by
addiestan, The Media Consortium:
Sun., Jun 8, 2008
Filed under:
Media Consortium: journalism project •
Uncategorized At 3:00 EDT, tune in here for live streaming of The Media Consortium’s debut town-hall program,
Live From Main Street, moderated by GritTV’s Laura Flanders and KFAI/Insight News’s Al McFarlane, and featuring:
· Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!
· John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation
· Malkia Cyril, director of the Center for Media Justice
· Colleen Rowley, FBI whistleblower/2006 congressional candidate
· Joel Kramer, founder of the Minneapolis Post
· Paul Schmelzer, managing editor of Minnesota Monitor
· Marlina Gonzalez, program director of the Unconvention/Intermedia Arts
…and more of your Twin Cities favorites!
Inspired by the work of everyday activists, Live From Main Street’s premiere
town hall will explore what it takes to get heard in the era of big media
and diminished civil liberties.
Live Webcast by The Uptake
No Tags
by
Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium:
Fri., Feb 1, 2008
Filed under:
Uncategorized The Feinstein exclusivity amendment from the previous post was meant to be listed along with the other amendments that require 60 votes. I’ve updated the entry, but that update may not be reflected in your RSS readers.
No Tags
by
Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium:
Mon., Jan 14, 2008
Filed under:
Congressional Oversight •
Uncategorized Jonathan Weisman and Dan Eggen at the Washington Post are reporting that the White House officials cited for contempt by the House Judiciary Committee will soon be tried by the full Congress.
In its first couple of weeks after it returns tomorrow, the House is likely to take up contempt-of-Congress resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers for their refusal to appear before Congress for questioning about the 2006 removal of nine U.S. attorneys, Democratic leadership aides said.
And from what I’m hearing, this is very likely true. Another interesting portion, though, comes at the bottom of the article.
Before they start haggling over most other issues, however, lawmakers must decide how to handle the conflict over changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which were approved under heavy administration pressure in August but expire Feb. 1.
The measures expanded the government’s ability to intercept the communications of intelligence targets overseas without court oversight. The White House and Republican leaders want to make those changes permanent while adding language that would grant telecommunications companies retroactive immunity from lawsuits for helping the government conduct wiretaps and other clandestine surveillance.
The issue has set off a row between liberal and moderate Democrats. The House passed legislation in December that would require more court oversight of foreign surveillance and would not provide telecom immunity.
But Senate Democrats are divided and do not have enough votes to thwart a GOP filibuster or overturn a veto, which the White House has threatened. Reid has indicated that he is likely to push for a one-month extension of the existing law to give Congress and the White House time to work out a compromise, and that he could accept the immunity provision.
Emphasis added. Indeed, that was the most recent official word out of the Senate Majority leader’s office. And it may be telling that the Washington Post is unwilling to mention the Wall Street Journal’s report indicating that Reid’s given in to pressure from Dodd et al.
See more tagged with: contempt citation and FISA
by
Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium:
Wed., Dec 19, 2007
Filed under:
War Making and Oversight •
Uncategorized Citizens and legislators have tried to build pressure valves for U.S.-Iranian hostility. But both governments have gagged conversationalists with diplomatic red tape.
By Brian Beutler
The Media Consortium
About five years ago, a young Iranian man became involved with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisburg, Pa., where he joined a program through which college students and recent graduates learn practical skills in conflict resolution. At the end of his stay, he returned to Iran, where he became a member of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, via e-mail, kept in touch with his religious friends in the United States. Read the full report…
See more tagged with: friends committee on national legislation, ministry of foreign affairs, president mahmoud ahmadinejad and united nations general assembly
by
Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium:
Wed., Jun 27, 2007
Filed under:
House Judiciary Committee Reports •
Uncategorized Democrats and civil libertarians have been understandably livid over the administration’s demolition of the writ of habeas corpus. But remedying the problem isn’t quite as simple as it should be.
For starters, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), signed by President Bush last October, didn’t end habeas in a straightforward, easily reversible way. It ended habeas by inference—first, by denying the writ to “unlawful enemy combatants,” and then by defining that term broadly enough that it could, in some cases, include American citizens. Today, an enemy combatant is anybody “engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” It was through that legal two- step that the government held, tortured, and denied trial to Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in Chicago in 2002 for engaging in terrorist activities.
Read the full report…
See more tagged with: habeas corpus, president bush and rep. nadler
RSS Feed