Slog - Comments on "The Future of America Has Been Stolen" http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen I don't know who Greg Palast is. Maybe I should, but I don't. So I have no sense of how reliable or alarmist he might be. But this link, forwarded to me this morning, seems at least worth clicking on. It connects to an interview in which Palast, apparently a liberal investigative journalist, talks about "Rove-bots" burrowing into the Justice Department, the real meaning of Monica Goodling's recent House testimony, and the finer points of "caging."... Copyright 2008 Fri, 25 May 2007 10:43:01 -0800 Sat, 26 May 2007 10:54:35 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by DOUG. It's hard to respect a journalist who doesn't know who Greg Palast is. Sorry, but it's true.

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726817 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726817 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 10:59:51 -0800 Comment by Just Me Eli,

I am not sure what to make of him. I have heard him interviewed on many of the liberal radio talk shows but it is interesting what he has to say about Rove. I agree, worth at least looking at and thinking about. Could be alarmist but with this administration can we be too careful?

]]> Just Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726818 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726818 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 11:00:32 -0800 Comment by Judah He wrote a book called The Best Democracy Money Can Buy describing, in some detail, the bullshit around the Florida election theft in 2000. He's kind of... yeah. Sort of what @1 said.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726820 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726820 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 11:02:12 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Palast is the guy who stole Kathryn Harris's 70,000 erroneous "felons" list used to throw the 2000 election in Florida. He's a whispery conspiracist, which is unfortunate, because he wraps everything in cloak-and-dagger nonsense, and stuff like "Rove-bots" which plays well in the blogs but gets you immediately shunted into the "kook" category in the real world.

His main point is an excellent one, though: "it's not about the firings, it's about the hirings". Monica Goodling was telling them this, but they weren't getting it. They're not "bots", but they are extremist right-wingers with an agenda -- an agenda that has never before been welcome in the Justice Department.

"Caging" is just marketroid-speak for an aggressive list-purging technique, which is illegal to use politically but is anyways, extensively, by the R's. They, uh, would prefer that black people not vote, you may have heard.

The good news is, the way things are going, the worst they're going to be able to do is push the R vote from 20% to 25% in 2008.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726828 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726828 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 11:10:05 -0800 Comment by Lloyd Cooney Don't you listen to Randi Rhodes or Thom Hartman? Greg Palast is featured as a guest every once is awhile. He's usually plugging a book but he's always right on.

]]> Lloyd Cooney http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726830 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726830 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 11:14:51 -0800 Comment by you seriously don't know who greg palast is? palast has written two best sellers ("the best democracy money can buy" and "armed madhouse"), works for the guardian newspaper but covers american politics, and is recognized as one of, if not the best, investigative journalist in the west.

it is shocking that you do not know who he is.

]]> you seriously don't know who greg palast is? http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726872 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726872 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 11:47:07 -0800 Comment by David Rasmussen If you are learning about Greg Palast today, then it is time for us all to admit that the Internet plus "Democracy Now" his little or no real power. Please assimilate quietly.

]]> David Rasmussen http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726923 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726923 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 12:18:31 -0800 Comment by Gitai I hadn't heard of him either, but I looked up his Wikipedia page, and he seems reliable. Definitely not part of the tin-foil brigade.

]]> Gitai http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726948 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c726948 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 12:32:56 -0800 Comment by Just Me Since this morning I have done some digging on Mr Palast and I am shocked the Stranger does not know who he is. But I agree with the comment he puts everything into conspiracy language which immediately discredits him. And that is too bad. Palast does make some really good points that should be taken seriously.

]]> Just Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727030 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727030 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 12:58:58 -0800 Comment by Ebenezer Palast has also been on KUOW's Weekday a few times, is on Democracy Now frequently, and reports for the BBC. He reports on issues that the MSM in America is afraid to (the fraud of the 2000 U.S. election, Katrina, the Clintons' actual financial misdealings), but his reports are often heard on the mainstream media in other countries.


Most U.S. MSM don't know Palast because they're too lazy to look and see what other reporters are covering (outside the MSM) or because they don't want to rock the boat and upset their corporate owners. I thought that everyone in the alternative press knows who he is. I guess that makes The Stranger part of the MSM.

]]> Ebenezer http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727033 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727033 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 12:59:09 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo Yes, it certainly is annoying when journalists use all that cloak-and-dagger conspiracy speech to frame a presentation of hard evidence documenting, uh, a conspiracy to defraud the electorate.

It really hurts their credibility.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727081 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727081 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 13:25:06 -0800 Comment by Geni Greg Palast is the likely next winner of a Pulitzer Prize. Highly recommend you start subscribing to his email newsletter. You can sign up for it on his website, gregpalast.org. I've been reading his stuff since early 2001, when he was one of the only people blowing the whistle on the Choicepoint scandal in Florida.

]]> Geni http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727117 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727117 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 13:53:04 -0800 Comment by Ebenezer I like Palast, but he won't get any Pulitzers. The Pulitzer people are cowards - they gave the NY Daily News a Pulitzer for their articles on the 9/11 health fallout. They didn't mention Juan Gonzalez, the Daily News reporter who pursued the story and wrote many articles, wasn't mentioned in the Pulitzer awards.


Meanwhile, the Daily News buried the stories in the back of the paper, buckling under pressure from Christine Todd Whitman and others to bury the stories. If these stories had been on the front page, it might have saved many of the 12,000 who have fallen ill from 9/11 fallout.

]]> Ebenezer http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727206 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727206 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 14:45:36 -0800 Comment by i.f. stone You do not know who Palast is? I'm rolling over in my grave. How do you "reporters" spend your time? Singing show tunes?

]]> i.f. stone http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727408 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727408 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 16:46:47 -0800 Comment by JessB LOL @ everyone who is implying that people who imply conspiracies exist are crazy. Yeah man, nothing secretive EVER happens.

]]> JessB http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727534 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c727534 Politics Fri, 25 May 2007 18:26:46 -0800 Comment by Ronald Take a look at this DailyKos diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/26/83915/0129

]]> Ronald http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c728252 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/the_future_of_america_has_been_stolen#c728252 Politics Sat, 26 May 2007 10:54:35 -0800