While Larry King Fiddles in a Lovefest with the President, the Country Burns: Some Real Questions

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Friday July 07, 2006 · 2:56 PM PDT

2006/07/07 · 14:56

As many commentators have noted, this country is facing a perfect storm of mounting crises of national and global significance. Yet members of the Press, like Larry King, who have rare opportunities to seriously interview or question the President, continue to fiddle with the President and members of Congress, and to offer us lovefests rather than serious interviews, while the country burns (Perhaps this was a condition of permitting Larry to do the interview: Did you have to sign a prior restraint agreement, Larry, promising to ask only lovefest questions? If not, all the more reason you should be ashamed of yourself for not fulfilling your obligations as a journalist to your fellow citizens: to ask REAL questions and demand real answers).

See below the fold for a set of the kinds of real questions journalists should be asking this Administratin and other politicians.... Read More

Wouldn't Paying Taxes Be the Best Way for the Wealthy to Be Philanthropic?

Policybusters

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Friday June 30, 2006 · 1:24 PM PDT

2006/06/30 · 13:24

I'm glad to hear that someone like Mark Kramer is pointing out the limitations of even a large private philanthropic donation like Buffett's $31 billion to the Gates Foundation. [See here for Kramer's recent Opinion piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, with an excerpt below the fold.]

--Which raises this fundamental question about the deafening silence of public discussion this week in response to the Buffett donation: If philanthropists like Gates and Buffett truly desire to benefit the poor, why do they not (with their great status, wealth, and public voice) make much greater efforts to publicly criticize and reject the Bush admin. strategy of tax cuts for the wealthy, which in their combined impact will probably do much more harm than can ever be repaired by even Buffett-size philanthropic gifts?

Wouldn't the greatest philanthropy of wealthy people be for them first to insist on paying their taxes, instead of allowing the Bush administration to give them ever greater tax breaks?!! Read More

Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, Anyone?: Previous Attacks on the Free Press

Policybusters

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Wednesday June 28, 2006 · 2:53 PM PDT

2006/06/28 · 14:53

As today's Daily Progress Report of the Center for American Progress has noted:

"The New York Times--which earlier broke the story on President Bush's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program--has been the main target of attacks by the right wing and the administration" for its recent reporting on the Bush administration's not-so-secret program to track international banking transactions. "Rep. Peter King (R-NY) argued that the paper's reporters, editors, and publishers responsible for the story should be charged under the Espionage Act, punishable by up to 20 years in prison."

As the CFAP Progress Report argues, however, "While journalists do need to weigh whether reporting classified information will jeopardize national security, the administration's argument jeopardizes the 'aggressive, independent press' that is an 'essential ingredient for self-government.'" Read More

A "New Direction" for the Democratic Party?

Policybusters

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Monday June 26, 2006 · 3:55 PM PDT

2006/06/26 · 15:55

In mid-June, the Democratic Party published its new platform or Agenda, framed as a "New Direction." The question remains: Does this laundry list of Democratic issues provide anything new or anything like a "direction" for the Democratic Party as it approaches the 2006 elections?

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi seems to recognize what the Foundation must be to establish an EFFECTIVE Democratic politics for the 21st Century, when she writes:

"Ours must be a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people.' That means all of the American people. Republicans have made it a government of, by, and for a few of the people. America can do better. We can and we will. With this agenda, Democrats will create the most open and honest government in history, and put power back where it belongs - in the hands of all the people."

But where is this bit of democratic inspiration in the "New Direction" Agenda? As usual, the inspiration seems to have been left out of the Democratic Agenda-- Read More

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