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Fox News Shuns Obama Q&A, MSNBC Gets Snitty When He Encourages Senators To Turn Off TV

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/03/fox-news-shuns-obama-qa_n_447537.html

The House has approved a nearly $97 billion spending bill funding the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure includes $1 billion in military and economic assistance to Pakistan. Lawmakers stripped a provision that would have granted $80 million toward the closure the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The final vote was 368-to-60, with a bloc of fifty-one antiwar Democrats voting in opposition. The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, has approved a $93 billion version of the bill that includes the Guantanamo funding but bars the transfer of any prisoners to US soil.

Read more at Democracy Now

On a recent visit to Tucson, where I was invited to give a presentation on monetary reform, I was disturbed by a story of strange goings on in the desert. A little over a year ago, it seems, a new industrial facility sprang up on the edge of town. It was in a remote industrial zone and appeared to be a bus depot. The new enterprise was surrounded by an imposing security fence and bore no outward signs identifying its services. However, it soon became apparent that the compound was in the business of outfitting a fleet of prison buses. Thirty or so secondhand city buses were being reconfigured with prison bars in the windows and a coat of fresh paint bearing the “Wackenhut G4S” logo on the side.

In Gaza, children,
you learn that the sky kills
and that houses hurt.
You learn that your blanket is smoke
and breakfast is dirt.

You learn that cars do somersaults
clothes turn red,
friends become statues,
bakers don’t sell bread.

You learn that the night is a gun,
that toys burn
breath can stop,
it could be your turn.

You learn:

 nuke power bailout must NOT be part of the hundreds of billions of federal dollars about to pour out of Washington to revive our Bush-whacked economy.

If the huge Obama stimulus package we all know is coming includes money to build new reactors, the whole venture could turn to radioactive dust.

This is the last gasp both for American prosperity and atomic energy. Nuke promoters are lobbying frantically to get some of that cash for a dying business in which Wall Street would not invest even before the last crash.

In 2007 a national grassroots campaign, led in part by Nukefree.org, helped get a proposed $50 billion loan guarantee boondoggle removed from the Energy Bill. In 2008 a blank check was on its way just as Wall Street tanked.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, let's begin with the elections. The word that the rolls off of everyone's tongue is historic. Historic election. And I agree with it. It was a historic election. To have a black family in the white house is a momentous achievement. In fact, it's historic in a broader sense. The two Democratic candidates were an African-American and a woman. Both remarkable achievements. We go back say 40 years, it would have been unthinkable. So something's happened to the country in 40 years. And what's happened to the country- which is we're not supposed to mention- is that there was extensive and very constructive activism in the 1960s, which had an aftermath. So the feminist movement, mostly developed in the 70s--the solidarity movements of the 80's and on till today. And the activism did civilize the country. The country's a lot more civilized than it was 40 years ago and the historic achievements illustrate it.

The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record.

Egyptian workers' dramatic revival of strikes is a direct challenge to those who argue that the working class in the Middle East-or in the Third World more generally-has been economically and politically marginalised. The strikes have often been very successful in winning concessions from management and the government, such as large wage rises, permanent contracts for temporary workers and the payment of overdue workplace benefits and bonuses.

I just signed a petition calling for the release of the results of Zimbabwe's election--and urging South African President Thabo Mbeki to pressure Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to honour the will of the Zimbabwean people.

Please join me in signing:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/97.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

The petition was organized by Avaaz.org.

Thanks!

State Dept. Renews Blackwater Contract in Iraq Despite Pentagon Labeling Sept. Baghdad Killing of 17 Civilians A Criminal Event : The State Department has announced it is extending the private military firm Blackwater's contract in Baghdad for another year. The news comes despite an ongoing FBI investigation into the September 16th shooting in Baghdad where Blackwater guards were accused of killing seventeen Iraqi civilians.

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S., Democracy Now! is broadcast on Pacifica, NPR, community, and college radio stations; on public access, PBS, satellite television (DISH network: Free Speech TV ch. 9415 and Link TV ch. 9410; DIRECTV: Link TV ch. 375); and on the internet. DN!'s podcast is one of the most popular on the web.

Two demonstrators died Sunday during the unofficial Newroz demonstrations celebrating the arrival of spring in Van and Hakkari, largely Kurdish populated eastern provinces in Turkey, as clashes between demonstrators and the police continued for fourth day. (UPDATED The demonstrator Ikbal Yasar died Sunday in eastern Turkey as clashes between Kurdish protestors and the police continued for the fourth straight day , hospital sources said.

This quiz is designed to give you a fresh insight into your own political leanings. Two sections - on demographics and general knowledge - are available only to PoliticsForum members, but the test proper (of 80 questions) is available to members and guests. After completing the quiz, you will be given a summary of your results, a political 'affiliation', and shown how you compare to other previous test-takers.

Take the test at : http://www.orgburo.com/pofoquiz/pofo.php 

PARIS: Europeans are heavily opposed to a US plan to site anti-missile defences in central Europe according to an opinion poll on Friday, ahead of next week’s Nato summit in Bucharest.

The programme, which would see anti-missile installations in the Czech Republic and Poland, has already infuriated Russia but the survey found widespread civil opposition to the plan across all major EU countries. Concern about the scheme is strongest in Germany, with 71 per cent of people opposed, and 19 per cent in favour.