Political Cortex

and help Americans, Ralph Nader is running for president again.  He deserves the support of...

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Crooks and Liars

The world first heard about Marianne Faithfull as part of the Rolling Stones soap opera in the 60s. She was a great looking singer with an uncontrollable drug habit. She had a series of pretty decent singles over the course of a decade– and some less praiseworthy albums– before she released the LP that brought her back to the public’s attention after a long and spectacular descent into drug hell: Broken English (1979). One of the most acclaimed songs on the album was a cover of John Lennon’s now classic “Working Class Hero,” first released by Lennon on his debut post-Beatles project in 1970. More recently– last year– Green Day did a great version of it on a charity compilation. Here’s Marianne Faithfull’s version:

URL: Crooks and Liars

Enclosure: http://www.youtube.com/v/qpuw_huflL8
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Crooks and Liars

I believe in the democratizing power of the internet. Every week I bring to your attention various campaigns going on at the grassroots level and encourage involvement and activism. It may not always achieve the results we seek as quickly as we’d like, but here’s a story that John mentioned earlier that proves that your activism does get noticed and does make an impact.

Congressional Quarterly:

Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher has launched an email campaign directed to local and national newspapers against the Associated Press’ Nedra Pickler, for her recent story documenting conservative attacks questioning Barack Obama’s patriotism. Ultimately, I think Pickler’s story was one worth reporting, but as TPM notes, the first source in her story is Roger Stone, a disgraced former GOP strategist who has been in the news lately for less-than-savory antics. It’s also not the first time liberal bloggers have turned their sights on Pickler.

Hamsher opens by saying:

It was pretty much world-record speed with which the smears against Barack Obama’s patriotism alley-ooped from the right wing attack machine into the pages of legitimate media, neatly laundered into the AP by Nedra Pickler.

Way to go, Jane! She told ...   more »

Crooks and Liars

After Helmets Were Found Faulty - DoD Awards Co Another $74 Million Contract

And “the company can assert sovereign immunity in any private lawsuits brought by soldiers.”

J Street’s Te-Ping Chen:

Last December, after secret tapes revealed the North Dakota Sioux Manufacturing Company charged with producing helmets for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan had knowingly delivered some 2.2 million helmets made with substandard weave, the Defense Department wasn’t fazed by the controversy. Rather, 12 days before the pending Justice Department lawsuit was settled (with a $2-million slap on the wrist), the DOD issued another contract to the Sioux Manufacturing Company worth up to $74 million.

VoteVets.org and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington launched a campaign for Congressional inquiry into the contract … (read on)

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Crooks and Liars

Marjorie Valbrun at The Root, via NPR:

The larger question is why Farrakhan is the litmus test for black politicians’ views on race and not the politicians’ own record of comments, actions and legislative votes? Why is it that only after they repudiate Farrakhan are they then deemed not to be closet black militants? Farrakhan does not have the political influence over black people that some white Americans apparently believe. Nor does Rev. Al Sharpton, or Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., or any of the other prominent black people that the media treat as proxies for all black people.

Reporters did not run out in droves to ask white politicians to reject Don Imus after he made his remarks about the black female basketball players at Rutgers University. White politicians did not eagerly line up to do so. Nor did they repudiate fellow white politicians who did not. A few, and only a few, said they would no longer go on the Imus show. (Tim Russert, who appeared often on the Imus show, was not among those who said they would no longer be a guest.)

Most black people saw Imus as an irresponsible white man ...   more »