U.S. News
Bill Willers
OpEdNews
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:13 EST
"Some people would think you're part of the lunatic fringe." - Chris Bury, ABC News, March 6, 2010, interviewing the producers of
Loose Change.
Watch Video
"The only thing novel about Mr. Fujita is that a man so susceptible to the imaginings of the lunatic fringe happens to occupy a notable position in the governing apparatus of a nation that boasts the world's second-largest economy." -
Washington Post editorial, March 8, 2010
-----------------------
The daily right-wing "talking points" distributed to the Limbaughs, Hannitys et al. of the conservative media are, by now, so well understood that they've become material for the political humor of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. One has come to expect such wording from the likes of the Fox Channel. When one hears an unlikely phrase like "going rogue" coming out of half a dozen rightist mouths within a the space of a few hours, it's no longer surprising. Just another "fair and balanced" day.
The fact that such slanderous language as "lunatic fringe" (Bury repeated it in his ABC report with another interviewee) is now coming from such major "mainstream" sources when referencing the 9/11 Truth Movement is more worrisome, because it indicates a rising level of concern within politically powerful elements for an issue based on such a collective of lies that it is simply not going away. Regarding the journalistic objectivity demonstrated in ABC's edited
Nightline report, you can judge for yourself:
click here
Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai
Reuters
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:26 EDT
The Federal Reserve would win sweeping new powers over nonbank financial firms and keep much of its authority over banks, under revised legislation to be unveiled on Monday by the chief architect of financial reform in the Senate.
In a remarkable recovery by the U.S. central bank after a steep drop in its political popularity, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd was poised to release a bill that leans heavily on the Fed, sources said on Sunday.
Not only would a new government watchdog for financial consumers be housed within the Fed, but it would also retain much of its present authority over large bank holding companies and gain new authority over selected nonbank financial firms.
Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:03 EDT
© Unknown
When the Supreme Court decided the case
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, henceforth allowing corporate soft money to influence U.S. elections, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) cynically opined that it would lead to the election of the
"congressman from Wal-Mart."
Turns out, he may be right.
Meet
Murray Hill, Inc., the first corporation to run for Congress in the United States.
"Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals," the company's YouTube account declares. "But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. That's why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy's next step-- running for Congress."
Kate Randall
World Socialist Web Site
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:40 EST
The Obama administration is spearheading an unprecedented assault on public education in the US. The White House and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are promoting a nationwide wave of school closures, teacher and staff layoffs, attacks on teachers' wages and conditions, and an expansion of privately run charter schools - all in the guise of education "reform."
This agenda is being carried out in school districts across the country over the angry opposition of students, parents and teachers. At a highly-charged meeting packed with parents and teachers on Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, the district's school board voted to endorse a plan by the superintendent to shut down 28 of the city's 61 schools and to cut 700 of 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers' jobs.
Enrollment in Kansas City Schools has eroded in large part through the siphoning off of students by charter and private schools. Kansas City, with a population of 480,000, presently has about the same number of public school students, 17,000, as were enrolled in 1890 when the city population was just over 132,000. This is down from a high of 77,000 students in 1964.
In Detroit, a proposed plan by a coalition called "Excellent Schools Detroit" would shut down and sell off as many as 70 public schools and open up charter schools in their stead. Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Director Robert Bobb has endorsed the business-backed scheme. Bobb, who has overseen the closure of dozens of schools and a huge cut in Detroit teachers' pay, has won warm praise from Obama and Education Secretary Duncan.
Mark Tapscott
The Washington Examiner
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:29 EST
© AP photo
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
Would House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow House Democratic leaders try to cram the Senate version of Obamacare through the House without actually having a recorded vote on the bill?
Not only is the answer yes, they would, they have figured out a way to do it, according to National Journal's Congress Daily:
"House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.
"Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.
"Slaughter has not taken the plan to Speaker Pelosi as Democrats await CBO scores on the corrections bill. 'Once the CBO gives us the score, we'll spring right on it,' she said."
Comment: The real outrage should not be over a national health care system (that the US lacks one is a singular disgrace) but that should this manouever set a precedent, there will be no "Congressional oversight" left. The have found a way to weasel out of any obligation to their constituents. The Imperial Presidency is nearly complete.
David DeGraw
ampedstatus
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 EST
© Unknown
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes... As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln
Baldwin County Now
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:26 EST
A mother and daughter, Samantha Combs , 18, and her mother, Donna Henderson, 52, were found just before midnight Monday, March 8 in their mobile home.
Police first thought the two women were overcome by carbon monoxide from the home's heating system, but according to news reports, Silverhill Police Chief Kim Wasdin now says the deaths are being treated as an active homicide investigation.
The pair, Wasdin said, were last seen late Friday night.
Nick Allen
Telegraph
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:10 EST
Taxi drivers have been caught out overcharging passengers by $8.3 million (£5.5 million) in the past two years.
The drivers were found to have been setting their meters at double rate and at least 1.8 million rides were wrongly charged.
Within New York city limits taxi meters are supposed to run at half the amount they do in the suburbs. To operate the scam drivers simply switched to the higher rate while they were still in the city and passengers failed to notice.
Colleen Rowley
The Huffington Post
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:31 EST
In a sad commentary on the currently disintegrating state of "main stream media", I found myself ambushed on Saturday, March 6th, just ten minutes after I arrived at a conference outside Philadelphia on "9-11, the Wars and Our Broken Constitution".
When young, smiling female producer Katie Hinman identified herself as being with ABC and asked for an interview, I had only just arrived at the conference. So although I was a little surprised that the
Nightline TV crew was there, I immediately consented to an interview before anyone had a chance to warn me that the TV show was trying to concoct a connection between the conference and the mentally ill young man who had been killed a few days before while shooting at Pentagon guards.
From the very first question Mr. Bury launched, it was clear, however, that he was not interested in the truth, and that I would not fare any better than someone who consents to go on Bill O'Reilly's or Glenn Beck's show.
Bild.com
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:13 EST
Dramatic never-before-seen pictures
Foto:NYC police aviation unit
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