http://www.neilrogers.com/ Progressive News and Op-Ed Articles featured on The Neil Rogers Show en-us http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051214.html BBC News Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has withdrawn a bid to buy US newspaper Newsday only days after seemingly being in pole position to acquire it. News Corp, whose titles include the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, had offered about $580m (£297m) for the New York state-based organ. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051213.html James Risen Last fall, Blackwater Worldwide was in deep peril. Guards for the security company were involved in a shooting in September that left at least 17 Iraqis dead at a Baghdad intersection. Outrage over the killings prompted the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and led to a criminal investigation by the F.B.I., a series of internal investigations by the State Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile Congressional hearings.0510 04 1 http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051212.html Anna Mehler Paperny Tasers pose potentially fatal health risks that studies proving their safety don’t take into account, a U.S. doctor told the B.C. taser inquiry yesterday.0510 01 1 San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist Zian Tseng became interested in the use and effects of tasers after a taser-related death in San Francisco in January, 2005. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Dr. Tseng suggested tasers could induce cardiac arrhythmia. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051211.html AP A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted. Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051210.html Gary Leupp May 9. I read tonight a brief article by Philip Giraldi posted on the American Conservative website: "War with Iran Might Be Closer than You Think." "There is considerable speculation," writes the former CIA officer, "and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed with plans to attack an Iranian al-Qods [Revolutionary Guards]-run camp that is believed to be training Iraqi militants. The camp that will be targeted is one of several located near Tehran." http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051209.html David Swanson I've done no survey. There are probably a heck of a lot more candidates out there who haven't contacted me or I haven't happened to run across. But I have put together a list, thus far, of 111 candidates for Congress, the Senate, or the White House who support impeaching Bush and Cheney. Here's the list, organized by office and by state / district. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051208.html Eric Margolis Nation poised to return as world power, thanks to oil prices and a new dynamic duo Back in Soviet days, Kremlin leadership changes used to be marked by a new pecking order of dumpy Communist apparatchiks in awful suits glowering from atop Lenin's tomb as tanks and cheesy floats rolled through Red Square. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051207.html Mary Shaw A recent National Geographic survey ranked the environmental impact of consumer habits and lifestyles in 14 countries. The U.S. ranked last. People in Brazil, India, China, Mexico, Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, Japan, France, and Canada were judged to be more environmentally responsible than Americans. Yes, you read that right. India. China. Mexico. Et cetera. All more proactively concerned than we are about saving this planet for our children and our grandchildren. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051206.html Bill Hare With the mainstream media’s steady firepower being directed basically in one direction, one would think that the big story of this presidential campaign season revolve around statements made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Chicago and how they politically impact on Barack Obama. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051205.html Frank Rich ANOTHER weekly do-or-die primary battle, another round of wildly predicted “game changers” that collapsed in the locker room. Hillary Clinton’s attempt to impersonate a Nascar-lovin’, gun-totin’, economist-bashin’ populist went bust: Asked which candidate most “shares your values,” voters in both North Carolina and Indiana exit polls opted instead for the elite and condescending arugula-eater. Bill Clinton’s small-town barnstorming tour, hailed as a revival of old-time Bubba bonhomie, proved to be yet another sabotage of his wife, whipping up false expectations for her disastrous showing in North Carolina. Barack Obama’s final, undercaffeinated debate performance, not to mention the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s attempted character assassination, failed to slow his inexorable path to the Democratic nomination. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051204.html Maureen Dowd Now Barack Obama faces a true dilemma: how best to punish Hillary Clinton. After 15 months of fighting her off, as she veered wildly from bully to victim, as she brandished any ice pick at hand, whether racial, sexual, mathematical or marital (in the form of her Vesuvian husband), Obama must decide the most efficacious means of doing to Hillary what she has been trying to do to him: putting her in her place. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051203.html Philip Giraldi There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed with plans to attack an Iranian al-Qods-run camp that is believed to be training Iraqi militants. The camp that will be targeted is one of several located near Tehran. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was the only senior official urging delay in taking any offensive action. The decision to go ahead with plans to attack Iran is the direct result of concerns being expressed over the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, where Iranian ally Hezbollah appears to have gained the upper hand against government forces and might be able to dominate the fractious political situation. The White House contacted the Iranian government directly yesterday through a channel provided by the leadership of the Kurdish region in Iraq, which has traditionally had close ties to Tehran. The US demanded that Iran admit that it has been interfering in Iraq and also commit itself to taking steps to end the support of various militant groups. There was also a warning about interfering in Lebanon. The Iranian government reportedly responded quickly, restating its position that it would not discuss the matter until the US ceases its own meddling employing Iranian dissident groups. The perceived Iranian intransigence coupled with the Lebanese situation convinced the White House that some sort of unambiguous signal has to be sent to the Iranian leadership, presumably in the form of cruise missiles. It is to be presumed that the attack will be as “pinpoint” and limited as possible, intended to target only al-Qods and avoid civilian casualties. The decision to proceed with plans for an attack is not final. The President will still have to give the order to launch after all preparations are made. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051202.html David Edwards Unless more funding and effort are put into saving the nation’s infrastructure, it will continue to crumble, say experts. An estimated $1.5 trillion over the next five years could be needed to avoid large-scale disaster. “When infrastructure declines, we’re going to become a second-rate country,” says engineer and former New York City transportation commissioner “Gridlock Sam” Schwartz. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051201.html AP Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Sunday that Hillary Rodham Clinton probably didn't choose her words carefully when she suggested Barack Obama was losing the white vote. Edwards also hedged on whether he might still endorse one of his former rivals, but said he thinks Obama will be the nominee. He cautioned that in Clinton's continued push for the nomination, she "has to be really careful" not to damage the Democratic Party's prospects in November. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051117.html TheLondonPaper.com Ministers will face fresh calls to change their anti-terror strategy today after a preacher once dubbed "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" was granted bail. Abu Qatada, who last month defeated the Government's efforts to deport him to Jordan, will be released from prison within weeks but subjected to a 22-hour curfew. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051116.html Bob Herbert The Clintons have never understood how to exit the stage gracefully. Their repertoire has always been deficient in grace and class. So there was Hillary Clinton cold-bloodedly asserting to USA Today that she was the candidate favored by “hard-working Americans, white Americans,” and that her opponent, Barack Obama, the black candidate, just can’t cut it with that crowd. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051115.html CNN A Navy admiral engaged in sexual relations in the White House in 1990 with a federal employee whom he falsely told he was a widower, according to a report released Friday by the Defense Department. In March, when the report was submitted to Pentagon officials, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem was demoted and fired from his post as director of the Navy staff. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051114.html AP Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion. The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051113.html AP A woman who said she was raped by co-workers while employed by a contractor in Iraq can take her claims to trial, a federal judge ruled Friday. Jamie Leigh Jones filed a federal lawsuit last year, saying she was attacked while working for a Halliburton Co. subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005. Her lawsuit claims that after she endured harassment from some of the men where she lived in coed barracks, she was drugged and raped by Halliburton and KBR firefighters. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051112.html Charles Babington The amazement was on their faces. Hundreds waited for Barack Obama on that evening in South Carolina, 15 weeks ago, to claim victory — a surprising victory, surprisingly large. And amazing it was. It made it possible for him to stand today on the verge of being the first black person ever nominated for president by a major party. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051111.html Al Meyerhoff As a lawyer might say (OK, I am one), I have no personal knowledge of whether John or Cindy McCain voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 election. However, now that that has been called into question by Arianna Huffington (who says no) and Huffington's truthfulness has in turn been questioned by the McCain campaign (although not yet by the McCains), I can offer the following anecdote as admissible hearsay shedding a little light on the subject: http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051110.html Nick Juliano A bizarre Capitol Hill ceremony a few years ago in which the eccentric conservative publisher the Rev. Sun Myung Moon declared himself the Second Coming was organized with help from a senior adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign. Charlie Black, a Washington lobbyist and McCain confidant, lent his name to the coronation ceremony and invited a few friends, according to newly disclosed e-mails. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051109.html Muriel Kane Presidential candidate John McCain’s pastor problems are bubbling up again, with Reverend John Hagee, whose support and endorsement McCain has actively sought, reversing last week’s retraction of remarks he made in 2006 blaming the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina on a planned gay pride parade. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051108.html Gail Collins By now we voters are well-versed in how to respond when, say, your law-and-order governor turns out to be a primo patron of the Emperor’s Club V.I.P. Escort Service. But the bar moves ever upward, and this week, New Yorkers are trying to figure out the proper reaction to news that a veteran local congressman, Vito Fossella, is the proud paterfamilias of both a household in Staten Island (wife, three children) and a love nest with mistress and child in Virginia. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051107.html Stephen Pizzo As an Obama supporter this primary season has been like enduring a year-long root canal, without Novocain. It's been painful. It's been like watching two bullies harass, belittle, lie and push your kid around everyday at school, and not being able to do a thing about it except to try to reassure yourself that, in the end your kid will emerge a better and stronger person because of it. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051106.html Steve Young In one of the most incendiary columns ever written, "Race And The Presidential Election," Bill O'Reilly sets the race-bait bar to record-breaking...depths. Short of saying that Barack Obama wants to sleep with your pearly-white daughter, O'Reilly uses just about every button meant to alarm his white fans to the fact that Barack Obama is BLACK and that just his running for, let alone becoming, president, could set off race-laced fireworks. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051105.html David Swanson Take 1 Minute to End the Killing: Congress Members have received thousands of phone calls, and some of them are committing to voting no on Iraq funding. The vote won't happen until next week, so keep the calls coming: Call your Congress Member now at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote No on the war funding. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051104.html CNN Lawrence O’Donnell, Emmy-Award winning producer of The West Wing and a contributor to the Huffington post, said Friday that a senior Clinton campaign official told him the New York Senator will be leaving the race by June 15 with a clear exit strategy. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051103.html David Edwards In an exclusive report, TVNewser said Fox has fired production assistant, Jennifer Locke, after she admitted voting for John McCain. “Insiders tell us the assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was on assignment with a camera crew to cover the entertainment angle of the event. When Sen. John McCain walked by, the assistant said, ‘I voted for you in the primary, you’re going to win.’” http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051102.html Steve Benen A couple of weeks ago, John McCain talked about the importance of increasing the size of the U.S. military. To entice more volunteers, he said, the government should focus on incentives: “[O]ne of the things we ought to do is provide [the troops with] significant educational benefits in return for serving.” http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051101.html Raw Story Obama picks up 6 superdelegates, union endorsement Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051015.html Paul Krugman The fight for the Democratic nomination seems to be winding down. It’s not completely over, but the odds now overwhelmingly favor Barack Obama. Assuming that Mr. Obama is the nominee, he’ll lead a party that, judging by the usual indicators, should be poised for an easy victory — perhaps even a landslide. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051014.html xxdr_zombiexx I recently sent some e-mail to David Scott (D-Ga) about Barney Frank's H.R. 5842 and just got this reply back from him. I am unsure if he will actually see this reply to it, or if he has any real time to "waste" on such an "unimportant and trivial topic which there isn't any time for right now and will detract from real issues and might possibly cause the Democrats to lose every election for the rest of our lives!!!!!!!!". http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051013.html Fred Cederholm I’ve been thinking about registrations. Actually I’ve been thinking about the 2008 elections, the endless campaigns, the Supreme Court, endless payment increases, and a growing malaise affecting all US/us. It is really difficult to get fired up for the coming elections which are still some six months off into the future. This is no small observation coming from me – the all-time news and political junkie! I am not alone in this feeling of weariness as many of my readers agree on this. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051012.html Col. Daniel Smith One segment of the May 4th edition of CBS television's 60 Minutes provided an update on the struggle of Mary Tillman, mother of NFL star-turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman, to get the full story of the circumstances of her son's death while in action April 22, 2004 in Afghanistan. (May 3rd was the anniversary of Tillman's funeral that the Pentagon so shamelessly exploited through the media, including the posthumous award of the Silver Star, the second highest military decoration for bravery in the face of enemy fire.) http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051011.html Ted Rall I argue with my friends. Some of them thought invading Iraq was a good idea. Almost all believed that Afghanistan was "the good war," the one from which Iraq distracted us. (They're starting to come around.) A few are even bigots. We disagree about these issues, often vehemently. But we're still friends. I would never diss a friend in public (or, in politicalese, "distance myself"). Even a former friend deserves respect. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051010.html Brian Morton Can this season's news coverage get any dumber? Remember that in just about every newsroom in America there are people called "editors." These "editors" make decisions about what you see, read, and hear. And the decisions these people are making--and almost exclusively at the highest levels of their respective forms of media (radio, television, and newspaper)--have been extraordinarily shallow. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051009.html Eric Boehlert Progressive author and Internet powerhouse Arianna Huffington has appeared on MSNBC more than 30 times over the last 12 months, offering up her combative opinions on current events. The tally probably would have been double that if the stretched-too-thin writer and editor had accepted all the channel's requests that flood her office. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051008.html Alan Bisbort A Mickey Mouse war policy begets Mickey Mouse results. On that note, the perfect coda to the 5-year-old disaster that is John McCain's favorite war just arrived: The company that built Disneyland, Los Angeles-based C3, is now designing a multi-million dollar entertainment complex on a 50-acre lot adjacent to the Green Zone in Baghdad. That lot, conveniently, became available when, as a result of the invasion of Iraq, the once world-class Baghdad Zoo was looted and destroyed, the animals scattered among the rubble that was operations Shock and Awe and Enduring Freedom. In the wake of the bungled invasion, the zoo was left without power and then abandoned. The animals, many rare, were killed and eaten, or stolen and sold on the black market. Of the 700 animals in the zoo, only 35 survived. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051007.html John Stauber Eight thousand pages of documents related to the Pentagon's illegal propaganda campaign, known as the Pentagon military analyst program, are now online for the world to see, although in a format that makes it impossible to easily search them and therefore difficult to read and dissect. This trove includes the documents pried out of the Pentagon by David Barstow and used as the basis for his stunning investigation that appeared in the New York Times on April 20, 2008. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051006.html Queenie Wong Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental consumption habits in 14 countries.0508 02 1 Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories - housing, transportation and consumer goods_ according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051005.html Barry Jackson The radio ratings are out, and chalk up a narrow victory for 790 The Ticket, which now boasts a 3-1-1 record against WQAM (560) in the last five Arbitron ratings books in the key demographic group of men ages 25 to 54. In the period covering Jan. 10 through April 2, The Ticket finished 15th in the market, with a 2.8 share, in that demo group. WQAM closed 16th, with a 2.6. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051004.html David Thomas Increasing numbers of middle-aged men are going off sex, according to relationship experts. Counselling and sex therapy charity Relate says it has seen a 40 per cent increase in men who simply cannot be bothered to make love to their wives and partners. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051003.html AP Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign. Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, including Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051002.html AP Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady. "You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on Thursday. http://news.neilrogers.com/news/articles/2008051001.html AP Rasmussen Reports has been tracking the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination daily for nineteen months… since November 2006. For the last few months, the most remarkable feature of the race has been its consistency and stability. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both running historic campaigns and both have captured the votes and hearts of distinct and important constituencies within the Democratic Party. Obama has won Primaries in states where the demographics favor his campaign and Clinton has won in the states that favor her campaign.