Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 144

Obama era mysteries

(updated below)

John Harris and Jim VandeHei yesterday wrote a long, prototypical Politico article packed full of the trite, adolescent features that make it the lowly D.C. gossip rag it is:   quoting anonymous White House functionaries sniping at the Left, petulant attacks on Unserious bloggers, obsessions with substance-free, trivial horse-race chatter, etc. etc.  I don't want to give the article much attention, both because it's plainly designed to provoke anger and links, and ...

The revolving door spins faster on healthcare reform

Beginning in 2001, Liz Fowler was the Chief Counsel for the Senate Finance Committee in charge of health and entitlement issues, i.e., legislation that primarily affected the healthcare industry.  As her own biography boasts:

In this capacity, she was responsible for overseeing health policy issues within the Committee's jurisdiction, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, health tax issues and initiatives to provide health coverage for the uninsured. She played a key role in the 2003...

The revolving door spins faster on health care reform

Beginning in 2001, Liz Fowler was the Chief Counsel for the Senate Finance Committee in charge of health and entitlement issues, i.e., legislation that primarily affected the health care industry.  As her own biography boasts:

In this capacity, she was responsible for overseeing health policy issues within the Committee's jurisdiction, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, health tax issues and initiatives to provide health coverage for the uninsured. She played a key role in the 2003...

How a media outlet tells the truth

It's really not that difficult.  From an Agence France-Presse wire story today (click on image to enlarge):

Someone needs to tell Bill Keller, the NYT, The Washington Post and the NPR Ombudsman to look at this article to understand how actual, unafraid journalists describe events.  That last sentence will be a part of the legacy and obituary of George Bush and Dick Cheney if truth has any role whatsoever to play in political journalism.

The U.S., Argentina and gay marriage

Argentina yesterday became the latest country to grant full and equal legal rights to its gay citizens, as the nation's Senate followed the lower house in approving a bill to recognize same-sex marriages.  Because President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has vigorously advocated for the bill, it is now certain to become law.  Although Argentina is the first country in Latin America to recognize full-fledged same-sex marriages, numerous other nations in the region are inexorably marching...

The motive behind whistle-blower prosecutions

One of the more flamboyant aspects of the Bradley Manning arrest was the claim that he had leaked to WikiLeaks 250,000 pages of "diplomatic cables."  Those were the documents which anonymous government officials pointed to when telling The Daily Beast's Philip Shenon that the leaks "could do serious damage to national security."  Most commentary on the Manning case has tacitly assumed that the leaking of "diplomatic cables" would jeopardize national security secrets.  But a new BBC article...

The motive behind whistle blower prosecutions

One of the more flamboyant aspects of the Bradley Manning arrest was the claim that he had leaked to WikiLeaks 250,000 pages of "diplomatic cables."  Those were the documents which anonymous government officials pointed to when telling The Daily Beast's Philip Shenon that the leaks "could do serious damage to national security."  Most commentary on the Manning case has tacitly assumed that the leaking of "diplomatic cables" would jeopardize national security secrets.  But a new BBC article...

Marc Thiessen and the myth of the American Jewish voter

(updated below)

When The Washington Post hired torture advocate and low-level Bush propagandist Marc Thiessen as an Op-Ed columnist, it got exactly what it apparently wanted:  a regular dose of falsehood-filled neoconservative tripe.  But even by his own lowly standards, Theissen outdoes himself today by hauling out one of the neocon Right's most disproven though still-favorite myths:  that Jewish American voters are about to abandon Democratic politicians en masse because of...

Media moral standards

When CNN recently announced that it had hired Eliot Spitzer to host a prime-time news show, I noticed that the word "disgraced" was applied to him so reflexively that one had the impression it was a formal part of his title.  CNN plans "an as-yet-untitled discussion show with Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former New York governor," announced The New York Times.  The first sentence of a separate NYT article on the hiring read:  "Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York . . . ...

Washington Post and transparency: total strangers

(updated below)

Earlier this week, I noted -- with multiple illustrative examples -- how media outlets crusade for the virtues of transparency while frequently exempting themselves.  Establishment news organizations are, ironically, among the most opaque institutions.   Recall how most television news outlets refused to provide anything but the most cursory comments in response to David Barstow's inquiries about the fact that they had employed numerous "military analysts" with...