THE FLASHLIGHT, June 21-27, 2008
THE FLASHLIGHT
No Peace without Justice, No Justice without the Facts
June 21-27, 2008
Mary K. Matossian, Editor
World Communication
[This story was broken by a new non-profit world news organization, propublica.org. It was picked up by CBS 60 Minutes on 6-22 and the Washington Post and PBS on 6-23]. The US government supports a television channel called Al-Hurra (The Free One, in Arabic), headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, for broadcasting in Arabic to the Middle East. Supposedly Al-Hurra is an independent news source; but actually it is intended to defend US Mideast policy and improve US approval ratings there. There has been no English translation of its broadcasts available for circulation. Its Jewish critics have complained that al-Hurra published the full text of a speech by Hezbollah leader Nasrollah, as well as giving publicity to a Holocaust denial conference in Teheran. The channel once showed a speaker who called Israel a “racist state.”
After an expenditure of half a billion US taxpayer dollars on Al Hurra, hostility to US policy remains high in the Middle East: 80% oppose it. According to Prof. Shelby Telhami of the Univ. of Maryland, Al-Jazeera continues to dominate the air. Only 2% of Mideast TV viewers put Al-Hurra at the head of their list of 10 most favored news channels.
World Business
The New Yorker, 6-30, Connie Black, “The Brass Ring.” Pp. 43-57. This is a portrait of a little known American of great wealth, Sheldon Adelman. According to Forbes, Adelman, with 26 billion dollars, is the third richest American, after Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Adelman claims to be “the richest Jew in the world.”
Adelman’s father was an immigrant from Lithuania who was a cab driver in Boston. Adelman completed three and half years of high school, and then studied shorthand in trade school to become a court reporter. He has been married twice, and has two sons by his second wife, Miriam.
The source of Adelman’s great wealth is his hugely profitable gambling concession in Macao, China (the “brass ring”). Having reached this position he “relentlessly” pursues global political influence. He also supports philanthropic foundations, notably in medical research. Since 2000 he has suffered from peripheral neuropathy, which makes it hard for him to walk.
Adelman is a major supporter of Israel and the Israel Lobby in the US. He is an extreme right wing Zionist, opposing a two-state solution involving the creation of a Palestinian State. He supports Bibi Netanyahu of the Likud Party. In the US, where he has major gambling holdings in Las Vegas, he finances Freedom Watch, which supported the surge in Iraq last summer, and attacks Democratic political candidates. It has tried to raise doubts about the firmness of Obama’s support of Israel. Adelman supports McCain for President.
US Politics
CNN 6-19. In the past, the Republicans attracted more votes from men than from women. But they tend to lose ground among men when the US economy is doing poorly.
CNN 6-20. Obama announced that contrary to his previous position, he will not limit his funding to public funds. Although he has raised so far three times as much money as McCain, the Democratic Party has far less money than the Republican Party. Obama also faces the threat of “swift boating” dirty tricks from 527 organizations.
PBS 6-24. According to the Bloomberg and Newsweek polls, Obama now leads McCain by 15 percentage points.
CNN 6-25. Republican chances of retaining the Presidency are hurt by the 28% approval rating of Pres. Bush. Historically, a low approval rating of the incumbent president, and an economic downturn, are unfavorable for such retention.
US Justice
CNN 6-19. The FBI has arrested three executives of Bear Stearn and over 400 real estate agents nationally for mortgage fraud. It is also investing a number of corporations. More people will be charged.
PBS 6-24. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 against extending the death penalty to child rapists. Only murder is an allowable ground for death.
PBS 6-26. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that it is constitutional for an individual to own a gun under certain conditions. New legislation is expected to clarify the conditions.
US Economy
CNN 6-20. The farm losses in the Mississippi Valley are over three billion dollars. So far in 2008 food prices are up 6%.
CNN, PBS and Bloomberg 6-26 – 6-27. On Thursday oil prices rose to $141 a barrel and the Dow Jones fell 358 points to 11,453, the lowest in over 50 years. A commentator called it a day of capitulation and panic. Goldman Sachs downgraded General Motors and Citigroup to “sell.”
An OPEC official predicted that the price of oil would rise to $170 and that gasoline would rise to $5.00 a gallon by the end of the summer. An American commentator predicted that the economy would not recover in the second half of 2008. Obama promised to spend $150 billion in alternate energy research.
US Education
NYTimes 6-24. New York State and City show important gains in reading and math scores in grades three to eight in the past school year. In the state, the gain for achieving at least standard grade level in math increased from 73 to 81%; in reading, from 63 to 69%. In the city, math scores increased from 57 to 74.3%, reading (in the last two years) from 50.2 to 57.6%.
Zimbabwe
PBS 6-25. After a week of reports that Pres. Mugabe’s thugs were raping, beating, and killing members of the opposition to discourage them from voting in Friday’s election, the British government announced that it was stripping Mugabe of the knighthood which it had previously granted. They also barred Zimbabwe’s team from participating in the international cricket competition. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu charged Mugabe with a “failure of leadership.”
North Korea
PBS 6-26. In response to North Korea’s revelation of its nuclear secrets, the US agreed to take it off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
No Peace without Justice, No Justice without the Facts
June 21-27, 2008
Mary K. Matossian, Editor
World Communication
[This story was broken by a new non-profit world news organization, propublica.org. It was picked up by CBS 60 Minutes on 6-22 and the Washington Post and PBS on 6-23]. The US government supports a television channel called Al-Hurra (The Free One, in Arabic), headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, for broadcasting in Arabic to the Middle East. Supposedly Al-Hurra is an independent news source; but actually it is intended to defend US Mideast policy and improve US approval ratings there. There has been no English translation of its broadcasts available for circulation. Its Jewish critics have complained that al-Hurra published the full text of a speech by Hezbollah leader Nasrollah, as well as giving publicity to a Holocaust denial conference in Teheran. The channel once showed a speaker who called Israel a “racist state.”
After an expenditure of half a billion US taxpayer dollars on Al Hurra, hostility to US policy remains high in the Middle East: 80% oppose it. According to Prof. Shelby Telhami of the Univ. of Maryland, Al-Jazeera continues to dominate the air. Only 2% of Mideast TV viewers put Al-Hurra at the head of their list of 10 most favored news channels.
World Business
The New Yorker, 6-30, Connie Black, “The Brass Ring.” Pp. 43-57. This is a portrait of a little known American of great wealth, Sheldon Adelman. According to Forbes, Adelman, with 26 billion dollars, is the third richest American, after Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Adelman claims to be “the richest Jew in the world.”
Adelman’s father was an immigrant from Lithuania who was a cab driver in Boston. Adelman completed three and half years of high school, and then studied shorthand in trade school to become a court reporter. He has been married twice, and has two sons by his second wife, Miriam.
The source of Adelman’s great wealth is his hugely profitable gambling concession in Macao, China (the “brass ring”). Having reached this position he “relentlessly” pursues global political influence. He also supports philanthropic foundations, notably in medical research. Since 2000 he has suffered from peripheral neuropathy, which makes it hard for him to walk.
Adelman is a major supporter of Israel and the Israel Lobby in the US. He is an extreme right wing Zionist, opposing a two-state solution involving the creation of a Palestinian State. He supports Bibi Netanyahu of the Likud Party. In the US, where he has major gambling holdings in Las Vegas, he finances Freedom Watch, which supported the surge in Iraq last summer, and attacks Democratic political candidates. It has tried to raise doubts about the firmness of Obama’s support of Israel. Adelman supports McCain for President.
US Politics
CNN 6-19. In the past, the Republicans attracted more votes from men than from women. But they tend to lose ground among men when the US economy is doing poorly.
CNN 6-20. Obama announced that contrary to his previous position, he will not limit his funding to public funds. Although he has raised so far three times as much money as McCain, the Democratic Party has far less money than the Republican Party. Obama also faces the threat of “swift boating” dirty tricks from 527 organizations.
PBS 6-24. According to the Bloomberg and Newsweek polls, Obama now leads McCain by 15 percentage points.
CNN 6-25. Republican chances of retaining the Presidency are hurt by the 28% approval rating of Pres. Bush. Historically, a low approval rating of the incumbent president, and an economic downturn, are unfavorable for such retention.
US Justice
CNN 6-19. The FBI has arrested three executives of Bear Stearn and over 400 real estate agents nationally for mortgage fraud. It is also investing a number of corporations. More people will be charged.
PBS 6-24. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 against extending the death penalty to child rapists. Only murder is an allowable ground for death.
PBS 6-26. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that it is constitutional for an individual to own a gun under certain conditions. New legislation is expected to clarify the conditions.
US Economy
CNN 6-20. The farm losses in the Mississippi Valley are over three billion dollars. So far in 2008 food prices are up 6%.
CNN, PBS and Bloomberg 6-26 – 6-27. On Thursday oil prices rose to $141 a barrel and the Dow Jones fell 358 points to 11,453, the lowest in over 50 years. A commentator called it a day of capitulation and panic. Goldman Sachs downgraded General Motors and Citigroup to “sell.”
An OPEC official predicted that the price of oil would rise to $170 and that gasoline would rise to $5.00 a gallon by the end of the summer. An American commentator predicted that the economy would not recover in the second half of 2008. Obama promised to spend $150 billion in alternate energy research.
US Education
NYTimes 6-24. New York State and City show important gains in reading and math scores in grades three to eight in the past school year. In the state, the gain for achieving at least standard grade level in math increased from 73 to 81%; in reading, from 63 to 69%. In the city, math scores increased from 57 to 74.3%, reading (in the last two years) from 50.2 to 57.6%.
Zimbabwe
PBS 6-25. After a week of reports that Pres. Mugabe’s thugs were raping, beating, and killing members of the opposition to discourage them from voting in Friday’s election, the British government announced that it was stripping Mugabe of the knighthood which it had previously granted. They also barred Zimbabwe’s team from participating in the international cricket competition. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu charged Mugabe with a “failure of leadership.”
North Korea
PBS 6-26. In response to North Korea’s revelation of its nuclear secrets, the US agreed to take it off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 6:20 AM
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