Via BuzzFlash, we'll note Media Matters' "Hume's 'first thought' on hearing of London attacks: It's 'time to buy' futures:"
During Fox News' coverage of the July 7 London bombings, Washington managing editor Brit Hume told host Shepard Smith that his "first thought," when he "heard there had been this attack" and saw the low futures market, was "Hmmm, time to buy." Smith had asked Hume to comment on the lack of a negative U.S. stock market reaction to the London attacks.
Via BuzzFlash, Toni found Dan Froomkin's "The Impeachment Question" (Washington Post):
More than four in 10 Americans, according to a recent Zogby poll, say that if President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.
But you wouldn't know it from following the news. Only three mainstream outlets that I can find made even cursory mention of the poll last week when it came out.
You also wouldn't know it judging from the political discourse in Washington, but that makes a little more sense. After all, impeachment is for all practical purposes a political act, not a legal one. So with a Republican-controlled Congress that doesn't even like to perform basic White House oversight, it's basically a moot point.
Nevertheless, could there be anything that 42 percent of Americans agree on that the media care about so little?
The poll results certainly illustrate the intense polarization of the American electorate -- not exactly news.
But they also suggest an appetite for more investigation into Bush's reasons for war and specifically -- in light of the assertions in the Downing Street memos -- whether his public rationales were in fact at all like his private rationales.
One topic for further inquiry, for instance, could be whether in private conversations Bush expressed the same kind of reticence about war that he advertised publicly. Some evidence -- stories like this one in Time, which quotes Bush saying in March 2002: '[Expletive] Saddam. we're taking him out.' -- suggests otherwise.
We'll note this from CODEPINK:
Medea Benjamin is among the 1,000 women collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. These courageous women from 150 countries are honored for their daily commitment to fostering peace and bringing justice to all corners of the globe. These women lead by example; they offer us a path to change and often under dire circumstances. Peace is more than the absence of war; it is human security, equality and opportunity. These basic ideals don’t come easily, if at all, to most of the world’s people. The 1,000 brave women being honored spend their lives trying to make the culture of peace a global reality.
“This is a great honor for me, and also for all the women of CODEPINK who've been working so hard for peace over the last three years. And this is an amazing opportunity to promote the work of all 1,000 women on this list, who in their own special ways are pushing and striving and protesting for peace and justice,” was Medea’s response after hearing the news.
Forty of the 1,000 women nominated are from the US. In addition to Medea, five of the women nominated are contributors to CODEPINK’s newest book Stop The Next War Now, Barbara Lee, Cynthia McKinney, Elise Marie Biorn-Hansen Boulding, Noeleen Heyzer and Holly Near.
Please join us in celebrating these women and the all the women who work daily to create a peaceful and just world.
And we'll note this from CODEPINK as well:
CODEPINK UK - Our thoughts are with you. Today as we learned of the attacks that errupted in London, our thoughts immediately went to the victims of this violence. We've been in action all day to show our support for them; CODEPINK DC delivered flowers to the British Embassy to express condolences for the lives that have been lost and in San Francisco and Los Angeles CODEPINK will be holding vigils in front of the British Consulate-General. Send a message to CODEPINK UK at codepink@codepink.org.uk to show your support and send them your love.
We'll note Danny Schechter (NewsDissector):
For many of us here in New York, the feeling of a city being bombed by terrorists was dejavu all over again as the terror war came home, this time to London, the city we saw cheering a day earlier over its 2012 Games triumph.
And then the parade of breaking news bulletins began, reminiscent of 911 and the run up to the war in Iraq. First, the shock. Then the images, and slowly the mounting body count: two dead, twenty dead and finally 50 dead with 700 injured. (Of those half were treated at the scene, some have died in hospital. Other bodies are still on a train at Russell Square that police have not been able to penetrate yet.)
It was serious. Tonight as I write, a giant hunt is underway for the killers. (This morning, BBC carried a police press conference that vowed "implacable" efforts to find and prosecutethose responsible for what are now known to have been four attacks, three in the tube, one on a bus. Bobs with about ten pounds of explosive were said to be used. The police praised the emergency services and the public in what they called "Team London" for working well together in responding to what they call "the atrocity." US news outlets focused on a beefed up police presence in New York subways.
And Guess who has popped up in London: former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani--now in the cash in phase of his career as an investmnet banker-- and is being quoted as a visiting "expert" on terrorism. Where there is a camera, there's Rudy.
London of course is a city that has known war and been bombed. For many, the tube, buried deep underground was always seen as a place of refuge, Not any more.
We'll note that Betty has a new entry up at her site Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man entitled "Friedman on the Fourth, Part I." We'll pick up Bob Somerby's Thursday Daily Howler later today. And again, let me note that UK community member Pru shares her thoughts on the bombing earlier this morning.
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