-
-
Alaskan leaders say they weren’t contacted : National : The Buffalo News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — John McCain’s presidential campaign did not talk with the Alaska House speaker and other leading Republicans before McCain tapped Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
The low-profile vetting allowed McCain to spring Palin onto the national scene uncolored by media scrutiny. But it has left the campaign open to criticism that McCain did not fully explore her qualifications.
“I haven’t heard of anybody being contacted, not that that’s bad,” said John Harris, speaker of the state House of Representatives. “I just haven’t heard of anybody.”
State Senate President Lyda Green and GOP chairman Randy Ruedrich said no one called them in advance to talk about the governor.
“I’ve not heard of one person who was talked to,” said Green, who lives in Palin’s hometown of Wasilla and has feuded with the governor.
Palin also has had a rocky relationship with Ruedrich, whom she tried to oust as party chairman.
The subject is now closed, said McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. “Gov. Palin was fully vetted as previously described, and we are no longer commenting on the vetting process,” Bounds said. “She was selected, is qualified and is ready to serve.”
Attorney Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., who led the review, told the Associated Press that Palin underwent a “full and complete” examination.
Culvahouse said Palin’s review, like others, began with two dozen people sifting through information from public sources: speeches, financial records, tax information, litigation, investigations, ethical charges, marriages and divorces.
The team also studied online archives of the state’s largest newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News.
Palin answered a personal data questionnaire with 70 “very intrusive” questions, Culvahouse said, and was asked to submit years of tax returns. Culvahouse conducted a lengthy interview. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — John McCain’s presidential campaign did not talk with the Alaska House speaker and other leading Republicans ... more -
RNC: Giuliani
Former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani addresses the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
-
The Republican energy drill
ANP: Republicans are blaming Democrats' resistance to expanded domestic oil drilling for high gas prices.
American News Project: Energy is currently the most debated issue on Capitol Hill, and Republicans in Congress have seized the moment to stage a political coup, blaming Democratic resistance to expanded domestic oil drilling for high gas prices. Democrats have started to cave to some of the pressure. But would more drilling help anytime soon? ANP: Republicans are blaming Democrats' resistance to expanded domestic oil drilling for high gas prices. ... more -
Shocker: iPhone 3G Sometimes Faster, Stronger, Better in Ad Than In Real Life
Hey, did you know that advertising misleads you? Like, products might not perform as exceptionally, look as hot or taste as yummy as they do in slickly produced ads? The iPhone 3G not cruising the internets as briskly as Apple's ads depict might be a big bucket of "duh," but this comparison video shows just how stark the contrast is.
While Apple never promises your real world experience will be the same (your mileage may vary, depending on network congestion and coverage, for instance) it is sorta misleading, zooming past even our benchmarks, indicating it's at least on Wi-Fi, even though the ad is ostensibly talking about its 3G connection. Like, it would trick my mom, and that's not cool. Hey, did you know that advertising misleads you? Like, products might not perform as exceptionally, look as hot or taste as yummy as t... more -
She's talking about Monsanto, but it's not talking to her
Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin.
The American biotechnology and herbicide-producing giant wouldn't co-operate with Robin in her three years researching her highly critical documentary The World According to Monsanto and her accompanying, French-language bestseller (with an English translation on the way).
Now that her film is being shown in more and more countries, and advocacy groups are featuring clips of the documentary on their websites, Monsanto still hasn't called Robin.
To many viewers, the company's "no comment" may appear to be damning in itself, given the litany of accusations made against Monsanto by farmers, scientists, watchdog groups, health and agriculture advocates.
Googling for seeds of truth
The documentary shows farmers alleging that Monsanto - a leader in developing genetically modified seed and herbicides - has pitted farmer against farmer, encouraging them to rat on anyone suspected of not buying new Monsanto seed each year. It shows agricultural experts alleging genetically modified corn has invaded indigenous Mexican corn, with monstrous varieties being found. And advocates in India alleging that cotton farmers sometimes commit suicide owing to their dependence on genetically modified crops and the risk of low harvests. The list of accusations goes on.
A spokeswoman from Monsanto Canada, however, did respond to calls for this article. "Any of the allegations that have been made in the movie have been responded to publicly on our website," spokeswoman Trish Jordan said. A segment on the company's website labelled For the Record, she explained, "basically responds to some of the common allegations that are dredged up by activists. And I think that would probably give you our position on most, if not everything, in her documentary."
The film does refer to the website, and the explanations used by Monsanto in response to various criticisms.
Still, Robin said she was astonished by what she found when making the film. "Yes, I was very surprised. It's very difficult to understand how they manage - what they called in the U.S. the revolving door," she said. By this, she means the way in which government officials and elected leaders have often worked for corporations such as Monsanto, only to later pass regulations while in office favouring their former employers.
It was also difficult to get people to talk. "It's very difficult," Robin said, whether officials within regulatory agencies, scientists or other journalists. She said that one regulatory insider told her they didn't want to have any problems with the company, since it's so powerful.
The World According to Monsanto is as disturbing as any Hollywood thriller. Robin's next documentaries will likely be just as heavy, with a film on the U.S. military's use of what many see as torture during interrogations and a documentary on environmental causes of cancer.
So what drives Robin to investigate such dire topics?
"I have three daughters at home," she said, "and I think when I'm doing this kind of documentary, it's for my daughters. ... With what's going on with GMOs [genetically modified organisms] and what it means, in 20 years, if we don't react, it's very worrisome."
Aug.1,2008 Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin. ... more -
War Video Warning:Graphic
7 years!
I have gathered an exhibition of graphic and bloody videos. 30 in all.
I believe you'll find them sickening and hard to watch.
I encourage you to view as many as possible go gain insight into the issue I'm presenting.
Watch and learn about the reality of war.
Barack Obama and John McCain want this to continue...
How can anyone see the sense or goodness in this.
Please add any links you have.
Let others know your thoughts by commenting below. 7 years! I have gathered an exhibition of graphic and bloody videos. 30 in all. ... more -
Elephants at Risk Again
UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING
GENEVA, SWTIZERLAND, July 15, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The illegal black market in ‘white gold’ seems ready to cause parts of Africa to run red with elephant blood once more after today’s decision by the Standing Committee of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to approve China as a ‘trading partner’ for over 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Many conservationists and wildlife managers have been left stunned and appalled.
“Unbelievable, naïve and deadly,” stated Will Travers CEO of the Born Free Foundation and President of the Species Survival Network. “It was bad enough when Japan was approved as a trading partner more than a year ago but approving China is, in my view, like pouring petrol on an open fire.”
The reasons why China should not have been approved are numerous:
The lack of comprehensive internal law enforcement and trade controls
The steady stream of illegal ivory shipments destined for China.
The increasing involvement of Chinese nationals based in Africa in ivory trafficking
The continued high levels of elephant poaching (estimated to be running at between 20,000 and 25,000 animals a year)
The rising price of ivory (poached Sumatran ivory tusks have reportedly increased in value by 300% since 2005)
The fragile nature of most African elephant populations (only half a dozen or so African countries have robust and significant elephant herds out of a total of 36 countries that are home to the species)
“Now, in addition to all these challenges and threats, we are faced with the prospect of China and Japan bidding against each other for the ivory stockpiles, driving up the price and heightening still further the incentive to poach and smuggle ivory” said Mr Travers, speaking from Geneva where the Standing Committee of CITES is convened. “Furthermore, it will be shocking to many elephant lovers globally to learn that the decision to approve China as a trading partner was supported by WWF amongst others.
Born Free and the SSN have comprehensive records relating to massive and entrenched levels of elephant poaching over the last 10 years. Together with other conservation groups, SSN has consistently argued against any relaxation in the original ivory trade ban approved by CITES in 1989 following a decade when Africa’s elephant population fell by more than 50% from 1.3 million to 600,000. Today, elephant numbers are estimated to hover at around 475,000 – 500,000. Asian elephant numbers stand at a precarious 30,000-40,000 UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING ... more -
Gifted Horses Sold to Slaughter
NewsOk! Report(Video): http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1676369247
Tricky Jazz was a big beauty of a thoroughbred, Patti Deiter said. "His main problem — he was slow.”
So the Tuttle horse breeder and racing enthusiast found another home for the 3-year-old, the same place where several months earlier she had donated another horse — Boys Ranch Town, an Edmond residential boys home associated with Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. On June 20, Deiter's ranch hand dropped off Tricky at the boys home.
It was a move that would set Deiter on a desperate search to save the horse from what Robin Brookins calls the "slaughter pipeline abyss.”
Five days after delivering Tricky to the boys ranch, Deiter mentioned her donation to Brookins, vice president of the newly formed Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program. Brookins told Deiter that often organizations like the boys ranch sell donated horses, and the final stop for many turns out to be a slaughterhouse.
"You better check on him,” Brookins told her.
On June 30, Deiter had her ranch manager, Mike Graham, call the boys ranch to say Deiter had changed her mind, that she wanted the horse back.
Graham was told it was too late, Deiter said. The horse had been sold at an auction in Bristow three days after being left at the boys ranch.
"I was really upset,” Deiter said. "I said, ‘We have to find him.'”
Graham traced the horse to someone that Deiter said was a slaughter buyer located at a sale. The man agreed to sell Tricky to Graham for $500. Deiter paid a ranch hand $300 to pick up the horse, and the two met at a truck stop, where the slaughter buyer turned Tricky over. Deiter gave Tricky to a woman who has a 3,000-acre ranch in Barnsdall.
The incident made Deiter wonder about Rowdy Emblem, a 4-year-old thoroughbred that was the half-brother of Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem. In September, Deiter donated Rowdy, who had been injured during training, to the boys home. In June, Deiter said,
Graham called the boys ranch to check on Rowdy and was told "he went to a new home where they could handle him better.”
‘We were deceived'
After the experience with Tricky, Deiter called Tony Kennedy, president of the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, to ask about Rowdy. Kennedy told her Rowdy had been sold one month after being donated.
"I feel like we were deceived and lied to,” Deiter said.
In an interview, Kennedy said he was "very, very sorry for the misunderstanding” and apologized for any inaccurate information that might have been provided about Rowdy's disposition.
He said the ranch has a form that clearly states that "when they give the horse, it no longer belongs to them.” The ranch can decide how to use the horses to benefit the ranch.
If a donated horse is better than one of the 12 to 15 horses the ranch has, it might be kept, he said. If it is dangerous around children or has other problems, it is sold.
"If it doesn't work out then we market that horse and the money we receive from the sale of the horse is used to support the horse program,” Kennedy said. Horse sales raise $20,000 to $40,000 a year to pay for feed, tack and other expenses at the ranch, he said.
"We do not sell to slaughter houses,” he said. "We sell to individuals, and we sell at public auctions.”... NewsOk! Report(Video): http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1676369247 ... more -
Deception?
Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor star in the new movie, Deception. But is a sex club, a mystery, some action, a few gorgeous women, and two superheros enough to make this film a success? Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor star in the new movie, Deception. But is a sex club, a mystery, some action, a few gorgeous women, and... more
-
The Mainstream Media Is Complicit In This War
In the fall of 2002, week after week, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq in debates televised on MSNBC. I used every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers — no real threat, cost, instability. But as the war neared, my debates were terminated.
In my 2006 book Cable News Confidential, I explained why I lost my airtime:
There was no room for me after MSNBC launched Countdown: Iraq — a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. Countdown: Iraq featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.
It was bad enough to be silenced. Much worse to see that these ex-generals — many working for military corporations — were never in debates, nor asked a tough question by an anchor. (I wasn’t allowed on MSNBC unless balanced by at least one truculent right-winger.)
Except for the brazenness and scope of the Pentagon spin program, I wasn’t shocked by the recent New York Times report exposing how the Pentagon junketed and coached the retired military brass into being “message-force multipliers” and “surrogates” for Donald Rumsfeld’s lethal propaganda.
The biggest villain here is not Rumsfeld or the Pentagon. It’s the TV networks. In the land of the First Amendment, it was their choice to shut down debate and journalism.
No government agency forced MSNBC to repeatedly feature the hawkish generals unopposed. Or fire Phil Donahue. Or smear weapons expert Scott Ritter. Or blacklist former attorney general Ramsey Clark. It was top NBC/MSNBC execs, not the Feds, who imposed a quota system on the Donahue staff requiring two pro-war guests if we booked one anti-war advocate — affirmative action for hawks.
I’m all for a Congressional investigation into the Pentagon’s Iraq propaganda operation — which included an active-duty general exhorting ex-military-turned-paid-pundits that “the strategic target remains our population.”
But I’m also for keeping the focus and onus on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, even NPR — who were partners in the Pentagon’s mission of “information dominance.” And for us to see that American TV news remains so corrupt today that it has hardly mentioned the Times story on the Pentagon’s pundits, which was based on 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents acquired by a successful Times lawsuit.
It’s important to remember that at the same time corporate TV outlets voluntarily abandoned journalistic ethics in the run-up to Iraq, independent media boomed in audience by making totally different journalistic choices. Programs like Democracy Now! featured genuine experts on Iraq who — what a shock! — got the facts right. Independent blogs and websites, propelled by war skepticism, began to soar.
by Jeff Cohen
more at the link In the fall of 2002, week after week, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq in debates televised on MSNBC. I used every possible a... more -
Merck Used Ghostwriters to Draft Rosy Vioxx Studies
Merck used its own ghostwriters to draft articles minimizing risks of its drug Vioxx, then found medical researchers to lend their names to the research, the Wall Street Journal reports. Merck, which pulled the painkiller from shelves four years ago over heart-attack risks, rejects the claims as "misleading." They appear in tomorrow's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“It almost calls into question all legitimate research that’s been conducted by the pharmaceutical industry with the academic physician,” the lead researcher of the JAMA study tells the New York Times. He says the ghostwriting practice is widespread in the industry, and a companion editorial in JAMA calls for immediate changes. Merck used its own ghostwriters to draft articles minimizing risks of its drug Vioxx, then found medical researchers to lend their nam... more -
Man notices hangover, then knife in his back.
A Russian electrician went drinking with a buddy after work, and took the bus home, cooked breakfast, and went to bed before his wife realized he had the handle of a 6” knife sticking out of his back. Apparently the guy got into a drunken argument with his friend who stabbed him in the back, and when the man woke up in his friend's house he went about his business of getting rid of the hangover before noticing anything metallic, blade-like, and six inches long stuck in his back.
The knife didn't hit anything vital to him and so the electrician is fine, and reportedly in good spirits. His friend who stabbed him might face serious changes. The man is quoted as saying: "We were drinking and what doesn't happen when you're drunk?" A Russian electrician went drinking with a buddy after work, and took the bus home, cooked breakfast, and went to bed before his wife ... more -
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?
This is a startling and devastating story about the fact that WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY to FIX OUR FOSSIL FUEL ADDICTION and to stop feeling guilty about one of the most human and healthy things in the world - travel. With these cars, WE COULD REACH ZERO EMISSIONS (by using solar and wind and hydrothermal energy) to fuel them electrically.
Who is the culprit for keeping these cars away from us? - The oil companies and automakers who do not want to live up to standards.
Watch the trailer and please, watch the movie. It's inspiring This is a startling and devastating story about the fact that WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY to FIX OUR FOSSIL FUEL ADDICTION and to stop feel... more
-
related topics
Deception
Contributors (42)
Deception
