'GREG PALAST IS DANGEROUS'?

From the "A Little Knowledge is Dangerous" files:

'GREG PALAST IS DANGEROUS': "Investigative Journalist Greg Palast replies to Internet commentary following his Exclusive Report filed here at The BRAD BLOG on Monica Goodling's testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last week, including her admissions concerning 'Vote Caging' by former Karl Rove aide, now Arkansas U.S. Attorney, Tim Griffin.

PALAST: Saturday morning, when most sensible folks were unfurling flags or taking their setters and children for a Memorial Day frisbee toss on the beach, someone using the nom d’puter of “DRATIONAL” was in his big sister’s bedroom furiously typing, “Greg Palast is Dangerous!” on her iMac.

Drat is quite right: I am dangerous, though not for the reasons in Drat’s screed."

Read Palast's response in its entirety at the Bradblog link in first paragraph...

Zealotry Costs Voters Their Rights...

Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting:

"During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article.

Writing as 'Publius,' von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was 'no evidence' that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately.

Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters."

Ted Klaut, Egg Inspector

Male Republicans in positions of power seem to have impulse control problems, no?

Another one bites the dust:

"Former Republican Rep. Ted Klaudt could spend the rest of his life in prison after turning himself in to authorities Friday on felony charges that include eight counts of rape involving foster children and former legislative pages.

Five girls told authorities they were assaulted by Klaudt, court documents state, although charges filed Friday involve only two of the girls.

Four of the girls said they were accosted in Klaudt's hotel room in Pierre, where he stayed while serving in the South Dakota Legislature. Two of the girls were legislative pages when they were attacked, they told investigators.

He's accused of performing 'ovary checks' and 'breast exams' under the guise that he was helping young women donate their reproductive eggs, according to court records."

Remarkable. Right-to-life guilt has created yet another trigger for women by which they may be victimized.

HT -- Bradblog.com

Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

Although the idea of raising hunger awareness through low-budget eating is not new, it's nice to see people who can change legislation try to do it--too bad there are only a handful of lawmakers who have the grit to actually take it up. I guess the rest can't "afford" the experience:

Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries : "Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) stood before the refrigerated section of the Safeway on Capitol Hill yesterday and looked longingly at the eggs.

At $1.29 for a half-dozen, he couldn't afford them.

Ryan and three other members of Congress have pledged to live for one week on $21 worth of food, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. That's $3 a day or $1 a meal. They started yesterday.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to take the 'Food Stamp Challenge' to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients. Only two others, Ryan and Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), took them up on it.

'All of us in Congress live pretty good lives,' said McGovern, who ate a single banana for breakfast yesterday and was going through caffeine withdrawal by midday. 'We don't have to wake up worrying about the next meal. But there are a lot of Americans who do. I think it's wrong. I think it's immoral that in the U.S., the richest country in the world, people are hungry.'"

Giuliani: "You have free speech so I can be heard."

From NYC's ex-fuehrer, Rudy "You have free speech so I can be heard" Giuliani: 'Freedom Is About Authority':

We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

And at what point, Rudi, does legal authority cede to your other acceptable definition of authority, personal responsibility? Or is it that wrapped in your nutshell is the belief that one's only personal responsibility is to cede to authority?

HT -- K. Redding

Compact Action: In with the Old (part.1)

Buying used is the core activity for compact members. For a year, they are challenged to "not buy new." After making the commitment to simplify their lives and walk away from the corporate and commercial world of consumption, actually doing it takes up the other 364 days. We’ll look at a couple of ways to avoid buying new this week and I’ll post a couple more next week.

One predicted consequence of our move was the need of new things. This means new to us, not necessarily "new" as in fresh from the store. Here are our family strategies.

First, can you borrow it or do without? Especially for tools and large, seldom used items, borrowing is the best way to avoid buying. My father-in-law's lawnmower works as well as a new one and costs me only gasoline.

I suppose a real hard-core compacter would do without the lawn. Talking yourself out of purchases all together works fairly well. We didn’t replace a lot of things we left behind in California. Every person has a different level of need. There are folks on the compact list that have learned to live without toilet paper. I'm not there yet.

Can you get what you need for free? Asking friends and neighbors, family, and freecycle for something is usually my next step. I've turned up a surprising amount of useful loot. I also give away the things I'm done with as well. This is an excellent strategy for kids clothes, baby items and recreational items. I got a couple of coolers and a swing set this way.

I’ll continue down the list in a couple of weeks with thrifts and flea markets and the Missouri quirks that have gone along with them. Until then, try redusing and reusing for yourself.

Top Democrats Selling Out Unions, Environment and Human Rights? RECALL!!!

If top Democrats insist on selling out their constituents, recall. If recall is not an option in those states, bring pressure on them through the spotlight. The day of weak-kneed Dems should be over. If not, make it so.

David Sirota: "Thursday, May 10th was a whirlwind day on the political frontlines in the War on the Middle Class, as a handful of senior congressional Democrats and the White House - cheered on by K Street lobbyists - joined forces today to announce a 'deal' on a package of trade agreements that could impact millions of American workers and potentially calls into question the entire election mandate of 2006 (I say potentially because the full details are still being concealed by both Democrats and the White House). You'll notice the irony of the deal with just a glance at the front of the New York Times business section (screen captured above) - the deal was agreed to (though its details have still not been made public) on the very same day the U.S. government reported another widening of America's job-destroying trade deficit."

INCOMING: GM Genes 'Jump Species Barrier'

Looks like free thinking skeptics are again correct; frankenfoods are dangerous.

Duh'ya think?

The Observer: "A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that GM technology could pose serious health risks.

A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees.

The research - which has yet to be published and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is highly significant because it suggests that all types of bacteria could become contaminated by genes used in genetically modified technology, including those that live inside the human digestive system."

American Terrorism X...

1970 Kent State Massacre Intentional Act of Terrorism:

"The 1970 killings by National Guardsmen of four students during a peaceful anti-war demonstration at Kent State University have now been shown to be cold-blooded, premeditated official murder. But the definitive proof of this monumental historic reality is not, apparently, worthy of significant analysis or comment in today's mainstream media.

After 37 years of official denial and cover-up, tape-recorded evidence, that has existed for decades and has been in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has finally been made public.

It proves what "conspiracy theorists" have argued since 1970---that there was a direct military order leading to the unprovoked assassination of unarmed students. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents show collusion between Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes and the FBI that aimed to terrorize anti-war demonstrators and their protests that were raging throughout the nation. "

HT - Mark Crispin Miller

INCOMING: Media is listed as military threat -- no, really!

Danger Room:

"To the Army's 1st Information Operations Command, the 'media' is just another threat -- along with 'al Qaeda,' 'hackers,' and 'drug cartels.' Military bloggers are even lower than that: just poor saps looking for a 'therapeutic' way to get out their feelings. No wonder the Army has put out new rules that could very well kill the sites off. "

And more, has the attitude that should make us laugh, were it coming from demagogue hysteriac Ann Coulter actually become policy with services in America, say like the LAPD? Is the Republican trickle-down theory spreading beyond US Attorneys and the DOJ right into a government services department near you?

HT--Mark Crispin Miller