For four months beginning in May 2001, major U.S. media outlets, including all three cable news channels, took the American public for a ride -- perpetrating a hoax that a married congressman was somehow involved in the disappearance of a female intern.
As I witnessed the farce from inside cable news, I could see it was all about ratings and had nothing to do with journalism.This week -- with these same outlets reporting a "break" in the 8-year-old murder case -- would be a good time for TV news executives to look back and give the public a big, fat apology.
Will TV News Ever Apologize for Condit Hoax?
CBS News Pick Claimed Democrats are Bad People
A decade ago, I debated Ballabon in New York. I represented the Democratic Jewish community while he spoke on behalf of Republican Jews. During the debate, Ballabon claimed that, after his most recent job in Washington, he became convinced that Democrats are inherently bad people and Republicans are fundamentally good people.
What planet does this guy come from? It's astonishing that CBS News would name Ballabon to its senior management.
Call to relax Guantanamo regime
A US defence department review of conditions at Guantanamo Bay detention camp has called for an easing of the isolation of prisoners there.
The Pentagon report says inmates should be allowed more social interaction and opportunities for recreation.
TVNL Comment: Yeah, let's turn it into Country Club Guantano. These men have had NO charges pressed against them for all these years, and they are still prisoners. Just end it..
Sci-fi Raytheon riot control
Two years ago the UK Ministry of Defence's Strategic Trends depicted an alarming futuristic scenario in which middle-class radicals could engage in revolutionary activity with violent 'flashmobs', threatening the authorities with lawless disorder.
The US military sees the modern city as the battleground of the 21st century. Now it's reported that the Pentagon is experimenting with an array of weapons, including the Active Denial System (ADS), a microwave 'ray gun' designed by Raytheon, which directs unbearable heat on the skin from a 2km distance and is specifically designed for crowd dispersal.
TVNL Comment: As we have said many times, the term "national security" is code speak for securing the ruling class from the nation.
'U.S. plans to pledge $900 million for Gaza'
The United States plans to pledge more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel's invasion and strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, a U.S. official said on Monday.
Israel is a Terrorist State by Definition: Chomsky
Chomsky: Well for several years Hamas has been very clear and explicit, repeatedly, that they favor a two state settlement on the international border. They said they would not recognize Israel but they would accept a two state settlement and a prolonged truce, maybe decades, maybe 50 years. Now, that’s not exactly the international consensus but it’s pretty close to it. On the other hand, the United States and Israel flatly reject it. They reject it in deeds, that’s why they are building all the construction development activities in the West Bank, not only in violation of international laws, US and Israel know that the illegal constructions are designed explicitly to convert the West Bank into what the architect of the policy, Arial Sharon, called bantustan. Israel takes over what it wants, break up Palestine into unviable fragments. That’s undermining a political settlement. So in deeds, yes of course they are undermining it, but also in words: that goes back to 1976 when the US vetoed the Security Council resolution put forward by the arab states which called for a two state settlement and it goes around until today.
Small Businesses Demand President Obama Keep Campaign Promise
The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found billions of dollars in government small business contracts have been diverted to many of the largest companies in the United States and Europe. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
Report 5-15 from the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
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Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found billions of dollars in government small business contracts have been diverted to many of the largest companies in the United States and Europe. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
Report 5-15 from the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
Iran not producing weapon-grade uranium: IAEA
Iran has not converted the low-grade uranium that it has produced into weapon-grade uranium, inspectors belonging to the International Atomic Energy Agency have said.
The Austrian Press Agency quoted an IAEA expert as saying that the uranium substances that Iran has produced at its Natanz enrichment facility have been carefully recorded and remote cameras have been installed to supervise part of the stockpile.
“If the Iranians intend to transport these uranium substances to a secret location for further processing, agency’s inspectors will find out,” he said.
The expert added that “so far, Iran has carried out good cooperation with us in relevant verifications”.
Army charity hoards millions
As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Between 2003 and 2007 — as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures — Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.
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