The Publishing World

dori · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:11 am

Quote:

So the question in my book in part is, how have we come so far from where we were in the post-war period.

This is the question that is always on my mind. When Andre Schiffrin said it on Democracy Now, it made what he was saying even more important and personal for me.

He was talking about how the publishing world had been taken over by corporations and how that effected it. Very interesting man.

DO.g's, I hope you saw the program or will read the transcript. It sounds like it is right up your alley.

Democracy Now!

Catherine · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:32 am

Here is a report that is a reaction to the news pundits trying to convince the Democrats to leave GonzolezGate alone. Excerpt:

Quote:

How far the Democrats can go in opposing President Bush is assuredly not the “biggest question” in the U.S. attorneys scandal. The biggest questions at the moment revolve around the Fifth Amendment claim of Monica Goodling, a top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served as the liaison between him and his masters in the White House. Her fear of incriminating herself before the Senate Judiciary Committee should be embarrassing news for the pundits and editors who have dismissed this burgeoning crisis.

But then the Washington punditry has been reliably wrong about everything of consequence for many years, from Whitewater to weapons of mass destruction. For any sane politician, the “biggest risk” is listening to these people.

Since the substantive issues raised by the U.S. attorney purge—such as the political abuse of law enforcement by the White House and the false testimony of Attorney General Gonzales, among others—are of such scant interest to so many commentators, let’s focus instead on public opinion.

Every poll shows that American voters want Congress to fulfill its constitutional mandate to oversee the executive branch, which ran amok under the flaccid reign of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Most Americans are sick of this unaccountable presidency and show no signs of impatience with Democratic efforts to rein in the White House.

While the cable sages were castigating the Democrats for trying to “flog” Mr. Rove, the pollsters at CNN-USA Today were questioning voters. Their answers were decisive: By a margin of three to one, the respondents supported the issuance of those supposedly controversial subpoenas. Polls taken by other media organizations show that support for the president, Gonzales and, indeed, the Republican Party as an institution are very, very low.

Ignore the Pundits and Bark Louder

dori · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:37 am

That is good to hear, Catherine. I have C-Span 3 on now--the committee meeting is waiting for the rest of the Senators to come back from a vote to begin. Meanwhile, I heard people calling in--Rs can't spew enough contempt on Dems, probably because they listen to rightwing radio or TV. It is truly sickening.

I am getting C-Span 3 on RealPlayer for Mac. My URL is http://c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan3_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3. Anyone can go to C-Span and pick their own means of getting the hearing if they are interested.

Thank you for the hopeful thoughts, Catherine. I hope they are catching.

shoeless · **Posted:** Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:32 pm

dori wrote:

Meanwhile, I heard people calling in--Rs can't spew enough contempt on Dems, probably because they listen to rightwing radio or TV. It is truly sickening.

It's because they are terrified. They are mortally wounded and cornered. They have no defense, other than to spit and snarl in feral rage. I predicted after passage of the Patriot Act, that the undemocratic nature of this group of Republicans may well cause the complete demise of their party, and the GOP could go down the toilet of history, as did the Federalists before them (See: Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798). The smugness of the 1/3 of the population who are hard core Republicans, has been replaced by a mounting agonized fear, as it becomes clear that the Democrats are going to use their newfound power, with approval of the other 2/3 of the population, to expose six long years of criminal activity by their corrupt leaders. The fools really thought that history ended once their party assumed control of the government. Now, their narrow reptilian minds cannot grasp the fact that their free ride is over, and the stark light of truth will be cast upon the darkest pits of Republican corruption and deceit.

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