Ruth: This Morning Edition Report will be a bit behind and there's a reason for that. I was bothered in particular by one segment and I wanted to look into it.
On Wednesday, there were two segments on Morning Edition that caught my attention.
Bush, Blair at Odds on African Aid, Global Warming
by Don Gonyea
Morning Edition, June 8, 2005 · President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House Tuesday. They discussed aid for Africa and global warming, subjects on which they disagree. Bush pledged an additional $674 million for famine relief in Africa, but it's far less than what Blair was seeking.
In the segment, we heard the Bully Boy refer to Prime Minister Tony Blair as "Tony Blair" and apparently the colloquial nature was something Don Gonyea just had to emulate.
Now I know some people don't care for titles. C.I., for instance, will not usually use titles, medical, elected or anything. That's fine, that's consistent.
But while Gonyea was happy to note "President Bush" and "the president repeatedly," Prime Minister Tony Blair was always "Blair" as though Gonyea were reporting on an episode of Facts of Life.
"But Blair had come here to . . ."
"On Africa, Blair is . . ."
"Blair would like the U.S. to . . ."
"Blair offered praise . . ."
No "Prime Minister Blair." The Bully Boy was never "Bush."
If you're going to give one leader a title and you're a news agency, you need to refer to others by their title. You either use titles or you don't. It came off disrespectful and biased.
This was the segment where Morning Edition discussed the Downing St. Memo or at least referred to it. But first we had to hear of AIDS and climate change. Those are worthy topics, to be sure, but the Downing St. Memo is a major topic.
When Gonyea finally got around to "reporting on that" it was to note that it raised questions about Iraq, that it had appeared in the Sunday Times of London "some five weeks ago" and then to note the responses of "Blair" and then "the president."
Mr. Blair gave the "no the facts were not being fixed in any shape or form" response we've all heard of or read by now. Bully Boy lied (and the press never called him on it that I saw) by saying "the world speaks, he ignored the world." What did Hussein ignore? Inspectors were doing their job in Iraq when Bully Boy decided it was time to go to war. Did Hussein ignore popular opinion or the will of the people? No, that was the Bully Boy. Gonyea doesn't inform the listeners of that because apparently that requires more knowledge and more skill than Gonyea posesses.
Now let's deal with the second segment because this is where I was most bothered.
Britons React to Bush-Blair Summit
Morning Edition, June 8, 2005 · Michael White, political editor of Britain's Guardian newspaper, discusses British reaction to Prime Minister Tony Blair's meeting with President Bush.
The Cokie Roberts Gas Bag handling this segment was Steve and everyone probably knows how I feel regarding Gas Bag Steve.
Steve says, "Joining us now is Michael White the political editor of The Guardian." And what do they talk about? First climate change. I'll note that Steve did use "Mr. Blair." The G8 summitt was discussed.
Then the segment finally gets to what I'm expecting to be the main topic.
Steve: Michael White, how strong is Tony Blair's political position back home these days?
At last. We're about to find out about not only the Sunday Times of London's report on the Downing St. Memo but also there report on England and America increasing bombings of Iraq in 2002 to force Saddam Hussein into declaring war. Right?
Wrong.
Michael White: It's weaker than it was before he went into the deserts of Iraq, as your listeners will know. He was re-elected with a parlimentary majority. There's a parlimentary system so the president and the congress aren't seperate in the way they are in the U.S. .... [he's going over the number of seats held] On the other hand it's his third term and most governments would consider that pretty good and his critics in the Iraq war which is uh a great dividing issue in in Europe for the last three or four years ... Chancellor Schroeder and President Chirac of France, dare I say, are in much bigger trouble themselves so uh it's also part of the cycle but [Prime Minister Blair is] certainly weaker and not likely to last more than a year or so now, I suspect.
And?
That's it.
Why is he weaker? Michael White doesn't tell you.
In this country, we've rightly noted the silence from our media on the issue of the Downing St. Memo. But I spent all day today [Thursday] looking for an article on it in The Guardian and got my granddaughter Tracey to help. I couldn't find anything.
I was more than willing to blame Steve or Morning Edition or NPR for the lousy interview. But having looked and looked, I think The Guardian, and certainly Michael White, deserve some criticism as well.
That's not to let our media off the hook. But it bears noting that The Guardian hasn't been doing it's part to address the topic either. On April 27, 2005, before the release of the Downing St. Memo, Michael White did co-write an article on how a Tory leader had called Prime Minister Blair a "liar." But Tracey and I were unable to find anything Mr. White wrote about the Downing St. Memo or, for that matter, anyone else at The Guardian.
We tried searching by "Downing St. Memo" and found many things but didn't see any article on it. (If it was mentioned in, for instance, the article on blogging, it was mentioned in passing so briefly that my old eyes and Tracey's young ones couldn't detect it.) We pulled various phrases from the memo and searched by that but still found nothing.
Has The Guardian written about the Downing St. Memo? It's a British paper so it may not matter in some ways. But I know my friend Treva thinks of it as a brave paper for the left so I'm sure others do as well. If it's a brave paper for the left, why the silence?
It may be something as simple as not wanting to give a competitor any publicity. But I've heard, and I've said, "The British press is reporting on it." I need to correct my statements. The Sunday Times of London has reported on the issue. As for the British press, it appears The Guardian hasn't and I'm not familiar enough with the other papers to make a finding.
At the BBC, I can find a few paragraphs on it in a story on blogs. That's it.
Now I'm an old woman who's idea of a fancy electronic gadget during my teenage years was a pinball machine so maybe I'm not the best person in the world to be doing searches. (My granddaughter is very computer savy.) But I'm not finding coverage of it at The Guardian and I'm only find one article (an article on blogs) that covers it at the BBC.
I considered that perhaps they're referring to it by some other name (even though The Sunday Times of London called it the "Downing Street Memo"). So besides searching "Downing Street Memo" and "Downing St. Memo," I also searched various phrases such as "intelligence and facts were being fixed" and "Bush wanted to remove Saddam." That didn't return any item on the Times of London's revelations.
At The Independent, which this site highlights, I found the article C.I. highlighted. I also found two other articles, one on May 1st and one on May 2nd.
At The Guardian website, you can find a May 1st article (from The Observer) about accusations of Prime Minister Blair lying. This has to do with the Goldsmith memo and is a completely different memo.
Search "MATTHEW RYCROFT " at The Guardian (he is the one who wrote the Downing Street Memo) and you come back with one article, from 2003, on the BBC and the Hutton inquiry. ("MATTHEW RYCROFT" returns no search result at the BBC.)
I say all that not to excuse our domestic media. This story should be seriously covered and the issues it raises should be answered. But as someone who's said to friends, "The British press is covering it," I need to correct that. The British press as a whole is not covering it. The Times of London and The Independent have covered it. The Guardian and the BBC (if they're search engines are working) do not appear overly concerned with the Downing Street Memo.
Tracey's father reads the weekly Financial Times, so we figured we'd try that. It did turn up the results from The Independent but nothing more.
I found Michael White to be useless as a political analsyst. He came off bored while discussing Prime Minister Blair. His statements, superficial ones, weren't news to anyone who comes to this site. But even the domestic media has caught up in reporting on Prime Minister Blair's problems in England. There was nothing Mr. White stated that hadn't been reported on NPR already.
That's not to left Steve off the hook. He should have asked. The segment prior ended with quotes from Mr. Blair and the Bully Boy on this issue.
Perhaps I'm wrong and The Guardian has been covering this. If so, please notify me via e-mail. But as it stands, I'm thinking until Naomi Klein mentions it in a column, it's not an issue The Guardian's going to concern itself with.
[Ruth can be e-mailed care of this site: common_ills@yahoo.com. Also note, I've copied and pasted this and if something runs together or isn't italicized, that's my fault, not Ruth's and I'll fix it.]
Friday, June 10, 2005
NYT: Bully Boy "Urges Congress to Keep Patriot Act Intact" (David Stout)
President Bush offered a ringing defense today of a much debated law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, asserting that it has not stepped on civil liberties, as its critics contend, but has protected America from terrorist threats.
[. . .]
Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Mr. Bush's speech amounted to "a classic bait and switch."
"He once again ignored bipartisan concerns about the Patriot Act and presented a false choice to the American people - that we have to reauthorize the Patriot Act without any changes or leave our country vulnerable to terrorist attacks," Mr. Feingold said. He said many lawmakers in both parties had concluded that portions of the act infringed on freedom.
The above is from David Stout's "Bush Urges Congress to Keep Patriot Act Intact" in this morning's New York Times. Lot of quotes from the Bully Boy. Feingold has to stand for everyone concerned. (Feingold's statements, as printed in the paper, are above in full.) Ron Wyden has discussed the medical aspect publicly this week (Monday, in fact). Wyden's not in the article. Lot of Bully Boy stumbling around for words and offering up what he can muster without any challenges. Stout also fails to "connect the dots" in terms of noting that there's still no board set up, after all this time, to oversee and ensure that civil liberties are protected. Did I miss the Times write up on the 9-11 commissioner's new panel that held the public hearing this week?
No, I didn't. Because while the Times did give a heads up, they failed to report on the public hearing. Now granted the paper seems to feel it's pretty damn important that we know daily details of the Michael Jackson hearing and goodness knows they steno pool is busy taking down the jottings of the Bully Boy each chance they get. But considering how the paper hyped and promoted and endorsed the 9-11 commission's findings (book tie-in, really now), if and when another attack comes and the media does their few minutes of hand wringing, make sure the Times gets a moment at the mike to ask "how could we?"
It's meaingless, it was last time and we quickly returned to the fluff of missing blondes and celebrity scandals and life style stories (all the media). But the Times' failure to report on this week's public hearing is more than surprising. I really don't think our country will see any benefits from the repeated (usually five times a week) reporting on the Jackson case. But the Times has chosen to push that nonsense repeatedly.
In a similar waste of time, Alan Cowell reports on the mood in England. Now that wouldn't be a problem. Certainly as the Times stumbled around (willfully) in the dark regarding the Downing St. Memo published in the Sunday Times of London on May 1st, Alan Cowell could have reported on the "mood" in England over that. The New York Times still hasn't reported on the Times of London's May 29th article that in 2002, England and the US upped the bombings in an attempt to force Saddam Hussein to strike back (thereby starting the invasion/occupation much sooner). So is Cowell telling us about the "mood" on that?
No, he and the Times (New York) feel it's much more important to tell us about Cherie Booth (Tony Blair's spouse) speaking engagement here and how some of Booth's usual critics in England are in an uproar over the payment she received. It's not news. It's not even good gossip.
But the Times finds a way to tease it out into an eighteen paragraph article. It's the sort of "in depth" piece on an "issue" one expects to see explored in the New York Post. Somehow it made it into the Times.
Francisco e-mails to wonder if possibly this item in "World Briefings" might not be important than all the gossip about Cherie Booth:
MEXICO: POLICE CHIEF GUNNED DOWN ON HIS FIRST DAY
The new police chief of the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo, Alejandro Domínguez Coello, was shot to death as he left his office on Wednesday night, after only seven hours on the job. Mr. Domínguez, 51, was the head of the local Chamber of Commerce when he agreed to take the job as chief, which was opened when José Valdés left for a City Council post in May. Drug smuggling has transformed the border city into a war zone where violent death is common. Antonio Betancourt (NYT)
Krista also notes "World Briefings" online and wonders about this item:
GERMANY: 9/11 SUSPECT FACES EXPULSION
A federal court upheld the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi, left, a Moroccan accused of links to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. His acquittal by a court in Hamburg in 2004 was decided partly by a United States refusal to permit Ramzi bin al-Shibh, suspected of being a leader of the Sept. 11 plot and held in American custody, to testify. Though his acquittal was upheld, the authorities said they would deport him within two weeks. According to The Associated Press, Moroccan authorities have said they have no warrants for Mr. Mzoudi, and United States officials have refused comment on whether they are interested in him. Kirsten Grieshaber (NYT)
Krista: "Left"? There's no photo online. But "left" indicates to me that there was supposed to be and that this was supposed to be a longer item. Did we lose out on this story, a news story, so Cowell could gab and dish about Tony Blair's wife for paragaraph after paragraph? If they're running a photo, that suggests it's an important item.
Apparently we did, Krista, apparently we did.
In terms of real issues, the kind that effect our lives, George e-mails to note David E. Rosenbaum's "Lawmakers Inch Along in Tackling Social Security:"
After the meeting, the second-ranking Republican on the committee, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, said the Senate was unlikely to approve legislation that included investment accounts financed by Social Security taxes.
"I don't think we're going to get it," Mr. Hatch said. "We can't get even one Democrat, and some Republicans won't go along either."
Asked whether he thought his committee would advance a Social Security bill in the next month, Mr. Grassley said he hoped so but added, "Time slips."
This is one example of how the top item on the president's domestic policy agenda is faltering, heading into two months of intense legislative maneuvering that is likely to determine its fate.
Another indication came on Wednesday when, for the first time, Representative Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who is the majority leader, hinted that action on Social Security might not be in the cards in the House this year.
(FYI, the above story? It gets thirteen paragraphs. Five less than the gossip over Cherie Booth.) (Or to cite the Times' most recent "nationally important" coverage of the Jackson trial -- jury deliberations -- four less paragraphs than that article received.)
Avoid Anne E. Kornblut's "With Remarks, Dean Stirs Criticism from Both Parties." Not just because she tosses around the "scientific terms" "red states" (she apparently thinks she's in the fashion section or else needs to use "lingo") and that kind of nonsense alone will enrage community members. But also because, if there's a clue out there, she can't find it.
Ben notes this in his section in his e-mail:
The criticism escalated last weekend, as several leading Democrats - especially former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, both prospective presidential candidates - openly expressed disapproval of Dr. Dean's comments.
Republicans also pounced on his remarks. Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, denounced them on the Senate floor on Wednesday. "This kind of hate speech really doesn't have a productive place in our political discourse in this country," Mr. Smith said.
In fact it's popular with others (such as Portland and Wendy whom Smith represents -- both of whom laugh at his use of "hate speech"). Ben asks what makes a one term senator who was on a losing presidential ticket a "leading Democrat?" I have no idea. Nor is the Edwards and Dean conflict new (apparently the whole world missed their earlier conflict in the debate -- now granted Sharpton stepped in and that's what most people focused on, but Dean and Edwards have never been public "buds"). As for Biden? Maybe a word dropped out? Maybe it meant to read "leading cribbers who happen to be Democrats?" Biden's not going to live that down. He couldn't make it through his declared run because of it. But breezy, chatty reporting won't ever bring up those details.
The nonsense of the problems with fundraising have been dealt with by Liberal Oasis and Interesting Times as well as Katrina vanden Heuvel (whom I forgot to mention Wednesday night, my apologies). But the article feels the need (fourl days after gas bag Cokie Roberts has already weighed in with "conventional wisdom") to explore that as well. Or to offer it in a some say/others say manner that's neither informative or insightful. And of course, there's nothing about the fact that Dean's doing what this community said needed to be done -- work on the party infrastructure in the states.
Billie e-mails to note that Howard Dean will be her area (Dallas/Fort Worth) Friday, June 17.
Billie: He's out there. He's going around pulling together the party members and getting them excited and motivated. There's no indication that Kornblut grasps that fact. But I don't believe the inbred circles are talking about. I can tell you that I'm excited about that. I can tell you that I could care less what John Edwards or Joe Biden think about Howard Dean.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This entry has been corrected. First Anne E. Kornblutt's name has been spelled correctly now. My apologies for that -- and that's sincere, I do belive writers deserve proper credit for their work -- regardless of what I think of it -- which is something the press might want to consider the next time the Oscars roll around and they "cover" and "predict" on nominations but fail to acknowledge the people writing the scripts. Second, Krista's "online" was omitted from her entry. I think that was my mistake -- it wasn't Krista's. I was tired this morning and will gladly cop to it. However, the line merged which usually means it's a Blogger problem and as many of you have noted, the Democracy Now! post went up, then vanished, then went up again -- it was e-mailed again -- then disappeared. It's currently up. If it disappears again, I'll do it from the computer and not via e-mail. Also note, for some reason there is a "repeat" at the top of the post -- title and date. I have no idea why that's happening. Lastly, links to Liberal Oasis, Interesting Times and KvH were added. No, no link to a Times story was added. If I mess up -- and I did on that -- you go to their web site, if you want to read more, and you search by title, author or phrase from a sentence.]
[. . .]
Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Mr. Bush's speech amounted to "a classic bait and switch."
"He once again ignored bipartisan concerns about the Patriot Act and presented a false choice to the American people - that we have to reauthorize the Patriot Act without any changes or leave our country vulnerable to terrorist attacks," Mr. Feingold said. He said many lawmakers in both parties had concluded that portions of the act infringed on freedom.
The above is from David Stout's "Bush Urges Congress to Keep Patriot Act Intact" in this morning's New York Times. Lot of quotes from the Bully Boy. Feingold has to stand for everyone concerned. (Feingold's statements, as printed in the paper, are above in full.) Ron Wyden has discussed the medical aspect publicly this week (Monday, in fact). Wyden's not in the article. Lot of Bully Boy stumbling around for words and offering up what he can muster without any challenges. Stout also fails to "connect the dots" in terms of noting that there's still no board set up, after all this time, to oversee and ensure that civil liberties are protected. Did I miss the Times write up on the 9-11 commissioner's new panel that held the public hearing this week?
No, I didn't. Because while the Times did give a heads up, they failed to report on the public hearing. Now granted the paper seems to feel it's pretty damn important that we know daily details of the Michael Jackson hearing and goodness knows they steno pool is busy taking down the jottings of the Bully Boy each chance they get. But considering how the paper hyped and promoted and endorsed the 9-11 commission's findings (book tie-in, really now), if and when another attack comes and the media does their few minutes of hand wringing, make sure the Times gets a moment at the mike to ask "how could we?"
It's meaingless, it was last time and we quickly returned to the fluff of missing blondes and celebrity scandals and life style stories (all the media). But the Times' failure to report on this week's public hearing is more than surprising. I really don't think our country will see any benefits from the repeated (usually five times a week) reporting on the Jackson case. But the Times has chosen to push that nonsense repeatedly.
In a similar waste of time, Alan Cowell reports on the mood in England. Now that wouldn't be a problem. Certainly as the Times stumbled around (willfully) in the dark regarding the Downing St. Memo published in the Sunday Times of London on May 1st, Alan Cowell could have reported on the "mood" in England over that. The New York Times still hasn't reported on the Times of London's May 29th article that in 2002, England and the US upped the bombings in an attempt to force Saddam Hussein to strike back (thereby starting the invasion/occupation much sooner). So is Cowell telling us about the "mood" on that?
No, he and the Times (New York) feel it's much more important to tell us about Cherie Booth (Tony Blair's spouse) speaking engagement here and how some of Booth's usual critics in England are in an uproar over the payment she received. It's not news. It's not even good gossip.
But the Times finds a way to tease it out into an eighteen paragraph article. It's the sort of "in depth" piece on an "issue" one expects to see explored in the New York Post. Somehow it made it into the Times.
Francisco e-mails to wonder if possibly this item in "World Briefings" might not be important than all the gossip about Cherie Booth:
MEXICO: POLICE CHIEF GUNNED DOWN ON HIS FIRST DAY
The new police chief of the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo, Alejandro Domínguez Coello, was shot to death as he left his office on Wednesday night, after only seven hours on the job. Mr. Domínguez, 51, was the head of the local Chamber of Commerce when he agreed to take the job as chief, which was opened when José Valdés left for a City Council post in May. Drug smuggling has transformed the border city into a war zone where violent death is common. Antonio Betancourt (NYT)
Krista also notes "World Briefings" online and wonders about this item:
GERMANY: 9/11 SUSPECT FACES EXPULSION
A federal court upheld the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi, left, a Moroccan accused of links to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. His acquittal by a court in Hamburg in 2004 was decided partly by a United States refusal to permit Ramzi bin al-Shibh, suspected of being a leader of the Sept. 11 plot and held in American custody, to testify. Though his acquittal was upheld, the authorities said they would deport him within two weeks. According to The Associated Press, Moroccan authorities have said they have no warrants for Mr. Mzoudi, and United States officials have refused comment on whether they are interested in him. Kirsten Grieshaber (NYT)
Krista: "Left"? There's no photo online. But "left" indicates to me that there was supposed to be and that this was supposed to be a longer item. Did we lose out on this story, a news story, so Cowell could gab and dish about Tony Blair's wife for paragaraph after paragraph? If they're running a photo, that suggests it's an important item.
Apparently we did, Krista, apparently we did.
In terms of real issues, the kind that effect our lives, George e-mails to note David E. Rosenbaum's "Lawmakers Inch Along in Tackling Social Security:"
After the meeting, the second-ranking Republican on the committee, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, said the Senate was unlikely to approve legislation that included investment accounts financed by Social Security taxes.
"I don't think we're going to get it," Mr. Hatch said. "We can't get even one Democrat, and some Republicans won't go along either."
Asked whether he thought his committee would advance a Social Security bill in the next month, Mr. Grassley said he hoped so but added, "Time slips."
This is one example of how the top item on the president's domestic policy agenda is faltering, heading into two months of intense legislative maneuvering that is likely to determine its fate.
Another indication came on Wednesday when, for the first time, Representative Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who is the majority leader, hinted that action on Social Security might not be in the cards in the House this year.
(FYI, the above story? It gets thirteen paragraphs. Five less than the gossip over Cherie Booth.) (Or to cite the Times' most recent "nationally important" coverage of the Jackson trial -- jury deliberations -- four less paragraphs than that article received.)
Avoid Anne E. Kornblut's "With Remarks, Dean Stirs Criticism from Both Parties." Not just because she tosses around the "scientific terms" "red states" (she apparently thinks she's in the fashion section or else needs to use "lingo") and that kind of nonsense alone will enrage community members. But also because, if there's a clue out there, she can't find it.
Ben notes this in his section in his e-mail:
The criticism escalated last weekend, as several leading Democrats - especially former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, both prospective presidential candidates - openly expressed disapproval of Dr. Dean's comments.
Republicans also pounced on his remarks. Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, denounced them on the Senate floor on Wednesday. "This kind of hate speech really doesn't have a productive place in our political discourse in this country," Mr. Smith said.
In fact it's popular with others (such as Portland and Wendy whom Smith represents -- both of whom laugh at his use of "hate speech"). Ben asks what makes a one term senator who was on a losing presidential ticket a "leading Democrat?" I have no idea. Nor is the Edwards and Dean conflict new (apparently the whole world missed their earlier conflict in the debate -- now granted Sharpton stepped in and that's what most people focused on, but Dean and Edwards have never been public "buds"). As for Biden? Maybe a word dropped out? Maybe it meant to read "leading cribbers who happen to be Democrats?" Biden's not going to live that down. He couldn't make it through his declared run because of it. But breezy, chatty reporting won't ever bring up those details.
The nonsense of the problems with fundraising have been dealt with by Liberal Oasis and Interesting Times as well as Katrina vanden Heuvel (whom I forgot to mention Wednesday night, my apologies). But the article feels the need (fourl days after gas bag Cokie Roberts has already weighed in with "conventional wisdom") to explore that as well. Or to offer it in a some say/others say manner that's neither informative or insightful. And of course, there's nothing about the fact that Dean's doing what this community said needed to be done -- work on the party infrastructure in the states.
Billie e-mails to note that Howard Dean will be her area (Dallas/Fort Worth) Friday, June 17.
Billie: He's out there. He's going around pulling together the party members and getting them excited and motivated. There's no indication that Kornblut grasps that fact. But I don't believe the inbred circles are talking about. I can tell you that I'm excited about that. I can tell you that I could care less what John Edwards or Joe Biden think about Howard Dean.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
[Note: This entry has been corrected. First Anne E. Kornblutt's name has been spelled correctly now. My apologies for that -- and that's sincere, I do belive writers deserve proper credit for their work -- regardless of what I think of it -- which is something the press might want to consider the next time the Oscars roll around and they "cover" and "predict" on nominations but fail to acknowledge the people writing the scripts. Second, Krista's "online" was omitted from her entry. I think that was my mistake -- it wasn't Krista's. I was tired this morning and will gladly cop to it. However, the line merged which usually means it's a Blogger problem and as many of you have noted, the Democracy Now! post went up, then vanished, then went up again -- it was e-mailed again -- then disappeared. It's currently up. If it disappears again, I'll do it from the computer and not via e-mail. Also note, for some reason there is a "repeat" at the top of the post -- title and date. I have no idea why that's happening. Lastly, links to Liberal Oasis, Interesting Times and KvH were added. No, no link to a Times story was added. If I mess up -- and I did on that -- you go to their web site, if you want to read more, and you search by title, author or phrase from a sentence.]
NYT: "Report Details F.B.I.'s Failure on 2 Hijackers" (Eric Lichtblau)
The F.B.I. missed at least five chances in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, to find two hijackers as they prepared for the attacks and settled in San Diego, the Justice Department inspector general said in a report made public on Thursday after being kept secret for a year. Investigators were stymied by bureaucratic obstacles, communication breakdowns and a lack of urgency, the report said.
The blistering findings mirror those of the independent Sept. 11 commission last summer and a joint Congressional inquiry in 2002 but they also provide significant new details about the many bureaucratic breakdowns that plagued the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the attacks and are likely to fuel questions about the bureau's efforts to remake itself. The Sept. 11 commission had access to an earlier version of the inspector general's study and incorporated parts of those findings in its final report.
[. . .]
Kristen Breitweiser, a leader of a Sept. 11 survivors' group whose husband died in the attacks, called the report "a long time coming."
She said it was "wholly unacceptable that more than three years after 9/11, the F.B.I. still doesn't have a useable computer system, and we're still dealing with the same problems we were before. How much ineptitude are we going to tolerate?"
The above is from Eric Lichtblau's "Report Details F.B.I.'s Failure on 2 Hijackers" in this morning's New York Times. It's the single entry spotlight for this morning. Chuck Hagel, senator from Nebraska, is quoted in the story which I mention because so is Breitweiser. Breitweiser, obviously, is nationally known. But Lichtblau included a citizen (Breitweiser) who was effected directly by the events along with the Times' usual "official sources" so I'll give him credit for that. Lichtblau's focus is prior to September 11th which does allow him to justify overlooking the remarks of Sibel Edmonds but at what point will the Times offer a story on failures in the translation department of the FBI that pieces together pre-Sept. 11th and post Sept. 11th failures? Again, Lichtblau's story is structered and worded in such a way that Edmonds doesn't have to be included. (I obviously feel her statements, public record, should have been.) But where's the big, brave piece in the paper that attempts to pull it all together?
Regardless, Lichtblau's story is worth reading and worthy of a single entry. (I'm about to fall over right now, if you can't follow my comments, it's not you, it's me. Within the framework Licthblau creates, it's a strong article.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
The blistering findings mirror those of the independent Sept. 11 commission last summer and a joint Congressional inquiry in 2002 but they also provide significant new details about the many bureaucratic breakdowns that plagued the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the attacks and are likely to fuel questions about the bureau's efforts to remake itself. The Sept. 11 commission had access to an earlier version of the inspector general's study and incorporated parts of those findings in its final report.
[. . .]
Kristen Breitweiser, a leader of a Sept. 11 survivors' group whose husband died in the attacks, called the report "a long time coming."
She said it was "wholly unacceptable that more than three years after 9/11, the F.B.I. still doesn't have a useable computer system, and we're still dealing with the same problems we were before. How much ineptitude are we going to tolerate?"
The above is from Eric Lichtblau's "Report Details F.B.I.'s Failure on 2 Hijackers" in this morning's New York Times. It's the single entry spotlight for this morning. Chuck Hagel, senator from Nebraska, is quoted in the story which I mention because so is Breitweiser. Breitweiser, obviously, is nationally known. But Lichtblau included a citizen (Breitweiser) who was effected directly by the events along with the Times' usual "official sources" so I'll give him credit for that. Lichtblau's focus is prior to September 11th which does allow him to justify overlooking the remarks of Sibel Edmonds but at what point will the Times offer a story on failures in the translation department of the FBI that pieces together pre-Sept. 11th and post Sept. 11th failures? Again, Lichtblau's story is structered and worded in such a way that Edmonds doesn't have to be included. (I obviously feel her statements, public record, should have been.) But where's the big, brave piece in the paper that attempts to pull it all together?
Regardless, Lichtblau's story is worth reading and worthy of a single entry. (I'm about to fall over right now, if you can't follow my comments, it's not you, it's me. Within the framework Licthblau creates, it's a strong article.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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