Brad Friedman Live Radio Thursday and Friday February 1 & 2, 2007 on 1480 KPHX

Brad Friedman, of www.bradblog.com and www.velvetrevolution.us is coming to Phoenix this week. He's one of the premier activists in the Election Integrity movement, and his blogs serve as invaluable clearinghouses for info.

He's a regular Friday evening (6-7 pm) guest on the Peter B Collins Show, heard 4-7 pm weekdays in Phoenix on Air America Phoenix KPHX 1480 AM (or on www.novamradio.com or www.aaphx.com), and he'll be guest-hosting the show from Phoenix Thursday and Friday, February 1 & 2.

Thurs Feb 1

4-7 pm - PBC Bradcast from the KPHX studio - no room for live audience

Fri Feb 2

4-7 pm - remote Bradcast of the PBC show with a live audience @ Plumbers' hall - 3109 N 24th St - Phoenix, NE corner of 24th St & Earll Dr (2 blks N of Thomas Rd) Google map

$5 "suggested donation" at the door to benefit Election Integrity efforts in Arizona.

Capacity of the hall is 180 - first come, first seated.

Come early, or listen to the broadcast on KPHX 1480 AM (or on www.novamradio.com or www.aaphx.com).

Sponsors:
novaM Radio www.novamradio.com
www.bradblog.com and www.velvetrevolution.us
Arizona Advocacy Network www.azadvocacy.org
Arizona Citizens for Election Reform (ACER) www.aceronline.org
Americans United for Democracy, Integrity and Transparency in elections auditaz.blogspot.com
and of course:
Plumbers Steamfitters & Refrigeration Local #469 www.ualocal469.org

HT -- Randall

Brad will also be doing a segment on Action Point this upcoming Sunday. Topic? Election integrity issues round-up (where we've been, where we are and where we need to go for 2008) and MORE; Brad is a citizen journalist too!

New Year's Show With Greg Palast

As you may have noticed, I am behind on uploading the show archives. Only about 10 behind now (gulp).

The 2006 wrap/2007 projections with Greg Palast show was a lot of fun. Now you too can hear it from the Archives page!

BTW, Greg says we will not invade Iran...but South America, that's a different story?! Hmmmm....

Barbara Boxer Wants Your Opinions On Global Heating Reduction Strategies

I know why Republican wingers hate Barbara Boxer. She gets things DONE!

Republican Bush puts political hacks in place to block regulation protecting YOU. Democrat Boxer asks YOU what you want her to do about the issues Bush wants to block. In this case, global heating.

Next fool that tells me Democrats have "no ideas" gets punched.

Help Set Our Global Warming Agenda!: "Help Set Our Global Warming Agenda

Last year, I promised you that if the voters placed Democrats in charge of the Senate we would see a new agenda in Washington. Instead of sweeping issues like Iraq and global warming under the rug, we would shine the spotlight on them and demand a new direction for our country.

My friends, our day has come. Several colleagues and a variety of experts are testifying before my committee, offering their opinions about the best way Congress can act to tackle global warming. But I want to hear from you, too. As we prepare to take action, now is the time to make your voice heard!

Please prioritize the possible solutions for addressing global warming below -- so I know what solutions are most important to you!"

Just When You Need Environmental Leaders, Bush Gives You Hacks.

Oh THIS is effective democratic government, no? Put POLITICAL HACKS in the way of SCIENTISTS and other informed personnel to reduce effectiveness in protecting human rights, health and safety!!!!

Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation: "President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.

In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats.

The White House said the executive order was not meant to rein in any one agency. But business executives and consumer advocates said the administration was particularly concerned about rules and guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

You do realize of course that Bush's presidential priority is to destroy OSHA and the EPA's ability to regulate his donor-cronies, right?

Global Dimming From Pollution Masking Global Heating From CO2 Gases

If you weren't already worried about global heating, you will be after watching this 49 minute BBC documentary. It seems that particle pollution has been masking CO2 effects. As we reduce pollution, we are increasing global heating! Therefore, we have to act NOW to reduce CO2 gasses. How do we do that? The same way we are taking back the American government and voting integrity from the hands of policy-makers and bureacrats who can't withstand the lure of lobbying dollars. We do it with personal commitment -- one person, family, community and state government -- at a time. Join me on Action Point this upcoming Sunday when I catch up with one man and his family Action Point is following this year and who is doing just that. Sandy Clark, one in the 7500+ member ad hoc group known as the Compact is committed to personally reducing CO2 gas by buying "nothing new" one year at a time. Just in case you are wondering how the world could look if you choose to personally do nothing (not the same as 'buying nothing'), consider this:

Even the most pessimistic forecasts of global warming may now have to be drastically revised upwards. That means a temperature rise of 10°C by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable. That is unless we act urgently to curb our emissions of greenhouse gases.

UPDATE 02-02-2007 Since global heaing is so important that once and for all putting the flat-earth thinkers out of their misery (i.e. exposing their piss-poor reasoning for the industry- sotted propoganda that it is) we need to know who are said industry-sotted propogandists and how they spin.

Find out about one group yourself with this 'response' from (ahem) Shopfloor.com, a website of the National Association of Manufacturers (no conflict of interest there).

Hansen says that as we cut back on pollution, the global dimming will stop and guess what comes next? A whole heckuva lot of warmed over inconvenient truth. It's a kinda warming-cooling-warming thingy. As Ralph Kramden would say, "Hummina, hummina, hummina...." It's enough to make a real scientist go batty.

Well, glad you explained that. Now, let's go shopping...

Yesterday I Was A "Star"

And so what, today I'm chopped liver?

I was a "star" yesterday as reported to me by an Action Point listener, because Firedoglake (FDL) was linked to this site for the streaming of my interview with FDL editor and co-founder of Vaster Books, Jane Hamsher and Marcy Wheeler ("emptywheel") author of Anatomy of Deceit, Vaster's first book release.

Anyway, the interview was fast and I managed to NOT ask Marcy to comment on any specific content of the book, somehow--just skipped it--but maybe that's coz I always feel that when folks read the book they'll know the content so hey, let's take the interview time to get the 'behind-the-scenes' skinny. Like the Star or Inquirer, People or Time, okay any good interview magazine, were there any, geared especially for the blogosphere. Oh, there aren't. Hey--that's why it was my job!

And I did that fairly well. Listen to it here.

For those who DO want a sample of the content, Anatomy of Deceit covers the major characters like Dick Cheney, "Curveball", Judith Miller, Robert Novak, Patrick Fitzgerald and Karl Rove, etc., involved in media leading up to the invasion of Iraq and beyond: what the media did not report or how individual investigators appeared to intentially avoid or leave out or in some cases were not even privy to, specific items of related information.

For example, and one of my favorites, is how Judith Miller breathlessly covers the opening of a water filled Iraqi military operations station (complete with floating dead animals, stench and filth) to find a seventh century Talmud (great human interest--we 'liberated' a Muslim country to save old Hebrew texts). She creates a scene absolutley sounding as if this was the location's first exploration. And voila--in another room they find some documents suggesting uranium connections--oh, and she also leaves out removal of 60 TONS of documents in the days before she arrived. Oops (blush).

Great book. Fun read (I was laughing anyway).

Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the War and Smear a Critic

America (Still) Poised To Strike At Iran

Sometimes this seems like old news--I've been seizing on most news of this type since 2004--am I missing something here? Is this all just saber-rattling?

America Poised To Strike At Irans Nuclear Sites From Bases In Bulgaria And Romania (from Sunday Herald): "PRESIDENT BUSH is preparing to attackIran'snuclearfacilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia.

'American forces could be using their two USAF bases in Bulgaria and one at Romania's Black Sea coast to launch an attack on Iran in April,' the Bulgarian news agency Novinite said.

TheAmericanbuild-upalongthe BlackSea,coupled with the recent positioning of two US aircraft carrier battle groups off the Straits of Hormuz, appears to indicate president Bush has run out of patience with Tehran's nuclear misrepresentation and non-compliance with the UN Security Council's resolution. President Ahmeninejad of Iran has further ratcheted up tension in the region by putting on show his newly purchased state of the art Russian TOR-Ml anti-missile defence system.
continued...

Whether the Bulgarian news report is a tactical feint or a strategic event is hard to gauge at this stage. But, in conjunction with the beefing up of America's Italian bases and the acquisition of anti-missile defence bases in the Czech RepublicandPoland,the Balkan developments seem to indicate a new phase in Bush's global war on terror."

Nancy's Getting Antsy With Bush.

You know, I'm really starting to like Sassy Nancy Pelosi, White House clash over Iraq:

"'The president knows that because the troops are in harm's way, that we won't cut off the resources. That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way,' Pelosi said on ABC's 'Good Morning America.'

When asked whether she thought the president manipulated the deployments to avoid congressional action, Pelosi said she hoped he did not but thought 'he could have told us about it sooner. ... We found out about it as the troops were going in.'"

As a side note, who the heck came up with this "harm's way" phrase anyway? It's so inaccurate, so low key, so--hey--I get it, WRONG!!!

Somebody please coin a more correct term please, like say 'in the ninth ring of hell' or something.

Oh, and this retort:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino retorted that lawmakers are involved in a "sound bite war" against Bush, counter to Democrats' promises of bipartisanship.

"Those particular comments were poisonous," Perino said. "I think questioning the president's motivations and suggesting that he, for some political reason, is rushing troops into harm's way, is not appropriate, it is not correct, and it is unfortunate because we do have troops in harm's way."

Don't you just hate it when the WH hacks take you for a fool? Like Bush's move is not "political" but STRATEGIC; we don't get it, WE'RE TOO STUPID TO BREATH!

Argh.

Hillary/Obama Ticket? Mmmm-mm-mmm-mmmm-good!

Obama praises Hillary, won't discuss VP spot: "Sen. Barack Obama on Monday refused to rule in or out the possibility that he might end up on a 2008 Democratic ticket with Hillary Clinton."

HT - Buzzflash

Global Heating Effects Will Come Sooner, Be Worse, Than Previously Predicted

And this is a "conservative" prediction?!

Sigh...you had your chance with liberals in the 70's. Where is the outrage now?

UK News | The Observer: "Global warming is destined to have a far more destructive and earlier impact than previously estimated, the most authoritative report yet produced on climate change will warn next week.

A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the frequency of devastating storms - like the ones that battered Britain last week - will increase dramatically. Sea levels will rise over the century by around half a metre; snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains; deserts will spread; oceans become acidic, leading to the destruction of coral reefs and atolls; and deadly heatwaves will become more prevalent."

And this...

Karl Rove Federalized Louisianna for Political Gain

Can't we impeach Rove instead?

Politics played role in Katrina: "NEW YORK - Party politics played a role in decisions over whether to take federal control of Louisiana and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA director Michael Brown said Friday.

Some in the White House suggested only Louisiana should be federalized because it was run by a Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Brown told a group of graduate students at a lecture on politics and emergency management at Metropolitan College of New York.

--snip--

'Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,' he said."

HT - Buzzflash

Work Hard, Breath Easy...

Now doesn't this make good sense? New green/labor alliance :

"Organized labor and environmentalists -- engaged in an on-again-off-again flirtation for years -- may finally be getting to third base.

--snip--

Last week, Carl Pope, head of the Sierra Club, and Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union, announced the formation of the Blue/Green Alliance, linking the nation's biggest industrial labor union with the nation's largest environmental organization. Their motto: 'Good jobs, a clean environment, and a safer world.'

'The Blue/Green Alliance is one of the most important initiatives undertaken by the environmental movement in decades,' said Pope at the launch event. Gerard said the creation of good jobs requires sound environmental strategy: 'We cannot have one without the other.' "

"Bush's True War Escalation Strategy - Getting from Iraq to Iran"

Ah, looks more and more like I'm going to win the 2004 bet I made with a friend that before Bush left office, he would attack Iran. On some things I just hate being correct:

The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Bush's True War Escalation Strategy - Getting from Iraq to Iran": "George W. Bush would like people to believe that he has somehow created a 'new plan' - a 'New Way Forward' in Iraq.

Interestingly enough, at least this time, Bush didn't fool anyone. According to the polls, 70 percent of the American people are deeply opposed to the President's recent recycled version of the same never-ending, never-changing plan. But the thing that the American people and, too, the Democratic Congress don't fully realize is that, George W. Bush doesn't care what anybody thinks. President Bush's escalation plan is nothing more than a stalling tactic. However, contrary to popular opinion, the President isn't only delaying the exit from Iraq, so that he can get out of office and leave the mess for the next chump. There is some truth to that, but there is much more to Bush prolonging an exit from Iraq than just his leaving office.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Neocrazies (Neoconservatives) who've created the mess in Iraq, know that the longer they stay there the more difficult it will be to ever get our military out. And not just out of Iraq - out of the Middle East.

They know, too, the one thing that can truly ensure a permanent U.S. military presence in the region would be for it to collapse into near chaos. And that is exactly why the President has chosen to escalate the war. He needs more time to build the case for attacking Iran and thus, making certain that our military remains in the Middle East for decades to come ... or at least the decade or two it will take to extract all the oil."

Let's See, "Chicken Little" or "What Me Worry" on Environmental Systems Collapse (i.e. Global Warming)?

The auto industry is just littered with head-in-the-sand as opposed to head-on-the-spine thinkers it seems. Exxon have anything to do with this?

Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched a fierce attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their "Chicken Little" attitudes to global warming.

His attack is in sharp contrast to the green image that the US car companies have been trying to promote at this year's Detroit motor show.

Mr Jolissaint was speaking at a private breakfast where the chief economists of the "Big Three" US car firms presented their forecasts for auto industry sales this year.

Most of the audience - which was mainly made up of parts suppliers - seemed to nod in agreement with Mr Jolissaint.

Neither Ford's chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, nor General Motors' chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem, who were on the panel with Mr Jolissaint, questioned his assertion.

This report from the Union of Concerned Scientist's tells all about Exxon's behind-the-scenes determination to quell systems collpase thinking. I've got it, let's sue Exxon for the premeditated murder of the planet, shall we?

Finally, a Democrat Taking a Serious Stand Against Bush's Endless Appropriation of Power

This is why two Kennedy's were killed by Republican sympathisers; they had balls.

Stopping the surge - The Boston Globe: "TED KENNEDY thinks George W. Bush is dead wrong on a troop surge for Iraq -- and while some other Democrats have reacted diffidently, he is determined to force the issue.

Today the Massachusetts senator will introduce legislation to prevent the president from increasing US troop levels in Iraq without specific authorization from Congress. And in a speech at the National Press Club one day before the president outlines his new Iraq plans to the nation, Kennedy will take aim at the idea of sending more troops.

'In the election, the American people made it very clear they wanted a change in direction,' Kennedy said in an interview yesterday. 'The president has been going in the wrong direction -- and we are going to do everything we can to get accountability.'

Congress has to act now, Kennedy stresses, because if lawmakers wait, they could be put in the position of voting to cut off funding for additional troops after the administration has already sent them to Iraq -- a difficult vote for any elected official to take."

When is a "surge" not temporary? When George Bush applies it to Iraq.

I interviewed Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop this morning and asked him to help us understand what Bush really means by "surge" and how liberals can effectively tell the real story about Bush's military intentions. Brilliantly, Jeffrey responded with an explanation that you can now read on his site:

FRAMESHOP by Jeffrey Feldman: "By now, most Americans see that everything Bush and his allies tell us about Iraq are attempts to control the debate, rather than good faith efforts at relaying information. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that this week's talk of a 'surge' in U.S. forces in Baghdad is another such attempt at spin. The cover story in Time, for example, tells us that Bush's big 'surge' would in fact just be more of the same cruel tinkering with troop rotations that we associate with Don 'stop gap' Rumsfeld. 20,000 more soldiers in Iraq would really mean that 20,000 less soldiers had been allowed to leave Iraq when their tour was over. 'Sorry, buddy. No going home to the wife and kids. President Bush has just made you part of his surge.' No wonder soldiers serving in Iraq are against the surge.

But besides covering the American public in more White House spin, what is all this 'surge' talk doing to the debate on Iraq?

The answer lies in a word that nobody is discussing: temporary."

Neocons Sending Your Kids to "Sacrifice"--Not Theirs!!!

Wait, weren't the Neocons (now to be read simply as Israeli Zionists) last plan to win the Middle East as touted by this same group (that sent 20-year-olds into strategic roles in Iraq only to fail) and was headed up by Rummy, a total disaster? And now, NOW, they finally have it figured out?

This is the conservative hawk's Vietnam Revenge. Convinced "they" could have won in Vietnam (and look at the consequences of "losing" now--peace--too bad!) they have determined they will not be denied their "endless war" victory this time, and they have the lunatic (yep, I now believe he is certifiable) to carry their plans out.

Americans, we need now to look at having Bush and this Zionist/Neocon fringe group purged from our political system. How do we legally remove a lunatic from office? Not impeachment--simple removal. Think about it...

New Bush Iraq Plan Presented by Neocon Think-Tank Today. Troop Boost will be "Long and Lasting," not a "Surge" | BuzzFlash: "The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) - the think-tank at the heart of the Neocon movement - is holding a presentation today on what should be the foundation of the new Iraq strategy President Bush is expected to unveil next week. Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain will also speak at the event on the topic.

Basically, this is the whole 'surge' thing we've been hearing about. The only problem is that it is not a surge at all; it's a lengthy boost. Frederick Kagan and Jack Keane, the authors of the AEI report, actually wrote an article last month explaining that 'any troop increase must be large and lasting' (a short surge, of course, would 'play into the enemy's hands' and 'virtually ensure defeat').

Looking deeper into the study, the Kagan/Keane strategy is not a plan to move forward so we can leave, it's a plan to start all over again from scratch. They actually advocate abandoning political development and Iraqi forces training to focus solely on what they call 'clear and hold' by American forces of 'critical terrain.' Only then, they say, can we start thinking about transferring control to Iraqis."

For some insight and balance to the Neocon position, check out this article by ex-CIA analyst
Peter W. Dickson.

HT -- BUZZFLASH.