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Moyers impresses me more and more as the years go by. An honest man, a thoughtful observer, a gifted journalist. This transcript from http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12142007/transcript1.html

December 14, 2007

Bill Moyers talks with MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the journal. We have a lot of ground to cover in this hour - from journalism and media merger mania to politics and race. First, despite the clutter and conglomeration in commercial broadcasting a new voice occasionally emerges that proves the exception to the rule. The rule is either echo right-wing ideology or bow your knee to the god of “objectivity,” meaning you simply counter a pound of official propaganda with an ounce of counter spin. Jon Stewart broke this mold with his daily show on comedy central. And now MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has done the same for cable news. Olbermann leaves no doubt about what he sees: Here’s what Olbermann says about the vice president…

KEITH OLBERMANN: The mind reels at the thought…What servant of any of the 42 previous presidents could possibly withhold information of this urgency and this gravity and wind up back at his desk the next morning instead of winding up before a congressional investigation or a criminal one?

BILL MOYERS: And for president bush…no minced words:

KEITH OLBERMANN: “I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war. I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11…

BILL MOYERS Rolling Stone calls Keith Olberman “the most honest man in news.” Critics accuse him of extended polemics, and national review calls him, “shameless”. Olberman shrugs it off. After years of knocking around broadcasting mainly as a sportscaster. He’s found his place and his voice. His nightly countdown on MSNBC is the fastest-growing news show on cable television. To find out more about what’s on Keith Olbermann’s mind read his new book, Truth and Consequences. Keith Olbermann, welcome to the Journal.

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Commentary: The disgraceful treatment of our veterans

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

As you do your holiday shopping this year and think about a big turkey dinner and piles of gifts and the good life that most Americans enjoy, please spare a thought for those who made it all possible: Those who serve in our military and the veterans who’ve worn the uniform.

There are some new statistics that give us reason to be ashamed for the way that our country has treated those who’ve served and sacrificed for us.

Those statistics damn the politicians who start every speech by thanking the troops and veterans and blessing them. They indict our national leaders who turn up at military bases and the annual conventions of veteran’s organizations and use troops and veterans as a backdrop for their photo-ops.

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As many people were killed, give or take ten or twenty percent, as the US lost in the whole of World War II. As with nearly everything else relative to the empire’s actions in Asia in the 1930s and 1940s, the Japanese refuse to acknowledge what they did. Until recently it was a very sore point with the Chinese government, as would be only understandable. But now practical considerations are leading the Chinese to soft-pedal demands for real Japanese awareness and contrition. Too bad. Until that comes, the Japanese can never recover from their own unconscious guilt. Americans are well familiar with the costs of unacknowledged historical guilt.

Chinese Remember ‘Nanking Massacre’

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN – 6 hours ago

BEIJING (AP) — Sirens sounded and students stood at attention Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan’s notorious wartime massacre of civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

The commemoration, which comes as China’s government pushes to improve relations with Tokyo and avoid inflaming nationalist passions at home, brought the city to a standstill, state television showed.

The city reopened a vastly expanded memorial to the victims of the massacre long known in the West as the “Rape of Nanking.”

Air raid sirens blared at 10 a.m., followed by a moment of silence, and new artifacts testifying to the savagery of Japan’s Imperial Army went on display in the memorial’s collection.

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For some time now, China has been the world’s economic steam engine. What happens when it runs out of steam? The prospect scares everybody, In China and out — especially those old enough to know that nothing goes one forever. This article from the excellent Canadian paper The Globe and Mail argues that nobody is more scared or less confident than the relatively few men who run the world’s largest economy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071212.IBASIA12/TPStory/Business

China’s top-down leadership dithers as economic storm clouds gather

MARCUS GEE

December 12, 2007

Jim Walker may be Asia’s biggest killjoy. As others rush into the big China party, he stands by the door like the Ancient Mariner telling tales of woe. Or potential woe, anyway. Sure, China is going great guns now, but can the boom that is shaking the world really last? Mr. Walker, a hard-headed Scot who watches China from his skyscraper perch above Hong Kong harbour, has his doubts.

“There’s a love affair with China just now in global financial circles,” he said when I met him recently in the offices of Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, where he has worked as an economist and resident skeptic for many years. “That will last until we see the first Chinese recession.”

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A friend reminded me that I had sent him this a few months ago. I liked it then and i like it now. This comes from Fred Burks for the PEERS network and WantToKnow.info Team. I think, myself, that her day turned not when this lovely incident occurred but earlier, when she determined not to pass her bad day on to others.

Love is in the Moment
By Annie

It was early morning, yet already it had been a stupendously bad day. One thing after another. The downward spiral continued when a large pitcher of orange juice slid from my hands and smashed to the floor. Glass and sticky juice spewed to the farthest corners of the kitchen, slithering down cabinets and appliances, puddling at my feet.

Stunned, I looked at the mess. Then I dropped dejectedly down to the floor, my eyes filling with overdue tears. The tears came from begrudging and angry acceptance that “today is just not my day.”

Bad day or not, errands had to be done. Filled with angst and negative mental baggage, I got in my car to drive into town. In the few minutes it took to travel to the bank I made a decision. I would be careful not to pass my bad day off to anyone else. I would be cordial and polite. And I would NOT retaliate when that harried driver pulled quickly and rudely in front of me causing me to slam on my breaks, dumping the contents of my drink onto the front car seat!

Standing in line at the bank, I was silently talking to myself. Actually, I was scolding myself. All of the events that had accumulated and contributed to my bad day were, in reality, so very minor and trivial. I was over-reacting. I was indulging in self-pity. I tried to imagine the innumerable, individual lives that had been effected by 911, by the war in Iraq, by the tsunami.

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A simple, lucid explanation of why bailout after bailout is failing to be the magic bullet needed. When you’re broke, you’re broke, and you can dance around it all you want, but you’re still broke. Well, that’s a little farther than Mr. Krugman goes in this piece from the New York Times — http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/opinion/14krugman.html?ex=1198299600&en=e1dbd71e6e6754b3&ei=5070&emc=eta1 — but that’s my take on it.

After the Money’s Gone

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: December 14, 2007

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced plans to lend $40 billion to banks. By my count, it’s the fourth high-profile attempt to rescue the financial system since things started falling apart about five months ago. Maybe this one will do the trick, but I wouldn’t count on it.

In past financial crises — the stock market crash of 1987, the aftermath of Russia’s default in 1998 — the Fed has been able to wave its magic wand and make market turmoil disappear. But this time the magic isn’t working.

Why not? Because the problem with the markets isn’t just a lack of liquidity — there’s also a fundamental problem of solvency.

Let me explain the difference with a hypothetical example.

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A friend sends this very intersting article.

Immigration’s bedfellows find they actually can share the blanket
By Daniel Scarpinato
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

PHOENIX — Talk about strange bedfellows. Consider Barry Goldwater Jr.; Minutemen founder Chris Simcox; Democratic State Rep. Pete Rios; and Carlos Flores, head of the Mexican General Consulate, together at a table to talk immigration over sandwiches.

What on Earth could this group agree on?

As it turns out, a lot.

Even the participants, who often land on opposite sides of the hot immigration debate, were surprised.

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As always, Michael Ventura takes the longer view — and comes up with undeniable conclusions from simple facts. I had slated this column to appear today before receiving yesterday’s Schwartzreport that deals with another aspect of the same issue.

MICHAEL VENTURA
LETTERS AT 3AM –
LUBBOCKIAN IDENTITY

Austin Chronicle - December 7, 2007

Let us consider Lubbock, Texas.

1973, January through September, I lived in Lubbock — not a resident; a drifter, taking my time passing through. The Lubbockians I got to know all were Texans, mostly born and raised in Lubbock. Ethnically, most were some mixture of Anglo-Saxon-Celt, often with Cherokee stirred in a few generations back. Many traced their American ancestry to well before the Civil War. As for Lubbock — socially (to state the obvious and put it mildly), Anglo-Saxon-Celts, Hispanics, and African-Americans did not mix much and tended to keep to their own neighborhoods (the Anglo-Saxon-Celt neighborhood being most of Lubbock). Once or twice, at the Cotton Club, I saw an African-American male dancing with an Anlgo-Saxon-Celt female; I admired his guts and feared for his safety. The only Jew I was aware of was the Long Island-born friend who’d driven me here, and she didn‘t stay long. Lubbock’s cuisine in those days was limited — lots of Texan diner food, some Mexican, a Chinese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, and that was about it. Back then, Lubbock bragged about having the most Christian churches per capita of any city in the world. (Was it true? I never knew.). And all the Texans had Texas accents.

(Footnote: My new-found friends were — and are — among the smartest, most original, generous, multi-talented people I’ve known. They changed my life. Long story.)

It’s thirty-five years later, and I’ve been a Lubbock resident for three-plus years. Lubbock has changed. To understand America today one must understand the scope of that change.

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Stephan Schwartz is editor of the Schwartzreport which he subtitles “trends that will affect your future.” He is also a scholar, a gifted author, a courageous explorer of psychic reality, and an insightful observer of contemporary trends. As the following piece demonstrates, he is courageous enough to say things that are important but unpopular. The initial anecdote from his past may suggest that this will be one more piece written to decry racism. You’ll find it’s more than that, and different.

If you read only one of my blog entries in full, make it this one.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

By the Numbers…

STEPHAN A. SCHWARTZ, Editor - Schwartzreport

He was a small black boy. About nine years of age. I was the same age give or take a year, and we had both been brought to the train station. I can no longer remember where, but somewhere in the deep south. It could have been Florida or, maybe, Georgia. Nor do I know, if I ever knew, what part of the year it was, although it was very hot, and the caged metal fans that stood sweeping the room moved air so hot it hurt to have it blow on my skin. I was with the black woman who took care of me, a doctor’s son. Her name is lost to me now, and no one living can tell it to me. He was with his grandmother. I watched him walk across the tiles of the station, as I sat in one of the worn wooden pews that lined the vaulted waiting room.

There were two drinking fountains jutting from the wall. One said ‘Whites Only.’ I was a compulsive reader of signs, proud of my ability to do so. Like many signs though I am not sure I understood what it meant. As I watched my black peer walk towards the fountains, a large white man in a rumpled seersucker suit pushed past him, reached over to push the brass button, polished to a soft patina by a thousand white fingers. He drank deeply from the fountain, wiped his hand across his mouth and walked on. By then the boy was at the fountain. There was a small wooden stool, its board battered and grimy from usage, and he pushed it over to the fountain. His grandmother suddenly rose quickly from her seat and lumbered over to him. She was heavy, her ankles were swollen, and she moved with pain.

Her black shoes were worn. Where the joint of the big toe of the right foot was she had cut away the leather to give her bunion space to move. She held a small paper fan with a religious picture on it in her right hand, which she transferred to her left, as she grabbed the little boy, just as he reached for the fountain. Still holding him by his shirt she took him over to the other fountain, pushing the stool with her foot.

The noise of its scrapping brought heads up from the passengers sitting around the room, and they watched the tableau of the grandmother and the little boy. He could not make the button on the second fountain work, and she leant in to help him. The problem lay not with the strength of his hands, but the fountain. It did not work. She fussed with it for a while, as the boy shifted from foot to foot, waiting for his drink. But the fountain would not yield up its water and, after a moment, the grand mother took the little boy back to the seat, half dragging him as he looked longingly back at the fountain labeled ‘Whites Only.’ I could see the rage and resignation on her face, but did not understand it. I turned to look at the woman who was caring for me, and could see this same expression on her face. I could not bring myself to ask.

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I read these two articles from Russia with interest, for my mistrust of American liberals is as deeply rooted as the mistrust of Russian liberals expressed here, particularly in the second of these two articles. There is within liberalism a deep streak of authoritarian contempt for the people that vies with its concern for them — a sort of shepherd’s mentality for his sheep. This I think is why liberals lose so often, and sometimes to such pathetic opponents. It doesn’t pay to be on the wrong side of history. Oddly, these articles are from the relentlessly liberal OpEdNews (http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nicolai__071206_understanding_russia.htm) which perhaps does not draw the same analogies that I do!

Understanding Russia’s Elections

by Nicolai N. Petro

The following two items first appeared, respectively, on Russia Profile’s Weekly Experts Panel, and on The National Interest Online.

United Russia not only ran its campaign as a referendum on Putin’s policies, but it specifically introduced and popularized the concept of the “Putin Plan.” This is an important point that is often overlooked. Seeking a broad mandate for Putin’s Plan only makes sense if United Russia intends to strengthen the political weight of the parliament. By pledging to continue the multi-year budgetary and policy commitments that have been made under Putin, United Russia has committed itself to fulfilling those obligations regardless of who becomes the next president of Russia. It cannot be confident in its ability to do unless it significantly increases the Duma’s role in the shaping of national policy.

Paradoxically, the strong public support shown for the Putin Plan makes it easier for Putin to remain on the sideline. Had the parliament been more evenly divided, he might have been needed to shore up support for critical votes, but now that will no longer be necessary. Nor do I believe, contrary to the conventional wisdom, that Putin has any interest in playing a strong role behind the scenes, which would clearly weaken his successor. I believe him when he says that he is most interested in promoting institutional stability in Russia. A weak president, or one who appeared so, would undermine all that he has worked for.

Having obtained such a convincing win on a platform with a very specific history, and a very specific agenda for the future, United Russia is now going to nominate as its presidential candidate someone who will make the same pledge to voters — to stick to Putin’s Plan for national recovery. This sort of “double investiture,” where the populace gets to ratify it policy preferences twice, once for the executive and once for legislature, is a familiar feature of modern French politics. It is useful to recall that, as recently as the 1986 general elections in France, the same party dominated both, and there was much apocalyptic speculation about what a “cohabitation” of opposing parties might lead to for France. It turns out: “pas grand chose.”

Over time, I would expect to see Russia’s political system evolve in the same direction that the institutions of the Fifth Republic have evolved since the presidency of François Mitterrand. This should hardly be surprising, since the French constitution served as the primary inspiration for the current Russian one.

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