OpEdNews - Diary: KEITH OLBERMANN PROVES THAT DISSENT HAS AN AUDIENCE

Olbermann first cast off the traditional reporter's role in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Submitted by: http://eddiestinson@gmail.com KEITH OLBERMANN PROVES THAT DISSENT HAS AN AUDIENCE By Daphne Evitar, The Nation ... 12.2.06 If you picked up the New York Times on October 18, you'd have had little reason to think it was a particularly significant day in American history. While the front page featured a photo of George W. Bush signing a new law at the White House the previous day, the story about the Military Commissions Act -- which the Times never named -- was buried in a 750-word piece on page A20. "It is a rare occasion when a President can sign a bill he knows will save American lives" was the first of several quotes of praise from the President that were high up in the article. Further down, a few Democrats objected to the bill, but from the article's limited explanation of the law it was hard to understand why. But if you happened to catch MSNBC the evening before, you'd have heard a different story. It, too, began with a laudatory statement from the President: "These military commissions are lawful. They are fair. And they are necessary." Cut to MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann: "And they also permit the detention of any American in jail without trial if the president does not like him." What? Did the Times, and most other outlets, just miss that? ................snip.................... Olbermann first cast off the traditional reporter's role in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, delivering a powerful indictment of the government's handling of the rescue effort. "These are leaders who won re-election last year largely by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping this country safe," he said bitterly. The government "has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water." ................snip.................... "Keith is a refreshing change from most of the coverage of civil liberties since 9/11," says Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor and frequent guest on Olbermann's show. "Reporters tend to view these fights in purely political terms, so the public gets virtually no substantive analysis. As long as two people disagree, reporters treat it as an even debate. They won't say that the overwhelming number of constitutional and national security experts say this is an unlawful program -- they'll just say experts disagree. It's extremely misleading." Olbermann, who denies any partisan leanings and whose background doesn't suggest any, insists his job is to report on what's really going on -- even if the public is loath to believe it. "We are still fundamentally raised in this country to be very confident in the preservation of our freedoms," he said in a recent interview. "It's very tough to get yourself around the idea that there could be a mechanism being used or abused to restrict and alter the society in which we live." Olbermann credits sportscasting for his candid and historical-minded approach. "In sports, if a center-fielder drops the fly ball, you can't pretend he didn't," he says. "There's also an awareness of patterns, a relationship between what has gone before and what is to come that is so strong in sports coverage that doesn't seem to be there in news reporting." ................snip.................... "The rise of Keith's skeptical or pointed comments are the mood of the country," says Bill Wolff, MSNBC's vice president for prime-time programming. "He has given voice to a large part of the country that is frustrated with the Administration's policies." ................snip.................... Not surprisingly, Olbermann has his critics. National Review recently lambasted him for his "angry and increasingly bizarre attacks on the Bush administration," claiming that he offers nothing in the way of hard news. But the author didn't cite a single fact that Olbermann had wrong. Meanwhile, as the Review acknowledged, O'Reilly's numbers are trending downward as Olbermann's are shooting up ................................ [snip] Full article >> http://www.alternet.org/story/45007/ _________________________________ IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org Gov't Oversight Chief Wants to Limit Internal Fraud Probes http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206B.shtml The new chief of the US General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency's inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews. ----- FOCUS | Pentagon Seeks Huge Cash Infusion to Continue Funding Wars http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206Y.shtml The Pentagon is seeking at least $100 billion to continue paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the agency has been using these funds on the broader fight against terrorism, which critics say could be interpreted to cover almost anything. ----- FOCUS | Stephen Cambone, "Rumsfeld's Enforcer," to Resign http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206X.shtml Stephen Cambone, the US Defense Department's top intelligence official and a person known as the "henchman" to outgoing defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will resign on December 31, the Pentagon said on Friday. Cambone is widely regarded as one of the architects of post-war Iraq planning, which has proved to be disastrous. ----- FOCUS | Widespread Corruption in Iraq Costs Taxpayers $4 Billion a Year http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206Z.shtml [snip] ... Stuart Bowen, who has been in charge of auditing Iraq's faltering reconstruction since 2004, said corruption had reached such levels that it threatened the survival of the state. ----- Boeing: Accused of Running Torture Travel Agency http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206C.shtml Since 2003, human-rights investigators and news media reports have described a Boeing Business Jet as one of the most-dreaded planes in the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine air force. The modified 737 - a model rolled out in Renton in 2001 - was built for executive fun and comfort. But it is alleged to be the flagship of the CIA's "extreme rendition" squadron, ferrying suspected terrorists to secret agency prisons or countries where the US is said to outsource torture. ----- Officials Expect No Big Changes, No Matter What Panel Advises http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206D.shtml With the Iraq Study Group report due on Wednesday, the Bush administration has notified allies that it will not budge on certain aspects of Iraq policy, whatever recommendations are put forth by the independent panel of 10 prominent Republicans and Democrats. ----- Paul Rogat Loeb | Think Globally, Protect the Vote Locally http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206E.shtml Paul Rogat Loeb writes: "Just as local cities have adopted environmental and wage laws that exceed federal standards, maybe it's time for local initiatives protecting the sanctity of the vote. We've been seeing electoral abuses and manipulations since the Bush administration took power. So we need to ensure the Democrats make national electoral protection a priority. But we can also act on a local level." ----- US Prison Population Sets Record http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120206F.shtml A record 7 million people - one in every 32 US adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, a Justice Department report released yesterday shows. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year. _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://onlinejournal.com "Dr. Dino," global warming, civil equality: The evangelical campaign against reality ... By Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D. | Online Journal Contributing Writer You remember Kent Hovind, a.k.a. "Dr. Dino," although his claim to the "Dr." and academic credentials are questionable, at best. He's the founder of Florida-based Creation Science Evangelism which, among its other quaint novelties, offers Dinosaur Adventure Land and this hokey promo on its homepage: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1470.shtml ----- Beyond "Bobby": Exposing the continuing conspiracy and cover-up of the RFK assassination ... By Larry Chin | Online Journal Associate Editor With the film Bobby, director-writer Emilio Estevez captures a snapshot of 1968 America, and the many hopes and dreams lifted and crushed on the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. But the real story that still begs to be told begins where Bobby leaves off: with the assassination itself. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1471.shtml ----- Neil Bush's family values ... By Bill Berkowitz | Online Journal Guest Writer Two years ago, when Neil Bush and his mother, the former first lady Barbara Bush, were featured guests at a $1,000-a-table fundraiser for the Western Heights School District in Oklahoma City, proceeds from the event were specifically earmarked for the purchase of products from Neil's company, Ignite! Learning. Late last year, when Neil's mom agreed to make a contribution to a Hurricane Katrina relief foundation for those victims that had relocated to Texas, she stipulated that her donation had to be used by local schools to acquire Ignite products. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1467.shtml _________________________________ Submitted by: http://jablankfort@earthlink.net LIKE HITLER AND BREZHNEV, BUSH IS IN DENIAL The Independent (London) 01 December 2006 by Robert Fisk: More than half a million deaths, an army trapped in the largest military debacle since Vietnam, a Middle East policy already buried in the sands of Mesopotamia - and still George W Bush is in denial. How does he do it? How does he persuade himself - as he apparently did in Amman yesterday - that the United States will stay in Iraq "until the job is complete"? The "job" - Washington's project to reshape the Middle East in its own and Israel's image - is long dead, its very neoconservative originators disavowing their hopeless political aims and blaming Bush, along with the Iraqis of course, for their disaster. [snip] Continued: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2029238.ece _________________________________ Submitted by: http://eddiestinson@gmail.com DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU CALL IT? Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians By Kathleen and Bill Christison During an appearance in late October on Ireland's Pat Kenny radio show, a popular national program broadcast daily on Ireland's RTE Radio, we were asked as the opening question if Israel could be compared to Nazi Germany. Not across the board, we said, but there are certainly some aspects of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians that bear a clear resemblance to the Nazis' oppression. Do you mean the wall, Kenny prompted, and we agreed, describing the ghettoization and other effects of this monstrosity. Before we could elaborate on other Nazi-like features of Israel's policies, Kenny moved on to another question. Within minutes, while we were still on the air, a producer handed Kenny a note, which we later learned was a request from the newly arrived Israeli ambassador to Ireland to appear on the show, by himself. Several days later, on the air by himself, the ambassador pronounced us and our comparisons of Israeli and Nazi policies "outrageous." What else? We were not surprised or disturbed by his outrage. We had just spent two weeks in the West Bank witnessing the oppression, and it was a sure bet that, even had he not been fulfilling his role as propagandist for Israel, the ambassador would not have known the first thing about the Palestinian situation in the West Bank because he had most likely not set foot there in any recent year. In retrospect, we regret not having used even stronger language. Having at that point just completed our fifth trip to Palestine since early 2003, we should have had the courage and the insight to call what we have observed Israel doing to the Palestinians by its rightful name: genocide. We have long played with words about this, labeling Israel's policy "ethnocide," meaning the attempt to destroy the Palestinians as a people with a specific ethnic identity. Others who dance around the subject use terms like "politicide" or, a new invention, "sociocide," but neither of these terms implies the large-scale destruction of people and identity that is truly the Israeli objective. "Genocide" -- defined by the UN Convention as the intention "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group" -- most aptly describes Israel's efforts, akin to the Nazis', to erase an entire people. (See William Cook's "The Rape of Palestine," CounterPunch, January 7/8, 2006 for a discussion of what constitutes genocide.) In fact, it matters little what you call it, so long as it is recognized that what Israel intends and is working toward is the erasure of the Palestinian people from the Palestine landscape. Israel most likely does not care about how systematic its efforts at erasure are, or how rapidly they proceed, and in these ways it differs from the Nazis. There are no gas chambers; there is no overriding urgency. Gas chambers are not needed. A round of rockets on a residential housing complex in the middle of the night here, a few million cluster bomblets or phosphorous weapons there can, given time, easily meet the UN definition above. http://www.counterpunch.org/christison11272006.html _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://mediamatters.org CNN's Blitzer ignores possible political motives in McCain's call for more troops On The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer asked whether Sen. John McCain's call for more troops is "a Profiles in Courage kind of statement," adding that McCain deserves "credit" for his statement because "he totally believes that the United States does not have enough troops in Iraq right now." But Blitzer ignored the possible political motives behind McCain's proposal. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612020004?src=other ----- American Spectator, Scarborough echoed George Will's dishonest attack on Sen.-elect Webb In his latest column, George F. Will distorted his own newspaper's reporting by leaving out a key part of an exchange between President Bush and Sen.-elect James Webb in order to attack Webb's "calculated rudeness toward another human being." Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612020001?src=other ----- Shuster failed to challenge Corker when he blamed "independent" groups for ads run by his campaign and the RNC Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612010008?src=other ----- CNN's Blitzer let slide Gonzales' dodge of question about wrongful detentions In response to a question from Wolf Blitzer about why people have been wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed he didn't "know the specific cases" Blitzer was "referring to." Blitzer did not challenge Gonzales or point out any of several such detainments documented by human-rights groups and foreign governments. Read more >> http://mediamatters.org/items/200612010009?src=other _________________________________ United Airlines offers the healthiest airline food, according to a study conducted by the health and fitness website DietDetective.com, which ranked six major airlines by giving them a "health score." The score takes into account the quality and variety of snacks offered, calorie totals and packaging, reported Rocky Mountain News. Full Story >> http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/airlines/article/0,2777,DRMN_23912_5168858,00.html _________________________________ http://www.cursor.org | http://www.wonkette.com | http://www.radaronline.com _________________________________ .......................Christmas fun for kids of all ages Christmas is still weeks away. And I'll bet your children are having a difficult time holding out. You can't make time go any faster for them. But you can make it more fun with special games, stories and puzzles. You'll find all of these things at the Northpole. It's filled with fun activities for children. They can send a letter to Santa and get a personalized response. They can also send e-cards and personalize stories with their name. Of course, you don't have to be a kid to love the Northpole. I got a real kick out of the Disco Dancing Santa! TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://www.northpole.com | Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Eye Fungus Was No Surprise After All ... - So now the contact lens solution manufacturers are hiding the risks of their products like the drug companies? Yet another reason for the widely proven non-surgical option to restore your eyesight naturally. http://www.mercola.com/2006/may/16/eye_fungus_was_no_surprise_after_all_.htm ----- Some of the Funniest Signs You Will Ever See - Warning -- these real-life signs may cause you to laugh so hard you might hurt yourself. http://www.mercola.com/2006/may/16/some_of_the_funniest_signs_you_will_ever_see.htm _________________________________ {Funny} Warning: strong language/mature content. VIDEO SKID MARKS | United States | 9:43 | Roman Cortez, Chito Arellano, & Tracy Tubera. Three doofuses take street racing to a whole new level in this wacky short where the special effects are so bad they're good! And stay tuned during the credits for hilarious behind-the-scenes footage. http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/skid_marks _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ Beta. Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is Latin for "still doesn't work." ~ Author Unknown