Guest: Executive Director of the National Security Network Heather Hurlburt
Sam must have been listening to a classic rock station again while reading more accounts of how members of the Bush administration tortured and lied us into a war and how Obama still refuses to investigate… “Don’t Look Back!” Win the future, forget about the past. Ugh.
First, the informant (or should we say the person who was tortured into saying anything the Bush administration wanted him to say) Curveball has come out in an interview with the Guardian UK and said that he lied in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein.
Second, the Washington Post reports that the “scientific” evidence that linked the 2001 anthrax attacks to Bruce E. Ivins a Fort Detrick scientist that killed himself, is no longer very scientific and “is not as conclusive as stated in the DOJ Investigative Summary.” <Hey! Wha happened?>
Finally, add in the reports that Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman was the CIA’s “Egypt’s torturer-in-chief” during the Bush administration’s extraordinary rendition program and you have a trifecta of lies and deceit that the Obama administration is ignoring. Don’t look back!
Sam welcomes back to The Majority Report Heather Hurlburt, Executive Director of the National Security Network and former Special Assistant and Speechwriter to President Clinton, and member of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff to talk about the future of Egypt and how the events there were a hybrid of popular revolution and military coup. She also discussed how Al Jezeera came into their own during the revolution and had comments on the reports that Iran has sent warships into the Suez Canal.
And in a “stilarious” turn of events (hilarious and stunning – Sam) the State Department has announced a new policy on internet freedom while Obama’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records (and emails) of international calls. Good to see freedom doesn’t apply to United States citizens.
Russ Feingold has started a new PAC called Progressives United to fight the Citizen’s United ruling. The overwhelming response this morning crashed the website but it is back online now.
Clarence Thomas is very forgetful (and quiet)- first he forgot to mention his wife was getting income from Liberty Consulting and now he forgot to report his $100,000 “gift in kind” from Citizen’s United in 1991 to support his nomination to the Supreme Court.
And on the Members Only post show Sam talks some right wing wing nut stories including Mitt Romney’s birther problem.
Note: By the end of this week the listener IM-driven post show podcast will only be available to Majority Report members. Please become a “member with benefits“ so you don’t miss all of The Majority Report!
11:14 am
Missouri Lawmaker Pushes Bill Rolling Back Child Labor Laws
Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) is pushing a bill which would dramatically claw back state child labor protections. As the bill’s official summary explains:
This act modifies the child labor laws. It eliminates the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed. It also repeals the requirement that a child ages fourteen or fifteen obtain a work certificate or work permit in order to be employed. Children under sixteen will also be allowed to work in any capacity in a motel, resort or hotel where sleeping accommodations are furnished. It also removes the authority of the director of the Division of Labor Standards to inspect employers who employ children and to require them to keep certain records for children they employ. It also repeals the presumption that the presence of a child in a workplace is evidence of employment.
11:30 am
Russ Feingold is making moves now. I’ve got a feeling about Russ!
aterkel aterkel
Russ Feingold launches Progressives United to combat corporate influence in politics. http://huff.to/gZ0xPw
[snippet]
When some senators retire, they decide to take lucrative lobbying jobs. Others go straight to Wall Street. But Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, who lost his re-election bid in November, is continuing on his principled — and often lonely — path by starting an organization to combat corporate influence in politics, an effort he hopes will spark “a new progressive movement” that will truly hold elected officials accountable.
12:14 pm
P-U, Russ…! 😉
12:29 pm
Russ! Russ! Russ!
11:38 am
Political cartoon that expresses what Sam has been saying for weeks….
http://politicallyme.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/whats-it-to-me/
12:06 pm
I usually follow my heaping plate of crow with a big slice of humble pie.
12:11 pm
ERM….TOR isn’t secure…they can simply compare traffic going into TOR and compare to that to what’s coming back out….
to quote a friend….lrn2 deepnet
12:17 pm
So we r going to be kids back to work in Missouri?
Glad to see that Mr. Feingold is taking it to the streets. GO Russ!!
12:25 pm
Surreal, ain’t it? I look forward to seeing the rationalization for that bill.
12:26 pm
p.s. I was literally thinking just Monday, given the assault on the last bastion of unions, how far we were from eliminating child labor laws.
12:18 pm
Haven’t posted here for a bit, thus Tea Cheers … What do we now call this place now cuz not Sederville … unless Sederville 2 {II}? ;D
12:19 pm
putting kids back to work (is what I meant to write)
brain fart!
12:20 pm
Hello Ms Anthrope – how in the hell have u been? It’s good to read u.
Miss U – think bout u often.
12:21 pm
Wanna participate in The Majority Report?
===> check this out <===
12:23 pm
Or just hit Avant’s most excellent IM tutorial, HERE.
12:31 pm
Stop Congress from Slashing Programs
that Protect the Environment and
Conserve Endangered Wildlife!
Contact your members of Congress today: Tell them you oppose deep cuts to U.S. government programs that support science, conservation, and environmental protection.
12:33 pm
Sam just makes a great point:
The problem is not that we have a bunch of crazy Republicans–the problem is that the Democratic party has become so spineless and compromised that WE HAVE NO EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION to this nuttiness.
The Democrats can do exponentially more damage to their party’s (and the Left’s) credibility and brand than any Republican ever could. And this is where we find ourselves now.
12:45 pm
One does not exclude the other. The Republicans are growing increasingly more insane, with the media treating their insanity as reasonable policy, so Democrats just come across as contrary, absent an objective media.
Though, yes, there are a sufficient number of Corporatist Dems to undermine the traditional Democratic agenda.
12:51 pm
I’d suggest that maybe the media is humoring them–BECAUSE OBAMA HAS SET THE TONE OF APPEASEMENT FROM DAY ONE. Obama REFUSES to call them on this BS and to FIGHT them over it. What do you expect the press to do–take on one party for the other side without even that side’s backup? It doesn’t work like that. Yes the press is a big problem. But you’ve got to realize at some point, the press follows–they don’t lead. It’s up to the political Left to lead for itself.
1:16 pm
The press abdicated their responsibility 30 years ago. This is not some new stance since Obama took office.
Bill Moyers interviewing WPost’s Walter Pincus (YouTube, 2min) — The end of media objectivity
12:47 pm
Re: Effective opposition.
During the Bush administration, we got used to hearing Democrats in Congress helplessly wringing their hands–“there’s nothing we can do”. Bush got all his wars, all his tax cuts all his illegal surveillance programs–virtually everything he wanted–with hardly a whimper from the Dems.
When Obama came in with massive congressional majorities in Congress however we learned the unfortunate truth: These people can accomplish whatever they have the will to do–they just DON’T WANT to forward a progressive/Democratic agenda because of their corruption and beholdenness to corporate influence.
It’s the problem at the heart of the Democratic party that’s enabling and driving the problem with the Republicans. The Dem’s corporatist corruption is the biggest problem in U.S. politics right now.
12:50 pm
The problem is the influence of money in elections. (Along with too lax rules on the revolving door between government and lobbying/corporations.)
12:53 pm
That’s certainly a significant part of it.
9:34 pm
I was so confused about what to buy, but this makes it udnestranadble.
12:35 pm
Walk like an Egyptian
1:00 pm
Plooger, jfi thx for “the Sville 2” info. I viewed and will ‘play’ with what U & Avant said LTR 2nite 🙂
1:07 pm
“Walk Like An Egyptian.” Mwah HaHa * I like ‘meanings’ that also proclaims many meanings, within that ‘meaning’. TeaHeee.
1:13 pm
Perhaps I am insane, but wasn’t Obama always a fairly middle type, with progressive tendencies? I thought that Kucinich was the only real progressive, wasn’t he? Didn’t Kucinich end up supporting Obama, once it got down to just those two?
Its all good to try to convince Obama to be more aggressive, but come on now, go easy on the guy. Not sure, but Sammy always brings the Obama apologist out in me.
1:29 pm
February 16, 2011 at 12:31 pm,
RAMSES – Great Name. I feel I should BOW every time I read your name {cuz tooo Kewl}. 😉 I definitely will give more heed to your ‘words’ – as in
the above TIME of POST. BTW I started calling yesterday, with MORE CONTACTS to contact today. ;D
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5:44 pm
Re: Cheap Ass Graphic Artists
As a proud dues paying member of The Majority Report, I have to agree that the design community although well intentioned, are for the most part as good with money as the GOP.
But then people are always asking for radio/webcast/podcast logos for FREE!
Get paid people. Get paid.
9:44 pm
yes!
9:17 pm
post show -> hip side