Most of today's discussion was about medicare. There were some non-medicare issues.
1) Al Jazeera English - Dory noted that tomorrow there will to be a TV report about Baltimore on Al Jazeera English, as stated in this article in the Baltimore Sun. Most of us don't subscribe to the Al Jazeera cable TV channel, but there is an Al Jazeera website that will probably post the show on a later date. I did find this promo on YouTube. The Baltimore show will be on the program called Fault Lines; here is a link to the Fault Lines page on the Al Jazeera website.
2) The Mormons - It was revealed that Mitt Romney will embrace his Mormon religion during the GOP National Convention. PBS apparently announced that it will rebroadcast its American Experience / Frontline two part special on the Mormons. I don't know the airtime but you can watch it HERE on the internet.
3) WikiLeaks - Julian Assange is has been granted asylum in the Ecuador Embassy in London. In our meeting today, we were not sympathetic to Assange. But I found this interview giving at TED, which at least gives the other side of the story.
Would somebody please post the schedule for the next several weeks.
ReplyDeleteI have added future meeting dates at the top of the page. Thanks for your suggestion.
DeleteWhile I'm not sympathetic to Assange, since he's not an Amcit, has not been indicted,there is no warrant pending and he's cooped up in the Equador Embassy, we have no dog in the fight. And you can bet that the Equadorian regime will use him fot there best interests, which do not cooincide with ours. They aspire to replace the ailing Chavez as agent provacateur and counterweight to US influence in the hemisphere. Good thing they don't have access to the oil wealth Chavez has.
ReplyDeleteSince the Embassy is not located in it's own property, but shares a floor or two in a multi-story building,with a single entrance/exit, the Brits may well just unplug the electricity and blame it on providence. With winter approaching and no HVAC, then the stalemate's end couldn't be far off.
When we housed Cardinal Minczenty in our embassy in Hungary for 15 yrs., it was in our own sovereign compound with our own power supply. A friend of mine had responsibility for the Cardinal's care, feeding , logistics and social contact during his 2-yr tour and enjoyed it immensly. Don't think Assange's companionship in that tiny Embassy would be equally pleasant.
They'll probably just toss Assange to the wolves when they have wrung enough anti-American press out of him, claiming that they have received renewed assurances that neither the Brits nor the Swedes intend to give him over to us. 'course, that was never intended anyway.
I'm not sure violation of diplomatic confidences is as serious a "national security" breach as it is an embarrassment anyway.
Assange fears that he will be treated like Bradley Manning. This belief is reenforced when the Brits threaten to take him by force. If the Brits agree with your assessment, they should just wait him out.
DeleteI listened to the 2010 TED interview of Assange (couldn't hear everything) and beieve in his sincerity as to being on the side of the victims. I haven't heard about anyone getting hurt by these Wikileaks but, from what was said on Monday, apparently this was the case. Could it be though that these people brought this on themselves by their nefarious deeds? I am firmly convinced that telling the truth about such misdeeds is a good thing, even if it makes our country look bad. The fact that the U.S. (through Britain and Sweden) is hounding Assange so much seems to me to be putting out a warning to anyone else who might have some secrets to tell. Here is an excerpt from "The war in the Shadows," by Chris Hedges:
ReplyDeleteThere are now many thousands of clandestine operatives, nearly all of them armed and equipped with a license to kidnap, torture and kill, working overseas or domestically with little or no oversight and virtually no transparency. We have created a state within a state. A staggering 40 percent of the defense budget is secret, as is the budget of every intelligence agency. I tasted enough of this subterranean world to fear it. When you empower these kinds of people you snuff out the rule of law.
There is a button on the TED playback window, bottom-right, that will show you the transcript in the language of your choice. TED, just like Assange, has demonstrated the power of the internet.
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