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If you have a problem reading this email, please click here to see the web page version  Remember how Ray McGovern took on Donald Rumsfeld in Atlanta in 2006 and CNN caught the exchange? Well he did it with General Richard Myers, a former member Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and reports on the encounter here:  Rumsfeld Redux; "Ugly" Questions for Gen. Myers       Newest Articles By Kevin Gosztola Obama Employs Bush Administration Tactic To Halt Release Of Detainee Photos On Wednesday, Obama said he "would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners." The release, which was to be the result of a Freedom of Information Act request made by the ACLU, had been reasonable in the final weeks of April, but today, Obama chose to come out against the release. By Mary Shaw Why I Oppose The Inquirer Boycott The Philadelphia Inquirer has hired John Yoo as a regular columnist. Some have called for a boycott of the paper. But I'm not sure I agree with them. By Dean Powers GOP's Frank Luntz' Memo On Health Care; How To Fight Luntz The New York Times is reporting that Frank Luntz, the word smith for the Republican Party, has circulated a memo in Washington DC advising Republicans on how to attack Democrats and President Obama for his proposals on health care reform. By Ray McGovern Rumsfeld Redux; "Ugly" Questions For Gen. Myers Ex-CIA analyst, Ray McGovern, reminiscent of his CNN broadcast grilling of Donald Rumsfeld in Atlanta in 2006, questions former Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers about his role in stopping an in-depth legal review on torture. McGovern once again shows the "Fawning Corporate Media" how it's done. He describes Myers' actions as, "a combination of dullness, cowardice and careerism." By Don Williams Shout It From The Rooftops--Al-Libi--keep His Torture Story Alive Al-Libi was living proof that torture doesn't work. Now he's dead proof. It's up to us to keep his story alive, for al-Libi was tortured into telling lies that Bush/Cheney used to start a war that killed, damaged and displaced millions. By Daniel Pourkesali Iran's Missiles Not An Existential Threat An article titled 'Iran's missiles not an existential threat, study says' published in Haaretz yesterday is a Cliffs Notes guide for anyone trying to understand Israel's true intentions and concerns as it obliterates the deceptive victim fascia so often portrayed through the Western media and reveals its genuine regional ambitions. By Ed Martin An Article As Proctoscope For Dick Cheney And Richard Cohen The only thing we can do with an article by Richard Cohen about how Dick Cheney might be right about torture, is to take it apart, re-assemble it as a proctoscope, lubricate it and stick it up both their asses. By Nick Van Nes Open Letter To My Representative, William Delahunt, D-MA Before revolution we must work through our representatives the way the system was designed to work (for us), holding them fully accountable. If the system will not work for us peacefully, rationally, the way it was designed to, it leaves us no choice but to revolt. By Ed Tubbs Outing A Healthcare Reform Subterfuge. Fade back to Romney. Do not forget the ploy. Fade to GOP pollster, Frank Lutz. This week he counseled Republicans, "You're not going to get what you want, but you can kill what they're trying to do." Now, show a split-screen shot of Romney and Lutz. By Dave Lindorff On Torture And War, Obama Sounds Increasingly, And Disturbingly, Like Bush Obama might legitimately argue against releasing more torture photos if he were also having the Justice Department pursue prosecution of those who authorized the torture. But since he's opposing prosecution, his position on the photos is nothing but an obscene and illegal cover-up. By Andrew Bard Schmookler Questioning Obama's Strategy Against Evil: Premise It is my premise --a conviction I make explicit but don't seek here to make a case for-- that Obama is committed to advancing the Good as best as he can. (The issue, then, is whether he's chosen the best strategy for accomplishing it.) Here I name just one place where the character of the man can be seen. By Glen Ford Obama Shows His True Katrina Colors The line between Bush and Obama has not simply blurred in New Orleans: it has disappeared." President Obama has adopted, in whole, the Bush approach to rebuilding the city - minus the Black Diaspora that was scattered to the winds in 2005. Notices of eviction have been served on the mostly elderly and Black inhabitants of 3,000 FEMA trailers. Not a single "Katrina Cottage" has been made ready for occupancy. By Pam Miles Replace The Bush U.S. Attorneys We must, once again, rally the troops and demand "Change" in our Justice Department! By George Washington 'Happy Talk' Can NOT Fix The Economy Can happy talk improve the economy? If not, what can? By Mary MacElveen Social Security And Medicare: Our Golden Years Have Turned To Lead Why do I have this lingering feeling in reading this depressing news article, it was the grand design all along by the rich and the powerful? My gut tells me the grand design was to put millions of Americans out of work and offer no assistance for those hard working Americans as they face their golden years. By Siv O'Neall Will Democracy Forever Remain An Illusion? The United States is sinking deeper and deeper into the poisoned slough of their own making. Moral turpitude goes hand-in-hand with naiveté and arrogance. And nothing seems to have changed if it's not that there is now a president with acute intellectual abilities rather than an insensitive and illiterate clown who couldn't hold a book right side up. By Allen L Roland Combat Veterans, PTSD, Drugs And Suicide We know that the 'reported' death tally in combat is more than 4,000. What we do not know is that these do not include suicides or post evacuation deaths induced by lethal wounds received in combat, nor even the deaths of over 1,000 private contractors. If we include all the wounded, the injured and the medically ill, we have a total of over 70,000: Dr. Evan Kanter, the president elect of Physicians for Social Responsibility. By Brent Budowsky Credit-Card Law Has Painful Impact President Barack Obama and members of Congress are promising a new law to stop credit card companies from using fine print to exploit cardholders. But there's a catch in the bill "" a one-year delay so the companies have time to adjust their business models, essentially another loophole that is hastening rate hikes and credit-limit cuts before the new law can take effect. By Martha Rosenberg Oprah's Queen Of Empathy Crown Threatened By KFC Giveaway Couldn't the Queen of Empathy think of a better way to help viewers feed themselves during the recession than KFC, targeted by animal groups for six years for egregious cruelty by suppliers captured--repeatedly--on video? By Robert Borosage What's Good For General Motors Is... Never Mind Is the Obama administration saving General Motors or is it saving auto industry jobs in the U.S.? The two aren't necessarily the same. The administration and Congress need to be clear about the real objective. By Chris Hedges Becoming What We Seek To Destroy The corrupt and unpopular regimes of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari are impotent allies. The longer they remain tethered to the United States, the weaker they become. And the weaker they become, the louder become the calls for intervention in Pakistan. During the war in Vietnam, we invaded Cambodia to bring stability to the region and cut off rebel sanctuaries and supply routes. Tactics. Killing fields. By E. Nelson Mike Connell, Paul Wellstone, And Beverly Eckert Buffalo Plane Crashes And Futuristic Directed Energy Weapons Systems It is very doubtful that the NTSB is adequately trained to look for evidence of the use of new weapons systems and directed energy weapons in suspect and unexplained domestic plane crashes. By Press Release Veterans Culminate Week Of Lobby Visit With Strong Opposition To War Supplemental Washington DC:Afghanistan war veteran and retired Marine Corp Rick Reyes along with other Afghanistan veterans are set to demonstrate public opposition to the $94 billion war supplemental.The action is a culmination of a week of successful activities and lobby visits.The veterans' efforts have prompted congressional offices to co-sponsor the McGovern amendment that would require the administration to provide an exit plan By Dean Baker The Bankrupt Debate Over Bankrupting Our Children Suppose that the federal government decided to give every newborn baby $200,000. That might seem like an extremely generous gift. [B]y the peculiar accounting of those who claim to be watchdogs for future generations, this policy would be bankrupting our kids. If that is hard to understand then you haven't been reading The Washington Post or listening to the Blue Dog Democrats or following the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. By Andrew Bard Schmookler Obama, The Torture Pictures, And This Dick Cheney Moment: A Speculation Here's what I think just happened: Obama took a look at the current political moment, with Dick Cheney trying to set Obama up for a "Who Lost America?" attack, and he decided, "Better to give a bit of ground for now than to play into Dick Cheney's hands." By Dean Baker Social Security: Downturn Does NOT Affect Long-Run Picture It is not surprising that Social Security's annual financial picture deteriorates in a downturn. This is entirely predictable and in fact desirable. Social Security's tax revenues fall as workers lose their jobs.In short, as a result of the economic collapse there is even more uncertainty than usual around the long-term projections. This is a good reason to put off for the moment any plans to substantially alter the program. By Greg Nick The IBM/Lockheed Martin Census: GPSing Your Home As it did for the German Nazis, IBM will be collecting Census data -- this time with a GPS device that will record your home location, and all that personal data you give the Census worker. Defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, and community organizer, ACORN, are also involved in the 2010 Census. By Robert Parry WPost Columnist Winks At Torture These days, the Washington Post has the look of one of those Southern newspapers in the 1960s standing firm for segregation as the wave of civil rights swept across the region. Except for the Post, the blind commitment is to neoconservatism. By Vi Ransel Class War In America, The Ongoing Assault From the Gilded Age to tea bagger rage, a romp through the recent episodes of the Class War in America. By Kathy Malloy Doubleplus Ungood Doublethink Naturally the neocons are up in arms over the potential publicity of photographic proof of their totally legal, safe, necessary, and productive interrogations. Gee, why is that? If there's no wrongdoing --as Cheney, et al, assert -- then why not release the photos? By Jason Paz Defusing Citizen Outrage When Americans protest -- and they're not protesting very much (on the eve of the Iraq war, the French had more people in the streets than did the whole of the citizenry of the United States) -- the system today isn't geared to listen, or, rather, is geared more handily to ignore the noise. By Mike Malloy "Sadistic . . . Violent . . . Inhuman" They must be horrific. So violent, in fact, so obscene, so counter to even the basic tenets of human decency that President Barack Obama sought today to block the release of hundreds of photos showing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan being abused, violated, tortured. By Jason Paz Surviving In The Post Nuclear Proliferation Age Do you ever have the feeling your life is not in your hands. During the early years of the Cold War era, that notion was never very far from mind. The media pounded hatred and fear into us with the fury of a jack hammer. The information control remained, but it was vastly more subtle. Now, with nuclear proliferation, one nut can explode 50 nukes in a remote corner of the world and destroy it in a day. One woman may save us. By Ellen Theisen 'Daily Voting News' For May 13, 2009 'Daily Voting News' for May 13, 2009 By Bobby Ramakant The Asthma Drug Facility Brings Down Cost Of Drugs Late last month El Salvador became the first country to take advantage of The Union's Asthma Drug Facility (ADF), which uses pooled procurement and other purchasing strategies to obtain greatly reduced prices from approved suppliers. By CasaZaza Splitting The Sky Vs Bush: Civil Resistance In The 21st Century This is a documentary concerning the visit by former U.S. President and accused war criminal George W. Bush to Calgary, Alberta, on March 17th, 2009, about efforts by citizen groups to have Bush either barred or arrested for his alleged crimes, and the one man who attempted to arrest Bush, and the reasons why. By Jason Leopold Army's Prescription To Combat Solider Suicides: Christianity A recent edition of the U.S. Army's suicide prevention manual advises military chaplains to promote "religiosity,"- specifically Christianity, as a way to deter distraught soldiers from committing suicide, which in recent months, according to one veterans advocacy group, has reached epidemic proportions By ALONE Is Now The Time When Spin Is No Longer Enough? This article looks at three subjects: (1) mothers day, (2) parents raising their children and their grandchildren these days and (3) spin in the media intended to cover up the facts of life which affect Americans lives each day. The author asks WHEN WILL TOO MUCH SPIN LEAD TO AMERICANS SAYING too much??? By John Stanton USA V Don Ayala: HTS Management, Army Leadership On Trial Too Ayala pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of Abdul Salam, an Afghani national who doused Paula Loyd, a fellow HTT member, with a lit container of flammable liquid and set her alight. Loyd suffered burns on 60 percent of her body and ultimately succumbed to her wounds dying on January 7, 2008. By DerLange "Cash For Clunkers" - Well, Maybe NOT "Clunkers," But CASH, Yeah! "Cash for clunkers" is a proven idea - as long as the cars targeted are really "clunkers." But if this is too generous a subsidy without more emphasis on the mileage and air quality performance features of the "clunkers," then the bill's title is misleading. Policy potholes will make this measure the "Auto Dealership Survival Subsidy." By Dana Gabriel The SPP: Three's Company Or Three's A Crowd? In the last year, there has been little mention of the SPP. A battle appears to be brewing as to the next course of action to take in regards to continental integration. Some would like to see more focus placed on Canada-U.S. bilateralism while others believe that trilateralism should always be the way to go. The global elite pushing for deeper integration, will take a North American Union any which way they can.   Best News Links from the Web Global Farm Grab Vs. Our Native Need For Food In a disquieting rush to secure food supplies, financial speculators around the world are gobbling up farmland in developing nations and causing land prices to soar. Some call it the new colonialism, but most just call it an old-fashioned land grab. Land grabbing and food speculation are not just overseas phenomena; they are also happening in North America. Ban On Smoking In North Carolina Goes To Governor The nation's top tobacco grower, North Carolina, may soon join the trend to ban smoking inside bars and restaurants. The legislation moves to Gov. Bev Perdue, who said she will sign the bill into law. The ban would take effect Jan. 2. Gov. Proposes Selling L.A. Coliseum, Other Properties To Raise Cash - Los Angeles Times The California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce today that a number of State Properties should be put up for sale due to the California State Budget fiasco. Properties include several ocean chunks of real estate, San Quentin State Prison, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Del Mar Fairgrounds. Today the Governor will release a revised state budget that is expected to be over 20 billion short of revenue. Move To India, Keep Your Job An MSNBC news report of French textile workers for Carreman were offered to keep their jobs if they move to India. Who Are The Real Psychopaths In Afghanistan? A Truthdig news report on the US military killing more Afghan civilians than Taliban fighters so far this year. (Video) The End Of The Internet? Cybersecurity Act Gives Obama Power To Shut Down Internet, Ignore Laws Shelly Roche reports in on a new Cybersecurity bill that would grant the President unprecedented power to shut down the internet and ignore privacy laws. Tiananmen: China's Unhealed Wound (video) Freedom of Speech is the core right of all humans. China's continued clamp-down on free expression brings global health problems like tainted milk and lead-painted toys. Tiananmen's victims and their families continue to be imprisoned or harassed by the government. Reminds me of how the US brutally attacked free speech at the DNC and RNC last year. BofA Sells $7.3B Stake In China Construction Bank Bank of America Corp. sold part of its stake in China Construction Bank for some $7.3 billion as the U.S. lender seeks to raise billions more to help withstand the recession. Bank of America unloaded more than 13.5 billion shares, or a nearly 6 percent stake, in China Construction Probiotic Strain Boosts Immune Response To Flu Virus A new study just published in Postgraduate Medicine has good news about a way to help fight a potential flu pandemic, naturally. Researchers found that a specific strain of probiotics (beneficial microorganisms) increases the body's immune response to influenza A, of which swine flu, aka H1N1 is a variant. Ganeden BC30 is found various dietary supplements. Congress's Torture Bubble Vicki Divoll, a former deputy counsel to the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, was the general counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2001 to 2003. "Even if the results had been the same, we would now at least have the cold comfort of knowing that our constitutional system of checks and balances had been put into play before a program that risked our fundamental values was carried out on our behalf." Stimulus Aid Trickles Out, But States Seek Quicker Relief By MICHAEL COOPER Published: May 13, 2009 The federal government has paid out less than 6 percent of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, largely in the form of social service payments to states. Jimmy Carter Testifies Before John Kerry's Energy Committee Dana Milbank writes: But the 84-year-old elder statesman showed up in a pinstriped business suit, and even the Republicans were deferential as a former president sat before a congressional committee for the first time in 15 years. In case the lawmakers weren't aware of the honor, Carter reminded them that he was "the fifth president ever to testify before a Senate committee and the first one since Harry Truman." Actual Bailout May Exceed $10 Trillion The current block of taxpayer money that has been pledged by the US government and the Federal Reserve to prevent the system from collapsing, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News, is roughly $12.8 trillion as of March 31. This money has been lent, spent or guaranteed to prevent a systemic collapse. US 'Afpak' Strategy Troubles Some In US And Pakistan There's a growing sense that Pakistan may finally be taking on the Taliban, as Washington has pressed it to do for months. But how Washington itself will conduct the war against the extremists seems increasingly unclear: concerns are mounting in Washington, Islamabad, and Kabul over command, long-term strategy, and the controversial use of Predator drones. Health Care Reform Turning Into Health Insurance Bailout Mandatory purchases of private insurance policies without offering a public alternative to the private market is nothing other than a bailout for HMOs - whose greed, waste and indifference to our health have created the current mess. Secretary Of Ag Vilsack Pledges To Promote Big Biotech While the Obama Administration has supported organics with several notable actions during its first 100 days of office, Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack pledged to promote Big Biotech abroad as part of President Obama's foreign policy. Tell him this is a bad idea. We want a sustainable agri. policy! Somali Pirates Guided By London Intelligence Team, Report Says | World News | Guardian.co.uk The Somali pirates attacking shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to a European military intelligence document obtained by a Spanish radio station. Sweden's Fix For Banks: Nationalize Them The Swedes have a simple message to the Americans: Bite the bullet and nationalize. Sweden placed its banks with troubled assets into a so-called bad bank, where they could be held and then sold over time when market and economic conditions improved. In the meantime, it used taxpayer money to provide enough capital to allow banks to resume normal lending. In the process, Sweden wiped out existing shareholders. Israel Hands Over Lebanon Cluster Bomb Maps - UN BEIRUT - Israel handed over to U.N. peacekeepers on Tuesday maps of where it dropped cluster bombs in Lebanon during the 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said. Obama Reverses Position On Release Of Detainee Abuse Photos In announcing the shift today, the White House said in a statement that Obama "strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing US forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan." US Detainee Abuse 'unprecedented' Phillip Zelikow told a US senate hearing on torture practices that the Bush administration was guilty of a "collective failure" over the interrogation of "war on terror" detainees. A General Steps From The Shadows Most of what Gen McChrystal has done over a 33-year career remains classified, including service between 2003-2008 as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite unit so clandestine that the Pentagon for years refused to acknowledge its existence. But former CIA officials say that McChrystal was among those who, with the CIA, pushed hard for a secret joint operation in the tribal region of Pakistan in 2005. Cancer Patients Challenge The Patenting Of A Gene Ms. Girard's test came back positive, so she wanted a second opinion from another test. But there can be no second opinion. A decision by the government more than 10 years ago allowed a single company, Myriad Genetics, to own the patent on two genes that are closely associated with increased risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and on the testing that measures that risk. OLC Torture Memo Hearing: Sen. Lindsey Graham Does His Best Cheney Impression In the hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham said, "I don't know whether this is actually pursuing the nobility of the law or a political stunt," Graham said in his opening statement, contending that "it's not really fair" to the previous administration. Here Are A Few Of The Torture Photos Obama Doesn't Want You To See (Pics) Here Are a Few of the Torture Photos Obama Doesn't Want You To See (Pics) The GMO Circle Of Death The effects of GMO experiments on unwilling human subjects is discussed, and how drug companies profit from illnesses in both humans and animals, which are directly related to GMO feed consumption. The circle of death. Why The Press Is On Suicide Watch At the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Stephen Colbert delivered a monologue accusing his hosts of being stenographers who had, in essence, let the Bush White House get away with murder (or at least the war in Iraq). To prove the point, the partying journalists in the Washington Hilton ballroom could be seen (courtesy of C-Span) fawning over government potentates Dahr Jamail: 70,000 US Troops Dead In Iraq "We know that the death tally in combat is more than 4,000... What we do not know is that these do not include suicides or post evacuation deaths induced by lethal wounds received in combat, nor even the deaths of over 1,000 private contractors. If we include all, we have a total of over 70,000, but the military intentionally camouflages and segregates the numbers in three categories that are extremely difficult to access." Obsession With Naked Women Goes Back 35,000 Years A Live Science news report about the discovery of the oldest female figurine found in S.W. German cave. Republican Blame, Anger At Cheney For False Claims Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson follows up a scorching Maddow appearance with "The Truth About Cheney", calling Cheney's failure to prevent 9/11 and lies about WMD shameful, but disproves Cheney's recent claims that torture kept us safe.     Copyright © OpEdNews 2009

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