tagged w/ Liberty & Freedom
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September 24, 2008
By JACKIE CALMES and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON — One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.
The disclosure undercuts a statement by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.
Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.
They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis & Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.
Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafortfor the presidential campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis & Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.
A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/w24davis.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=sloginSeptember 24, 2008
By JACKIE CALMES and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON... more
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Michael Isikoff
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 23, 2008 | Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET Sep 23, 2008
Since 2006, the federally sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac has paid at least $345,000 to the lobbying and consulting firm of John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement.
Freddie Mac had previously paid an advocacy group run by Davis, called the Homeownership Alliance, $30,000 a month until the end of 2005, when that group was dissolved. That relationship was the subject of a New York Times story Monday, which drew angry denunciations from the McCain campaign. McCain and his aides have vehemently objected to suggestions that Davis has ties to Freddie Mac—an especially sensitive issue given that the Republican presidential candidate has blamed "the lobbyists, politicians and bureaucrats" for the mortgage crisis that recently prompted the Bush administration to take over both Freddie Mac and its companion, Fannie Mae, and put them under federal conservatorship.
But neither the Times story—nor the McCain campaign—revealed that Davis's lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, based in Washington, D.C., continued to receive $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month—long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated. The two sources, who requested anonymity discussing sensitive information, told NEWSWEEK that Davis himself approached Freddie Mac in 2006 and asked for a new consulting arrangement that would allow his firm to continue to be paid. The arrangement was approved by Hollis McLoughlin, Freddie Mac's senior vice president for external relations, because "he [Davis] was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no," said one of the sources. [McLoughlin did not return phone calls]. Michael Isikoff
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 23, 2008 | Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET Sep 23,... more
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McCain's best buddies
Wherever oil is drilled corruption, tyranny and ecological devastation follows and the oil companies and their allies in Washington DC grease the wheels.
"They're looking for a stable regime so they can do their business."
Americans who think this doesn't effect them should take note as the media pumps up the demand to drill for oil in Alaska and off the coasts of California and Florida and extract gas from New York State.
Keeping these issues off the radar is one of the things that keeps the game going.
There is an alternative:
Why gasoline never was and is not now necessary to power motor vehicles
please visit link for videos http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/427.html McCain's best buddies
Wherever oil is drilled corruption, tyranny and... more
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Watch a 6 minute preview of the acclaimed documentary "Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop." It's the story of married filmmakers Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes as they drive 13,000 miles across America's backroads to document the growing insurgency against corporate retail. For more information, go to http://www.independentamerica.netWatch a 6 minute preview of the acclaimed documentary "Independent America: The... more
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http://www.walmartmovie.com/
What are the low prices of Walmart costing not only America, but the entire world?
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is the documentary film sensation that's changing the largest company on earth. The film features the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to survive in a Wal-Mart world. It's an emotional journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop.
Released simultaneously in theaters and DVD in November 2005, the film has been seen by millions worldwide. Families, churches, schools, and small busineses owners have screened the film over 10,000 times and the world is taking notice. See the film, share it, and become part of the movement forcing companies to act responsibly.
http://www.walmartmovie.com/
What are the low prices of Walmart costing not... more
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Cubicle Mercenaries, Subcontracting Warriors, and Other Phenomena of a Privatizing Pentagon
By Frida Berrigan
Seven years into George W. Bush's Global War on Terror, the Pentagon is embroiled in two big wars, a potentially explosive war of words with Tehran, and numerous smaller conflicts – and it is leaning ever more heavily on private military contractors to get by.
Once upon a time, soldiers did more than pick up a gun. They picked up trash. They cut hair and delivered mail. They fixed airplanes and inflated truck tires.
Not anymore. All of those tasks are now the responsibility of private military corporations. In the service of the Pentagon, their employees also man computers, write software code, create integrating systems, train technicians, manufacture and service high-tech weapons, market munitions, and interpret satellite images.
People in ties or heels, not berets or fatigues, today translate documents, collect intelligence, interpret for soldiers and interrogators, approve contracts, draft reports to Congress, and provide oversight for other private contractors. They also fill prescriptions, fit prosthetics, and arrange for physical therapy and psychiatric care. Top to bottom, the Pentagon's war machine is no longer just driven by, but staffed by, corporations.
Consider the following: In fiscal year 2005 (the last year for which full data is available), the Pentagon spent more contracting for services with private companies than on supplies and equipment -- including major weapons systems. This figure has been steadily rising over the past 10 years. According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, in the last decade the amount the Pentagon has paid out to private companies for services has increased by 78% in real terms. In fiscal year 2006, those services contracts totaled more than $151 billion.
Ever more frequently, we hear generals and politicians alike bemoan the state of the military. Their conclusion: The wear and tear of the President's Global War on Terror has pushed the military to the breaking point. But private contractors are playing a different tune. Think of it this way: While the military cannot stay properly supplied, its suppliers are racking up contracts in the multi-billions. For them, it's a matter of letting the good times roll.
What a Difference a War Makes
Cubicle Mercenaries, Subcontracting Warriors, and Other Phenomena of a Privatizing... more
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If a key Indicator of the Health of a Democracy is the State of its
Journalism, the United States is in Deep Trouble. In Rich Media, Poor
Democracy, Robert more...McChesney lays the Blame for this State of Affairs
Squarely at the Doors of the Corporate Boardrooms of Big Media, which
far from Delivering on Their Promises of More Choice and More Diversity,
have Organized a System Characterized by a LACK of COMPETITION,
Homogenization of Opinion and Formulaic PROGRAMMING.
Through numerous examples, McChesney, and media scholar,
Mark Crispin Miller, demonstrate how journalism has been compromised
by the corporate bosses of conglomerates such as Disney, Sony,
Viacom, News Corp, and AOL Time Warner to produce a system of
news that is high on sensationalism and low on information. They
suggest that unless citizen activism can reclaim the commons, this
New Corporate System will be characterized by a rich media and an
ever impoverished, Poor Democracy.
A lot (most all) people do not realize that most of the "News" you see
was Paid for You to See. (because if it's on TV, it must be so, right!?)
"They didn't say anything about Enron & Friend$ until the LAST Second"
(as this said)- Very True.
Well, Look@Their Friend$- The Ones in 'Control'.
Important Documentary; These guys are wonderfully insightful, and to
the point, Wake Up America!!
(See Also) George Orwell Rolls in His Grave.
“They always say that time changes things, but You actually have
to Change them Yourself.” - Andy Warhol
People of Earth... Think globally, act locally, conserve digitally.
"We the People"..on Bush regime True Policies. i.e. Patriot Act II
The factory is where we create new things. Sometimes making
things mean breaking down walls.
@ http://rescue.media.org/mission.html
Media.org is a collective of Artists/Architects, Netizens fueled by a
Passion for the Potential of the Internet medium. We run a Factory,
Refurbish and Rescue old Data for our Museum, and Engage in periodic
Culture Jam sessions. We have also been known to voice our opinion
on Issues we feel strongly about.
The medium is NOT the message.
((28th President of the United States - Woodrow Wilson- (1913-1921).
Prior to the Passage of - (The Federal Reserve Act 1913-))
"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me
privately. Some of the biggest men in the U. S., in the field of commerce
and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something.
They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so
watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better
not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." less If a key Indicator of the Health of a Democracy is the State of its
Journalism,... more
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Puppy Mill Awareness Day celebrates its 5th anniversary
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Ron Paul voters; Nader voters; Barr voters; McKinney voters; it's time to embrace logic and deny McCain power by voting Obama.
We love our country and our liberty.... the "right" just socialized Wall Street again... and it's taking away our futures and our grandkids' money... we are all... who have brains in our heads... pissed off about this stuff. The problem with libertarian & green party logic is that, while it is beneficial in the long run, it does us no good in the short term. And things need some immediate attention! Sometimes we have to make short term corrections for our long term health.
It is also true that while those votes for Barr, Paul ... Nader... McKinney... can really register a resounding "Protest", they most certainly help John McCain... because they are a vote for change from the Lesses Fair Crowd that has been deregulating everything for 30 years.
Perhaps we should acknowledge together that both parties have indulged in Empire and crimes around the globe... but lets get real... PARTIES are ARTIFICIAL constructions... what we really have here is LIBERTY and the HUMAN BEINGS who *do good* with it and those that *do HARM.* Right now the ones that do the MOST HARM are allied with the ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCT called the REPUBLICAN party.
So *we the people* sent money to the guy who was NOT Hillary Clinton(Family Dynasty)...and seemed like he could win.
Barack Obama.
And he is far more answerable to us than Phil Gramm's collection of Wall Street Golden Shower...er parachute ... fat cats.
That's logic we can TAKE ACTION on... and see results in the next couple of years instead of the next couple of decades.
We will have lots of protesting and work to do regardless... but it will be much easier and less bloody.
Then we can get back to disagreeing about socialism.Ron Paul voters; Nader voters; Barr voters; McKinney voters; it's time to embrace... more
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The US news media is fascinated by the Kennedys.
Fascinated with smearing them, fascinating with sensationalizing them, fascinated with the process of making them disappear.
How often have you seen Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on mainstream TV news?
Not very often.
This video shows why.
The US news media has always been seriously
compromised.
But in the last twenty years, things have declined
to a level that's practically beyond belief.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explains how we got where
we are - and some of the consequences:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/326.html
The US news media is fascinated by the Kennedys.
Fascinated with smearing them,... more
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By Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin
Big Brother and Big Bird
When it comes to securing the homeland, who better to help you sleep at night than various characters from the popular children’s show, “Sesame Street" ... ?!?
Seriously.
In a move that will make Bush administration detractors bring back those duct tape jokes again, the Department of Homeland Security has partnered up with the famous children’s show.
As you can imagine, the partnership is aimed at children, and seeks to encourage family preparedness plans in the case of emergencies.
By Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin
Big Brother and Big Bird
When it comes to... more
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Nick Juliano
Published: Wednesday September 17, 2008
The Bush administration's practice of relying on classified legal "opinions" from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Council to reinterpret laws to mean whatever the president needs them to mean has produced such gems as "extraordinary rendition" and "enhanced interrogation."
With George W. Bush just a few short months from returning to his Texas ranch full time, two Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would prevent the White House's next occupant from engaging in similar efforts to rewrite the law.
read the entire article @ sourceNick Juliano
Published: Wednesday September 17, 2008
The Bush... more
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By Robert Parry
Fact or fiction?
That the media is "liberal" has become a fact in most people's minds. This development has had profound consequences. It's not an understatement to say it has changed the face of American politics.
Conservatives no longer have to weigh the facts and come to rational conclusions. They no longer have to believe Nixon was a crook, Reagan was an idiot, and George W. Bush was a liar. When the news doesn't fit their worldview, they can blame the liberal media instead of thinking for themselves.
The notion of a "liberal" national news media is one of the most enduring and influential political myths of modern U.S. history. Shaping the behavior of both conservatives and liberals over the past quarter century, the myth could be said to have altered the course of American democracy and led the nation into the dangerous corner it now finds itself.
read more @ http://www.bluecorncomics.com/libmedia.htmBy Robert Parry
Fact or fiction?
That the media is "liberal" has become... more
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This article is by
Jo Becker,
Peter S. Goodman
and Michael Powell.
Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.
When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.
And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?emThis article is by
Jo Becker,
Peter S. Goodman
and Michael Powell.
Gov.... more
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A Robert Greenwald film about corporations in Iraq.
The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq (Blackwater, Halliburton/KBR, CACI and Titan) and the decision makers who allow them to do so.
Brave New Films are both funded and distributed completely outside corporate America. Over 3000 people donated to make Iraq for Sale, and it is up to you to distribute it. Give copies to co-workers and organize a screening in your neighborhood.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HWXOT0/outfoxed-20
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-6621486727392146155&hlA Robert Greenwald film about corporations in Iraq.
The story of what happens to... more
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After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United Nations (backed strongly by the US and UK) imposed harsh sanctions on Iraq that lasted for 10 years (1991-2001); the harsh restrictions on imports of everything, including access to key medicines, resulted in over a million deaths, more than half a million of which were women and children. That's more deaths than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan and 9/11 combined. The purpose was regime change, but it never came. The overwhelming majority of those killed were the poor, elderly, women and children. Empirically, sanctions overwhelmingly punish the poor, the destitute. While the sanctions were in place, the richest people in control of the resources (Saddam Hussein et al.) still had everything they wanted: food, cars, mansions, access to the best medicines, etc. Award-winning journalist John Pilger has documented the reality of UN harsh sanctions in this hard-hitting film.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-1867691819991815704&hlAfter Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United Nations (backed strongly by the US and... more
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Summary: Of the total time Fox News devoted to unfiltered campaign clips between September 5 and September 9, 78 percent was of the Republican candidates and their surrogates, with 22 percent devoted to the Democrats. Moreover, all three cable networks devoted more airtime (significantly more in the cases of Fox News and MSNBC) to, and broadcast a significantly greater number of, clips of the Republican candidates and their surrogates campaigning than of the Democratic candidates and their surrogates on both Fridays after the two national conventions.Summary: Of the total time Fox News devoted to unfiltered campaign clips between... more
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For evidence of how intensely the presidential candidates are battling over women, consider their investment in Oprah Winfrey. After the news programs, "Oprah" is the chief recipient of campaign advertisements this year, with Senator John McCain buying more commercial spots on the program in the last month than Senator Barack Obama - even though Winfrey herself is backing Obama.
Both campaigns are trying to highlight the issues they think will draw more support from women, with Obama emphasizing pay equity and abortion rights and McCain playing up his "maverick" image and raising questions of respect for his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.
The fierce, and complicated, competition for the female vote has been escalated by McCain's vice-presidential selection. Even before Palin joined the ticket, Obama was moving to shore up support from women, especially those who had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
Now Obama campaign officials are stepping up their efforts, and both campaigns are recalibrating pitches to women to navigate cultural forces and policy positions that can give them an advantage.
In particular, they are competing for working-class white women, the group that could be especially pivotal in the states likely to decide the election.For evidence of how intensely the presidential candidates are battling over women,... more
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In this lecture by Michel Chossudovsky, he blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream media, that 9/11 was an attack on America by "Islamic terrorists". Through meticulous research, he has uncovered a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration. According to Chossudovsky, the "war on terrorism" is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The "war on terrorism" is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the "New World Order", dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex. September 11, 2001 provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington's agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the institutions of the Homeland Security StateIn this lecture by Michel Chossudovsky, he blows away the smokescreen put up by the... more
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ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version of the events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony, which directly conflicts with the US Government's account.
Featuring presentations from intellectual heavy weights; Gore Vidal, and Noble Prize winner Dario Fo, the film challenges assumptions surrounding the attacks. In the words of the Italian daily newspaper, Il Corriere de da Sera, "What results is a sequence of contradictions, gaps, and omissions of stunning gravity."
The importance of this film can not be overstated. If its thesis is correct, the justification for going to war in Iraq is built on a series of outrageous lies. ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version... more
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