Conservative Lawyers Urge Bush To Issue 'Pre-Emptive Pardons' To Officials Involved In Illegal Programs
The New York Times reported this weekend that “[f]elons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.” However the Times noted that despite commuting Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, applicants “should expect to be disappointed” because Bush “has made little use of his clemency power” compared to past presidents.
Except perhaps if you participated in any illegal activity involving the Bush administration’s controversial counterterrorism programs. According to the Times, “several members of the conservative legal community” in Washington D.C. are urging Bush to issue “pre-emptive pardons” to those involved so as to “not be exposed even to the risk of an investigation and expensive legal bills”
McCain's Waterloo?
I think the "news analysis" features in the newspapers are a little bit per se absurd (it's not an opinion! we swear! it's analysis!) but Richard Oppel and Jeff Zeleny on Obama's trip and the events in Iraq seems about spot-on to me. Still, I'm not sure even Oppel & Zeleny quite grasp the scope of McCain's debacle here. He'd spent, several weeks with the main theme of his campaign being, quite literally, to criticize Barack Obama for not having been physically present in Iraq recently. This (of course) got Obama to go to Iraq, thus setting up a dilemma. Either Obama would survey the "progress" in Iraq and change his position, thus making him a flip-flopper, or else he would refuse to change his position, thus making him obstinate and out of touch with reality....
McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” on Monday when he apparently meant “Afghanistan”, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition. Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs.
McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president at the age of 47, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age three days before the start of his own convention.
COINTELPRO Returns: My First-Hand Experience With
Government Spies
Finally, at long last, I have something in common with Muhammad Ali. My Constitutionally protected dissent was monitored by the Feds.
No, I'm not the heavyweight champion of the world, and haven't been named spokesperson for Raid bug spray. Like "the Greatest" - not to mention far too many others -- I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy."...
COINTELPRO: The Sabotage Of Legitimate Dissent
To learn more about Cointelpro's history follow the above link to an extensive history of the progam.
For Willard Mitt Romney, now's the time to sweat
Mitt Romney is a shrewd businessman, known for his cautious approach to the nerve-rattling takeover business. Romney's colleagues even came up for a name for what happened when Romney's inner worries began to ruffle his carefully groomed appearance - "pitting," for when the armpits of his expensive blue shirts would start to darken from perspiration
So the news last week that Romney was giving up any chance of recouping the $45 million he loaned his presidential campaign immediately raised the question: What does the cautious, but shrewd, dealmaker think he's going to get for this money.
WSJ: Finance chair's ties to failed bank could embarrass
Obama campaign
Senator Barack Obama's campaign faces a potential controversy over finance chairwoman Penny Pritzker's past association with Superior Bank, which failed and was seized by regulators in 2001.
"Billionaire Penny Pritzker helped run Hinsdale, Ill.-based Superior, overseeing her family's 50% ownership stake," John R. Emshwiller writes for The Wall Street Journal. "She now serves as Barack Obama's national campaign-finance chairwoman, which means her banking past could prove to be an embarrassment to her -- and perhaps to the campaign."
McCain Aide Scheunemann Linked To Bush Library
'Cash For Access' Scandal
Earlier this month, the Sunday Times caught longtime Bush associate Stephen Payne on tape offering access to top Bush administration officials in exchange for “six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency.” Payne, who is now being investigated by the Homeland Security Department and the House Oversight Committee, made the offer to Kazakh politician Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov, who is also known as Eric Dos.
The Times reported that Dos had previously worked with Payne to arrange a 2006 visit by Vice President Dick Cheney to Kazakhstan. Dos claims that in exchange for arranging Cheney’s trip, “a payment of $2m was passed, via a Kazakh oil and gas company, to Payne’s firm.” Payne denies that any such arrangement existed.
McCain raises money off Obama's trip
The e-mail has the blunt subject line, “The media is in love.” Grammatically, it would be “the media ARE in love,” but his point is clear that news organizations are overdoing it in their expensive, extensive coverage of the weeklong swing by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) through the Middle East and Europe.
The message to the “McCain Team,” from the “McCain Campaign,” reads: “It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair. We want you to be the judge. We've compiled two videos of the more outrageous moments of this not so secret love affair. Follow this link to watch the two videos and vote on which one you think is better. Your vote will determine which video we put on the air. The media is in love with Barack Obama. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny.”
New McCain Ad: Barack Obama To Blame For Gas Crisis (Video)
This is interesting. The McCain campaign, which has long thought it holds an advantage on foreign policy issues, is shifting the focus to domestic concerns with a new ad blaming the gas crisis on Barack Obama...
"There are two people to blame for todays high gas prices, one is named George W Bush, and the other is named Dick Cheney. They decided to invade Iraq, which so far has cost over one trillion dollars, all of which had to be borrowed, resulting in a decrease of well over 50% in the value of the US dollar. Weak dollar = high oil prices end of story. Until the US dollar gets stronger oil will continue to rise, as will other commodities. The US gets over 50% of it's imported oil from Canada. Since the Iraq war started the Canadian dollar has gone up over 60% vrs the US Dollar." Willy Bova
Fitzgerald says Rove was trying to fire him during CIA leak probe
In a supplement to his responses to the House Judiciary Committee, Patrick Fitzgerald confirms what we've always suspected: Karl Rove was trying to have Patrick Fitzgerald fired while Fitzgerald was still investigating Rove for his role in leaking Valerie Wilson's identity--and the timing lines up perfectly with the Administration's efforts to fire a bunch of US Attorneys.
Remember back in June, when Fitzgerald publicly suggested he had more details to share with Congress about Rove's efforts to get him fired?
Rezko Pal, Rove Named In Plan To Fire Fitzgerald
government witness claims in 2004, Antoin "Tony Rezko" -- then the target of an investigation that would lead to his indictment and trial -- tried to grease the political skids to get his chief tormentor, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald fired.
Rezko discussed efforts among high-ranking Republicans, including Karl Rove, to have Chicago's U.S. attorney fired, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday. Rove, then-White House political director, and Republican national committeeman Robert Kjellander were among those mentioned in the alleged 2004 conversations as being involved in the effort, prosecutor Carrie E. Hamilton said.
McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system
Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security "a disgrace," he still cashes his own retirement check every month.
"I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and, unfortunately, my children and grandchildren, according to the trustees of the Social Security system, will not have the same benefits the present retirees have," McCain told reporters Thursday on his campaign bus.
BARACK OBAMA TO PLAY LOLLAPALOOZA
Barack Obama is the politician most routinely described as a rock star, so this shouldn't come as any surprise: "Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has left a slot open in his schedule during the first weekend of August for an appearance at the Lollapalooza music festival in his hometown of Chicago, according to multiple sources familiar with the ongoing planning and logistics." The band Wilco—early and vocal supporters of Obama's campaign—are performing at the festival, which makes the candidate's appearance seem a bit more natural.
The Real Legacy of the 'Reagan Revolution'
McCain campaign co-chair Phil Gramm is right: We have “become a nation of whiners.” But who is whining more than the bankers that former Sen. Gramm’s financial deregulation legislation benefited? The very bankers who now expect a government bailout, such as those at UBS Investment Bank, where Gramm found lucrative employment.
As chair of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, Gramm engineered passage of legislation that effectively ended the major regulatory restraints applied to the financial industry in response to the Great Depression. The purpose of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act—co-authored by Gramm, passed in 1999 by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton—was to liberate the banks, stockbrokers and insurance companies from restraints imposed on their activities more than seven decades ago. It was legislation that the financial community, which contributed heavily to Gramm’s campaigns in the previous five years, desperately wanted and obviously has abused. So why now bail these institutions out?
McCain's attacks get more reckless, less responsible
In the modern political era, voters have come to expect presidential candidates to be, well, presidential. There’s an expectation of respect and decorum. Candidates are going to go on the attack on occasion, but Americans have a reasonable expectation that would-be presidents aren’t going to fly off the handle and lose their cool. After all, if a candidate can’t conduct himself or herself with dignity and class while on the campaign trail, how would the candidate perform in the White House, when the pressure’s on?
With that in mind, it seems, with each passing day, that John McCain is starting to lose his cool. It’s one thing to go on the attack; it’s another to get reckless. As much as I understand McCain’s desire to be president, I can’t help but notice that his desperation is beginning to cloud his judgment.
Jukebox John keeps changing his tune
It’s obvious that the McCain campaign and the RNC have decided to go after Barack Obama as a flip-flopper. What’s equally obvious, though, that Republicans couldn’t have chosen a worse narrative.
McCain & Co. seemed to stumble on this line of attack almost by accident. They’d experimented with a variety of memes in recent months, none of which had any real salience. The right settled on “flip-flopper,” in large part because it’s the closest available, already-written Republican narrative, and in part because McCain staffers haven’t been able to think of anything else.
The irony, of course, is that the McCain campaign couldn’t have picked a more hypocritical line of attack. Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of reversals from the Republican nominee, numbered and organized by category for easier reference.
GOP whistleblower names Karl Rove in Ohio's 04 election theft
.....This case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail, according to Arnebeck, as he was joined by a well-respected, life-long Republican computer security expert who charged that the red flags seen during Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election would have been cause for "a fraud investigation in a bank, but it doesn't when it comes to our vote."
"This entire system is being programmed in secret by programmers who have no oversight by anybody," the expert charged, as Arnebeck detailed allegations of complicity by a number of powerful GOP operatives and companies who had unique access both to the election results as reported in 2004, as well as to U.S. House and Senate computer networks even today....
"The on going court cases about the 2004 Ohio vote totals, rarely get national attention. However 2 people have been convicted of rigging the recount in 2004, in Ohio's largest county and face 18 months in prison. This story deals with the issue of how the election tabulation occured, and the destruction of the Ohio ballots in violation of federal law, before they could be recounted. Basically the vote tabulation for the 2004 Ohio election stopped for nearly 2 hours on election night. The vote tabulation for Ohio was contracted out to a firm from Tennessee who also hosted the Bush/Cheney reelection website, and the GOP emails that disappeared in the DOJ US Attorney scandal. The recount was rigged and never really took place. Several counties destroyed the ballots in violation of federal law, unlike Florida in 2000, where all ballots were eventually recounted. The story is well referenced if you want to learn about What Really Happened in Ohio in 2004." Willy Bova
GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with
2002 election
A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.
Stephen Spoonamore is the founder and until recently the CEO of Cybrinth LLC, an information technology policy and security firm that serves Fortune 100 companies. At a little noticed press conference in Columbus, Ohio Thursday, he discussed his investigation of a computer patch that was applied to Diebold Election Systems voting machines in Georgia right before that state's November 2002 election.
McCain: Obama Socialist? "I Don't Know" (Video)
In an interview with the Kansas City Star, John McCain says Barack Obama was labeled as having the "most extreme" record in the Senate. "Extreme? You really think hes an extremist? I mean, he's clearly a liberal," interviewer Dave Helling asks.
"That's his voting record," McCain responds. "All I said was his voting record, and that is more to the left than the announced Socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont." "Do you think hes a socialist, Barack Obama?" Helling asks. McCain responds with a with a shrug, "I don't know."
Pelosi calls Bush a 'total failure' who has 'no ideas'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called President George W. Bush "a total failure" who "has no ideas," in an interview with CNN.Responding to stinging criticism from Bush on the Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress and the slow pace of the legislative agenda, as Congress prepares for its one-month summer recess in August, Pelosi let loose:
"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject."
Judge Tells Reporter To Explain Spy Story
A federal judge in California has ordered Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz to appear in court next week to explain why he needs to protect the identity of confidential sources he used in writing an article about a spy case, and why he considered the subject newsworthy.
In a May 2006 article, Gertz attributed to "senior Justice Department officials" information about charges to be filed against Chi Mak, a Chinese-born engineer working for a California-based defense contractor, including charges of espionage and, with three relatives, conspiracy to export articles involving Navy technology. The story also identified a potential new defendant.
Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side
In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration’s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made it happen” (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program “24,” which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side.
Spying uncovered Documents show state police monitored peace and anti-death penalty groups
Undercover Maryland State Police officers repeatedly spied on peace activists and anti-death penalty groups in recent years and entered the names of some in a law-enforcement database of people thought to be terrorists or drug traffickers, newly released documents show.
The files, made public yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, depict a pattern of infiltration of the activists' organizations in 2005 and 2006. The activists contend that the authorities were trying to determine whether they posed a security threat to the United States. But none of the 43 pages of summaries and computer logs - some with agents' names and whole paragraphs blacked out - mention criminal or even potentially criminal acts, the legal standard for initiating such surveillance.
CNN reporter criticizes TSA, finds self on terror watch list (Video)
"Coincidentally, this all began in May, shortly after I began a series of investigative reports critical of the TSA. Eleven flights now since May 19. On different airlines, my name pops up forcing me to go to the counter, show my identification, sometimes the agent has to make a call before I get my ticket," Griffin reported. "What does the TSA say? Nothing, at least nothing on camera. Over the phone a public affairs worker told me again I'm not on the watch list, and don't even think that someone in the TSA or anyone else is trying to get even."......
ACLU calls for probe of Chertoff over 'terrorist' watch list
The American Civil Liberties Union wants Congress to investigate the Department of Homeland Security's creation of "militarized zones" within the US in its overuse of a terrorist watch list and other programs that endanger privacy and civil liberties.
“The Department of Homeland Security has far too many ill-conceived programs that fail to account for privacy, due process and other principles that assure fairness to the innocent,” Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office said in a news release. “It is time for Congress to recognize the Bush administration’s security apparatus is an emperor without any clothes."
Expert: Rove executive privilege claim won't stand up in court
NYU professor says Bush power claims 'wider than Nixon'. In the waning days of George W. Bush's presidency, it seems that every week brings a new showdown with Congress over the president's refusal to let his aides testify in the investigation of the US Attorney firing scandal.
New York University law professor Michael Waldman told Abrams Congress' threats were becoming "hard to believe" and he worried about the extent to which Congress was willing to recognize Bush's claims of executive privilege. Abrams qualified the restrictions as "no one is allowed to testify if they work for the president."
Willard Mitt Romney : McCain Invented Counterinsurgency Doctrine? (Video)
They say that everything that's old will one day be new again. And in a similar vein eventually I knew Mitt Romney would be in the news again, notwithstanding his ignominious and deeply unfortunate campaign implosion last winter. But now in an effort to get picked as McCain's veep, Mitt's back on the airwaves with more vintage nonsense. And it also dovetails nicely with the escalating cult of personality over McCain and the 'Surge'. So here's Mitt saying not only did McCain support the surge. He actually invented the concept. McCain "authored the philosophy" of the surge, saith the Mittman ...
New Rules of Political Humor
This week’s New Yorker cover, titled “The Politics of Fear,” has the distinction of being deemed “tasteless and offensive” by both the Obama and the McCain campaign. The cartoon depicts Barack Obama in the Oval Office, dressed in a turban and dishdash, and bumping his fist against that of Michele, who sports combat boots, a Soviet-made AK-47 and an afro haircut last seen on Angela Davis ca. 1970. Evidently the Obamas are celebrating Inauguration Day, and have just moved into the White House. An American flag already smolders in the fireplace, above which we see Osama bin Laden in a gilt frame. Here is Obama as a paranoid opponent might picture him in his worst nightmare.
Will the Antiwar Movement Strangle the State?
I want to start out today with something written by an early American revolutionary. This man was key to the armed revolution we fought against the King of England beginning in 1776, and more than that, was key to the revolution of ideas that had begun to grip the American colonies for several generations. This man was born poor, remained poor throughout his life, and he died in a tenement house. Yet, he was also a key American statesmen, publisher, orator, and held a number of government positions. He was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, and he was throughout his life, a self-educated person who valued liberty and justice. He opposed the concentrated power of the hereditary elites, and he believed that imperial wars were immoral.
The motivation for blocking investigations into Bush lawbreaking
Harper's Scott Horton yesterday interviewed Jane Mayer about her new book, The Dark Side. The first question he asked was about the Bush administration's fear that they would be criminally prosecuted for implementing what the International Red Cross had categorically described as "torture."
Mayer responded "that inside the White House there [had] been growing fear of criminal prosecution, particularly after the Supreme Court ruled in the Hamdan case that the Geneva Conventions applied to the treatment of the detainees," and that it was this fear that led the White House to demand (and, of course, receive) immunity for past interrogation crimes as part of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
McCain Aide: Obama Is Stubborn Like Bush?
Is Barack Obama an extension of George W. Bush's foreign policy? Aides to John McCain made the argument today in a conference call meant to tout the Senator's own record. Describing Obama's plan as dangerously rigid and ideological, McCain national security adviser Randy Scheunemann compared the Illinois Democrat to the current Oval Office occupant.
"I think the American people have had enough of stubbornness and inflexibility in national security policy," he said.
Bush Claims Executive Privilege In Valerie Plame Leak
President Bush invoked executive privilege to keep Congress from seeing the FBI report of an interview with Vice President Dick Cheney and other records related to the administration's leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003.
The president's decision drew a sharp protest Wednesday from Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of House Oversight Committee, which had subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey to turn over the documents. "This unfounded assertion of executive privilege does not protect a principle; it protects a person," the California Democrat said. "If the vice president did nothing wrong, what is there to hide?"
Breaking: Eight Supers Switching to Hillary
Big news folks - it looks like our efforts in contacting those Superdelegates are starting to pay off, so keep on writing to them (ok, maybe Donna B's a waste of time). There are unconfirmed reports, based on phone banking efforts to reach out to Super Ds, that eight previously Obama SDs expressed that, given the opportunity, they would vote for Hillary at the convention.
I heard about an interview Will Bower of PUMA did recently, where he said delegates are starting to say they'll vote for Hillary in Denver if the DNC did the right thing and ran an open and fair convention. That means a roll call vote with Hillary's name put into nomination, and on the ballot.
Sunday Talking Heads Discuss Senator Phil "Mental Recession" Gramm (TPMtv Video Very Funny)
Was Phil Gramm right about America being a nation of whiners in a mere mental recession? Will John McCain continue to receive his advice? We take a look at the weekend's continuing Phil Gramm fallout in today's Sunday Show Roundup episode of TPMtv ...
Phil Gramm May Be Gone, But His Porn Lives On
Phil Gramm attempted to invest $15,000 in "Truck Stop Women." His money ultimately helped produce a film portraying Richard Nixon wandering nude around the White House.
Gramm's journey into porn began in 1973, when his brother-in-law, George Caton, rushed to tell him about an exciting low-budget soft-core production called Truck Stop Women. A promo poster for the film boasted of its buxom stars: "No Rig Was Too Big For Them To Handle." Caton, who was in charge of fundraising for the production, asked Gramm to become an investor. To entice his brother-in-law, Caton showed him scenes of Playboy Playmate of the year Claudia Jennings displaying her bare essentials (she is naked throughout much of the film).
Chris Matthews Confuses Barack Obama And Osama Bin Laden
Once Again (Video)
Talking about the flap over The New Yorker's controversial cover featuring Barack and Michelle Obama, Chris Matthews slipped up -- once again -- and said "Osama Bin Laden" when he meant to say "Barack Obama." Matthews quickly caught and corrected himself.
Watch Chris Matthews confuse Osama and Obama, and scroll down for a collection of Matthews' previous Osama/Obama gaffes:
Joe Biden: Military Commanders Want Obama To Visit Iraq
There was a striking moment just now on an Obama campaign conference call with reporters: Top Obama supporter Joe Biden said that all the military commanders he talks to privately say they want Barack Obama to make the trip to Iraq that's been ridiculed by the McCain camp.
"One thing I can tell you for certain from recent trips is commanders in the field...all want to see Barack Obama," Biden said, in a reference to Obama's planned trip.
Bush And Father Do Golf Fundraiser For McCain
If you're a high-flying Republican, and you can afford to take next Monday off to fly to Maine, have we got a treat for you. On that day, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush are hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for John McCain near their home in Kennebunkport.
According to a solicitation sent by the McCain camp, for the low, low price of $5,000, you can play a round of golf at Cape Arundel Golf Course, Bush's home course.
'Keep up the fight,' Top AP editor once wrote Rove
Chummy correspondence with Fournier revealed in Tillman investigation
In its investigation of the misleading accounts that initially surrounded Pat Tillman's death and Jessica Lynch's rescue the House Oversight Committee on Monday shed some light on the White House's press-management apparatus and the chummy relationship between Karl Rove and AP scribe Ron Fournier....
John McCain doesn't email or use internet
Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has admitted that he never uses email and that his staff has to show him websites because he is only just "learning to get online myself". John McCain said he didn't feel a need to use email as he prefers to conduct his communications by phone.
Mr McCain, who turns 72 this year, would be the oldest president ever to be first elected to the White House.In facing Barack Obama, an opponent who is 25 years his junior and has made powerful use of the internet in his campaign, he is battling against claims he is stuck in the past.
........When asked if he went online himself, the Arizona senator responded: "They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself." ......
Hagel's Office Officially Announces Iraq/Afghanistan Trip With Obama
It's official: Republican Senator Chuck Hagel's office has put out an announcement that he will be joining Barack Obama on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
In many ways, Hagel has become the mirror image of Joe Lieberman -- he is a conservative who has infuriated his party through his opposition to the Iraq War. However, Hagel has not crossed party lines to endorse Barack Obama as of yet, opting only to refuse to endorse John McCain.
McCain's Hillary Problem. He's running her same campaign,
and she lost.
Feel free to tell me I’m nuts for asking the question, but doesn’t it seem that, more and more, the McCain campaign is turning into the Clinton campaign? .........
Clinton Diehards Want Convention Vote
She may have given up, but a few of Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s people haven’t.
The senator from New York is said to be negotiating a respectful presence followed by a graceful exit from next month’s Democratic convention, and last week the party announced that Barack Obama would formally accept the party’s nomination in the stadium built for the Denver Broncos. But there are Clinton supporters clinging to the hope that if her name is placed in nomination and the roll call of the states is conducted, she might — might — still win.
Is Fournier saving or destroying the AP?
Ron Fournier says he regards Sandy Johnson, his predecessor as head of The Associated Press’s Washington bureau, as “a mentor.” Johnson, though, regards Fournier, who replaced her in a hard-feelings shake-up in May, as a threat to one of the most influential institutions in American journalism.
“I loved the Washington bureau,” said Johnson, who left the AP after losing the prestigious position. “I just hope he doesn’t destroy it.”
CORPORATE MEDIA COLLUDES WITH DEMOCRACY'S DEMISE
In line with what I was saying yesterday about the Corporate Media, AP in particular, the following sheds light on the subject in a brilliant way…
Our media institutions, deeply embedded in the power structures of society, are not providing the information that we need to make our democracy work. To put it another way, corporate media consolidation is a corrosive social force. It robs people of their voice in public affairs and pollutes the political culture. And it turns the debates about profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.
Airport scans for illegal downloads on iPods, mobile phones and laptops
IPods, mobile phones and laptops could be examined by airport customs officials for illegal downloads under strict new counterfeiting measures being considered by G8 governments this week, it is claimed.
The measures form part of an international agreement aimed at stamping out piracy, but there are fears that individuals who have illegally downloaded songs or video clips on to MP3 players and phones for personal use could also be caught out.