Thoughts about the news industry

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day judging newspaper entries for an annual state contest [the state will go nameless, since I don't want to get targeted for losses, heh, heh ...]. The categories were in different divisions, based on the size of the circulation of the newspaper. I judged two sets of politics/elections entries, and then tackled the in-dept/investigation category with a co-worker.
While a lot of the entries were not super impressive, there were some shining moments. In addition, what was really spectacular was the level of work produced by so many weeklies, even if the news coverage was relatively pedestrian. Meetings and features and tons of news, often by a single reporter or two reporters.
For the first round of judging, I literally read through each entry, from a bunch of small newspapers. Most of the stories were good but not really "award-winning." However, I was struck by the consistency of many of the newspapers. While there were small staffs, they were clearly working hard to get the news out. In addition, most of the entries seemed to be smaller or independent newspaper companies, not a lot of big companies [later in the day, we found out that no newspapers from our parent company had entered anything into the contest, a complete shock considering the fact that those newspapers win awards every year].
After looking at all the entries, I picked three which were pretty good.
In the next round, I received a higher circulation category and thought, before reading all of these entries, let me scan through them and look for some things that were outside of the box. I started opening them up and realized, wow, this was going to be hard. There were some great collections of election stories, election guides, and political issues in this category. It was clear the difference between the divisions - while the smaller newspapers were trying their best, the higher circs clearly had the resources to do a stellar job.
I ended up skimming through most of the entries that were pretty standard - lots of election results stories and election guides. Ho hum. I ended up picking three unusual stories - one, about a reporter being detained and questioned by the Secret Service at a debate; a large city weekly's extensive election coverage; and a story about the results of a write-in campaign.
After looking at the politics and election entries, I took a break and checked email before tackling the next set of entries. This sentence came across from the WSJ: "Gannett posted lower earnings and disclosed it will write down the value of assets by as much as $5.9 billion amid 'unprecedented turmoil' in the newspaper business."
I gasped and read the sentence out to a few folks who were also shocked.
"Are they basically saying they are worth a fraction of what they should be? Wow," I said.
No one really knew, but it looks like it.
Bryan and I started looking at the in-depth/investigative entries and there were some extensive pieces. Most were not really that impressive - again, a lot of pretty standard coverage - but we picked three really good entries that showed originality and creativity.
But as I got through all the entries of the in-depth category, I kept coming back to the Gannett announcement. When thinking about this, and looking at all the quality work by the smaller newspapers, it is pretty shocking. But there it is. These big companies, destroying newspapers, and leaving not much in their wake, while the smaller companies do what newspapers are supposed to be doing.
It also makes me come back to the economy in general, and the need to "get credit flowing ..." We're hearing that a lot. But, in many, many ways, credit and debt got us into the mess we're in right now. Companies got too, too big, and needed to be bailed out ... and maybe even bailed out again ... Getting into more debt with no clear way out other than hope for the future, well, that's not really hope at all. That's just a bigger mess coming.

Wither Wall Street

Guest Perspective/Ralph Nader
Soon after the passage in 1999 of the Clinton-Rubin-Summers-P. Graham deregulation of the financial industry, I boarded a U.S. Air flight to Boston and discovered none other than then-Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers a few seats away. He was speaking loudly and constantly on his cell phone. When the plane took off he invited me to sit by him and talk.

After reviewing the contents of this Citibank-friendly new law called the Financial Modernization Act—I asked him: “Do you think the big banks have too much power?”

He paused for a few seconds and replied: “Not Yet.” Intrigued by his two word answer, I noted the rejection of modest pro-consumer provisions, adding that now that the banks had had their round, wasn’t it time for the consumers to have their own round soon?

He allowed that such an expectation was not unreasonable and that he was willing to meet with some seasoned consumer advocates and go over such an agenda. We sent him an agenda, and met with Mr. Summers and his staff. Unfortunately, neither his boss, Bill Clinton, nor the Congress were in any mood to revisit this heavily lobbied federal deregulation law and reconsider the blocked consumer rights.

The rest is unfolding, tragic history. The law abolished the Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking from investment banking. This opened the floodgates for unwise mergers, acquisitions and other unregulated risky financial instruments. Laced with limitless greed, casino capitalism ran wild, tanking economies here and abroad.

One champion of this market fundamentalism was Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve. Last October before a House Committee, Greenspan admitted he was mistaken and expressed astonishment at how corporations could not even safeguard their own self-interest from going over steep speculative cliffs.

Greenspan and Summers were deemed “brilliant” by the press and most of Congress. Summers’ predecessor at Treasury—Robert Rubin—was also a charter member of the Oracles—those larger-than-life men who just knew that the unfettered market and giant financial conglomerates would be the one-stop shopping mart consumers were assumed to be craving.

Now the world knows that these men belong to the “oops oligarchy” that bails itself out while it lets the companies collapse into the handcuffed arms of Uncle Sam and bridled taxpayers who have to pay for unconditional megabailouts. Instead of the Wall Street crooks being convicted and imprisoned, they have fled the jurisdiction with their self-determined compensation. Corporate crime pays, while pensions and mutual fund savings evaporate.

Now comes the next stage of the Washington rescue effort in a variety of stimulus packages which every vendor group imaginable wants a piece of these days. When trillions are offered, many come running.

As the public focus is on how much, when and where all this money should be spent, there are very serious consequences to be foreseen and forestalled. First, consider how much more concentrated corporate power is occurring. Forced or willing mergers, acquisitions and panic takeovers of big banks by bigger banks along with bankruptcies of companies further reduce what is left of quality competition for consumer benefit.

Remember the anti-trust laws. Obama needs to be their champion. The fallout from the Wall Street binge is likely to lead to a country run by an even smaller handful of monopolistic global goliaths.

In the stampede for stimulus legislation, there is a foreboding feeling on Capitol Hill that there is no proposal on the table to pay for it other than by the children and grandchildren. Just the opposite is raining down on them. Everybody including the private equity gamblers, Las Vegas casinos and Hollywood studios along with the banks and auto companies are looking for tax breaks.

So with the economy deteriorating and taxes being cut, where is the enormous money coming from? From borrowing and from printing money. So look out for big time inflation and decline in the dollar’s value vis-à-vis other currencies.

In all the hundreds of pages of stimulus bills, there is nothing that would facilitate the banding together of consumers and investors into strong advocacy groups. We have long proposed Financial Consumer Associations, privately and voluntarily funded through inserts in the monthly statements of financial firms.

If this bailout—stimulus—Wall Street funny money waste, fraud and abuse sounds confusing, that is because it is. A brand new paperback “Why Wall Street Can’t Be Fixed and How to Replace It: Agenda For a New Economy” by long-time corporate critic, David C. Korten will explain some of the wheeling and dealing.

You don’t have to agree with all or many of Korten’s nostrums. Just read Part II—The Case For Eliminating Wall Street. He considers three central questions:

First, do Wall Street Institutions do anything so vital for the national interest that they justify trillions of dollars to save them from the consequences of their own excess?

Second, is it possible that the whole Wall Street edifice is built on an illusion of phantom wealth that carries deadly economic, social, and environmental consequences for the larger society?

Third, are there other ways to provide needed financial services with greater results and at lesser cost?

Peter Schiff was right ...

Came across this video montage earlier this morning. Listen to the laughing in the background by all these so-called experts:

Ugh ... another storm ...

on friggin' deadline even ... again ...

I hate it when it snows on deadline. It effes everything up!
The last time this happened, a couple of weeks ago, I drove home, slept, and then tried to venture into work in the early morning, only to go careening 10 to 12 feet into an embankment just before the state liquor store on I-93 south. Thankfully, I was not injured and the only thing wrong with the car that they could find was a leaky shock absorber.
BTW, since I didn't really write about it at the time it happened, I want to thanks some folks. First, the state police, for quickly getting to the scene to see if I was OK. Second, AAA, who towed me for free [I've been a member for years; never used it until now]. And third, thank you to two women, a youngish one in a Jeep and an older woman in a Honda Element, who both stopped to offer assistance even though I didn't need any. The young woman I have seen on the highway before, because of her funky license plate [I have one too, so I look at them ...], but not the older woman. Interestingly, not a single guy stopped to see if I was OK. They were all too busy in their SUVs barreling past everyone else.

R.I.P. Laurel Bowman: ["Laurel Bowman"]. So sad. Apparently, she was in a bad car accident recently. She was a great gal and a cool musician.

They Live! I have to see this movie again ... it's been ages ...

Headline of the day ...

From the N.Y. Post: ["JUST PLANE DESPICABLE"]. But, you know, they need that jet, you know, 'cause they can't fly coach with all us little people ... you know, the ones who are bailing them out!

Guess who's blogging at Suicide Girls?

Why Greg Palast, that's who! And does he have a hot one this week: ["Why An Asshole Is Always In Charge"]. FTR, I just didn't find this because I was looking at the site ... it popped up in my email this morning, since I'm on Palast's list!
For those of you who don't know, Suicide Girls is this pseudo porn site featuring pretty hot looking goth chicks. I say "pseudo," cause it is more like a Page 3 girl than full-on porn.
That said, what the hell is Palast doing there? Who knows. But I will say that if this is the future of columns and news, bring it on: Hot goth chicks and revolutionary opinion columns. That's a sweet mix.

As well ...

For those of you who weren't paying attention, Politico got some good stuff over at the White House press room last week. It seems that folks in the Obama admin are a tad testy that they got caught breaking promises so early in the process ... ["Media frustration spills into briefing"] ["Obama flashes irritation in press room"] ... Ah shucks, I can't come down here and answer questions, I only wanted to say "Hi" ... Hey Obama, who do you think you are, Bill Clinton? And boo hoo for you ... what, did you think the piranhas were just going to stay asleep? Not!

Here's reason number whatever why we should stay out of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians ... check out this video:



So, let me get this straight, it's OK for Jews and Israelis to want to eliminate their enemies, but it isn't OK for Palestinians and Muslims to want to eliminate their enemies? This is ridiculous. How can you obtain peace this way? You can't. There is no peace and there will be no peace. The place has been a mess for thousands of years. They will probably continue to kill each for centuries to come. The only way to remove the pain and heartache from this situation is with the individual. Individuals, both Jews and Palestinians, need to realize that their lives are more important than infinite war and bloodshed. How can the international powers do that? I don't know. But this I do know: The United States has wasted enough money in this region. How much more of our money has to be wasted before we realize that this is a lost cause? We've given Israel billions. We've given Arabs more, via aid and for oil. Enough already. A pox on both their houses. We have people to feed and we need to become energy efficient and self reliant ... now.

Jim Hightower has a short but good column here: ["OBAMA MUST BE EVEN BOLDER THAN FDR"].

And lastly, congrats to Common Dreams on their redesign: ["Common Dreams"]. It looks fab!

Two announce for Mayor of Boston ...

Either Menino has decided not to run again or it's going to be a bloody battle for the top job in Boston later this year.

First out of the gate was Kevin McCrea, courtesy of David Bernstein over at the Boston Phoenix: ["McCrea Alone"]. You gotta love this quote from his announcement:

"We need to end the cycle of career politicians. I am a businessman, and I am running as a common citizen. I’m independent, I’m informed, I have fresh ideas -- and I believe in honest government that includes the citizens. I’m not locked into a political system that dictates I must ‘go along to get along."

Wouldn't it be great if someone with more experience than being a city councilor could lead the city?

Second, at-large city councilor Michael Flaherty posted this video announcement on YouTube yesterday:



Bernstein was at least one political reporter who noted that he didn't even get a press release from Flaherty. One wondered if this was a test launch. The Globe has this story about what seems to be a bungled launch: ["Ever so briefly, Flaherty appears announcing run"], which Bernstein also writes about on his blog. The Herald has this piece here from Saturday: ["Likely Thomas Menino foe revs engines"].

For those of us who watch Boston news, this should be interesting. The key now will be what Menino does. If he doesn't run, it will be a free-for-all. If he does run again, it's a wonder if any of these guys will be able to take him out. There will be a preliminary election of three or more candidates run. After that, it will be one-on-one. Flaherty's apparent announcement also opens up an at-large council seat, which means that race will be an aggressive one too. All the better for voter participation and representation.

Update: It looks like Flaherty sent out an email around 7 a.m. this morning announcing a run for Mayor.

Obama should improve consumer protection

In the Public Interest by Ralph Nader, 1/23/09

Dear President Obama:

Underneath many of our country’s economic problems is the thirty-year collapse of consumer protection—both of the regulatory kind and of the self-help kind known as proper access to justice.

Last month major consumer groups sent you a letter proposing action to rein in exploitation of consumers as debtors, as buyers of oil, gas and electricity, as patients needing health insurance and as eaters wanting safe goods.

Under the Bush regime, the words “consumer protection” were rarely uttered and the Bush administration almost never initiated any pro-consumer efforts, even with massive evidence before it, such as predatory lending and credit card abuses.

You need to recognize and elevate the GDP significance of fair consumer policies along with their moral and just attributes at a time of worsening recession.

I suggest you focus on the state of the poorest consumers in the urban and rural ghettos. As you know from your days with the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) and as a community organizer in Chicago, the consumers in these areas are the most gouged and least protected. That the “poor pay more” has been extensively documented by civic, official and academic studies, and numerous local newspaper and television news reports.

Unfortunately, neither Congress nor the Executive branch have paid adequate attention to the tens of millions of people who lose at least 25 percent of their consumer dollars to multiple frauds and shoddy merchandise. You should establish special task forces in the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on their plight and on the many proven but unused remedies to assure a fair marketplace with effective enforcement and grievance procedures.

Working with and galvanizing local and state agencies to enlarge their capacity and staff—with stimulus monies—can produce a triple-header—making the federal effort more effective, providing valuable jobs and freeing up billions of consumer dollars from the financial sink-hole of commercial crimes.

It requires the visibility and eloquence of your personal leadership to launch this long-overdue defense of poor people.

A second area of action is simply to update major areas of regulatory health and safety that have been frozen for thirty years. These include modernizing standards for auto and tire safety, food safety, aviation and railroad safety and occupational health and trauma protection.

New knowledge, new marketing forays, and new technologies have accumulated during this period without application. It is the obsolescence of so many safety standards hailing from the fifties, sixties and seventies that permits the tricky, corporate advertising claims that products “exceed federal safety standards.”

Note for example that the SEC has never come close to regulating the recent explosion of myriad collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). The massive speculation in this area is destabilizing the national and world economies.

Third, you need to articulate and provide a high profile to what western Europeans have long called “social consumerism.” Citizens are consumers of government services for which they pay as taxpayers. In return they are entitled to prompt, accurate and courteous responses to their inquiries and to their perceived needs as embraced by the authorizing statutes.

To begin with, Americans need to be able to get through to their government agencies and departments. Being put on hold interminably with automated messages to nowhere, not receiving replies of any kind to their letters, and generally getting the brush-off even with the deadlines explicated in the Freedom of Information Act have been a bi-partisan failure.

However, under the Bush regime, not answering serious letters from dedicated individuals and groups on time-sensitive matters of policy and action—as with the Iraq war and occupation—became standard operating procedure—starting with President Bush himself.

This stonewalling has turned people off so much that they do not even bother to “ask their government” for assistance and that includes an astonishingly unresponsive Congress (other than for ministerial requests such as locating lost VA or social security checks.)

As you shape the Obama White House, bear in mind that the “change you can believe in” is one of kind, not just degree.

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Nader

The Noise Top 30 chart for Feb. 2009

1. Passion Pit – Chunk of Change
2.Township – Township/Coming Home
3. Logan 5 and The Runners – Featurette
4. Sarah Rabdau & The Self-Employed Assassins - Sarah Rabdau & The Self-Employed Assassins
5. Pretty & Nice – Get Young
6. The Blizzard of ’78 – Book of Lies
7. Chop Chop – Screens
8. Winterpills – Central Chambers
9. Apple Betty – Streakin' 'Cross the Sky
10. Guillermo Sexo – Magic Lanterns
11. Anthems MA – Time Starts Now
12. Christy Romanick – Christy Romanick
13. Peter Moore – One Ride
14. Autumn Hollow Band – Autumn Hollow Band
15. Big Dipper – Super Cluster: The Big Dipper Anthology
16. The Milling Gowns – Diving Bell Shallows
17. The Weisstronauts – Instro-tainment
18. Dirt Mall – Got the Goat by the Horns
19. The Kickbacks – Even the Blues
20. The Lights Out – The Lights Out
21. Gene Dante & The Future Starlets – The Romantic Lead
22. The Sneaks – In an Instant
23. Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance
24. Aloud – Fan the Fury
25. SweetMeat and the Silverfish – SweetMeat and the Silverfish
26. Slim Jim and The Mad Cows – Appetite for the Truckin’
27. Christina Carter - “I Do Not Love a Woman”
28. Hot Box – The Histone Code
29. Birdwatchers of America – There Have Been Sightings
30, Keith Cornella and Broken City – Arms are Falling

A few quick things on Inauguration Day

It's Inauguration Day. I'm swamped, so I'll keep this short.

First, congratulations to Barak Obama and Joe Biden! It looks like you're both really going to be sworn in after all!

Second, if you're like me, and you don't have a TV at your work, you can watch the speech online, live, courtesy of WMUR-TV Channel 9 in Manch, here: ["Inauguration"].

Personally, I'm going to be busy today and I don't really care what Obama has to say. I've heard and seen enough to make a lasting impression of what a disaster his administration is going to be.
Oh, Tony, give the guy a break. He isn't even there yet.
Well, like I have said so many times, actions speak louder than words and all we have gotten from this guy are words. If you're not worried about Obama, here is another reason to be, from Sunday's political column in the Concord Monitor: ["Gregg's newest friend"]. The subhead pretty much says it all: "Obama wants his help on entitlements." Entitlements? Yup:

The president-elect told the Washington Post on Thursday that he hopes to convene a "fiscal responsibility summit" next month, bringing together an array of folks worried about deficits and entitlements.

Now don't get me wrong. I have no problem with this topic at all. In fact, I think it is a good thing. Most of us are worried about entitlements. Most of believe we'll see a UFO before we'll see our Social Security after the Baby Boomers get done taking everything.
But a "fiscal responsibility summit" should come fourth or fifth behind a "rein in wasteful Pentagon spending summit," the "let's make health care, not insurance, but care, affordable again summit," the ever popular and badly needed "time to end corporate welfare, subsidies, giveaways and abuse summit," the "fair trade summit," and lastly, the "scrap the tax code and let's do something simple and easy summit." Any true progressive ... any true Democrat would get these things taken care of first. These summits should come before a "fiscal responsibility summit" with Sen. Gregg's involvement since all he wants to talk about is how wasteful it is to make sure the poor and the elderly are taken care of when they have no other options but the government.
Shockingly, or not so, the progressive blogosphere was SILENT about this over the weekend. Not a post. Not a sarcastic response. No one saying, Boy, this is reason number whatever we should worry about this guy ... blinders completely and tightly on. They are all hyped up for the inauguration and are too caught up in the "We won!" moment that they may be missing what's really important here.
God help us all!

Why I helped to put Circuit City out of business ...

The demise of Circuit City and its impending bankruptcy is difficult to watch. But, some of us knew it was coming.
I was a long-time Circuit City customer. I started shopping there after Lechmere [remember them?] went under.
We bought a TV there; I bought my first CD player and CD recorder there [holding out forever, since I was always a vinyl kinda guy]; we had a charge card there; and, thinking about it now, I bought a ton of other stuff over the years - blank CDs, video games, CDs, DVDs, a radar detector, and two car stereos. Thinking about it now, all we ever did was shop there.
But the minute they fired their highest paid employees only to rehire them at lower wages , that was the end for me. All I could think was, This is what you do to employees who are loyal to you? That could be me they are screwing over due to management's bad decisions! Hurting loyal employees like that when management was making millions running the company into the ground? I read the "logic" of it in the WSJ and then, wrote a letter to the company to complain and never got a response.
We canceled our card and I decided to take my business across the street to Best Buy.
And, I can tell you this: I have no regrets. Best Buy is great. Its customer service is great. The prices are great. The rewards program is great. Sure, it's too loud and flashy in there. But that is my only complaint.
I honestly didn't expect that someone from Circuit City corporate would respond to a long-time customer who has spent, probably, thousands of dollars there over the years. That's just not the way things are done anymore. Most companies have laid off the people who handle customer service inquiries [ever tried to get anyone on the phone these days?]. Especially with something so controversial. In addition, the stories started trickling out that the move was getting backlash and people were really, really angry about it. They just thought, Well, people will come back when we have a sale. But that didn't happen either [and the Circuit City sale prices could never keep up with Best Buy, frankly, and I can tell you that because I watch prices on electronics all the time ...].
Circuit City going under will have a ripple effect in this industry and will affect other industries. There will be Verizon Wireless folks who work inside those stores who could lose their jobs. The people that print the flyers for the company will lose business. Advertising will drop in other media outlets, hurting their businesses. More sales will go to places like Wal-Mart, as people continue to look for bargains. The days of someone starting up a mom and pop electronic store have long since disappeared [or, if you live in my area, you don't shop at the mom and pop store because the owner is a very evil man who was convicted of second degree assault against a very nice woman I went to school with who later took her own life because of the ordeal]. So, it isn't like there will be more competition due to this change.
In the end, unfortunately, as it always is, management won't suffer much for their behavior. They have already lined their pockets, taking millions and millions from shareholders and wrecking the company. The brunt of this will be felt by the workers of Circuit City and I'm terribly sorry that they have to suffer due to what management does. I truly am. We'll all pray for you to find new work. But companies can move forward knowing that we, the customers, are always right, as the saying goes. We will lash out at you when you treat your employees badly and it will cost you. We don't have to support that with our money. So do the right thing ... or lose everything.

Inauguration day is coming up ...

How long before the "Obama's not my president" bumperstickers hit the market?
How long before the "1-21-13" bumperstickers go on sale?
I'm wondering: Will Republicans be out throwing eggs at Barack Obama's limo ride to the inauguration on Tuesday the same way Democrats were throwing eggs at George W. Bush's car in 2000?
I also don't recall "Entertainment Tonight" covering the Bush inauguration. Do you?
Another question: In the wake of the economic crisis, why are the Obamas spending a single penny of the taxpayers' money redecorating the White House? I mean, how many times does it need to be redecorated?
And, yeah, I'm still wondering if Obama/Biden are actually going to get sworn in. I'm still waiting for Cheney to barricade himself in the White House basement bunker, refusing to give up power ... although, they, along with the Democrats, have so destroyed the nation that it might be a good time for them to high tail it out of Dodge ...

Question to readers: Do any of you have one of these record players?: ["Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSB LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB"]. I tried dubbing some of my records through my new digital receiver and 8-track digital soundboard, into my computer, but the levels were just way too low. I tried a slew of different hook up variations and it still didn't work, unfortunately. If I could find one of these in stock at a store, I might spring for $85 and buy one. But the thought of ordering it online, paying postage, getting it, and having it not work, is worrisome.

Here's a pretty cool press release published in the Somerville Journal: ["Grossman Marketing produces 200 million envelopes (so far) with green power"]. Grossman used to be the DNC chairman. He has noted in the past that his family's printing business has never had a layoff in the history of the company.

Dan Kennedy has this piece on what some newspaper CEOs are getting paid: ["Good jobs at good wages"]. I wrote, in response: Wow, those numbers say a lot. And, after looking at them and thinking about this for a number of hours, I've come to the conclusion that the "death" of newspapers seems to be three-fold: Drop in advertising revenue, gutting of newsrooms AND over-paid leaders of companies who put their own compensation ahead of the product.
I'm no commie, but can't some of them work for less in order to keep others hired? Can't some of them work for less in order to keep the product appealing and worth buying, you know, to try and save it? Think about all the jobs that could be saved if all of the CEOs made 50 percent of what they made last year? That's hundreds of reporters. And, they would still be making more annually than 95 percent of the people in America. Now, you can argue about the stock options are not cash and therefore, it shouldn't be counted, or whatever. But it makes absolutely no sense for many of these people to be making what they're making while their companies crumble - not unlike a lot of CEOs on Wall Street [and don't even get me started on the billions in TARP money that went to salaries and bonuses of the same thieves and liars who destroyed the economy ...]. Where are the BODs of these companies putting the brakes on this while their newspapers whither on the racks? Don't they care about the product they are running into the ground?

A quick "TY" to WBZ-TV's Jon Keller for talking about this blog on his blog: ["Welcome Back, Tony"]. There are some pretty interesting comments on the blog too. I'm glad people took the time to read it but, no, I won't be taking up the "Million Disappointed Men March" any time soon ...

My friend Ben of Elephant Stone Records has a blog: ["Rock n Roll Runner"]. I knew he was a music fanatic but I never knew he was an exercise fanatic.

Punishing the Palestinians

Guest Perspective by Ralph Nader

In the long sixty-year tortured history of the Palestinian expulsion from their lands, Congress has maintained that it is always the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority, and now Hamas who are to blame for all hostilities and their consequences with the Israeli government.

The latest illustration of this Washington puppet show, backed by the most modern weapons and billions of taxpayer dollars annually sent to Israel, was the grotesquely one-sided Resolutions whisked through the Senate and the House of Representatives.

While a massive bombing and invasion of Gaza was underway, the resolution blaming Hamas for all the civilian casualties and devastation—99% of it inflicted on Palestinians—zoomed through the Senate by voice vote and through the House by a vote of 390 to 5 with 22 legislators voting present.

There is more dissent against this destruction of Gaza among the Israeli people, the Knesset, the Israeli media, and Jewish-Americans than among the dittoheads on Capitol Hill.

The reasons for such near-unanimous support for Israeli actions—no matter how often they are condemned by peace advocates such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, United Nations resolutions, the World Court and leading human rights groups inside and outside of Israel, are numerous. The pro-Israeli government lobby, and the right-wing Christian evangelicals, lubricated by campaign money of many Political Action Committees (PACs) certainly are key.

There is also more than a little bigotry in Congress against Arabs and Muslims, reinforced by the mass media yahoos who set new records for biased reporting each time this conflict erupts.

The bias is clear. It is always the Palestinians’ fault. Right-wingers who would never view the U.S. government as perfect see the Israeli government as never doing anything wrong. Liberals who do not hesitate to criticize the U.S. military view all Israeli military attacks, invasions and civilian devastation as heroic manifestations of Israeli defense.

The inversion of history and the scope of amnesia know no limits. What about the fact that the Israeli government drove Palestinians from their lands in 1947-48 with tens of thousands pushed into the Gaza strip. No problem to Congress.

Then the fact that the Israeli government cruelly occupied, in violation of UN resolutions, the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 and only removed its soldiers and colonists from Gaza (1.5 million people in a tiny area twice the size of the District of Columbia) in 2005. To Congress, the Palestinians deserved it.
Then when Hamas was freely elected to run Gaza, the Israeli authorities cut off the tax revenues on imports that belonged to the Gaza government. This threw the Gazans into a fiscal crisis—they were unable to pay their civil servants and police.

In 2006, the Israelis added to their unrelieved control of air, water and land around the open-air prison by establishing a blockade. The natives became restless. Under international law, a blockade is an act of war. Primitive rockets, called by reporters “wildly inaccurate” were fired into Israel. During this same period, Israeli soldiers and artillery and missiles would go into Gaza at will and take far more lives and cause far more injuries than those incurred by those rockets. Civilians—especially children, the infirm and elderly—died or suffered week after week for lack of medicines, medical equipment, food, electricity, fuel and water which were embargoed by the Israelis.

Then the Israeli bombing followed by the invasion during the past three weeks with what prominent Israeli writer Gideon Levy called “a brutal and violent operation…far beyond what was needed for protecting the people in its south.” Mr. Levy observed what the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann called a war against “a helpless and defenseless imprisoned population.”

The horror of being trapped from fleeing the torrent of the most modern weapons of war from the land, air and seas is reflected in this passage from Amira Hass, writing in the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz:

“The earth shaking under your feet, clouds of choking smoke, explosions like a fireworks display, bombs bursting into all-consuming flames that cannot be extinguished with water, mushroom clouds of pinkish-red smoke, suffocating gas, harsh burns on the skin, extraordinary maimed live and dead bodies.”

Ms. Hass is pointing to the use of new anti-civilian weapons used on the Gazan people. So far there have been over 1100 fatalities, many thousands of injuries and the destruction of homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, pharmacies, granaries, farmer’s fields and many critical public facilities. The clearly marked UN headquarters and UN school were smashed, along with stored medicines and food supplies.

Why? The Congressional response: “Hamas terrorists” everywhere. Sure, defending their Palestinian families is called terrorism. The truth is there is no Hamas army, airforce and navy up against the fourth most powerful military in the world. As one Israeli gunner on an armored personnel carrier frankly said to The New York Times: “They are villagers with guns. They don’t even aim when they shoot.”

Injured Gazans are dying in damaged hospital corridors, bleeding to death because rescuers are not permitted to reach them or are endangered themselves. Thousands of units of blood donated by Jordanians are stopped by the Israeli blockade. Israel has kept the international press out of the Gazan killing fields.
What is going on in Gaza is what Bill Moyers called it earlier this month – “state terrorism.” Already about 400 children are known to have died. More will be added who are under the rubble.

Since 2002, more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations have had a standing offer, repeated often, that if Israel obeys several UN resolutions and withdraws to the 1967 borders leaving 22 percent of the original Palestine for an independent Palestinian state, they will open full diplomatic relations and there will be peace. Israel has declined to accept this offer.

None of these and many other aspects of this conflict matter to the Congress. Its members do not want to hear even from the Israeli peace movement, composed of retired generals, security chiefs, mayors, former government ministers, and members of the Knesset. In 60 years these savvy peace advocates have not been able to give one hour of testimony before a Congressional Committee.

Maybe members of Congress may wish to weigh the words of the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, years ago when he said:

“There has been anti-Semitism the Nazis Hitler Auschwitz but was that their [the Palestinian’s] fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country.”

Doesn’t that observation invite some compassion for the Palestinian people and their right to be free of Israeli occupation, land and water grabs and blockades in the 22 percent left of Palestine?

$59 trillion in the hole?

This can't be right ... but maybe it is. From a press release:

CHICAGO-AREA GROUP'S "FINANCIAL STATE OF THE UNION" REVEALS NATION'S TRUE DEBT NUMBERS

Institute for Truth in Accounting again calls for Congress to face the truth about our nation's finances

Chicago - Today, the Institute for Truth in Accounting released its annual "Financial State of the Union," and the numbers are not good and they are getting worse every day. America's share of our nation's financial hole is now $59 trillion - each of us owes $194,400.

"We can fix this problem, if everyone in the U.S. sends all of their assets-their value in their houses, cars, investments-to the federal government," said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA). She continued, "Then the government would have to make investments that would earn a high enough rate of return to fund all of the promises that have been made."

"As the people of this country inaugurate their new president next week, and as the 111th Congress begins, it is imperative the truthful condition of our nation's finances be revealed," said Roger Nelson, Chairman of IFTA's Board of Directors. He highlighted, "The truth is together with unfunded liabilities and promises to our retirees we're in the hole for over $59 trillion. We need to understand this truth before we can move forward with any new proposals."

The Financial State of the Union, available at http://www.truthinaccounting.org/, provides this accounting by outlining the financial situation of the nation, including unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement benefits. The report, which is available in a one-page, downloadable PDF format, is designed to draw attention to our true financial situation at such a critical time as our President-Elect's first address.

"Debt has become our country's drug of choice, personally and nationally, and until we are honest with ourselves about how much we really owe, we can't begin to solve this problem," warned Weinberg. "Treasury and the politicians say our nation's debt is only $10.6 trillion, which assumes we owe no promises benefits to our seniors."

The IFTA is the sponsor of www.TruthIn2008.org, a national campaign to bring awareness to our nation's pressing financial issues. The IFTA is currently preparing for the launch of TruthIn2010.org. For more information, contact Darlene Porteus at 847-835-5200 or visit www.TruthInAccounting.org.

UL: Lynch won't challenge Gregg for Senate seat ...

Earlier this afternoon, the New Hampshire Union Leader sent out an alert saying that Gov. John Lynch would not challenge U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg in 2010. Here's the Nashua Telegraph's story: ["Lynch: I won't run for Senate against Gregg"].
This is good, good, and bad news.
First, it's good news because Lynch is correct: he won't be distracted by a major political run during the end of his third term and can, instead, concentrate on his job. That job is to be a great governor and preserve his own moderate version of the New Hampshire Advantage [i.e. no sales or income taxes]. This isn't just about the tax thing. It's about the fact that he is thinking about the body of the whole, in this case, the state, instead of self. That's leadership.
It's also good news because this allows the other potential candidates to start thinking about putting a race together ... and doing it soon if not now. Gregg is going to be a difficult person to beat despite the trends in New Hampshire. Better to get started on it soon instead of worrying about it next year when it might be too late [barring a major lottery win, I will also not be a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010 ... hah!].
It's bad news because many Dems thought that Lynch would be the party's best chance to beat Gregg. I don't know if that is altogether true but it's a safe bet.
However, with the economy in a total tailspin and Obama acting arrogant when he hasn't even been sworn in yet, there could be a backlash from the moderate middle in the state which could potentially hurt a Democratic challenger.
The naysayers on the progressive blogosphere will go apeshit if they read this comment, but it's kinda the truth. The elections of 2006 and 2008 were quite fickle. It could be just fine; it may not though.
As well, Gregg could continue to dig his own grave. If he continues to go on and on about deficits and spending on the poor people while ignoring what is going on over at the Pentagon and on Wall Street, he looks like a fool. If he continues to run from the mess he helped create with the disastrous bailout, he just looks like an idiot.

Some quick thoughts on Obama
I'm paraphrasing here something I wrote online elsewhere. I'm truly disheartened by the fact that Barack Obama seems to be pretty much abandoning everything he said he would do which means that he was nothing more than a phony hope-dope pusher. Of course, some of us already knew that he would be an empty pontificator of hyperbole. But, we were still hopeful that we were wrong.
The worst part about this in my mind is that there were millions and millions of people who believed this man and did everything to get him elected and now, he is treating them - and their wishes, hopes and dreams - like dog shit on the heel of his shoe. It's disgraceful.
Things like meeting with rightwing pundits or inviting Rick Warren to say a prayer over your inauguration ... you know, that is building bridges and breaking bread with people who don't agree with you. That's good politics. But filling your cabinet full of Clinton failures, listening to their horrific advice, badgering Congress over the TARP stuff when no one knows what happened to the first $350 billion, abandoning health care because of what the private sector did to the economy, lying and saying it will take a year to close Gitmo, not preparing to pull the troops out of Iraq, agreeing with Bush to send more troops to Afghanistan, on and one and on ... Barack Obama is a walking public policy outrage ... and he hasn't even been inaugurated yet!