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* "Put a bra and panties on this guy's head" * His "Do This" List for Abu Ghraib * Driving Jose Padilla Insane
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Today's Stories March 14, 2007 Philip Agee
March 13, 2007 Catherine Wilkerson,
M.D. Jonathan Cook Robert Bryce Corporate Crime
Reporter Pierre Rimbert Dave Lindorff Elizabeth Schulte Norman Solomon Kevin Zeese Jeff Conant Website of the Day
March 12, 2007 Marjorie Cohn Col. Dan Smith Paul Craig Roberts Ingmar Lee Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader John Ross Stephen Fleischman Eva Carazo Vargas Website of
the Day
March 9 / 11, 2007 Sameer Dossani Jeffrey St.
Clair Dave Marsh Patrick Cockburn Jennifer Van Bergen James P. Stevenson Arthur J. Versluis Corporate Crime
Reporter Missy Beattie Michael Simmons Kevin Zeese David Swanson John A. Murphy Dave Lindorff Nikolas Kozloff Christopher
Fons Mike Roselle Mike Mejia Susie Day Michael Donnelly Tao Ruspoli Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
March 8, 2007 Elaine Cassel Yifat Susskind Corporate Crime Reporter Col. Dan Smith William S. Lind Mark Engler Roger Burbach Dana Cloud Isabella Kenfield Lucinda Marshall Tao Ruspoli Website of
the Day
Christopher Ketcham Christopher
Ketcham Alexander Cockburn / Jeffrey
St. Clair Winslow T.
Wheeler Sean Donahue Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Tao Ruspoli Website of the Day
March 6, 2007 Gary Leupp Uri Avnery Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Corporate Crime Reporter Ron Jacobs Mike Roselle P. Sainath Joshua Frank Aniket Alam Dave Zirin Website of
the Day
March 5, 2007 Greg Moses Patrick Cockburn James Petras Frida Berrigan Marjorie Cohn Douglas Kammen
and S.W. Hayati Sen. Barack Obama Michael Young Dave Lindorff Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
March 3 / 4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Corporate Crime
Reporter Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader M. Shahid Alam Gilad Atzmon Fred Gardner George Ciccariello-Maher Rock &
Rap Confidential Gillian Russom Michael McPhearson Kevin Zeese Sunsara Taylor Wendy Thompson Kenneth Rexroth Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Tina Louise Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
March 2, 2007 Roger Morris Phil Gasper Mike Roselle Robert Bryce John V. Walsh Sherwood Ross China Hand David Rosen Chris Genovali Peter Harley Website of the Day
March 1, 2007 Laura Carlsen Paul Craig
Roberts Ray McGovern Christopher
Brauchli Najum Mustaq Brent Bowden Tina Richards Ethan Nadelman Mike Stark Wadner Pierre
/ Jeb Sprague Mike Whitney Website of
the Day
February 28, 2007 Peter Linebaugh Tao Ruspoli China Hand Marjorie Cohn Sarah Olson Susan Van Haitsma Nicole Colson Harvey Wasserman William S. Lind Nicola Nasser Website of the Day
February 27, 2007 Tariq Ali Tom Barry Uri Avnery Antonia Juhasz / Raed Jarrar Jeff Nygaard Hugh O'Shaughnessy Mitchell Kaidy Carl Finamore Anne McElroy
Dachel Ramzy Baroud Andrew Rouse Website of the Day
February 26, 2007 Franklin Lamb Bill Quigley Greg Moses Col. Dan Smith Ralph Nader Paul Buchheit Jeff Leys Dave Zirin Mike Whitney Michael Dickinson Website of the Day
February 24 / 25, 2007 Jeffrey St.
Clair R. T. Naylor Gary Leupp Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Jeffrey Blankfort Chris Sands Gary Freeman Larry Portis P. Sainath Lee Sustar Kevin Wehr Ken Couesbouc Soffiyah Elijah Kathlyn Stone Dave Lindorff Jason Kunin Kevin Zeese Remi Kanazi Missy Beattie Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
February 23, 2007 Franklin Spinney Jonathan Cook Patrick Cockburn Kathy Kelly Chris Dols Evelyn Pringle Stephen Pearcy Dan Brook Yifat Susskind Website of
the Day
February 22, 2007 Robert Fantina Tariq Ali Michael Shank John Ross Christopher Brauchli Cindy Litman Niranjan Ramakrishnan Kevin Zeese Aseem Shrivastava Reza Fiyouzat Illinois Students Against the
War Website of
the Day
February 21, 2007 Maass / St.
Clair Sharon Smith Greg Moses Margaret Kimberly Ralph Nader Nicola Nasser Mike Whitney Tao Ruspoli Byeong Jeongpil Corporate Crime
Reporter Josh Mahan Website of
the Day
February 20, 2007 Sgt. Martin
Smith Werther Corporate Crime Reporter Carl G. Estabrook China Hand Joshua Frank Megan Boler John Feffer Daryll E. Ray Alan Gregory Website of the Day
February 19, 2007 Paul Craig
Roberts Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Michael F.
Brown Robert Jensen Roger Burbach Monica Benderman Sonja Karkar John Walsh Talli Nauman Website of the Day
Feburary 17 / 18, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Tao Ruspoli Gary Leupp Jeffrey St.
Clair Roger Morris Uri Avnery James Brooks Sen. Russell
Feingold Linn Washington, Jr. Michele Brand Fred Gardner Mitchel Cohen Mike Ferner David Swanson P. Sainath Mike Stark Missy Beattie Jonathan Franklin Website of the Weekend
Marc Levy Andrew Cockburn Glen Ford Greg Moses Ron Jacobs John W. Farley James Marc Leas Tim Rinne Albert Wan Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Stephen Lendman Evelyn Pringle Michael Simmons Kevin Zeese Dave Lindorff Pete Shanks Peter Rost Lenni Brenner
/ Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day
February 14, 2007 Tao Ruspoli Dick J. Reavis Margaret Kimberly Christopher Brauchli Paul Craig
Roberts John Ross Michael F.
Brown Dave Lindorff J.L. Chestunut,
Jr. Don Fitz Michael Donnelly Dr. Susan Block Website of
the Day
February 13, 2007 Uri Avnery Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Marjorie Cohn Col. Dan Smith Col. Douglas
MacGreagor Thomas Power Nicola Nasser David Swanson Columbia Coalition
Against the War Website of the Day
February 12, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts John Walsh Dr. John Carroll,
MD Greg Moses Nicole Colson Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Doug Giebel David Swanson Website of the Day
February
10 /11, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Gabriel Kolko Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St.
Clair Kevin Alexander Gray M. Shahid Alam Greg Moses Paul Craig
Roberts George Ciccariello-Maher Kevin Zeese Turner / Kim George Duke Walter Brasch Shepherd Bliss Missy Beattie Peter Harley Pat Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Day
Conn Hallinan Gary Leupp Lee Sustar Nikolas Kozloff Newton Garver Yitzhak Laor Dave Lindorff David Swanson Website of the Day
February 8, 2007 John V. Walsh Marjorie Cohn Trish Schuh Ron Jacobs Laura Carlsen Ramzy Baroud Brenda Norrell Bryan Farrell Judith Scherr Website of
the Day
February 7, 2007 Daniel Wolff Tao Ruspoli Tony Swindell Sharon Smith Ken Couesbouc Jeff Cohen Col. Dan Smith Tom Kerr Joshua Frank Adam Elkus Stephen Fleischman Website of
the Day
February 6, 2007 Diana Johnstone Gregory Wilpert Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff William Blum Mike Ferner CP News Service Evelyn Pringle Christopher Brauchli Alan Cabal Website of the Day
Dave Zirin Uri Avnery Ron Jacobs Paul Craig Roberts Newton Garver Bruce Anderson Saul Landau Ralph Nader James T. Phillips Mike Whitney Kenneth Rexroth Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Tao Ruspoli Jeffrey St.
Clair Patrick Cockburn P. Sainath Sen. Russell Feingold Diane Christian Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Timothy J. Freeman Conn Hallinan John Ross Greg Moses Missy Beattie Joshua Frank Evelyn Pringle Stephen Fleischman Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Poets' Basement Website of the Day
Chris Kutalik R. Gibson /
E. W. Ross Pam Martens John Feffer Daryll E. Ray Ronald Bruce
St. John Mitchel Cohen Website of
the Day
Diane Farsetta Marjorie Cohn Mark Scaramella Ranni Amiri Christopher Ketcham Winston Warfield Corporate Crime Reporter Thomas P. Healy Website of the Dau
January 31, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Jean Bricmont Tao Ruspoli James T. Phillips William Johnson Tim Wilkinson Evelyn Pringle Joshua Frank Ramzy Baroud Mickey Z. Website of the Day
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March 14, 2007 Black on Black Political CrimeBlack Lawmakers Digitally Redline African-AmericansBy BRUCE DIXON Last year big cable and bigger telephone companies deployed platoons of lobbyists and up to a hundred million dollars in an attempt to enact national cable franchise legislation. They greased its way through the House of Representatives, proving along the way that willful ignorance and lots of corporate cash could make two thirds of the Congressional Black Caucus vote for the digital broadband redlining of their own communities. The power play of big phone and the cable guys stalled in the US Senate, thanks to a national grassroots campaign campaign spearheaded by Free Press, a national not-for-profit media reform group. Had they succeeded, big phone and cable interests would have thoroughly privatized the internet, and frozen in place the highly profitable digital divide between blacks and whites, between richer and poorer communities, between urban and rural areas which has been the heart of the cable industry's business model for a generation. Although Ma Bell and the cable guys failed in Congress, their backup plan was already well underway. Plan B for giant cable and phone companies was to push the same or worse legislation virtually simultaneously in all fifty states, one state legislature at a time. With few exceptions, they calculated, state-level public interest groups were weaker, journalists were less likely to cover their efforts in state capitals, and state legislative processes and legislators themselves were every bit as credulous and corrupt as federal ones. Especially black lawmakers. Last year they flipped two-thirds of the Congressional Black Caucus. This year AT&T, Comcast and other players are calling in their accumulated chips from years of campaign and charitable contributions to African American state lawmakers, and have invested heavily in the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, securing seats on its policy-making corporate roundtable, from which they've issued statements endorsing big cable and big telephone's versions of "competition" and "the free market" as the best guarantees of the broadband futures of black communities. Big phone and cable's investment in what Jeff Chester calls "pay as you go lobbying" is working. Black state legislators nationwide are divided with many opposing network neutrality and voting for statewide cable franchise bills which strip local communities of any power to hold big phone and cable companies to the promises of cheap and widely available service they have already broken for a generation. Phone and cable companies' tag teams misleadingly describe their proposals as "cable franchise reform" designed to lower everybody's rates by increasing competition. Sometimes phone companies appeal to ratepayer dissatisfaction with the quality of cable service by appearing to campaign against cable companies, but it's a good-cop-bad-cop kind of act. Cable franchise legislation has nothing to do with competition or lowering rates. The nation's handful of giant phone and cable companies know a few things about their own business model and about the market that most legislators and ratepayers do not. They know that current and next-generation fiber optic cable systems are and will be for some time to come the only economical way to deliver telephone service, remote medical diagnostics, medical and resource monitoring, interactive on-demand video and the media-rich total presence advertising which corporate marketers are itching to bring you --- all over the new high-speed broadband internet. The only entrepreneurial practice of big phone and cable has been their lucrative investments in political and charitable contributions that pay off in public-private partnerships where the public spends the money and they reap the profits, in favorable corporate welfare legislation, and in the cash they spend on astroturf, or fake grassroots organizations, like TV4us.org. Big phone and cable have never been about competition, fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, or any of that garbage. Like all media marketplaces, cable and telephony are characterized by government regulation of a scarce public resource - the public right of way along which network lines are laid in one case, or the broadcast spectrum in another. Cable companies do not compete with one other. Cable markets are typically oligopolies - a small number of providers in de facto collusion, or duopolies - two companies with similar pricing structures owned by the same parent entity, or outright outright monopolies, like their big sisters the phone companies. Cable's historic business model is to maximize shareholder value by making service scarce and expensive, delivering a rich menu of choices to dense, high-income, high profit areas first, while offering limited or no service at later dates and higher rates to poorer urban, suburban and rural areas --- cherry picking and redlining, respectively. Likewise on the phone side, AT&T only began allowing devices on its network like phones and answering machines not manufactured or licensed by its subsidiaries (this is called network neutrality) and handling traffic bound to and from other networks (the term for this is common carrier) when forced to do so by the federal government. Both cable and phone companies are heavily and hungrily dependent on a host of tax breaks, subsidies, waivers, government contracts, special regulations and other corporate welfare won by their platoons of lobbyists on every level of government. Both require unfettered access to public streets, highways and rights of way to lay and maintain their networks. With last year's nationwide, and this year's statewide franchising legislation, cable companies hope to shed wherever possible any and all obligations to wire schools, libraries and local government for free, or to provide channels and subsidies for public access TV in those places where locals were savvy enough to demand this as a condition for laying earlier networks. Statewide cable franchising will nullify hard-won agreements negotiated with hundreds of local governments, some of which wrung grudging promises from cable operators to build out service to small towns, rural and poorer urban areas, or provided for sanctions against abuses by cable operators. AT&T and the big phone guys have partnered with giant cable firms like Comcast not only to sweep the field clean of pesky local franchise agreements, but to make sure that network neutrality and common carrier provisions don't follow them into the cable business as they merge the old and new worlds of cable, telephony and the new, hi-speed broadband internet. Ma Bell and the cable guys failed last year in Congress. But the state by state strategy is working. In 2000, less than five states had statewide franchising. Now one-third of states have it, including New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, California, New York, Michigan, Indiana and Kansas. It's on the legislative docket in Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Tennessee and Minnesota. Without exception franchise bills proposed by AT&T and Big Cable aim to re-stack the regulatory deck in favor of giant phone and cable companies, and against the public. The state bills typically grant cable companies what amount to exclusive monopoly rights and contain no enforceable accountability provisions, buildout requirements or sanctions. Many, like Georgia's bill grant the franchise for long terms --- ten years at a time, with virtually automatic renewal and no provisions whatsoever for citizen or community challenge to franchises on any basis. Franchise agreements with state governments have a special status under law in that they can only be amended or overturned by a state's legislature. Many state legislatures are only in session for a few weeks a year, and are notoriously reluctant to repeal or amend anything. "Everybody is trying to find a way to dump their costs on the public," observes Nathan Newman of Progressive States, a left-wing organization that provides resources to state legislators on a range of issues. "They're all trying to figure out how to keep cherry picking, redlining and denying service to poorer areas. Statewide cable bills are all about letting cable and phone providers decide without any public input at all which communities will be wired for broadband and which will not." This is how economic development winners and losers will be determined for the next generation. Cheap and widely available broadband will be as essential for local job growth and economic development in the 21st century as paved streets and roads were in the 20th. You'd imagine that African American state lawmakers and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators would stand up for jobs, education and economic development in black communities. You'd be wrong. Like the majority of their colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus large numbers of black state lawmakers have simply crossed over.
Fighting Back, State By State While the unfolding of state by state privatization of the internet gets even less press than it did on the national stage last year, significant fightbacks and occasional victories are occurring. "Grassroots forces in New York, Indiana and California, to name just three cases, inserted enough positive features into statewide cable legislation that their bills are almost in a class by themselves," said Newman. "A very few state franchise bills actually have limited buildout requirements, but that's rare... Kentucky is a a very interesting example... (in which) state government is being required to first come up with detailed maps for the entire state showing what kind of cable coverage exists..." as a precondition to final enactment of state franchising. In West Virginia, state senator Jim Unger introduced legislation to require thorough mapping of broadband capacity in that state too before statewide franchising can go forward." In Louisiana last year, only the governor's veto kept statewide franchising from becoming law. And activists are gearing up at the eleventh hour to stop cable franchising in Illinois and Georgia. But the outcome is far from certain. In this, as in other struggles to come, it appears that black America can no longer automatically count on black elected officials to carry the ball. Not for our team, anyway. It's time for a general rethinking of the status and usefulness of black elected and appointed officials, and of our models of black leadership. Bruce Dixon is the managing editor of The Black Agenda Report.
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The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn        CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed      Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                 |
