GREAT LINE: "War is God's Way Of Teaching Americans Geography."-Jon Stewart

FRENCH PRESIDENT BROKERS PEACE DEAL
ALL ISSUES IN RUSSO-GEORGIAN CONFLICT NOT SETTLED
US FLEET STEAMS TO IRAN

The BBC was reporting last night: Russia and Georgia have agreed a truce brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and have approved the principles of a full peace plan.

The exact details of the proposals appeared to be still under discussion.

VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

On Wednesday morning, BBC was reporting there was another kind of violence erupting in Gori, Stalin's old home town:

Violence has flared up in Georgia, where Russian tanks have been seen patrolling the town of Gori, says the BBC's Gavin Hewitt near the scene.

People leaving the town say there is looting going on involving South Ossetian separatists.

There are reports of residents being stripped of everything at gunpoint on the entrances to the city.

WED MORNING: GEORGIA IS CLAIMING VIOLATIONS OF AGRREEMENT, SAY RUSSIAN MILITARY OPERATIONS CONTINUE

RUSSIA DEFENDS ATTACK

Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov defends his governments actions in an op-ed in Financial Times.

Let me be absolutely clear. This is not a conflict of Russia's making; this is not a conflict of Russia's choosing. There are no winners from this conflict. Hours before the Georgian invasion, Russia had been working to secure a United Nations Security Council statement calling for a renunciation of force by both Georgia and South Ossetians. The statement that could have averted bloodshed was blocked by western countries.

Last Friday, after the world's leaders had arrived at the Beijing Olympics, Georgian troops launched an all-out assault on the region of South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto independence for more than 16 years. The majority of the region's population are Russian citizens. Under the terms of the 1992 agreement to which Georgia is a party, they are afforded protection by a small number of Russian peacekeeping soldiers. The ground and air attack resulted in the killing of peacekeepers and the death of an estimated 1,600 civilians, creating a humanitarian disaster and leading to an exodus of 30,000 refugees. The Georgian regime refused to allow a humanitarian corridor to be established and bombarded a humanitarian convoy. There is also clear evidence of atrocities having been committed - so serious and systematic that they constitute acts of genocide.

US AIR FORCE READIES "RELIEF" FOR GEORGIA

Sam Gardiner reports: "According to an article released by the Air Force Times just before noon, the USAF is preparing an airlift operation into Georgia. First reports did not indicate whether the airlift was to be humanitarian supplies or logistics for the Georgian Army.

We could see a Russian reaction.

The U.S. airlift of 2,000 Georgians soldier from Iraq was completed yesterday."

WILL THE US TRY TO "PUNISH" RUSSIA?

Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of powerful nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

IT's A PR WAR writes Mark Silva on Swamp Politics.com

In Tbilisi, celebrating the "Rose Revolution'' of a former Soviet satellite, President Bush addressed thousands filling "Freedom Square" on May 10, 2005, with this promise:

"The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you.''

In Washington, Bush stepped out to the Rose Garden this week to declare that Russian assaults inside Georgia - a swift and and crushing deployment of military force that the Russians called operation "Clean Field'' - must cease.

It appeared that Russia might be attempting to "depose'' the "duly elected government'' of Georgia, Bush said, declaring: "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st Century.''…. (QUESTION: WASN'T SADDAM "DULY ELECTED" albeit in an election no less fair than the one held in Florida in 2000. Just asking…..)

…..In Washington, the words of the Russian leader are relayed to the American media and public through the offices of a major public relations firm, Ketchum. Could it be that the potential confrontations of the Russian regime and U.S. leaders in the 21st Century will be settled with public relations?

"Before there was a Purple Revolution in Iraq, or an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, there was the Rose Revolution in Georgia,'' Bush said to the cheering crowd in Tbilisi three years ago. "Your courage is inspiring democratic reformers and sending a message that echos across the world: freedom will be the future of every nation and every people on Earth.''

It's probably too much to ask that we are entering the Public Relations Revolution, where battles will be settled at podiums before they become too bloody on the field. It's probably more a matter of Russian leaders figuring the field is clean - sort of like Stalingrad was cleaned, as a military spokesman said through the DC PR team.

PROFESSOR WILLIAM BEEMAN ON US AND GEORGIA

William O. Beeman is professor and chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Minnesota. He has lived and worked in the Middle East region for more than 30 years.

No one should be surprised that U.S. interference in the Caucasus has led to the Russian invasion of South Ossetia. By mixing into the volatile politics of the Caucasus, and trying to recruit the governments there to become American "plumbers" for a variety of purposes, the United States has only drawn Russian fire.

…Access to Caspian oil was one burning policy goal of all administrations since 1990. The easy route for transport of petroleum products from the region would be through Iran's well-developed pipeline system. Literally just a few miles of pipeline would connect the Azerbaijani oil fields to the Iranian system. However, Washington was ready to do almost anything to avoid providing any economic benefit to Iran. Hence, working with U.S. petroleum producers, they constructed a difficult and tortuous pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, to emerge in Turkey for shipping to the world. Many millions in government bribes changed hands to make this happen.

As Iran became a target of the George W. Bush administration, having friendly powers in the Caucasus became a priority for the Washington establishment. The Velvet Revolution in Georgia was aided by the United
States. In Azerbaijan, the United States virtually installed the current president, Ilham Aliyev, son of the previous president for life, Heydar Aliyev. The election itself was highly controversial. Heydar Aliyev was in
Cleveland, Ohio for medical treatment, and was rumored to have died four months before his son was elected. The United States government was reportedly involved in the cover-up, and supported Ilham's election despite mass protests among Azerbaijani citizens.

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia has close ties to the United States, having graduated with law degrees from Columbia and George Washington Universities. He was the leader of the Rose Revolution in 2003, which ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet foreign minister, and striking a blow for Georgian independence. Elected president in 2004, he also greatly improved ties with Israel, and received an honorary doctorate from Haifa University, and has allowed Israeli intelligence to operate in Georgia. All of this endeared him to the Bush administration.

ISRAEL AND GEORGIA

Eleectronic Intifada reports:

From the moment Georgia launched a surprise attack on the tiny breakaway region of South Ossetia last week, prompting a fierce Russian counterattack, Israel has been trying to distance itself from the conflict. This is understandable: with Georgian forces on the retreat, large numbers of civilians killed and injured, and Russia's fury unabated, Israel's deep involvement is severely embarrassing.

The collapse of the Georgian offensive represents not only a disaster for that country and its US-backed leaders, but another blow to the myth of Israel's military prestige and prowess. Worse, Israel fears that Russia could retaliate by stepping up its military assistance to Israel's adversaries including Iran.

"Israel is following with great concern the developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and hopes the violence will end," its foreign ministry said, adding with uncharacteristic doveishness, "Israel recognizes the territorial integrity of Georgia and calls for a peaceful solution."

Tbilisi's top diplomat in Tel Aviv complained about the lackluster Israeli response to his country's predicament and perhaps overestimating Israeli influence, called for Israeli "diplomatic pressure on Moscow." Just like Israel, the diplomat said, Georgia is fighting a war on "terrorism." Israeli officials politely told the Georgians that "the address for that type of pressure was Washington" (Herb Keinon, "Tbilisi wants Israel to pressure Russia," The Jerusalem Post, 11 August 2008).

DAVE LINDORF (After DowningStreet.org) ON THE WAR "COVERAGE"

We read that President Bush condemned the Russian invasion of another nation and called for an immediate ceasefire. Yet there was not one word of astonishment or challenge from reporters or commentators or editorial writers at this stunningly cynical statement coming from a leader who himself is responsible for the blatantly illegal and much more destructive invasion of another nation. And remember, while Georgia is on Russia's border, and was at least possibly guilty of oppressing and attacking and perhaps even killing members of the Russian minority in two of its provinces (Georgia bombed the biggest town in the secessionist province of Ossetia, killing perhaps 1000 civilians, before Russia invaded), Iraq is half a world away from America and was minding its own business, not threatening Americans in any way. Russia, thus far, has at most killed a few thousand Georgians. America has, by most accounts killed hundreds of thousands and perhaps as many as 1.2 million Iraqis, very few of them combatants.

We watch and read voluminous reports on this relatively small Russian war against its neighbor and former domestic province (Georgia was one of the SSRs in the old USSR), and meanwhile there is almost nothing being reported about the continuing five-year-old war launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. And certainly, over the course of five years we have gotten no visual depiction of that war even approaching the scenes that were on display from the front in Georgia.

WHAT'S NEXT? NAVAL EXERCISE OFF THE COAST OF IRAN

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area.

The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force"….

IRAN ANNOUNCES THEIR OWN EXERCISES

TML: Iran will soon conduct a naval drill to prepare its forces for any external threats, Iran's naval commander said

The military exercise, named Caspian Border Watch, will enhance the capabilities of the Iranian navy, Naval Commander 'Ali Muhammad Salami said, according to Iran's Press TV.

The commander added it would prepare Iranian forces for "countering possible threats."

Eight war vessels will be displayed during the three-day maneuver. No date for the beginning of the drill was given.

SAM GARDINER REPORTS A SHIFT IN ISRAELI STATEGY

Some very interesting news is coming out of Israel this morning, underlined by a statement by the Israeli Defense Minister Barak.

The essence of the message is that Israel has to take its own military option for a strike on Iran off the table for now. According to the reports, the Israeli leadership asked Washington for some new equipment ("military support") that would have been required for an attack, but Washington refused.

I was asked by a reporter in Israel what the equipment might be. I told him the only thing we seem to be denying Israel at this point is the F-22. Certainly that would make an Israeli strike easier.

When Barak was in town, he said on CNN that Iran might be as much as 24 months away from a weapon. That in itself was a major change. The Israeli projections have always been sooner rather than later.

Taking the military option off the table is a major change. They have chosen to blame the United States as a graceful exit.

The original Harretz artice is at http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1010938.html

FROM SOUTH AFRICA: M&G REPORTS ZIM DEAL MAY BE IN THE OFFING

Update: today they are saying there may be a deal but there is "confusion" about what it was. Last night, this was the news:

Talks to end Zimbabwe's crisis were bogged down on Monday as Morgan Tsvangirai resisted pressure over Robert Mugabe retaining much of his power.

IS SOUTH AFRICA AN ILLUSION?-LE MONDE DIPLO

Recent violence between the poor and the poorer in South
Africa was the by-product of the country's stagnation - it
has achieved what it set out to do racially, but not
economically or socially. The old colonial model of modernity
is still the basis for power

Comment on this post...

BACK IN THE USSA: NO PROSECUTIONS IN PROSECUTORS SCANDAL

Former Justice Department officials will not face prosecution for letting improper political considerations drive hirings of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.

Mukasey used his sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

But, he told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws."

MICHAEL MOORE: HOW THE DEMS COULD LOSE

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE MAP

washingtonpost.com today launched the 2008 Political Landscape map, offering readers interactive, state-by-state coverage of the presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial races this election season.

The 2008 Political Landscape map is available here:

ECONOMIC NEWS (Naked Capitalism)

Does This Dress Make Me Look Fat? The Fed needs to raise rates to combat inflation… while lowering rates to encourage economic growth. Congress needs to exercise fiscal responsibility… while bolstering the economy. Peak Oil means we must conserve energy and expoloit alternatives… while drilling for more crude. Why does anyone want to be president?

On the Trail: Obamma seems to have no idea, or far too many ideas, as to what the US response should be to the Russia/Georgia contest. McCain has but one answer, aggression everywhere. Both are wrong. The problem is that the US has no credible way to threaten Russia or support Georgia without making matters much, much worse.

Attack of the Global Pirate Bankers

By James S. Henry

In the last thirty years, fueled by the globalization of financial services, lousy lending, capital flight and mind-boggling corruption, a relatively small number of major banks, law firms, accounting firms, asset managers, insurance companies and hedge funds have come to launder and conceal at least $10 trillion to $15 trillion of private untaxed anonymous cross-border wealth.

BIG COMPANIES PAY NO TAXES

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unlike the rest of us, most U.S. corporations and foreign companies doing business in the United States pay no federal income tax, according to a new report from Congress.

The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, and about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.

FINANCIAL TIMES: Investors fear another bank collapse

Institutional investors expect another big financial firm will collapse within the next six months in the continued fallout from the credit crunch, new research has shown. Nearly 60 per cent of US and European institutional investors surveyed by Greenwich Associates believe there will be a failure in the next six months. Another 15 per cent think it will happen in 6-12 months.

The investors feared that the knock-on effects of collapse of a big institution on the credit derivatives market would pose a "serious threat" to global markets. "Most institutions think we are currently in the most dangerous period for global financial services firms," said Frank Feenstra, a consultant at Greenwich Associates.

MORE UNEMPLOYMENT COMING

Economy in Crisis Blog: In indisputable sign of the dismal state of the U.S. economy is the closing of stores by retail giants such as Dillard's Inc., J.C. Penny's, Lowes, Office Depot and Macy's. It is no longer the mom-and-pops shop down the street being run out of town by the corporate giants. Foot Locker will be closing 140 stores, Gap Inc. 85 stores.

Sprint Nextel will shut down 125 retail locations, which will affect nearly 4,000 employees after 5,000 layoffs last years. The next round of large layoffs will likely be in the automotive industry, where Ford's sales plunged 28 percent in June, along with General Motors and Toyota…

Corporate America Prepares for Battle Against Worker Campaign to Roll Back Assault on the Middle Class
By Joshua Holland,

There is nothing more terrifying to corporate America than the prospect of dealing with its workforce on an even playing field, and, along with allies on the Right, it's pulling out all the stops to keep that from happening. At stake is much more than the usual tax breaks, trade deals and relentless deregulation;
corporations are gearing up for a fight to preserve a status quo in which the largest share of America's
national income goes to profits and the smallest share to wages since the Great Depression - in fact, since the government started tracking those figures.

NYPD SPY CAMS PROTESTED

August 12, 2008 - The NYPD's plan to photograph and track every vehicle entering Manhattan and then keep data on each vehicle in a database for an undisclosed period of time is an attack on New Yorkers' right to privacy, said representatives from the New York Civil Liberties Union.

"The NYPD's latest plan to track and monitor the movements of millions of law-abiding people is an assault on this country's historical respect for the right to privacy and the freedom to be left alone," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "That this is happening without public debate, and that elected officials have had no opportunity to study this program is even more alarming."

The NYCLU is currently pursuing a freedom of information request filed last fall with the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security regarding a Ring of Steel-style program to set up thousands of surveillance cameras in lower Manhattan. Both government bodies have resisted transparency and have repeatedly refused to allow any information about the system to be reviewed.

RELEASE: CALIFORNIA POISED TO BECOME FIRST STATE TO CONDEMN USE OF TORTURE IN 'WAR ON TERROR'

A resolution aimed at preventing California health professionals from engaging in coercive interrogations of detainees at Guantánamo and other U.S. military prisons is expected by supporters to pass the California Legislatur this month.

Senate Joint Resolution 19 instructs the state's licensing boards to inform California doctors, psychologists and other health professionals of their obligations under national and international law relating to torture. The boards would warn the licensees that they may one day be subject to prosecution if they participate in coercive interrogations, torture or other degrading treatment of detainees.

Comment on this post...

CYBER ATTACK IN GEORGIA, LIP SYNCHING IN CHINA AND YOUR LETTERS

GOOGLE WAS THERE WHEN GEORGIA WAS UNDER CYYBER ATTACK

ivil.ge, the Georgian news site, is "under permanent [cyber] attack." So they've switched their operations to one of Google's Blogspot domains, to keep the information flowing about what's going on in their country. The attacks against Civil.ge are part of a larger set of online assaults, originating in Russia, against Georgian websites. "Another interesting aspect is seeing how certain countries are what I call 'cyberlocked,'" cybersecurity veteran Richard Bejtlich tells Danger Room. "We know a landlocked country has no access to the sea. Countries like .ge [Georgia] might rely too heavily on one or a handful of connections, potentially through hostile countries (eg, .ru [Russia]), for their physical connectivity.

As a result, an adversary can control their network access to the outside world. A diagram from the Packet Clearing House shows Georgia's network dilemma. Meanwhile, Estonia (once the victim of Russian-based hackers) is now hosting Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. And "in a historic first, Estonia is sending cyberdefense advisors to Georgia," Network World observes. Also, Russia is reportedly bombing Georgia's telecommunications infrastructure - including cell towers. "It's still very difficult to get a call anywhere around the country right now," an NPR reporter says. Two Azerbaijani media outlets claim they're under assault, too. And some Russian sites are getting hit, in what appears to be a bit of cyber-payback.
(Wired

YOUR LETTERS

Ziba Norman, the director of the Transatlantic Institute in London writes on the situation in Georgia:

i Danny: Been following yr coverage of Georgia. I've written a short analysis piece
on our homepage, the picture in Tblisi was taken earlier this year. We are in close contact with activist friends in different parts of Georgia ( by SMS and email).

Some of them are in a village nr Poti, the Black Sea port that was bombed.If I get anything from them not reported widely I'll send it on.

No one can afford to ignore the frozen conflicts in the Caucasus-all to easy for them to be used by those wishing to set the Caucasus alight for their own aims. This is a piece I wrote last year,it touches on Karabakh and the dangers of leaving Karabakh in suspended animation:

If the international community have learned anything from events this weekend then it should be ready to get serious about pushing for a complete solution in Karabakh. If they fail to do so they are inviting WAR. The Minsk
Group ( Russia is of course a member, and the country with the most power in the region) has been criminally ineffective. All the stakeholders in this have different reasons for leaving Karabakh on ice, including Azerbaijan,
and the danger is it erupt at any moment, either the result of provocation with some clear geo-political aim in mind, or even accidentally.

The tension levels are high in the entire area now, and that means anyone holding a gun will be twitchy.

Lets pray that the lives lost so far in Georgia these last few days will wake people up and prevent more bloodshed in the Caucasus.

Best to you Danny,

THE MOTHER OF ALL RESOURCS
From John Stauber:

Center for Media and Democracy Releases First Text-Searchable Versions of Pentagon Pundit Documents

8,000 Pagss Detailing Illegal Attempts to Shape U.S. Public Opinion Can Now Be Searched Online

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has released the first text-searchable versions of 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents related to its controversial and illegal military analyst program. The searchable documents are available via CMD's SourceWatch website, on the page titled, "Pentagon military analyst program: Documents."

In early 2002, the Pentagon began cultivating retired military officers who frequently serve as media commentators, so that they would help make the case for invading Iraq. The pundit program continued - promoting the Bush administration's stance on the Guantanamo Bay detention center, warrantless wiretapping and other hot-button issues - until the New York Times exposed its existence in April 2008. The Times had obtained 8,000 pages of documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. Shortly after the Times story ran, the Pentagon made the same documents available on its website.

TROPIC THUNDER CONTROVERSY

Dawn Marie Fichetta writes:

Family members of the intellectually disabled are in an uproar over "Tropic Thunder," the action comedy hitting theaters Aug.13. The Arc and 22 other disability groups are protesting the movie's offensive imagery and vocabulary in reference to people with mental disabilities.

The film features Ben Stiller's bigoted depiction of a mentally handicapped individual for the sake of comedy. It dehumanizes people with special needs and hurts their opportunities to lead productive lives as full members of society.

It's all the more disturbing considering the movie was produced by Steven Spielberg, a Jewish American who has worked hard to combat anti-Semitism ("Schindler's List"), and yet now, is fanning the flames of hate.

The Arc, the largest national group advocating the rights of the intellectually disabled, is pushing its members to take action. The organization is encouraging them to tell everyone they know about this horrific depiction, and express their outrage to their local press. Because there is nothing funny about mental retardation.

This is an important opportunity to educate the public about the discrimination and bigotry facing people with disabilities, and the tremendous progress the disabled and advocates are making to overcome these obstacles.

We are asking all film critics in America to include this controversy in their coverage. To speak with a director at The Arc or a family with a disabled member who is affected by these stereotypes, please contact me at 610-228-2103 (office), 215-494-6716 (mobile), or DawnMarie@GregoryFCA.com

WALL STREETERS ARE STUCK

Lindsey Clennell writes:

Thanks for the article and your good work. I think there are many in Wall Street who would agree with you, Soros might be one. Mostly they working on how to hang on to their money and that of their rich clients. I is not much of a life for them really. Up early and late for the global markets. Stuck to a Blackberry. Looking at a screen. Counting numbers. Failing to perform. Being one of the boys. All this and more. They will not have much thought for the bigger picture. It's to baffling for them - actually thinking about what they are doing.

ArtieDooWop writes about credit card reform:

Of ALL the reforms on credit card debt,why isn't the return of the tax deduction for the interest not returned to the American people? Taken away by Reagan, with the help of Senator Bill Bradley, in the 1980's!!!!

If they (the congress) really want to help the consumer,then RESTORE the deduction. Otherwise this talk about reform is just a ruse!

Gui Rochat writes:

is it not conceivable that the decline in the dollar and the rise in oil costs are entirely artificial and planned ?

after all america incorporated is like a business trying to kill its competition, i.e. china, by lowering profits from imports by that competitor and making the cost for production higher for that competitor. after all we are in an economic war with china. that viewpoint seems to be confirmed now both the oil price is coming down (for what reason as supply and demand remain the same) and the value of the dollar goes up suddenly to offset the lower oil prices.

PS and that the american government says to the populace: let them eat crow (suffer so that we can re-assert our economic hegemony)

ROBERT ROTH WRITES

FYI a lot of commentary on the unfolding disaster has appeared on the CounterPunch website (esp. Mike Whitney, Paul Craig Roberts, Michael Hudson), & you might be interested in James Howard Kunstler's blog entry of today and a couple or three back, touching on the subject of da nile. I agree that pressing for prosecution of the many culpable parties & entities is a worthy goal as well as totally re-regulating the financial system (including parts that didn't exist when the last regulations were tossed with Glass-Steagall), but addressing the situation more fundamentally would require waking the vast public up to a reality even more dismal - and almost infinitely more complex - than they realize, & that's a hard message for a politician running for office to deliver - though I also suspect Obama doesn't understand the depth of the crisis, & am sure McCain hasn't a clue.

It also may be that the vast sums Wall Street including its leveraged speculating community has been contributing to both parties has disarmed them of what little interest they might otherwise have had in representing the public at large and the national interest (again, see CounterPunch, incl. Pam Martens on Obama's money). And why should the tightly controlled, corporate-owned media be any more honest or informative about this topic than any other? I've also been assuming not many people are following the details because it's too complicated, but yours is the first indication I've had that progressives are as much in avoidance and clueless as everyone else. William Greider has an article in the current Nation magazine but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I will look for your book.

Deborah Emin on the Debt Business:

As you know Danny and have been writing about for a very long time now, or so it seems anyway, the business of finance these days is to keep all of us in debt. There is no other way for them to make money. They have tried everything else and it is only by the forcible increase of debt that they can keep their profits high.
What rarely gets discussed and this is something you might like to look into is the whole debt recovery process. Just as AA has made the lives of many more bearable, there are those who have discovered through Debtors Anonymous a way to help themselves out of the addictive need to charge and purchase no matter what the reality of their financial situation is. I am not a member of this but I have friends who are and it seems to me that in some ways we are all victims of this push to consume.

Whenever I hear the words consumer, I think of Rudy standing up in the ashes of the WTC and asking everyone to continue shopping because that was going to be the way to rescue the city from the attacks.

Mall life has become a really dangerous part of most kids upbringing now and not unlike the other places where rage against the system is expressed-the schools, the workplace-the malls too have been hit by gunmen insane with rage against a cold and empty place that attracts people with no other ambition than to shop.

All of our sugar candy culture seems to be summed up in this way of life where the idea of a night out or of a place to be is the mall where all there is to do is to shop, at big box stores that are completely unremarkable in terms of their offerings and only cater to both the ideas of convenience and the conformist.

Near our home is a mall, of more recent vintage, that looks like something you might see in the Midwest. It has in its center a smallish concert area, seating and a fountain and a place to also go and buy drinks and desserts. They have kept this place as clean as Disney Land. There are roving security guards who keep the kids who flock to this place in line because near there are no parks just cemeteries (Queens is the land of cemeteries) and here there is room to run wild. The architecture is quasi-California white and low and reminiscent of American ideas about Spanish architecture.

There are actual places to sit outside and people do, they seem to find the pretend sense of a town square of interest and I have to say it is most intriguing to find these kinds of places within the limits of New York City. So unlike anything you would associate with city life.

But you cannot escape the box stores and the absence of anything unexpected is a reminder that what we are fed is always more of the same and that anything out of the ordinary is not to be found without a great deal of searching. And that means that opportunities to discover things that are not for sale and that don't require credit cards are even rarer today than they were a decade ago.

Mike Jung writes from Seattle:

Well, I'm not sure whether to feel better that someone who's written an unpublishable book has experienced this level of denial (and tie myself to that lofty platform), or to fall into complete despair that even if I had had the gumption to write such a book, I would have been sent packing since it is unpublishable.

There are damn few who will honestly look at what's happening and be able to go to work in the morning. It makes it awful lonely out here.

I sense a Michael Moore-style documentary about the economic-realists in the work force faced with co-workers who think that Europeans all want to come to the US because it's so much better here. Alas, who would produce such a thing? Terry Gilliam, perhaps?

Call him- he doesn't return my calls. You've got a book to be made into a documentary, you might have more luck.

Hey Mike, my book PLUNDER is coming out from Cossimo Press.

Bruce writes:

Just a dose of reality for expectations.

Patrick Bond writes from Durban South Africa where his social justice Center is under attack:

Hey comrade, we're stressed…for news of CCS's troubles… but you inspire!

MORE BIOLAB CONTROVERSIES

A New Lab, a Lot of Questions

Proponents say the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is needed to study some of the world's "most virulent biological threats," but the Department of Homeland Security's decision to build the lab in Flora, Miss., has sparked controversy, reports Time magazine.

Government evaluations ranked Mississippi near the bottom on a list of potential locations for a number of reasons, including the fact that it is far away from similar, existing laboratories, but Time reports that the state is home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with strong influence over the agency.

"It is very suspicious," said Irwin Goldman of the University of Wisconsin, who led an effort to build the lab in Madison, the home of that institution's flagship campus. His state's offer was one of nine sites rejected, even though the government scored it more highly than Mississippi's. "We wondered how everybody else did. It's interesting to know that we came out ahead of one that was short-listed."

Mississippi ranked 14th out of 17 sites that were evaluated. The Associated Press reports that Mississippi's state lawmakers include Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, which oversees DHS, and Sen. Thad Cochran, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee that oversees DHS money.

The Politicizing of Government Decisions

* Department of Justice Report Details Political Hirings
* New EPA Rules Allow Power Plants Near National Parks
* In Newest EPA Controversy, Agency Tells Staff to Stay Quiet

"The disclosure is the latest example of what critics assert is the Bush administration's politicizing of government decisions," reports Time.

CNN CHANGES NEWSGATHERING: BUREAUS OUT

CNN announced Tuesday that it would "double its domestic news-gathering presence" by assigning journalists to 10 additional cities across the United States. But the journalists will not work from news bureaus; instead, they will be stationed at local television affiliates and other office locations. Using inexpensive laptops and cameras, they will file stories for the Internet and report live on television.

One "all-platform journalist" will be assigned to each city. The strategy reflects the increasingly portable and flexible nature of television production. Expensive bureaus with camera crews and satellite uplinks are increasingly being downsized by TV news divisions, in favor of so-called "one man bands". CNN currently has 10 bureaus across the country, and will transfer employees from 4 bureaus - Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco - to staff the new operations. Michael Rosenblum, the president of Rosenblum Associates, a consulting firm that helps convert TV networks to the one-man-band model, called it a "much more cost-effective way" of reporting.(NYT)

FROM CHINA

Walletpop.com reports:

Slashdot, the techie blog, is reporting that the Beijing Organizing Committee is charging guests in the Olympic Village between 7713 and 11,700 yuan ($1,125 to $1,708 in our dollars) for a month of Internet access. This in a city where resident businesses pay only about $130 a month.

Well, China, we have to hand it to you. That's a clever way to circumvent the piles of criticism about your Internet censorship: Price the Web so high that no one can even afford to get online to read about the occupation of T-word or Falun G-word.

Reporters Without Borders from Beijing

Called "2008 Games Human Rights News," the blog will updated daily until the games end on 24 August. It will offer short entries in French and English on the news, initiatives by activists, documents and off-beat developments relating to this world event, which the Chinese government is exploiting for political gain, violating its promises to improve respect for human rights.

This alternative diary of the Olympic Games is also intended to be an extension of Reporters Without Borders' usual work, offering journalists useful links and documents and allowing them to quickly get an idea of the day's "other" Olympic news.

Independent.co.uk: London's Jewish radio station closes after Galloway sues

London's only Jewish community radio station has been forced to cease broadcasting after losing a High Court libel case brought against it by the Respect MP George Galloway.

Jcom, a non-profit station which broadcast online and to a small area in north-west London, was wound up after it was told to pay the MP damages of £15,000.

Mr Galloway sued the station after one of its presenters played a spoof character based on the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, and implied he was anti-Semitic. It was also ordered to pay Mr Galloway's court costs, thought to be £5,000. Mr Galloway said that the judgment had "categorically crushed the slur of anti-Semitism".

During a broadcast in November, a presenter who called himself "Georgie Galloway", the station's "Middle East correspondent", used the catchphrase, "kill the Jews, kill the Jews". The station immediately sacked the presenter, Richard Malach, saying he was "young and inexperienced" and had made an error of judgment while attempting to present an edgy programme. It also issued an apology on its website and offered Mr Galloway the opportunity to appear on the station, which had a very small audience. Only 36 people were listening online at the time of the offending show.

The programme was also broadcast over the radio to an area in north-west London with a three-mile radius.

But Mr Galloway said he pursued the case as the station's apology "fell short of the categorical retraction of the imputation of anti-Semitism that I insisted upon".

Jeremy Silverstone, the head of Jcom, said he was disappointed that the case had led to the downfall of the capital's only Jewish radio station.

DEATH OF FREE INTERNET POSSIBLE IN CANADIAN CASE By Kevin Parkinson

CRACKDOWN IN BEIJING

Beijing police plan to detain for a month a resident who applied for permission to hold a demonstration in one of the Chinese capital's specially designated Olympic protest zones, a relative said yesterday.

The detention of Zhang Wei, who wanted to protest against the demolition of her home by officials, is a stark reminder of the perils faced by ordinary Chinese who challenge authority, even when they do so according to government-set rules.

AND NOW, OMG, ANOTHER MAGIC MOMENT-FAKED

FINANCIAL TIMES: Lin Miaoke was quickly hailed as a budding star by China's state media after the pig-tailed nine-year-old performed a rousing rendition of a revolutionary anthem during last Friday's Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

But while the smile beaming around the world may have been hers, China's top leaders made a late intervention to make sure the voice was not.

According to the ceremony's musical director, Chen Qigang, Miss Lin actually lip-synched "Ode to the Motherland" to the voice of another girl after the politburo decided her own singing was not good enough.

The replacement singer, however, was deemed not attractive enough to grace the world's television screens.
"
I think all China's viewers and listeners should understand that was a matter of national interest," Mr Chen said in an interview with Radio Beijing.

The involvement of senior leaders in the decision to substitute seven-year-old Yang Peiyi's voice for Miss Lin's reflected the political importance placed on the lavish opening ceremony.

How do we know what's real? Read this blog. Smile.

Your comments welcome. Write: Dissector@mediachannel.org