Motley Moose – Archive

Yes, it’s working. The storm of outrage is crossing the Atlantic to Newscorp’s US base. As we’ve learned, the FBI have now launched an investigation into allegations of phone hacking by the Murdoch Empire thanks to the instigation of Pete King as I diaried yesterday. This is leading The Guardian and is featured heavily both on the the BBC, The New York Times and CNN.

Even Rupert himself is showing signs of flagging. He’s just released a rather dispirited, desultory but defiant interview in his own Wall Street Journal in which the main message really seems to be:

I’m tired.

Though many of you have been sceptical that the US public or MSM would pay attention to this, it seems some of the massive public revulsion here in the UK is beginning to transfer to Murdoch’s adopted homeland and commercial base – the United States.

But there’s more to this than just law-breaking: there’s Murdoch’s nefarious role in law-making.  

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork, according to Nourishing the Planet, a project of the Worldwatch Institute. The other links in the food chain-harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, marketing, and selling-ensure that food actually reaches consumers. Inefficiencies in these activities, rather than just low yields or poor farming techniques, are often to blame for food shortages and low prices for growers.

With the United Nations projecting a global population of more than 9 billion by 2050, increasing food chain efficiency will become ever more essential. Producers and consumers must be part of a food chain that feeds the world, provides fair prices to farmers, and works in harmony with the environment. “When groups of small farmers better organize their means of production-whether ordering the right inputs at the right time or selling their crops directly to customers-they become more resilient to fluctuations in global food prices while also better serving local communities,” said Robert Engelman, Executive Director of Worldwatch.

In State of the World 2011, contributing author Samuel Fromartz uses the example of corn production in Zambia to illustrate how off-farm inefficiencies exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. Poor market access, unpredictable weather patterns, and insufficient infrastructure make small-scale agriculture a high-risk livelihood. Seasons of surplus corn production can be as detrimental as low-yielding ones. Large surpluses saturate local markets, and local farmers have no alternatives for selling their product. “Many do not have the luxury of picking when to sell or whom to sell to; they are desperate and need to sell to eat. So they take whatever price they can get,” writes Fromartz.

Research done by Nourishing the Planet staff has found innovations in sub-Saharan Africa and other locations around the globe that improve market access, enhance farmer-to-farmer communication, and harness simple information technology. These improvements in the food chain provide farmers with fair prices and also help increase food security by distributing food efficiently.

Nourishing the Planet recommends three ways that agriculture is helping to address gaps in the current food supply chain:

• Coordinating farmers. In Uganda, the organization Technoserve works with farmers to improve market conditions for sales of bananas. Technoserve helps individuals form business groups that receive technical advice and enter into sales collectively. Coordinating business has decreased transaction costs and helped farmers market their crops and compete with larger producers more effectively. Over 20,000 farmers now participate in the project. Farmers in the United States are also banding together to increase sales efficiency and fair prices. The Chesapeake Bay regions’s FRESHFARM Markets act as an organizational umbrella under which area farmers can coordinate,market, and sell their products.

• Increasing market transparency. In Nairobi, Kenya, the DrumNet project uses simple communication technology to provide farmers with real-time market information. Having access to market prices and sale-coordination opportunities allows farmers to receive fair prices for their crops. And the transparency increases overall sales transactions, meaning that less food goes to waste.

• Using low-cost technology to boost efficiency. According to the UN, over 5 billion people on the planet now have a mobile phone subscription. As the cost of the technology drops, using the devices beyond personal communication makes sense. In Niger, farmers use mobile phones to access market information, an application that has reduced the fluctuation in regional grain prices by 20 percent and has helped ensure fair prices for producers and consumers. Similarly, the Grameen Foundation and Google have collaborated to develop Google Trader, an online bulletin board on which farmers and merchants can  contact one another. The bulletin also includes applications such as “Farmer’s Friend” a tool that offers farmers information on weather, pests, and livestock management.

I might not like Michelle Bachmann- as a Republican, I’m aghast that someone like her could get elected… repeatedly. Aghast, but not surprised. I’m waiting for the day when there’s a moderate (or at least sane) member of the Republican party I can stand behind without seeing them debase themselves by constantly groveling and prostrating themselves to the lowest-effing-common denominator in my party. Lord only knows when that will be.

But as much as I dislike her, her antics, the constant attention she gets, and generally what she stands for, I have to give her credit on one hot button issue- abortion.

There are conflicting reports about what went down at yesterday’s meeting.  Eric Cantor, the chief of the Republican Congressional Ideological Purity Police Force (RCIPPF), exited the meeting and immediately hurried to “divulge” to the American people how his president had scolded him and stormed out.  Ostensibly, Cantor has some credibility with regards to “storming out” maneuvers as he has demonstrated a real knack for it himself in previous weeks.  But according to him, President Obama lost it, became petulant and disrespectful in a manner unfitting to his office.  Democratic participants in this closed-door meeting contradicted Cantor’s account.  Nancy Pelosi extolled Resident Obama’s graciousness.  The counter-narrative emphasizes that this meeting was called by the President, lasted two and a half hours, and when the Republicans continued to refuse any sort of accommodation and compromise, when they refused to operate according to the necessary standards and processes of creating policy in a republic, Obama closed the meeting.  These negotiations are indeed crucial, but they do not represent the sum total of his responsibilities in presiding over this republic.  Given that the Republican controlled House of Representatives, under Speaker Boehner’s leadership, seems to consider passage of meaningful legislation on almost any issue a low priority, or at least an unattainable one, (Rachel Maddow continues to demonstrate this in great detail of late), they apparently saw themselves as having no other obligations.  As Obama was closing the meeting with remarks that were his prerogative, both because he called the meeting and because…well…because he is the duly elected PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED FREAKING STATES OF AMERICA, Eric Cantor, duly elected to represent a single district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, interrupted our president to ask for the umpteenth time why Obama will not consider a minimal deal that merely extends the crisis that Cantor has created to attempt to manufacture political advantage.  Obama cut him off, dressed him down (according to Pelosi with uncommon graciousness) and left the room.  Cantor then hurried to complain to the press.

BREAKING,-Murdoch-withdraws-bid-for-BskyB: News International has now entirely withdrawn its bid for 100 percent of Britain’s Biggest Broadcaster – BSkyB. Tenacious investigative journalism, political pressure, and immense people people exercised online and through our elected representatives have seen off this threat – the greatest threat to media plurality and political transparency in my lifetime.

Now keep pushing for Murdoch to be discredited and disarmed in US public life

After revelations that victims of 9/11 were targets of illegal phone hacking, the scandal that has rocked his Murdoch’s mendacious empire empire can no longer be contained in the UK: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has called for an official investigation into the company’s methods and activities:

In a written statement, Mr Rockefeller said he was concerned that hacking by News Corporation journalists may have extended to American targets, including victims of the 11 September attacks.

He did not present any evidence to support that claim, but called on the authorities to look into any possible wrong-doing.

“I encourage the appropriate agencies to investigate to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated,” he said.

“The reported hacking by News Corporation newspapers against a range of individuals – including children – is offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics. This raises serious questions about whether the company has broken US law.“

France Presse has just reported:

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, who called Tuesday for a formal probe into whether alleged improper behavior extended to US citizens, told reporters that his “bet” was that “we’ll find some criminal stuff.”

Asked whether he was saying he thought there would be evidence of criminal acts in the United States and whether he was referring to possible phone hacking, Rockefeller replied “yeah” each time.

Gordon Brown in the House of Commons has just called News International “a criminal-media nexus“.  

This week, after a round-up of recent polling data for the president against other Republican challengers, we have put together an electoral map projection for the 2012 Presidential Election.

Our earliest projection (which we did not post) had the president winning re-election by a sizable margin (313-225). This week’s, however, is a different story.

In a match-up between a mythical Republican challenger (a Romney-Bachmann-Perry hybrid), the mythical Republican earns a majority of 274 electoral votes to President Obama’s 264 electoral votes.

By: Inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

The country Poland is comprised of two main political parties; the first is Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc  (PiS) – “Law and Justice” in English. This party is a populist group which runs upon anti-corruption and anti-Communist credentials. The second party is the Platforma Obywatelska (PO) – in English the “Civic Platform” – a group espousing support for free market capitalism.

On October 2007, Poland held parliamentary elections between the two parties. Most of the Western media backed the Civic Platform (PO), disliking the unpredictability of the Kaczynski twins (leaders of Law and Justice). Here is a map of the results:

More below.

FINAL UPDATE: well it seems this news has caused a stir across the pond, not only with shareholders wondering why Murdoch treats Newscorp like “family candy” but a call from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington calling for a Congressional Inquiry into Newscorp:

Despite claims by NI executives that the phone hacking scandal enveloping Murdoch and his media empire was confined to the now-defunct News of the World, new evidence shows other Murdoch papers used the same tactics.  Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was repeatedly targeted for more than a decade by other Murdoch publications.

Further, a former New York City police officer claims he was offered money by News of the World journalists to retrieve the phone records of 9/11 victims and their families.

Yes, the scandal that is shaking the Murdoch Empire is expanding to the US, implicating not only the publisher of the WSJ in hacking the Royal Family with details bought from the police, but also – just as they hacked the victims and relatives of the London 7/7 bombings – there are reports that News International tried to suborn US police officers for hacking details of victims the 9/11 attacks.

According to today’s Daily Mirror:

a former New York cop made the 9/11 hacking claim. He alleged he was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

Now working as a private ­investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victim’s phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their ­relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the ­relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look.

“The investigator said the ­journalists seemed particularly interested in getting the phone records belonging to the British victims of the attacks.”

This comes hard on the heels of revelations from Robert Peston at the BBC that emails, seen by senior NI executives in 2007, but only handed to the police a few weeks ago, show that the News of the World paid police domestic protection officers, looking after the Royal Family, for private phone numbers and personal details…

Regarding the emails that were found in 2007 but only passed to the police on July. At least some of them provided evidence that the NOTW was buying the contact details of the Royal family and their friends from a Royal protection officer. This suggests that the security of the head of state was being compromised. It’s a remarkable story. As soon as the newer management of the NOTW became aware of what was in the emails, they were told them that they had to give them immediately to the police. But here is evidence that the private details of the Royal family were sold, by a protection officer, to the News of the World.

So many laws, suborning a police officer, lying to Parliament, court perjury are exposed by this revelation, let alone the security risk to our nominal head of state. I don’t like Monarchy, but the idea that News International could break the law to bribe, distort and blackmail with impunity for so long staggers me.

And this has ramifications for his US operations too.

-artist: fogiv

Greetings fellow Moose (and lurkers!). There have been several new additions to the herd in the past few weeks so I thought some ‘insider moose tips’ might be useful.

While most of what one needs to know of the Moose can be found in our Posting Guidelines, FAQ, and About pages, there are lots of ‘quirks’ of the Moose that are unwritten.

Follow me below the fold for an Insider’s Guide to the Moose.

Victor Hugo once said, “Emergencies have always been necessary to progress. It was darkness which produced the lamp. It was fog that produced the compass. It was hunger that drove us to exploration. And it took a depression to teach us the real value of a job.”

With that in mind, friends and fellow citizens, let’s talk about our current fiscal and economic matters. And let’s do it like people, like neighbors; not like politicians or those trying to siphon your votes and your livelihood.

Can we agree on a place to start? Let’s stop looking for a scapegoat or somebody to place the blame on each day. Every minute we spend in that vain, futile rut robs us of precious time to put our heads together and run our country, fixing problems along the way. Economic success or misfortune is not the fault of Presidents Obama or Bush alone, nor are they of one specific individual. Calculus is the proper and most constructive place to derive things; not politics or the day-to-day lives of our families.