Media Reform and Economic Injustice

By Michael Winship
June 13, 2008

Last weekend’s National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis was a freewheeling, articulate, committed gathering of activists, policy wonks and everyday citizens dedicated to the idea that there can be no real democracy without a media democracy – independent reporting from diverse communities free of the interference and spin of government and big business.

Perhaps nowhere else can you witness an FCC commissioner like Michael Copps get a rock star standing ovation worthy of Mick Jagger or hear the words, “Common carrier rules are hot!”

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GOP Congressman Hypes Iran Threat

By TheRealNews.com
June 13, 2008

In an emotionally loaded speech before AIPAC, Congressman Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, envisioned a doomsday scenario, justifying increased military presence in the Middle East.

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The Republic on a Knife's Edge

By Robert Parry
June 13, 2008

There are two ways of looking at the landmark 5-4 Supreme Court decision recognizing the habeas corpus rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: As a stirring victory for individual liberty over collective fear – or as a reminder that the one more right-wing justice could make George W. Bush’s imperial presidency “constitutional.”

At the heart of the June 12 decision was the majority’s recognition that President Bush and his political allies have been playing games with the Constitution by turning Guantanamo into a legal black hole for the indefinite imprisonment (or kangaroo-court trials) of people Bush deems “unlawful enemy combatants.”

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Does Obama Truly Stand for 'Change'?

By TheRealNews.com
June 12, 2008

So what are the differences and similarities between Barack Obama and John McCain?

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Ron Paul, Others Urge Talks with Iran.

By TheRealNews.com
June 12, 2008

A diverse group of politicians, including Barbara Lee, Ron Paul and Lynn Woolsey, gathered in Washington on Tuesday along with activists and other citizens for "Time to Talk with Iran," an event and press conference held by the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran.

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McCain Makes Stuff Up

By Robert Parry
June 12, 2008

For years now, the U.S. political press corps has traveled with John McCain on his “Straight Talk Express,” buying into his image as a paragon of truth-telling. But the real truth is that McCain routinely makes stuff up, as he did on June 11 in lying about Barack Obama’s “bitter” comment.

During a political talk in Philadelphia, McCain claimed that Obama had described “bitter” small-town voters as clinging to religion or “the Constitution” – when the second item in Obama’s comment actually was “guns.”

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Jail Time for Tenet?

By Ray McGovern
June 11, 2008

President George W. Bush used to complain that being president was “hard work,” but he has gotten over that. Now he says it “has been a fabulous experience.”

Why fabulous? Well, a good part of it has to do with his past.

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WPost's Enduring Bush Cover-up

By Robert Parry
June 10, 2008

In a kind of Watergate in reverse, the Washington Post has rallied once again to defend George W. Bush’s honesty, with the paper’s editorial-page editor swatting away the latest swarm of evidence showing how the President took the nation to war in Iraq via a series of lies.

Much as the rival Washington Star in the 1970s let itself be used by Richard Nixon to muddy the Watergate waters – obscuring the mounting evidence of his guilt – now Washington Post editor Fred Hiatt and the newspaper’s hierarchy have lent themselves to the task of covering up Bush’s deceptions about the Iraq War.

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Abramoff Had Closer Ties to Bush

By Jason Leopold
June 10, 2008

Imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff was photographed with President George W. Bush at least five times and had hundreds of lobbying contacts with White House staff, a House committee’s draft report says.

Hundreds of pages of documents, released Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, show that Abramoff regularly communicated with former White House political adviser Karl Rove and his deputies regarding the administration’s domestic agenda.

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Make No Mistake: McCain's a Neocon

By Robert Parry
June 8, 2008

Since clinching the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain has sought to hide the forest of his neoconservative alignment with George W. Bush amid the trees of details, such as stressing differences over military tactics used in Iraq.

But the larger reality should be clear: McCain is a hard-line neoconservative who buys into Bush’s “preemptive war” theories abroad and his concept of an all-powerful “unitary executive” at home.

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Has Obama Moved Right on Israel?

By TheRealNews.com
June 6, 2008

In his speech to AIPAC, Sen. Barack Obama tilted to the right on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, blurring past policy differences with President George W. Bush, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton.

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