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Articles : MiscellaneousIf you knew... 10/21/06
Notes about this week’s guests on “This is Hell”:http://www.thisishell.net/ radio program and notes about If you knew… follow the articles.
Articles;
1) Bribe taking rep to keep pension while spouse of gay rep is denied death benefits. New York Times (10/18/06) “Bob Ney, Guilty but Still at Capitol.”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/washington/19ney.html?hp&ex=1161316800&en=f26a91f8d97bc919&ei=5094&partner=homepage “Representative Bob Ney is headed to prison early next year after pleading guilty to charges of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in illegal gifts from lobbyists… Mr. Ney, despite a criminal record, will be able to begin collecting a Congressional pension of about $30,000 a year in a decade, when he turns 62.” While the spouse of late Representative Gerry Studds is denied death benefits The Associated Press (10/18/06) “US denies benefits to Studds’ spouse.”:http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/18/us_denies_benefits_to_studds_spouse/ “The federal government has refused to pay death benefits to the spouse of the late Gerry Studds, the first openly gay member of Congress. Studds married Dean Hara in 2004 after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. But Hara will not be eligible for any of Studds’ estimated $114,337 annual pension because the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act bars the federal government from recognizing the couple’s marriage.”
2) The Associated Press (10/15/06) “U.S. coal plant boom poses big questions.”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/coal_power_plants;_ylt=AjziQtJKaG45fSAV0HGaym4DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M- A building boom that would add scores of new coal-fired power plants to the nation’s power grid is creating a new dilemma for politicians, environmentalists and utility companies across the United States.
3) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (10/16/06) “EPA Budget Reduction Could Expose More Minorities, Poor to Pollution.”:http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/288829_justice16.html Agency wants to reorganize program’s structure. “A federal program to safeguard poor and racially diverse communities from pollution and other environmental harm is at risk of being dissolved, activists say.”
4) The Associated Press (10/18/06) “Medicare cuts could eliminate power wheelchairs for disabled.”:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4269733.html Fraud charges lead feds to stop reimbursements to suppliers. “Suppliers across the country say they will no longer provide power wheelchairs to most Medicare recipients after Nov. 15, when cuts in Medicare reimbursements go into effect.”
5) How low will the GOP go in this election? From accusations of homosexuality and pedophilia to calling black women “hos” The Independent 10/20/06) “Republicans Say Top Democrats Support ‘Group of Gay Pedophiles’.”:http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1020-04.htm “Let the dirty campaigning begin. With less than three weeks to go before the US mid-term elections and an embattled Republican Party struggling to hold on to control of both the House and Senate, some of the country’s more desperate candidates are resorting to desperate measures.” But they can still go lower, Huffington Post (10/19/06) “Republican Ad Calls Black Women ‘Ho’s’.”:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/republican-ad-calls-black_b_32032.html Check out this ad which is meant to attract black voters to the GOP; Black Man #1: “If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos,’ you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked.” Black Man #2: “That’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed.” Black Man #1: “Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican.” By Max Blumenthal.
6) NewStandard (10/19/06) “State Initiatives May Use ‘Property Rights’ to Deregulate.”:http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3786 “When the Supreme Court last year empowered governments to take over private property for private commercial development through “eminent domain,” community activists bristled at the prospect of unilateral land-grabs. But this election season, public-interest groups fear that one thread of the backlash is being manipulated to tear down protections that preserve the environment, keep neighborhoods intact and hold corporations accountable to communities.” More. Sightline (10/12/06) “Property Wrongs: Lessons from Oregon on ‘property rights’.”:http://www.sightline.org/research/sprawl/res_pubs/property-fairness/ “‘Property Wrongs,’ a report by Seattle-based Sightline Institute, documents a growing backlash against ‘property rights’ initiatives by chronicling six stories of Oregon communities deeply affected by Oregon’s Measure 37. The report also examines the implications for Washington and other states considering similar initiatives this fall, including Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and California, which are all modeled after Measure 37.” This is a hub with lots of links.
7) Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law Center (10/20/06) “Racists on the Ballot: Hard-Right Radicals Run in 2006.”:http://www.alternet.org/rights/43227/ Across America, right-wing radicals are running for everything from national political office to a county mosquito control board.
8) Rolling Stone (10/19/06) “Time to Go! Inside the Worst Congress Ever.”:http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever The worst Congress ever: How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts – in five easy steps. By Matt Taibbi, past TiH guest.
9) Wonkette (10/18/06) “We Hate To Bring Up the Nazis, But They Fled To South America, Too.”:http://www.wonkette.com/politics/george-w.-bush/we-hate-to-bring-up-the-nazis-but-they-fled-to-south-america-too-208549.php “Here’s a fun question for Tony Snow: Why might the president and his family need a 98,840-acre ranch in Paraguay protected by a semi-secret U.S. military base manned by American troops who have been exempted from war-crimes prosecution by the Paraguyan government?” To add to the oddness of this, I first saw this mentioned in Al Jazeerah. I know conspiracy connoisseurs will quickly sink their teeth into this one, but for now, all I can do is scratch my head and go “Huh?”
10) Truthout (10/17/06) “Sentimental Education: Academia Signs Up to Track Down Dissent.”:http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706A.shtml “Why is the United States government spending millions of dollars to track down critics of George W. Bush in the press? And why have major American universities agreed to put this technology of tyranny into the state’s hands? At the most basic level, of course, both questions are easily answered: 1) Power. 2) Money. The Bush administration wants to be able to root out – and counteract – any dissenting noises that might put a crimp in its ongoing crusade for “full spectrum dominance” of global affairs, while the august institutions of higher learning involved crave the federal green that keeps them in clover.”
11) The Internationalist (10/18/06) “Howard Zinn: The Internationalist Interview.”:http://www.intmag.org/index.php?itemid=476 Howard Zinn on Our ‘Addiction to Massive Violence’. The man who changed the way we look at history explains where Iraq war resistance fits into the history of peace activism. Interview by Yuri Loudon. Check out the Howard Zinn interviews on This is Hell.
12) Washington Post (10/20/06) “Russia Halts Activities of Many Groups From Abroad.”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900831.html “The [Russian] government barred more than 90 organizations from doing any work in the country after they failed to register as required by a new law. Russian officials claim that the groups are suffering a temporary setback that is the result of their own disorganization, but NGO employees counter that the government has made the registration process confusing and cumbersome.”- Slate
13) The Associated Press (10/18/06) “Brazilian Indians storm mining complex.”:http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20061018173350392 “Indians wielding war clubs and bows and arrows stormed an Amazon mining complex, shutting it down in an apparent demand for more compensation from the world’s largest iron ore miner, the company said Wednesday… While the company said it had not received any direct demands, the invasion appeared to be an attempt “to pressure the company to increase financial contributions to the indigenous community.”
14) InterPress Service (10/20/06) “Death Toll Continues to Climb in Oaxaca Conflict.”:http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35169 Murders of social activists, allegedly by state agents, and the publication of photographs of suspected criminals beaten, tied up and labeled with signs by protesters in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, have fuelled the social and political crisis raging in the area since May. The death of teacher Pánfilo Hernández brings the number of killings throughout the ongoing conflict to 10. Human-rights groups say the perpetrators are apparently soldiers and police in civilian clothes, as well as hired killers contracted by Oaxacan authorities.
Extra long nap means extra late If you knew…
This week’s guests on “This is Hell;”:http://www.thisishell.net/
- Ken Silverstein, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, has written the feature article, “Barack Obama, Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine.”
- Greg Grandin, author of “The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War” and the Hugo Chavez endorsed, “Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, The United States and The Rise of the New Imperialism”. Greg’s TomDispatch piece, “Still Dancing to Ollie’s Tune, Will the Democrats Blow It Again as They Did in 1986?”:http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=130406 will be discussed.
If you knew… appears most weekdays as a blog, and has recently been posted as an article on Fridays. Any comments, suggestions, critiques or leads to articles, are welcomed.
Posted by mwm
The goal of If you knew… is to accumulate news items from various sources, that deserve attention and have been mostly ignored by the mainstream media. If you knew... will discontinue and contribute exclusively to This is Hell's Headlines from Hell...
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bang up job, as usual…a solid, interesting collection of real news!
yup yup keep em coming…
Measure 37 was a debacle here in Oregon… apparently before i moved out (2001) in the early to mid ’90s there was a similar law that got shot down in the supreme court here in oregon… Looks like 37 is here to stay though, sadly, and now the bastards are working in new addendums with ballot intiatives that support it this election.
I love it when i read:
“ “Jones says. “I do think that there is some place for some type of Measure 37. But I was one of the many people who voted for Measure 37 and thought it would be a good deal for Oregon.” Like Jones, many who come to fish here don’t understand how Measure 37 could have helped cause the proposed development.”
yay! cause we didnt canvass all over the state explaining this shit to ‘em, cause there werent TV ads that explained how the state would either be bankrupted or development would flourish.
I hope that the terrible and painful lesson Oregon is learning about measure 37 helps to keep similar measures out of states.
what a terrible measure, i was flabbergasted it passed. People really ought to be made to read the issues before they vote. bleh!
this is proof that some people don’t take the time to read before they vote: look at the date in the title, mwm allready posted an other article (10/28)!
mwm, allthough i do like your articles i think it’s best that you take the old ones out of the Yard, otherwise something like this could happen again
BM – I voted it up on purpose. I was thinking that it would make it more searchable to have it listed as an article on the front page.
That being said, I wish that the admins would just change the date and slot it into the correct chronological order rather than bump it back to draft status.
And yes, I do wish that articles and headlines that are obsolete would get pulled back to draft or deleted by those who post them – it would declutter the yard and make voting much less time consuming.
Could there be an archive status? The rational for leaving older articles in the yard is so they can be available for reference. On the turesday following the weekend article posts, I put in a commenting that no more votes are desired. Saying that I do appreciate that it got voted to the front page. The whole point to writing these is to get them read and posting to the front page greatly increases the number of people who read them.
Could there be an archive status?
your blog?
NOTE:
Project Censored listed US military presence in Paraguay as one its top 25 most censored news stories of 2007
btw- gaanjah_mama: it does make it more searchable to have it on the front page as an article…
...and what would it take to get people to move things out of the yard after they clearly obsolete? a little campaign of sorts here at GNN? some sort of organized repetition of a common mesage regarding this topic? an ever-present banner like the ‘battleground’ or ‘shooting war’ banners? hmm..
Sounds like a decent idea.
zirkonyx;
I always look forward to the Project Censored 25 Most Censored Articles. It is a personal challenge to see how many I caught and posted. It is a bit of a gauge of how decent a job I am doing. I get about 75% of them, which might sound respectable, but considering how much I cruise the news, I find a bit embarrassing. It does remind me that I should be visiting the Project Censored website more than I do.
When the 25 Censored Articles is posted, I do post all of the ones I missed.
I thank you for your work, mate.