Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner + Wanda Sykes

Propaganda Alert

Dandelion Salad

Updated: Here’s the transcript.

CSPAN on May 9, 2009

President Obama was the keynote speaker at the 2009 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Presidents traditionally poke fun at themselves, their administration and the journalists who cover Washington.

***

Wanda Sykes at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

CSPAN on May 9, 2009

Comedienne Wanda Sykes was the entertainment headliner at the 2009 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Her stand-up routine referenced Presidents Obama and Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney and other contemporary political figures.

see

Obama’s First 100 Days: Mixed Messages On Torture by Andy Worthington

Buying Brand Obama by Chris Hedges

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

Meet the new boss the same as the old boss

Corporations Really Suck

Iraq on Dandelion Salad

Afghanistan on Dandelion Salad

Pakistan on Dandelion Salad

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

H1N1-Mexican Flu-Swine Flu

from the archives:

George Bush LAST White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Craig Ferguson White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Cheney Goes After Olbermann at the Correspondents Dinner

Stephen Colbert Roasts Bush at Correspondents Dinner (video; 2006)

After US Strikes, Afghans Describe “Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies” By Jeremy Scahill

Dandelion Salad

By Jeremy Scahill
ICH
May 09, 2009 “Huffington Post”

As rage spreads in Afghanistan after US bombing that killed up to 130 people, unnamed Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up. Defiant Obama moves ahead with troop increase.

As President Barack Obama prepares to send some 21,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, anger is rising in the western province of Farah, the scene of a US bombing massacre that may have killed as many as 130 Afghans, including 13 members of one family. At least six houses were bombed and among the dead and wounded are women and children. As of this writing reports indicate some people remain buried in rubble. The US airstrikes happened on Monday and Tuesday. Just hours after Obama met with US-backed president Hamid Karzai Wednesday, hundreds of Afghans–perhaps as many as 2,000– poured into the streets of the provincial capital, chanting “Death to America.” The protesters demanded a US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In Washington, Karzai said he and the US occupation forces should operate from a “higher platform of morality,” saying, “We must be conducting this war as better human beings,” and recognize that “force won’t buy you obedience.” And yet, his security forces opened fire on the demonstrators, reportedly wounding five people.

He no longer heard the cries of the animals or saw the flowing blood…. by Jason Miller

Warning

These pictures may contain images depicting the reality and horror of violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

by Jason Miller
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Thomas Paine’s Corner
May 09, 2009

[Author’s Note: I’m dedicating this piece to the courageous animal defenders and rescuers comprising the ALF, the Justice Department, the Animal Liberation Brigade, and the other militant direct action groups who are taking the fight to vivisectors and the rest of their ilk comprising the animal exploitation complex. Given the relentless nature of the systemic torment and slaughter of millions of other sentient beings that take place day after day, violent responses from nonhuman animal lovers are inevitable and are a morally acceptable means of extensional self-defense on behalf of the voiceless, defenseless victims. As my close colleague, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, surmised—and I back him 100% on this—the assassination of a vivisector or two would probably save millions of nonhuman animal lives. And given the escalating situation at UCLA, who knows what may happen?

Employing myriad tactics and strategies, those of us pursuing empty cages will prevail, and, as another steadfast ally of mine, Dr. Steve Best, stated in a speech he gave at Oxford in 2005, “wipe vivisection off the map.” I yearn for that day.]

“The physiologist is not a man of the world, he is a scientist, a man caught and absorbed by a scientific idea that he pursues; he no longer hears the cries of the animals, no longer sees the flowing blood; he sees only his idea: organisms that hide from him problems that he wants to discover. He doesn’t feel that he is in a horrible carnage; under the influence of a scientific idea, he pursues with delight a nervous filament inside stinking and livid flesh that for any other person would be an object of disgust and horror.”

–Claude Bernard

Civilians Pay Price of War from Above By Robert Fisk

Dandelion Salad

By Robert Fisk
ICH
May 08, 2009 “The Independent”

Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as “human shields” by the Taliban and we shall say that we “deeply regret” innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it’s all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.

When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It’s the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the “terrorists”. Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.

The Report from Iron Mountain Revisited by Richard C. Cook

by Richard C. Cook
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
richardccook.com
May 9, 2009

We Hold These Truths by Richard C. Cook

Originally uploaded by Lorri37

What impresses me in the current financial crisis is the near-total failure of so-called progressives to appreciate the magnitude of what is going on or the level of intelligence behind it. How many will say, for instance, that the crash was deliberately engineered by the creation, then destruction, of the investment bubbles of the last decade?

When the financial system creates bubbles it drives up the cost of assets far beyond their true value in producing or storing wealth. When the bubbles burst the value of the assets plummets. Those with ready cash then buy them up on the cheap. When the dust settles more wealth has been concentrated in fewer hands. The rich get richer, and ordinary people are left in a deeper condition of indebtedness, poverty, and pressure to perform to the liking of the financial masters.

One on One: Naomi Wolf

Dandelion Salad

replaced video Mar. 26, 2014

cunytv75 on Jun 2, 2011

In this episode, Sheryl and her guest approach the upcoming election by looking back on our nation’s history. Naomi Wolf created a sensation in 2007 with her provocative book “The End of America.” Her latest book, “Give me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries” answers some of that controversy.

Journalist Sheryl McCarthy talks with newsmakers about their sources of inspiration. She has private conversations about public affairs issues with the people who report on them and those who ARE the story. The subjects range from global warming issues to domestic ones.

Watch more at http://www.cuny.tv/series/onetoone

Pakistan: Women vs Taliban

Dandelion Salad

linktv
May 08, 2009

(May 8, 2009) Women across Pakistan are galvanized to act by the threat of harsh Taliban-style Islamic law, recently instituted in Pakistan‚Äôs Northwest Provinces. Yet even among women in the region, the Taliban have defenders: for some, it’s just political expediency; for others, it’s a path to justice in a corrupt court system. But the curtailment of rights is unacceptable to a young generation of Pakistanis, who are taking to the streets. This episode includes a special Global Pulse Skype link to Islamabad to let them speak for themselves.

SOURCES: Samma TV, Pakistan; GEO TV, Pakistan; France 24, France; ABC News, U.S.; CNN, U.S.; BBC, U.K.; Al Jazeera English, Qatar.

Global Pulse is a fast-moving and informative television and web series that helps you navigate the news of the world by comparing and contrasting TV news reports. See all the episodes of Global Pulse at http://linktv.org/globalpulse

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Pakistan: Women vs Taliban“, posted with vodpod

see

Pakistan on Dandelion Salad

What To Do With The Skeleton of Unfettered Capitalism?

Dandelion Salad

leecamp
May 08, 2009

CIA memo cites 40 Congressional briefings on torture

Dandelion Salad

By Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org
9 May 2009

A memo released Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair lists 40 separate briefings beginning in September 2002 in which leading members of Congress were briefed by the CIA on the agency’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques”—in plain words, torture.

Before the revelations about the employment of such methods as waterboarding appeared in the media, none of these legislators, including leading Democrats, objected to or publicly protested against what amounted to war crimes.

Blair’s release of the document compiled by the CIA came in response to a request from Representative Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee. In a letter to Hoekstra, Blair stated that the memo “provides a straightforward account of the extent of interaction with the Congress on this issue.”

[…]

via CIA memo cites 40 Congressional briefings on torture.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Obama’s First 100 Days: Mixed Messages On Torture by Andy Worthington

New Chief Prosecutor Appointed For Military Commissions At Guantánamo by Andy Worthington

Obama Returns To Bush Era On Guantánamo by Andy Worthington

Turley: Pelosi’s denials not credible

Obama’s First 100 Days: A Start On Guantánamo, But Not Enough by Andy Worthington

Afghans Riot Over Air-strike Atrocity By Patrick Cockburn

Dandelion Salad

By Patrick Cockburn
ICH
May 08 2009 “The Independent”

Witnesses say deaths of 147 people in three villages came after a sustained bombardment by American aircraft.

“Herat” — Shouting “Death to America” and “Death to the Government”, thousands of Afghan villagers hurled stones at police yesterday as they vented their fury at American air strikes that local officials claim killed 147 civilians.

The riot started when people from three villages struck by US bombers in the early hours of Tuesday, brought 15 newly-discovered bodies in a truck to the house of the provincial governor. As the crowd pressed forward in Farah, police opened fire, wounding four protesters. Traders in the rest of Farah city, the capital of the province of the same name where the bombing took place, closed their shops, vowing they would not reopen them until there is an investigation.