Hot Potato Mash

PBS NOW: Justice Delayed - Thousands Of Rape Kits Go Untested

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Jobs for Jordan - The Unemployment Epidemic in the Middle East

From NOW on PBS:

An unemployment epidemic in the Middle East: what does it mean for America? 

NOW travels to Jordan to explore the implications of - and possible solutions to - having millions of young people out of work in the Middle East. Staggering unemployment rates among the region's massive youth population is fueling anger, frustration and resentment. 

To combat the problem, Jordan's Queen Rania has made job creation a top priority. “To me the Middle East is about young people. And if we fail to create opportunities for them then you're going to see a lot of frustrated hope,” she tells NOW. 

Another initiative comes from an unlikely source: a Brooklyn, New York businessman who has set up programs across the region to give young people the real world skills they desperately need to gain employment. Both have their work cut out for them: nearly 70 million jobs are needed in the Middle East by the year 2020, according to the World Bank. 

Can these training programs work to stem the tide or are they just a drop in the bucket?

Part 1 (8:53)
 

Part 2 (9:47)
 

Part 3 (4:51)

DISCLOSURE: The Producer of the segment is a relative.

Technorati Tags: Brenda Breslauer, jordan, middle east, Mona Iskander, PBS, Queen Rania, unemployment

SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS-GATE

Problem: Thousands of soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and brain injuries that will cost billions of dollars to treat over the lives of the soldiers.

Solution: Discharge these soldiers claiming that they had pre-existing mental illnesses or are guilty of misconduct in order to get rid of "problem" soldiers quickly and without the treatment and benefits to which they are entitled.

More at NOW on PBS

PBS

Eleanor Clift Questions Democrats Spine In Dealing With Karl Rove

Eleanor Clift: "Karl Rove's claim of executive privilege will not hold up in court if the Democrats have the spine to challenge it."

Technorati Tags: Don Siegelman, Executive Privilege, Karl Rove, Eleanor Clift, Subpoena

PBS NOW: EDUCATION CITY

NOW on PBS explores how the oil rich nation of Qatar is importing top-notch American education at a cost of billions of dollars in a fascinating segment titled, “Education City”.

Part 1 (9:33)
 

Part 2 (9:48)
 

Part 3 (4:53)

DISCLOSURE: The producer of the segment is a relative.

Technorati Tags: Brenda Breslauer, David Brancaccio, Education, Georgetown, middle east, NOW, PBS, Mona Iskander

Bill Moyers On The Jeremiah Wright Controversy

Bill Moyers eloquent and thoughtful essay (6:26) about the Jeremiah Wright controversy. Note that Moyers references the double standard in the media between black preachers like Jeremiah Wright and white ones like John Hagee with whom I recently spoke to and asked about the controversy surrounding his endorsement of John McCain. When speaking to me at a lunch attended by mostly Jews Hagee blamed everything on his support for Israel. You can read a transcript of our conversation and listen to the audio here.

UPDATE: Frank Rich on the Jeremiah Wright/John Hagee-White Christian Evangelist double standard.

Technorati Tags: Bill Moyers, Reverend Jeremiah Wright

Tavis Smiley Interviews Don Siegelman

Part 1 (9:55)

Part 2 (1:56)

Technorati Tags: Don Siegelman, Karl Rove, Tavis Smiley

NOW on PBS: Dirty Election Tricks In South Carolina

Part 1 (9:37)

Part 2 (8:24)

Part 3 (6:31)

Excellent piece on the legendary dirty election campaigning South Carolina is known for. The Republican primary in South Carolina is on January 19th while the Democratic primary is on January 26th.

DISCLOSURE: The producer of this NOW on PBS story is a relative.

VIDEO INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE: Scott Gant, Author Of 'We're All Journalists Now'

Cross-posted at BRAD BLOG

Are bloggers journalists? More importantly, should bloggers receive the same privileges the government bestows upon “professional” journalists including, in most states, protection from the forced disclosure of confidential sources of information by way of shield laws?

These are some of the questions congress has been considering over the last month as part of the “Free Flow of Information Act of 2007” and which BRAD BLOG, which often relies on confidential and whistleblower sources, has been tracking closely.

With this backdrop, BRAD BLOG jumped at the opportunity to interview the guy who literally wrote the book on the subject -- D.C. constitutional law attorney Scott Gant. Released in June, “We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age” (Scott Gant), has enjoyed favorable reviews and led to appearances by Gant on BookTV and  on The McLaughlin Group, where the host commented that the book was “a great read, an easy read and it breaks new ground, quite groundbreaking.”

Part 1 (7:32) of the interview above covers all things related to the shield law.

 

Part 2 (8:30) of the interview above concentrates on access privileges and other benefits that journalists receive from the government that may be important to bloggers.

“We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age” (Scott Gant)

NewsHour Extensively Covers Tanner Hearings

PBS' NewsHour ran an excellent five minute segment on the Tanner hearings yesterday, even showing the original video with Brad Blog attribution! View the transcript or view the entire NewsHour program here.

VIDEO: The Cost Of War - A Soldier's Final Reunion With His Family

The Bush administration has worked tirelessly to depersonalize the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the American people. Instead of worrying about the troops, Bush has encouraged American's to shop more.  And despite a military bent to the breaking point, Bush has vehemently opposed all calls for a military draft. Perhaps the most insidious tactic, however, is the Pentagon's ban on images of dead soldiers' homecomings in flag-draped coffins. Throw in the mainstream media's ever dwindling coverage of all things Iraq and the ruling elite have successfully created an environment where most Americans do not ever hear about our multiple wars, never mind contemplate the high cost we continue to pay in lost lives. 

It is in this context that I bring you the remarkable clip above (5:06) of a soldier's final homecoming with his young family. In the video, Sergeant First Class William Zaffe, 35, who was killed by a roadside bomb during his 3rd Tour in Iraq returns home to his wife and young children. Kudos to the brave Zaffe family for allowing the filming of this extremely personal and moving reunion and thus providing video footage rarely, if ever, seen in more than five years of war.

DISCLOSURE: The producer of the NOW on PBS special on Iraq where this video originally appeared is a relative.

Surge In Military Rape

I posted the above edited down video (3:44)  from last Friday's NOW segment about rape in the US military on Brad Blog yesterday. Shockingly, nearly 1 in 4 active duty women have been sexually assaulted. Brad Blog reader Ram summed up this horror well:

Progress in the 21st century means a return to barbarism.

I can hardly speak; I am stunned.  As someone who fought for women's rights in the military of the 1970's, I am saddened by the futility of living in an insane world.

When I used to rant about 'equality' and 'acceptance' back in the day, I was told to 'be patient' because these things are slow to change.  Thirty years later, I realize that it is me who has to learn acceptance -- just accept what John Lennon put so eloquently:  Woman is the nigger of the world.

More at PBS

CEO Speaks Truth To Power

I have a new respect for Overstock CEO Patrick M. Byrne:

In all fairness I should exclude a small number of the Wall Street financial media from the charge of being hand-puppets for financial elites. Barron's is nothing but marketing literature for about 8 hedge funds, the Wall Street Journal is to Wall Street as Sports Illustrated is to sports, Fortune is People Magazine for capitalists, and The New York Post is for people who move their lips when they read People. But the same New York Times which employs Establishment-defending hacks like Floyd Norris and Joe Nocera also employs Gretchen Morgenson, who has integrity. Forbes reporters doing highly-credible jobs on these and related issues include Liz Moyer and Nathan Vardi, while Bloomberg has explored it through the superb investigative stories of Bob Drummond, and broadcast a shocking 25 minute Bloomberg Special Report by Gary Matsumoto. In addition, PBS gave fair treatment to Aguirre. In the same vein, I believe there are honest SEC Commissions (e.g., Cox and Atkins), and that the rank-and-file of the SEC are straight-shooters as well: it is the upper echelons that have lost track of for whom they work. In short, these systems are not monolithic.

Read a lot more at Overstock

(h/t Liz)

IMPEACHMENT FRIDAY: THE GOP 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY UNRAVELING

Talk about your smoking gun documents! Truthout has the details in a preview of tomorrow night's “Voter Caging” segment airing on NOW (Check your local PBS listing). What is vote caging? Well, according to the truthout article:

Vote caging is an illegal tactic to suppress minorities from voting by having their names purged from voter rolls when they fail to respond to registered mail sent to their homes. The Republican National Committee signed a consent decree in 1986 stating they would not engage in the practice after they were caught suppressing votes in 1981 and 1986.

And vote caging was one tactic, albeit a large one, used by the GOP to steal Ohio and the 2004 presidential election. And it was a massive conspiracy perpetrated by the George W. Bush reelection campaign and the Republican party. Want proof, check out the damning emails below, many of which carry the subject line, “Voter Reg Fraud Strategy conference calls.”

Want more proof? Why might have the perpetrators have been worried about leaving GOP fingerprints? Perhaps because their effort were highly illegal. Not to mention the general public frowns upon stealing elections and then launching and perpetuating unwanted wars.

 

Note the email domains include both “georgewbush.com” and “rnchq.org” (Republican National Committee Headquarters) and that they are still worried about leaving “fingerprints”. 

 

Finally, it is worth pointing out some of the famous names in these emails. First we have ringleader, former interim US attorney for Arkansas (until the White House got worried that his confirmation hearings would bring up his role in minority voter suppression seen here), Karl Rove protege and crybaby, Tim Griffin!

Second, I am proud to introduce Terry Nelson, who was implicated in a New Hampshire election day phone jamming scheme that helped the GOP steal a 2002 Senate election and led to criminal convictions of many of Nelson's colleagues as well as the New Hampshire Republican State Committee settling a lawsuit brought by state Democrats for $125,000.  Having this kind of blight on your resume is exactly the kind of thing that gets you named Political Director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 reelection campaign. In addition to the dirty work seen here and his ties to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Nelson was responsible for the 2006 race-baiting ad against Congressman Harold Ford Jr. that got much national exposure and lost his firm an account with Walmart. Finally, Nelson has ties to the Tom DeLay scandal.  All of which made him the #1 campaign guy to get for 2008 which is exactly what frontrunner (at the time), John McCain did, naming Nelson his campaign chief in December 2006.

Also in on the emails according to the truthout article was “Coddy Johnson, the national field director of Bush's 2004 campaign and former associate director of political affairs, working under Karl Rove. Johnson's father was Bush's college roommate at Yale.”

And “Jennifer Millerwise, a former deputy communications director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign and a former spokesperson for Vice President Cheney. Millerwise was interviewed by Patrick Fitzgerald during the federal investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.”

Mark “Thor” Hearne made the emails and conference call as well. For the most comprehensive coverage on the web of this shady GOP political operative, see this rather large BRAD BLOG archive.

While this damning evidence does not prove that Bush stole the 2004 election (in addition to the 2000 election), it does prove that his team tried to steal the election which is illegal. By the way, there is mountains of 2004 election evidence that suggests that Kerry did win and rather scant evidence (read almost none) that would indicate a Bush victory. See The Free Press, BRAD BLOG, Mark Crispin Miller, Black Box Voting, the Brennan Center and RFK Jr., among the many election integrity websites, to see for yourself.

Finally, kudos to NOW for covering the story. Perhaps the mainstream media will finally figure out what the US attorney scandal is all about and report it. Ha. Just kidding. That's not gonna happen.

To read more about the specific issues involved in the US attorney scandal and voter caging check out Greg Palast (and here and here), Brad Friedman of BRAD BLOG (and here), The Free Press and Democracy Now.

So the Bush administration has never won an election. They are criminals. Nobody wants them around anymore, not even most Republicans. And we can't impeach why?

DAVID BROOKS IS A LIAR WHO INTENTIONALLY MISLEADS HIS READERS

David Brooks is a propagandist and a liar and a big one at that. He is no different than anyone at Fox 'News' or Rush or Beck. Well, that is not exactly true. Because he is soft-spoken, dresses the nerd and doesn't spout the venom of a Coulter or Malkin, he is actually considered by many a real, level-headed, fair journalist. And that is a joke. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

So bad is Brooks that his regular spot on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer undermines the programs credibility. Same goes for Time Russert who gives Brooks a fairly regular platform. And one would have thought that the NY Times would have fired the guy after his 6,233,103 distortion, made up fact and outright lie. He is a corporate whore and a Republican apologist and nothing more.  Nothing.  But, I  clearly have more problems with Brooks' columns and here and here than the Times editors. And I can't help but wonder why a young black journalist was fired for making up facts in a number of stories but Brooks keeps his job despite doing the same in EVERY column?

Is it because Brooks writes Op-Ed's and Jason Blair was in the news department? If so, does that mean that Opinion writers are not beholden to any set of facts or universal truths and are free to lie and generally write fiction?  Because if this is the case, shouldn't the paper of record be obligated to include a fiction warning or something along side every Op-Ed? If the Times desires to be better than that, then why does it keep paying David Brooks who the editors must know is incompatible with minimal journalistic standards and integrity?

For more proof of everything above see Dean Baker's fact check of Brooks' latest atrocity here:

1) Brooks says “after a lag, average wages are rising sharply. Real average wages rose by 2 percent in 2006, the second fastest rise in 30 years.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average hourly wage is 1.2 percent higher than its year ago level and still below its December 2002 level. That's almost five years of zero growth. In the late 90s, real wages were growing 1.6 percent annually.

6) He tells readers that “inequality is also rising in part because people up the income scale work longer hours.” Actually, most of the economists I know focus on the increasing inequality in hourly earnings, as in pay per hour, not total pay (see EPI's State of Working America).

8) “Globalization boosts each American household’s income by about $10,000 a year.” What does this mean? Is this compared to a world in which we can't get coffee from Brazil or oil from the Middle East, but rather have a completely autarkic economy?

It will be great when the proponents of the current trade agenda stop arguing against straw men in making their case. No one is advocating autarky.

If only eight large pieces of B.S. in one short column were the exception and not the rule for Brooks. If only. But what is worse than all the lies is that Brooks cherry picks facts and manipulates evidence to paint a picture he knows to be false. In other words, he knowingly and intentionally misleads his readers. And that is the ultimate sin of a journalist. Not to mention the job description of a propagandist.

Read Dean Baker's entire fact check of the Brooks Op-Ed at The American Prospect.

Hat tip Bhc