Updated remark by carol. The New York Times reports that Obama has strongly repudiated Rev. Wright's most recent speeches. Zeff Zeleny writes Obama Says He’s Outraged by Ex-Pastor’s Comments

One of the unsettling features of the Democratic primary campaign has been the way that the media has amplified a racial drum beat, picking up the Clinton camp's "Obama is unelectable" theme. Anyone familiar with the use of code words to hide discriminatory hiring practises or to deny loans to minorities or to restrict access to certain communities, can easily recognize the use of "elite" as a code word. The claim that Obama is too "elite," he can't connect with the white working stiff.

Some powerful hitters are now coming to the fore to expose the arrogance of the media and the ugly message that they are trying to put across. Top on the list is Elizabeth Edwards who had a powerful opinion piece in Sunday's Me York Times Bowling 1, Health Care 0.

FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?

Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut.

Ambition Gone Wild or the New "New World Order"
Poised in the Wings?

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News

History teaches us many things, inspiring hope and confidence, pride, honor and a sense of continuity. It also denotes and demarcs the failings and faults of humanity, the very depths of despair and depravity that evoke images and memories we shrink away from in a combination of fear, loathing and embarrassing denial that the blood of those caught up in such events might still flow through our veins and those of our children.

Recent history is as much a teacher as past, and sometimes the fresher the lesson the more we can glean from it, before the dust of centuries obscures it or the selfish whims and fancies of others alter our record in efforts to change it.

Recently, I came across remarks made during the Bill Clinton Presidency¹ that stirred memories long forgotten by me -- or, perhaps not so much "forgotten" as misplaced and obscured by recent events. Nonetheless, the remarks were sobering -- not only did they evoke comparative images drawing analogies to the current place and time, and the actions of the current President and Congress, but these remarks also served to remind me of the blatant hypocrisy of the Republicans in Congress (those who, at the time of the Clinton actions in Kosovo, stood firmly against it yet now unfailingly support the actions in Iraq from inception thru completion).

And the remarks also served to dredge up questions as to the effectiveness of former President Clinton as a spokesman for his wife's candidacy, as well as the potential hypocrisy of all Presidential hopefuls with regard to the question of why aren't they leading us NOW and ending the criminal Iraq fiasco, the illegal wiretapping and putting the kibosh on the telco amnesty provisions?

I drew a complete blank attempting to answer those questions, so I therefore abdicate to you, the reader, to determine what the answers are or to get the candidates to answer them for me. Read on for the sections of the Millenium Evening remarks that particularly stirred my mind to question and compare, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Thank you.

Some months ago after reading Reich's latest book Supercapitalism and his earlier, Locked in the Cabinet I was particularly impressed by his integrity. His account of the Bill Clinton's efforts to curry approval from the Republicans during his presidency by dumping all of the committments that he made before being elected to office was particularly chilling. At that time I asked him if we might post his commentary from his blog and he agreed. I believe his views on the eve of the South Carolina Democratic Party should get the widest audience possible.

Media Reform Information Center

In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S.
...

in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market. More than 1 in 4 Internet users in the U.S. now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world's largest media corporation.