Guest Blogged by Arlen Parsa of TheDailyBackground.com

As readers of The BRAD BLOG know, former comedian Al Franken will be the Democratic candidate running against incumbent Republican Senator (and Bush Buddy) Norm Coleman this November in Minnesota. The seat is a prime pickup opportunity to for Democrats this year, and Coleman is running scared. Franken was on CNN Monday night and was subjected to a truly awful interview by Campbell Brown. If you can stand to watch this lousy excuse for an interview, check it out:

The four questions that Brown asked him were essentially...

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

For much more on the medias role in spreading lies and propaganda about Al Gore see Robert Parry's informative, "Al Gore v. The Media" at Consortium News, "The Press vs. Al Gore" at Rolling Stone and many a post at The Daily Howler and Media Matters.

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Are bloggers journalists? More importantly, should bloggers receive the same privileges the government bestows upon “professional” journalists including, in most states, protection from the forced disclosure of confidential sources of information by way of journalist shield laws?

These are some of the questions congress has been considering over the last month as part of the “Free Flow of Information Act of 2007.” As The BRAD BLOG often relies on confidential and whistleblower sources we have been tracking the issue closely.

With this backdrop, The BRAD BLOG jumped at the opportunity to interview the guy who literally wrote the book on the subject, D.C. constitutional law attorney Scott Gant. Released in June, We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age, has enjoyed favorable reviews and led to appearances by Gant on C-Span's BookTV and The McLaughlin Group, where the host commented that the book was “A great read, an easy read and it breaks new ground, quite groundbreaking.”

Part 1 (7:32) of our interview above covers all things related to the shield law. Part 2 (8:30) of the interview above concentrates on access privileges and other benefits that journalists receive from the government that may be important to bloggers. Both follow below...

Guest Blogged by BRAD BLOG's D.C. Correspondent, Margie Burns

It was a big day on Thursday in the national capital, with several flaming surges hitting the news at once – the Washington Post hooking up with the MSM campaign to put “Hillary” over the top before the magic deadline of October 15 (more on that later, elsewhere); Rep. Henry Waxman and the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee holding a powerful hearing on Iraqi corruption; the blocking of Hans von Spakovsky's nomination to the FEC; and discussion of a proposed federal shield law for journalists (full text of bill here), which was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today to the full Senate.

While I was able to sit in for hearings on two of the items above, space and time regrettably being constraints, I'll cover only the proposed shield law for the moment. Right up top, I have to say that I have qualms about it. A real leak, by a whistleblower exposing a crime or some danger to the public, is one thing. But protecting journalists from exposing a politically motivated ‘source’ trying to plant misinformation is another. This bill, as it was debated in committee and written about in papers yesterday, might equally protect both, if it protects either...

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio, and David Bender had a great discussion about RFK Jr.'s Live Earth speech on the July 14, 2007 Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. The show opened with a laughing Papantonio asking, "So Bobby, what in the hell did you do this last weekend, my God, hate-mail is flying, Hannity is attacking you, I mean what's up?" You can hear RFK Jr. reply that he "just told the truth, man, just told the truth" in the ten minute audio clip from the radio program (below). The video of the Live Earth speech can also be viewed here at BRAD BLOG.

And there is plenty more truth telling in the Ring of Fire audio clip (above) which includes RFK Jr. elaborating on his Live Earth comments about treasonous corporations:

RFK Jr.'s appearance on Glenn Beck, also at BRAD BLOG, is also discussed briefly. Finally, Bender repeats RFK Jr.'s call to fight lying pundits like Hannity and Beck through their advertisers (many of which can be seen in this video mashup).

Guest blogged from D.C. by Margie Burns

Beneficiary of yet another political outing, the Washington Post ran an article on Thursday June 21, 2007, titled “Political Hiring in Justice Division Probed,” strongly alleging further personnel atrocities committed in the DOJ by former Civil Rights Division administrator Bradley Schlozman.

Not to throw the baby out with the bathwater --- this is not a defense of Schlozman --- but regrettably all the allegations were made by unnamed sources. So who are the unnamed administration sources, and why are they engaging in this maneuver?

Here, along the lines of the "numbers" speech by Erin Brockovich as played by Julia Roberts, is the rundown:

Number of grafs, total, in the two-page article: 29. Number of named sources: 2. (See below.) Number of items attributed to unnamed sources: at least 17. Number of unnamed sources, total: uncertain, but ranging from at least 6 to perhaps at most 16.
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Graf 2: “ . . . according to four lawyers who said they heard the account from Dugan.”

Graf 3: “In another politically tinged conversation recounted by former colleagues, . . .”

Graf 4: “That account was challenged by six officials in the division who said in interviews that they either overheard him . . .”

Graf 14: “Appellate lawyers said that before Schlozman arrived, the small staff enjoyed a collegial work environment . . .”

Guest blogged by DES...

Just thought we would take a moment to applaud the stellar work of Josh Marshall and his reporters over at Talking Points Memo and sister site TPM Muckraker, for their dogged pursuit of the truth underlying the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys --- a story that has led to serious questions over the prosecutorial independence of the U.S. Department of Justice. (This isn't Marshall's first time at the rodeo --- the "Duke" Cunningham and Jack Abramoff scandals also sprung from Marshall's keyboard, among others back when the MSM didn't find them worth much of their time.)

Saturday's edition of the Los Angeles Times gives credit where credit is due, acknowledging Marshall & Company's stellar work --- in a huge feature story on the front page, no less!

Hopefully Mainstream Corporate Media denizens will take a cue from the LA Times and cite the blogs they use as sources. Give credit where it is due. It's really not that hard. Maybe now the MSM can all move on from the ridiculous old vs. new journalism feud-mentality and get on with the pursuit of the truth.

Congratulations to Talking Points Memo and TPM Muckraker. You guys rock.

(Photo credit: Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times)

Guest blogged by Michael Collins

From 9/11: Press for Truth
and 9/11: Press for Truth: A Review --- "Scoop"

I saw 9/11: Press for Truth last night at the Landmark E Street Cinema. When I got directions, I laughed a jaded laugh because that's just around the corner from the J Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters. How did I know that? Because in the 1980's, the 9:30 Club was also just around the corner from FBI Central. Ignoring the 9:30 Club was to the FBI's credit. Their performance on the 9/11 tragedy, however, has been like the other institutions that ignore or obfuscate: disappointing.

I reviewed this outstanding work of documentary film art for "Scoop" shortly after I saw it --- 9/11 Press for Truth: A Review- "Scoop". Winter Patriot has very recently blogged about some of the background behind it.

There was one sequence in the film that I wanted to explore more deeply, because it brings together 9/11, Elections, and the Corporate media.

(In which we subtly bite the very Huff Po hand that feeds us...)

"On Electronic Voting: We Were Always Right, They Were Always Wrong..."

David Edwards picked up on these over the weekend, but didn't have the chance to get them all posted here.

A full frontal coordinated attack on John Conyers was launched over the weekend by the GOP as their newest last-ditch attempt to save their asses this November. The tactic has now come down to the rather sad: "Vote for us or we might lose!"

Apparently the GOP's pliant cohorts in the media, including Russert, Stephanopolis, Matthews, the front page of the New York Times and, of course Fox, were all too happy to lend a hand to their efforts. Here's a round-up of a few of the most obvious efforts...

Russert and Stephanopolis do GOP Duty...

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Chris Matthews Takes His Turn...

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Fox, Reliably, Brings up the Rear...

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UPDATE: David Swanson has a few choice words on the organized Conyers attacks.

As the corporate mainstream media shakes their head in clueless wonder about the Porter Goss resignation at CIA, (they're "stunned", "suprised", "can't imagine what else must be going on to have brought this on") the clues have been bubbling for the last week or so on the Internet.

We associate ourselves with Josh Marshall's initial take...

Muckraker has, in fact, been all over various points of the developing scandal for the last week or so. We recommend you keep your eyes over there as things move foward.

Underscoring the bizarre state of our national corporate mainstream media, Josh made a related point earlier today, prior to the Goss announcement. As readers were wondering why TPM and their Muckraker site were giving so much attention to the Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) incident which, readers comments had suggested, just distracts from all of the more important GOP scandals, Josh defended their coverage with this reply...