Buried evidence--you don't have to read very closely to gather that this reporter is treading very, very lightly upon material that itself treads very lightly upon military influence in American mass media. Anyone who has read the international news in the papers for the last twenty or thirty years already knows that our intelligence services--especially in the branch services intelligence departments--has worked consistently to manipulate news media in foreign countries where Uncle Sam has a strategic or economic interest. Nothing new, right? What's new since Kosovo is that we're doing it here. But now the major papers won't write about it much, if at all. For the sake of quickly moving public opinion before an armed intervention, the Pentagon used a large cast of retired uniforms to spin the message. Normally, however, mainstream (corporate, commercial) media outlets are already message-managed from the inside by former military officers with ongoing intelligence missions.

Fief

On reading Robert Rubin's editorial today, "The Fiscal Delusion," we ought to maintain some semblance of equality--however threadbare--by raising income tax rates on the top 2%. Income taxes are for rich people. Unless we provide basic services, a safety net and oversight, we won't be able to continue to pretend to be a democracy based on equal opportunity for all. Unless the middle class and especially, the rich, want to actively and consciously work to lift up the poor, then we can stop fooling ourselves, tear up the Constitution, and swear allegiance to the Feudal Lord of our choice.

Cliff Evasion Plan

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Sen. Graham Blasts Reports of US-Iran Talks -- News from Antiwar.com

Sen. Graham Blasts Reports of US-Iran Talks

He used to be a voice of moderation when Arlen Specter was around to set a good example to the younger Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now he's off the deep end. He's just become one of the strident, sadly screeching chorus of deadwood in the partisan Congress.

End privately funded elections.

What Can't Be Concealed