THIS JUST IN: NET NEUTRALITY FAILS IN SENATE
Vote was 11-11. Senator Snow only Republican to back measure. *4:58 PM

MEDIACHANNEL WINS PRAISE
Helle Nissen Kruuse of The Danish School of Journalism writes:

“I’m sure you’ll like to know that the head of DR News, the national Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Lisbeth Knudsen (she’s one of the most powerful persons in the Danish media field,) has picked MediaChannel as one of her favorite links.”
http://www.djh.dk/ejour/56/56Klik.html

ISRAEL ARMY MOVES INTO GAZA
ANTI-WAR HUNGER STRIKE PLANNED
SELECTIVE OUTRAGE ON THE RIGHT

There was a rare public disagreement between Washington and Tel Aviv last night as Condoleeza Rice called on Israel to “give diplomacy a chance” just before the Israeli Army opted to do what it has done so many times before—opt for war:

AP reported

” GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli tanks and troops entered southern Gaza and planes attacked three bridges and knocked out electricity to the coastal strip early Wednesday, stepping up the pressure on Palestinian militants holding captive a 19-year-old Israeli soldier.

“The ground troops and tanks began taking up positions in two locations east of the Gaza town of Rafah under the cover of tank shells, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officials. Palestinians dug in behind walls and sand embankments, bracing for a major Israeli offensive.”

NEW FINDING FROM THE CONSERVATIVE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE STUDY

”By and large, Americans do not equate support for the Iraq war with patriotism. In March 2006, CBS News found that 83 percent of Americans believed that an individual can still be patriotic if he or she does not support the war in Iraq.”

IRAQI RESISTANCE TO RESIST PEACE PLAN

Despite reports that opposition groups of “insurgents” want to talk with the Iraqi government and are responding positively to its “peace plan,” UPI reports:

”Iraq’s prime minister plans to offer up a peace plan aimed at ending the insurgency but most Sunni insurgent groups say it doesn’t meet their concerns.

“…a spokesperson for the 11 largest Sunni insurgent groups said they can’t accept the plan because they don’t recognize the current Iraqi government.

“They want a quick end to foreign troops in Iraq, Iraqi prisoners released from all Iraqi and U.S. jails and the United States and other coalition countries to allocate money to rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure destroyed by war.

They also want all negotiations to be monitored by the United Nations or Arab League.”

http://www.cbs47.tv/common/printstory/default.aspx?content_id=c61d4f73-f8b9-4738-b4fe-fc01928c40dc

BE WARY OF “PEACE PLANS”—TomPaine.com

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/06/27/an_accord_in_iraq.php

Soldier Who Killed Handcuffed Iraqi Is Freed

”An American soldier convicted in the fatal shooting of a handcuffed Iraqi cow herder in 2004 was freed from a military prison in Oklahoma on Friday, more than a year before his sentence was up”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13775.htm

LT WATADA RESISTS
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060626/brecherwebvideo

CINDY PLANS HUNGER STRIKE:

”Cindy Sheehan, Dick Gregory, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Hundreds More Launch Hunger Strike to End the Iraq War

On July 3, 2006, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Global Exchange and Gold Star Families for Peace will stage a historic hunger strike against the war in Iraq. At 5pm,they will sit down in front of the White House to eat their last meal and hold a press conference before beginning the fast at the same location in the morning of July 4 at 10am.

“We’ve marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush’s ranch. We’ve even gone to jail. Now it’s time to do more,” says peace mom Cindy Sheehan. “While others are celebrating July 4th with barbeques, we’ll be showing our patriotism by putting our bodies on the line to bring our troops home.”

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062706G.shtml

AL QAEDA “PLAYBOOK” PUBLISHED

No less a totally objective source that the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point has announced the translation of a 268 page so-called “playbook” supposedly written by Al Qaeda and called the “Management of Savagery” with the West playing the role of savages. NPR’s Laura Sullivan Cites ABC’s “The Blotter” suggesting that the people we call savages indict the west for using the media to project power:

“Therefore, the two superpowers must resort to using a deceptive media halo which portrays these powers as non-coercive and world-encompassing, able to reach into every earth and heaven as if they possess the power of the Creator of creation.

“According to the media deception, it is an all-encompassing, overwhelming power and people are subservient to it not only through fear, but also through love because it spreads freedom, justice, equality among humanity, and various other slogans.”

I find it fascinating how well they encapsulate the U.S. position. Anybody who may have thought maybe they just weren’t hearing the message (I mean, who doesn’t want freedom, justice, equality among humanity?) — well, they heard it. They’re just not buying it.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5516640

NEW BUSH DOCTRINE: A LAW IS WHAT I SAY IT IS

AP: “A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?

Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds.

That’s the argument a Bush administration official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the administration’s abuse of power.

“It’s a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution,” Specter said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m interested to hear from the administration just what research they’ve done to lead them to the conclusion that they can cherry-pick.”

Senate rejects flag desecration amendment

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_on_go_co/flag_amendment

MOVE ON ANNOUNCES

”Today at more than 300 gas stations across the country, thousands of MoveOn members will hold “Rallies for An Oil-Free Congress,” exposing Republicans in Congress for accepting campaign contributions from Big Oil companies while they do nothing to ease the burden of Americans who are paying more at the pumps.

“The rallies are part of a National Day of Action, echoing the “Caught Red Handed” theme of MoveOn’s latest TV ads that tie the Republican controlled Congress to the culture of corruption. MoveOn.org Political Action just completed three rounds of a $1.3 million campaign in the districts of Republican Reps. Chris Chocola, Thelma Drake, Nancy Johnson and Deborah Pryce.”

FISCHER: WHEN YOU CAN’T DO, TEACH

“Joschka Fischer, the German Green Party leader who, as his country’s foreign minister, opposed the invasion of Iraq, is leaving politics and coming to the U.S. to take up posts at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and at the Council on Foreign Relations, he announced today.”

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2006/06/joschka_fischer.html

STUDEN LOANS GOING UP, UP, UP

Robert Shireman writes in the Baltimore Sun:

College graduation season is over. Our nation’s leaders have given commencement speeches full of wisdom about obligations to family, community, country and self. But few addressed another kind of obligation likely to shape their audiences’ lives for years, even decades to come: the $18 billion in student loan debt carried by the new crop of graduates.

Two-thirds of seniors now have student loan debt when they graduate, most from public universities. Average debt for graduating seniors has climbed by nearly 60 percent in just a decade, after accounting for inflation. On Saturday, interest rates on federal student loans will jump to the highest rate in six years, adding to student debt burdens and prompting many to extend their repayment period to 20 or more years.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.studentloans27jun27,0,3565761.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines