Operation Enduring Presence

I haven't had as much time for this blog as the Canadian one of late -- so it goes.

Getting right to the business of catching up on the media narratives, as most know Obama declared the end of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," Tuesday night and the beginning of "Operation New Dawn." It is exactly the kind of Orwellian hooey that it reads like. There are as noted everywhere even the MSM 50,000 combat ready troops being left behind, but not being reported as often are the bases that still remain occupied by American forces in the desert and the 7,000 independent contractors ( re: modern-day mercenaries) they are hiring to leave behind at five different bases . Here's a report from Democracy Now on those bases:



Seven years later there's still lots to say about this war of choice that devastated Iraq. The war killed untold numbers of civilians and made refugees out of millions and it's all being ignored except in small corners of the media and blogosphere. Some like Chris Mathews are trying to pretend they were against the war back in 2003 and that they weren't cheerleaders and enablers -- it's a bit nauseating. There are so many in the media that displayed a remarkable lack of courage that one hardly knows where to start but that link includes an interview with Jim Lehrer of PBS who as much as admits to the cowardice of the press which of course includes himself.

Glenzilla does a great job of taking apart the claims that "everyone" thought Iraq had WMD's here. Rachel expresses her anger over Obama's absolving of GWB jr. and his recklessness here. You can read the complete list of who the architects of the Iraq war were at ThinkP and please note that they are now out in the media trying to claim for themselves credit for the "success" of the Iraq war. Possibly the greatest blunder in US military history and the right-wing neo-cons who argued for this war want a victory parade with themselves in the lead float.

Socialist Geese Consecrate Beckapalooza!

It must be getting a bit frightening for the immediate family of Glenn Beck. His megalomania and delusions make for an odd kind of entertainment but one wonders, how does this stuff look to people who have to live with him? Yesterday as he was mistily recounting the Saturday rally, he started to talk about some Canada geese that flew over the mall in a V shape just as Beckstock was getting under way and says it was likely a message from God. No, really!




The idiots in the MSM should be ashamed of themselves for treating this guy seriously. Maybe there is divine providence looking after him, after all John Stewart's on vacation for two weeks!

Katrina Plus Five

President Obama was in New Orleans over the weekend pleading his devotion to the Big Easy. Five years

after the storm that tore the city apart New Orleans battles to regain its footing on the banks of the Mississippi. The legacy of Katrina, Mr. Obama said, must be “not one of neglect, but of action; not one of indifference, but of empathy; not of abandonment, but of a community working together to meet shared challenges.”






Resident  of New Orleans actor-comedian and documentarian Harry Shearer speaks about his film The Big Uneasy.





Interview with Harry Shearer on Coast 2 Coast Am. (audio only)



just for fun The Dirty Dozen Brass Band a great New Orleans band with Gov't Mule playing a Herbie Hancock tune Chameleon

The Unbearable Whiteness Of Being

I'm at a loss for words as to what to say about a media that treats Glenn Beck's megalomania as worthy of coverage -- C-Span covered the whole thing and then replayed it! I also don't understand what this snake-oil salesman has done to merit any credibility. Having a TV show that plays to the rubes and bilks them is no great accomplishment. Watch this video collection of some of the most self-aggrandizing moments not featured on the WWE that you'll ever witness or hear:




Bonus link to a great kos diary with pics of the very white rally ( and some teabagger fools climbing all over a WWII memorial!) -- you might want to note that MLK's rally was about 1/4 white while Beck's was 1/1000th black. And because I love you, here's a clip from that movie Keith Olbermann is always referring to in his op-eds about Glenn Beck's alter-ego, Lonesome Rhodes.

Media Demagogues - First In A Series

At the top of the list of modern day media demagogues is self-styled spokesperson for all things Christian is Glenn Beck (even though he is a Mormon). He is getting ready to hold a rally on the anniversary of the "I Have A Dream" speech, and dishonour the name of Martin Luther King. I say self-styled because there is nothing about his behaviour that is remotely Christian. The event which he has claimed will be non-political, will be decidedly political with the NRA as sponsors and Americans for Prosperity, a major conservative political organization backed by right-wing billionaire David A. Koch of the oil giant Koch Industries, providing buses to rally. He will also encourage attendees to join the right-wing group FreedomWorks, which is chaired by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

Listening to Beck discussing NYC Islamic center, he asks, "After you've killed 3,000 people, you're going to now build your mosque?" You have to wonder who the you in the question is. The people who want to build the community center didn't kill 3,000 people on 9/11 -- but it sure is a great way to tar 1.5 billion people and drum up hatred. What major religions would Jesus demagogue?

Glenn Beck even goes so far as to rail and campaign against "social justice" regularly on his program as if such an idea sprang from the devil himself instead of being an idea that runs throughout the Old and New Testaments and includes such virtues as "caring the for the poor and speaking about human rights.

He has helped to normalize this kind of vitriolic speech. Listen to Glenn below talking about rivers of blood:



Keith Olberman takes a look at the the delusions of Glenn Beck:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Earth Blues

And we're back! Seventeen minutes past the big hour and we've got lots of stories but rapidly running out of time here tonight.

Starting with a story that should be getting way more ink, Pakistani government officials admitted that they deliberately sabotaged secret peace talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban because they resented being excluded from those talks. And in some news from the middle-east that actually might be called good news, turns out the prospect of an alliance between the Iraqiya and Iraqi National Alliance (INA) blocs and the formation of a coalition government could be closer than anyone realized.

Sadly that's where the good news ends for Iraq, as the country has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life.  All brought about by the havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq.



The right has the brothers David and Charles Koch, heirs to the oil and chemical conglomerate Koch Industries the Koch family to orchestrate not only the Tea Party movement, but much of the modern right-wing infrastructure. They have founded or funded dozens of conservative or libertarian publications, think tanks, and attack groups. Grass roots my ass! The New Yorker goes further in exposing the Koch brothers.

The Koch brothers delight in misleading and muddying the waters about the nature of climate change -- they are not alone in this endeavor and there are a myriad of ways to do so. To paraphrase a song I heard, you don't believe in climate change, you understand it or you don't. The above link from Skeptical Science, in an article entitled How Climate Skeptics Mislead, looks at some of things that help us understand climate change. The point to signs of warming that are found all over the globe:

•From space and the Earth’s surface, we see more heat being trapped by carbon dioxide

•Nights are warming faster than days
•The upper atmosphere is cooling while the lower atmosphere is warming
•Ice sheets are melting
•Sea levels are rising
•Biological changes in tens of thousands of species
•Glaciers are retreating
•Seasons are shifting
•Species are becoming extinct

Also from Skeptical Science, in an article about Arctic sea ice volume, they ask the question why do skeptics only think in two dimensions?

To close out on some troubling environmentally related stories, starting with a story from Julia Whitty over at Mother Jones, the IWC (International Whaling Commission) has granted Greenland an aboriginal quota to kill 27 humpback whales starting in October. But (maddeningly) the hunters aren't waiting for the season to start.

From Science Daily, A previously undefined expanse of the western North Atlantic has been found to contain high concentrations of plastic debris, comparable to those observed in the region of the Pacific commonly referred to as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."

And from Nigeria, what happens when sweet crude turns sour.

POD CAST- UnderGate With WalterGate

Efraim E. Diveroli accused ams dealer

Arms Dealer Busted in Florida. Would you hire him? The Pentagon did. This story and more with WalterGate at UnderGate. Be sure to download first ever POD CAST!

http://www.box.net/shared/aot0jyqsx5

Julain Assange is Now a Target

I awoke this morning to charges that Julian Assange (terrific profile from the BBC) was wanted for rape in Sweden. Considering the outright furor of the Americans over the leaking of 70,000 documents relating to the war in Afghanistan and the promised release of 15,000 more, I had my doubts as to the veracity of the complaints.

The Pentagon has recently demanded WikiLeaks immediately erase the huge cache of secret US military files about the Afghan war it has posted online and hand over another 15,000 classified records in its possession. The defence department has no power to enforce its demands, but the increasingly threatening language is seen as a bid to deter WikiLeaks from releasing the 15,000 Afghan war records it has not published as well as an encrypted file recently added to the site entitled "insurance".

So two hours after reading that Julian was being charged I read the warrant for his arrest  has been rescinded. I know, shocking! So if it wasn't obvious before it sure is now, Assange is a target for people who don't like whistle-blowers. We need people like Julian in this not so brave new century. If you feel inclined to help him and his WikiLeaks organization go here.



Cross-posted at NMPCanada

Late Night Blogging

On Friday morning, the radio show featured a week's news about the war in Afghanistan. The link is from our sister site and it's pretty much a collection of links to  mostly alarming reports about course of the war for the NATO allies. For example, from the Washington Post: With most Afghan and NATO troops stationed in the country's south and east, villagers in the path of the Taliban advance into the once-peaceful north say they are powerless and terrified, confused by the government's inability to prevail -- and ready to side with the insurgents to save their own lives. Go read at the whole post and don't be surprised when the realization that in spite of all that you may have read previously, things are deteriorating for the NATO allies in the Afghanistan war.

In Pakistan, floods have not just devastated the lives of millions of people, they now present an unparalleled national security challenge for the country, the region and the international community. Lest anyone under-estimate the scale of the disaster, all four of Pakistan's wars with India combined did not cause such damage.

And there are a myriad of other problems that have been created: Millions of acres of crops have been destroyed and villages washed away. Joblessness and helplessness will lead to more young men joining the militants ...and the floods have not stopped the rampant violence in the country. The Pakistani Taliban continue to carry out suicide bombings and assassinations and have vowed to wipe out the Awami National Party which governs KP province. The Taliban are now threatening to prevent Pakistani non-governmental organisations from carrying out relief work.


There's also the scourge of water-borne diseases and the risk of an epidemic:

Late-Nite Breaking News

Late Night Funny dedicated to our friends at Fox and CBS and NBC and CTV and CBC etc. etc.

(viewer discretion some "bad" words in the video. but then again there are no bad words only bad intentions.)

Late Night Improv

During an editorial meeting here at New Media and Politics for our upcoming  Blunt video Mr. Winters name came up.  So kick back, forget the ills of  the day and watch a man and his stick. Enjoy

Hey there, and thanks for showing up! Just wanted to pop back in and post the rest of the links to the days' stories on my radio show. No narratives just the links, okay? Feel free to drop me a note from time to time - you could tell me what kind of stories you'd like to see/hear more of and what kind you could do without.

The Gulf spill doesn't get as much coverage as it should in the media so you have to go digging to find out what's been happening there of late. For starters, the Obama administration announced Monday that it is no longer fast-tracking offshore drilling projects in deep water by exempting them from detailed environmental review.

Two weeks ago, as federal officials prepared to declare that some three-quarters of the estimated 5 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf over three months had disappeared, Mark Williams, a fishing boat captain hired by BP to help with the spill cleanup, encountered tar balls as large as three inches wide floating off the Florida coast -- he has been instructed by BP not to report them.

No matter what you hear or read in the MSM the oil spill still poses threats to human health and seafood safety, according to a study published Monday by the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.

No doubt you've heard about the NY mosque controversy. It really shouldn't be an issue, but that's not how it works any longer. The right screams and whines about some trumped up nonsense and eventually the MSM covers it. To get an idea of how overheated the rhetoric can get go read what Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove have to say about the issue. Gird your loins for those nazi comparisons.

Don Lemon of CNN demonstrates his absolute whorishness in an interview he conducted with Eboo Patel (video below). As Glenn Greenwald notes, it's sad that the point has to be made but Muslims did not attack on 9/11 - terrorists did. Muslims died on 9/11 and some were 1st responders. Fanatics come in all sizes and of all stripes as far as religions go - if you want to demonize all because of the reprehensible actions of a few the consequences could be more severe than the original attacks and plays into the hands of extremists. There are some unlikely allies on the side of defending the rights of the people who want to build the mosque.



A little something to confuse the climate science denier in your life -- the paradox of Antarctic sea ice. While Arctic sea ice has been diminishing in recent decades, the Antarctic sea ice extent has been increasing slightly. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology provide an explanation for the seeming paradox of increasing Antarctic sea ice in a warming climate.

I Wish I Was A Negro...

Something funny and light-hearted from the National Lampoon people on a very serious subject:



As I watch and listen to the endless stream of dog-whistles and demagoguery from the right about people of colour, immigrants and the NYC mosque, I vaguely remember the image I had in my mind's eye for how the 21st century was going to look and it didn't include petty hatred and racism. In fact I was kind of hoping people would get around to the noticing that race was a human construct and merely a way of dividing us one from the other -- there is in point of fact only one race. Ask any anthropologist.

Is This Is Just The Beginning?

I'm pretty happy to see the MSM covering the changing climate this week the way it should have been covered these last few years. I'm afraid the so-called tipping points are long past but there's always hope. It might be a lot more difficult to be glib or optimistic if I were in Moscow where toxic smoke has now enveloped a rain-soaked Moscow and doctors have warned that this summer's heat wave could drive more people to alcohol and suicide. Or in Pakistan where the scale of Pakistan's floods are considered to be worse than the 2004 tsunami, Haiti and Kashmir quakes combined.

As former US Army Chief of Staff, General Gordon Sullivan says, we can argue about the metrics of climate change (exact consequences , when where, how, etc) but the trends and indicators all point to it happening now. In his estimation it also points to likely wars for oil, food water and mass migrations of a kind and on a scale heretofore unseen in modern history. This is pretty dire stuff - the kind of thing that usually results in people being called alarmists. The people in the re-posted video below are not the kind prone to being alarmists. They are men who rose to the very top of their profession in a very conservative organization: the US Military.



Sadly, there's not much hope for this spate of recent disasters moving the powers that be to take the action necessary to change the current dynamics. Let's hope they're wrong.

So while the MSM sorts out how they're going to report on all these natural catastrophes and their possible causes, I thought it might be a good time to look at sea level rise, what's predicted and what it might mean in the near and long term future.

Starting with this report from October of 2009, where researchers reporting in the journal Geology, found that 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. Then in December of the same year, a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warned that sea levels could rise much faster than previously expected, and by the year 2100, global sea level could rise between 75 and 190 centimetres (30 to 74 inches).

In April of this year research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, made what is the first assessment of how quickly floating ice is being lost today. This is causing sea levels to rise -- by a mere hair's breadth today, but possibly much more if melting trends continue.

And the most recent research predicts sea levels rising by as much as one metre before the end of this century. Melting glaciers, it is now believed,  may contribute more to the rise in sea levels than scientists have previously realised.

Melting glaciers and the melting ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic will account for 75% of the rise in sea levels, while expansion of the water as it warms will account for 25 %," said Director Jan-Gunnar Winther of the Norwegian Polar Institute.

NYT's Talks Climate Change!

The MSM has been the lap dog of corporate interests for the first decade of this new century. They have deliberately muddied the waters over the issue of ACC (anthropogenic climate change) to the point where most in the west do not believe the changes in the climate have been caused by human activity even though as the National Academy of Sciences reports, 97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support the tenets of ACC outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It's not that the MSM doesn't report what's going on it that it's mixed in with opinions on what's going on and those opinions are given equal weight with scientific fact. So if you haven't been paying close attention to the debate but relying instead on your local fish wrap to keep you informed you can be excused for not knowing what's really taking place.

Well, the extreme weather events that have been taking place around the world this year (floods that have battered New England, Nashville, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, and a deluge in Pakistan that has one fifth of the country under water and has affected the lives of 20 million people -- summer heat waves that have baked the eastern United States, parts of Africa, eastern Asia, and Russia, which lost millions of acres of wheat and thousands of lives in a drought worse than any other in the historical record), has the MSM outlets finally getting around to reporting on the link between all this and climate change. The New York Times has joined the chorus along with the BBC, Reuters, USA Today and Time all reporting on these long ago predicted consequences.

What's important to remember in the discussion of ACC is that there's a lot more to this than extreme weather. For example the changing climate is the cause of great swaths of pine trees that are dead or dying from a disease called white pine blister rust caused by the the mountain pine beetle. These forests used to be immune because of harsh winters and cool summers. Now, the warmer winters and summers have allowed the beetle to breed quickly and to move to the higher elevations favored by white bark pines.