From time to time, I get emails from a former client, now retired, concerning political topics. The former client, let’s call him Bill, is a moderate Republican and a reasonable fellow. (Yes, Virginia, there are still a few of them around).
Many of the emails that Bill sends me are over-the-top things that he gets from people he knows. He sends them to me mainly to get my take on their contents.
Below is the latest one, and my response.
I’ve missed you guys. Though it’s great to be covering the Leveson Inquiry for the DailyBeast and Newsweek, it’s on teh blogs in the US that I built up the support, courage and debating skills to devote these last few months to covering the Hacking Scandal and the Leveson Inquiry, and doing my bid to purge the UK of years of monopolistic media practices and abuse of power.
Just so you know, the hacking scandal has finally moved into a much bigger area of illegality, which was the first reason two years ago my interest (and concern) about Murdoch’s News Corp was piqued. James Murdoch’s bid for BSkyB would have given News Corp. a distorting monopoly in broadcast that it already has in newspapers here (40 percent of the readership.)
Not the cover: just a quick promo by Eric Lewis
We were days away from becoming a banana republic, with a foreign, non tax paying dynasty controlling our means of communication. Only the brave work of lawyer (Mark Lewis) and a journalist (Nick Davies) prevented this catastrophe happening by exposing the industrial scale of phone hacking and surveillance deployed by News International – against celebrities, lawyers, and political opponents.
Now, like Saigon in 1975, the Murdoch helicopter is on the roof of News International. Last weeks revelations about back door channels between senior ministers and News Corp. over the $16 billion takeover of our pay TV monopoly, BSkyB, are a clear sign that the Murdochs are burning their bridges, and trying to take down the Coalition Government which – under considerable pressure and only after the Hacking scandal – finally stood up to News Corp., blocked the BSkyB bid, and set up the Leveson Inquiry which is beaming a scorching torchlight through 30 years of political blackmail, back room deals, and illegality.
Now is the time to wrap the formal text of the US Constitution.
Here were the first 3 parts of the series:
Article 1, Article 2, & Article 3
Let’s get right into it.
The previous post focused on the online blog which Cuban Comandante Fidel Castro writes. It noted that:
Fidel Castro is in many ways a throw-back to the past, back in the days when communism ruled half of Europe and nuclear war seemed a distinct possibility. He is more than 80 years old now, and no longer controls the nation Cuba.
Nevertheless, Mr. Castro still maintains a blog (older articles can be accessed here), in which he writes about the latest happenings in this world.
To be fair, the postings are probably taken from some sort of written article; most likely they are put online by a government employee rather than him.
It makes for fascinating reading.
More below.
“We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them. I won’t chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety.”
Mitt Romney, 2002
Oh, sure, he got the endorsement of the NRA. Sure, he bought a life membership. Sure, he got the endorsement of Big Bad Gun Boy Ted Nugent. But, let’s look at his record and past statements….on the flip.
Here we are again, moving forward through our conversation about the US Constitution.
If you would like to see where we started here are the first 2 parts:
Article 1, Article 2, & Article 3
Let’s move right into the next part of the Constitution.
Game on: as the Romney campaign shifts gears from the battering and often baffling GOP primaries to a kinder and more moderate friendly (lulz) general election campaign, I’ve been beginning to pay more attention. While watching a candidate who’s held more positions than the unabridged Kama Sutra try to move toward some semblance of sanity is the height of political entertainment for me, I’ve got to say this ‘bracket and prebuttal‘ strategy they’re employing gives me a robust chuckle.
To beat a sitting president, you first have to chase him around the country.
At least that’s the operating theory at Mitt Romney’s campaign headquarters, where aides are unleashing a new strategy to combat President Obama at his campaign stops and to even adopt Obama’s itinerary as their own.
With the general election campaign in full swing, the presumptive Republican nominee plans to stage “prebuttal” and “rebuttal” speeches to Obama designed to try to force the president on the defensive.
Prebuttal? SRSLY?
When Romney’s staff moved out of its office in Iowa after a virtual tie in the caucuses in January, the Obama campaign opened an office in Romney’s vacant headquarters.
Now, that’s how you prebut. Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mitt.
Fidel Castro is in many ways a throw-back to the past, back in the days when communism ruled half of Europe and nuclear war seemed a distinct possibility. He is more than 80 years old now, and no longer controls the nation Cuba.
Nevertheless, Mr. Castro still maintains a blog (older articles can be accessed here), in which he writes about the latest happenings in this world. To be fair, the postings are probably taken from some sort of written article; most likely they are put online by a government employee rather than him.
It makes for fascinating reading.
More below.
So, it seems that the first diary has lost steam. That means it’s time to take on the next part of the Constitution, although I did have a very profound final comment that I’m sure you’ll want to read.
If you want to see how this all started, go on back to Part 1:
I initially was going to go one article at a time, but I think that might be too much. So, I start with the meat and potatoes of the document.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50…
Newark Mayor Cory Booker called it his “come to Jesus moment” when he ran into a burning building to save a neighbor’s life.
Booker arrived home last night to discover his next-door neighbor’s house on fire, and rescued a young woman trapped upstairs by carrying here through the flames, suffering second-degree burns in the process.
I think we’ve all heard about the heroic actions of Mayor Booker and how Twitter erupted in admiration. I had so much fun constructing Cory Booker stories I thought I’d collect and share them. Feel free to add any you thought were funny.