De Commerciele Massamedia 105

Het niveau van berichtgeving van de Nederlandse commerciele massamedia is misdadig te noemen als men weet wat voor nonsense ze berichten en welke belangrijke vraagstukken op dit moment de mensheid bedreigen. En wat ze verzwijgen!

2007's Top 10 Rights & Liberties Stories
By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet. Posted December 14, 2007.

Happy holidays! Now, let's talk about fascism.

In certain ways, the Rights & Liberties Top 10 list is the most depressing of the year. Nevertheless it demonstrates why consistent and critical media coverage is crucial for beating back the erosion of our basic freedoms. And it should give us hope for the new year, for as many problems the conservative stranglehold has created in our present, we have the power, and the knowledge, to shape the future.
10. Disappeared: Five Years in Guantanamo by Lou Dubose, The Washington Spectator
In 2001, 19-year-old Murat Kurnaz was an innocent man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Accused of being a terrorist, he spent five years in Guantanamo before being released -- now he's telling his story.
9. America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters by Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com A dirty little secret about America is that public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the homeless and mentally disturbed.
8. Life in Solitary Confinement: 12,775 Days Alone by Brooke Shelby Biggs, AlterNet Americans shamefully imagine that spending a life sentence in solitary confinement could only happen in faraway countries. But two men in Louisiana's Angola prison know otherwise.
7. The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities by Arianna Huffington, Los Angeles Times Democratic presidential candidates crave the Latino and black vote, but ignore the Drug War's unfair toll on people of color.
6. In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been "accidentally" destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.
5. The 'Silent' Ninth Amendment Gives Americans Rights They Don't Know They Have by Daniel A. Farber, Basic Books The First Amendment right of free speech and the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination are well-known, but the Ninth Amendment is ignored. Pity, because it bears directly on abortion, the right to die and gay rights.
4. Is a Presidential Coup Under Way? by Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown The Constitution is being trampled and nothing less than American democracy itself is endangered -- a presidential coup is taking place. Where is Congress?
3. Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King? by Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, could Bush and Cheney use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration?
2. The End of America? Naomi Wolf Thinks It Could Happen by Don Hazen, AlterNet An interview with author Naomi Wolf, whose new book, "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," may confirm your worries about democracy in America.
1. The Rise of Christian Fascism and Its Threat to American Democracy by Chris Hedges, Truthdig We must attend to growing social and economic inequities in order to stop the most dangerous mass movement in American history -- or face a future of fascism under the guise of Christian values.'

Zie: http://www.alternet.org/story/70590/

De Commerciele Massamedia 104

'One More Cruel Hoax
Iraqi Refugees Return
By JOHN ROSS

With the first presidential primaries on the U.S. doorstep January 3rd, the usual unholy alliance of Bushites, Democrats, and Big Media are doing their damndest to skam a skeptical electorate into swallowing the lie that the surge has worked, the drawdown has begun, and the war in Iraq is just about over. Security is so improved in Baghdad thanks to the Bush-Petraeus putsch that New York Times reporters can walk certain streets without armed escort. Even the refugees, driven off by unspeakable violence, are returning to Baghdad in droves.
This myth is being perpetrated by the likes of Fox News and CNN. A four-column full-color photo on the front page of the New York Times November 20th of a gala Baghdad wedding party was accompanied inside by a shot of smiling adolescents playing fussball and a banner headline "BAGHDAD EXHALES AS SECURITY IMPROVES."
The U.S. military affirms that insurgent activity is at its lowest level since the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Dome in Samarrah that set off sectarian bloodshed. Yet more U.S. troops have lost their lives in 2007 than in any other year of this brutal war precisely because of Bush's surge.
All this happy talk gets Bush and the Republicans off the hook for an overwhelmingly unpopular war just in time for the U.S. presidential election season. It also means that the Democrats won't have to defend their half-hearted call for withdrawal and risk being tarred as traitors on the 24 House news cycle. Indeed, the purported calm that has returned to the streets of Baghdad is mostly a photo op touted by Bush's Big Media collaborators that defuses the war as a campaign issue.
The truth of the matter is that the much-hyped success of the surge and the return of the refugees is as big a bosh as Bush's WMDs. The streets of Baghdad and Mosul remain deadly killing grounds and the refugees are being manipulated like pawns in a political bunko game to get a U.S. president elected. Moreover, the myth of their return is a cruel hoax that could shred them of the legitimacy of sanctuary.
The campaign to foist these lies on the U.S. electorate began congruently enough just a few hours into this past November election day. On November 7th, the Washington Post reported on a Baghdad press conference by the U.S.-Iraqi Joint Pacification Command at which General Quassin al-Moussawi insisted the city had grown so safe that over 46,000 refugees had returned in October. Moussawi was seconded by his U.S. counterpart Major General Joseph Fils: "there is no question that families are returning to Baghdad." The next day, New York Times correspondent Damien Cave met with General Fils over egg rolls in the Green Zone and later wrote "by all accounts, Iraq families who fled their homes in the past two yeas are returning to Baghdad."'

Lees verder: http://www.counterpunch.org/ross12142007.html

Martelen 89

'UN Rights Envoy Suspects CIA of Guantanamo Torture
By Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters

Geneva - A United Nations investigator said on Thursday he strongly suspected the CIA of using torture on terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, suggesting many were not being prosecuted to keep the abuse from emerging at trial.
On a visit to the U.S. detention centre in Cuba last week, Martin Scheinin, U.N. special rapporteur on protecting human rights while countering terrorism, attended a pre-trial hearing of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver.
Scheinin said U.S. officials had told him that of the roughly 300 detainees currently held at Guantanamo, 80 were expected to face military trials for suspected crimes. Another 80 inmates had been cleared for release, he said.
No decision had been made to either prosecute or release the remaining 150, including many so-called "high value" detainees, he said. Some have been held six years without trial.
"There is not enough evidence that could be presented, even to a military commission chaired by a military judge. Partly there may not be evidence and partly the risk of issues of torture being raised is too high," Scheinin told a news briefing.
"Bringing them to court would bring to the court's attention the method through which the evidence, including the confessions, were obtained. So this is one further affirmation of the conclusion that the CIA or others have been involved in methods of interrogation that are incompatible with international law," he said.
U.S. President George W. Bush insists that the United States does not engage in torture but has refused to disclose what interrogation methods are used at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.
In all, 800 people have been held at the Guantanamo prison since it opened in January 2002, Scheinin said. The White House contends the naval base is outside U.S. territory so constitutional protections do not apply.
Scheinin told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday that his Guantanamo visit had stoked his concerns about the fairness of trials conducted there. The U.S. delegation rejected his remarks as partly "misleading" and rehashing old criticisms.
Interrogation Techniques...'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121407R.shtml Of: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1389703520071213

Irak 233

'Baghdad, Dec 15, 2007 (VOI) –

Iraq's anti-corruption board revealed on Saturday that there were five million Iraqi orphans as reported by official government statistics, urging the government, parliament, and NGOs to be in constant contact with Iraq's parentless children."The government should set up an institutional or legislative program to help the Iraqi orphans. Iraqi is an oil-rich country and it is not acceptable that its orphans remain groaning in this tragedy," the anti-corruption board chief, Moussa Faraj, said during a conference in Baghdad dedicated to orphans in Iraq."The board on its own cannot meet the Iraqi orphans' needs, but there should be an organization or even a ministry to provide care for orphans," he said.The Iraqi parliament's women & family committee had proposed a draft law to set up a fund for the orphans.During the conference, Wijdan Salem Mikhail, the Iraqi minister of human rights, said in a speech that the phenomenon "is one of the most passive things that grew immensely during the past few years due to destructive wars and unbridled violence in the country to unprecedented heights.""These factors have logically caused the number of widows and orphans to greatly increase," she said.'

Zie: http://www.uruknet.info/?colonna=m&p=39245&l=e&size=1&hd=0

Het Neoliberale Geloof 74

'WASHINGTON — With the housing market in decline, unscrupulous sales agents are popping up in the booming reverse mortgage industry, where reports of deceptive and high-pressure sales tactics are worrying lawmakers and consumer advocates alike.
Both say thousands of older Americans could be steered into inappropriate loans, just as millions were lured into now-shaky sub-prime loans. Their solution? Better loan counseling and stronger government supervision and regulation.
"We have gone through a savings and loan collapse, a stock market bubble and are currently in the middle of a lending mess. Our goal is to make sure that the reverse mortgages don't become the scandal of the next decade," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said at a hearing this week before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Reverse mortgages typically allow homeowners who are 62 and older to borrow against their home equity without having to repay the money until the home is sold or the borrower dies or permanently moves out. The older the borrower and the greater the value of the home, the more money that can be borrowed.
Ninety percent of reverse mortgages are issued through the federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. The number of HECM loans issued annually has grown from 157 in 1990 to more than 76,000 last year. Lenders expect to issue more than 214,000 loans this year.
Most agree that reverse mortgages, used properly, can provide cash to help seniors live more comfortably. In fact, the Senate on Friday passed bipartisan legislation that removes the cap on the number of reverse mortgage loans that the Federal Housing Administration can insure.
But as the popularity of reverse mortgages grows, the industry is proving fertile ground for predatory lenders, loan agents and brokers who see older, cash-strapped borrowers as easy pickings.
Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Loan Association, said he doesn't believe the problem is widespread. But he conceded that sales agents left jobless by the housing crisis are migrating to the reverse mortgage industry and may "have a different type of mentality about moving transactions through quickly."
More than 12.5 million seniors ages 65 and over own their homes with no mortgage debt, representing more than $4 trillion in home equity. Those numbers will only increase as the first of nearly 80 million baby boomers born before1964 begin retiring in the next few years.'

Lees verder: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/23196.html

Het Neoliberale Geloof 73

Tevreden snurkt men zachtjes verder in de polderlandse pers:

'Bulls, bankers blind to inevitable bust.
By Doug Wakefield (with Ben Hill)

While observing current events through the lens of history over the past few years, there have been times in which the only conclusion I could draw was that we were beginning a bear market that would prove much more severe than the one from 2000 to 2002.

As fiat currency and money supplies have exploded the world over, we have seen a proliferation of products, with varying acronyms, as the financial world tries to distance itself from the risky loans it originated. My experiences, as a researcher and investment advisor, suggest that the root of the problem is in investors' thinking. Between the autumn of 2002 and the spring of 2003, multiple markets began bull runs. As 2007 comes to a close, the only lesson most investors learned from the US$7 trillion loss of those years is to "hang on" when the market declines.

But while the past five years have produced substantial bull markets in a range of equity classes, they have also produced investors who have failed to read the historic accounts of how rapid credit creation ultimately ends in collapse. The need to slow down and prepare for contracting credit is lost in the fast-paced, unforgiving world of momentum trading. But those who have been reading the headlines since the first of August can plainly see that the world is rapidly shifting from one that embraces risk to one that shuns it. And as historical precedent suggests, since the credit bubble started breaking down just four months ago, our government, as well as those of the Europeans and Asians, have sought to intervene.

With several equity markets set to finish 2007 at or near historic highs, you may be thinking that things are not nearly that gloomy. Two years ago, we released a research paper on short selling, aptly titled "Riders on the
Storm: Short Selling in Contrary Winds". Some thought it foolish to attempt to thwart the gods of modern capitalism, and I must admit it's been a rough ride. Most who hold to my line of thinking have been unheard by family, friends, and associates.

But, once again I write to encourage some and to implore others to suspend judgement for a few minutes until they have critically appraised the evidence. If you come to the conclusion that I am wrong, what has it cost you but a few minutes of your time? But if I am right, it will not matter who wrote what when, but only that, as crowd behavior shifted from greed to fear, you heard an idea that later proved to be extremely valuable.

Heard it all before?
If we see something one time, and extrapolate that the conclusion will always be the same, we stand a high chance of failure. But if we watch multiple occurrences of similar patterns unfolding over months, quarters, and years - sometimes fast, sometimes slow - with different degrees of force and destruction, across different nationalities, cultures, and time periods, then those who ignore such data, do so at their own peril. So as you read and try to gain your bearings in this unfolding market, let me share with you two hindrances, in the form of words we think or say, that are barriers to accurate assessments.

Statement 1: "Hey, if you're so smart, how much did you make in the last 12 months?" With the Dow substantially higher than it was when I released our short selling paper in January of 2006, you know I've heard this statement before. But this statement reveals a fallacious understanding of how the market, and life itself, works.'

Lees verder: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/IL14Dj01.html

Martelen 88

En terwijl in de polder het grote slapen doorgaat, bericht men in de grote mensenwereld:

'NAOMI WOLF
What Is Probably in the Missing Tapes
Posted December 13, 2007 03:55 PM (EST)

To judge from firsthand documents obtained by the ACLU through a FOIA
lawsuit, we can guess what is probably on the missing CIA
interrogation tapes -- as well as understand why those implicated are
spinning so hard to pretend the tapes do not document a series of
evident crimes. According to the little-noticed but extraordinarily
important book Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from
Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond (Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh,
Columbia University Press, New York 2007), which presents dozens of
original formerly secret documents - FBI emails and memos, letters
and interrogator "wish lists," raw proof of the systemic illegal
torture of detainees in various US-held prisons -- the typical "harsh
interrogation" of a suspect in US custody reads like an account of
abuses in archives at Yad Vashem.
More is still being hidden as of this writing -- as those in Congress
now considering whether a special prosecutor is needed in this case
should be urgently aware: "Through the FOIA lawsuit," write the
authors, "we learned of the existence of multiple records relating to
prisoner abuse that still have not been released by the
administration; credible media reports identify others. As this book
goes to print, the Bush administration is still withholding, among
many other records, a September 2001 presidential directive
authorizing the CIA to set up secret detention centers overseas; an
August 2002 Justice Department memorandum advising the CIA about the
lawfulness of waterboarding [Italics mine; nota bene, Mr. Mukasey]
and other aggressive interrogation methods; documents describing
interrogation methods used by special operations forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan; investigative files concerning the deaths of prisoners
in U.S. custody; and numerous photographs depicting the abuse of
prisoners at detention facilities other than Abu Ghraib.'

What we are likely to see if the tapes documenting the interrogation
of Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri are ever recovered is
that the "confessions" of the prisoners upon which the White House
has built its entire case for subverting the Constitution and
suspending civil liberties in this country was obtained through
methods such as electrocution, beating to the point of organ failure,
hanging prisoners from the wrists from a ceiling, suffocation, and
threats against family members ("I am going to find your mother and I
am going to fuck her" is one direct quote from a US interrogator). On
the missing tapes, we would likely see responses from the prisoners
that would be obvious to us as confessions to anything at all in
order to end the violence. In other words, if we could witness the
drama of manufacturing by torture the many violently coerced
"confessions" upon which the whole house of cards of this White House
and its hyped "war on terror" rests, it would likely cause us to
reopen every investigation, including the most serious ones
(remember, even the 9/11 committee did not receive copies of the
tapes); shut down the corrupt, Stalinesque Military Commissions
System; turn over prisoners, the guilty and the innocent, into a
working, accountable justice system operating in accordance with
American values; and direct our legal scrutiny to the torturers
themselves -- right up to the office of the Vice President and the
President if that is where the investigations would lead.'

Lees verder: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/what-is-probably-in-the-m_b_76708.html