Permanent link to MTA daily media news

‘Max, You Work For Us’ (by Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
Demonstrators outside Max Baucus’s Missoula MT office.
Click through to watch the video.

Paying for Universal Health Coverage (Editorial, New York Times)
For Congress and the administration to keep the promise of comprehensive health care reform, they will have to find the political will to pay for universal coverage and other investments that are needed right away but will not produce quick savings.
WRONG, New York Times, Congress and the administration don’t HAVE to pay for universal coverage. After all, they didn’t HAVE to pay for giving away trillions to the bankers and the insurance companies, did they? Isn’t it strange that when it comes to helping the already rich keep their Picassos and their yachts, the money can be found, but when it comes to allowing ordinary families to keep their meager savings as opposed to losing it all to major illness, there’s no money?

Limiting the Tax Exclusion for Employer-Sponsored Insurance Can Help Pay for Health Reform (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Universal Coverage May Be Out of Reach Otherwise
Same comment here. The only thing stopping us from getting universal coverage is the fact that to do it, we have to take the profit out of what we now call health care. The health insurance executives demand their entitlement, too. They must be able to keep THEIR Picassos and yachts.

So let’s start another us vs. them meme, shall we?
Will health insurance ’haves’ pay for ‘have-nots’? (MSNBC)
As part of a health insurance reform package now before Congress, some of the 164 million Americans who are covered by employer-provided health plans could be asked to give up at least part of the longstanding tax exemption granted to such compensation. It’s an idea likely to be met with howls of opposition if it makes it into the final version of health insurance legislation that President Barack Obama is pushing. The idea of limiting the tax break for employer-provided insurance gained momentum last week, when Obama told senators that he’d consider it as one ingredient of the  health insurance reform bill he wants Congress to pass by early August, when the Senate starts a one-month recess…

Obama’s new openness to the idea stands in contrast to what he said six months ago as a presidential candidate, when he harshly criticized his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, for proposing that employer-provided benefits should be taxed.

Harry and Louise Need Health Reform (by E.J. Dionne)
Fifty million new customers. Those may be the most important words to remember as the health care reform effort hits its stride this week. Many have expressed amazement that the interest groups historically opposed to fixing the health system seem ready to work with the reformers. Their public-spiritedness reflects enlightened self-interest: The health system is so unstable that even the drug industry and the insurance companies are worried that it will crash on top of them. Health care reform could bail out these interests by adding the currently uninsured — fast approaching 50 million people — to their customer base, and by preventing more individuals and employers from dropping insurance altogether…

So by all means, let’s welcome the drug and insurance companies to the health care bargaining table. But let’s also remember that they are sitting at that table as a matter of urgent necessity. Negotiators should bear in mind that health care reform is as vital for them as it is for the now underinsured Harry and Louise.
Forever the naïve one, aren’t you, E.J.? Remember Krugman: 1. Don’t trust the insurance companies. 2. Don’t trust the insurance companies.

How DC Centrism Makes For Bad Politics and Bad Policy (by Mike Lux at Open Left, thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
There’s  been a lot of talk in Washington, DC lately of a “new, centrist compromise” gaining momentum in terms of how to fund health care reform, and that is taxing health care benefits. The problems? It’s not new, it’s only centrist in the bizarre inside-the-Beltway world of what qualifies for centrist, it’s one sure way to make health care reform incredibly unpopular, and it’s a bad policy idea. Remember how popular Ira Magaziner’s “health alliances” were in the Clinton health reform battle? This would be worse.

How Pharma and Insurance Intend to Kill the Public Option, And What Obama and the Rest of Us Must Do (by Robert Reich)
Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill. You know why, of course. They don’t want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, “unfair” is anything that undermines their profits…

The concrete is being mixed and about to be poured. And after it’s poured and hardens, universal health care will be with us for years to come in whatever form it now takes. Let your representative and senators know you want a public option without conditions or triggers — one that gives the public insurer bargaining leverage over drug companies, and pushes insurers to do what they’ve promised to do. Don’t wait until the concrete hardens and we’ve lost this battle.

Robert Reich Sounds the Alarm (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
You can contact your congress members and senators here or here. Let’s fill those voice mail boxes, clog those fax machines, lead sit-ins in their offices. Surely you can afford to take a day off to save your country’s future!

Single payer silence will be broken in the House, 6/10 at 10:30 AM (by gob at Corrente)
My local single payer activist sends the following: “The Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing titled ‘Examining the Single Payer Health Care Option’ on Wednesday, June 10th at 10:30am in 2175 Rayburn House Office Building. You may be able to watch via webcast. She adds: “Contact C-SPAN and let them know we would like them to carry it. C-SPAN’s Main Number is: (202) 737-3220.”

Howard Dean’s Scream: ‘We Need Real Health Insurance Reform’ (Politics Daily)
Back in 2004, as a Democratic presidential hopeful, the former Vermont governor was outraged about the Iraq war. Now it’s the U.S. health care system – in particular, at a union hall here Friday, the tale of a breast cancer survivor who said she was denied chemotherapy for months because she didn’t have insurance. Without offering any details, she said she finally did manage to qualify for care – by divorcing her husband. “I had to get rid of him so that I could live,” the woman told Dean. “I’m proud to say we’re still together.” She added tearfully that she can’t get life insurance, “so if I die my family will pretty much be trying to figure out how to bury me.”

“First of all, let me say just one thing,” Dean said. And then, in the space of a tiny pause, he rocketed into high dudgeon. “There is not one other industrialized democracy on the face of this earth that somebody with that story would happen! Not one other country! Not one! How can America be like this? This is America for God’s sakes,” he shouted, to cheers and applause. “It just makes me furious.”… “This is a disgrace and that is why we need real health insurance reform.” This is Dean’s latest crusade, prodding Congress – and prodding Americans to prod Congress – to pass the type of health care reform President Obama proposed last year on the campaign trail. That is, health care that gives people a choice between private insurance and a competing government-run plan.

Howard Dean on Real Healthcare Reform (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
If Obama really cared about actual healthcare reform, wouldn’t he have picked Howard Dean to head it?

Kennedy Readies Health-Care Bill (Washington Post)
As expected, the ailing chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and his staff have crafted comprehensive legislation that would guarantee health coverage for every American — but would require the vast majority to contribute to the cost, according to a draft of the bill obtained last night by The Washington Post. Some small businesses and low-income workers would be eligible for subsidies… Perhaps its most controversial element is the creation of a new government-sponsored health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.
So is old Max out on a limb all by himself?

Obama to Forge a Greater Role on Health Care (New York Times)
After months of insisting he would leave the details to Congress, President Obama has concluded that he must exert greater control over the health care debate and is preparing an intense push for legislation that will include speeches, town-hall-style meetings and much deeper engagement with lawmakers, senior White House officials say… Mr. Obama has grown concerned that he is losing the debate over certain policy prescriptions he favors, like a government-run insurance plan to compete with the private sector, said one Democrat familiar with his thinking. With Congress beginning a burst of work on the measure, top advisers say, the president is determined to make certain the final bill bears his stamp.

Is this part of Obama’s greater role?
“Do You Have a Moment for Barack Obama?” (by MsExPat at Corrente)
I’m in Brooklyn for a month, in Park Slope. To give you some idea of what the political vibe of this nabe is, we are often referred to as “Berkeley East”. So, I’m walking down the main drag, and a fresh faced young college student comes up to me with a clipboard, saying, “Do you have a moment for Barack Obama?” I’m severely jet lagged. I’ve just stepped off a plane from Hong Kong. So for a second, I am frozen, without words. Have I time-warped back to June, 2008, when similarly fresh-faced young students were hired to work this strip for candidate Obama?

But no. It turns out that this group of canvassers is working the hustings to build public support for Obama’s health care plan. What the $%$# is this about? Who is funding this? Or are these volunteers? Why is the approach scripted as “Do you have a moment for BO” instead of “Would you like to hear more about President Obama’s health plan?” Is the Obama campaign organization still paying independent workers to “build” his brand name? I find this all incredibly creepy. And I would like to know more about what this is, and who is paying for it. The workers would not give me any information.

Washington state health panel could be model for U.S. (by Harris Meyer, Kaiser Health News)
When it’s judging the value of medical treatments it pays for, Washington state imposes a tough standard, the kind that might save tens of billions of dollars a year if it were applied nationally. A panel of medical professionals compares the effectiveness and safety of new treatments and tests with standard alternatives, typically choosing the least costly if there’s no real difference. The panel’s decisions don’t apply to private health plans, but they’re binding on 750,000 residents: state employees; people insured by Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor; and those who are receiving workers’ compensation.
More industry PR. SEE? There’s absolutely NO NEED for a public option!

Many health insurers have their own assessment panels (McClatchy)
As many patients discover, doctors don’t have the last word on treatment. Insurers generally deny coverage for anything they think hasn’t been proved to work.
So do assessment panels reduce cost? Because costs are skyrocketing, despite “many” health insurers having them.

Who Went Bankrupt? (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)
The stereotype of who goes bankrupt is hardly complimentary. The image comes to mind of irresponsible people spending more than they know they have on whatever strikes their fancy, and then look for easy outs when the shit hits the fan. But, you probably know the correct answer to the question posed in the title. Yet, did you know how startling it really is? “Nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies have a medical cause.”
Just that there should be two who’ve been ill for every one that was profligate.

Health insurers want you to keep smoking, Harvard doctors say (Scientific American)
Health and life insurance companies in the US and abroad have nearly $4.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks, according to Harvard doctors. “It’s the combined taxidermist and veterinarian approach: either way you get your dog back,” says David Himmelstein, an internist at the Harvard Medical School and co-author of a letter published in [last] week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine… Why is it a big deal? “If you own a billion dollars [of tobacco stock], then you don’t want to see it go down,” says Himmelstein, “You are less likely to join anti-tobacco coalitions, endorse anti-tobacco legislation, basically, anything most health companies would want to participate in.”…

[W]ith $4.5 billion still invested in Big Tobacco, many insurers are reaping profits from a cancer-causing industry.  As Himmelstein puts it, “Is this who we want running our healthcare system?”

What the new Jim Comey torture emails actually reveal (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
[T]he real story here is obvious — these DOJ memos authorizing torture were anything but the by-product of independent, good faith legal analysis.  Instead, those memos — just like the pre-war CIA reports about The Threat of Saddam — were coerced by White House officials eager for bureaucratic cover for what they had already ordered.

This was done precisely so that once this all became public, they could point to those memos and have the political and media establishment excuse what they did (“Oh, they only did what they DOJ told them was legal”‘/”Oh, they were only reacting to CIA warnings about Saddam’s weapons”).  These DOJ memos, like the CIA reports, were all engineered by the White House to give cover to what they wanted to do; they were not the precipitating events that led to and justified those decisions.  That is the critical point proven by the Comey emails, and it is completely obscured by the NYT article, which instead trumpets the opposite point (“Unanimity at DOJ that these tactics were legal”) because that’s the story their leaking sources wanted them to promote.

What’s most ironic about what the NYT did here is that on the very same day this article appears, there is a column from the NYT Public Editor, Clark Hoyt, excoriating the paper for having published a deeply misleading front page story by Elizabeth Bumiller, that claimed that 1 out of 7 Guantanamo detainees returned to “jihad” once they are released.  That happened because Bumiller followed the most common method of modern establishment reporting:  she mindlessly repeated what her government sources told her to say… That is exactly what Shane and Johnston did with these Comey emails.

Liz Cheney Appeared On MSNBC And CNN Ten Times In Less Than A Month (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Media Matters runs the numbers on Liz Cheney’s over-exposure on the networks, and they’re startling: She’s had at least 22 on-air appearances in less than a month… It’s worth repeating that Liz Cheney is less a bearer of the GOP message than she is her father’s chief public defender.

Lack Of Coherent Dem Response On Torture Taking Toll, Helping Cheney (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Some striking new polling from Gallup suggests that the lack of a coherent response to Dick Cheney’s torture offensive is taking its toll on at least one high-profile Democrat while simultaneously helping Cheney begin to salvage his reputation. The Gallup poll finds that two of the leading officials on either side of the torture argument — Cheney and Nancy Pelosi — have equally poor favorability ratings. But here’s the key point: They are at parity because Cheney’s ratings have gone up and Pelosi’s have dropped during the period that both were heavily identified with the torture issue…

Top Dems (Obama aside) have taken Cheney about as seriously as a circus sideshow, chortling about his low approval ratings while rarely rebutting his actual arguments. Result: His claims have continually gone largely unchallenged, and he’s largely framed the debate.

Hillary Clinton demands China investigate and disclose its past abuses (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
On behalf of the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement this week regarding the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, and demanded that China do the following…: “A China that has made enormous progress economically, and that is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership, should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.”

Compare that moving defense of transparency to what the Obama administration — as I wrote about earlier today – is currently doing in Congress in trying to round up enough Democratic votes to vest the Pentagon with a new secrecy power, whereby it can unilaterally suppress all photographic evidence relating to our own abuse of detainees.  Or compare it to our current President’s repeated insistence that we Look to the Future, Not the Past and his fervent opposition even to a Truth Commission.
With this and with giving the same rights as married couples to State Department employees, I’m starting to think that Hillary is pushing Obama toward the liberal side.

U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases (New York Times)
The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for Guantánamo military commissions that could let prosecutors avoid trials that would air details of interrogation techniques.

NYT Finally Runs ‘Editor’s Note’ Correction To Misleading Gitmo Detainee ‘Recidivism’ Story (Think Progress)
Last month, the New York Times ran a front page story titled “1 In 7 Detainees Returned to Jihad, Pentagon Finds.” Relying on a unpublicized DoD report, the article said that “74 prisoners released from Guantánamo have returned to terrorism, making for a recidivism rate of nearly 14 percent.” Critics pointed out that these statistics don’t take into account the possibility that released detainees were not terrorists to begin with and were radicalized by their detention. Seeming to take note of this criticism, the Times soon after changed the headline and lead of the web version of the story… [Friday], the Times finally got around to addressing the story’s inaccuracies in its print edition in an “Editor’s Note.”

Desanitizing Modern Warfare (Bill Moyers Journal)
In this week’s JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill about the role played by hi-tech weaponry and private military contractors in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Scahill argued that most American citizens have become so removed from the harsh realities of war that further conflicts are becoming increasingly likely:

“I think that this is sick, where you turn war essentially into a videogame that can be waged by people half a world away… It sanitizes war. It means that we increase the number of people that don’t have to see that war is hell on the ground, and it means that wars are gonna be easier in the future because it’s not as tough of a sell… The United States has created a new system for waging war where you no longer have to rely on your own citizens to sign up for the military and say ‘I believe in this war, so I’m willing to sign up and risk my life for it.’ You turn the entire world into your recruiting ground.”
Click through to watch the video or to read the transcript.

This is good news? Economy bleeds jobs at slower pace (McClatchy)
Better-than-expected May employment numbers Friday showed that the breathtaking pace of job losses is moderating, but experts warn that the unemployment rate will continue to climb for months and job growth could remain sluggish for years.

16.4% (by Richard Florida, thanks to Economist’s View)
That’s the overall rate of unemployment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ newly released U-6 measure which includes “marginally attached workers” as well as those who work part-time for economic reasons. That’s quite a bit higher than the widely reported 9.4 percent figure… And, unemployment continues to fall unevenly by gender, race, class, and occupation.

Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up Sharply (Calculated Risk)
From the American Bankruptcy Institute: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up 37 Percent in May “U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings rose 37 percent nationwide in May from the same period a year ago, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). The overall May consumer filing total of 124,838 was roughly level from the April total of 125,618. Chapter 13 filings constituted 27 percent of all consumer cases in May, slightly above the April rate.”

Oil spikes above $70 for first time this year (AP)
Oil prices broke through the $70 per-barrel barrier Friday and more forecasters are broadening expectations for an upward swing in crude… Oil prices have been soaring for months despite a massive surplus of petroleum and natural gas. A large amount of speculative money has flowed into the markets, according to government reports, potentially taking advantage of a weak U.S. currency.

Making the Case for Another Fiscal Stimulus
Although President Obama’s $787 billion fiscal stimulus is still working its way through the pipeiline, Berkeley economist — and former Clinton Treasury official — Brad DeLong makes the case for another round. In a draft of a letter he says he may send Obama next week, he said:

“At the end of 2008, when your incoming administration was preparing your recession-fighting strategy, your forecasts were that the recession would bottom out in August of 2009, with a peak unemployment rate of 7.9%. The unemployment rate in May was already 9.4%. 10% unemployment this year is a nearly foregone conclusion. 11% unemployment — a recession twice as deep as the one your incoming administration was forecasting at the end of 2008 — is not unlikely …. Even had the fiscal expansion plans of your administration not been cut back by roughly a quarter in their employment-generating effectiveness by the Congress, fiscal stimulus plans that appeared to be adequate and appropriate at the turn of the year now appear to be inadequate. Compounding the problem of inadequate fiscal expansion at the federal level is the problem of inappropriate and substantial fiscal contraction at the state level.”

Where’s the money coming from? (by Paul Krugman)
The huge borrowing by major governments, the U.S. government in particular, has confused many people — and not just Niall Ferguson. What I hear again and again is either the assertion that all this borrowing must drive up interest rates, or worries that the Chinese won’t be willing to lend us the money… [But according to data provided by] Brad Setser, … [we’re] actually borrowing less from foreigners than we were before.

U.S. to Propose Wider Oversight of Compensation (New York Times)
The Obama administration plans to require banks and corporations that have received two rounds of federal bailouts to submit any major executive pay changes for approval by a new federal official who will monitor compensation, according to two government officials. The proposal is part of a broad set of regulations on executive compensation expected to be announced by the administration as early as this week. Some of the rules are required by legislation enacted in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and they would apply only to companies that received taxpayer money.

Others, which are being described as broad principles, would set standards that the government would like the entire financial industry to observe as banks and other companies compensate their highest-paid executives, though it is not clear how stringent regulators will make them.

Has Wall Street learned its lesson? (Editorial,  Miami Herald)
Not to judge from current efforts in Washington to restrict, undermine or just plain thwart new efforts at regulation… The issue is the attempt in Washington to rein in all of these fancy and hard-to-fathom financial instruments like the … credit-default swaps. These derivatives played a crucial role in taking the economy to the brink of collapse, but they were bought and traded in largely unsupervised operations that yielded huge profits for Wall Street.

Some lawmakers believe that the way to make sure this doesn’t happen again is to trade these instruments on an open exchange, just like company stocks. This increases transparency – a synonym for “truth” in an economic context – so that customers know what prevailing prices are and can also measure the risk of investment. Banks want to avoid this at all costs, however, because this would cut into their profits.

We Had Our Perestroika. It’s High Time for Yours (by Mikhail Gorbachev)
The current global crisis demonstrates that the leaders of major powers, particularly the United States, had missed the signals that called for a perestroika. The result is a crisis that is not just financial and economic. It is political, too. The model that emerged during the final decades of the 20th century has turned out to be unsustainable. It was based on a drive for super-profits and hyper-consumption for a few, on unrestrained exploitation of resources and on social and environmental irresponsibility.

But if all the proposed solutions and action now come down to a mere rebranding of the old system, we are bound to see another, perhaps even greater upheaval down the road. The current model does not need adjusting; it needs replacing. I have no ready-made prescriptions. But I am convinced that a new model will emerge, one that will emphasize public needs and public goods, such as a cleaner environment, well-functioning infrastructure and public transportation, sound education and health systems and affordable housing.
He’s more liberal than Barack Obama.

Doubts mount over US toxic asset plan (Financial Times)
The controversial US toxic asset clean-up plan, aimed at clearing bad loans from US banks’ books to enable them to raise capital and lend freely, has fallen behind schedule, and may never be fully implemented. The plan has fallen prey to concerns from potential investors and regulators and waning interest from the banks themselves. Investors fear that Congress may set caps on pay while regulators are beginning to doubt whether the plan is really necessary.

Fed hiring veteran lobbyist: source (Reuters)
The U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to hire a veteran lobbyist to help manage its relations with Congress at a time of heightened attention to its role in national affairs, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday… The Fed believes it will be useful to add to its resources at a time when there is great public and congressional interest in the institution, the source said… Members of Congress have chafed at the Fed’s bold use of its emergency powers and in particular its multibillion-dollar bailouts of investment bank Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group.

Chrysler Creditors Ask U.S. Justice to Stop Fiat Sale (Bloomberg)
Chrysler LLC creditors asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block the carmaker from selling its assets as early as tomorrow to a group led by Italy’s Fiat SpA. Indiana pension funds that lent Chrysler money said in papers filed late yesterday that they will seek a Supreme Court review of a ruling allowing the sale. The funds asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for an order blocking the transfer until the high court decides whether to hear the funds’ appeal. “Absent a stay, the sale will close on Monday, June 8, 2009,” the funds said in their court papers, filed in Washington. They said they would suffer “irreparable harm” should the sale go forward.

Auto Dealers Favor GOP With Campaign Cash (Capital Eye)
With debate raging on the Internet about whether President Obama is targeting certain Chrysler dealerships for closure, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics decided to take a closer look at the numbers behind the donations of automobile dealers. As our industry profile clearly shows, car dealers are — and have always been — a GOP-leaning demographic.

Major problems found in war spending (AP)
In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission presents a bleak assessment of how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting… U.S. reliance on contractors has grown to “unprecedented proportions,” says the bipartisan commission, established by Congress last year. More than 240,000 private sector employees are supporting military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands more work for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.

But the government has no central data base of who all these contractors are, what services they provide, and how much they’re paid. The Pentagon has failed to provide enough trained staff to watch over them, creating conditions for waste and corruption, the commission says. In Iraq, the panel worries that as U.S. troops depart in larger numbers, there will be too few government eyes on the contractors left to oversee the closing of hundreds of bases and disposal of mountains of federal property.

McHugh on DADT: I have no interest in excluding people ‘otherwise qualified to serve.’ (Think Progress)
After President Obama named Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) as his nominee for Secretary of the Army, progressives have been working to better understand McHugh’s current position on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military. While McHugh still intends to refrain from publicizing his own personal view on the issue until his confirmation hearings, yesterday in an interview with Roll Call, he hinted that he believes it’s time to repeal the ban: “‘I have no interest as either a Member of Congress or as … secretary of the Army to exclude by some categorization a group of people otherwise qualified to serve,’ McHugh told Roll Call.”

White House won’t cross firefighter’s picket line to attend mayor’s conference. (Think Progress)
Vice President Biden and other key administration officials, who had been scheduled to attend the national mayor’s conference in Providence, RI, have backed out because they refuse to cross a picket line. The AP reports that there is “a years-long conflict between the Providence mayor, David Cicilline, and local firefighters over contract matters. Cicilline is the host of the conference in his home city, and the firefighters, backed by the International Association of Fire Fighters, plan to stage a picket line at the event.” The White House said respecting picket lines is the administration’s policy.

US to ramp up intel efforts in drug war (AFP)
The United States will step up intelligence efforts aimed at stemming the illicit flow of drugs, guns and cash across the border with Mexico, according to a White House strategy paper soon to be sent to Congress. The strategy, drawn up by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, calls for wide-ranging improvements to intelligence gathering and analysis that can be used by law enforcement units. “Agencies should consider deploying additional intelligence analysts from headquarters-type roles into frontline operational organizations to facilitate the linking of intelligence to operations,” the report said.
Shouldn’t we stop digging that hole?

State Dept. Retiree Accused of Spying (Washington Post)
A former State Department official with top-secret security clearance and his wife have been charged with spying for Cuba over the past three decades, passing information by shortwave radio and correspondence exchanged in local grocery stores, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. couple spied for Cuba for 30 years, investigators allege (McClatchy)
Walter Kendall Myers spent more than two decades deep in the bureaucracy of the U.S. State Department until this week, when federal authorities accused him of a life of intrigue and espionage as a clandestine agent for one of the U.S.’s longtime antagonists: the communist government of Cuba.

George Tiller killing now a federal investigation (McClatchy)
A federal investigation has been launched in connection with the fatal shooting of George Tiller, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

Obama’s Flip-Flops for the Public Good (by Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S. News & World Report)
President Obama has been shifting gears, and reversing some of his policies, at a remarkable rate. But so far, he hasn’t paid much of a political price for it, a testament to his popularity and the willingness of Americans to give him a chance to get results.
Define “public good”, Ken. And define “political price”. See below.

Is Obama Starting To Take On Water? (by Sean Trende, Real Clear Politics)
That said, there are some signs that Obama’s approval ratings are beginning to come down to Earth.  This is unsurprising — every post-World War II President who has served a full term, save Eisenhower, has seen his approval rating drop below 50% at some point in his first term.  Regardless, Rasmussen has Obama’s net “strongly approve/strongly disapprove” ratings at zero for the first time in his term.  His net approval rating is tied for the lowest of his term.  At the same time, the percentage of people who classify Obama’s leadership skills as “Excellent” or “Good” is only 51%.  49% give him “Fair” or “Poor” marks.

Gallup has also shown a narrowing of his approve/disapprove, which is the lowest today it has been in months (though it is still a very healthy net +31%).  The RCP average has him at his lowest net approval rating of his term (again, a healthy +25.2%); it also has him below 60% for only the second time (the first time was in March)… Time will tell whether this becomes a long term trend, or is merely a blip.  But for the first time since the stimulus debate, we’re starting to get some signs that events are wearing away some of Obama’s glow.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll (Rasmussen, Sunday, June 07, 2009)
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 35% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-two percent (32%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +3… Overall, 53% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance so far. That’s his lowest level of overall approval to date. Forty-six percent (46%) now disapprove.

It’s so simple … (by Gail at Arizona Eclectic Blog, thanks to vastleft at Corrente)
In spite of all the hype about Obama being open to the ideas of those who do not agree with him, in actuality Obama’s solution to problems come from a very narrow set of solutions proposed by those in power; those who benefit, usually monetarily, from those very decisions. Those with alternate solutions, solution that may look beyond immediate gain of the Banksters and Robber Baron Corporatists are either shut our completely or allowed to voice their concerns after the decisions have been solidified.

TP’s Ian Millhiser debates Lou Dobbs on Sotomayor’s 2nd amendment record. (Think Progress)
[Friday] night on CNN, Lou Dobbs claimed there are “new concerns” about Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s rulings on our 2nd amendment rights. Dobbs tried to argue that Sotomayor may be hostile towards private gun ownership. But ThinkProgress’ legal research analyst Ian Millhiser set the record straight, noting that the only thing we truly know from Sotomayor’s jurisprudence on 2nd amendment issues is that she has followed the rule of law and Supreme Court precedent.
Click through to watch the video.

NTY continues to portray Sotomayor as a hothead on the bench (by Eric Boehlert at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
And more importantly, the Times continues to indicate how it, and the rest of the serious press, is going to tell whatever tale it wants about the judge. The coverage of Sotomayor has become so detached from legal reality, I think, that journalists no longer feel any compunction to reflect the facts. In other words, it’s open season.

Steele On Sotomayor: ‘God Help You If You’re A White Male Coming Before Her Bench’ (Think Progress)
Last week, while guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show, RNC Chairman Michael Steele urged Republicans to stop “slammin’ and rammin‘” Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with personal attacks. Instead, Steele argued that conservatives should “move on to the substance of the conversation about what this woman believes, why she believes it.” But just one week later, while hosting the same show, Steele couldn’t help but paint Sotomayor as a racist. “God help you if you’re a white male coming before her bench,” declared Steele before agreeing with a caller who … wanted the GOP to raise questions about her “character”.

Bias (by digby)
So the problem with female judges is that their different experience in life leads them to be biased… But the idea that women may inherently view the law differently on occasion is something that troubles even several female judges who believe it may be so… [W]hat’s interesting here is the notion that the way men see things is “normal” and that the way women see things is biased…

Sotomayor’s whole point in the “wise Latina” speech may have been that the experience of a woman living in a society which presumes this male privilege by default might actually be less biased than those who never question it. And after all the commentary this past week in which this privilege and experience is completely taken for granted as the standard to which she must be compared, I think I agree with that. Clearly, most people (perhaps most women too) don’t question the absurd notion that eight men on the Supreme Court ruling from their experience is a sign of their impartiality but that a woman ruling from hers isn’t. If a judge has knowledge of that inherent, social bias it actually would make her see things in a fairer light than someone who doesn’t.

ABC’s The Note lets slip the truth about the Sotomayor press coverage (by Eric Boehlert at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
From [Friday’s]edition of the CW-loving Note: “There’s plenty there to keep his attention:…a storyline is developing around Judge Sonia Sotomayor that can at least make the hearings more interesting.”… That, my friends, is the money quote of the last two weeks. Because in it, the Note acknowledges what other journalists will not, which is the entire point of the press coverage is make sure the hearings are interesting. That’s all the press cares about. Period. And will do whatever it takes to prop up phony “drama.”

How epically dishonest has the Sotomayor “Latina woman” coverage been? (by Eric Boehlert at  County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Bottom line: Reporters and pundits must avoid providing any kind of context for the “Latina woman” quote in order for that storyline to survive even modest scrutiny. Well, mission accomplished because I just did a Nexis search and found that during the last ten days there have been more than 950 media mentions of Sotomayor and “Latina woman.” Then I looked to see how many of those 950-plus news reports included the word “discrimination” as a way to put that quote in context. Answer: Less than 20.

Or, approximately two percent of news reports have managed to do journalism’s most basic task, which is to provide all pertinent information. Instead of informing news consumers, the press has been actively misinforming them about Sotomayor. That’s how dishonest the coverage has been.

National Review Conflates ‘Wise Latina’ With Buddhist, Or Something (by Pareene at Gawker)
Hey, here is the new cover of The National Review, depicting “Wise Latina” Sonia Sotomayor as… Asian, for some reason.
I don’t get it, either. I like it, though. Being compared to the Buddha is a good thing, isn’t it?

White House Talking Points Blast Sotomayor Foes As Desperate Culture Warriors (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
I’ve obtained a set of White House talking points, privately distributed to outside liberal allies, that chart an aggressive counterattack against foes of Sonia Sotomayor, claiming that critics of a major ruling “wish to reignite the culture wars of the past” and are “grasping for attacks in the face of a strong nominee.” The new talking points — which hit back more aggressively than earlier ones — show the White House anticipates a fresh onslaught of attacks on her widely-cited ruling in Ricci vs. DeStefano when the Supreme Court rules on this case, perhaps this week. The talking points suggest the White House thinks the debate will shift to this case and that the attacks have some potential.
Click through for more.

Three More Bundlers Among Obama’s Ambassador Picks (Capital Eye)
President Obama’s picks for the new American ambassadors to the Bahamas, Canada and South Africa will not only share a new job title, but they have all shared a role raising funds for Obama’s presidential campaign. Donald Gips, the nominee to serve as ambassador to South Africa, bundled at least $500,000 for Obama’s presidential run. Nicole Avant, the nominee for the ambassador post in the Bahamas, also bundled at least half a million. David Jacobson, the nominee for the ambassador to Canada, brought in between $50,000 and $100,000. U.S. presidents have long rewarded big campaign donors, fundraisers and other loyalists with ambassadorships, and Obama looks to be continuing that tradition.

Obama nominee withdrawing over interrogations (by Alex Koppelman at War Room, Salon)
President Obama has, reportedly, lost another high-level nominee. The latest to go is Philip Mudd, who was tapped to be under secretary of intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. During the Bush administration, Mudd had served for a time as deputy director of the Office of Terrorism Analysis at the CIA. According to the Associated Press, in that position, he had direct knowledge of the administration’s interrogation program. Given the sensitivity of that issue, and the opposition to that program and the people who participated in it, it seems that the AP’s disclosure of Mudd’s peripheral role was enough to kill his chances.

Obama’s poor choice for faith leader (by Frances Kissling, Salon, thanks to Alegre)
President Barack Obama’s appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives took the pro-choice movement by surprise… Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center … and others will want to know is why the post, which includes oversight of the department’s faith-based grant-making in family planning, HIV and AIDS and in small-scale research into the effect of religion and spirituality on early sexual behavior, has gone to someone who both believes abortion should be illegal and opposes contraception…

Kelley and other moderately progressive Catholic and evangelical groups owe their pull in the Democratic Party to the disappointment of 2004. They seized on the Democratic defeat in the 2004 elections as a means to push the party to the right on sex and reproduction. Democrats, stung by their near miss in Ohio, desperate to attract swing voters, eager to prove that they were “sensitive” to religion, took the bait.

With support from George Soros and Michael Kieschnick, the founder of Working Assets and Credo Mobile, groups like Sojourners, Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance entered the electoral arena. Catholics in Alliance and its sister organization, Catholics United, were active in voter registration and organizing Catholic voters in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2006 and 2008… In part, Kelley’s appointment is the usual political payback.
I think I’ll give up my Credo long distance account.

Are House Democrats about to block Obama’s new secrecy law? (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Earlier this week, I noted that the Senate had passed — with Obama’s support – a pernicious amendment to the spending supplemental bill, jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, that empowers Obama and the Pentagon, at their sole discretion, to suppress any “photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States.”

The amendment has no purpose other than to expressly allow the President to conceal evidence of war crimes (torture) and to block the Supreme Court from ruling (as two federal courts have already held) that the Freedom of Information Act compels disclosure of those photographs… But passage of Graham-Lieberman now appears much less certain because of what appears to be the refusal of some key liberal House Democrats — including Barney Frank — to support it.  The votes of liberal House Democrats actually matter (for once) because most House Republicans are refusing to support the overall supplemental bill.

House GOPers Say White House Measure Will Help Terrorists — But It’s Backed By Rice, Powell, And Kissinger (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
House GOP leaders Eric Cantor and John Boehner have waged an aggressive campaign against a measure sought by the White House and Dem leaders to provide funding for the International Monetary Fund, claiming the cash could end up funding terrorism. But I’ve learned that the initiative is strongly backed by none other than Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Henry Kissinger — not folks who are known for their terror sympathies.

The measure in question — meant to meet Obama’s vow to world leaders — would add $5 billion to the current war-spending bill to fund the IMF. Republicans oppose the IMF cash, forcing House leaders, who lack enough Dem votes, to scrap a vote until next week, setting up a big showdown over Obama’s war supplemental.

Senate poised to vote on sweeping FDA tobacco rules (McClatchy)
Sweeping changes in how the government controls tobacco content and marketing are likely to be approved by the U.S. Senate this week, despite a strong last-ditch effort by tobacco interests and skepticism from some experts that smokers won’t kick their habit.

Harry Reid Calls Immigration a Priority for U.S. Senate (Washington Post)
At a news conference with Hispanic leaders to tout Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court candidacy, Reid said a comprehensive immigration bill is “going to happen this session, but I want it this year, if at all possible.” [Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid(D-Nev.)] called it one of his three top priorities this year, along with health care and energy. His comments drew renewed attention to the immigration issue, which has been largely dormant on Capitol Hill since a comprehensive reform measure failed in the Senate in 2007. Despite the hopes of Reid and other advocates, however, with Congress and the White House preoccupied with a packed legislative calendar, immigration reform looks unlikely to pass this year.

House Democratic leaders have already said they want the Senate to move on immigration first, and the Senate can take weeks to process a major bill.

Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He’s On The Side Of Terrorists (Think Progress)
Reacting to President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world [Thursday], Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) decried the president’s speech as “un-American” and even suggested Obama might be on the side of terrorists.

All but over for Coleman, experts say (Politico)
Seven months after Minnesota’s Senate election, the state’s highest court hasn’t reached a decision but election law experts agree: Norm Coleman doesn’t have a prayer. These experts see almost no chance Coleman’s lawyers will prevail in their appeal to the state’s high court to count more ballots in a bid to erase Al Franken’s slim lead.

Sestak Confirms He’s Making Senate Bid (Political Wire)
Short of divine intervention, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is running for the U.S. Senate and will challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in a primary, according to pa2010.com. Said Sestak: “It would take an act of God for me to not get in now.”

Schakowsky Will Not Run for Senate (Political Wire)
After exploring a Senate run, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) told Lynn Sweet that she instead will seek another term in the House. “Schakowsky had set today as her deadline for deciding whether to jump into the Democratic primary. She told me a statewide contest ‘would have been very exciting,’ but she wanted to take advantage of ‘this moment in history’ to use her House leadership position — she is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s inner circle — to work on pending health care and energy legislation.”
Jan is one of the few true progressives in Congress.

Crist enjoys commanding lead in Fla. Senate race (On Politics, USA Today)
A Strategic Vision poll shows Crist picking up 59% of the Republican primary voters against former state House speaker Marco Rubio, who got about 22%. A potential match-up between Crist and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek shows the former state attorney general beating Meek, 59% to 29%, in the race to replace the retiring Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican. The first-term governor “is the most popular politician in Florida with strong bipartisan support,” said David Johnson, the polling firm’s CEO. “It is conservatives who give the governor his lowest numbers.”

Split Decision in 2010? (Political Wire)
Charlie Cook says that “absent any national tide” Democrats could lose a dozen or so House seats next year and pick up a seat or two in the Senate. “Having gained 54 House seats over the past two elections, Democrats now represent 49 districts that GOP presidential nominee John McCain won last year. By comparison, Republicans represent 34 districts that Obama won. Simple arithmetic indicates that in the absence of overwhelming hostility toward the Republican Party, the GOP ought to gain a few, maybe even a dozen or so, House seats.”

“On the Senate side, the math is a bit different and is not driven directly by the results of the past two elections. In 2010, Republicans will be defending 19 seats, only one more than Democrats will.”

Deeds Grabs Solid Lead in Virginia (Political Wire)
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia finds that undecided voters in the Democratic gubernatorial race have broken almost exclusively to Creigh Deeds (D), allowing him to open up a double digit before Tuesday’s primary. Deeds now leads with 40%, followed by Terry McAuliffe at 26%, and Brian Moran at 24%.

Rangel Warns of Primary Challenge to Paterson (Political Wire)
In an interview with NY1, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) warned New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) not to challenge Gov. David Paterson (D) in a Democratic primary next year, saying it could create “racial polarization” in the state and be “devastating” to New York Democrats.
Will there be blood, Charlie?

Plouffe to Advise Patrick on Re-Election Bid (Political Wire)
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is tapping David Plouffe, the architect of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “to help run his bid for reelection next year, an indication of the type of political star power the governor may be able to utilize as he seeks another four-year term,” reports the Boston Globe. The announcement “is a sign the governor is beginning to build his campaign network and trying to put to rest doubts political insiders have raised about whether he is committed to running again.”

Palin Told She Won’t Speak at Fundraiser (Political Wire)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s “on-again, off-again appearance at Monday night’s gala GOP fundraising dinner is off — again,” reports Politico. “After being invited — for a second time — to speak to the annual joint fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Palin was told abruptly Saturday night that she would not be allowed to address the thousands of Republicans there after all.” “The Alaska governor may now skip the dinner altogether, and her allies are miffed at what they see as a slight from the congressional wing of the Republican Party.”

Rove: ‘Who Cares’ Whether Muslims ‘Approve Or Like The President Of The United States’? (Think Progress)
[Thursday] night, Karl Rove went on Fox News and lambasted President Obama’s speech in Cairo, saying that he would give him a grade of “D minus” on the “important parts of the speech.” Host Bill O’Reilly then decided to play “devil’s advocate” and pointed out that President Bush’s approach wasn’t all that great since Muslim communities around the world “hated him.” Rove responded that it doesn’t really matter what they think.

Dean’s Next Battle: Beat The Conservative Book Industry (by Sam Stein at the Huffington Post)
Howard Dean’s appointment to the chair of the Progressive Book Club is being hailed as a major step on the part of Democrats to close one of the few remaining institutional deficits they have with Republicans. For years, progressives have watched with a mix of envy and wonder at the capacity of the conservative movement to nurture and promote its young writers. As the Democratic Party and like-minded institutions have matched their ideological counterparts in other organizational functions, that gap in book promotion has lingered.

Enter Dean. The former Vermont Governor is, among other things, known for his emphasis on party infrastructure and organization. His presidential campaign in 2004 helped set the stage for the online and grassroots activism that propelled Barack Obama’s candidacy four years later. His 50-state strategy as chair of the DNC was, likewise, based on the idea that strong roots made the party more formidable. Now, progressives are hoping he can help implement a similar philosophy when it comes to an important sliver in the battle of ideas.
Maybe Howard’s been reading my Progressive Media Strategy proposal.

In Iraq, Colbert Does His Shtick for the Troops (New York Times)
Stephen Colbert is taping four episodes of The Colbert Report in Baghdad this week. It’s the first time in the history of the U.S.O. that a full-length nonnews show has been filmed, edited and broadcast from a combat zone. The week of shows is called “Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando,” and its guest list includes Iraq’s deputy prime minister.
Is there anyone better at capturing the spotlight than Stephen Colbert?

Filmmaker Ken Burns discusses national parks project (McClatchy)
The latest project of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and his longtime colleague Dayton Duncan is “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” The six-part series took six years to create and will air on PBS in the fall.

Olbermann Whacks MSNBC For Liz Cheney Exposure (Without Naming MSNBC) (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Since we’re on the topic of all the airtime MSNBC grants to Liz Cheney to act as her pop’s defense attorney and chief flak, it’s worth noting that the network’s own Keith Olbermann is also lampooning the constant platform granted to Ms. Cheney on the networks… Olbermann clearly wasn’t singling out MSNBC and was referring to all the culpable networks. [Thursday] night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow also noted this phenomenon without singling out MSNBC.

A side note: In the blogosphere, the convention is that writers are often allowed to take issue publicly with their bosses and/or the institutions they work for. If the Olbermann-Maddow wing of MSNBC is the kind of on-air version of the liberal blogosphere, it’s interesting that this convention hasn’t quite spread to those precincts, though it probably will soon enough.
My comment: Define “blogosphere”, Greg. On most blogs, even so-called progressive ones, disagreement with management (especially with regard to Obama) will get you banned. I believe you had your own problems at TPM due to your defense of Hillary Clinton during last year’s primary. Josh basically shut you up by taking your independent blog away.

A sheep in Wolffe’s clothing? (by: Ben Smith at Politico)
[Former Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe’s book about the 2008 campaign,] “Renegade” is billed on its cover as “based on exclusive interviews with Barack Obama.” The footnotes detail 21 such interviews. They were so exclusive, as it happens, that key elements of them apparently did not appear contemporaneously in Newsweek, which was footing the bill as Wolffe flew around the country with Obama for two years. Nor did they appear in the magazine’s own post-election volume. No matter the balance questions, Wolffe’s access did pay some dividends. He gets Obama accusing former President Bill Clinton of telling “bald-faced lies” – and the news that the candidate met secretly in Chicago with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Those revelations have gotten the book noticed, and it’s received a favorable review from the New York Times.

All of that will be good for sales — for the book, but not for Newsweek, which Federal Election Commission records show reimbursed the Obama campaign nearly $170,000 for the cost of flying Wolffe around the country in the candidate’s bubble.
It wasn’t Bill Clinton doing the lying.

For journalists, how close is too close? (Political Ticker, CNN)
Author and former Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe is refuting charges that he acted more like Barack Obama’s campaign spokesman than as a journalist covering Obama’s presidential campaign. It was Obama, himself, who suggested that Wolffe write his book Renegade: The Making of a President. Wolffe, however, denied that writing the book meant trading objectivity for access.

Newsweek’s Evan Thomas: Obama Is ‘Sort of God’ (Newsbusters, a right-wing site)
Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: ”I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: “I think the President’s speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful…But what I liked about the President’s speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility…The question now is whether the President we elected and spoke for us so grandly yesterday can carry out the great vision he gave us and to the world.”
Newsbusters isn’t known for honesty, but I have to wonder if they would go so far to make up quotes. The transcript of Friday’s Hardball show should be available later today.

Why Starbucks Is Sponsoring MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ (Advertising Age)
CMO Terry Davenport Says Coffee Chain Sees Opportunity to Promote Ethical Commitments

Glenn Beck: The 23 Million Dollar Man (TVNewser, Media Bistro)
What list includes Angelina Jolie, Tiger Woods, and Glenn Beck? This year’s annual “ranking of the world’s ultra famous,” the Forbes Celebrity 100. Beck was the only TV news personality to make the list.

NARAL Rep on Why She Won’t Appear on O’Reilly’s Show (by Mary Alice Carr)
I made a personal pledge to no longer sit across from [Bill O'Reilly] after he called for people to converge on [recently murdered abortion doctor George] Tiller’s clinic. I realized that appearing on the show with him would only legitimize his speech and that no good would come of my efforts.

Pruden: Obama is “our first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture… whence America sprang” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Pat Robertson on Beck : “Obama and his crew are taking advantage of this to insert socialism and government control” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)

FNS panel spread false claim that Cairo speech indicated Obama has “given up” on stopping Iran from getting nukes (County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’ (Think Progress)
On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America.” The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”.

“Czars” paranoia rampant on Cavuto ; he suggests calling them “evil despots accountable to no one” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Radio host Jennings declares Limbaugh “the most important conservative voice in America since Reagan” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)

Plan to sell off Calif. landmarks is questioned (AP)
San Quentin State Prison. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The California State Fairgrounds. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to put some of his state’s biggest landmarks up for sale to help erase a $24 billion budget deficit is fraught with questions, chief among them: How can California taxpayers possibly get a good deal in this slumping real estate market? Schwarzenegger, who has also proposed deep cuts in education, health care, welfare and parks, wants to sell off some property outright, sell office buildings and then rent them back from the new landlords, and lease some state land to developers.
More important, what do they do next?

Most California lawmakers receiving full salaries (McClatchy)
Nothing in California law says legislators have to sink with the ship of state — and a forced pay cut this year is unconstitutional, so sacrifice is a person-by-person decision.

Voters steer Europe to the right (BBC)
Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left. Far-right and anti-immigrant parties also made gains, as turnout figures plunged to 43% – the lowest since direct elections began 30 years ago.

Hold Your Applause (by Chris Hedges at Truthdig)
Did they play Barack Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in the prison corridors of Abu Ghraib, Bagram air base, Guantanamo or the dozens of secret sites where we hold thousands of Muslims around the world?… What do words of peace and cooperation mean from us when we torture—yes, we still torture—only Muslims? What do these words mean when we sanction Israel’s brutal air assaults on Lebanon and Gaza, assaults that demolished thousands of homes and left hundreds dead and injured? How does it look for Obama to call for democracy and human rights from Egypt, where we lavishly fund and support the despotic regime of Hosni Mubarak, one of the longest-reigning dictators in the Middle East?…

The expanding imperial projects and tightening screws of repression lurch forward under Obama. We are not trying to end terror or promote democracy. We are ensuring that our corporate state has a steady supply of the cheap oil to which it is addicted. And the scarcer oil becomes, the more aggressive we become. This is the game playing out in the Muslim world.

Lebanon Deals Hezbollah Blow as Moderates Hang On (Wall Street Journal)
A Western-leaning coalition of candidates appears to have held onto its parliamentary majority in Lebanon’s Sunday polls, beating back a challenge by a Hezbollah-led bloc that some polls had indicated would come out on top. Official results weren’t expected until Monday. But unofficial results from some key battleground contests suggested the Hezbollah-led opposition did not capture enough votes to win a majority. The head of the Western-backed coalition announced victory early Monday.

The outcome came as a surprise because some had predicted a victory here for Hezbollah, which receives significant funding from Iran and is allied with Syria. A Hezbollah-led victory would have been deeply troubling for Israel and U.S.-allied Arab neighbors, who are loath to see Tehran boost its regional influence.

UN: Iran expands uranium efforts, is blocking monitoring (McClatchy)
Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program and is impeding United Nations monitoring of its enrichment program, a confidential U.N. report said Friday.

Israel’s Premier Promises Major Peace Plan (New York Times)
Under mounting American pressure to define his intentions regarding peace efforts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Sunday that he would make a major policy speech next week mapping out the government’s “principles for achieving peace and security.”

“White Power” in Israel (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Good god. Have you seen this video yet? I am stunned. I’m no Obama fan, but this is the ugliest damned shit I’ve ever seen…
[Click through to watch the video.] Believe it or not, the … video was censored from Huffington Post on the grounds that it “had no news value” and “did not move the conversation forward.” Most of the kids seen here hold American-Israeli dual citizenship. Some are American Jews doing the indoctrination tour of Israel. I hope that any American citizen who, on camera, has called for harm to befall the president will have to explain his or her words to the Secret Service.
My comment: Kinda reminds me of the Obots’ treatment of Hillary.

‘Birthright Israel’ (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
As I noted earlier, young American Jews are often encouraged to accept free trips to Israel which turn out to be pretty much fear-ridden and propaganda-based. There’s another group call “Birthright Unplugged,” founded last year by progressive American Jews. They bring those same kids to meet with Palestinians and see how they live. And guess what? If you plan on the second program, your invitation to the first one is rescinded.

Pakistani tribesmen, with government support, attack Taliban extremists (McClatchy)
Pakistan_Pakistani tribesmen, enraged by a suicide bombing of a mosque in their district, organized a traditional militia and attacked Taliban extremists this weekend — an action that government officials welcomed and western allies are likely to endorse.

Cuba could become U.S. oil supplier at embargo’s end (McClatchy)
Cuba has launched a bold policy of oil development that could turn the country into an important supplier of fuel in the Caribbean — and the United States, should the embargo be lifted in the future.

China explores buying $50bn of IMF bonds‎  (Financial Times)
China is “actively considering” buying up to $50bn of International Monetary Fund bonds, the country’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange has said. John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, confirmed the Chinese proposal, which follows one by Russia to buy $10bn (€7.1bn, £6.2bn) in IMF bonds… The pledges by both countries seem to have some political motivations – both China and Russia make no secret of their desire to have a greater say in how the IMF commits money.

Media Matters for America headlines

Hill falsely claims Employee Free Choice Act “robs workers” of secret ballot

Fox News falsely asserted Obama claimed “there is no more terrorism”

Fox’s Napolitano mischaracterized NASA report to deny humans cause global warming

Hannity, Steyn misrepresent Obama’s comments on Hamas

Gingrich smear: Sotomayor made decision inRicci ”for clearly racial quota reasons”

Media promote claim that Bush administration’s Guantánamo policies “kept us safe”

Media note Obama did not say “terrorism,” but don’t discuss why

Media conservatives divided in reactions to Obama’s Cairo address

Now the NY Times tells us: “[A]cademic studies” undermine cramdown critics

Fox’s Hemmer sugarcoats reasons for opposition to Sessions’ judicial nomination

NKorea sentences 2 US journalists to 12 years jail
North Korea’s top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation’s confrontation with the United States.

The Great Firewall of China Goes Local (Mashable)
Last week we wrote about China’s blockade of most major social networks and search engines during the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre on 4th of June. Now, the Chinese authorities want to take it a step further, ordering that all PCs sold in the country, starting with July 1, must come with software that blocks certain websites.

According to the Chinese government, which haven’t yet gone public with the announcement, but has warned PC makers about the deadline, this measure’s aim is to protect the Chinese from harmful content, primarily pornography. But since this same government has blocked sites like Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Bing, it’s quite possible that this software’s primary aim is adding another layer of censorship over the existing Great Firewall.

Digital piracy looms over World Copyright Summit
Movie directors, composers, authors, legal experts, policy-makers and others are meeting here this week to discuss the “threats and opportunities” the Internet poses to copyright in the digital age.

Pirate Party Is Victorious, Joins European Parliament (Mashable)
[Sunday’s] European Parliament election results show that the Pirate Party has secured at least one seat in the body by receiving about 7 percent of the Swedish vote… In terms of influence, one or two votes is not much. But the fact that a party based almost exclusively on web piracy gained so many votes cannot by ignored by the Swedish political establishment. The web is a dynamic medium where people can share content and information. Attempting to stifle the flow with lawsuits has proven unpopular and ineffective.
Sadly, it’s the opinion of many netcentric folks that whatever content is created should be free or paid for only by choice.

British Government to Slow Pirates Down (Instead of Cutting Them Off) (Mashable)
The British Government seems to have given up on the dreaded three-strikes law, under which ISPs would be forced to completely cut file sharers off the Internet after two warnings. However, they’re now looking at other “technical solutions,” including limiting their ability to share files or reducing their bandwidth.

Japan explores using cell phones to stop pandemics
A few months from now, a highly contagious disease will spread through a Japanese elementary school. The epidemic will start with several unwitting children, who will infect others as they attend classes and wander the halls.

Slain Tigard woman met suspect on Craigslist in search of baby clothes
Heather Snively was a trusting and naive young woman who moved to Tigard from Maryland a few weeks ago to be with her boyfriend. She was also pregnant and looking for baby clothes, so she turned to Craigslist… That’s where the 21-year-old Snively, who was due in July, met the woman accused of killing her last week in Washington County, Snively’s family and a friend said Sunday. Snively’s body was found in the crawl space of a Beaverton rental home Friday. Her newborn boy died as well. Although police have not disclosed how either died, Snively’s meeting with 27-year-old Korena Elaine Roberts appears to have led to Snively’s death, relatives said.

Obama Urges Laggards to Get Ready for Digital TV
President Barack Obama warned Americans on Thursday who have not prepared for the June 12 transition to digital television that their TVs could go dark if they do not get a converter box soon. “I want to be clear: there will not be another delay,” he said in a statement.

Product V. Process Journalism: The Myth Of Perfection V. Beta Culture (by Jeff Jarvis)
Like the millennial clash of business models in media – the content economy v. the link economy and the inability of one to understand the other – here we see a clash over journalistic culture and methods – product journalism v. process journalism.

True/Slant boss: “We’re empowering journalists to develop their own brand”
True/Slant founder Lewis Dvorkin says his site is “tailored for the entrepreneurial journalist.” While some contributors receive a stipend for their work, others have an equity stake or a share in advertising revenue that they solicit. A writer’s contacts with advertisers will be disclosed, he says.

Blockheads Writing for Free (by Jeffrey Seglin at True/Slant)
My beef with agreeing to write for free is mostly that it can breed bad habits. Those who do it start making justifications about why they don’t need to put as much effort into the free stuff as they do for the paid stuff.

$10K Per Month to Twitter About Wine
California’s Murphy-Goode Winery is on a nationwide hunt for someone to fill its “Really Goode Job.” The successful applicant will earn $10,000 a month to tweet and use other social media skills to generate buzz about its reds and whites.

What ESPN the Magazine Is Doing Right With Its Online Pay Wall (by Nat Ives, Advertising Age)
“Why is it, in this business, we are apologetic when asking [consumers] to pay for what we give them online?” ESPN General Manager Gary Hoenig asked BusinessWeek’s Jon Fine, who broke the news today. “It’s not like people in the milk business who think, ‘We should give it away for free — we can make money on the cartons.’” Notice, though, that ESPN isn’t just building a pay wall around the magazine site; it’s moving the site into a gated community that has attractions of its own. Those attractions will probably remain the gate’s main justification even after ESPN The Magazine settles in.

That’s because most online content is way more like water than milk. It comes from the tap, basically for free. Try charging a quarter at public water fountains, and people will just stop using those fountains.

Temple: I’m not arguing that there isn’t a place for paid content, but…
“The idea that most newspapers have ‘unique’ content that people would pay for is questionable,” says former Rocky editor and publisher John Temple. “As is the idea that the money a paper would receive for its online content would offset its decline in print revenue or make up an adequate stream to pay for the continuing business.”

How the $0 Netbook Might Just Help Save the Media Industry (by Simon Dumenco, Advertising Age)
Hardware makers may have no choice but to turn their Internet devices into multi-tier-subscription-based media machines, because there will never again be enough margin in the basic price of the hardware. And the more we get used to the idea of essentially subscribing to media as a way to pay for hardware … well, the more hope there is for media.
Rent the hardware, rent the software, pay for the content. Just like cable television.

Boston Globe Union Attacks Management Before Vote
The president of the Boston Newspaper Guild has attacked the management of the Boston Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co. He says executives made “wretched” business decisions and forced deep concessions from workers while cutting little themselves.

Globe Drivers’ Union Approves $2.5M in Cuts
The union representing more than 200 Boston Globe delivery truck drivers today approved $2.5 million in wage and benefit cuts, leaving only one major union to ratify concessions that the Globe’s owner, the New York Times Co., says it needs to continue to operate the paper.

NYO Lays Off a Large Chunk of Its Editorial Staff
Just days after changing editors, The New York Observer laid off a significant chunk of its employes on Friday, including as much as a third of its editorial staff. The Observer did not disclose the number of people let go, but one person briefed on the matter said it was 15, including 10 in the newsroom, while another said the total was “in the low teens.”

Free Newspapers Faltering in the Downturn
Free newspapers have been hit especially hard by the economic downturn because they rely entirely on advertising, which is more volatile than revenue from newsstand sales and subscriptions. Analysts say ad revenue at many free newspapers has fallen by more than a third in recent months, compared with a year earlier.

Zell May Lose Control of Tribune
Tribune Co. and its creditors are in the early stages of negotiating a plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that likely would transfer control of the troubled media conglomerate from Chicago billionaire Sam Zell to a group of large banks and investors that holds $8.6 billion in senior debt.

Berlusconi Lashes Out at Murdoch
Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister and billionaire media mogul, lashed out on Thursday at Rupert Murdoch, accusing his business rival of using The Times of London to launch a series of personal attacks.

Troubles in Publishing? It’s Not Just the Web’s Fault (by Gary Andrew Poole at True/Slant)
While newspapers have thrown away their future, book publishers still have a chance to save themselves. They need to change the circa 1875 business model, stop flooding the market with poorly edited books, and learn modern marketing techniques.

California schools see distant digital future for textbooks
Teachers and textbook techies, take note. The state is reviewing digital versions of textbooks that could be used in high school math and science classes next year.
Distant? More likely soon. Think about how much more quickly digital books can be updated. A friend who graduated from Johns Hopkins many years ago told me that after freshman year, they didn’t use textbooks in most of his classes. Instead, they used the latest papers written on the topic. Digital textbooks could be updated every semester, could even be customized by each instructor by deciding what to include.

Nick, Nick Jr. Mags to Fold
The embattled kids magazine category is getting smaller. Citing the tough economic conditions facing magazines, Nickelodeon Magazine Group said it would fold Nickelodeon and sibling title Nick Jr., by the end of 2009. The staff of about 30 people will lose their jobs.

Static Getting Louder Between Clear Channel and Lenders
Clear Channel announced this week that the outdoor unit may borrow $2.5 billion which it would use to pay them back a similarly sized loan. Such an announcement is seen as a warning shot for the lenders to either fall in line or pay a stiff price.

Conan’s Tonight Wins First Week Despite Ratings Slide
Conan O’Brien’s first week behind NBC’s Tonight Show desk resulted in a strong overall ratings performance that dominated competitors and left critics generally pleased. But after debuting to record-setting numbers Monday, The Tonight Show audience has shrunk with each successive episode.

Media Buyers Fairly Frosty on Prospects for Prime-Time Leno
CBS, ABC Expected to Top Him in Ratings Even With Untested Shows

FriendFeed Follows Twitter to TV With Blade Runner-Inspired Show (Mashable)
It seems like it’s time for online conversations to move to television. First, we heard that Twitter might in some way be included in not one but several TV shows, and now there’s a new TV series in the works, called Purefold, which will partly be based on input from FriendFeed.

Movie Studios Unite, Create a Hulu for Films (Mashable)
Epix comes in two parts: a television channel and a Hulu-like website. The television channel will show recent and popular movies from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. This means you could watch Iron Man, Cloverfield, or even Raging Bull. Movies will air uninterrupted on the channel – no commercials. It may sound a lot like some premium movie channel offerings already on the market, but it differs from HBO and Showtime in one major aspect: they don’t want you to pay for it. Epix’s intent is to strike deals with cable and satellite providers to bring you the channel as part of your standard TV package.

Netflix Beware: Best Buy Adds Digital Downloads With CinemaNow Deal (Paid Content)
Best Buy wants a piece of the booming digital movie distribution business—and it has brokered a new deal with CinemaNow parent company Sonic Solutions to get it. Movie buffs will soon be able to download films directly from BestBuy.com, and through select devices the company sells in-store. This is the second major distribution deal CinemaNow has scored this year, since it’s supposed to power Blockbuster’s online movie service (which, coincidentally is supposed to launch this quarter).

Google vs. Bing: The Blind Taste Test (by Ben Parr at Mashable)
Does Bing have a better interface? Is it an improvement over Microsoft’s Live search? And most importantly, does Bing provide better results than Google? While there are a few tools out there that already compare the two search engines, none take the scientific approach quite like BlindSearch does… [It] takes your biases out of the equation by stripping away the branding and logos… Perform a search and three columns of results will appear. Each column has a button that allows you to vote for which set of results are the most accurate and useful. The logos will then appear to show you what you voted for. The system randomizes which column will have Google, Yahoo, or Bing results.
Click through to see sample results.

Mint Takes its Personal Finance Tools to My Yahoo (Mashable)
My Yahoo, the internet start page for millions of mainstream users, [now supports] a Mint application that includes a balance-free view of a user’s budget, spending trends, and account status with charts and graphics. The application will also show cash versus debt, investment performance, and categorized spending… [T]he relationship … benefits both companies. As of now, Mint’s app isn’t available to any other start page, so Yahoo has something they can offer that Google and Netvibes can’t. Mint, however, can now reach a broader audience with tools that make staying aware of one’s financial well-being all the more convenient.

Yahoo Adds a Number of New Apps and Widgets to Its Sites (Mashable)
Yahoo Mail is getting several new third-party applications, including Picnik, an app that lets you edit and share photos online, and Zumo Drive, which enables you to send files up to 100MB in size. These applications, however, are only available to a limited number of users during the beta period. Yahoo’s personalized portal My Yahoo has also been treated with several new widgets, including personal finance app Mint, a recipe app called What’s Cookin’ Food & Wine Pairing, as well as environmentally-friendly app Mokugift.

Owners of internet enabled TVs from Samsung and LG Electronics which support Yahoo TV widgets have several new widgets at their disposal, including YouTube and Showtime, and an eBay widget is in the works. Finally, Zimbra users will be glad to see several new Zimlets in their library.

Get the Tech Scuttlebutt! (It Might Even Be True.)
Scuttlebutt and rumor are the stock in trade of many blogs covering technology, as they compete with one another and the mainstream media for readers.

Will Pay Per Tweet Ruin Twitter? (Mashable)
IZEA, the company formerly known as Pay Per Post that pays bloggers to write about products, is moving into the realm of Twitter. According to AdWeek, Izea is planning to launch a program called Sponsored Tweets next month that will work much like its product for bloggers. Sponsored Tweets will “offer Twitter users the option of sending their followers messages about brands and products. Twitterers will get paid based either on the number of clicks they receive or on a flat fee per Tweet.”

Super Chirp: Making It Simple For People To Get Paid For Their Tweets (Paid Content)
The product of tech and software startup 83 Degrees, Super Chirp lets people set up PayPal-based subscriptions to their Twitter accounts. Celebrities, publishers and even ordinary Joes set a price between $0.99 and $9.99 per month, and 83 Degrees takes a 30 percent cut, according to TechCrunch. Subscribers get exclusive direct messages, which they can also sort through and view on the Super Chirp site—making it simple for someone to maintain subscriptions to multiple accounts. 

Twitter to Launch Verified Accounts (Mashable)
It looks like a lawsuit was the final push Twitter needed to announce a verification program to thwart celebrity impersonators on Twitter.

Computex Attendance Falls but Android Dazzles
The Computex Taipei 2009 electronics show ended Saturday after a week-long display of new gadgets, including netbooks, ultra thin laptops made with new Intel chips and several surprises surrounding Google’s Android mobile phone operating system.

Multi-touch Tablets Could Challenge Success of Netbooks (by Will Sullivan at Poynter Online)
The 18 mm thick CrunchPad features a touch screen and looks about the size of 8.5×11 piece of paper from the promotional video. Everything is touch-based, and it seems very Web-focused in that it boots straight to a browser. It will likely cost somewhere in the $200-300 range and feature a Linux-based operating system. Rumors have been swirling around another tablet contender, Apple Computers, launching a multi-touch tablet similar to the iPod Touch but bigger in size and price. The latest buzz is that these tablets, rumored to be called the “iPod Touch HD,” will be released later this year.

These new, lower cost tools present another exciting opportunity for media organizations to connect with readers, especially those who can’t afford top-of-the line gear. Besides distributing content, these new smaller, wired tools could also help journalists file faster and more regularly from the field.