it hasn't worked so well to mesh the short-video-clip culture of the Web with traditional cable news: Current Media, the edgy cable company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, announced Wednesday it has laid off 80 employees in conjunction with a programming shakeup.
According to a release from the company, this shift involves canceling a number of programs, including "Current Tonight," "Current Takeover" and "Current Exposed." Most of the layoffs are in conjunction with those programs.
Additionally, per Wednesday's release: "Current will be shifting away from short-form programming and daily in-house production and towards proven 30-60 minute formats from a multitude of sources, including acquisitions, co-productions, outside studios, as well as Current developed and produced content." So it sounds like there will be a significant amount of new focus on outsourced material rather than more expensive in-house production--and perhaps less of an attempt to compete with well-established, live cable news networks.
Exactly one year ago, Current--headquartered in San Francisco but with many of its production operations in Los Angeles--laid off about 60 people but said that it was also creating about 30 new positions, which left its head count around 410 employees. Current chief operating officer Joanna Drake Earl told CNET News that this year's cuts leave its employee numbers at around 300.
The release said that the cuts were "not the result of a need to cut costs" and that the company would be hiring in areas like talent management, licensing, marketing, and ad sales. It'll also be consolidating its two L.A. facilities into a single new one.
"We've been an extremely innovative company doing lots and lots of different things," Earl said, "but (we've had to ask) what are we doing for our audience, and what shouldn't we be doing."
The company had filed for a $100 million IPO about two years ago but then retracted it amid concerns about the economy. It's repeatedly had to deflect rumors about its viability, like a report early this year that it would be closing its San Francisco headquarters to focus on L.A.
I luv CURRENT SORRY FOR THE BAD NEWSit hasn't worked so well to mesh the short-video-clip culture of the Web with... more
Since 1945, by deed and by example, the US has overthrown 50 governments, including democracies, crushed some 30 liberation movements and supported tyrannies from Egypt to Guatemala (see William Blum's histories). Bombing is apple pie. Having stacked his government with warmongers, Wall Street cronies and polluters from the Bush and Clinton eras, the 45th president is merely upholding tradition. The hearts and minds farce I witnessed in Vietnam is today repeated in villages in Afghanistan and, by proxy, Pakistan, which are Obama's wars.
Liberals say that the United States is once again a "nation of moral ideals", but behind the façade little has changed. With his government of warmongers, Wall Street cronies and polluters from the Bush and Clinton eras, Barack Obama is merely upholding the myths of a divine America.
Mourn On The 4th of July
By John PilgerSince 1945, by deed and by example, the US has overthrown 50 governments, including... more
It is fitting that today’s deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq’s cities coincides with a meeting in Baghdad to auction off some of the country’s largest oil fields to companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and British Petroleum. It is a reminder of the real motives for the 2003 invasion and in whose interests over one million Iraqis and 4,634 American and other Western troops have been killed. The Iraq war was, and continues to be, an imperialist war waged by the American ruling elite for control of oil and geo-strategic advantageOil And The Iraq “Withdrawal”
By James Cogan... more
Robert Fisk's World: The jury is out on the Iranian model of religion and politics
So what of the famous revolution? Was it a return to the basic values of Shia Islam?
Saturday, 27 June 2009
The most nauseous photograph to come out of the Iran tragedy was not the bloodied demonstrators in Tehran, but a Reuters picture of former Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, "fighting back tears" in Washington as he declared that Neda Agha Sultan, the young woman shot dead by Ahmadinejad's thugs a week ago, "was now for ever in my pocket". I bet she is, by God! "I have added her to the list of my daughters," the son of the brutal and merciless late Shah, told the world.Robert Fisk's World: The jury is out on the Iranian model of religion and politics
So... more
New York Times reporter Steven Kinzer in his book All Shah’s Men, reveals how the CIA destabilized and overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. Mosaddeq. How it was done? Here is the transcript of the first few minutes of Kinzer’s interview.
1. STEVEN KINZER: The story of how the C.I.A. overthrew the government of Iran in 1953 is really an object lesson in how easy it is for a rich and powerful country to throw a poor and weak country into chaos.
2. The C.I.A. sent one of its most adept operatives, Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, to Iran with the mission of organizing the overthrow of the government.
3. One reason I was so interested in writing this book is that I have always asked myself, how do you go about overthrowing a government? What do you do? Suppose that you are sent to a country with that mission. What do you do on the first day? How do you start and then what do you do? Well, now I know.
4. Kermit Roosevelt set about trying to create chaos in Iran. He was able to do that very quickly by a series of means.
5. The first thing he did was, he started bribing members of parliament and leaders of small political parties that were a part of Mosaddeq’s political coalition. Pretty soon the public started to see the Mosaddeq’s coalition splitting apart and people denouncing him on the floor of parliament.
6. The next thing Roosevelt did was start bribing newspaper editors, owners and columnists and reporters. Within a couple of weeks, he had 80% of the newspapers in Tehran on his payroll and they were grinding out every kind of lie attacking Mosaddeq.
7. The next thing Roosevelt did was start bribing religious leaders. Soon, at Friday prayers, the Mullahs were denouncing Mosaddeq as an atheist enemy of Islam.
8. Roosevelt also bribed members of police units and low-ranking military officers to be ready with their units on the crucial day.
9. In what I think was really his master stroke, he hired the leaders of a bunch of street gangs in Tehran, and he used them to help create the impression that the rule of law had totally disintegrated in Iran. He actually at one point hired a gang to run through the streets of Tehran, beating up any pedestrian they found, breaking shop windows, firing their guns into mosques, and yelling—“We love Mosaddeq and communism.” This would naturally turn any decent citizen against him.
10. He didn’t stop there. He hired a second mob to attack the first mob, to give people the impression that there was no police presence and order had completely disintegrated. So, within just a few weeks, this one agent operating with a large sum of cash and a network of contacts and various elements of society, had taken what was a fairly stable country and thrown it into complete upheaval.
As you see the parliament was no longer a legitimate parliament. Everyone had become a fifth column. While Roosevelt had remained in the shadow, Mosaddeq knew that the integrity of the parliament and the press had been undermined. How could people who supported him start all of a sudden attacking him? Would an election in such time been legitimate? Was the parliament legitimate? Mosaddeq was a patiort and he did the right thing.
Therefore comparing Dr. Mosaddeq with Hussni Mubarak and Indira Gandhi betrays the lack of knowledge of the subject about which Dr. Klinghoffer opines.
With orders now having been given to the Islamic Republic's security forces to use maximum force the demonstrators will have no choice but to get armed in order to defend themselves and their compatriots who are fighting for their basic rights - their human rights - which this terrorist and anti-Iranian regime has denied them since its inception 30 years ago.
Despite the bloodshed and violence the demonstrations keep growing larger as people find the courage to fight back against the people who are suppressing them and killing their compatriots.
Two of the notable slogans heard on the streets of Iran today are:
DEATH TO THE DICTATOR!
I WILL KILL WHOEVER KILLED MY BROTHER!
==================================With orders now having been given to the Islamic Republic's security forces to use... more
Murder On The Streets Of Tehran
Basij Shots to Death a Young Woman
Video
At 19:05 June 20th - Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. - Warning - Video should only be viewed by a mature audience. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22876.htmMurder On The Streets Of Tehran
Basij Shots to Death a Young Woman
Video
At 19:05... more
From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange, which contained large quantities of Dioxin, in order to defoliate the trees for military objectives. Dioxin is one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. It has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen (causes cancer) and by the American Academy of Medicine as a teratogen (causes birth defects).
Between 2.5 and 4.8 million people were exposed to Agent Orange. 1.4 billion hectares of land and forest - approximately 12 percent of the land area of Vietnam - were sprayed.
The Vietnamese who were exposed to the chemical have suffered from cancer, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases, defects to reproductive capacity, and skin and nervous disorders. Children and grandchildren of those exposed have severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases, and shortened life spans. The forests and jungles in large parts of southern Vietnam have been devastated and denuded. They may never grow back and if they do, it will take 50 to 200 years to regenerate. Animals that inhabited the forests and jungles have become extinct, disrupting the communities that depended on them. The rivers and underground water in some areas have also been contaminated. Erosion and desertification will change the environment, contributing to the warming of the planet and dislocation of crop and animal life.
The U.S. government and the chemFrom 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange, which... more
No one should be surprised or even raise an eyebrow over Netanyahu’s speech this past Saturday regarding his policies with the Palestinians. True to his cunning nature, Netanyahu played the semantics game by appearing to be accepting the ‘Palestinian state” as declared by President Obama in his Cairo speech. In actuality, Netanyahu accepted a resemblance of state or a virtual state within the Israeli illegal occupation system that will function more like a Zulu state in former South Africa Apartheid state.No one should be surprised or even raise an eyebrow over Netanyahu’s speech this... more
The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election.
The corporation said television and radio services had been affected from 1245 GMT Friday onwards by "heavy electronic jamming" which had become "progressively worse".
Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, it said.
The satellites its uses in the Middle East to broadcast BBC Persian television to Iran were being affected, meaning that audiences in Iran, the Middle East and Europe would likely experience disruption.
BBC Arabic television and other language services had also experienced transmission problems, the corporation said.
"Any attempt to block BBC Persian television is wrong and against international treaties on satellite communication. Whoever is attempting the blocking should stop it now," said BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks.
"It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election.
"In Tehran, (BBC world affairs editor) John Simpson and his cameraman were briefly arrested after they had filmed material for a piece," he added.
Iranian authorities on Sunday shut down the office of Arab news channel Al-Arabiya in Tehran for a week in the wake of the disputed election win by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the channel said.
BBC Persian, launched in 1940, is one of the corporation's oldest non-English language services.The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being... more
The report included what appears to be a spectacular revelation from "a senior allied intelligence official" that a collection of intelligence documents supposedly obtained by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from an Iranian laptop computer includes "blueprints for a nuclear warhead".Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel
Analysis by Gareth Porter
The... more
For over 40 years, US presidents have nodded and winked at Israeli settlement expansion. Not Barack Obama
Putting the squeeze on Israel's settlements
For over 40 years, US presidents have nodded and winked at Israeli settlement expansion. Not Barack Obama
Putting the squeeze on Israel's settlements
For over 40 years, US presidents have nodded and winked at Israeli settlement expansion. Not Barack Obama
Why do I get the impression that this is yet another example of the disappearing Palestinians? Why did Obama bother to have a meeting with Abbas if no one in the US media has any interest in anything he thinks? Admittedly, the Israelis have done their best to render Abbas impotent and politically irrelevant, which may explain part of the reason there was so little to report from this event.
At any rate, the same article did contain lots of interesting information – about the US approach to settlements. The Israelis are finding themselves like prey caught by a boa constrictor. Over time, there is less and less breathing room concerning settlements. Obama is shutting off every "out" that Israelis have been used to enjoying from previous administrations. For a peace advocate like myself, the process is a miracle to behold:
----------------Putting the squeeze on Israel's settlements
For over 40 years, US presidents have... more
One can only react with horror. Contained in the stories and images of the torture of defenseless prisoners, some of them boys and women, is the true face of US imperialism, which finds no crime beneath its dignity in its effort to subjugate Iraq and Afghanistan.
White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report
White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report
Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk,
------------
Gibbs twice more criticised the British press. "I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you're not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other," he said, adding, "I hate to lend any more credibility to nonfactual reports."
----------
The White House has taken a swipe at the British press in an effort to fend off questions about photographs that reportedly show US soldiers in Iraq raping and sexually abusing prisoners.
At the daily White House press briefing, spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked to comment on a report in yesterday's Telegraph that quoted a retired American general describing shocking details of photographs from US detention facilities in Iraq, which President Barack Obama has declined to release to the public.
"If I wanted to read a write-up today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League cup, I might open up a British newspaper," Gibbs said. "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not sure it would be the first stack of clips I picked up."
The Telegraph quoted retired Major General Antonio Taguba, who investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, as saying that the unreleased photos "show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency" committed on prisoners in US custody.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Telegraph "completely mischaracterised the images", and said "none of the photos in question depict the images that are described in that article".
Gibbs twice more criticised the British press. "I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you're not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other," he said, adding, "I hate to lend any more credibility to nonfactual reports."White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report... more
yOU CAN ALL READ THIS BOOK ON HERE AND YOU CAN ALL USE IT TO DEBATE AGAINST THE ENORMOUS PROPAGANDA IN OUR MEDIA, AND ON CURRENT.COM
=================
THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
John J. Mearsheimer
Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
Stephen M. Walt
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
March 2006 RWP06‐011
----
The two authors of this Working Paper are solely responsible for the views expressed in it. As academic institutions, Harvard University and the University of Chicago do not take positions on the scholarship of individual faculty, and this article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution.
An edited and reworked version of this paper was published in the
London Review of Books Vol. 28, No. 6 (March 23, 2006), and is available online at www.lrb.co.uk
THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
U.S. foreign policy shapes events in every corner of the globe. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East, a region of recurring instability and enormous strategic importance. Most recently, the Bush Administration's attempt to transform the region into a community of democracies has helped produce a resilient insurgency in Iraq, a sharp rise in world oil prices, and terrorist bombings in Madrid, London, and Amman. With so much at stake for so many, all countries need to understand the forces that drive U.S. Middle East policy.
The U.S. national interest should be the primary object of American foreign policy. For the past several decades, however, and especially since the Six Day War in 1967, the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering U.S. support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardized U.S. security.
This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the United States been willing to set aside its own security in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries is based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives. As we show below, however, neither of those explanations can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel.
Instead, the overall thrust of U.S. policy in the region is due almost entirely to U
continuedTHE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
yOU CAN ALL READ THIS BOOK ON HERE... more
Amazing stuff is happening in France. It all began with a relatively well-known French-Cameroonian comedian,Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was invited to participate on a TV show on the channel France 3. The show also featured a Maghrebian artist and Dieudonne decided to impersonate an extremist Israeli settled infuriated by the presence of an Arab on a French show (for those of you who understand French, you can see an excerpt of his appearance that day here).
Dieudonne who, in the past, had always enjoyed ridiculing pretty much every segment of French society clearly had never expected the hysterical uproar that his humor would trigger that day: the huge constellation of French Zionists organizations lead by the notorious CRIF (”Representative Committee of Jewish organization in France” - the French version of AIPAC) immediately attacked Dieudonne, suing him for racists comments and suing him for “anti-Semitism” (a criminal offense in France). This was hardly the first time that the French Zionist mob had decided to crush an outspoken critic of its role in French politics or its unconditional support for the last racist state on the planet: Israel.
More at linkAmazing stuff is happening in France. It all began with a relatively well-known... more
Everything you know about Iran is wrong, or at least more complicated than you think. Take the bomb. The regime wants to be a nuclear power but could well be happy with a peaceful civilian program (which could make the challenge it poses more complex). What's the evidence?Iran: They May Not Want The Bomb
And other unexpected truths.
By Fareed Zakaria... more
Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters revealed in the photographs.
Tales of Murder and Torture
The latest chapter in reporter Olivia Rousset's Abu Ghraib revelations. Three weeks ago on Dateline, Olivia revealed new evidence of horrific abuse at Abu Ghraib.
On the link above you can read the full transcript of the interview.....I suggest you read it, copy it, and mail it to everyone on your mailing list.
On a recent trip to the US, Olivia managed to track down two former Abu Ghraib guards - one who served time for committing abuses against Iraqi detainees and another who witnessed those shocking events. It's no small irony that both of these former US military policemen now see themselves as being among the victims of Abu Ghraib. Here's Olivia's story. And, as you would expect with this sort of report, be warned - some of what you're about to see is not exactly pretty and could even offend.
Broadcast - -Dateline - SBS Australia 03/08/06Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters... more
Tortured To Death?
US Interrogators Have Killed Dozens
By John Byrne
May 07, 2009 "Raw Story" -- -United States interrogators killed nearly four dozen detainees during or after their interrogations, according a report published by a human rights researcher based on a Human Rights First report and followup investigations.
In all, 98 detainees have died while in US hands. Thirty-four homicides have been identified, with at least eight detainees — and as many as 12 — having been tortured to death, according to a 2006 Human Rights First report that underwrites the researcher’s posting. The causes of 48 more deaths remain uncertain.
The researcher, John Sifton, worked for five years for Human Rights Watch. In a posting Tuesday, he documents myriad cases of detainees who died at the hands of their US interrogators. Some of the instances he cites are graphic.
Most of those taken captive were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. They include at least one Afghani soldier, Jamal Naseer, who was mistakenly arrested in 2004. “Those arrested with Naseer later said that during interrogations U.S. personnel punched and kicked them, hung them upside down, and hit them with sticks or cables,” Sifton writes. “Some said they were doused with cold water and forced to lie in the snow. Nasser collapsed about two weeks after the arrest, complaining of stomach pain, probably an internal hemorrhage.”
Another Afghan killing occurred in 2002. Mohammad Sayari was killed by four U.S. servicemembers after being detained for allegedly “following their movements.” A Pentagon document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2005 said that the Defense Department found a captain and three sergeants had “murdered” Sayari, but the section dealing with the department’s probe was redacted.Tortured To Death?
Tortured To Death?
US Interrogators Have Killed Dozens... more
May 08, 2009 "The Independent" -- Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.
When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It's the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the "terrorists". Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.
But it was a sign of just how terrible the Afghan slaughter was that the powerless President Hamid Karzai sounded like a beacon of goodness yesterday appealing for "a higher platform of morality" in waging war, that we should conduct war as "better human beings".
And of course, the reason is quite simple. We live, they die. We don't risk our brave lads on the ground - not for civilians. Not for anything. Fire phosphorus shells into Fallujah. Fire tank shells into Najaf. We know we kill the innocent. Israel does exactly the same. It said the same after its allies massacred 1,700 at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in 1982 and in the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Lebanon in 2006 and after the death of more than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza this year.
And if we kill some gunmen at the same time - "terrorists", of course - then it is the same old "human shield" tactic and ultimately the "terrorists" are to blame. Our military tactics are now fully aligned with Israel.Civilians Pay Price of War from Above
Civilians Pay Price of War from Above... more
