Food Giants Hooked America on Junk Food
  
• Melanie Warner, longtime journalist covering the food industry Pandora’s Lunchbox: Pulling Back the Curtain on How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal
  

GRITtv @ www.grittv.org with Laura Flanders

»»» FEATURED SHOW Barbara Ransby: Out With Her New Book The author of the award-winning biography of Ella Baker has just released her latest biography: Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson.

BRICK TEEVEE SPORT!_©

»»» NASCAR on FOX Sprint Cup Series at Phoenix 3 pm et

»»» NBA on ABC SUNDAY Doubleheader! Heat @ Knicks 1 pm et then Thunder @ Clippers 3:30 pm

»»» NBA on TNT THURSDAY Doubleheader! Thunder @ Knicks 8 pm et then Clippers @ Nuggets 10:30 pm

**** MLB OPENING DAY IN 29 DAYS! ****

BRICK TEEVEE ACTION!_©

The 1st Amendment is Our Permit Our permit to occupy is The First Amendment. Quickly sign the following statement which will be delivered to mayors, police chiefs and major media across the country:

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

StrikeDebt.org & RollingJubilee.org! A bailout of the people by the people Rolling Jubilee is a Strike Debt project that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it. Together we can liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal. Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits. ADDENDUM: Naked Capitalism reports Top Tax Expert Confirms Our Doubts About Occupy Wall Street’s Debt Buying/Forgiveness Scheme

STOP the ACHE NEW WEBSITE! AcheAct.org and Appalachian Community HEALTH EMERGENCY Advocating for government action and protection of the public from the health crisis in mountain top removal communi ties

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

Community-Wealth.org community-wealth.org a project of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland Community-Wealth.org brings together, for the first time, information about the broad range of community wealth building activity. Featuring Community Wealth Building in Action: The Cleveland Model Something important is happening in Cleveland. The Democracy Collaborative—the host of C-W.org—in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Shorebank Enterprise Cleveland, the City of Cleveland, and the city's major hospitals and universities—is helping to implement a new model of large-scale worker-owned and community-benefiting businesses. The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation's decaying economy. Increasingly, this model is being referred to nationally as The Cleveland Model. Initial planning is now underway to assist other cities in Ohio and nationwide to replicate and adapt this innovative approach to economic development, green job creation, and neighborhood stabilization. Find more many resources at Community-Wealth.org!

NET NEUTRALITY! SaveTheInternet.com Declaration of Internet Freedom Tired of fighting bad bills like SOPA, PIPA and CISPA? Want to stand up against those who are trying to control what we do and say online? It's time for something different. A group of more than 1,500 organizations, academics, startup founders and tech innovators has come together to produce a Declaration of Internet Freedom, a set of five principles that put forward a positive vision of the open Internet. Our goal: Get millions of Internet users to sign on to this Declaration. Build political power for Internet users to make sure that we get a seat at the table whenever, and wherever, the future of the Internet is being decided. It's time to stop playing defense and start going on the offensive. The open Internet is central to people’s freedom to communicate, share, advocate and innovate in the 21st century. But powerful interests want to censor free speech, block the sharing of information, hinder innovation and control how Internet users get online. And all too often, people in power are making political decisions behind closed doors about how the Internet should operate — and they're doing this without the involvement of actual Internet users. The result: policies that could close down the open Internet and destroy our freedom to connect. It’s time for us to reclaim the Internet for its users. Take action now and sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom.

NEW!!! Stop Media Consolidation! Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to change the agency’s ownership rules to pave the way for Murdoch to get exactly what he wants. Worse, Genachowski and Murdoch are keeping this all very hush-hush, hoping you won't notice.3 These changes wouldn’t just benefit Murdoch. If the FCC proposal passes, one company could own the major daily newspaper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in your town. And that one company could be your Internet provider, too. What is the FCC thinking?!? We can still stop the agency from taking this perilous step — but we have less than a month to do it. By taking action, you’re joining a movement of millions who are working to stop big media from getting even bigger. Please take action today. Click HERE to view our infographic and send a message to the FCC! More info at Another FCC Cave-In: Julius Genachowski’s Media Consolidation Christmas Gift to Murdoch at StopTheCap.com! And Sign Senator Bernie Sanders petition to the FCC Protect Media Diversity: Stop Media Consolidation!

CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE American Majority Rejects Washington Austerity Consensus – And We Demand Media Coverage by Roger Hickey, President, Campaign for America's Future: No more silent majority. The Campaign for America’s Future is joining with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (whose Co-Director, Dean Baker blogs regularly about economic bias in the media) and with FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) to monitor the media’s coverage and representation of the American Majority views as they go into covering the big deficit fight. But we want to enlist YOU too. Send us accounts of unbalanced coverage in the national media and in your local newspapers and television. Call up reporters, editors, assignment people and tell them when they are under-representing the views of the American Majority. We should have at least half the experts, pundits, quotes and real people represented in their coverage. In a debate as important as the one we are going into, we can’t allow the media to ignore the American Majority. Much more at www.ourfuture.org

MOVE TO AMEND! www.movetoamend.org SIGN HERE NOW! And check out more actions on the Move to Amend Calendar featuring David Cobb's Barnstorming Tour! Also visit Rep Alan Grayson's site www.savedemocracy.net GET INVOLVED! And Alan Grayson is BACK in the 113th Congress! Help out at CongressmanWithGuts.com

REPRESENT.US IT’S TIME TO GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS SO THE GOVERNMENT CAN REPRESENT US. Represent.Us is a fresh campaign to pass the American Anti-Corruption Act: a law that would overhaul campaign finance, impose strict lobbying and conflict of interest laws, and end secret political money. We are mobilizing millions of Americans — conservatives and progressives, young and old, every issue group fighting K Street, online and offline — to join this campaign. Represent.Us is not just building a movement to pass the Act. The campaign will use hard-hitting accountability tactics to unseat politicians who fail to endorse the Act. If passed, the Act will completely reshape American politics and policy-making and give people a voice. See this Guest Blog at Greenpeace by Executive Director Josh Silver The $6 Billion Auction: Finally, A Plan to Get Money Out of Politics for more information!

SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT See CourageToResist.org and Bradley Manning Support Network UPDATE! From the Bradley Manning Support Network Update 3/1/13: Bradley Manning's statement taking responsibility for releasing docs AND Update 3/2/13: reports on Bradley Manning's inspiring and historic statement

DONATE YOUR OLD CELL PHONES TO T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION Help save lives. Donate your old & used iPhone, Blackberries, Droid and other phones to help the T.J. Martell Foundations fund life-saving cancer & AIDS research. For more information, go to www.tjmartellfoundation.org CELLULAR PHONE TASK FORCE EDUCATION, ADVOCACY, SUPPORT at CellPhoneTaskForce.org The Cellular Phone Task Force is dedicated to halting the expansion of wireless technology because it cannot be made safe. We provide: education to the public concerning electromagnetic pollution (electrosmog); advocacy for an electromagnetically cleaner environment; support for individuals disabled by radiation from wireless technology and other sources.

B R I C K T E E V E E

_{image ©2006 arkysue}

The essential guide for watching government propaganda!

THEY report. YOU throw bricks.© Get your Foam Bricks at ThrowThings.com HERE!

IRAQ: 4,486 US Military Dead as of April 21, 2012

AFGHANISTAN: 2,178 US Military Dead as of March 1, 2013

The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises

Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read

• This Week (ABC) Host George Stephanopoulos
  • White House economic adviser Gene Sperling
  • Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
  • ROUNDTABLE: ABC News' Matthew Dowd and Cokie Roberts; Democratic strategist James Carville; Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot; and Mia Love, Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah.
  

  
  

• Face The Nation (CBS) Host Bob Schiefer
  • Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
  • Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
  • Cardinal Timothy Dolan
  • ROUNDTABLE: Bob Woodward, David Sanger, Rana Foroohar and John Dickerson.
  

  
  

• 60 Minutes (CBS)
  • The Life and Death of Clay Hunt - More active duty military died last year from suicide than in combat. The number of veterans who die by their own hand is also alarmingly high. Byron Pitts reports on Clay Hunt, a Marine combat veteran who was wounded in battle and later diagnosed with PTSD and depression. Hunt tried to help other veterans struggling with illness and the experiences of war, but lost his own battle and committed suicide. David Schneider is the producer.
  • China's Real Estate Mogul - One of the richest self-made billionaire women in the world, Zhang Xin is one of China's largest developers of office space, whose boldly designed skyscrapers have created signature skylines in Beijing. Xin speaks to Lesley Stahl about her business empire, her country, and its prospects. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.
  • China's Real Estate Bubble - Real estate, especially residential, has been one of the driving forces of the hot Chinese economy. But now a bubble has been created that could lead to a debt crisis many fear could bring the world's second largest economy to a standstill. Lesley Stahl reports. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.
  

  
  

• Meet the Press (NBC) Host David Gregory
  • Microsoft, NBC News Dissolve MSNBC.com Joint Venture NBC is buying Microsoft's 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount. MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com. Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news service this fall. Although he declined to provide many details about the operation general manager of MSN.com Bob Visse said the news staff will be about the same size as the roughly 100 people who created original content for the MSNBC.com. "There is no question that we are going to have more flexibility to make our own decisions," said Vivian Schiller, NBC News' chief digital officer. "This is really an amicable breakup. We think competition will make us better." Okay then.
  • Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
  • National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling.
  • ROUNDTABLE: Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID); columnist for the Washington Post Kathleen Parker; Managing Editor of TheGrio.com Joy Reid; NBC Chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd and NBC Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw.
  

  
  

• 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 Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
  • White House Economic Director Gene Sperling
  • Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)
  • Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)
  • ROUNDTABLE: Stephen Moore from the Wall Street Journal, USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, and Mark Zandi from Moody's Analytics.
  

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

• YOUR GREEN NEWS REPORT
  
  The Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen: 6 minutes of green news, politics, analysis & snarky comment! BOOKMARK greennews.bradblog.com NOW!
  • 'Green News Report' - February 28, 2013 IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Climate change already hitting Rocky Mtn ski resorts; House Dems slam Republicans for obstruction of climate action; Shell Oil calls it quits in the Arctic --- for now; Fox 'News' makes a stunning admission; Drought in the West, Flooding in Europe PLUS: Finally, some good news for kids in Detroit ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
  • IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see link): Sequestration would be bad news for clean energy and a clean environment; You may be eating toxic chemicals, even if you eat organic, avoid plastic; High court throws out $1B fraud verdict in Exxon leak case; US nuclear dump is leaking toxic waste; USDA warns farmers of accelerating climate change; Loss of wild bees serious threat to crop yields; Weather extremes provoked by trapping of giant waves in atmosphere ... PLUS: The New Abolitionists: Global Warming Is The Great Moral Crisis Of Our Time ... and much, MUCH more!
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! 'HUBRIS' IN THE MIRROR Why NBC News' next documentary must examine the network's own failures in the run-up and aftermath of the Iraq invasion...
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! Voting Rights Act Imperiled U.S. Supreme Court hears Republican challenge to 48-year old law, even after it was re-authorized for another 25 years in 2006 by an astounding 98-0 vote in the U.S. Senate...
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! DARK DAY AT SCOTUS NVoting Rights Act hearing at U.S. Supreme Court suggest very ominous future for the nation's landmark civil rights legislation...
  • BRADBLOG UPDATE! RAGING BULL Scalia's untethered rant in Voting Rights Act hearing demonstrates once and for all that he's a radical activist, legislating from the bench...
  

• The Peter B. Collins Show PODCAST!
  
  Listen at PeterBCollins.com!
  The Peter B. Collins Show covers American news and politics from the Left Coast. Veteran talk radio personality Peter B. Collins, based in San Francisco, delivers fresh interviews, commentary and analysis on a range of important topics, with views and voices you don’t often find in the corporate media.
  • Holiday Break and Website Changes
  
  To my valued listeners: We are making some changes to the website and our terms, effective in January. We will continue to offer free podcasts–my new daily news and commentary. Our in-depth interviews will be available for $1 per episode, or to subscribers who pay $5 per month or more. Loyal listeners who simply can’t afford it should send an email to peter@peterbcollins.com, as we will be offering a limited number of scholarships to our friends who are hurting during these tough times. More information will be posted as we complete the revisions. I’m grateful to each of you for listening and supporting this work, and hope that the new model will enable us to keep it going well into the future. All the best, -pbc
  • Peter B Collins, Truthout | Op-Ed An Insider's View of the Progressive Talk Radio Devolution
  • PBC Standard Podcast February 25, 2013 Journalist Steve Horn Updates the Frack Attack: Gas Bubble Builds, Rendell Blocks EPA, Cuomo Plays Politics, ALEC Undermines Science in School
  • PBC Standard Podcast March 1, 2013 Bill of Rights Defender Shahid Buttar Knocks Supreme Court for Wiretap Ruling, and Obama’s Kill Memo; Reporter Kevin Gosztola Details Dramatic Bradley Manning Statement
  • PBC News & Comment February 28, 2013PBC News & Comment: Bradley Manning tells his story
  • PBC News & Comment March 1, 2013PBC News & Comment: Courtroom View of Manning Trial Reporter Kevin Gosztola details Bradley Manning’s dramatic statement, admitting he’s the WikiLeaker, but not a traitor; where’s Rachel??…..
  

• 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 Weekend on Ring of Fire Radio! Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern
  • Syndicated columnist Tina Dupuy will join us to talk about the financial boon that the arms industry has experienced by disguising their quest for profits as allegedly preserving our 2nd Amendment rights.
  • Author and journalist Alexander Zaitchik will tell us about the millionaire money that’s helping put John Stossel’s Fox News propaganda in our schools.
  • Author Bill Black will tell us why austerity measures won’t work in America, based on what we’ve seen happen to other countries.
  • And Gaius Publius from America Blog will help us uncover the billionaire backers of the austerity-driven “Fix The Debt” campaign.
  • VIDEO! THE HISTORY OF CORPORATE CORRUPTION & FRAUD with Robert Kennedy Jr & Mike Papantonio “Call us if you have a personal story about Fraud on Taxpayers or False Claims for Payment made by Corportations at 1-866-389-FIRE (3473) or contact us by email at info@ringoffireradio.com if you have evidence of fraud that robbed taxpayer dollars. If our government is paying too much due to fraud by a corporation, Ring of Fire wants to do a story on it.”
  • Papantonio: The Demise Of Corporate-Controlled Media (VIDEO) Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder discuss how the new, non-corporate media outlets that are overtaking traditional media sources are run by corporate interests.
  • Papantonio: Supreme Court The Judicial Wing of Billionaires (VIDEO) Mike Papantonio talks with Thom Hartmann on The Big Picture about the Supreme Court’s hearings this week on the Voting Rights Act, and how this corporate-controlled court is poised to repeal 60 years of social progress on Civil Rights.
  • Papantonio: GOP War On Voting Makes It To Supreme Court (VIDEO) The Republican war on voting finally made its way to the Supreme Court, and soon we’ll know whether or not our conservative court will reverse more than 50 years of social progress on voting rights. Mike Papantonio talks about what could happen with this case with author and Nation contributor Ari Berman.
  • Join our blog at www.ringoffireradio.com. You can now SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST by clicking on the "Podcast" tab at the top of the Ring of Fire blog. Please help support progressive radio by signing up!
  Ring of Fire Radio Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts 8-11 et Sunday evenings on Chicago's Progressive Talk WCPT AM & FM and 4 pm et on Sirius/XM 167 featuring The PAP Attack! "We’ll bring you the stories that the mainstream media didn’t feel like reporting this week."
  • NEW!! Ring of Fire TV on Free Speech TV - Sundays 12 PM noon et!!!
  

  
  

• Majority Report with Sam Seder Streaming LIVE weekdays 11:30 am et @ Majority.fm!
  
  • MONDAY 2/25/13 Sam V Nick Troiano Of The Pete Peterson Funded Austerity Youth
  • TUESDAY 2/26/13 Susan Crawford: Captive Audience, Telcom Monopoly in the New Gilded Age
  • WEDNESDAY 2/27/13 David Dayen: The Age of Austerity
  • THURSDAY 2/28/13 Ari Berman: The Voting Rights Act In The Crosshairs
  • FRIDAY 3/1/13 Casual Friday: Cliff Schecter & Richard Kind
  • MORE Podcast Interviews at majorityfm.libsyn.com!
  

  
  

• KEISER REPORT Podcasts and more @ MaxKeiser.com!
  
  "HI Y'ALL! Tell the people! Tell the people!"
  WHO IS MAX KEISER? Max Keiser is a financial expert, Prediction Markets analyst, inventor and filmmaker. He is the creator of the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) the first Prediction Market. Max Keiser co-hosts "The Truth About Markets" on ResonanceFM 104.4 in London. He also produces and presents documentary films covering markets and finance for Al Jazeera’s "People & Power" series. Max Keiser started his career on Wall Street in 1983. He is the creator of KarmaBanque a site that enables activists to challenge corporate power.
  • VISIT PirateMyFilm.com!!! Crowd Funding for Pirates!
  • NEW! MaxKeiserTV on YouTube! MaxKeiserTV PLUS here is Max Keiser’s official Facebook page And here is the official Keiser Report page
  • The official Facebook pages for Max Keiser & Keiser Report STACY SUMMARY: For once and for all, here are our real Facebook pages, the other ones are fake. But if you feel like chatting to the fake ones, by all means, go ahead. Max Keiser & Keiser Report PLUS Stacey Herbert
  • VIDEO Mike Maloney’s Hidden Secrets of Money by stacyherbert - Part one of this AWESOME series by Mike Maloney and GoldSilver.com. Max features along with David Morgan and other greats! Part two will be released soon, so watch this now!!• Hundreds of thousands protest in Portugal by maxkeiser - READ Screw the Troika (rt.com)
  • Time to call John Perkins? by maxkeiser - Italy plunged deeper into political chaos this weekend after Beppe Grillo, the quixotic former comedian who holds the balance of power in parliament, suggested that the country may have to abandon the euro and return to the lire. READ Italy paralysed as Grillo plots exit route from euro (telegraph.co.uk)
  • KEISER REPORT [KR411] Keiser Report: Media Moron Mockery We notice that the mainstream media mocks the jury in the UK dismissed for being too stupid to understand basic concepts of jury trial like ‘guilt beyond a reasonable doubt;’ when, in fact, the same media takes financial regulators seriously when they say they can find no evidence of financial crime. They spot Gary Gensler, Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, on BBC News seemingly incapable of understanding that Libor rigging is ‘fraud’ and not merely a ‘fiction’ as he suggests. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to renowned mathematician and monetary scientist, Professor Antal Fekete, about the gold basis – cash versus the nearest futures contract and why that the cash price for gold is never reported is by design. They also discuss gold repatriation from Germany as a trial balloon, to see how much demand there is for cash gold and how it is that permanent backwardation means internal bleeding in the monetary system.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR412] Keiser Report: Slime Mold For President! We discuss how slime molds outsmart our central bankers and policymakers and the four troll banks and their clients living under the bridge. They also discuss George Osborne’s slime mold serf experience program. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to renowned mathematician and monetary scientist, Professor Antal Fekete, about the elimination of silver as money, an event that saw value and liquidity wiped out and about the difference between the two giants of Austrian School of Economics – Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises with the biggest being that Menger did not believe in the quantity theory of money.
  • KEISER REPORT [KR413] Keiser Report: Who stole from you? A Robo-banker We discuss the annoying human qualities like hunger, fear, love, lust, desire and need that get in the way of maximum GDP growth. Replacing humans with non-suicidal robots would get rid of environmental concerns as well as all these GDP busing pesky human problems like hunger and fear, but would the courts be even able to look at the algorithm of should the robot turn killer? They also discuss a robo-pope as the first truly infallible one. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to author, comedian and gold bug, Dominic Frisby, about death crosses and gold prices and about the independent currencies whether the Keiser dollar, the Frisby pound or bitcoin.
  • ON THE EDGE On the Edge with Greg Hunter An interview with Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog.
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT MARKETS [TaM-1268] The Truth About Denis Rodman in North Korea, Money Velocity in America and Kitty Litter in Your Cigar Download show HERE (mp3)
  • Donate to ResonanceFM here!
  

  
  

• ANTIWAR RADIO with Scott Horton
  LIVE (9-11am Pacific, 12pm - 2pm Eastern) Plenty of archives too!
  Listen at antiwar.com/radio
  • Scott Horton Radio Show 3/1/13 Kevin Zeese: Lawyer and activist Kevin Zeese discusses Bradley Manning’s statement to the military court at Fort Meade, in which he accepted responsibility for his actions and defended his whistleblowing motives; Manning’s guilty plea to a limited number of the charges against him; and why the government’s case against WikiLeaks looks weaker than ever.
  Listen to more interviews at The Scott Horton Show!
  • SCOTT HORTON July 5, 2012: Scott says goodbye to Antiwar.com. Scott Horton is the former host of Antiwar Radio. Visit his blog Stress. Due to budget cuts Scott lost his gig at AntiWarRadio.com! Whoa! See ScottHortonShow.com for archives! Send emails to Scott at scotthorton.org to help Scott keep his podcast going!
  • Many more interviews at Antiwar Radio!
  

  
  

• fauxnews
  • former presidential candidate Governor Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann
  

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