MON: War On Iran Underway? TV Blitz in Florida, Attacks on Occupy: Help Needed

January 30th, 2012 - by: danny

Dissector In The Media:

READ: Latest Dissector Property Rights v Human Rights: Essay On Prosecuting Financial Criminals

LISTEN: Sunday’s broadcast of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Keep Hope Alive Radio.com Show on Dispute Over Grammy Awards Dropping 31 Musical Categories

WATCH/LISTEN: Press TV Interview: Police Attitude Towards Occupy Journalists Filled With Contempt

The United States has fallen to 47th in press freedom rankings “In part because of the crackdown on journalists as well as activists in the Occupy movement

The attitude towards people covering the Occupy movement was filled with contempt in the same way that the attitude towards occupiers was driven by contempt,” Danny Schechter, editor of Mediachannel1l.org, told Press TV’s U.S. Desk on Saturday.

The crackdown “has become a national story because the same pattern seems to have taken place in many places. Scroll down.

Quotes of the Day From A Report on The World Economic Forum in Davos

Peter S Goodman, Huff Post: “Nouriel Roubini, the economist who — not for nothing — is known as “Doctor Doom,” noted that world leaders are divided on a great array of crucial issues, from arguments over trade imbalances and currency valuations to the threats posed by Iran and North Korea and the challenge of climate change.

“On all these issues that require international coordination, there is no agreement,” he said during a Saturday morning panel. “It’s a world of chaos that can lead to potential conflicts.”

Sarah Jones. PoliticusUsa.com Behind Jan Brewers’ Finger Pointing

“Any way you slice it, Brewer made a right fool of herself wagging her finger in the leader of the free world’s face and then attempting to spin her way out of it by playing the victim. TeaFems like Brewer and Palin have a particular penchant for playing the Damsel in Distress against paper tigers of their own paranoid imagination.”

News Not in the News

Leonid Savin, ICH: The Conundrum of Iran: War Against Iran Is Underway

Washington’s choice of pretexts for an aggression comprises at least three options, namely (1) Iran’s nuclear dossier; (2) an engineered escalation in the Strait of Hormuz; (3) allegations that Iran supports international terrorism.

•Reuters: Iran vows to stop “some” oil sales as inspectors visit

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to “some” countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union. The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be “professional” or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters. …

• Iran Threatens $150 Per Barrel Oil, Plans EU Export Ban

•John Grant, Thiscan’tbehappening.com adds: “… according to several recent reports, Israel’s top leaders are making it known they feel a massive air attack on Iran by Israel is a manageable thing — that suggestions such bombing attacks would lead to a major conflagration are all bluff. A Sunday New York Times Magazine article by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman concludes “Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012.”

Why do US leaders threaten to withhold patronage military funds when Egyptian militarists drag their feet on democracy, but not when Israeli militarists seem ready to drag us into World War Three?

Of course, we know the answer to this. Egyptians are backward brown Arabs with a history of living under the thumb of British colonial rule and US imperial hegemony. We know the drill: Bernard Lewis and the failures of Arab modernization. Israel, on the other hand, is just like us, a western garrison state run by a Prime Minister who went to Cheltenham High School just outside of Philadelphia and who likes to mentally link Iranians with Nazi Germany and the holocaust.

Renee Parsons, ICH: US Plans for Perpetual War

With the world’s largest military force including an incomparable nuclear arsenal and a budget to match, exactly who are we protecting the Homeland from — and what condition will it be in when they arrive?

•Yahoo: Syrian Battle Moves Into The Suburbs of Damascus

•NYT: U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies Provoke Outrage in Iraq

The use of unarmed craft to protect American buildings and personnel may foreshadow an expansion of such operations to the United States government’s diplomatic arm.

•CLG: Mission accomplished! Audit: US Defense Department can’t account for billions for Iraq ‘The bulk of the records are missing.’

The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction [sic] projects, according to two new government audits. The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday.

•BBC: Raul Castro Defends One Party Government in Cuba

In the “Homeland”

•eWall Streeter: Will Obama Tackle Mortgage Mess?

•Robert Scheer, Truthdig: Obama’s Faux Populism

I’ll admit it: Listening to Barack Obama, I am ready to enlist in his campaign against the feed-the-rich Republicans … until I recall that I once responded in the same way to Bill Clinton’s faux populism. And then I get angry because betrayal by the “good guys” for whom I have ended up voting has become the norm.

Yes, betrayal, because if Obama meant what he said in Tuesday’s State of the Union address about holding the financial industry responsible for its scams, why did he appoint the old Clinton crowd that had legalized those scams to the top economic posts in his administration? Why did he hire Timothy Geithner, who has turned the Treasury Department into a concierge service for Wall Street tycoons?

Why hasn’t he pushed for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, which Clinton’s deregulation reversed? Does the president really believe that the Dodd-Frank slap-on-the-wrist sellout represents “new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like this never happens again”? Can he name one single too-big-to-fail banking monstrosity that has been reduced in size on his watch instead of encouraged to grow ever larger by Treasury and Fed bailouts and interest-free money?…

•James Surowiecki, The New Yorker (Via RSN): Romney’s Debt Machine

“… the same party that loves to inveigh against the dangers of excessive borrowing is now likely to nominate for President a man whose entire career, and entire fortune, was built on debt. Leveraged-buyout firms like Bain Capital, which Mitt Romney ran between 1984 and 1999, routinely borrow massive sums in order to make their acquisitions, leaving companies with debt loads equal to twice their annual sales or more.”

Isaiah Poole, New Priorities: Say The ‘P’ Word: Putting Poverty And The Poor Back On The Agenda

Did you catch the reference in President Obama’s State of the Union address to “poverty”? You can be forgiven if you didn’t. Greg Kaufmann of The Nation, who recently launched a weekly column, “This Week in Poverty,” on thenation.com, warns in his column today that if you review the video or the transcript of Obama’s speech, “don’t blink, you’ll miss it.” People living below the poverty line, 46 million Americans, represent 15 percent of the country, including more than one in five of the nation’s youth. And yet, as Kaufmann writes today, “in a 65-minute address describing the state of the union, President Obama decided it merited barely a mention.”

•Mandelman: Read This And Help Stop A Vicious Foreclosure Slated for Monday

•FT: Banks warn rule change will hurt

US banks fear that any recovery in the US housing market will be further delayed as a result of moves to remove credit ratings from American regulations, which will boost banks’ capital requirements by billions of dollars.

•Facebook Expected To File IPO This Week

Shelly Palmer: Facebook is expected to file for its initial public offering as early as Wednesday. The social network could be valued as high as $100 billion,

Supporting Occupy As Police Brutality Continues

I have had reports of the tasing of activists at Occupy DC. Today is the day that the National Parks Service pledged it would end the encampment on land they manage,

Yahoo: Arrests in Oakland protests rise to more than 400 –

(Occupy Websites: The Latest Re Oakland: Help Needed

OCCUPY OAKLAND NEEDS BAIL FUNDS!

Police Chief Howard Jordan has been quoted in AP saying there were almost 400 people arrested yesterday. There are many people who were arrested that need urgent medical attention, people who have been injured by the police or do not have their medication with them that they need to treat prior conditions. We need the money to bail these people out!

Many people who have medical needs were unable to prevent themselves from being arrested, or to retrieve their medication, because the police did not give a dispersal order– they just kettled. We are still gathering names.

Our bail funds have been dwindling significantly as a result of the police backlash against occupy oakland in the last month, if you are able, PLEASE donate – 10, 50, 100, whatever you can!

Mikal Kamil writes from Cali:

Hello Rich and The Roots!

Two weeks ago we spoke with the National Coalition Against Censorship regarding organizing an army of First Amendment advocates to support our efforts to exercise our right to assemble and speak freely. Occupy’s Phase ll strategy is to “Occupy The Mainstream” and “Get Money Out Of Politics.” Consequently, we can’t get money out of politics if we can’t assemble in public and/or be heard.

Over the last three months we have been developing a strategic anti-establishment meets mass-market campaign dubbed “Hard Block”.

The Hard Block Campaign’s mission is to bring together an army of civil liberty advocates and the creative class to encourage protesters and intra-protestors to defy and challenge the inconsistencies between the First Amendment and the illegal practices of those who blatantly violate the civil liberties of the 99 Percent. Hard Block’s slogan is simply “Occupy Anywhere You Like”!

Artwork for Hard Block has been rendered by legendary artists Shepard Fairey and will consist of merchandise, outdoor billboards, tv spots and recorded music by Will.i.am, Miley Cyrus, Tom Morello and many many others.

Let’s come together and plan a press conference. It would be great to assemble a list of the most egregious infringements on our rights since the movement started and get representatives from 50 organizations involved to make speeches.

LET’S HARD BLOCK THE REPRESSION OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT!

NCAC Statement to Occupy Wall Street

The right to peaceful protest is essential to a just and equitable society, as the history of movements to achieve women’s suffrage, gay rights, and civil rights attests. The right to protest and dissent exist precisely so that social goals and ideals can be achieved through peaceful means, without violence. This right applies to the rich and poor, and powerful and powerless. Time and again, however, public officials need to be reminded that they are obliged to respect the right to peaceful protest, and that they are prohibited from suppressing or regulating speech solely because of its viewpoint, no matter how unconventional or controversial.

These principles apply fully to the protests staged by Occupy Wall Street. While government officials may have the authority to regulate certain aspects of public protests, they are barred from imposing onerous rules designed to interfere with or prevent protests, or to impose different rules and procedures on some protest activities because of antipathy to their message. Using police harassment or intimidation to shut down or deter protests is also constitutionally-suspect.

We call on officials nationwide, especially in places where these protests are occurring, to respect the rights of protestors who seek to influence public policy through peaceful means. They play an essential role in our society, and reinforce the message that social problems of all kinds can be effectively addressed through the exercise of First Amendment rights.

About The National Coalition Against Censorship: For 37 years, NCAC has been a unique force protecting the right to read, think, and speak freely. As a coalition of more than 50 national non-profit organizations, ranging from civil rights, labor, educational, artistic, and religious groups, NCAC engages a large and diverse community in educational and advocacy activities stressing the critical role of free speech for individual self-fulfillment and effective self-government. See the latest news from NCAC at www.ncac.org

Romney Killing Newt in the TV AD War

Daily Beast: As the Florida primary looms, voters there are being bombarded by ads from both Romney and Gingrich—but the slick former governor is airing the best ones by far

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/28/republican-political-ads-in-florida-why-romney-s-are-best.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

WP: NBC objects to Romney’s ‘history lesson’

A harsh new ad from the former Massachusetts governor uses news footage from 1997 to remind voters of then-House speaker Newt Gingrich’s ethics violations.

What does it feel like to be subjected to those ads in Florida? Steven Jay Zuckerman tells us:

I currently live in South Florida, Palm Beach County to be precise.

As you know, I’m originally a New Yorker. The weather is generally very warm here and I moved here to get away from the cold winters. But while it’s generally warm here, the media ads are quite cold.

As we all recall, it’s the voting in the county that I live in that failed to count the votes twelve years ago.

As a person who believes in integrity and quality in reporting, the media in South Florida fails those of us who
have a heart and soul.

I can recall an event with Al Gore speaking about climate change and the actions needed—-there were hundreds
of picketers dressed up as Civil War mongers booing him! It was a regular riot to see this. I guess some people
still play dress up with their Ken and Barbie Dolls.

So last night, while watching one of my favorite television shows, I found myself bombarded by Political ads that not only insulted me, but caused me so much anger I was willing to call Comcast and cancel my cable subscription!

The Romney against Gingrich ads ended with a photo of Gingrich and Obama in the same frame, as if doctored by Photoshop.

The attack ads here in South Florida are so disturbing, I was forced to turn off the TV and read a good book.”

Laura Flanders writes

In all the post-show cable punditry, we heard not a peep of critique (Of the State Of The Union.) Yet US military targets proliferate — abroad, with the expanding use of unmanned drones against unconvicted people with dire consequences. And at home — with the just-approved use of the military and military detention against undefined domestic suspects — under the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA.

If only peace activists were on those TV panels! It reminds me why I’m working so hard to bring a new show to public TV. We’re currently conducting research among our viewers with a view to getting the show started earlier, even before PBS stations commit. Want to be part of our research? Let me know by emailing laura@GRITtv.org.

Flipboard: Social Media: The New American Brain Drain

Flipboard: [Infographic] The SMB Social Media Cheat Sheet

Comments welcome to dissector@mediachannel.org. Visit the new Mediachannel1.org

I am off on a global adventure for the week….More to come.

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