Sarah Palin’s Date With a Journalist

For the debut of the Sarah Palin documentary, Atlantic scribe Conor Frieserdorf was alone in an Orange County, California, theater, one of just ten nationwide showing The Undefeated. It was, of course, Harry Potter weekend, but it seems as if Sarah Palin won't be able to make the Aniston jump, from a successful TV career to movie stardom.

Murdoch to Outgoing Execs: Thanks for Everything, Here's a Load of Money

The Daily Mail is reporting today that multi-million-dollar severance packages are in store for many of the top News Corp. executives claimed as early casualties of the phone hacking scandal now engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Rebekah Brooks, the fiery-haired former boss of the company's British newspaper division who resigned just yesterday, is said to be in line for a $5.6 million payout. Others likely to leave with a well-padded envelope (or, rather, bank account) include the final editor of News of the World, the Sunday tabloid at the center of the hacking allegations, two top News Corp. lawyers, as well as recently-departed Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton. One condition of the severance deals: gagging orders so none of them get the company in any more trouble than it's already in.

Rebekah Brooks in line for £3.5m pay out [Daily Mail]

Rupertgate continues to grow as calls for U.S. investigations begin

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Rupertgate continues to grow as calls for U.S. investigations begin
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Six Reasons To Demand An Investigation Into Whether News Corp. Hacked In The U.S.
Reported by Ellen - July 11, 2011

As the News Corporation phone hacking scandal mushrooms, it appears that Murdoch’s New York-based Les Hinton has some serious ‘splaining to do. Since 2007, Hinton has been chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. But before that, he was chairman of News Corp.’s UK publishing umbrella, News International. The phone hacking didn’t just happen under Hinton’s watch, there’s new evidence he may have helped cover it up. Hinton told a British parliamentary committee that the paper in question, Britain’s now-defunct News of the World, had conducted a “full, rigorous internal inquiry” and concluded that the hacking had been the work of a rogue reporter. That statement has been proven utterly false, of course, and now there are questions about whether Hinton saw beforehand internal News International reports of more widespread hacking. But the presence in New York of a News Corp. exec who may have tacitly or otherwise approved of such illegal tactics (and then lied about it) is only one reason why Americans should be concerned about similar practices being employed in the United States. There are at least five more.

Why the Biggest Energy Suck in Your House May Have to do With Your TV

That little cable box sitting atop your television set is likely the largest single source of electrical waste in your entire household.
July 13, 2011 |

Note to TV-loving couch potatoes: That little box sitting atop your television set that transforms a signal into your favorite show is likely the largest single source of electrical waste in your entire household. These so-called set-top boxes are bigger electrical suckers than new refrigerators. Who knew such a small box could be such a huge power drain?
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Say What? Defense Secretary Panetta Tells Troops They're in Iraq Because of 9/11 Attack

Trouble for Murdoch: Feds Collecting Billions in Fines, Sending Executives to Jail for Corruption Abroad

Over the last several years, the United States Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted U.S. companies involved with corrupt activities abroad, collecting billions in fines and sending executives to jail. These legal actions, pursued under the auspices of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, could spell trouble for Rupert Murdoch.

Among other corrupt practices, The News of The World, a subsidiary of Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp, is accused of bribing UK police officers for information on former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Read more

Calls Mount to Investigate Bush-Era Officials for Torture

Naseema Noor, Inter Press Service
Naseema Noor reports: "Senior officials under the former George W. Bush administration knowingly authorised the torture of terrorism suspects held under United States custody, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released here Tuesday revealed. Titled 'Getting Away with Torture,' the 107-page report presents a plethora of evidence that HRW says warrants criminal investigations against former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet and Bush himself, among others."
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Murdoch's Watergate?

Carl Bernstein writes: "And then there's the other inevitable Watergate comparison. The circumstances of the alleged lawbreaking within News Corp. suggest more than a passing resemblance to Richard Nixon presiding over a criminal conspiracy in which he insulated himself from specific knowledge of numerous individual criminal acts while being himself responsible for and authorizing general policies that routinely resulted in lawbreaking and unconstitutional conduct."
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Why Rupert Murdoch Love$ God: World's Biggest Sleaze Mogul Also Getting Rich from Christian Moralizers

In addition to being a phone-hacking Darth Vader, Rupert Murdoch is also one of the leading religion publishers in the world.READ MORE

Mexicans No Longer Immigrating to US? (What Will Xenophobes Freak Out About Now?)

A common perception that helps fuel hostility toward migrants is that there's a never-ending pool of people dying to come here, but that's just not true. READ MORE

Barbara Ehrenreich: 12,000 Drones, Lethal Cyborg Insects, See-Shoot Robots -- How Machines Are Taking Over War

How far will the automation of war and the substitution of autonomous robots for human fighters go? READ MORE

"Source Of Terror Threat Is In Uk Government, Says A Police Principal Intelligence Analyst" in forum "Latest News".

Source of terror threat is in UK Government, says a police Principal Intelligence Analyst

QUOTE An Principal Intelligence Analyst for South Yorkshire Police has spoken out about the July 7th '05 London Bombings. Tony Farrell who has served for the police since 1998 is convinced as he can be that the bombings were a false flag attack carried out by intelligence agencies. In July 2010 he was asked to compile a threat assessment report for South Yorkshire Police. His own research lead him to believe the major threat in the UK today is from an "internal tyranny" which the public are slowly finding out about. He believes the public's reaction to these facts may present a threat of public unrest. He was dismissed from his post last year because his views were considered untenable, but the police officers who sacked him did not disagree with his views! In fact they seemed to encourage him to appeal the decision. He is now awaiting a tribunal for unfair dismissal taking place in September 2011.
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Why No One on Wall Street Is Going to Jail

Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story, The New York Times
The report begins: "As the financial storm brewed in the summer of 2008 and institutions feared for their survival, a bit of good news bubbled through large banks and the law firms that defend them. Federal prosecutors officially adopted new guidelines about charging corporations with crimes - a softer approach that, longtime white-collar lawyers and former federal prosecutors say, helps explain the dearth of criminal cases despite a raft of inquiries into the financial crisis."
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Is Ocean Garbage Killing Whales?

Marlowe Hood, Agence France-Presse
The report begins: "Millions of tonnes of plastic debris dumped each year in the world's oceans could pose a lethal threat to whales, according to a scientific assessment to be presented at a key international whaling forum this week."
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IMF Chief Warns US of, "Nasty Consequences"

Christopher S. Rugaber, Associated Press
The report begins: "The International Monetary Fund's new chief foresees 'real nasty consequences' for the U.S. and global economies if the U.S. fails to raise its borrowing limit."
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Rutten: The End of American Optimism

Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
Tim Rutten begins: "It's sometimes useful to see ourselves as others do, and reports this Independence Day weekend in a couple of English-speaking newspapers usually sympathetic to the United States are sobering."
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Carl Gibson | Tax the Rich. Problem Solved

Carl Gibson, MichaelMoore Open Mike Blog
Carl Gibson begins: "What if there was a group of terrorists holding your family hostage with a gun pointed at themselves, demanding the account number to your pension fund? Would you negotiate with the terrorists by allowing them access to your savings, or would you let them shoot themselves and keep your retirement money intact?"
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