Excellent NYT Sunday Magazine story describing, basically, an interview between the author and Senator McCain regarding the evolution of McCain's views on the War in Iraq and the differing views of his fellow Congressional Vietnam veterans. The headline, written in the plural ("Doctrines"), perhaps means to convey those evolutionary changes, but the article still disappoints in that it is so tightely restricted to discussions regarding the comparisons of the Vietnam and Iraq wars. McCain's stated "Doctrine(s)" reads more like a carefully prepared series of campaign statements rather than a frank and open exposure of McCain's DOCTRINE (?) about terrorism emanating rom the Mideast or how Iraq fits into the total picture there. It ... More »

A very revealing article and video that should be read and shown on TV all across the nation and EXPOSED AND REPEATED by the MSM 24/7 FOR ABOUT FIVE WEEKS. - - which is as likely as everyone getting a 100% income tax rebate for ten years. Rod Parsley, an arrogant, self-righteous maniac with a minimum of formal education, runs the Pentacostal "World Harvest Church" in Columbus, Ohio, a fundamentalist congregation of a type that is typicallly attended in so many towns in the greatest portion of Ohio, including the city of Akron and virtually all of the state south of that city, possibly excepting some other college and university towns and a large Amish farm area. As is true of all evangelistic "churches", Parsley's is a tax ... More »

Leave it to a British news source to lay out the dirty laundry of the US corporate press to inform its readers about the perfidy of the American media. The US author candidly spells out a story of frustation engendered by a candidate being hounded endlessly by the US MS creating and promoting a fake furor. It would be interesting to see if this piece or something expressing the same sentiments has ever appeared in any local news source in North Carolina. What the British may not realize, furthermore, is that the hypocritical US corporate media are also totally ignoring the fact that Senator McCain has deliberately chosen to pander to the Christian Right by embracing two fanatical "reverends" (Hagee and Parsley) who have been far ... More »

While at least this major pundit, Frank Rich, writing for a US corporate newspaper, has finally let the cat out of the bag regarding the fake Obama/Wright "connection" and the media campaign to distract and diminish Obama, it is interesting that his own newspaper, the NYT, has been one of the culprits in promoting the very "furor" to which he refers as BORING. While the Washington Post (the beltway den of that titular "dean" of pundits, David Broder, exposing his political biases with his version of the decline of Wright crony Obama in the campaign), MCNBC-TV (check out Dan Abrams' news "analysis" program, and CNN (especially that ol' mentally retarded Larry KING) on TV have been much worse in pushing this story to death, the N ... More »

An informative story from the usually dependable THE HILL. The illegal role of Freedom Watch smearing and poltical dirty tricks reputation is confirmed here, although rarely in the MSM. However, I have read elsewhere that Cazayoux is rather conservative, both fiscally and socially - - something this report ignores. It remains to be seen if a Louisianinan can be anything but a red state "Democratic" conservative, like Mary Landrieu who often favors Republican measures in the Senate, or maybe even like Senator Joe Lieberman who is now a titular Democrat but in truth a spiteful Republican water carrier.

It's not really Reverend Wright the corporate media are trying to "make look bad", it's Obama, of course. Guilt by association was perfected by the WashPost, and TV bloviators like MSNBC's Chris Matthews back in the 90's with their attacks on the Clintons. Now their using the same propaganda tactics to undermine Barack - - and Hillary hasn't helped. McCain may be a hapless opportunist, but he is at least not taking advantage of this sneaky Wright charade. And speaking of MSNBC, check out that angry, overheated weasle, Dan Abrams. He's been milking the Wright/Obama "furor" to death. With half wits like Abrams, it's no wonder more people are flipping off their TV channels and watching DVD's. I AM !

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read it, but the NewsTrust title for the piece is inaccurate. It should read "BUSH ATTEMPTS TO DEFEND THE FACT THAT HE HAS NO ECONOMIC RECORD, BUT ONLY A BROKEN RECORD. No plan, no "record", just repetetion and pale assertons that happier times are just ahead. Pathetic, what a moron dreams about !

Garbage. This reads like an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. The Economist (just like the WSJ) just can't seem to manage to keep its editorial nose out if politics or social issues in which it has neither expertise nor experience, but only a right wing, pro-corporate ideological position.

I have no reason to doubt this rarther complete and detailed report. It cerainly seems to reach out to confirm its contentions, so I will accept it at face value. That is something that is not necessarily a foregone conclusion, given the fact that the MSM has so often such a dubious way with the truth these days. Still, every time I read a report that a top Al Qaeda leader, "insurgent" chief, or important advisor to a "terrorist" organization, I am greatly impressed that these terrorists have so many top cheifs; there must be hundreds of them ! It is it that there are lots and lots of big chiefs and just a few ordinary Indians ?

Is this columnist kidding? Hasn't he yet decided on the reason the National Press Club invited Reverend Wright to speak under the pretext that those oh so innocent newspeople simply wanted to hear the reverend "explain himself" ? If our writer hasn't yet got the message, I have some ocean front property in Nebraska in which he might consider investing. Still, this is the very first indication that someone in the media has so far raised even the tiniest doubt whether the National Press Club's motives were entirely sincere. NO, this was not a mere trick. It is part of an electoral meddling campaign being waged by the MSM to damage, diminish, and constantly alert the voters to "questions" and "doubts" about Obama and his campaign. ... More »

Well ! Someone else is finally coming to the realization that maybe there's gigantic fly in the ointment in this election. Are pundits sooo shallow and sooo naive that they cannot see the workings of the overheated and far too deeply involved corporate media and running far too many"debates", the latest one (ABC) a blatant attempt to embarass both Obama and Clinton ? And now the eyes of few pundits are opening and seeing, maybe - or its rumored that, a Hillary supporter is behind this heinous National Press Club plot to take down Obama, And totally missing the larger picture entirely ? It's a manufactured corporate media zoo folks, and their man McCain will look better to voters each day so long as the media keep blowing their ... More »

To say that the AP has "fallen for" the efforts by the McCain campaign and the RNC to prevent the media from examining and publicizing "his own words against him" is naive and very far off the mark. The AP and the rest of the corporate media DO NOT INTEND to use anything against McCain. He is THEIR CANDIDATE. They will work to distract and ultimately destroy the Obama campaign with such Swift Boating occasions as the National Press Club's invitation to Reverend Wright in order to revive the furor their colleagues had already created over the Reverend's commentaries and to stick it all onto Obama like glue by repeating the "connection" endlessly. The pretext that the Press Club innocently wanted to have the Reverend "explain ... More »

Good article, this time actually specifying who on the Supreme Court voted to uphold the blatantly biased and (Democratic) voter disenfranchising Indiana law. I wonder of those "eminently practical" justices who sit on the court - - Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Stevens, Scalia, and Scalia's lap dog, Thomas - - primarily to serve the Republican Party might consider (in their "eminently practical" way, as Scalia put it last evening on TV's " 60 Minutes") that such measures which serve only THEIR Party's cause and their transparent ruse about "voter fraud" might just backfire and send more angry Democrtratic voters to the polls to serve the justices' favored political party an even more cruching defeat for their fraudulent actions. ... More »

Leave it to Newsweek to pass on the glorious advice from their hero - - the Iago who still works behind the stage doing whatever he can to continue corrupting the politcal atmosphere. Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, the rest of the MSM, and Rove have had their day. All three will see declining fortunes after the public and a new administration in DC, followig the November election, will watch them swirl down the hopper with the rest of the waste that is today's "journalism" and neoconservative perfidy.

A good commentrary on the perfidy of the corporate news media in working so diligently to control our elections of their benefit. However, I wonder that after contributing so much toward eliminating Biden and others, including her husband (who had the most comprehensive health plan and stood up to the corporations, including the corporate media), if Elizabeth Edwards realizes that the corporate media are now trying their damndest to eliminate Obama. Since they much prefer their darling John McCain, they are now on the attack in many devious ways to diminish Barack Obama.

What kind of journalism totally ignores the gigantic elephant in the room ? Not one mention of the continuing and incredibly expensive occupation of Iraq and the continuing and incredibly expensive war in Afghanistan - - and who knows where else (no one knows because of the extreme penchant for secrecy of the Cheney/Bush mob). YES, YES, YES, I know the costs of the MidEast disasters are "OFF BUDGET" but that sneaky little Cheney/ Bush ploy means nothing. THE BILL WILL COME DUE and sooner than we realize, most likely during the incumbency of the next president. And the difference between the deficit and the national debt will not much matter. The USA will be very close to bankruptcy if the next president and the legislature ... More »

This piece a should have been entitled "Here's ONE Of the Superdelegates. But ONLY One." OK article, but it would much better serve American voters if the US media were to provide a complete list of ALL the superdelegates, especially since this report is British - - and in a newspaper that I actually reading in preference to the US corporate fish wrappers. We already know many of the biographies of superdelegates who occasionally appear on TV, but the identities of the rest are a mystery. Leave it to the US media to blabber endlessly about superdelegates and keep their identities to themselves. Kinda like the former function known as "investigative reporting". The US media don't do that stuff anymore. They no longer consider it ... More »

A sound, logical, and informed opinion piece, if a bit optimistic. The author seems to largely disregard the pernicious influence of the media in favoring their favorite flip-flopping, pandering, dishonest, ill-informed, pseudo-maverick. That bias has been expressed in veiled form all over TV, newspapers, and news magazines. Columnists like Gloria Borger, for one example and not the most extreme, are just panting with expectation for Karl Rove, her hero, to come to McCain's rescue and pull the biggest dirty trick of the era and send their boy to the White House. And the influences of the right wing extremist noise machine should not be ignored either. Some of the jingoistic opinions and false values expressed by ordinary ... More »

An excellent and very much needed exposition of the current corporate dominated state of the USA, offering some remedies that suggest strategies that could turn the sitiuation around - - if Americans become aware of the extent by which their lives are indeed dominated by corporate interests. HOWEVER, the article fails to point out one very central area of corporate activity that must be recognized as a key element in addition to the others the author has underlined. The "ultimate enemies of democracy - - corporate power" include the U S MEDIA - - who have been increasingly supporting the anti-democratic policies of the administrations of both political parties - - but most recently and most extensively, the extremist measures of ... More »

Another reviewer suggests that the Dem candidates should repond to "questions" inserted by Fox News and the opposition. Nice idea in an honest medium, but the opposition is anything but honest. The "questions" are inserted only to drive the candidates "off message" and off the real issues, and besides, the candidates have already answered any such questions (at least any that make any sense) and have already debunked the nonsense. In any event, these "debates" have been a total failure from the start, unless one allows that the media, especially TV "news", have been working hard at controlling the electoral process - - in which case this article (written by a fellow news reporter) may be a small waker-upper to the arrogant ... More »

It remains to be seen whether the voters of Pennsylvania will have made such a fuss over this "bitter" remark nonsense than the Clinton campaign or the media. Right now the mainstream media, while ignoring real news about the bloody mess in Iraq, are opportunistically making a pretend issue of a few words by Obama, while the Clinton campaign, in its desperation to win in PA, is pushing the envelope as far as possible. It's a sad comment on both the Clinton political machine and the press.

Very few Americans possess knowledge of the situation in Zimbabwe. Given such limited accounts in the brief stories in our US our press, this story seems quite a thorough and unbiased account of the pending disaster there. Imagine! A brutal 85 year old dictator unwillng to relinquish the reins of his corrupt government and now is setting his gangs of murdering roughs after the "opposition". Much blood will flow in Zimbabwe if this monster and his well paid followers are not first eliminated. There are times when vigorous and decisive action is called for, however brutal in itself; this is one one of them.

The article is informative, but in some instances laced with speculation - something we have learned to expect when independent journalists are prohibited from observing events as they develop. Having observed so many mass murders and tribal genocides in Africa and elsewhere especially in recent decades, we may suppose that we must now expect to witness another round of the same initiated by an 85 year old monster who is perfectly willing have his paramilitary thugs massacre many of those who voted against him in the election, and then demand a "run-off". Unless someone gets to Mugabe first, we are going to see another incredible bloodbath in the "dark continent" once again. It is promises to be a horror beyond belief.

Utterly biased, triumphant noise from right wing, military "journalists". About as reliable as a victory report from the Pentagon or a "Mission Achieved" rally on an aircraft carrier in safe water. Take a look at the resumes of the staff.

Dan Rather represents the kind of journalist that the rest of the news world has almost totally forgotten, forced out, or simply set aside by the TV producers, press editors, publishers, and owners who are not interested in journalism, least of all investigative journalism, but running businesses that will maximize their bank accounts. And they are failing miserably because Americans want the kind of "free press'" as expressed in the Constitution. Greedy for money and power, corporations do not produce free press, they produce only profits - - and to hell with an honestly informed society and the Constitution.

Wagner and Sancho are well known as deluded crackpots to the community if physicists and engineers who work at accelerator facilities all over the world. The W & S "resumes" indicate that they have virtually no science in their backgrounds, except that legal beagle Wagner claims he once worked as a radiation safety officer for the VA and Sancho claims he is a "time researcher" of some sort. Yes, and we will believe them if they agree that little white laboratory mice will not likely take over the world. It is evident that they know nothing about how the LHC is constructed or its purpose, how black holes form or of their fates in space, and their warning about the science fiction notion of "strange matter" is worthy only of a ... More »

I can only repeat what some other respondents have already expressed. Or, in other words, the book promotes tha notion that inorance is bliss.

We have come to expect so many distortions and lies from our "leaders" in DC and the mainstream media, so commonly, that this realistic interpretation of the service of our troops in Iraq is no longer shocking. According to our patriotic, victory-in-Iraq deluded VP Cheney, in referring to the 4,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq: "They were volunteers". That's the mind set of a dictatorial monster. He layers grotesque insensitivity about the dead, while ignoring the tens of thousands of our wounded languishing in military hospitals without proper treatment, or dismissed and sent away as "healthy", on top of a monstrous lie about the voluntary nature of the length of their committments . And then there are the sentimental yearnings ... More »

Flush with repeated quotes from military personnel, claiming the glorious "recovery" of Fallouja, this report reads so obviously like a script prepared by the US military for the reporter that it stuns the reader. The reporter evidently, did not engage in any investigative journalism. No rationale was given for the underlying developments that have led to the return to "normalcy" there. It is simply another piece of stenographic "journalism" brought to you by the promoters of the "surge". Unfortunately for the L A Times, far more reliable reports (even on TV, by NBC Evening News), state that "calm" has been restored to Sunni controlled areas by a program of US military payoffs in the millions of US taxpayer dollars to the ... More »

While we certainly appreciate the detailed and solid Scientific American report on the celebrated work of Dr. (I assume he has a PhD) Shulgin and his wife, one wonders if the psychological and "mental" effects - - which are so very subjective - - are necessarily measurable and/or produce something with tangable meaning. Still, his work has inestimable value. Regarding the subjective nature of the mental effects of various psychoactive compounds, perhaps Dr. Shulgin might be interested in comparing notes with the another experimentalist who has been known to ingest nearly every "recreational" drug on the planet: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. We would all love to be flies on the walls observing that colllaboration !

An excellent, if brief, report and analysis revealing the bankrupt ideology of the G W Bush administration. But the gigantic elephant in the room is the fact that such a piece appears in a British newspaper and virtually NEVER in any of the mainstream, corporate owned newspapers or TV news channels in the USA. That fact is even more salient than the customary knee jerk policies of a corrupt administration. The American press is acting as the handmaiden of the Cheney/Bush mob. In response to most other policy issues, the media are moribund or act as though the are utterly ignorant.

Since this Politico article is really an opinion piece and is hardly noted for sound evidence or logic, any other opinion bearing even a modicum of "evidence" is just as valid. The notion that successful negative campaigning must have been the reason for a candidate's victory is tendentious at best. Does Politico's Ben Smith really know anything, for example, about the State of Ohio ? The entire portion of the State south of Akron, Ohio (and including parts of Akron itself) - - with the exception of a large east-central area populated by the Amish people - - and the entire western half of the state is populated by rural conservatives and large numbers of fundamentalist "Christians". While the Republican Party successfully ... More »

Such nonsense as spread by the Hillary Clinton camp is be expected in a political campaign. But the fact that media pundits are wrong, or worse, ignorant of the facts, and in some cases biased as well, is inexcusable. When, after reading columns by Paul Krugman criticising Obama's health care plans, I e-mailed the Obama campaign and subsequently received a 17-page report by e-mail presenting his plans in comprehensive detail. It was downright impressive - - even though after reading it I still prefer Clinton's plans (thanks in part to explanations by Krugman). I have not yet heard any candidate expound verbally on any serious and detailed issue as is health care. It is unreasonable to expect a candidate to explain at any ... More »

I SMELL A ROTTEN FISH.

However sanguine Prof. Krugman's assessment of the "Edward's Effect" may seem, it appears likely, at present, given some of the proposals offered by Obama and Clinton, and their attachment to lobbyists in Washington and across the nation, Edwards' hard-hitting anti-corporate and health care platform measures will affect the Dem ticket only if he is able to wield sufficient influence at the Dem Convention, is included on the Dem ticket as a truly active V.P., or is appointed to a major role in the a new Dem administration. Otherwise, he will be set aside to pursue his own fortunes.

Robert Novak's judgment is so unreliable that one cannot take his columns with anything but a grain (several pounds, more accurately) of salt. Since Novak is a knee jerk neoconservative and just plain old JERK, his columns are largely a waste of newsprint. He hates McCain because he and his colleagues in the neocon business, the Fox News media, and the radio talk show howlers are all against McCain since old John McC had not-so-very-long-ago blown so much smoke criticizing the Cheney/Bush mob and advocating measures that startled obsequious Cheney/Bush knee benders. But, of course, when he decided to run for the DC top office, McCain converted himself overnight from the brave, "straight talkin' " maverick to the standard fare ... More »

While Eric Bohlert's article hits hard, and deservedly, at the recent, self inflicted misfortunes of Fox News, his report fails to remind us of just who the bosses are at Fox News and whence they originated back in the 90's when FN first began to appear on TV. This reminder will serve well in understanding the sly Fox. Roger Ailes was one of Lee Atwater's close associates, his media man, back in the early 90's when Atwater was the RNC chief and first launched the campaign in Arkansas to destroy the presidency of Bill Clinton - - and, in part, succeeded since the Clinton administration never really recovered entirely during and after Clinton's impeachment. It was the classic Karl Rove, James Bond novel style evil, criminal plot ... More »

A revealing expose of the tactics being employed by the DOD to protect from the law the inept and criminal G W Bush crony, Gonazales. We have known for quite some time that Bush has infiltrated every department and agency of the US government, not to mention the Supreme Court, with an array of his cronies and flunkies. The accusations leveled at Scott Bloch, which have never been proved, may well have originted with the Bush plants in the Office of Special Counsel. And it is most likely that Mukasey and the DOJ are sitting tight on their "investigation" of Gonzales' actions and corruption of the DOJ so as to prevent Bloch and the Office of Special Counsel from taking action. The article might have mentioned that this has ... More »

For Scientific American, a magazine I have, as a scientist, read for many years and respect highly (although I do not subscribe to SA MIND), this assessment strikes me as a rather shallow analysis that, more crucially, fails to take into account major influences on the judgments made by the press and the public. To suggest that the deceptions were not "premeditated" seems an unwarranted selection of the motivations involved. "Premeditation" by the publics or the media had nothing to do with the run up to the Iraq war. The White House and two right wing "think tanks" premeditated, planned, and then engaged in a very deliberate and massive propaganda effort to deceive the public and promote the invasion of Iraq well ahead of the ... More »

A fair assessment of the Bush administrative disaster and G W's reportedly low key, scripted performance. I appreciated this piece especially because, as was apparently true across the nation, I did not watch the SOTU speech, regarding it as a waste of time. But in my case, it happens that this was also true of all his other SOTU addresses.