Calling the bluff in the Conference Committee

As the health care bill goes to conference, whether through formal committee or informal negotiation, there's obviously a tension between a pretty decent House bill and a Senate one that's better than nothing, but contains some seriously problematic elements. Senate negotiators will no doubt try to keep their version over that of the House by using the specter of Senators Lieberman and Nelson filibustering if the House holds firm on issues like the public option or paying for the bill by taxing the wealthy rather than those with decent health insurance. If they do, Lieberman and Nelson might indeed go with the Republican team and vote against cloture. But that's not guaranteed, despite all their bluster. And testing their willingness to sink the entire bill for regressive principles gives the Democrats a lot to gain.

Good News: Will We Hear It?

Whenever I write about U.S. politics, people ask me "Don't you have any good news?" (Unless the Republicans are in power, in which case people ask me "Who are you going to vote for?") But I do have good news, boatloads of good news, if Americans want to hear it.

If a city or state next to yours were to achieve a dramatic breakthrough for democratic representation, environmental sustainability, healthcare, education, peace, or justice, wouldn't that be good news? Wouldn't you trumpet that news where you live and demand the same of your elected officials?

When the United States gets something right nationally, and even when we don't, we're happy to assume that others around the world would like to imitate it. Some of us think bombs are the best way to help them do so. Others prefer diplomacy. But we all pretty much believe in sharing our wisdom.

But what if another country, or a large block of other countries, were to solve the most vexing problems facing the United States? What if they were to show us a general outline of how we could fix all the troubles that most trouble us?

Naked empire

In ten years of a new Century, U.S. systemic dysfunction became more dramatic. The government responded by retreating down the ancient Egyptian River. Millions of Americans drink “unhealthy” water; military suicides escalate; schools erode and health programs collapse. -- The New York Times

The Senate passed a $626 billion “defense” budget without discussion. Since 1947, when the War Department became the Defense Department, Congress has allocated trillions of dollars, but all for offense and with dubious results: Korea (1950-53), Vietnam (1964-74), Iraq and Afghanistan. None of those countries attacked or threatened us.

In Copenhagen, Obama reflected the denial mood of Congress, banks and corporations and offered platitudes to reduce global warming while admitting the perils of growing climate change. Raising unpleasant future scenarios signifies unacceptable political pessimism. The press, predictably, abdicated on all issues not connected to celebrity scandal.

Media vultures are coming: freedom of expression at risk

As you flip through a range of channels on your TV or browse through a stack of newspapers and magazines at a newsstand, you may feel lucky about living in a world where such a plethora of viewpoints is available. It might also seem that the apparent increase in media choices also increases the chances for the public interest to be understood and served fairly. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. The media world is shrinking by the day.

Welcome to 2010.

The coming year might go down in history as that of major media consolidation, as in concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few large conglomerates and powerful media moguls. Predictions regarding mergers of media companies are very bleak, and to a degree frightening.

For every one

Yemen!

The Underwear Bomber: More to the story; Kurt Haskell describes The Well Dressed Man and the Man in Orange.

As we all know, on Christmas Day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Mutallab) boarded a plane in Amsterdam with a makeshift bomb hidden in his underwear. Thanks to an alert passenger and the technical difficulty involved, the bomb did not detonate, the bomber caught himself on fire, the plane landed safely and the young man, Mutallab, is in custody.

The performance of the corporately controlled Orwellian media is again abysmal to the point of being a joke. We must asked ourselves “why” in an age where real news is so readily available. Enter Kurt Haskell.

Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell witnessed two important events, neither of which has been widely reported although his testimony and collaborating testimony is available via You Tube videos of local news coverage including Mlive (Michigan live), NPR interviews, Fox News, Antiwar radio, and Alex Jones Prison Planet.

All Sides of the Story Needed in Judging Sexual-Harassment Complaints

After two employees in the Ohio attorney general’s office filed sexual-harassment complaints against the office’s director of general services in March 2008, Attorney General Marc Dann assigned two top lawyers in the office to investigate. The accused director, Anthony Gutierrez, was a longtime friend and former roommate of Dann.

The investigation concluded that Gutierrez had subjected the women to “a hostile work environment” of sexual harassment. He was immediately fired. Two other managers who were also longtime friends of Dann were forced out for allegedly mishandling the complaints. Dann himself admitted to a consensual affair with his scheduler, who then resigned.

During the Ohio media’s frenzy over the story, Gov. Ted Strickland and other state Democratic officials hastily called for fellow-Democrat Dann to resign or be impeached. Democrats in the Ohio House of Representatives soon introduced an impeachment resolution.

The Free Press is back in print for 2009 end of year issue

The following article is Editor Bob Fitrakis' "Raking the Muck" article in the 2009 End of the Year Free Press issue, just out in print January 1, 2010:
Behold, the resurrection of a truly “free press.” The Free Press is of one of the nation’s few remaining alternative newspapers from the 1960s. Our online reporting at www.freepress.org provides the content for reflecting back upon this incredibly schizophrenic political year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and sitting President emerges as our choice for “Hawk of the Year.”

History repeats itself. In January, Norman Solomon warned readers that “LBJ’s ghost hovers” over Obama. Recall that President Johnson ran as the peace candidate in 1964. In his infamous “daisy” commercial he suggested that if we elected the notorious warmonger Senator Barry Goldwater, we were likely to escalate the Vietnam War into a nuclear holocaust. Once he won the election in a landslide, Johnson massively increased the troop count in Vietnam. His approach was a surge, just like Obama’s. Not surprisingly, both surged to promote peace. Like Bush.

Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA?

In the past I have alluded to Panetta and the Seven Dwarfs. The reference is to CIA Director Leon Panetta and seven of his moral-dwarf predecessors—the ones who sent President Barack Obama a letter on Sept. 18 asking him to “reverse Attorney General Holder’s August 24 decision to re-open the criminal investigation of CIA interrogations.” http://tinyurl.com/my4jc5

Panetta reportedly was also dead set against reopening the investigation—as he was against release of the Justice Department’s “torture memoranda” of 2002, as he has been against releasing pretty much anything at all—the President’s pledges of a new era of openness, notwithstanding. Panetta is even older than I, and I am aware that hearing is among the first faculties to fail. Perhaps he heard “error” when the President said “era.”

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