Center for Media and Democracy Release 2008 Falsies Award Winners

The Center for Media and Democracy released their annual "Falsies" Award winners today. The awards are their "attempt to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting the information environment over the past year."

Vote "NO" for Nuclear Power at Change.org

Go here to vote for No new nuclear power on Change.org.

Nuclear power is far from renewable and far from clean. On May 5th, 2008 ("A Grand Canyon Rush For Uranium") the Los Angeles Times reported that all this talk of new Nuclear power plants has sparked an uranium mining boom, and thousands of the new uranium mine claims are in one of our nation's natural wonders: the Grand Canyon. Uranium mining is highly toxic. The article describes the remains of a former uranium mine in the park "Elevated radiation has been detected in Horn Creek below, and signs have been posted warning visitors not to drink the water.” Additionally, according to "Atomic Dreams" by Jason Mark, "uranium mining and enrichment require vast amounts of fossil fuel energy."

Somehow the nuclear PR machine has been successful at poo-pooing what is the most toxic and depraved consequence of Nuclear Power: Nuclear Waste. We have no way to dispose of it, it will last thousands of years, and it's highly radioactive.

With so many people handling the day to day operations of each plant, can anyone honestly guarantee that not one worker will ever make a potentially fatal mistake? Just a few months ago security personal at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in PA were caught sleeping on the job. If terrorists picked that time and place to attack, we would not be protected by Wackenhut. Thousands of people work at these plants and are responsible for their safety. Chernobyl has thoroughly illustrated the full potential dangers these plants pose.

And the least talked about danger posed by an increased use of nuclear power is nuclear proliferation. Nuclear power plants are intrinsically linked to nuclear weapons. On March 6, 1969 Edward Teller wrote then New York Governor Rockefeller that almost any country in "possession of these fissionable materials... is likely to be able to produce fission explosives without too much difficulty.... If as much as 10% of the fissionable material can be surreptitiously extracted from the reactors, each 1,000 megawatt reactor would still be able to produce several nuclear explosives per year..... It is also claimed that the reactors will not produce weapons-grade plutonium. Unfortunately, the distinction between weapons-grade plutonium and reactor-grade plutonium has been mistakenly overemphasized…."(Rockefeller Archive Center, NY). This is the real reason protests fly from Washington when our enemies develop "safe" atomic energy--because it doesn’t exist.

Finally, the only reason nuclear power is affordable is because of the generous subsidies the tax payers provide the industry. The Price-Anderson Act, for example, provides nuclear power operators with federal insurance. Think about it--the potential liability of these monsters is so huge it’s impossible for a company to insure them privately and still make a profit. This means that if a plant melts down and kills thousands, or if it causes any other small or large disaster, you, me, and all other tax payers pay for the clean up. This is privatizing the benefits and socializing the consequences of business at it's most sick and twisted.

Nuclear Power should be taken off President Obama's table. In fact he should be working to slowly faze out all Nuclear Power plants. Nuclear Power is not safe, renewable, affordable, or clean.

Rahm Emanuel: The New Cheney in the Whitehouse?

ProPublica has a great series on Rahmbo (much of which is based on various investigative reports in other sources). His relationship to Wallstreet is eerily similar to that of Cheney and Halliburton. The comparison to Cheney may be jaring to some, but consider the facts. According to these articles he was in the top 3-5% highest paid investment bankers in the nation druing his brief time with Wasserstein Perella, an investment bank (now defunct). Cheney made a killing at Halliburton with wonderful stock options. Emanuel has deep connections in Wallstreet that he keeps in contact with still. Investment bankers and members of the securities were his biggest backers when he ran for congress. He was able to use some of the Wasserstein loot he made to back his own campaign during some financial difficulties. He owes Wallstreet and he is a veracious fighter. Cheney too has been a varacious fighter in the Whitehouse, who by most accounts has used his dogged determinism to push for outrageous contracts for Halliburton (and it's former subsideriary, KBR). They are both the rabbid dogs of their respective parties with deep ties to the biggest robber barons of our time. These are not reassuring attributes in a Commander in Chief Chief of Staff. I see not the Change.

To read the reports click the links below:

Rahmbo’s Revolving Door

Rahmbo’s Revolving Door Revisited

Rahmbo’s Revolving Door: Take 3

Obama Future Target of White Supremacists?

This is a great and frightening investigative report concerning the election of Obama and the White Power Movement.



When will these idiots learn that race is a social construct? Many white and black people have more genetically in common with people of the opposite "race" than they do to people of there own "race." In fact genetics are far more complicated than our classifications of race suggest (read this article for instance). White supremacists: it's time to face the fact that you are ignorant, half-brained toads. Start blaming your parents, poor education, and bad psychology for your problems.

Universal Health Care Action

Go to Congressman John Conyers' site and sign on as a citizen co-sponsor for single-payer universal health care--the only true form of universal health care. You can also share any horror stories from your personal experience with the private system of health care in the United States. Please help demand government support for non-private based health care.

http://www.johnconyers.com/healthcare

Scahill On Obama: Change looks the Same

"U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots.... But the best immediate indicator of what an Obama administration might look like can be found in the people he surrounds himself with and who he appoints to his Cabinet. And, frankly, when it comes to foreign policy, it is not looking good." (Jeremy Scahill, "This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House")

If I wait long enough, Jeremy Scahill will write down my thoughts better than I can. Scahill provided readers today with a vast guide to foreign policy advisers of the Obama transition team and administration. He makes a damning case that Obama is currently leading us down the same foreign policy path we've been on for the past 2 administrations.

I especially like his critique of the mainstream press coverage of Hillary Clinton:

"For all the buzz and speculation about the possibility that Sen. Clinton may be named Secretary of State, most media coverage has focused on her rivalry with Obama during the primary, along with the prospect of her husband having to face the intense personal, financial and political vetting process required to secure a job in the new administration. But the question of how Clinton would lead the operations at Foggy Bottom calls for scrutiny of her positions vis-a-vis Obama's stated foreign-policy goals."

And I never thought I would be imressed with Maureen Dowd until today. She used the New York Times to criticize Obama for considering Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.

"The man who vowed to deliver us from 28 years of Bushes and Clintons has been stocking up on Clintonites," New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd recently wrote. "How, one may ask, can he put Hillary -- who voted to authorize the Iraq war without even reading the intelligence assessment -- in charge of patching up a foreign policy and a world riven by that war?"

Progressives wake up. The honeymoon is over. Obama needs to be pushed in the right direction.

photo from yumpickles

Truthout

I discovered truthout.org today, a news site superior to almost any I've found on the internet to date. Their articles are thorough, well researched, and insightful. They cut out all the partisan bullshit and deliver the facts void of think-tank talking points. They also feature hard hitting news stories from various sources from around the media world. I'm an avid user of NewsTrust, a social networking site dedicated to filtering out the good journalism from the bad, and truthout articles have often been featured with good to excellent ratings. I highly recommend subscribing to their RSS feed.