Fox beating the war drums on Iran

Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films has released yet another Fox Attacks! video, documenting how Fox news is feeding us the same crap/lies that we got in the run-up to Iraq. Help make sure that it won't work this time!

I remember very clearly the daily fearmongering led by FOX as they cheered for war with Iraq. The 24/7 images, sound effects, yelling and threatening were an ever-present drumbeat for war. We had to invade, and we had to invade now.. anyone who didn't see that was a traitor. They viciously attacked those of us who worked to get out the truth.

You'd think that with the complete failure in Iraq, those days would be behind us. Sadly, you'd be wrong.

FOX wants war with Iran.

It's almost too ridiculous to believe, but it's shockingly real. We've already compiled over 4 hours of FOX footage just in the last few months... the same images, sound effects, yelling and threatening that led the U.S. to invade Iraq is happening right now to sell a war with Iran. They are saying the exact same things!!

Here is the video evidence, side-by-side with what they said about Iraq.

This time is different though. We're prepared, and we have the means to alert people to what FOX is doing. Everyone has seen the terrible tragedy and the awful price paid by so many Iraqis and Americans. We know this is coming, and we can stop it.

It was about this time in the lead-up to the Iraq war when the other TV networks started following FOX's lead. As CNN's Christiane Amanpour says in the video, they were intimidated by FOX into cheerleading for the Iraq war.

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.

~BT

Afternoon Thread

Enjoy and say what's on your mind.


~BT

Daily Links 8/12/07

Around the Blogosphere:

• Glenn Greenwald interviews Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution regarding the trip he recently took to Iraq and the highly publicized Op-Ed in the New York Times about his trip. Glen provides the truth behind the Pollack-O'Hanlon trip to Iraq:
  

  O'Hanlon's answers, along with several other facts now known, demonstrate rather conclusively what a fraud this Op-Ed was, and even more so, the deceitfulness of the intense news coverage it generated.

• Check out the Washington Post Op-Ed by Markos and SusanG from the DailyKos arguing that the netroots are in fact in the mainstream rather than the increasingly irrelevant Democratic Leadership Council, now headed by Penn-alum Harold Ford.

• According to Nouriel Roubini, the current market crisis is more than just a liquidity crunch and is worse than the collapse of Long Term Capital Management.
  

In the news:

• LA Times: The LA housing market is seeing an increase in foreclosures that may spur price drops. Just what the housing market needs!
  

• Rolling Stone calls John Edwards "The Real Liberal" in the presidential race
  

• Frank Rich has another great column as Bush heads on another vacation
  

~BT

DiCaprio Takes on the Environment, Gore-style

Leonardo DiCaprio is following in Al Gore's footsteps with his new movie, The 11th Hour. According to Warner Brothers,

The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.

It comes out in New York and LA this weekend and has a wider release on August 24th (which is when I will be able to see it when it comes out in Philadelphia). After watching the trailer, it's no surprise that the film has already received so much positive buzz online,

The film expands on the themes of last year's Oscar-winning doc, "An Inconvenient Truth," and even goes further then the global warming issue, which the film argues is just one symptom of humanity's overarching influence on the planet.According to Warner Brothers.

From a review at Treehugger.com:

The film is a collection of vivid imagery accompanied by commentary and meditation from an impressive collection of political leaders, designers, and visionaries—a proverbial team of environmental rock stars. Cast members include former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, and sustainable design authority William McDonough . . . to name a few. In total, the film features 50 independent voices, bringing expertise, experience, and emotion to the crisis at hand. Their words are informative, powerful, and inspiring—perhaps some of the great quotes of our time

Gristmill also has a review and an interview with DiCaprio and the producers of this film.

Leonardo DiCaprio premieres "The 11th Hour"

~BT

Daily Links 8/10/07

Here's what's going on around the net.

• Free Exchange on Campus rips apart this glossy poster that you can get free from Young America Foundation (h/t to Mike Connery)
  

• Rudy Giuliani's most recent delusions of grandeur. Including Rudy's Five Big Lies about 9/11.
  

• The September issue of The Atlantic has a take-down piece of Michael Gerson, who served as President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter from 2001-2006. Even some fellow conservatives are happy about it. (h/t to TPM)

• Matt Stoller has a great post about how the GOP in effect still controls Congress.
  

~BT

The latest GOP sex scandal gets worse

In addition to the Young Republican sex scandal, another GOP sex scandal has been brewing down in Florida.

Bob Allen, a state representative in Florida, was arrested last month in a public lavatory for allegedly offering an undercover policeman $20 if he would allow the politician to give him a blow job. That's right. He was apparently offering to pay the policeman to perform a service that men often pay to have performed on them. But that's almost the cleverest thing he seems to have done that afternoon.

Mr Allen is a married Republican with a child, who was considered by one gay group to be the most homophobic politician in the state, based on his voting record (he also had an approval rating of 92% from the Christian coalition, and he had sponsored a (failed) law called the "sexual predator elimination act").

Strangely enough, he has refused to resign either from his political post or from his job as co-chairman of Senator John McCain's presidential campaign in Florida.

If that isn't enough, you should hear the excuse he came up with.

Representative Bob Allen, blamed the weather and his fear of black men for offering $20 to perform oral sex on a man in a public park. The man turned out to be an undercover police officer, who promptly arrested Allen.

Otherwise known as, the "I'm not Gay, I'm a Racist" Defense.

According to a statement released by Allen, he was intimidated into offering the undercover officer $20 and oral sex. But why was he intimidated? According to Allen, because the guy was big and black.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Allen, who is white, offered a taped statement following his arrest in which he explained, “This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park.” Allen then said he feared he “was about to be a statistic” and would have said anything just to get away – including, presumably, offering to give the “stocky, black guy” $20 dollars and oral sex.

The complete police report can be found here.

And Pam Spaulding, who blogs at AMERICAblog, has been covering this:

Allen, who also served as the McCain campaign's co-chairman in Florida, has decided that he would come out of this scandal looking better if he is perceived as a racist rather than a homo. Sweet!

More entertainment on Allen's record can be found at Joe.My.God, including the fact that he is the author of Florida House Bill #1475, the "Lewd Or Lascivious Exhibition Act."

Are you wondering how things could get any worse?

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the Orlando-based Florida Civil Rights Association called for Bob Allen's resignation because he made "racially insensitive" comments.

"The comments by Representative Allen perpetuate the racial divide, and no one with this view should hold public office. If the situation was the same, but with white men in the park and a white police officer, would Representative Allen would have made the same statement?"

"Representative Allen alleged comments are sending a disturbing message to the black community. Now is the time for House Speaker Marco Rubio, Florida Black Lawmakers, other Civil Rights Groups and Community Leaders to call for Representative Allen to step down."

I'm not sure how Bob Allen can keep his seat after all this and what is McCain's reaction going to be? Just more bad news for McCain's campaign, who is now polling under Obama among registered Republicans.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a clip from the Daily Show:



~BT

" Republican Youth Outreach"

I've been seeing plenty of blog posts about the most recent Republican sex scandal, this one involving the chair of the Young Republicans National Federation. I wasn't going to post anything but after seeing Mike Connery's post on "Republican youth outreach", I couldn't resist.

The Bilerico Project has the details.

When it rains, it pours.

~BT

Economic Armageddon?

The jury is still out but Jim Cramer, host of the always entertaining Mad Money on CNBC, thinks the fixed-income market is already in Armageddon. If you still haven't heard or seen Jim Cramer's freak-out on CNBC last friday, you should join the over 1 million people who already have.

For those living under a rock, the financial markets have been in turmoil in recent weeks over the crisis in sub-prime mortgages and fixed-income more generally. In July, Bear Sterns announced that two of the hedge funds were practically worthless.

The two funds had invested heavily in the sub-prime mortgage market, which imploded earlier this spring. The valuation puts a chill into the mortgage market, as other holders of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives may be forced to mark to market their securities with the same brush as Bear.

Earlier today, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds citing problems in the United States sub-prime mortgage market.

A recent spike in delinquencies among subprime borrowers — homeowners with weak credit histories — has led to broader turmoil in the credit markets. The pinch has hit private equity firms, which suddenly found themselves almost completely unable to sell debt to finance leveraged buyouts.

To provide some background, Joseph Stiglitz has a great article explaining how the how the housing bubble started:

American families were persuaded to take on more debt, refinancing their mortgages and spending some of the proceeds. And, as long as housing prices rose as a result of lower interest rates, Americans could ignore their growing indebtedness.

In fact, even this did not stimulate the economy enough. To get more people to borrow more money, credit standards were lowered, fueling growth in so-called subprime mortgages. Moreover, new products were invented, which lowered upfront payments, making it easier for individuals to take bigger mortgages.

Some mortgages even had negative amortization: Payments didn't cover the interest due, so every month the debt grew more. Fixed mortgages, with interest rates at 6 percent, were replaced with variable-rate mortgages, whose interest payments were tied to the lower short-term T-bill rates. What were called ''teaser rates'' allowed even lower payments for the first few years: They were teasers, because they played off the fact that many borrowers were not financially sophisticated and didn't understand what they were getting into.

So, what does this all mean? For starters, this looks like it might only be the tip of the iceberg. Besides the fact that some rich hedge fund investors will lose some money and that we will have some out-of-work bankers (oh, the travesty!), the real issue is the 7 million Americans who could lose their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgages.

But we shouldn't fear! Stephen Colbert has gotten in on the action and had Jim Cramer on his show last night. This is a great overview of the whole situation. Take a look,



~BT

What's Wrong with America?

A former employee of LTV steel asks a question about health care during yesterday's AFL-CIO presidential forum. (more) Definitely a 'Sicko' moment and maybe even a 'tipping point' according to Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. Via Think Progress.



~BT

Democratic Congress Accomplishing Progressive Agenda!

It's not a media narrative that we hear often, if at all. But, it's true.

The Dems are racing through the "Six for '06" platform they ran on in the last election. Last week, President Bush helped them knock off one more agenda item by signing a law implementing many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, a core Democratic election promise. And last Tuesday, the House fulfilled another Democratic pledge by overwhelmingly approving a tough new lobbying and campaign finance law that will limit lobbyist gifts and force "bundlers" -- individual fundraisers who compile large checks from friends and associates then slip them to campaigns to avoid individual spending limits -- to reveal their heretofore unknown identities.

With the lobbying reform passing with a veto-proof majority and the increase in the minimum wage already implemented, the Dems have accomplished over half of their platform in just 8 months. That's way more than the previous "Do-Nothing" republican Congress.

So why isn't anyone in the media focusing on this great news? Democrats need to get this positive message out to the public. Rather, the political storyline heading into Congress' August recess was how the Democrats caved to Bush on expanding his warrantless surveillance progress. There has been much discussion on this major strategic blunder by the democrats and we need to ensure that Dems do not make these types of mistakes in the future. Over on Openleft.com, David Sirota offers a great strategy for the Democrats should pursue to build a stronger left-right coalition against this ridiculous encroachment on American civil liberties. We also need to put pressure on the media to actually cover the achievements of the Democratic Congress.

These successful Democratic offensives are a big relief for progressives, who have spent most of the summer aiming their fire squarely at the Democratic leadership for surrendering to Bush and the Republicans on the Iraq war, trade deals, and other issues. With House Democrats now (mostly) fighting for progressive priorities rather than working with Bush and Republicans to undermine them, progressive activists could now resume their preferred anti-Republican posture instead of aiming their fire at their own.

word.

~BT

Back from summer hiatis

I've been keeping up with the blogosphere and there has been tons of activity since the YearlyKos convention this past weekend. Here are a few quick hits that you should check out.

• Ever wondered who some of Dailykos' front page posters are? Here is a great article on Georgia10, one of the most influential political bloggers on the net.

• Michigan's John Dingell, known as the "Dean of the Congress", is blocking environmental legislation in congressional fights over energy legislation. Hmmm, i wonder why? Could it have anything to do from the fact Dingell is in the pocket of the auto industry and their lobbyists.

• Colbert's take on the YearlyKos convention and Bill O'Reilly's attack on DailyKos and liberal bloggers. -
  

More to come as I get back in the habit of blogging regularly. Let me know what's on your mind in the comments.

~BT

Young Liberals Fight Back!

The Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) released three great ads today, based on Apple's Mac vs. PC ads, in response to another round of Conservative attack ads. This is a much needed counter attack to the Conservatives ability to buy television and radio ads. (they have them running on Business News Network).

According to the YLC's press release,

“Look, it’s no secret the Conservatives are a wealthy party who can afford all kinds of fancy marketing executives and focus groups,” admits Pickup, “but within the Liberal family we’ve got talent, we’ve got dedication, and we’ve got a clear vision for Canada of which we’re proud.”

The three parody ads will be promoted through a multi-pronged approach that utilizes youngliberals.ca, Facebook, youtube.com, instant-messenger programs, and bloggers. This cohesive online campaign provides an opportunity for members and supporters to disseminate and share their messages quickly and affordably.

The ads have already garnered positive coverage in the Toronto Star, on CityTV's 6pm news, and much coverage throughout the blogosphere:

• A BCer in Toronto
• CTV's Politics Blog,
• Gauntlet.ca
• The Turner Report

The Facebook group has reached over 575 members and is growing fast.

(cross-posted at Canadian Liberal @ Penn)

~BT

Why students should care about the UA

From a free music service to advocacy for sustainable practices on campus, the Undergraduate Assembly is working for students

By: Brett Thalmann & Jason Karsh

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?"

These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

In previous years, the UA has become more accountable and has increasingly focused on projects that are tangible to students.

We have tackled sustainability - an environmentally conscious campaign - and have successfully brought the issue to the forefront of the administrative agenda. President Amy Gutmann has even signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, committing Penn "to achieve climate neutrality by reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions."

Our calls for improved Student Health facilities that began with the formation of the Student Health Advisory Board, have resulted in the recent announcement of a new facility for Student Health Services.

While advocating for improvements to College Houses, we collaborated with the University to ensure that the high-rises will be fully renovated and further identified the dire need for renovations in the low-rises. In the midst of the huge undertaking of high-rise renovations, we've successfully convinced the university to make specific and immediate improvements to the low rises.

We have not yet even mentioned our most widely known projects throughout the year!

After two years of planning, the UA brought Ruckus Music Service free to students.

For the second year in a row we've run the convenient and cheap UA bus service to the airport before every major holiday break.

Most recently, we spearheaded the program that brought students free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Additionally, this year saw an amazing collaboration among student leaders through UA Steering, the committee of the UA that brings the leaders of every umbrella and representative organization together to discuss major student issues.

Notably, the amazing Penn traditions of Spring Fling and Hey Day were preserved by the collaboration and support of the members of UA Steering. For example, Fling Safe, run by SPEC, found immense support and feedback that proved crucial to its success. When Hey Day was called into jeopardy, it was UA Steering that worked with the Class Boards to promote and publicize efforts to curb dangerous, emerging trends.

For the coming year, the UA plans to build off the great momentum achieved this year. We plan to increase the accessibility of the UA by reaching out directly to students and student groups. We plan to be more visible through YouTube addresses that will accompany all-school e-mails. We also want to ensure that students have the ability to be heard by their student representatives, so there will be a 10 minute open forum at every UA meeting next year.

We plan on empowering students through providing a strong student voice to administrators and empowering UA members to pursue projects that are important to themselves and the student body at large.

Finally, we plan to increase efficiency of the UA through a more transparent process and productive meetings.

So, when posing the question: "Why should I care about student government?" the answer is really that student government cares about you. Whether you pay us heed or not, we work on tangible projects that improve student life.

The real question is, what do you want your student government to do for you?

Originally published in the Daily Pennsylvanian on 5/11/07.

~BT

VideoVets: Bring Troops Home

Moveon.org released a television ad directed by Oliver Stone featuring John Bruhns, a former sergeant in the Army who served in Iraq.

Check it out and donate to help get this ad on the air. If you aren't already a member of Moveon.org you should join.


~BT

Penn's W. Lacrosse Beats Syracuse

Penn's No. 2 ranked Women's Lacrosse team continued an incredible season (14-1, 7-0 Ivy) by fighting back from a 5-goal deficit to beat Syracuse this past Sunday.

The battle of conference champions did not disappoint as Penn scored six unanswered goals to end the game. Syracuse (12-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) had led by a 7-2 margin early in the second half.

The Quakers will now carry their program-record 11-game win streak into the NCAA tournament, potentially as one of the competition’s top seeds. Their opponent will be unveiled during the selection show Monday evening at 8 p.m., webcast live at www.ncaasports.com.

And fellow Sphinge, Sarah Waxman played a key role in the comeback:

Penn’s comeback was keyed by a pair of risky long clearances by goalkeeper Sarah Waxman, both of which resulted in goals by Edwards. Penn’s defense also did its part, holding Syracuse to 19 shots overall and just seven in the second half – far below the Orange’s 36.4 shots per game average.

The Women's Lacrosse team is a prime example of some of the great Penn teams that are completely under the radar. Penn Athletics should do a much better job advertising Penn sports and encouraging students to attend games, especially when we have great teams that we can be proud of!

~BT

Penn talent on display online

Although there is a decent amount of Penn-made video content online at the moment, I wish there were more and better stuff. Student groups should make it a habit of posting video content on YouTube to publicize their amazing talents. Also, there are so many great speakers and other events on campus that could be filmed and put online. For starters, why doesn't UTV-13, Penn's student-run television channel, not put their content online?

Getting the content is only the first step. There should also be some centralized site devoted to gathering and organizing content from Penn. This is something the UA has been working on and we focused on Penn adopting and implementing ITunesU. Weirdly, the DP editorial board thinks that Penn can't handle ITunesU and that it is a distraction for the UA. I completely disagree and think this will turn out to be a great resource for students. And I'm not the only one! Many people responded vocally to the editorial as did James Russell on the DP's blog, The Spin saying that ITunesU is common sense.

Hopefully, Penn's ItunesU will go live sometime this summer and then we can start gathering content. Until then, I put together a list of Penn videos I found and liked enough to bookmark. Here are highlights of Penn online content:

Strictly Funk: "Let's Get Retarded"


Hype's Intro Video


Dhamaka's full length iPod intro video


~BT

Chris Mizell Headed to CFL

Huge congratulations to my fellow sphinge Chris Mizell who just recently signed with the Montreal Alouettes.

Chris Mizell was a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection as a senior and he is set to head to Canada as he will sign with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL

The Alouettes are a great team too! The Alouettes won their division last season and consistently make it to the Grey Cup, which is the Canadian Superbowl, for you American readers. They have made it to the Grey Cup four out of the last five years and they even won the Grey Cup in 2002.

And Chris has never even been to Canada! How crazy is that?

We are definitely going to see and hear more from him in the future. Way to go Chris!!


(Thanks to Lex for the heads up)

~BT

Bush Slammed for veto

Let the strong reaction to Bush's veto continue! Democrats need to stand up to Bush and keep sending back the bill. The American people are behind them! Russ Feingold discusses what should happen next on The Huffington Post. And Edwards has a great response and went even further saying:

This is a political frame and political rhetoric. They use it to justify everything they do. They use that language to justify the war in Iraq. They use it to justify Guantanamo. They use it to justify torture. They use it to justify illegal spying on the American people.

Keith Olbermann has a must watch clip on the Veto:

The Anniversary Veto : Four years after Mission Accomplished, it's blame-transmission, accomplished. The President vetoes spend-and-end, the troops don't get funding... and it's not his fault, of course. As the war slogs onward, Countdown takes a look at the evolution of the selling of the war, from "Mission Accomplished", to "Stay the Course", to... wherever the Hell we are now. Our special guest is Frank Rich of the New York Times.

Chris Bowers blogs on the failure to override Bush's veto and initial steps forward.



~BT

Bush Can't Veto the Truth!

Via kos,

"It's the will of one nation versus the stubbornness of one man"


~BT

1 Month Old!

I was really surprised to notice that I have been blogging at Progressive Dispatches for 1 month now, mainly because it feels like I just posted And we're back! So, why post about a such a minor milestone?

Well, I had previously blogged for 3 months at Canadian Liberal @ Penn in the summer of 2005. True, I am only 1/3 of the way to my previous record in terms of longevity, in terms of number of posts, this is my 21st post so far, which is getting close to my previous record of 27. Unfortunately, I am not anywhere close to the amount of traffic I used to get, which is disappointing because the traffic provided me with active comments and conversation with others that made blogging more fun and meaningful. But last week's discovery of a burgeoning blogosphere at Penn has been pretty cool.

This time around, I found blogging to be both easier and harder. It has been easy because of the large range of topics that I want to blog about but tough because of the high speed and breadth of the constant flow of new information. The sheer size of the American political system allows for a sizable political chattering class of pundits, strategists, lobbyists, and has seen the emergence (pdf) of a vibrant progressive blogosphere that is fascinating to watch flex its muscle within the Democratic party. The progressive resurgence nationwide and the real notion that I could be part of this avant-garde progressive movement has been exciting. Most of all, it it the desire to bring this progressive infrastructure and success back to Canada that is most interesting me about US domestic politics right now.

In comparison, I was able to blog about Canadian politics at a much slower pace and there were less blogs and not much of an online opinion infrastructure. Granted, I was blogging within a nascent Canadian blogosphere dominated by well organized conservatives. Progressive Bloggers had just been founded and was quickly followed by Liblogs, both of which I joined and saw a steady traffic of around 50 unique visitors per day.

We find the the same thing at the early stages of the development of the US blogosphere. It started with conservatives having a powerful top-down infrastructure which has since stagnated. Meanwhile there has been an incredible growth of the progressive blogosphere with some asking whether it has reached its apex. This example shows how the Canadian right is able to effectively emulate their American counterparts and implement similar policies, strategies and ideas on a slight time delay.

In Canada, Conservatives have long mastered the art of borrowing from the US conservative movement and I don't see why Liberals shouldn't do the same thing on the Progressive side. Across the pond, British bloggers are similarly learning from recent progressive successes in America. From an initial glance, the Canadian landscape seems to have grown in size but I don't see Canadian blogs having the same sort of impact on politics yet.

(cross-posted at Canadian Liberal @ Penn)

~BT