Ultimate Irony: Huge thanks to David Swanson for posting Sherwood Ross' "Conservative Magazine Blasts Bush Oil Policy In Iraq War" on
www.afterdowningstreet.org Saturday. Folks, there is a lot about which to be outraged these days, but this one might take the cake. Seems Robert Bryce wrote a piece called "Oil for War", published March 10 in "The American Conservative". In it, Bryce points out that the U.S. is spending $929 million per week importing 3 million gallons of fuel a day into Iraq in order to keep 157,000 G.I.'s there. Remember, Iraq has 9.5% of the world's total oil--the third richest, but little, if any of its oil is being used by the U.S. Military. You must listen for the gut-wrenching details.
Voters' A.D.D.: Matt Taibbi's "Generational Squeeb", posted on Smirking Chimp is a must-read in its entirety, but Sam does a fine job of quoting some of the more salient passages concerning Taibbi's observations of voters' vulnerability to knee-jerk reactions to media soundbites, and then swiftly forgetting about them when the next sound bite comes along. Truly scary stuff to contemplate- that the last sound bite before an election might well determine the next commander in chief?
Candidates and Their Associations: An interesting segment, utilizing David Michael Green's "The Swiftboating of Barack Obama", published Friday in
www.informationclearinghouse.info, Dr. Wilmer J. Leon's "The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and the Audacity of Truth", published March 22 in
www.truthout.org, and other sources concerning John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Seems the average Joe Smoe perfers drama and spin to plain old vanilla milkshake facts. Tune in for more.
Siegelman Free for Now: Adam Nossiter's Saturday N.Y. Times piece, "Freed Alabama Ex-Governor Sees Politics in His Case" includes a telling quote from the former Governor about Karl Rove: "His fingerprints are smeared all over the case". The House Judiciary Committee has signaled its interest in hearing personally from Siegelman. You can bet we'll continue to follow this story.
Maximum Security Prisons Can Amount to Torture Chambers: A must-listen segment based on Jessica Pupovac's "Torture in Our Own Backyards- The Fight gainst Supermax Prisons", published Tuesday in
www.informationclearinghouse.info. Unfortunately, about 20,000 prisoners in 44 states live in supermax prisons, where they are isolated 23 hours a day in solitary confinement for years on end, rendering many psychotic, and yielding a very dangerous result upon release for some. How and why did we get to this point? You'll have to join us for details.
Our plan is to return Thursday April 3. Perhaps we'll run across some good news between now and then. If you have any, please forward to us so we can lighten up!
