tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107359672024-03-08T19:55:27.626-05:00matt pascarellajournalism & filmmattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-30629881357386142982009-08-29T23:52:00.000-04:002009-08-29T23:53:02.843-04:00Economic Hit Men and the Next Drowning of New Orleans<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 20px; "><p></p><h2 style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/economic-hit-men-and-the-next-drowning-of-new-orleanshurricane-bush-four-years-later-part-2/" rel="bookmark" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Futura, Calibri, 'Myriad Pro', 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 26px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 12px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><small>Hurricane Bush Four Years Later, Part 2</small></a></h2><p></p><p>by Greg Palast<br />For <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/greg-palast/economic-hit-men-and-next-drowning-new" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Crooks and Liars</a>, Thursday, August 27, 2009</p><p><em>This week only, our readers <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">can download, free of charge</a>, Greg Palast's film, "Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans." <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Or donate and get a signed DVD</a>. Watch the 1-minute trailer ...</em></p><p><a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; "><img src="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy/pics/patricia.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: auto; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-right-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-left-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); " /></a></p><p><strong>Who put out the hit on van Heerden?</strong></p><p>Ivor van Heerden is the professor at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center who warned the levees of New Orleans were ready to blow — months and years before Katrina did the job.</p><p>For being right, van Heerden was rewarded with ... getting fired. [See <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/greg-palast/katrina-four-years-later-expert-fired" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Katrina, Four Years Later: Expert Fired Who Warned Levees Would Burst</a>]</p><p>But I've been in this investigating game long enough to know that van Heerden's job didn't die of natural causes or academic issues. This was a hit. Some very powerful folks wanted him disappeared and silenced — for good.</p><p>So who done it?<br /><span id="more-2761"></span><br />Here are the facts.</p><p>Dr. van Heerden has lots of friends, mostly the people of New Orleans, those who survived and cheered his fight to save their city. But he also has enemies, many of them, and they are powerful.</p><p>First, there is Big Oil. More than a decade ago, van Heerden pointed the finger at oil drilling as a culprit in threatening New Orleans and the Gulf Coast with flooding.</p><p>"Certainly he was critical of what the oil companies did to the coast," Louisiana engineer HJ Bosworth told me. "Seeing what kind of bad citizens they were. Dozens and dozens of pipeline canals just carved the living daylights out of the coast just to find some oil."</p><p>Well, we need oil, don't we?</p><p>True, but Bosworth, who advises Levees.org, a non-profit group that birddogs hurricane safety work, explained the connection between flooding New Orleans and oil drilling quantified by van Heerden's research. "Takes a million years to build (the protective coastal marsh); once you carve it up, it's just like bleeding a wild animal, hang it up, carve some holes in it, and the juice just drains out of it. Saltwater and tide invade. You make [the state] susceptible to flooding from coastal and tidal surges."</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px; "><a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy/pics/Chevron%20Check%20for%20LSU.jpg" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; "><img src="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy/pics/Chevron%20Check%20for%20LSU.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="250" style="display: block; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: auto; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-right-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-left-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); " /></a><em>Click on image to enlarge</em></div><p>So I was amazed to learn that, shortly after van Heerden, wetlands protector, was given the heave-ho by LSU, a group calling itself "America's Wetland" gave the university a fat check for $300,000.</p><p>After a little digging, I found that it wasn't really "America's Wetland," the group with the oh-so-green name and love-Mother-Nature website, that provided the money. One-hundred percent of the loot, in fact, came from Chevron Oil Corporation. Chevron had merely "green-washed" the money through "Wetlands."</p><p>Was this Big Oil's "thank you" to LSU for canning van Heerden? The University refuses to talk to me about van Heerden's firing ("It's a confidential personnel matter").</p><p>Bosworth notes such a grant to the University "doesn't come without strings attached." And this "Wetland" grant appears to have some tangled threads. LSU will monitor the coast's environment, guided by a committee of what the school's PR office describes as "experts" in coastal infrastructure and hurricane research. But the school is pointedly excluding its own expert, van Heerden. Instead of van Heerden, LSU announced it will rely on representatives from Chevron — and Shell Oil.</p><p>You can't challenge Shell's expertise on coastal erosion. The Gulf Restoration Network has calculated that the oil giant, "has dredged 8.8 million cubic yards material while laying pipelines since 1983 causing the loss of 22,624 acres."</p><p>Shell too is a sponsor of "America's Wetland."</p><p><strong>Bad Behavior</strong></p><p>Van Heerden and his team of hurricane experts at LSU have other enemies, notably Big Oil's little sisters: The Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors. One internal University memo that has come to light is a complaint from the Army Corps of Engineers' Washington office to an LSU official demanding to know why van Heerden's "irresponsible behavior is tolerated."</p><p>By van Heerden's bad "behavior," they seem to be referring to the professor's computer model of the Gulf which predicted, years before Katrina hit, that the levees built by the Army Corp were too short. The Army Corps, van Heerden asserts, compounded the danger to New Orleans by going shovel-crazy, with massive dredging and channel-cutting sought by shipping interests.</p><p>Following the complaint from Washington, the University took away van Heerden's computer (no kidding). But they couldn't take away his voice. He began to speak out. University officials do not deny they told him to shut up, to stop speaking to the press about his concerns. They were worried, they told van Heerden, that his statements jeopardized their government funding.</p><p>Van Heerden's revelations were, indeed, damning. He revealed that the Bush White House knew, the night Katrina came ashore, that the levees were breaking up, but withheld this crucial information from the state's emergency response center. As a result, the state slowed evacuation and stranded residents were left to drown. [See <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Big Easy to Big Empty</a>.]</p><p>A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of all the people of the city who lost homes and loved ones because the Corps-designed levees had failed. Anyone with a TV and two eyes could see that. But the Bush Administration flat out denied it knew its system was flawed and refused any responsibility for the disaster.</p><p>Van Heerden, who had warned Washington, long before the flood, that the levees were 18 inches too short, would have been a devastating expert witness for the public. But the university ordered him not to testify, a relief for the Corps. (A verdict is expected soon in the non-jury case.)</p><p>The Army Corps and its contractors can feel safer now that van Heerden has been booted. His Hurricane Center will be downsized and instead, the University will expand its "Wetland" program, with Chevron's checkbook.</p><p>Joining Chevron and Shell on the LSU board of "wetland" experts will be the Shaw Group, a huge Army Corps contractor.</p><p>If you've read John Perkins' book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, you would know about Shaw Group, or at least the subsidiary for whom Perkins did his dirty work: an engineering outfit that used flim-flam, intimidation and fraud to turn a buck. (I once directed a government racketeering investigation of one of their projects before Shaw bought them up. In the 1988 case, a jury found the company was co-conspirator in a multi-billion-dollar fraud, charges the company settled with a civil payment.)</p><p>Shaw Group is also a sponsor of "America's Wetland." So is electricity giant Entergy Corporation. That's the company that shut off the power in New Orleans during the flood, then sold the loose juice elsewhere, pocketing a multi-million-dollar windfall.</p><p>Yes, America's Wetland does have a green cover, Environmental Defense, exposed in the Guardian UK in 1999 for its icky habit of licking the sugar off corporate candy canes. We caught them trying to set up a lucrative financial operation with the very polluters they were supposed to be challenging. [See <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/1999/jan/24/observerbusiness.theobserver5" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Fill your lungs it's only borrowed grime</a>]</p><p>I spoke with the Chairman of America's Wetland, King Milling. Milling's just a local good ol' boy, a sincere guy, not a front for Big Oil. But he naively let his group be used to buy the debate over the environment and ice out un-bought experts like van Heerden.</p><p><strong>Flood Warning</strong></p><p>With LSU deep in the pocket of the corporate powers and under Army Corps pressure, van Heerden didn't stand a chance. For doing nothing more than trying to save a few thousand lives, he has paid quite a price. As he told me this week from his home, "No good turn goes unpunished."</p><p>That's van Heerden's fate. But what about the city's? Is New Orleans ready for another Katrina?</p><p>His answer is not comforting: "No, definitely not. If anything, it's worse than when Katrina hit. We've lost a lot of wetlands protection. It's not very safe ... A section of the flood wall itself has sunk about 9 inches, a result of [Hurricane] Gustav."</p><p>Is anyone listening?</p><p>"The [Army] Corps won't talk to me," says van Heerden. "Like everybody else, they are crossing their fingers and hoping we don't have a storm."</p><p>Well, don't say we didn't warn you.</p><p>***********</p><p><em>Greg Palast's film for Democracy Now! "<a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans</a>" is available as <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">a no-cost download</a><a style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; "></a> this week. <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/bigeasy" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">Or make a donation</a> to the investigative reporting fund and receive a gift of the DVD of the film, with Amy Goodman, signed by the reporter. For more information, go to <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-top: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; ">www.GregPalast.com</a>.</em></p></span>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-61239551458361417462007-06-11T10:07:00.000-04:002007-06-11T10:09:03.970-04:00Battle Over 'Vulture Funds'<a href="http://bignoisefilms.org/video/Vulture_Battle.mov" onclick="window.open('http://www.bignoisefilms.org/video/Vulture_Battle.mov','','width=480,height=290');return false;">- Watch Video Clip -</a><br />I recently researched and produced a story with investigative journalist Greg Palast to follow up on a report we made on Vulture Funds for BBC back in February. These vultures are speculators who buy up the debt of the poorest nations on the planet for pennies on the dollar — then use legal extortion or less-than-legal bribery to extract payments from these nations - payments equal to five, ten or twenty times what the vultures “invested.”<p>The <a href="http://bignoisefilms.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=9">initial report</a> , that aired on BBC Newsnight and Democracy Now, created an international outcry that reached the White House and 10 Downing Street, and that threatens to close the legal loopholes that make this unscrupulous proactice possible. </p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-4440033301826923242007-02-21T12:13:00.000-05:002007-02-21T12:20:21.956-05:00In Response to BBC report, Jubilee calls on Debt Advisory International to drop its efforts to collect money from the Zambia<!-- end template: ID 59, header;print;default --><p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Tuesday, February 20th, 2007</span></p> <small></small> <p><span style="font-size:130%;">Here's the latest in reaction to the story I researched and co-produced with Greg Palast for BBC Newsnight TV ...</span><br /></p><p>In response to Greg Palast's report last week on BBC and Democracy Now, the debt-relief and economic justice group Jubilee USA is launching a new effort today calling on Debt Advisory International to drop its efforts to collect money from the Zambian government. [includes rush transcript]</p> <hr /> We turn now to our continuing coverage of “vulture funds.” Vulture funds are Western companies profiting off buying up countries" debts and then forcing those countries to pay off the debt at a far higher price. <p>Last week BBC investigative journalist Greg Palast exposed on Democracy Now! how one company is trying to collect $40 million dollars from the government of Zambia after buying one of its debts for $4 million dollars. Zambia claims the company, Debt Advisory International, even tried to bribe government officials by offering to make a donation to: “the president's favorite charity.” Palast questioned the company's owner, Michael Francis Sheehan, about the allegation. </p><ul><li><b>Excerpt of Greg Palast's BBC report on "Vulture Funds"</b><br /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/2k9tsg">[Click for full report]</a> </li></ul>An excerpt of a report from investigative journalist Greg Palast. Well just hours after we aired that story a British court ruled on the case. Zambia was ordered to pay Sheehan's company $20 million dollars on its original $4 million dollar debt. The Zambian government says the money will have to come directly from its budget for health and education. <p>Well, an international campaign is emerging to prevent Debt Advisory International from collecting. One day after the ruling, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers appeared on Democracy Now! The Michigan Congressmember said he raised the issue with Present Bush after hearing Palast's report on our broadcast. </p><ul><li><b>Rep. John Conyers</b><br /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/2ntrbc">[Click for full interview]</a></li></ul>Democratic Congressmember John Conyers. In addition to Congress, pressure is also coming from the grassroots. The debt-relief and economic justice group <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/">Jubilee USA Network</a> is launching a new effort today calling on Debt Advisory International to drop its efforts to collect money from the Zambian government. <ul><li><b>Kristin Sundell</b>, outreach coordinator for the <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/">Jubilee USA Network.</a></li></ul> <hr /> <a style="font-weight: bold;" name="transcript">RUSH TRANSCRIPT</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">:</span> <p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>We turn now to our continuing coverage of vulture funds. Vulture funds are Western companies profiting off buying up countries’ debts and then forcing those countries to pay off the debt at a far higher price. </p><p>Last week on BBC, investigative journalist Greg Palast exposed on the attempts of one company trying to collect $40 million dollars from the government of Zambia after buying one of its debts for $4 million dollars. Zambia claims the company, Debt Advisory International, even tried to bribe government officials by offering to make a donation to “the president's favorite charity.” Palast questioned the company's owner, Michael Francis Sheehan, about the allegation. We ran it on <i>Democracy Now!</i> </p><ul><p><b>GREG PALAST: </b>Mr. Sheehan says it wasn't a bribe. They were only trying to help the Zambian people. </p><p><b>MICHAEL SHEEHAN: </b>We offered to donate debt to a low-income housing initiative, which was a charitable initiative, which did end up building over several thousand houses for the poor. You're contorting the facts. You're on my property, and I would ask you to step off. </p><p><b>GREG PALAST: </b>We showed this to the current president's advisor. He was not impressed. </p><p><b>MARTIN KALUNGA-BANDA: </b>When you are talking about any amount, $40 million or thereabout, to be paid to service some unfair debt, you are talking about in excess of 300,000 children being prevented from going to school.</p></ul> <p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>An excerpt of the BBC <i>Newsnight</i> report from investigative journalist Greg Palast that we ran on <i>Democracy Now!</i> last Thursday. Hours after we aired the story, a British court ruled on the case. Zambia was ordered to pay Sheehan's company $20 million dollars on its original $4 million dollar debt. The Zambian government says the money will have to come directly from its budget for health and education. </p><p>Well, an international campaign is emerging to prevent Debt Advisory International from collecting. One day after the ruling, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers appeared on <i>Democracy Now!</i> The Michigan Congress member said he raised the issue with Present Bush on Thursday after hearing Palast's report on our broadcast. </p><ul><p><b>REP. JOHN CONYERS: </b>But it was my job, I felt, to raise the whole question of this bond speculation that goes on at the expense of poor debtor countries, in which their debt is bought up and then they're sued for the full amount. It’s bought up at pennies on the dollar, and then they're sued. And I wanted to thank you for revealing this to us, because it allowed me to ask President Bush two questions: one, about Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan; and two, whether he would be willing to stop this incredible misuse of our government’s charity toward funding aid to our poorer nations.</p></ul> <p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Democratic Congressmember John Conyers. Paul Singer, by the way, is one of the chief Republican fundraisers in this country for both, well, presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, as well as President Bush. In addition to Congress, pressure is also coming from the grassroots. The debt-relief and economic justice group, Jubilee USA, is launching a new effort today, calling on Debt Advisory International to drop its efforts to collect money from the Zambian government. </p><p>For more, we go back to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Jubilee USA director Kristin Sundell. Welcome to <i>Democracy Now!</i> </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Thank you, Amy. It’s good to be with you. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Can you talk about what you're doing with this information? </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Yes. Well, today we are calling on people in the United States to call Debt Advisory International, to call their Washington, D.C. office at (202) 463-2188, and to tell Michael Sheehan, who is the owner of Debt Advisory International and Donegal International, not to take $20 million of the money that was freed up by debt cancellation for the people of Zambia. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Kristin, what effect does this have on Zambia? Why are you so concerned about this? </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Well, the money that was freed up through debt cancellation for the people of Zambia was the result of ten years of campaigning by people in the global south, in the global north, working together for debt cancellation. And I recently returned from Zambia, where I was a member of a delegation from Jubilee USA to see some of the impacts of debt cancellation there. And we visited hospitals, where user fees have just recently been abolished with the proceeds from debt cancellation. We were told about plans to hire thousands of additional teachers with money freed by debt cancellation. And if Michael Sheehan collects $20 million, that will take fully half of the money that was freed up this year by debt cancellation and would certainly prevent the Zambian government from implementing these plans. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>How exactly does it happen? How does a Western US company get their hands on this debt, and a British court rules on their behalf? </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Well, this dates back to 1999, when Donegal International, a vulture fund, bought up a portion of Zambia's debt at the bargain-basement price of $3.3 million and then has been holding onto this. And now that Zambia is eligible for debt cancellation, under a deal that was reached at the G8 in 2005, it’s now trying to collect this money, and it originally was trying to collect up to $55 million. The judge ruled that it could collect a maximum of $20 million, and we’ll find out on March 9th exactly how much that they are able to collect from the government of Zambia. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>How typical is this? </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Well, this is something that is just coming to the attention of Jubilee USA and debt campaigners here in the United States. I know that this is also something that’s happened in Peru. It’s something that’s happened in the Congo, as well. And so, we are very concerned, and people around the world who have been working on this issue for the last ten years are very concerned, because the money freed up from debt cancellation is meant to address extreme poverty in the countries, not to go line the pockets of people who are taking advantage, like the vulture funds, and buying up debt and then trying to collect on it later. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Are you coordinating with the House Judiciary Chair John Conyers, who says he’s calling for an investigation? </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>We are also communicating with the office of Representative Conyers, and we’re going to be investigating also, exploring with him what further can be done preemptively, in addition to the efforts that are going on today to put pressure on Michael Sheehan. And I should also say, if people want to fax or email his office today, they can also do that via the Jubilee USA website, which is <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/">jubileeusa.org</a>, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Kristin Sundell, I want to thank you for being with us, outreach coordinator for Jubilee USA Network. </p><p><b>KRISTIN SUNDELL: </b>Thanks, Amy. </p><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: </b>Thank you for joining us from Washington, D.C.</p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-38114966622425989612007-02-16T18:16:00.000-05:002007-02-16T18:20:20.837-05:00Citing Democracy Now! / BBC Broadcast, Rep. John Conyers Confronts Bush and Demands Investigation of Vulture FundsAMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how your meeting went with the President yesterday?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/photos/uncategorized/conyers3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 179px;" src="http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/photos/uncategorized/conyers3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>REP. JOHN CONYERS: Well, we talked essentially about Iraq, Katrina and the domestic breakdown that's going on right now. But it was my job, I felt, to raise the whole question of this bond speculation that goes on at the expense of poor debtor countries, in which their debt is bought up and then they're sued for the full amount. It’s bought up at pennies on the dollar, and then they're sued. And I wanted to thank you [BBC Newsnight] for revealing this to us, because it allowed me to ask President Bush two questions: one, about Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan; and two, whether he would be willing to stop this incredible misuse of our government’s charity toward funding aid to our poorer nations.<br /><br />JUAN GONZALEZ: And what was the President's response to your questions?<br /><br />REP. JOHN CONYERS: His response was, “I didn't know anything about this.” And he assigned a staffer to get on it right away. And so, it's our position that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Comity Doctrine brought from our Constitution allows the President to require the courts defer in individual suits against foreign nations. And so, we're conducting a couple of things. First of all, we want to know where these practices are going on at the present time, and, two, how we can get this information to President Bush so that he can, as he indicated to us, stop it immediately.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-68299928169830433752007-02-15T14:10:00.000-05:002007-02-15T14:33:00.148-05:00Vulture Fund Update: Zambia loses 'vulture fund' case<div class="bo"> <img src="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/printer_friendly/news_logo.gif" alt="BBC NEWS" height="34" width="163" /><br /><a onclick="javascript:newsi.utils.av.launch({storyId:6363643, fileLoc: '/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6363600/', bbram: 1,nbram: 1,bbwm: 1,nbwm: 1});return false;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6363600?redirect=6363643.stm&news=1&amp;amp;amp;bbram=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1" target="_blank"><b> See Newsnight's Vulture Funds report </b></a><a onclick="javascript:newsi.utils.av.launch({storyId:6363643, fileLoc: '/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6363600/', bbram: 1,nbram: 1,bbwm: 1,nbwm: 1});return false;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6363600?redirect=6363643.stm&news=1&amp;amp;amp;bbram=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1" target="_blank"> </a><p> The judge ruled against Zambia's application to dismiss Donegal's claim, but at the same time proposed to end a freeze of Zambian assets secured by the fund. </p><p> Donegal, however, will have a chance to argue the case for a continued freeze of Zambian assets. </p><p> According to BBC economics reporter Andrew Walker, people familiar with the case believe that the judge will order Zambia to pay Donegal between $10m and $20m, less than half what Donegal sought. </p><p> Lawyers for Zambia, however, said the judgement was a victory for Zambia. </p><p> Janet Legrand of DLA Piper called the ruling "fantastic news for both the government of Zambia and its people". </p><p> The fight against Donegal's claim had been "entirely vindicated and [marked] a significant milestone in the efforts of [the Zambian government] to fight corruption and maintain a stable economic course". </p><p> <b> Concerns </b> </p><p> Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and UK Chancellor Gordon Brown among others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off, then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest. </p><p> There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries. </p><p> A Zambian presidential adviser and consultant to Oxfam, Martin Kalunga-Banda, said $42m was equal to all the debt relief it received last year. </p><p> "It means 30,000 children who would have benefited from going to school free will not be able to do so," he told the BBC. </p><p> "It also means the treatment, the Medicare, the medicines that would have been available to in excess of 100,000 people in the country will not be available." </p><p> </p></div> <div class="bo"> <p> Mr Kalunga-Banda added that while the repayment might be legal, it arose from debts accrued when the country was under "an undemocratic system". </p><p> "The consequences of the debt are impacting on the people of Zambia," he said. </p><p> "The Zambians at that time did not even have even the capacity to know this was happening and that is probably what brings in this issue of unfairness." </p><p> <b> 'No comment' </b> </p><p> In 1979, the Romanian government lent Zambia money to buy Romanian tractors. </p><p> Zambia was unable to keep up the payments and in 1999, Romania and Zambia negotiated to liquidate the debt for $3m. </p><p> But before the deal could be finalised, Donegal International, which is part owned by US-based Debt Advisory International (DAI) stepped in and bought the debt from Romania for less than $4m. </p><p> DAI founder Michael Sheehan was confronted by the BBC's Newsnight programme before the court ruling, but said only: "No comment. I'm in litigation. It's not my debt." </p><p> </p></div> <div class="bo"> <p> In 2002, Gordon Brown told the United Nations that the vulture funds were perverse and immoral. </p><p> "We particularly condemn the perversity where vulture funds purchase debt at a reduced price and make a profit from suing the debtor country to recover the full amount owed - a morally outrageous outcome." </p><p> Jubilee Debt campaigner Caroline Pearce said that vulture funds "made a mockery" of the work done by governments to write off the debts of the poorest - a key theme of 2005's Live8 concert. </p><p> "Profiteering doesn't get any more cynical than this," Ms Pearce said. </p><p> "Zambia has been planning to spend the money released from debt cancellation on much-needed nurses, teachers and infrastructure. </p><p> "This is what debt cancellation is intended for, not to line the pockets of businessmen based in rich countries." </p></div><strong><em>This BBC Newsnight report was produced by Meirion Jones, BBC London; Rick Rowley, videographer/editor. Investigative research by Matt Pascarella, New York.</em></strong>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-19317523427962573952007-02-15T14:08:00.000-05:002007-02-15T14:29:29.880-05:00Vulture Fund Threat to Third World<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6363600/6363643.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm" target="_blank" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/outbound/news.bbc.co.uk');">Watch the Report on BBC</a><a> || </a><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/15/1528209#transcript">Watch it on Democracy Now!</a><br /><p><em>February 14, 2007</em> — <strong>On Thursday 15 February a high court</strong><strong> judge in London will rule whether a vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m.</strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42573000/jpg/_42573379_zambia203b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 124px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42573000/jpg/_42573379_zambia203b.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p>There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries.<br /></p><p> Martin Kalunga-Banda, Zambian presidential adviser and a consultant to Oxfam told Newsnight, “That $40m is equal to the value of all the debt relief we received last year.”</p><p>Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it.</p> <p><strong>Mockery</strong></p> <p>Caroline Pearce from the Jubilee Debt campaign told Newsnight it makes a mockery of all the work done by governments to write off the debts of the poorest.</p> <p>“Profiteering doesn’t get any more cynical than this. Zambia has been planning to spend the money released from debt cancellation on much-needed nurses, teachers and infrastructure: this is what debt cancellation is intended for not to line the pockets of businessmen based in rich countries.”</p> <p>Debt Advisory International (DAI) manages a number of vulture funds which buy up the debts of highly indebted poor countries cheaply and then sue for the original value of the debt plus interest. Zambia - where the average wage is just over a dollar a day - is one of the highly indebted poor countries which the world’s governments agreed needed debt relief.</p><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Tractors</strong></div> <p>In 1979 the Romanian government lent Zambia money to buy Romanian tractors. Zambia was unable to keep up the payments and in 1999 Romania and Zambia negotiated to liquidate the debt for $3m.</p> <p>Before the deal could be finalised one of DAI’s vulture funds stepped in and bought the debt from Romania for less than $4m. They are now suing the Zambian government for the original debt plus interest which they calculate at over $40m and they expect to win.</p> <p>Like the other vulture funds DAI refuse to do interviews but reporter Greg Palast caught up with the company founder Michael Sheehan outside his home in Virginia.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42573000/jpg/_42573383_sheehan203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 109px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42573000/jpg/_42573383_sheehan203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p><em>Greg Palast: “I just want to ask you Mr Sheehan - why are you squeezing the poor nation of Zambia for $40 million - doesn’t that make you a vulture?</em><br /></p><p>Michael Sheehan: “No comment I’m in litigation. It’s not my debt.” <em><br /></em></p><p><em>Greg Palast: Aren’t you just profiteering from the work of good people who are trying to save lives by cutting the debt of these poor nations?</em><br /></p><p>Michael Sheehan: Well there was a proposal for investment. That’s all I can talk about right now.<br /></p><p> Five years ago Gordon Brown told the United Nations that the vulture funds were perverse and immoral: “We particularly condemn the perversity where Vulture Funds purchase debt at a reduced price and make a profit from suing the debtor country to recover the full amount owed - a morally outrageous outcome”. But the vulture funds are still operating.</p> <p><strong>‘We don’t do interviews’</strong></p> <p>The London case is just one of many which are running around the world.<br />Newsnight went to New York to try to interview Paul Singer - the reclusive billionaire who virtually invented vulture funds.</p> <p>In 1996 his company they paid $11m for some discounted Peruvian debt and then threatened to bankrupt the country unless they paid $58m. They got their $58m.</p> <p>Now they’re suing Congo Brazzaville for $400m for a debt they bought for $10m.</p> <p>We didn’t get our interview. His spokesman told us, “We have nothing to hide; we just don’t do interviews”.</p> <p><strong>US courts</strong></p> <p>The vulture funds raise most of their money through legal actions in US courts. Those actions against foreign governments can be stayed by the word of the US President and that is where lobbying and political influence becomes important.</p> <p>Debt Advisory International are very generous to their lobbyists in Washington. They have been paying $240,000 a year to the lobby firm Greenberg Traurig - although recently they jumped ship to another firm after Greenberg Traurig’s top lobbyist was put in jail.</p> <p>Paul Singer has more direct political connections. He was the biggest donor to George Bush and the Republican cause in New York City - giving $1.7m since Bush started his first presidential campaign.</p> <p>Rudy Guiliani is the favourite to be the next Republican presidential candidate and a leaked memo from his campaign shows that Paul Singer has pledged to raise $15m for Guiliani’s campaign.</p> <p><strong>Tactics</strong></p> <p>The vulture funds have teams of lawyers combing the world for assets which can be seized to settle their claims. There have also been claims of dubious tactics.</p> <p>Back in Britain the Zambian case has seen much legal discussion about allegations of bribery. The Zambian legal team - led by William Blair QC - Tony Blair’s brother, has argued that a $2m bribe was offered to the former Zambian President to make it easier for the vulture funds to claim their money.</p> <p>They showed the court an email disclosed in the Zambia case saying that a payment to the “President’s favourite charity” had allowed them to do a more favourable deal.</p> <p>Jubilee Debt Campaign told Newsnight that they are calling on Gordon Brown to turn his moral outrage about vulture funds into action<br /></p><p> When we caught up with Michael Sheehan outside his house in Virginia he told us it was not a bribe but a charitable donation.<br /></p><p> He told us, “We offered to donate debt to a low income housing initiative which was a charitable initiative which did end up building several thousand houses” before adding “you’re contorting the facts, you’re on my property and I would ask you to step off”.</p><p> The Jubilee Debt Campaign told Newsnight that they are calling on Gordon Brown to turn his moral outrage about vulture funds into action if he becomes Prime Minister and change the law to make the Zambian case the last to appear in a British court.</p> <p>*****</p> <p><strong><em>The BBC Newsnight report was produced by Meirion Jones, BBC London; Rick Rowley, videographer/editor. Investigative research by Matt Pascarella, New York.</em></strong> </p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-53679562171982792732007-02-15T14:00:00.000-05:002007-02-15T14:58:03.680-05:00The Ground Truth Podcast<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TC2yj9K-H78"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TC2yj9K-H78" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br />Directed by Laura Dawn<br />Music by Moby<br />Edited by Jonathan Levin & Laura Dawn<br />Camera by Matt Pascarella & David Grossman<br />Featuring Patricia Foulkrod (Director & Producer of "The Ground Truth"), Iraqi War Vets Demond Mullins, Charlie Anderson, & Congressman John Murthamattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1168972248339006292007-01-16T13:28:00.000-05:002007-01-16T13:41:24.993-05:00GI Cup o’Joe: New Coffeehouse for Soldiers Opens Near Ft. Drum<span style="font-weight:bold;">By Matt Pascarella</span><br />From the January 10, 2007 Issue of <a href="http://indypendent.org">The Indypendent</a> | National Desk<br /><br />Fort Drum, N.Y. is one of the largest military bases in the northeast United States. This installation has the highest per-capita deployment of soldiers as well as the highest re-enlistment rate of any U.S. base.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.indypendent.org/wp-content/photos/GICupoJoe.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.indypendent.org/wp-content/photos/GICupoJoe.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Nearly three months ago, author and activist Tod Ensign, along with volunteers from Citizen Soldier and Veterans for Peace, opened a coffeehouse for GIs a few miles from Ft. Drum. The Different Drummer café is similar to those that sprang up during the Vietnam War to provide off-duty soldiers with a place to hang out, listen to music and become politically active. (See below for more on the Vietnam-era GI coffeehouse movement.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THAT WAS THEN – THIS IS NOW</span><br />I ask Ensign how many soldiers have been coming into Different Drummer since its opening. “Some soldiers come into the coffeehouse when we have an event – like live music. They’ll hang out, they’ll dance, and then they might check out the books, look around curiously but that’s it. So far we have not been able to attract more than a few soldiers.”<br /><br />Ensign’s café is the first of its kind since the Vietnam era and aside from “getting the word out” about the café, he faces deeper challenges. “The conditions of service and who serves in the military today are much different than during Vietnam,” he tells me. The most fundamental difference is that the military is now an all-volunteer force. Cultural differences are significant, too. The counter-cultural movements of the 1960s appealed to a lot of young soldiers who served at that time.<br /><br />“During the GI movement there was a sense of identification with this larger movement – anti-war, anti-imperialist, women’s movements, black movements” and a culture of music, sex and drugs that coexisted with those politics, which soldiers could access and be a part of when going to coffeehouses. This sense of connection to a larger movement doesn’t seem to exist today. Another crucial difference, he tells me, is how people access information today. “The coffeehouses thrived on the publishing of newspapers. There were 250 papers and newsletters – some of which lasted a few issues and some of which lasted a few years. Today, I can’t see any evidence of that. We’ve tried to get something going up there, to have a blog and have people write about their experiences, and so far we haven’t had any luck.<br /><br />“Bookstores were also an important part of the GI projects. Yet, from what I can see, young people don’t seem to be drawn to books or pamphlets. We have a whole bookstore there, racks of books, some of which we give away for free and we are hardly able to even give them away. “The use of writing and engagement around publishing doesn’t seem, so far, to be a draw at all. No one comes in and says, ‘I wrote this poem, I’m back from Iraq.’ ‘I wrote this rap, I’m back from Iraq.’” As for printing it, “that hasn’t happened so far.”<br /><br />“Soldiers don’t come in where it’s going to be a discussion, where there’s going to be dialogue and to maybe hear their views on uranium weapons, or their views on whether they should be sent back for a third tour.” Therefore, many of the events at Different Drummer feature either live music or film screenings, including a Saturday afternoon film series.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">DIFFERENT APPROACHES</span><br />“We’re in a testing period now,” Ensign says; “We are trying different methods, different approaches and we’re trying to outreach in different ways.” The ultimate goal, he says, “is to figure out ways to get the trust of people and make them see our coffeehouse as a social space that is open to whatever they want to work around, organize around.” A Vietnam vet who works at Ft. Drum and helps Different Drummer told Ensign under condition of anonymity that mental health services on the base are overrun. Using this knowledge, along with the fact that a high percentage of soldiers returning from combat are already likely to suffer posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Ensign and his team have put an emphasis on “providing neutral information” on these issues.<br /><br />The café is planning an event in February featuring a specialist on PTSD and is hoping to have personnel from the Veterans’ administration medical services attend. This information will also be available at the café’s St. Patrick’s Day event, which will welcome home the 3rd Brigade, nearly 6,000 troops, from Iraq.<br /><br />Aside from the psychological effects of war, Ensign says soldiers at Ft. Drum face basic quality-of-life issues. Different Drummer is looking at housing problems, which force some soldiers to be bussed nearly 30 miles to get home from the base, and family pressures on soldiers facing multiple deployments as potential areas to offer support.<br /><br />In terms of convincing soldiers that enough is enough, Tod believes there is a lot of work to do, but the tipping point may be nearing. “It is a conjuncture of events: It’s falling public support, it’s doubts within the military itself about the enterprise, it’s the toll that it takes on them with post-traumatic stress, with their families, their children, the injuries – and I have to believe that at some point it’ll begin to erode and crack. When that happens we have to be in a place where we can connect to them.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A DIFFERENT ERA: A LOOK AT THE GI COFFEEHOUSES OF VIETNAM</span><br />The first GI coffeehouse popped up near Ft. Jackson, S.C., in January 1968 and was jokingly called “UFO” – its name a play on the military’s clubs known by the acronym USO. It was the only integrated place in the city, its regulars consisting not just of blacks and whites, but also students from the local university and GIs.<br /><br />Within a year, more than 20 similar coffeehouses opened near military bases throughout the United States, attracting a large number of GIs against the war. Eventually soldiers began to use the cafés as places to write about their experiences and views on the war. By 1970, more than 50 underground newsletters were being clandestinely circulated on military bases throughout the country – including publications like Fed Up!, Bragg Briefs, Helping Hand and About Face.<br /><br />The cafés became small centers for dissenting soldiers while serving domestic assignments. They fed not only underground publications and served as places to plan actions on the bases. This dissatisfaction with the military and the war spread to the front lines of Vietnam as well.<br /><br />The first coffeehouse, UFO, was closed by a court order that declared it a “public nuisance.” Some of the other cafés were targeted by firebombs and by local police. Following the end of the war, many closed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Matt Pascarella is a freelance journalist and award-winning producer.</span>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1165622439382879622006-12-08T18:59:00.000-05:002006-12-08T20:11:24.493-05:00Congresswoman McKinney Files Articles of ImpeachmentBy Matt Pascarella<br /><br />On Monday, gathering in a conference room in Washington D.C., Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her advisors worked on a draft copy of the articles of impeachment against President Bush.<br /><br />At the heart of the charges contained in <a href="http://www.mattpascarella.com/HR1106_impeachment.pdf">McKinney’s articles of impeachment</a>, is the allegation that President Bush has not upheld the oath of presidential office and is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.<br /><br />Article I states that President Bush has failed to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. Specifically cited in this article is the charge that Bush has manipulated intelligence and lied to justify war: “George Walker Bush … in preparing the invasion of Iraq, did withhold intelligence from the Congress, by refusing to provide Congress with the full intelligence picture that he was being given, by redacting information … and actively manipulating the intelligence on Iraq’s alleged weapons programs by pressuring the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.”<br /><br />This manipulation of intelligence was done, the charge continues, “with the intent to misinform the people and their representatives in Congress in order to gain their support for invading Iraq, denying both the people and their representatives in Congress the right to make an informed choice.”<br /><br />Article II, “Abuse of office and of executive privilege,” states that President Bush has disregarded his oath of office by “obstructing and hindering the work of Congressional investigative bodies and by seeking to expand the scope of the powers of his office.” The President has “failed to take responsibility for, investigate or discipline those responsible for an ongoing pattern of negligence, incompetence and malfeasance to the detriment of the American people.”<br /><br />This article continues by indicting Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in their actions to manipulate or “fix” intelligence and mislead the public about Iraq’s weapons programs. Ultimately, this article calls not only for Bush’s impeachment and removal from office but also asks the same actions to be taken against Cheney and Rice.<br /><br />Article III states that President Bush has failed to “ensure the laws are faithfully executed” and that he has “violated the letter and spirit of laws and rules of criminal procedure used by civilian and military courts, and has violated or ignored regulatory codes and practices that carry out the law.”<br /><br />Specifically, McKinney cites illegal domestic spying as a result of failing to obtain warrants thereby subverting congress and the judiciary in the process: “… by circumventing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act courts established by Congress, whose express purpose is to check such abuses of executive power, provoking the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to file a complaint and another judge to resign in protest, the said program having been subsequently ruled illegal; he has also concealed the existence of this unlawful program of spying on American citizens from the people and all but a few of their representatives in Congress, even resorting to outright public deceit.”<br /><br />The article continues by citing public statements Bush has made that were blatantly contradictory to his policy and actions regarding domestic spying.<br /><br />While the staff was editing the document, one advisor told me, “As we sat down and worked on this, a pattern became very clear … a pattern to specifically undermine the constitution and establish a unitary presidency.”<br /><br />The charges addressed in McKinney’s resolution are nothing revelatory or new. Rather, they are issues which have been in the public eye for quite some time and have increasingly been covered in the media over the last year.<br /><br />Despite winning the congressional majority, the Democrats have yet to put forth a plan to investigate what have become somewhat ubiquitous allegations.<br /><br />Speaker-elect, Representative Pelosi, dismissed any possibility of impeachment, saying it is “off the table” and that it is “a waste of time … making them lameducks is good enough for me.” Although, in the November election, 60% of the voters in her own district cast ballots in favor of Proposition J, a measure calling for the impeachment of President Bush.<br /><br />In 2005 Representative John Conyers sponsored a resolution, HR 365, to create a special committee to investigate allegations against the Bush Administration – a move that would likely lead to the discovery of impeachable offenses. This resolution was passed to the House Committee on Rules and was never brought up for a vote.<br /><br />At that time it was widely believed that if the Democrats took control of congress, Conyers would reintroduce the resolution as would have subpoena power if selected as leader of the House Judiciary Committee.<br /><br />A few days after the Democrats won control Conyers echoed Pelosi’s statement saying, “I am in total agreement with her on this issue … impeachment is off the table.” Last week a spokesperson from Conyers office said that the resolution would not be reintroduced and that the Representative had no intention to pursue the matter.<br /><br />Will other members of congress support the action Congresswoman McKinney has brought forth?<br /><br />At the table in what could be considered her impeachment “war room” the question is brought up a number of times.<br /><br />Mike, an advisor to McKinney, mentions, “Conyers was supposed to have investigations. They were chomping at the bit 6 months ago to do subpoenas.”<br /><br />McKinney quietly replies, “Now they say they aren’t even going to issue subpoenas.”<br /><br />Looking up from her papers she takes a deep breath, “I’m going in alone on this one because now it is all about them playing majority politics.”<br /><br />This is McKinney’s last week as a member of congress and this act, to impeach the president, is the final resolution she will enter into the Congressional record.<br /><br />For those who know anything about Cynthia McKinney it may come as no surprise that she would file this resolution as her parting gift to Congress.<br /><br />McKinney is no stranger to being attacked by the media and has been isolated from her own party.<br /><br />From her inquiries into election fraud in 2000 to her calls for a transparent and thorough investigation into 9-11, not to mention the widely covered run-in she had with the Capitol Hill Police, the congresswoman is aware that this resolution will likely be ignored and that she will be ruthlessly attacked upon its filing.<br /><br />“What do you think they are going to do to me this time?” she asks her staff. Everyone uncomfortably shifts in their seats and after no answer comes McKinney explains, “We have to do this because this is simply the right thing to do. The American people do want to hold this man and his office accountable for the crimes they have committed and if no member of congress is willing to do it, than I will.”<br /><br />It is questionable as to how effective this move could be in gaining support because of her reputation as a firebrand congresswoman and because, ultimately, she is on her way out of office.<br /><br />The Congresswoman and her staff realize this but hope that by filing the articles of impeachment it will, at the very least, open up a discussion on whether or not President Bush and key members of his administration have committed impeachable offenses and whether our officials should be held to account.<br /><br />“My duty as a member of Congress is merely to uphold and preserve the constitution and to represent the will of my constituency. Ultimately, it isn’t up to me or any other member of congress – it is up to the American people to decide.”<br /><br /><br />---<br />Matt Pascarella is a freelance journalist & producer who was present during the drafting of the Articles of Impeachment that Congresswoman McKinney filed today.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1162931291919640722006-11-07T15:26:00.000-05:002006-11-07T15:31:01.123-05:00Election Day Dispatch<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">By Matt Pascarella</span> 7 November 2006<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Reporting from Washington D.C</span></p><p>Reports of problems at polling places from around the country have been coming in all day.<br /></p><p>Here are a few:</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">South Carolina</span><br />The Governor of South Carolina (Republican) turned away from voting after failing ID requirements. <a href="http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=43809" target="_blank">Read more</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Solana Beach, CA</span><br />Out of 7 machines in a Solana Beach, CA precinct only 2 could start up. The elderly poll workers were unable to figure out the 10 page instructions to get the machines up and running. Poll workers said the machines had been delivered the night before.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hamilton County, OH</span><br />Problems with voter registration lists.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cuyahoga County, OH</span><br />This morning machines were reported not working and voters told to vote on provisionals.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Broward County, FL</span><br />Machines in one precinct were down for over 3 hours this morning. A lawsuit is currently being filed to extend the voting hours to make up for this lost time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Atlanta, GA</span><br />Switch voting occurred in at least one precinct this morning. Voter was trying to cast vote for Democrat candidate and the machine kept selecting the Republican candidate. Poll workers couldn't resolve the problem and would not let the voter try another machine.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Avondale, AZ</span><br />Reports coming in that a supervisor in one precinct is not accepting certain types of ID and turning people away.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Westmoreland, PA</span><br />Small number of machines at voters' polling place and none were working this morning. At that time the poll workers could not get through on the support phone number provided. The voter returned around lunch time and the machines seemed to be working -- she estimates that when she was there earlier at least 2-3 dozen elderly voters could not vote and were likely to not come back.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cumberland County, PA</span><br />DRE machine malfunctions resulting in switched votes. Voter reported trying to vote for Green Party candidate but the Republican candidate lit up instead. He tried to vote twice, poll workers were not helpful and told him there were no Green Candidates. He gave up and left after they refused to give him the machine's serial numbers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fairfax, VA</span><br />Voters report that while voting, the machines posted messages stating "switch to battery power immediately or you will lose all your work." When one voter asked a pollworker for help the pollworker said he had never seen this before. The pollworker then did something with the machine and that voter was able to complete the voting process but is concerned his vote was not counted.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Melbourne, FL</span><br />Machine problems. Problems with scanning ballots. Ballots were collected and placed in a bin to be scanned later on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deltona, FL</span><br />Only one machine working.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philadelphia, PA</span><br />Machines defective; no officials to resolve. People told to return later in the day.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gainesville, VA</span><br />Polling place closed. Misleading signs. When voters called election phone number for information they weren't given any information.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Portersville, PA</span><br />Voters told voting machines that were there weren't available to use because the machines were meant for another county.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Aurora, IL</span><br />Voters required to present certain IDs they were unaware of needing - many turned away.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oak Park, IL</span><br />Two machines not working.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Long Lines & machine shortages reported in:</span><br />Norristown, PA - Hancock Elementary School<br />Upper Marlboro, MD - Evangel Cathedral<br />Montgomery County, PA<br />Baltimore, MD<br />Chicago, IL<br /><br /></p><br /><p> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">*These reports are based on voter testimony and eye-witness accounts. They are coming in in real time and are still being researched more thoroughly and checked.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1162312454811275722006-10-31T11:28:00.000-05:002006-10-31T12:53:42.566-05:00Brad Will, Independent Journalist shot by paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico while covering the historic Teacher’s strike<span style="font-weight:bold;">By Matt Pascarella<br /></span><br />Last Friday afternoon in Oaxaca, Mexico a fellow journalist and acquaintance of mine, Brad Will, was shot while covering the historic teacher’s strike there. Brad suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach, and died on the way to the hospital – his video camera lying next to him. He was 36 years old.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rogueimc.org/images/2006/10/7447.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://rogueimc.org/images/2006/10/7447.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Three others, including schoolteacher Emilio Alfonso Fabián, died in the attack and many others, including a photographer from Milenio, were wounded.<br /><br />The shooters were eventually identified by El Universal as Avel Santiago Zarate (public safety chief), Manuel Aguilar (city personnel director) and Juan Carlos Soriano Velasco (a police officer).<br /><br />As shown quite explicitly in <a href="http://salonchingon.com/cinema/brad.php?city=ny">Brad’s final footage</a> that fateful day, Brad was not afraid to put himself on the line to tell the stories of the people of Oaxaca. Over the last few months what has been happening in Oaxaca has gone under the radar of most mainstream reportage on Mexico. It is for this reason that Brad, as well as many other independent journalists went to Oaxaca.<br /><br />On Sunday over 4,600 federales in riot gear -- backed by armed vehicles and helicopters surrounded the city of Oaxaca awaiting instructions from President Vincente Fox. It has been reported that eventually they moved into the city and faced average citizens and activists who were resisting state and federal occupation of their city.<br /><br />Last night the Zapatistas <a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2262.html ">issued a communiqué</a> calling for the people of Mexico to shut down roads, highways and the media beginning on 1 November as well as a general strike on 20 November. It is also on 20 November when Lopez Obrador plans to inaugurate his alternative government. <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Read Indymedia NYC's</span> <a href="http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/849515.shtml">statement on Brad's death</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Read more about what is happening in Oaxca:<br /></span><a href="http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/10/31/index.php">La Jornada</a> <br /><a href="http://www.narconews.com/ ">Narconews</a> <br /><a href="http://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-index.php?page=ImcMexico">Indymedia Mexico</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Matt Pascarella is a freelance journalist and producer.</span>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1158746099991526932006-09-20T05:54:00.000-04:002006-09-20T06:25:35.673-04:00Video-Blogger & Journalist Forced Back to Federal Prison Today<b>By Matt Pascarella</b><br /><br />Only nineteen days after being released from the Federal Correction Institution in Dublin, California, video blogger and journalist Josh Wolf was forced to report back to prison this morning.<br /><br />Wolf, subpoenaed by a grand jury earlier this year, refused to provide that jury with a video he shot while covering an anti-G8 demonstration that occurred in San Francisco on July 8, 2005.<br /><br />On behalf of the federal government, Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Finnigan filed the motion to revoke Wolf's bail last Thursday, September 14th. <br /><br />According to the motion, the government's argument to confine Wolf even after the court granted him bail was, "that whenever a witness refuses 'without just cause' to comply with a court order 'to testify or provide other information,' the district court may 'summarily order his confinement' until 'such time as the witness is willing to give such testimony or provide such information'." <br /><br />The motion was filed under the premise that the grand jury Wolf refuses to provide video to is still in session. In this argument the Assistant Attorney General notes, "The clock is ticking on this grand jury's term of service and thus the coercive intent behind the recalcitrant witness statue is lessened with each passing day." <br /><br />Three days after this motion was filed, I met with Josh in New York, below is the video of that interview. <br /><br />At that time he did not know that only two days later, today, he would be forced to return to federal prison.<br /><br />For the full background on the story, in Josh's own words, see the lo-res video rushes - via youtube - from the interview. <br /><br /> It's in 3 parts:<br /><br /><b>Part 1</b><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YKX2DHA-ew4"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YKX2DHA-ew4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br /><b>Part 2</b><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DfscQQT3boI"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DfscQQT3boI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br /><b>Part 3</b><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BtB8IynTX5o"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BtB8IynTX5o" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />A higher-res quicktime file will be posted shortly. In the mean time <a href="http://www.mattpascarella.com/joshwolfinterview.mov">click here</a> for a lo-res QT<br /><br /><i>Matt Pascarella is a freelance journalist and award-winning producer for Investigative Journalist Greg Palast -- www.GregPalast.com</i>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1158743821651962522006-09-20T05:16:00.000-04:002006-09-20T05:19:22.173-04:00Reporter Palast Slips Clutches of Homeland SecuritySeptember 14th, 2006<br /><br />by Greg Palast</p><br /><br />Forget the orange suit. Exxon Mobil Corporation, which admits it was behind the criminal complaint brought by Homeland Security against me and television producer Matt Pascarella, has informed me that the oil company will no longer push charges that Pascarella and I threatened "critical infrastructure."<br /><br />The allegedly criminal act, which put us on the wrong side of post-9/11 anti-terror law, was our filming of Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery where, nearby, 1,600 survivors of Hurricane Katrina remain interned behind barbed wire.<br /><br />I have sworn to Homeland Security that we no longer send our footage to al-Qaeda -- which, in any case, can get a much better view of the refinery and other "critical infrastructure" at <a title="Google Maps Refinery" target="_blank" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=4045+Scenic+Hwy,+Baton+Rouge,+LA+70805&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=30.487143,-91.169143&spn=0.016531,0.054245&t=k&om=1&iwloc=A">Google Maps</a>.<br /><br />Given Exxon's back-down, I hope to confirm with Homeland Security, Baton Rouge, that charges will be dropped today.<br /><br />Matt and I want to thank you, our readers and viewers, for your extraordinary and heartfelt responses. Public support undoubtedly led Exxon to call off the feds.<br /><br />Of course, this was never about our tipping off Osama that Louisiana contains oil refineries. This has an awful lot to do with a petroleum giant's sensitivity to unflattering depictions of their plants which are major polluters along Louisiana's notorious "Cancer Alley."<br /><br />I've learned that, in April last year, Exxon brought a similar Homeland Security charge against Willie Fontenot, an assistant to the Attorney General of Louisiana. Fontenot was guiding a group of environmental studies pupils from Antioch College on a tour of Cancer Alley. Exxon's complaint about the "national security" threat posed by their photos of the company's facility cost Fontenot his job.<br /><br />The issue is not national security but image security. You can get all the film you want from Exxon of refineries if you'll accept nice, sanitized VNRs (video news releases) of clean smokestacks surrounded by happy herons.<br /><br />What's dangerous is not that reporters will end up in Guantanamo; the insidious effect of these threats is to keep networks from filming government and corporate filth, incompetence and inhumanity. Besides the Exxon foolishness, our camera crew was also blocked from filming inside the notorious Katrina survivors trailer encampment.<br /><br />Furthermore earlier that same day, a FEMA contractor had grabbed our camera, in mid-interview, when polite but pointed questions exposed their malfeasance.<br /><br />As with Exxon, the bar from filming at the refugee camp and in the offices of the government contractor were presented to us as a "Homeland Security" matter.<br /><br />After the September 11 attacks, CBS Newsman Dan Rather said, "George Bush is the President. ...Wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where."<br /><br />Reporters who step out of line, who ask uncomfortable questions and film uncomfortable scenes, soon find their careers toasted, to which Dan can attest.<br /><br />One of George Bush's weirder acts in office (and that's saying a lot) was to move FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose main job is to save us from floods and earthquakes, into the control of the Department of Homeland Security. Exxon's refineries, once "pollution source points" scrutinized by government watchdogs, are now "critical infrastructure" protected by federal hounddogs.<br /><br />As the front lines in the War on Terror expand from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, we find that America has been made secure only against hard news and uncomfortable facts.<br /><br />Again, our sincere thanks and gratitude for your support. Cakes with files have been consumed.<br /><br />- Greg Palast, New York<br /><br />*****<br />Many of you have asked for copies of the film which threatened national security. In response to your requests, with the permission of <a target="_blank" title="LinkTV" href="http://linktv.com/">LinkTV</a>, we are making "Big Easy to Big Empty: the Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans" available on DVD. The disc will also include an interview of reporter Greg Palast by <a target="_blank" title="DemocracyNow!" href="http://www.democracynow.org">Democracy Now!'s</a> Amy Goodman plus an excerpt from Palast's bestseller, <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/madhouse/index.php/order-the-book/">Armed Madhouse</a> on the topic, "Class War and Hurricane Katrina."</p><br /><p>For a copy of the film, I am asking for a modest, tax-deductible donation to our foundation, the <a target="_blank" title="Premiums" href="http://gregpalast.com/premiums.htm">Palast Investigative Fund</a>. The fund supports our work and pays our legal fees.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1158743708216258632006-09-20T05:13:00.000-04:002006-09-20T05:15:08.236-04:00Palast & Pascarella Charged with Journalism in the First Degree<p><font size="3">September 11, 2006</font><img align="right" alt="Not Greg and Matt" title="Not Greg and Matt" style="width: 153px; height: 213px" src="http://static.flickr.com/87/237068410_9575d410bb_o.jpg" /><br /><br /><font size="3"> by Greg Palast</font></p><br /><p>It's true. It's weird. It's nuts. The Department of Homeland Security, after a five-year hunt for Osama, has finally brought charges against... Greg Palast. I kid you not. Send your cakes with files to the Air America wing at Guantanamo.</p><br /><p>Though not just yet. Fatherland Security has informed me that television producer Matt Pascarella and I have been charged with unauthorized filming of a "critical national security structure" in Louisiana.</p><br /><p style="font-weight: bold"><a target="_blank" title="Drowning of New Orleans" href="http://www.gregpalast.com/big-easy-to-big-empty-the-untold-story-of-the-drowning-of-new-orleans">Click here</a> to Read the full story. Click here for the <a title="First Part of Democracy Now! Report" target="_blank" href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/28/1342222&mode=thread&tid=25">first part</a> and here for the <a title="Second part of the Democracy Now! report" href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/28/1342209&mode=thread&tid=25">second part </a>of the Democracy Now! report.</p><br /><p>On August 22nd, for LinkTV and DemocracyNow! we videotaped the thousands of Katrina evacuees still held behind barbed wire in a trailer park encampment a hundred miles from New Orleans. It's been a year since the hurricane <a name='more'></a>and 73,000 POW's (Prisoners of W) are still in this aluminum ghetto in the middle of nowhere. One resident Pamela Lewis said, "It is a prison set-up" -- except there are no home furloughs for these inmates because they no longer have homes.<br /><br />To give a sense of the full flavor and smell of the place, we wanted to show that this human parking lot, with kids and elderly, is nearly adjacent to the Exxon Oil refinery, the nation's second largest, a chemical-belching behemoth.</p><br /><p>So we filmed it. Without Big Brother's authorization. Uh, oh. Apparently, the broadcast of these stinking smokestacks tipped off Osama that, if his assassins pose as poor Black folk, they can get a cramped Airstream right next to a "critical infrastructure" asset.</p><br /><p>So now Matt and I have a "criminal complaint" lodged against us with the feds.</p><br /><p>The positive side for me as a journalist is that I get to see our terror-busters in action. I should note that it took the Maxwell Smarts at Homeland Security a full two weeks to hunt us down.</p><br /><p>Frankly, we were a bit scared that, given the charges, we wouldn't be allowed on a plane into New York last night. But what scared us more is that we <span style="font-style: italic">were</span> allowed on the plane.</p><br /><p>Once I was traced, I had a bit of an other-worldly conversation with my would-be captors. Detective Frank Pananepinto of Homeland Security told us, "This is a 'Critical Infrastructure'... and they get nervous about unauthorized filming of their property."</p><br /><p>Well, me too, Detective. In fact, I'm very nervous that this potential chemical blast-site can be mapped in extreme detail at this <a target="_blank" title="Google Map Location" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=4045+Scenic+Hwy+70809+East,+Baton+Rouge,+LA">Google Map location.<img align="right" alt="Google Refinery" title="Google Refinery" style="width: 175px; height: 173px" src="http://static.flickr.com/54/240704615_090376a2b7_o.jpg" /></a></p><br /><p>What also makes me nervous is that the Bush Terror Terriers have kindly indicated on the Internet that this unprotected critical infrastructure can be targeted -- I mean <span style="font-style: italic">located</span> -- at 30 29' 11" N Latitude and 91 11' 39" W Longitude.</p><br /><p>After I assured Detective Pananepinto, "I can swear to you that I'm not part of Al Qaeda," he confirmed that, "Louisiana is still part of the United States," subject to the First Amendment and he was therefore required to divulge my accuser.</p><br /><p>Not surprisingly, it was Exxon Corporation, one of a handful of companies not in love with my investigations. [See "<a target="_blank" title="A Well Designed Disaster" href="http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=269">A Well-Designed Disaster: the Untold Story of the Exxon Valdez</a>."]</p><br /><p>So I rang America's top petroleum pusher-men and asked their media relations honcho in Houston, Marc Boudreaux, a simple question. "Do you want us to go to jail or not? Is it Exxon's position that reporters should go to jail?" Because, all my dumb-ass jokes aside, that is what's at stake. And Exxon knew we were journalists because we showed our press credential to the Exxon guards at the refinery entrance.</p><br /><p>The Exxon man was coy: "Well, we'll see what we can find out... Obviously it's important to national security that we have supplies from that refinery in the event of an emergency."</p><br /><p>Really? According to the documents our team uncovered from the offices of Exxon's lawyer, Mr. James Baker, the oil industry is more than happy to see a limit on worldwide crude production. Indeed, the current squeeze has jacked the price of oil from $24 a barrel to $64 and refined products have jumped yet higher -- resulting in a record-busting profit for Exxon of nearly $1 billion per week.</p><br /><p>So this silly "criminal complaint" has nothing to do with stopping Al Qaeda or keeping the oil flowing. It has everything to do with obstructing news reports in a way that no one would have dared attempt before the September 11 attack.</p><br /><p>Dectective Pananepinto, in justifying our impending bust, said, "If you remember, a lot of people were killed on 9/11."</p><br /><p>Yes, Detective, I remember that very well: my office was in the World Trade Center. Lucky for me, I was out of town that day. It was not a lucky day for 3,000 others.</p><br /><p>Yes, I remember "a lot" of people were killed. So I have this suggestion, Detective -- and you can pass it on to Mr. Bush: Go and find the people who killed them.<img width="17" height="21" align="right" alt="Greg in Orange" title="Greg in Orange" src="http://static.flickr.com/95/240905680_f871ea9392_o.jpg" /></p><br /><p>It's been five years and the Bush regime has not done that. Instead, the War on Terror is reduced to taking off our shoes in airports, hoping we can bomb Muslims into loving America and chasing journalists around the bayou. Meanwhile, King Abdullah, the Gambino of oil, whose princelings funded the murderers, gets a free ride in the President's golf cart at the Crawford ranch.</p><br /><p>I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, Matt and I look pretty good in orange.</p><br /><p>*******</p><br /><p>A personal request to readers. Many have written to ask what can be done to protect Matt and me from becoming unwilling guests of the State.</p><br /><p>First, this ain't no foolin' around: Matt and I are facing these nutty charges. So spread the info. We believe that getting the word out is the best defense.</p><br /><p>Second, call Homeland Security and turn us in. They seem to have trouble finding us. If you get a reward, you may choose to donate it to the <a target="_blank" title="Palast Investigative Fund" href="http://gregpalast.com/premiums.htm">Palast Investigative Fund</a>, a 501(c)(3) educational foundation which supports our work and pays our legal fees.</p><br /><p>Third, ask your local library to order our book, Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf? Homeland Security now reserves the right to read over your shoulder at the library; therefore, the more our agents are forced to read this subversive material, the more likely we can convince them to come in out of the cold. All kidding aside, we do ask you to request your library order the book: not everyone can afford to purchase this hardbound edition.</p><br /><p>Our thanks to Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! and the folks at LinkTV for broadcasting our report from New Orleans and the Exxon refinery. And to Gil Nobel, host of ABC Television's <span style="font-style: italic">Like It Is</span>, our Courage in Journalism award for broadcasting our report on his network's New York affiliate. Catch Gil on WABC every Sunday at noon.</p><br /><p>In response to a deluge of requests for a copy of the New Orleans documentary, we are preparing a DVD which you may order right now at <a title="Palast Premiums" href="http://gregpalast.com/premiums.htm">http://gregpalast.com/premiums.htm</a> .</p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1154012441348331002006-07-27T11:00:00.000-04:002006-07-27T11:20:06.826-04:00Can Street Heat Reverse Defeat? Mexican Presidential Election Coverage<b>By Matt Pascarella</b><p></p><i>From the July 20th Issue of <a href="http://www.indypendent.org">The Indypendent</a></i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/183671914/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/58/183671914_2b242b995c_m.jpg" width="220" hspace="10" vspace="5" height="240" alt="july6casadecamp1" align="left"/></a><p></p><b>MEXICO CITY</b>—It was July 2, election night, a little before 11pm. While we wait for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) candidate, to make his victory speech, Luis Carlos Ugalde, the head of the Election Commission (IFE), appears on massive television screens throughout the room and announces that the election is too close to call.<br /><br />The next president of Mexico, we are told, will not be named until Wednesday, July 5. The room, full of supporters and press, is suddenly quiet – all one can hear are whispers of “miércoles?”<br /><br />After a few minutes Lopez Obrador appears and tells the crowd, “We know we won. We are up by 500,000 votes.”<br /><br />Nearly a half-hour later, the National Action Party (PAN) candidate Felipe Calderón appears on TV, and announces, “There is not the slightest doubt that we have won the election.”<br /><br />No one realized it at the time, but the stage was being set for a fight that will continue into August – and could even stretch into September.<br /><br />Two days after the IFE announce the preliminary results, showing Felipe Calderón ahead of Obrador by a meager 0.6 percent. On that same day I met with an Election Commission representative who admitted nearly 3 million ballots from 11,184 polling places had yet to be counted. She wouldn’t say if these ballots would be included in the official count, but was “confident those votes wouldn’t change the outcome.”<br /><br />The following day, July 5, the Electoral Commission began the official count, not a vote-by-vote count, but rather, an accounting of tally sheets attached to every ballot box.<br /><br />In the morning, representatives of the PRD gathered at a news conference and asserted that irregularities had taken place throughout the election process. Members of the press pushed the PRD to label it “fraud” but they refused to take that direction, deciding instead to stick to the legal route and play out the process.<br /><br />Taxi drivers and others I spoke with on the street that day told me they were frustrated the PRD was not calling for mass mobilizations because, as the security guard at my hotel told me, “Calderón is trying to steal it … Everyone knows the PAN committed fraud and we need to do something about it.”<br /><br />Early in the morning on July 6, the Election Commission announced the results of their tally sheet count: Felipe Calderón was now ahead of Lopez Obrador by only 0.5 percent.<br /><br />Based on this count, many reporters declared Felipe Calderón the new president of Mexico. Yet, what most failed to mention is that the Election Commission is not the body responsible for officially announcing the next president.<br /><br />Rather, it is the Electoral Tribunal that will make an official announcement after addressing complaints filed by each party. The Electoral Tribunal, a supposedly nonpartisan, independent body, has the responsibility to examine statements brought to them before making a final decision. It will have to consider issues cited in the PRD’s complaint such as:<br /><br />• Why hundreds of thousands of ballots have yet to be included in any count; <br /><br />• Why ballots have been found, literally, in the trash;<br /><br />• Why there was a massive amount of “dropoff,” i.e., where people showed up to vote but did not cast a vote for president;<br /><br />• Why, on Election Day, poll workers in places like Querétaro and Salamanca were caught on video stuffing ballot boxes and changing tally sheets.<br /><br />• The use and role of public expenditures on Calderón’s campaign;<br /><br />• The pro-Calderón intervention of current president Vicente Fox (a member of PAN), which is illegal according to the Electoral Commission’s rules.<br /><br />Overall, the PRD is citing irregularities in more than 30 percent of the precincts throughout the country.<br /><br />Based on an optimistic reading of the IFE’s track record in previous smaller elections where it demanded recounts and exposed cases of fraud, the Electoral Tribunal may, indeed, call for further investigation, demand a vote-by-vote count, or even annul the election. But Obrador and his supporters don’t seem to be taking any chances.<br /><br />Obrador’s constituency includes the indigenous, poor, grassroots movements, businessmen and even former members of the PRI – the party that controlled Mexico for some 70 years. In 1994 he ran for governor of Tabasco but lost after a battle revolving around his opponent’s supposed illegal use of public monies. In 2000 Obrador was elected mayor of Mexico City and quickly became known for policies benefiting the poor. Even last year, Obrador had to fight to get on the ballot. Ultimately, it was his supporters’ willingness to mobilize that secured his spot in the election.<br /><br />On Saturday July 8, six days following the election, nearly half a million people gathered in Mexico City’s Zócalo, one of the largest squares in the world, for an “informative assembly” organized by the PRD. People of all ages, from as far away as Tabasco, waited for Obrador to address them chanting, “Vota por vota, casilla por casilla.” (“Vote by vote, polling place by polling place.”)<br /><br />Obrador announced a nationwide mobilization to begin that Wednesday. The crowd, waving the yellow flags of the PRD and holding signs claiming fraud, shouted in response, “No está solo” (”you are not alone”). Obrador called for calm and asked that his supporters not shut down roads (which would cripple the Mexican economy) that, ultimately, they would win together through the government’s own institutions. The next week people began marching from every state in Mexico and an estimated 1.1 million people converged in the Zocalo on July 16 for another mass meeting. Further mobilizations to pressure the Electoral Tribunal were called.<br /><br />Depending on what happens, Obrador may face two options: Admit defeat or step outside the political institutions altogether, capitalizing on his popular support, to pressure the system. Right now he is balancing between continuing down the legal route and proceeding with mobilizations aimed at pressuring the Electoral Tribunal. If he decides to go outside the system, it could cause political, social and economic paralysis, which, in turn, would mean he would likely have to sacrifice broader support. But he may have to do just that.<br /><br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787434/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/59/180787434_95595ddb33_t.jpg" width="95" height="100" alt="Matt" "align="left"/></a><i>Matt Pascarella is a freelance reporter and an award-winning researcher and producer for investigative journalist Greg Palast.</i>< You can view his reports at <a href="http://www.mattpascarella.blogspot.com">MattPascarella.blogspot.com</a> or at <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com">www.GregPalast.com</a><br /><br /><i>If you are interested in Central and South American politics and its effect on the rest of the world, look for more dispatches from The Gringos Project.</i><br /><br />You can also see <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/matpas/sets/72157594185912587/show/">here</a> for photos from Mexico´s 2006 Presidential Election.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1153759300329101242006-07-24T12:41:00.000-04:002006-07-25T12:23:23.190-04:00KPFT's Sunday Monitor Interviews Matt Pascarella<b>July 16, 2006</b><p>Matt Pascarella discusses the Mexican Election with Pokey Andersen of KPFT's Sunday talk-show, The Monitor.</p><a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/podcast-kpft-interviews-matt-pascarella-on-mexican-election">Listen here</a>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1153757470567366112006-07-24T12:11:00.000-04:002006-07-25T12:33:27.086-04:00Why Democrats Don't Count - Lessons from the Un-Gore of Mexico<b>14 July 2006</b><p></p><i>Watch the report I worked on for Democracy Now!"<a href="http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2006/july/video/dnB20060712a.rm&proto=rtsp">Florida Con Salsa</a>"</i><br /><br />The Exit polls said he won, but the "official" tally took his victory away. His supporters found they were scrubbed off voter rolls. Violence and intimidation kept even more of his voters away from the polls. Hundreds of thousands of ballots supposedly showed no choice for president -- like ballots with hanging chads.</p>And the officials in charge of this suspect election refused to re-count those votes in public. Everyone knew full well a fair count would certainly change the outcome.</p>You've heard this story before: Gore 2000. Kerry 2004.</p> But Lopez Obrador 2006 is made out of very different stuff than the scarecrow candidates who, oddly, call themselves "Democrats."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/why-democrats-dont-count">Read the full story</a>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1151955539896674982006-07-03T15:32:00.000-04:002006-07-25T12:37:35.993-04:00Dispatches from Mexico. Part 2 - Election Day.2 July 2006<br />By John Buffalo Mailer and Matt Pascarella<br><br />[Mexico City]<br /><br /><b>PRD press center, Hotel Marquis, Mexico City. 6:48pm.</b><br /></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180948130/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/68/180948130_a0b952a84f_t.jpg" width="100" height="94" alt="AMLO Doll" align="right" /></a> Lopez Obrador still has yet to make his appearance. The woman standing next to us quietly conifdes that she is hoping PAN will win. As she tells us this, a little boy stands in front of three cameras waving an AMLO doll. After hours of waiting, with no sign of the progressive candidate, we make our way through the entrance of the hotel and approach a barricade of security guards. We flash our PRD press credentials and the officers wave us inside. <br /><br />Upon reaching the main press room on the second floor of the hotel, we see the initial PRD exit poll data. AMLO is up by 3% but there is still 2 hours to go before the official announcement from IFE, the electoral commission. At 10:14pm the PAN party President states, ¨There are some polls favorable to Obrador and some polls favorable to Calderon.¨ Yet he does not cite PAN´s own exit poll data, suggesting to many a lefty journalist that PAN´s own polls show Obrador ahead. <br /><br />Reports are coming in that the main square in Mexico City, the Zocalo (Obrador´s strongest front), is packed and the celebration party has already begun. But, still, no one knows for sure, and won´t for another 45 minutes. Immediately following IFE´s announcement, Obrador will address the massive press corp gathered in this room. We´re all exhausted and everyone wants him to come out, declare victory, and finish his speech so we can go to the party in the Zocalo.<br /><br />We had started the day at 7am. Over coffee with John Gibler in the hotel restaurant, we received confirmation that the previous night´s meeting of La Otra Campaña was a disappointment to many of the supporters of the Zapatistas. This was a sentiment we shared, as the majority of the evening seemed to consist of soap box speeches and people talking over each other in a docile chaos. We then tried to hunt down an internet café to post the previous day´s blog. We had no luck, as most of Mexico City was shut down for the election. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ciudad Universitaria, the modest neighborhood where Obrador would cast his vote. 9:22 am.</span><br />Arriving minutes before Obrador dropped his ballot into the transparent box, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180812643/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/44/180812643_bee03328cb_t.jpg" width="56" height="100" alt="Indelible Ass" align="left" /></a>Matt made his way to the center of the cluster-fuck of photo journalists and television cameras positioned outside, hoping to catch the money shot. John stayed back with the rest of the print media and questioned for a moment whether he needed to hop in and pull his buddy out of the near stampede that resulted from too much press on too narrow a street. Before he could make up his mind, Matt was shoved onto the white Volkswagen Beatle parked just outside the polling site, leaving an indelible print of his ass on the hood. The chaos subsided and Obrador walked down the street to cheers from the crowd gathered on the sidewalks. <br /><p></p><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Las Aguilas, the upper middle-class neighborhood where Calderon cast his vote. 10:34 am.<br /></span>In stark contrast to Obrador´s spot, the people lining up to vote had fresh nose jobs, designer clothes, and a vast appreciation for Starbucks. We were taken by surprise when suddenly Calderon appeared, walking down the sidewalk with his family. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180808930/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/53/180808930_d76fce5161_t.jpg" width="66" height="100" alt="cald&daughterbaldrop" align="right"/></a> We had assumed he would show up with his standard caravan of SUVs in spite of the fact that his house was only one block away. He opted to enter the voting booth two times, once for the federal ballot and a second time for the state and local – granting himself the opportunity to pose for the press twice. It was on this second round that his cheers were combatted by the chants of the dozen protestors who had appeared on bicycles. ¨Libre a los presos de Atenco!¨ (Free the prisoners of Attenco!) they shouted.<br /><br /><br /><b>45 minutes outside Mexico City, the town of San Salvador Atenco. 12:48 pm.</b> As soon as we step out of the car, the demonstration in the central plaza catches our attention and Matt starts snapping shots of a little girl leading a chant as a number of the town people drop pieces of paper, symbolic of their voter registration, into a ballot box engulfed in flames at the center of the circle. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180812641/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/47/180812641_97b597602b_t.jpg" width="100" height="88" alt="Girl in Attenco burning voter card." align="left" /></a><br /><br />Standing out from the crowd, a somber local holds a machete upright, his face wrapped in a mask made of gauze. Because we´ve caught the tail end of this portion of the demonstration and because we are two of the few members of the international press that has shown up today in Atenco, they burn some more for our cameras. <br /><br />The red paint splattered all over the plaza, a reminder of the bloodshed that occured here only a few months ago when 3,000 federales reclaimed the town from (for lack of a better word) the “rebels” who had seized it in retribution for removing flower sellers from their traditional market place to pave the way for a new Wal-Mart. The events of that day are still unclear. However, we do know, according to the Mexican government´s own Human Rights Division, that most of the women who were arrested in Atenco were brutually raped by the authorities. Many are still being held. What is also clear is that the driver we´ve hired to take us here, Benito, is antsy to leave because of the relatively low rate we have negotiated with him. He doesn´t want to spend all day with us. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PRD press center. 11pm. </span><br /><br />IFE makes the official announcement that the election is too close to call. The new president of Mexico, we´re told, will not be named until Wednesday, July 5th. Miercoles. <br />¨Miercoles?¨ is all Matt can hear under the breath of the shocked Obrador supporters around him at the foot of the stage where Obrador will soon address the room. There is an eerie silence as hundreds from the international press corps look around, not quite sure of what to think, do, or what this will mean. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180948131/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/49/180948131_64e7afcd83_t.jpg" width="100" height="68" alt="Lopez Obrador addressing press following IFE announcement." align="right" /></a> A few minutes later Obrador enters the room from a side door and walks up to the podium. He makes a five minute statement in which he says, ¨We know we won – we are up by 500,000 votes,¨ hinting that should the IFE proclaim Calderon the winner on Wednesday, he may claim fraud. <br /><br />As we´re walking out, we see Calderon making his statement on a TV in the hotel bar. ¨There is not the slightest doubt that we have won the election.¨<br /><br /><b>Zocalo. 12:17am. <br /></b>Navigating the packed streets, trying not to go deaf from the blaring unison of car horns honking in support of Obrador, Matt takes pictures of people from all generations as they wave yellow PRD flags, celebrating what they see as a clear victory for Obrador. We are pleased to find the square has not erupted into a riot, but instead has the feel of a block party, sandwiched between the presidential palace and the grand cathedral – two of the most beautiful buildings we´ve seen since arriving in Mexico City. <br /></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180948132/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/61/180948132_3dbc48050b_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Supporters of Obrador at the Zocalo" align="left" /></a> <br /><br />¨It is important that you, the international press, are here. Our national press isn´t. They are not showing us in the streets,¨ a middle-aged woman tells Matt after grabbing his press credentials and examining them closely. It´s true. As we look around, we can find little more than a small handfull of independent international journalists. Zero national press.<br /><br /> <br />Another woman tells us, ¨We don´t want a repeat of the fraud that happened in the election of ´88,¨ a worried look on her face, as if this may be inevitable. The consensus among most of the people we speak to in the Zocalo is that Obrador has won and that now they must fight to prove it. One man suggested violence, another a general strike, but most were unsure of what will take place between now and Wednesday. <br /><br /> <br />¨The U.S. is definitely behind this!¨ shouts a drunken man who bears an uncanny resemblance to a Mexican Charles Bukowski and seems to have an unfocused rage in his eyes, directed (for lack of a better target) at us. ¨Someone must do something about it!¨ We are reminded not only of the poor image our own country has abroad, and the fact that this six-year-old version of Mexican multi-party democracy could still fall apart, but also, of the fragile nature inherant in all democracies. Reminded of the reality that if it is not tended to diligently and constantly, democracy can be taken away from the people right in front of their eyes. The next three days in Mexico will be its latest test.<br /><br />- - - - - - - -<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787428/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/72/180787428_116da48cdb_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Buffalo" align="left" /></a> John Buffalo Mailer is a playwright, actor, and Editor At Large for Stop Smiling Magazine. He is the author of Hello Herman, and co-author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258241/sr=8-1/qid=1151954767/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2702224-5612110?ie=UTF8">The Big Empty</a>.<p></p><br /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787434/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/59/180787434_95595ddb33_t.jpg" width="95" height="100" alt="Matt" "align="left"/></a> Matt Pascarella is an award-winning reseracher and producer for investigative journalist Greg Palast. You can view his reports at <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com">www.GregPalast.com</a> <br /><br />If you are interested in Central and South American politics and its effect on the rest of the world, look for more dispatches from The Gringos Project.<br /><br />You can also see <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/matpas/sets/72157594185912587/show/">here</a> for photos from Mexico´s 2006 Presidential Election.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1151955045926368842006-07-03T15:25:00.000-04:002006-07-25T12:39:47.690-04:00Dispatches from Mexico City. Part 1 - The Day Before Election Day.1 July 2006<br />By John Buffalo Mailer and Matt Pascarella<br><br /><br />Mexico City -- As a gringo, the first thing you learn upon arriving in Mexico City is that you do not take unauthorized taxis. In 2003, Mexico had the second-highest number of kidnappings in the world, with some 3,000 reported cases. The second thing you learn is that all the studying in the world will give you at best a cursory understanding of this country’s electoral politics. <br /><br />Here, on the eve of what could be considered only Mexico’s 2nd multi-party democratic election in the last seventy years, feelings run unbelievably strong on all sides. With the fact that 94.5% of all eligible Mexican citizens are registered to vote, one gets the sense that the newfound democracy the country has created over the last six years is taken with more sobriety than we tend to give it in America. Aside from holding the election on a Sunday, a law is in place called La Seca which forbids the consumption of alcohol during the day before and the day of the election.<br /><br />The top two candidates are reminiscent of what you would find back in the States. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180948131/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/49/180948131_64e7afcd83_t.jpg" width="100" height="68" alt="Lopez Obrador addressing press following IFE announcement." align="left" /></a>There is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador better known to the locals as AMLO. He represents the PRD, the Party of the Democratic Revolution. AMLO is openly a leftist, the former Mayor of Mexico City, and is running, according to locals we’ve talked to, “on a promise of hope.” <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787432/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/60/180787432_8e4576e5f6_t.jpg" width="79" height="100" alt="Felipe Calderon and his family" align="right"/></a>On the other side, you have Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, the former minister of energy under the current president, Vincente Fox. Calderon could be considered the typical favorite of the elite in any country – he was educated at Harvard and a lot of his rhetoric revolves around more neo-liberal economic themes.<br /><br />After the Calderon campaign hired foreign advisors, an attack campaign was launched against Obrador – the likes of which has never been seen in Mexico. The ads, blasted over the airwaves, were evocative of American style electioneering and appeared very similar to the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry during the 2004 Presidential election in the United States. One of the ads went so far as to compare AMLO to Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. There were also ads saying that if AMLO were elected people would lose their homes. Eventually, it was taken too far and the federal election commission, IFE, had to step in.<br /><br />Call it the typical fight, promises versus fear.<br /><br />This somewhat American approach to winning an election seemed to work. For months Obrador led the polls with double digits. But following the negative ad campaign, a change in polling methodology, and other factors including AMLO’s audacious decision to forgo the first round of debates with Calderon – his numbers steadily dropped. Now, only hours before the voting booths open, he is just a few percentage points ahead of his opponent.<br /><br />Needless to say, back in the U.S. President Bush is likely to support Calderon, while, not surprisingly, President Chavez, an outspoken critic of Bush, has come down on the side of Obrador. It is in this microcosm that the larger question of which way world politics will swing in the new Millennium is being fought. <br /><br />Will more candidates with the promise of a new form of Social Democracy start convincing the majority of poor people that another world is possible if they partake in their civic duty of voting? Or will the dominant capitalist democracy of which the 20th century has largely been defined by, continue to reign? Either way, which system fulfills the role of government best? Assuming of course, that one can agree the role of government is to make sure the people who pay taxes are able to live in relative peace and prosperity.<br /><br />We arrived in Mexico City late last night. As the plane was landing, we asked the fairly conservative Mexican woman sitting next to us which candidate she preferred in the election. Her answer was solemn and obvious, “Felipe.” When asked why, her response was, “Because Obrador is a crazy man, just like Chavez.” <br /><br />In truth, the support from Chavez was neither wanted nor did much to help Obrador’s campaign. And given the fact that many of his advisers worked under Salinas, one of the men accredited with catalyzing support of NAFTA, Obrador is hardly a radical Leftist. But, all things considered, he is understood as a populist and one of the main tenets of his campaign was reaching both the urban and rural poor. <br /><br />Outside the airport, probably because we are white, we were whisked to the front of the very long taxi line before realizing what was happening, and quickly found ourselves at the Hotel Isabel, where some of the more hard-core journalists who cover Mexico and South America are staying. Among them was John Gibler, who has been traveling with the Zapatistas throughout Mexico for the past six months. If one is truly looking for a radical voice in this election, John has his finger on the vocal chord. Running an un-official campaign, called La Otra Campaňa (The Other Campaign), Sub-Commandant Marcos and the Zapitista movement is using this election not as a way to gain office, but as a platform to promote what are considered by many to be radical ideas and possibilities for how a society could be governed. <br /><br />Tonight, we go to a rally of The Other Campaign, to hang with the Zapatistas and continue to search for a deeper understanding and sense of which way the wind is blowing. <br /><br />- - - - - - - -<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787428/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/72/180787428_116da48cdb_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Buffalo" align="left" /></a> John Buffalo Mailer is a playwright, actor, and Editor At Large for Stop Smiling Magazine. He is the author of Hello Herman, and co-author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258241/sr=8-1/qid=1151954767/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2702224-5612110?ie=UTF8">The Big Empty</a>.<p></p><br /><p></p><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpas/180787434/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/59/180787434_95595ddb33_t.jpg" width="95" height="100" alt="Matt" "align="left"/></a> Matt Pascarella is an award-winning reseracher and producer for investigative journalist Greg Palast. You can view his reports at <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com">www.GregPalast.com</a> <br /><br />If you are interested in Central and South American politics and its effect on the rest of the world, look for more dispatches from The Gringos Project.<br /><br />You can also see <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/matpas/sets/72157594185912587/show/">here</a> for photos from Mexico´s 2006 Presidential Election.mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1111094940391425242005-03-17T16:29:00.000-05:002005-03-17T16:31:40.180-05:00An update on the AOL TOS situation:<br /><br />Here is a good explanation of what went down.<br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MicroPersuasion?m=1183">Whoops</a>: <p>Ben Silverman says the bloggers <a href="http://bensilverman.net/2005/03/to-their-detriment-blogosphere-runs.html">made a big boo-boo yesterday</a> when they rushed to <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/11/2359226&tid=120&tid=158&tid=17">chase Slashdot</a> down the AOL TOS story foxhole. Slashdot today issued a mea culpa </del><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/14/0138215&from=rss">a follow-up with AOL's side of the story</a>.</p><p>(Via <a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/">Micro Persuasion</a>)UPDATE: This post has been edited after listening to <a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/03/whoops.html#comments">reader feedback</a>.</p></blockquote><br />Looks like I was a bit quick in jumping on Slashdots' story <a href="http://matpas.blogspot.com/2005/03/i-guess-socrates-had-good-point-when.html">the other day </a>...mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1110816632137529532005-03-14T11:10:00.000-05:002005-03-14T12:09:49.160-05:00<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/14/no_bias_on_iraq_media_study_finds?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+World+News">No bias on Iraq, media study finds</a>: NEW YORK -- A study of news coverage of the war in Iraq fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time.<br>(Via <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/world">Boston Globe</a>)</p></blockquote>If you look at the <a href="http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/topline/topline-template.html">content data tables</a> in this report - scroll down to the "closest video section" and notice that there is nothing for the "human impact" category - while 32.4% of the closest video was focused on "moving maneuvers" - presumably, of troops. Also notice that 14.8% of the Top Sources were "Military Commissioned" - second to the reporters themselves. <br /><br />As far as the "Topic" covered, coming in first was "pre-combat" coverage at 31.5%, and rolling into second place was "military action" at 27.8%. Interesting, especially in the context that only 6.5% of the coverage showed the aftermath of military actions.<br /><br />Under the "reporting" category notice that "commentary" comes in at second place (3.7%) but "analysis" comes in at third place (1.9%). Also notice lack of depth in reporting under the "length" category: the majority of the reports, 35.2%, were only 1 minute long.<br /><br />Whether the "events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time" seems a less relevant question when you take into consideration the process and ecology of the coverage itself (collection of facts, presentation of the reports, sound analysis and other such elements). The content of the report could be either positive or negative, but that doesn't seem to matter so much when the "acceptable means" of reporting could itself be quite biased from the outset.<br /><br />To me if you are not covering the human impact of war, rarely covering the aftermath of military actions, are using military commissioned sources as your main form of information (aside from observations pontificated from inside the Green Zone), and are not offering analysis or investigatory depth to your reports - then you are operating within the parameters of very limited coverage - that seems, in and of itself quite biased towards providing very little information and/or information from a very pro-US, pro-military perspective. <br /><br /><br>Another note:<br><br />The current situation with complicit "news" coverage is especially enlightening considering all of the pre-packaged VNRs being distributed to news organizations <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?hp&ex=1110690000&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&ei=5094&partner=homepage"> by the Bush Administration and 20 other federal agencies. <p/></a> <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/3360"> Schwarzenegger</a> has also caught on to this trend.</p> mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1110782768257539652005-03-14T01:46:00.000-05:002005-03-17T16:27:12.733-05:00I guess Socrates had a good point when he revolted against the printed word.<br /><br />Today's Case-in-Point:<br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/11/2359226.shtml?tid=120&tid=158&tid=17">Slashdot | AIM's New Terms Of Service</a>: ....<br />[ <a href="http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/11/2359226.shtml?tid=120&tid=158&tid=17">link</a> "AOL has posted new terms of service for AIM, that include the right for AOL to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, without informing you. A sample passage: '...by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy.'"<br>(Via <a href="http://www.blogpulse.com/">Blogpulse Top Links</a>)</p></blockquote><p></p>My personal favorite is the part where they say, "You waive any right to privacy." Well I guess I can say I'm not too surprised. Maybe MTV and Viacom are partnering with AOL/Time Warner to use our instant message conversations to start some weird new reality TV show.<br /><br />What's next? Mobile phone terms of service agreements that grant companies like Verizon the ability to do whatever they want with their customer's conversations, voice-mails, pictures, and text messages? <br /><br />To me, this situation also begs certain questions about our concepts of public and private space in relation to our current technological and social interactions occurring under the umbrella of capitalism. <br /><br />It also makes me wonder about our contemporary understanding of time and our concepts of what a contract is or isn't. Most often both of these characteristics are merely relegated to scrolling down the page as fast as we can and clicking the "I Agree" box. But did you <i>really</i> agree?<br /><br /><br /><br />mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1110680994748040952005-03-12T21:29:00.001-05:002005-03-12T21:31:06.326-05:00More of the latest in e-age journalism ...<br /><br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,66878,00.html">Apple 1, Indie Journalists 0</a>: California's 'shield' law does not protect websites that publish scoops based on illegal tips from corporate insiders, a judge rules, ordering a trio of online reporters to reveal their confidential sources to the Mac maker.</p></blockquote><p>(Via <a href="http://www.wired.com/">Wired News</a>)</p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1110680952987635132005-03-12T21:29:00.000-05:002005-03-12T21:47:48.870-05:00So online publications aren't covered by the 1st Amendment? We'll see about that ...<br /><br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/03/11/applecourt/index.php?lsrc=mcrss-0305">Apple wins ruling against rumor site</a>: Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg ruled in Apple's favor on Friday and said the company could obtain records from PowerPage email provider Nfox. Lawyers for the Web site said they plan to appeal the decision. The Judge disagreed with lawyers arguements that online publications are covered by the First Amendment.</p></blockquote><p>(Via <a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/">MacCentral</a>)</p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10735967.post-1110680932637757792005-03-12T21:28:00.000-05:002005-03-12T21:50:15.173-05:00Are digital IDs really going to help - especially in the context of the current happenings over at Choice Point and Lexis Nexis? There's something about creating a "smart card" for each person, controlled by private companies, that worries me ...<br /><br />(see earlier posts on ChoicePoint and Lexis)<br /><br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/03/11/digitalid/index.php?lsrc=mcrss-0305">Experts look to digital IDs to boost Net security</a>: Rampant identity theft is eroding users' trust in the Internet, and could threaten to erase some of the progress companies have made in doing business online, security experts warned Friday.</p></blockquote><p>(Via <a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/">MacCentral</a>)</p>mattpascarellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13974364830843033060noreply@blogger.com