An open letter to Noam Chomsky and the general public – RE: Film Banned in U.S. by John Pilger

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Updated: June 14, 2011

by John Pilger
Information Clearing House
June 10, 2011

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Dear Noam,

I am writing to you and a number of other friends mostly in the US to alert you to the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media, ‘The War You Don’t See’, and the abrupt cancellation of a major event at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in which David Barsamian and I were to discuss free speech, US foreign policy and censorship in the media.

Is It Time for Another Award for Obama? by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
June 10, 2011

Image by spo0nman via Flickr

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Obama as the worst president when it comes to whistleblowers and transparency, and the only one to actually receive an award for it. Of course I had mixed reactions and greatly varying reception. On one hand those who value transparency and our Constitution objectively; on the other hand, those who value partisanship above all and are blinded to the realities on the ground.

Wiki Wha? by William Bowles

by William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
williambowles.info
10 June, 2011

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

The monopolization and digitization of the media has industrialized the production process. This has resulted in virtually identical output regardless of its source. Not only the nature of the ‘news’ but also what is considered to be worthy of our attention comes at us in lockstep regardless of where we are or the medium, blanketing out any alternate views on the subject.

Is the Media Catching Up with the Turkish Imam’s US Operations? by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
June 8, 2011

For the last two years I have been pounding on Imam Fethullah Gulen’s web of organizations and his charter schools empire in the US. For years I have been marveling about the consistent media blackout on the Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen’s past and present nefarious activities and highly suspicious partnerships with various US government agencies and elected officials. And of course for almost two years I have been writing and discussing Gulen with you over here at Boiling Frogs Post. Now the New York Times appears to be catching up;

Eli Pariser on “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You” + Assange: Facebook, Google, Yahoo spying tools for US intelligence

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Democracy Now!
May 27, 2011

The internet is increasingly becoming an echo chamber in which websites tailor information according to the preferences they detect in each viewer. When some users search the word “Egypt,” they may get the latest news about the revolution, others might only see search results about Egyptian vacations. The top 50 websites collect an average of 64 bits of personal information each time we visit—and then custom-design their sites to conform to our perceived preferences. What impact will this online filtering have on the future of democracy? We speak to Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. “Take news about the war in Afghanistan. When you talk to people who run news websites, they’ll tell you stories about the war in Afghanistan don’t perform very well. They don’t get a lot of clicks. People don’t flock to them. And yet, this is arguably one of the most important issues facing the country,” says Pariser. “But it will never make it through these filters. And especially on Facebook this is a problem, because the way that information is transmitted on Facebook is with the ‘like’ button. And the ‘like’ button, it has a very particular valence. It’s easy to click ‘like’ on ‘I just ran a marathon’ or ‘I baked a really awesome cake.’ It’s very hard to click ‘like’ on ‘war in Afghanistan enters its 10th year.'” [includes rush transcript]

When It Comes To Whistleblowers, Obama is the Worst President, by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
May 17, 2011

The New Yorker features a lengthy story on NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake who is scheduled to appear in court next month where he will face a ten-count indictment:

According to a ten-count indictment delivered against him in April, 2010, Drake violated the Espionage Act—the 1917 statute that was used to convict Aldrich Ames, the C.I.A. officer who, in the eighties and nineties, sold U.S. intelligence to the K.G.B., enabling the Kremlin to assassinate informants.

Stephen Kohn: Whistleblowing and the First Amendment, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds

by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
May 13, 2011

Image by Takver via Flickr

Stephen Kohn joins us to discuss his book The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing what’s Right and Protecting Yourself. He explains whistleblowing as a civil liberties and a First Amendment issue, the role of whistleblowers as enablers of congressional oversight, and discusses the legal and political implications involved in whistleblowing. Mr. Kohn presents us with astounding statistics and reports illustrating how whistleblowing is far more effective than regulatory authorities, and how contributions by corporate whistleblowers uncover far more fraud and corruption within their companies than all the government police and regulatory authorities combined.

Steve Kohn: Bradley Manning and the Travesty of Justice, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds

by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
May 6, 2011

Image by Takver via Flickr

Last Tuesday Peter B Collins and I interviewed Mr. Stephen M. Kohn of National Whistleblower Center on his recently released book, corporate and government whistleblowers, whistleblower laws, and upcoming legislation. During the interview we asked him about the Bradley Manning case. Mr. Kohn’s sincere, eloquent and passionate response was one of, if not the best, summations we had ever heard. The entire interview will be posted next week, on Friday, May 13. However, we decided to prepare the following brief clip which covers Mr. Kohn’s powerful response to the Manning case, and share it with you right away.

Amy Goodman: WikiLeaks, Journalism and Modern Day Muckracking

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joefriendly on Apr 29, 2011

Wikileaks has sent shockwaves through the diplomatic community worldwide. This panel, presented at the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston on April 8, discusses how the release of these documents has reinvigorated the great journalistic tradition of muckraking. It also raises the fundamental questions about how journalism is done in an age of digital whistleblowers and online leaks.

Kucinich Calls DOD “Media Day” a “Stunt,” Urges Media not to Become Complicit in a Cover Up

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Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
Washington, Apr 28, 2011

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has repeatedly challenged the Defense Department’s treatment of Private First Class (Pfc.) Bradley Manning and sought to meet with Manning, today challenged the purpose of a so-called “Media Day” at the Joint Regional Correctional Facility, Ft. Leavenworth, where Pfc. Manning is currently being held. Pfc. Manning was transferred to Ft. Leavenworth from the Marine Corp Brig Quantico following criticism of his treatment there which may have violated his constitutional rights. Pfc. Manning has been accused of leaking documents to WikiLeaks, but after nine months of confinement a trial date has not yet been set.

WikiLeaks Reveals Secret Guantánamo Files, Exposes Detention Policy as a Construct of Lies

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
25 April, 2011

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Well, the cat is now out of the bag, and Guantánamo will, hopefully, be closer to closure — and the lies that powerful Americans tell about it will, hopefully, be closer to silence — as a result. For the last few weeks, I’ve been working as a media partner with WikiLeaks, along with the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers, El Pais, the Daily Telegraph, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Aftonbladet, La Repubblica and L’Espresso, navigating thousands of previously unseen documents about Guantánamo that were made available to the whistleblowing website last year, allegedly by Pfc Bradley Manning, who has been imprisoned for nearly a year by the US government, awaiting a trial.

And This Year’s Oscar Goes To… Barack Obama by Finian Cunningham

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writers
Dandelion Salad
April 23, 2011

If Ronald Reagan was known as the actor who became a president, then perhaps Barack Obama should become known as the president who became an actor.

For every facial movement evinced, every gesture of the hand, every word enunciated by the 44th president turns out to be a complete charade.

This is the guy who ran for the presidency presenting himself before the US nation, hand on heart, as the candidate who would end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; end the killing of civilians in those countries; and the brutalizing of young American men.

Marching for Anzac in the 51st State By John Pilger

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By John Pilger
Information Clearing House
www.johnpilger.com
April 22, 2011

The street where I grew up in Sydney was a war street. There were long silences, then the smashing of glass and screams. Pete and I played Aussies-and-Japs. Pete’s father was an object of awe. He weighed barely 100 pounds and shook with malaria and was frequently demented. He would sit in a cane chair, drunk, scything the air with the sword of a Japanese soldier he said he had killed. There was a woman who flitted from room to room, always red-eyed and fearful, it seemed. She was like many mothers in the street. Wally, another mate, lived in a house that was always dark because the black-out blinds had not been taken down. His father had been “killed by the Japs”. Once, when Wally’s mother came home, she found he had got a gun, put it in his mouth and blown his head off. It was a war street.

Kucinich Responds to Defense Department Moving Pfc. Bradley Manning to a Maximum Security Prison at Fort Leavenworth

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Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
Washington, Apr 19, 2011

Demands Written Assurances of Protection of Rights and of Person

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today issued the following statement in response to a report by the Associated Press that the Department of Defense will move Private First Class Bradley Manning from Marine Corp Base Quantico to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, a maximum security prison.

“Absolutely nothing the Department of Defense has done so far with respect to Pfc. Manning provides any assurance that his basic human and constitutional rights are being protected. The Department of Defense has refused to provide timely answers to even the most basic questions and have thus far refused to allow me to meet with him.

Libya and The Holy Triumvirate, by William Blum

by William Blum
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
28 March, 2011

The words they find it very difficult to say — “civil war”.

Libya is engaged in a civil war. The United States and the European Union and NATO — The Holy Triumvirate — are intervening, bloodily, in a civil war. To overthrow Moammar Gaddafi. First The Holy Triumvirate spoke only of imposing a no-fly zone. After getting support from international bodies on that understanding they immediately began to wage war against Libyan military forces, and whoever was nearby, on a daily basis. In the world of commerce this is called “bait and switch”.