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noticias : América :: EEUU/USA

The repressive, barbaric, infamous 9/11 decade

2013

August

Al Jazeera America Promises a More Sober Look at the News

Fourteen hours of straight news every day. Hard-hitting documentaries. Correspondents in oft-overlooked corners of the country. And fewer commercials than any other news channel.
It sounds like something a journalism professor would imagine. In actuality, it is Al Jazeera America, the culmination of a long-held dream among the leaders of Qatar, the Middle Eastern emirate that already reaches most of the rest of the world with its Arabic- and English-language news channels. The new channel, created specifically for consumers in the United States, will join cable and satellite lineups on Tuesday afternoon.
Al Jazeera America is the most ambitious American television news venture since Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes started the Fox News Channel in 1996. It faces some of the same obstacles that Fox eventually glided over — including blanket skepticism about whether distributors, advertisers and viewers will give it a chance. But that is where the parallels to other channels end, because Al Jazeera America is going against the grain of seemingly every trend in television news.
... more in The New York Times

Read also:
CIA admits role in 1953 Iran coup
Recently declassified documents say overthrow of elected prime minister Mossadegh was an act of US foreign policy ... [+]

July

Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy
WikiLeaks whistle-blower found guilty of all but two charges including five counts of espionage.

A military judge has acquitted former US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning of the most serious charge against him, aiding the enemy, but convicted him of espionage, theft and computer fraud charges for giving thousands of classified secrets to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks. ... [+]

Facing 90 Years, Bradley Manning Expresses Regret for "Unintended Consequences" of Leaking Docs ... [+]

Manning verdict: US saying ‘send back whistleblowers, we're not charging them with capital offenses' ... [+]

June

May

Bradley Manning Trial: WikiLeaks Lawyer Sees Spurious "Enemy" Claims & Bid to Scare Whistleblowers

... more in Democracy Now - AlJazeera - The Guardian - BBC - MSNBC - France 24
Visit and support: FREE BRADLEY MANNING

February

Protests mark WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning's 1,000th day in jail
Rallies and events staged around world ahead of former intelligence analyst's return to military court next week

Supporters of Bradley Manning, the US soldier who is accused of being behind the largest leak of state secrets in America's history, held a series of rallies across the US and the world on Saturday.
The demonstrations in more than 70 locations were aimed at marking Manning's 1,000th day in jail and came as the young soldier prepares to appear again before a military court next week. Manning is being prosecuted by the US government for allegedly transmitting confidential material to the anti-secrecy campaigner Julian Assange's web organisation WikiLeaks.
The US government considers such actions a threat to its national security. If convicted the 25-year-old could be confined to military custody for the rest of his life. But Manning's plight has become a cause célèbre among Wikileaks supporters, as an example of a brave whistleblower exposing injustice.
"A heroic young man faces life in prison for exposing the truth," said Jeff Paterson, a spokesman for the Bradley Manning Support Network.
... [+]

January

President Barack Hussein Obama's second term inauguration speech

... more in MSNBC - The White House

2012

Republican party insistence on halting tax hikes for the wealthy is stopping fiscal cliff deal

...more in MSNBC
Read also:
What is the fiscal cliff? : US President Barack Obama has met congressional leaders at the White House for last-minute talks. Here we look at what at the "fiscal cliff" means... [+]

USA still the barbaric Far West
Another massacre by guns above Fairness

Gunman's mother owned weapons used in Connecticut school massacre ... [+]



‘We can’t tolerate this anymore’ ... [+]

Obama's Victory Speach

Nigel Farage interviewed in the USA about the anti-democratic European Union

Third-party candidates spar in US debate
Representatives of the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and Justice parties have held a presidential debate in Chicago.

Watch the full third parties Presidential Debate moderated by Larry King & hosted by the Free And Equal Elections Foundation at the Hilton Chicago


...more information at Justice Party - Green Party - Libertarian Party - Constitution Party - and VotePact.org

Final Presidential Debate: on Foreign Policy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A break for intelligent fun

Read also:
Boy Scout Files Give Glimpse Into 20 Years of Sex Abuse ... [+]

Obama leads the second presidential debate

Watch complete Vice Presidential Debate 2012: Joe Biden vs. Paul Ryan

Republican candidate Rommey cool lies in first Presidential debate

The stupidity of a fundamentalist against Islam provokes violent protests among islamic fundamentalists and causes the death of innocent US citizens
Obama vows to bring Libya killers to justice: US president says killing of ambassador and staff in Benghazi will not break the bonds between the two countries.

US President Barack Obama has pledged to bring to justice those who attacked the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing an American ambassador for the first time in 33 years.
The Tuesday night assault, which came amid a protest and reportedly involved RPGs and grenades, left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other US personnel dead, as well as five others wounded.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Obama pledged that the incident would not "break the bonds" between the two countries.
He condemned the attack, calling it "outrageous and shocking", and said he had ordered increased security at US diplomatic posts around the world.
The incidents in Benghazi and Cairo, Egypt, were apparently prompted by a perverse 5 million, undistributed film (watch the trailer below) produced by an unknown idiot and fundamentalist that gives an insulting depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

US officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that a special unit of roughly 50 members of the Marine Corps had been dispatched to Libya to reinforce the troops guarding diplomats there.
The Marines' Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team detachment is specially trained to deploy repidly to protect government workers overseas.
For his part, Libya's interim president, Mohammed el-Megarif, apologised for what he called the "cowardly" assault on the consulate, which also killed several Libyan security guards in the eastern city.
He offered his condolences to the US and also pledged to bring the culprits to justice and maintain his country's close relations with Washington.
"We extend our apology to America, the American people and the whole world," Megarif said.

... more in AlJazeera - BBC - NBC News - The Telegraph - La Repubblica - El Mundo - El Confidencial - France 24 - Frankfurter Allgemeine
Read also:
Questions swirl around anti-Islam film blamed for Egypt protest, attack in Libya ... [+]

Supreme Court Upholds President Obama's Health Care Reform

...more in MSNBC - AlJazeera - BBC - The New York Times - The White House

Debate: Congressman Ron(ald Ernest) Paul Vs. Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize of Economy

...more in Libertad Digital -

Bradley Manning's quest for justice
Whatever the outcome of the WikiLeaks suspect's trial, many of us believe he holds to a higher standard of truth than this court's

In a small military court room at Fort Meade, two weeks after he was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize, I watched Bradley Manning appear before a judge – for the second time in his 635-day stint of pre-trial detainment. He sat silently while the prosecution read his 22 charges.
We won't hear his plea until the hearing is continued in March. Manning will likely be tried in early August. If all goes to plan for the prosecution, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Before the charges were read, Manning's attorney asked the judge about her prior knowledge of the case, the issues surrounding it, and any previous opinions she may have had about it. She stated that she had known nothing of the case besides Manning's name "and that it involved classified material". When asked if she had spoken to friends or colleagues about the case, she said she hadn't. She held no prior opinion, we were told.
For what must be the biggest controversy of the decade, I found this hard to believe. It reaffirmed my skepticism and brought to mind what many have already said: this trial is a sham.

...more in The Guardian - Al Jazeera - El Mundo - BBC - France 24

Read also:
What if democracy is just an illusion?: In the US, the dominant political discourse consists of ideas put forth by the ruling class...

2011

December

September

Georgia executes Troy Davis despite evidence of his innocence. Shame on America's justice system!

Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection late Wednesday for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer, maintaining his innocence until the end after convincing thousands of it, but not the justice system.
Davis was declared dead at 11:08 p.m. EDT, a prison official said.
His execution, which began at 10:53 p.m., came after a three-hour hold while the Supreme Court considered a late request for a stay. In the end the court refused to stop the execution, despite calls for clemency from former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and others.

Davis' attorneys say seven of nine key witnesses against him recanted all or parts of their testimony, state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against granting him a new trial.
Media witnesses said that on his death bed, Davis told the family of the slain officer, Mark MacPhail, that he was very sorry for their loss but that he wasn't responsible for his death.
"It's not my fault; I did not have a gun," he said while strapped to a gurney, according to witness Rhonda Cook of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I did not personally kill your son, father, brother," he said, Cook reported.
He asked his family and supporters to "dig deeper" into the case after his death "so you can find the real truth."
"For those about to take my life," he told prison officials, "may God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls."

...more in MSNBC - Al Jazeera - BBC - France 24 - El Mundo - The Guardian - La Repubblica - DemocracyNow

Obama pushes Congress to end 'circus' and act now
President urges $450 billion jobs proposal to 'jolt' economy in national address

Calling it an "urgent time for our country," President Barack Obama asked Congress on Thursday night to "stop the political circus" and approve a nearly half-trillion-dollar plan to help the economy by cutting payroll taxes, raising taxes on the wealthy and rewarding companies that hire new workers.
"We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless and a political crisis that has made things worse," Obama said in an address to a joint session of Congress.
To answer that crisis, Obama proposed what he called the American Jobs Act, which he said would cut payroll taxes in half for working Americans and most small businesses, and boost spending on public works, like roads, by $105 billion. The plan would make last year's cut in the individual Social Security tax rate, from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, permanent.
Obama calculated that the "typical working family" would get a $1,500 tax cut and that small companies with 50 employees would save $80,000, which he said would "provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled."

...more in MSNBC - BBC - The Guardian - El Mundo - France 24 - CNN - La Repubblica - Die Spiegel - The Economist - Al Jazeera - The Indenpendent

9/12 and the 'war on terror'

9/11 marked the beginning of what would become a decade of war.
On September 12, America awoke to the world's sympathy; an unrivalled opportunity to transform the world for the better, but all Washington wanted was retribution.
Just as Osama bin Laden had hoped, a series of mismanaged and misconceived wars in the Muslim world ensued. Wars that have bankrupt America financially, militarily and perhaps most detrimentally, in its global standing.
Ten years on many questions remain unanswered. Were the attacks of September 11 a case of blowback, or, as President Bush professed, 'a hatred of Western freedoms'? And why, if the hijackers came from friendly Gulf countries, did the US launch a war against Iraq?
Was the global 'war on terror' a cynical pretext for neocon policy hawks and the vested interests of the military industrial complex; or a war of necessity against a new type of global enemy?
Has the killing of Osama bin Laden meant the death of al-Qaeda, or was any hope of claiming that victory superseded by the Arab Spring?
So many lives lost, so many millions squandered, so many opportunities wasted; as the global political order starts to shift, does the US regret its "stupid war"?


...more in Al Jazeera
Read also:
Former FBI agent says truth of 9/11 remains hidden

August

Obama strikes deal to end US debt crisis
President urges Congress to get behind proposed legislation agreed with Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders

Barack Obama has reached an agreement with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders aimed at ending the US debt deadlock that threatened to throw the US and world economy into chaos.
However, in an address from the White House, he warned: "We are not done yet."

Although the Senate is almost certain to pass the move, it could face opposition in the House of Representatives from hardline Republicans and disenchanted, leftwing Democrats who feel Obama has conceded too much.
Obama urged members of Congress to get behind the proposed legislation, which will raise the country's debt ceiling and cut federal spending.
With time fast running out, Congress may have left it too late to meet the Tuesday deadline set by the Treasury for raising the debt ceiling above its current $14.3tn (£8.7tn) limit.
The treasury had warned that if the ceiling was not lifted by 2 August, America would no longer have the cash needed to pay all its bills, and faced the prospect of defaulting on its debts for the first time in its history.
After weeks of frustrating negotiation in Washington, Obama said: "This process has been messy and taken too long."
The White House hinted that the deadline could be extended for a few days to allow Congress to get legislation through.
...more in The Guardian - MSNBC - BBC - Al Jazeera - France 24

July

David House on Bradley Manning, Secret WikiLeaks Grand Jury, and U.S. Surveillance

On the eve of the extradition hearing for WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in London, we spend an exclusive hour with David House, who co-founded the Bradley Manning Support Network after U.S. Army Private Manning was arrested for allegedly releasing classified U.S. military documents to WikiLeaks. House refused to testify last month in Alexandria, Virginia, before a grand jury hearing on WikiLeaks and the disclosure of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. Democracy Now! spoke to House at the Frontline Club in London about the significance of WikiLeaks, how he helped found the Bradley Manning Support Network, his visits with Manning at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, the federal surveillance he and his associates have come under, and his experience before the grand jury. “In my mind, this reeks of the Pentagon Papers investigation,” says House. “Richard Nixon’s [Department of Justice] 40 years ago attempted to curtail the freedoms of the press and politically regulate the press through the use of policy created around the espionage investigation of the New York Times...

...more in Democracy Now
Read also:
WikiLeaks: Bradley Manning endured army homophobia: the soldier accused of leaking classified US government documents to WikiLeaks, complained that he was bullied by colleagues because he was gay.

And in the website Free Bradley Manning

February

Obama 2.0

Empire discusses the failures and successes of Barack Obama's presidency.
Two years after an historic victory that saw the first African-American elected president of the US, Barack Obama has come under pressure. The nation's love affair with "Yes, We Can" was short lived, and it was not long before the chant turned to delivery rather than promise.
With crises at home dominating the agenda, what happened to Obama's promise of a new dawn in US-world relations?
With ongoing occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, proxy wars in Pakistan and Yemen, volatile relations with Iran, or the floundering Middle East peace process; how has the man who offered the Muslim world a new beginning handled the burning issues on the international stage? Is the US's global supremacy coming to an end?
Joining us as our guests: Roger Hodge, the author of Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism; Dr Stefan Halper, the former foreign policy advisor to the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations; Ralph Nader, an independent presidential candidate; As'ad Abu Khalil, the founder of the Angry Arab news blog.
Interviewees: Jeremy Scahill, the national security correspondent at The Nation; and Matt Hoh, a former Marine Captain.

...more in Al Jazeera's 'Empire' by Marwan Bishara
And in the blog of Marwan Bishara in Al Jazzeera

January

No link between Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, say military sources.

NBC News reports no collusion between Bradley Manning and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, according to military sources.
US investigators have been unable to find evidence directly linking WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the army private suspected of passing on confidential documents to the whistleblowing website, according to a report last night.
Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News's chief Pentagon correspondent, reported sources inside the US military as saying they could detect no contact between Manning and Assange.
According to NBC News:
The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, there is apparently no evidence he passed the files directly to Assange, or had any direct contact with the controversial WikiLeaks figure.
If accurate, then US authorities have no realistic chance of successfully prosecuting or extraditing Assange for the leak of thousands of classified documents.

...more in The Guardian - MSNBC
Support Bradley Manning visit:
Bradley Manning Support Network / Free Bradley Manning

The excellent journalist Keith Olbermann, the stablishment critic MSNBC cable news host, has his contract abruptly terminated by parent company NBC

Keith Olbermann, the liberal, outspoken anchor of MSNBC's Countdown show, had his contract dramatically terminated by the US cable news network's parent company NBC on Friday night.
Olbermann had two years of a four year contract remaining, worth an estimated $30m, and was the network's highest-rated personality, responsible in large part for MSNBC's orientation as a liberal, Democratic-leaning channel.
Abruptly announcing in a lengthy farewell that the current show would be his last, Olbermann said: "This may be the only television programme wherein the host was much more in awe of the audience than vice versa. You will always be in my heart for that."
Giving no reason for the departure, Olbermann ended by calmly reading aloud a piece by James Thurber before signing off with the words: "Good night and good luck."
While Olbermann was live on-air, NBC issued a statement reading:
"Statement regarding Keith Olbermann
MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors."
...Olbermann's show Countdown, which screened at 8pm and repeated at 11pm, was the network's top-rated programme. On Thursday the show attracted 1.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, far ahead of CNN's Parker-Spitzer, which managed just 520,000 in the same time slot. Fox News's Bill O'Reilly – a frequent target of Olbermann's ire – dominated the hour with 2.9 million viewers.
Olbermann's departure leaves Rachel Maddow as the network's biggest name. Appearing on the Bill Maher show on HBO last night, Maddow said: "All I know is that it was between Keith and the company."
...Media commentator Dan Kennedy summed up Olbermann's value to MSNBC:
"MSNBC executives tonight should be thanking their stars that Olbermann came along when he did. It was he who led the way toward transforming the operation into a liberal alternative to Fox News — a profitable network that, though still far behind Fox, kicks CNN's tail in the ratings."

...more in The Guardian - MSNBC - Follow Keith Olbermann in Twitter - Keith Olbermann Fan Forum - The Huffington Post - Democracy Now - CNN - The New York Times - The Independent
Read also:
Keith Olbermann On Lieberman: 'Good Riddance' To 'Delusional Liar'

The fundamentalist rethoric of hate by fascist "Tea Party patriots" murders and injures many in Arizona

Two very different politicians, two very similar shootings.
On the face of it there is nothing to link the death of the Pakistani governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, and the shooting of Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. But there is.
In each case both politicians stood up for one thing: Debate. It’s too early to know the motivations of Giffords shooter, but Taseer's killer had already said he was defending Islam.
Both incidents have one thing in common. Taseer and Giffords put unpopular subjects on the table.
Taseer wanted a reasonable discourse on Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Giffords wanted immigration to be talked about in a reasoned manner.
Taseer faced incredible criticism for his words by Pakistan's religious right wing. He was rubbished by some TV anchors, one man offered a reward for his death, others demanded he be stripped of his post.
Giffords was also incredibly unpopular with the right wing in the United States. Sarah Palin, the most famous American republican on the planet drew up a map in 2010 with rifle targets on the States she wanted to change.
Arizona, which is represented by Giffords was one of them. Giffords was regularly rubbished by the right wing commentators for her views. Both Taseer and Giffords led some to believe they were legitimate targets.
Now, when the target is simple venom, not violence then you can quote the old nursery rhyme: sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
But in the United States and in Pakistan words are turning into action. Sarah Palin has expressed sorrow to Giffords' family.
Those who called for Taseer’s death in Pakistan were shocked when it came. But it’s that climate of hatred that led to both these shootings.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A critical silence
or Hillary Clinton's inconsistencies on human rights
by Jackson DIEHL

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly last September Barack Obama suggested that his administration's notoriously weak defense of human rights around the world would be invigorated. "We will call out those who suppress ideas and serve as a voice for those who are voiceless," he said. He went on to urge other democracies: "Don't stand idly by, don't be silent, when dissidents elsewhere are imprisoned and protestors are beaten."
Just over two months later, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Bahrain, an important Persian Gulf ally that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The emirate was in the midst of a major crackdown on its opposition. Two dozen dissidents, including intellectuals, clerics and a prominent blogger, had been rounded up, charged under anti-terrorism laws and allegedly tortured. A human rights group that had received U.S. funding was taken over by the government. Human Rights Watch had concluded that "what we are seeing in Bahrain these days is a return to full-blown authoritarianism."
Clinton's response? Extravagant and virtually unqualified praise for Bahrain's ruling al-Khalifa family. "I am very impressed by the progress that Bahrain is making on all fronts - economically, politically, socially," she declared as she opened a town hall meeting. Her paeans to Bahrain's "commitment to democracy" continued until a member of parliament managed to gain access to the microphone and asked for a response to the fact that "many people are arrested, lawyers and human rights activists."
Clinton's condescending reply was a pure apology for the regime. "It's easy to be focused internally and see the glass as half empty. I see the glass as half full," she said. "Yes, I mean people are arrested and people should have due process . . . but on the other hand the election was widely validated. . . . So you have to look at the entire picture."
So much for a fresh start on human rights. Clinton's Bahrain visit reflected what seems to be an intractable piece of the Obama administration's character: a deeply ingrained resistance to the notion that the United States should publicly shame authoritarian regimes or stand up for the dissidents they persecute.
Yes, Obama made a public statement the day an empty chair represented Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo at the Nobel peace prize ceremony, and both he and Clinton issued statements last week when Russia's best-known political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was convicted on blatantly trumped-up charges. But in all sorts of less prominent places and cases, the U.S. voice remains positively timid - or not heard at all.
After Egypt's terrible elections in November, in which ballot boxes were blatantly stuffed and the opposition brutally suppressed, the administration's commentary was limited to bland statements issued by "the office of the press secretary" at State and the spokesman of the National Security Council. Three weeks earlier, at a widely watched joint press conference in Washington with Egypt's foreign minister, Clinton made no mention of the elections, the crackdown or anything else related to human rights.
In Latin America, friends of the United States marvel at its passivity as Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega systematically crush civil society organizations and independent media. "I don't see a clear policy," Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez - a good example of the sort of dissident Obama promised to defend - told me.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

noticias : América :: EEUU/USA

2010

El criminal de guerra Bush Jr. asegura que la tortura es buena para "salvar vidas"

George W. Bush asegura en sus memorias que dejar de beber fue una de las decisiones más duras de su vida. "Nada de lo que cuento en el libro hubiera sido posible sin esa decisión anterior", escribe el ex presidente de Estados Unidos. A los 40 años y sin ser capaz de recordar el último día en que no había tomado una copa, Bush decidió que había llegado la hora de que el alcohol dejara de ser su Dios y acercarse al todopoderoso.
Decision Points se abre con solo página y media de introducción y su primer capítulo se titula Quitting (abandonar algo). A partir de ahí se suceden las historias no en orden cronológico sino por temas. Irak, Afganistán, Katrina, la crisis financiera... Bush pasa por todos y cada uno de los asuntos que definieron sus ocho años en la Casa Blanca y de todos sale indemne. En una larga entrevista concedida al diario USA Today, el ex presidente admite que podía "haber hecho mejor las cosas" pero que está "en paz" y tiene "cero deseo" de intentar luchar por su reputación.
...más en País - El Mundo - Público -
Lea también: Bush: "Mi mamá me enseñó el feto de mi hermano abortado"

Reirse por no llorar

Esto no tiene ninguna gracia. El mítin pro-Barack Obama más multitudinario de la esta campaña electoral ha sido uno de broma. Este sábado, con el Capitolio de Washington de telón de fondo, los más populares sátiros de la televisión de Estados Unidos hacían un último intento por inyectar algo de cordura a lo que ha sido una desquiciada campaña electoral. Parodiando a las estrellas de la cadena de 24 horas de ficción noticias Fox News, Jon Stewart y Stephen Colbert, presentadores de informativos cómicos del canal Comedy Central, lograban congregar a decenas de miles de personas que más que probablemente votaron por Obama y su partido en 2008 y que este año no lo tienen tan claro. En ningún momento se hizo referencia a candidato alguno, si bien el mensaje subliminal fue claramente pro-demócrata.

La Manifestación para restaurar la cordura y/o el miedo (Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear) fue mofa de otra de agosto que pretendía ser la Manifestación para restaurar el honor (Rally to Restore Honor) organizada por Glenn Beck, presentador con formas de tele-predicador, famoso por llamar a Obama racista, socialista y totalitario, y por repartir cada tarde en su programa del canal Fox News una alta dosis de miedo y angustia a través de distorsionar la realidad.

Beck, líder espiritual del Partido del Té, sería una simple anécdota si no fuera porque él y su pandilla de Fox News imponen una rocambolesca -y ultraconservadora- narrativa pseudo-informativa que marca la agenda política nacional. Mientras Obama y los demócratas intentaban rescatar al país del precipicio, y cumplir algunas de sus grandiosas promesas electorales (como retirar las tropas de combate de Irak o aprobar la reforma del sistema sanitario), ciudadanos desempleados, descontentos y desesperados encontraban consuelo en los charlatantes de turno que han secuestrado el discurso político (ayudados por unos medios de comunicación hambrientos de audiencia).
Cosas de una nación en grave crisis económica y laboral: vende miedo que la gente lo comprará.
...más en Cuarto Poder - El País - Democracy Now - The Guardian - The Independent - MSNBC - BBC - Al Jazeera - France 24 - Die Zeit - La Repubblica - Countdawn - The Rachel Maddow Show
Read also Younge America: The old farts' club
More information in the webs of The White House - Democratic Party

Midterms elections: corporations' money changes everything for the worse, threatening Democracy

Political donations from nefarious groups are strangling US democracy, and a former Bush adviser is cashing in.
"I went to the crossroad, fell down upon my knees." This was the powerful first line of "Cross Road Blues" by 1930s blues legend Robert Johnson. It was later adapted into the song "Crossroads" by Eric Clapton’s Cream and a movie of the same name, starring the serially pre-pubescent Ralph Macchio. The song and movie were infamously about going down to a crossroads in the Mississippi Delta, to sell your soul to the Devil.
Today, meeting Mephistopheles is much simpler: You can simply turn over barrels of cash in unmarked bills to American Crossroads or Crossroads GPS, the two appropriately named groups formed by one of the most wretched, sebum-stained forces of evil at the current American political crossroads: Karl Rove.
Yes, Karl Rove, that American everyman—if everyday Americans were an almost perfect mixture of Lucky Luciano and Sloth from The Goonies. Apparently, Rove wasn’t satisfied with only helping fabricate evidence to pave America’s way into a war in Iraq, outing an undercover CIA agent, and "advising" the most dollar-drenched, demagogic, and incompetent executive office since Cleon of Athens. So he’s returned to active involvement in our political process from his perch as a pundit, for a coda to his democracy corruption, because someone has to protect the rights of voiceless, persecuted tobacco and healthcare conglomerates among us so they can make themselves heard over the din of daily discussions on the American unemployment line.

To be clear, we are not talking about a few pretty pennies here or there. Rove’s groups are expected to spend between $50m and $75m by election day, "educating" the public about candidates and issues, in much the same way you become educated by watching Jackass 3D or Christine O’Donnell talk about stuff. And this has all been made possible thanks to a Supreme Court majority made up of far-right mutants who decided that 100 years of established law trying to limit the flow of corporate money into our system just had it all wrong.
In this Supreme Court majority’s adorably antiquated view, corporations—or "people" as they’re now known—should be able to give unlimited funds to groups that are dirtier than a test tube of Russell Brand’s blood, and these organizations are not required to disclose from whence their slush funding came. Because, really, what’s healthier for democracy than wealthy elites secretively giving gobs of cash to those who will vote on legislation that effects their bottom line?
Of course, Rove’s groups weren’t the only ones to benefit from this mockery of a decision, as the Chamber of Commerce, according to some fantastic reporting by the Center for American Progress blog Think Progress, has become a way station for any foreign group or individual from the Reverend Sun Myung Moon to BP to Fidel Castro, who wishes to unduly influence our political system. Hell, even wives of Supreme Court Justices have gotten in on the good times, as none other than Ginni Thomas, Clarence’s wife, can thank her husband and his black-robed buds for allowing her hastily formed local Tea-Party Mob—Liberty Central—to collect cash from any crank with a dollar and a dream.
...more in Al Jazeera - The New York Times - Democracy Now - BBC - MSNBC - The Independent - The Guardian - France 24 - El País

Education of a President

On a busy afternoon in the West Wing late last month, President Barack Obama seemed relaxed and unhurried as he sat down in a newly reupholstered brown leather chair in the Oval Office. He had just returned from the East Room, where he signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 ­— using eight pens so he could give away as many as possible. The act will be his administration’s last piece of significant economic legislation before voters deliver their verdict on his first two years in office. For all intents and purposes, the first chapter of Obama’s presidency has ended. On Election Day, the next chapter will begin.
...The president who muscled through Congress perhaps the most ambitious domestic agenda in a generation finds himself vilified by the right, castigated by the left and abandoned by the middle. He heads into the final stretch of the midterm campaign season facing likely repudiation, with voters preparing to give him a Congress that, even if Democrats maintain control, will almost certainly be less friendly to the president than the one he has spent the last two years mud wrestling.
While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years. He has spent what one aide called “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0” with his new interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina. During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax breaks as part of his stimulus and instead “let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts” so it could be seen as a bipartisan compromise.
Most of all, he has learned that, for all his anti-Washington rhetoric, he has to play by Washington rules if he wants to win in Washington. It is not enough to be supremely sure that he is right if no one else agrees with him. “Given how much stuff was coming at us,” Obama told me, “we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. There is probably a perverse pride in my administration — and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top — that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”
...read the full article in The New York Times - El País - And in The White House website

September 11 masacre politicized by mosque and Quran controversies:
Politics threatened to overshadow a day of mourning Saturday for nearly 3,000 Sept. 11 victims amid a polarizing national debate over a planned mosque blocks from the site where Islamic extremists attacked the U.S.

Chants of thousands of sign-waving protesters both for and against the planned Islamic center were expected after — and perhaps during — a ceremony normally known for somber church bells ringing and a sad litany of families reading their lost loved ones' names.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will attend separate services in Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for the victims of hijacked jetliners that hit the Pentagon and a rural field in 2001.
In a statement released ahead of the memorial services Saturday and obtained by NBC News, President Obama appealed to Americans to mourn together for the country's collective loss.
"The legacy of the lives lost nine Septembers ago and in defense of our Nation... reinforces our resolve to unite with one another, for the country we all love and the values for which we stand," he said.
...Quran-burning threat by a mad fundamentalist:
A threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary — which had set off international protests — was on hold, although the Florida pastor who made the threat flew to New York on Friday night, declining to comment to a throng of reporters waiting for him. "I'm talked out," Terry Jones said.
Jones' son in Gainesville, Florida, confirmed that his father would not — at least for now — burn copies of the Quran, a plan that inflamed much of the Muslim world and drew a stern rebuke from Obama.
Jones, pastor of a 50-member Pentecostal church, backed off the threat Thursday after a call from the secretary of defense and impassioned pleas to call off the plan from religious and political leaders and his own daughter.
...more in Al Jazeera - MSNBC - France 24 - El Mundo - El País - La Repubblica - Frankfurter Allgemeine
And visit the website of Cordoba Initiative

« Quatre présidents américains étaient gays »:
En six ans, Michael Rogers s'est fait une spécialité de révéler l'homosexualité de parlementaires antigays. Un jour, pourquoi pas un président ? Rencontre avec celui qui fait trembler les politiciens du Congrès.
Le Washington Post a dit de lui qu'il était l'homme le plus craint du « Hill », colline mythique du Congrès américain. Et pour cause, Michael Rogers, pape américain de la pratique très controversée de l'« outing », a pouvoir de destruction sur des carrières et des vies entières.
... Depuis six ans, sur son blog BlogActive, il révèle le nom de politiciens qu'il accuse d'être « hypocrites ». Dans son vocable, ce sont des gays et lesbiennes qui, tout en étant dans le placard, adoptent une rhétorique et des positions résolument homophobes à des fins électoralistes.
Sa dernière proie en date est le député républicain Mark Kirk qui a récemment voté contre l'abrogation de « Don't Ask Don't Tell », la loi qui interdit aux homosexuels de servir ouvertement dans l'armée. « Je ne me suis jamais trompé, dit-il. Je ne peux pas me permettre de me tromper. »
Démocrate, ancien de Greenpeace reconverti en journaliste-entrepreneur (il est entre autres le rédacteur en chef de PageOneQ, un site d'infos LGBT), Rogers a lancé son blog en 2004, à l'approche de la réélection de George W. Bush.
...plus dans Rue 89 / And in the webs of Michael Rogers

Dennis Kucinich on how to fight back legislation in the Congress after Massachusetts warning:

Una base marítima de extracción de petroleo causa un desastre ecológico en Estados Unidos: El presidente Obama ha dicho que la petrolera ' BP pagará' por una catástrofe que 'podría no tener precedentes' en el Golfo de México. Sin embargo, también ha prometido destinar "todos los recursos posibles y durante el tiempo que haga falta" para paliar los efectos de la 'marea negra'.

A su paso por Venice, en las marismas de Luisiana, ante cientos de pescadores y bajo la lluvia intermitente que empañó su visita, el presidente se ha comprometido a "preservar uno de los hábitats más maravillosos del mundo" y a redoblar los esfuerzos para evitar una situación "potencialmente catastrófica".
El mandatario pasó al final más tiempo de lo esperado en el Golfo de México. Tras despachar en Nueva Orleans con el gobernador Bobby Jindal, decidió descender con toda su comitiva hasta la punta sur del delta del Misisipí. En sus dos horas de viaje pudo comprobar los efectos aún visibles del huracán Katrina y la presencia ubicua de las refinerías de petróleo.
El mal tiempo dificultó extremadamente las operaciones de los equipos de 'respuesta' y los vuelos de reconocimiento, incluido el del propio Obama. Decenas de pescadores se quedaron varados en el puerto de Venice y expresaron al presidente su impotencia y su frustración por la tardía respuesta y la falta de coordinación.
El portavoz de la Casa Blanca Robert Gibbs admitió que fue el propio presidente quien insistió en descender hasta Venice, en el delta del Misisipí, para conocer de primera mano la situación y trasladar a los equipos de "respuesta" un mensaje: "Se hará todo lo humanamente posible".
...más en El Mundo - El País - Al Jazeera - France 24 - MSNBC - Washington Post - New York Times - The Guardian - The Independent - Democracy Now

Obama passes the biggest Health Insurance Reform of a century, but a real Public Health for all in USA will need more representatives as Dennis Kucinich and senators as Bernie Sanders to fight the powerful private insurance lobby in Congress and Senate:

In the annals of American liberalism, a (very) few years in our history stand out enough that the mere mention of the year summons a waterfall of images and emotions – 1933 means the start of the New Deal and the birth of modern liberalism, 1964 means the passage of the civil rights act, 1965 means the passage of universal healthcare for the elderly. Now, in the wake of this morning's narrow margin in the House of Representatives, 2010 joins that short list: the year we finally passed major healthcare reform after a century of trying.

It is a monumental accomplishment. The story of that century of failure is a story of multiple plots and subplots, but at its heart the story is about the tension in American society between the individual and the community – whether we are just a loose confederation of individuals who should be left alone to pursue self interest, or something more than that, a community of citizens with mutual ties and obligations.
I know that sounds awfully highfalutin and philosophical, but it's precisely what the healthcare debate, both the current and historic versions, has been about. Your average American thinks, I have my insurance coverage, so why should I worry about the loser who hasn't bothered to get his? For people who work hard and aren't exactly wallowing in spare dollars, it's a fair question to ask. But there is an answer to it, which is that in the long run, if coverage is universal and insurance companies face stricter rules, society will benefit, and your average American will benefit too, in the form of lower costs and better care.
... more in The Guardian - The Washington Post - El País - Le Figaro - El Mundo - France 24 - New York Times - The Times - The Independent - Le Monde - Al Jazeera - The Huffingtinton Post - CNN - Democracy Now - MSNBC

Sign the Petition to President Obama to ask Accountability on Torture

Reprieve is a group of international charities dedicated to assisting in the provision of effective legal representation and humanitarian assistance to impoverished people facing the death penalty at the hands of the state; to producing and publishing information about the use of the death penalty and to raising awareness more generally concerning human rights. ...support Reprieve.org

Martin Luther King Jr : "I have a dream"

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