Posts by Adam Howard

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.

Dissent in Denver
Posted by Adam Howard, The Nation on August 27, 2008 at 8:00 AM.

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention demonstrators gathered in Denver. Some were calling for an end to the war in Iraq; others demanding more open debates. Their promise was to "Recreate '68," but a relatively small turnout and an intensive effort by the Democratic Party to keep protesters out of the media eye raised the question of the efficacy and meaning of protest at the 2008 DNC.

The Nation hit the streets to speak with demonstrators, exploring their goals for the convention and their thoughts on protest and dissent around the 2008 election. The Nation's Brett Story spoke with Cindy, an activist and writer from Vermont and Nick, a professor of Political Philosophy in New York along with other protesters from groups like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Alliance for Real Democracy, the Recreate '68 Alliance and the immigrant coalition the We Are America DNC Alliance.

Comedian Patton Oswalt: "The Bush Presidency Is Kind of Like the Movie 'Battlefield Earth'" [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on April 4, 2008 at 12:13 PM.

I make a point to never watch Leno but I did catch it last night since Hillary Clinton appeared. Her interview offered little-to-no surprises but I was very amused by comedian Patton Oswalt, who was the next guest. He does a great riff on Bush's whole "history will judge me" routine. He says Bush thinks his presidency is like the movie Blade Runner, where it bombed when it first came out but 25 years later people hail it as a masterpiece but in reality it's much more like John Travolta's disastrous Scientology epic Battlefield Earth. He also talks about how it's hard for comedians to make fun of Bush anymore because it's so widely accepted that he's been a horrible president. Check out the video to your right for more and have a great weekend!

40 Years Ago Today: The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on April 4, 2008 at 4:45 AM.

Unfortunately this will be a year of often tragic anniversaries. The election of Richard Nixon to his first term in office. The brutal police riots at the Chicago Democratic convention. And worst of all, the assassinations of two of the brightest lights in the history of the American progressive movement: Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I wrote a piece earlier this year about what Dr. King has meant to me over the years as a young African American who didn't have the privilege to witness his struggle firsthand but was the beneficiary of its results throughout my life. My parents were not so lucky. My father, in particular, grew up in rural Georgia and told me the stories of the separate accommodations for blacks and whites that he had to endure. He marched with King and has much more visceral memories of the man than I can ever have and I envy that. I could only watch speeches on a TV or computer screen. But what speeches they were! I was moved to tears just this morning assembling the video to your right.

It's classic footage from the groundbreaking 1980s documentary series Eyes on the Prize, which every American should be required to see. This footage covers his iconic final speech, his murder and finally his touching funeral. Who knows what trajectory our politics and our nation might have had, should he have lived to see 40, 50, 60 or 70. All I know if that we all need to start really listening to this man's words, because we need them now more than ever.

Will Hillary Say Anything to Win the Nomination? [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on April 2, 2008 at 12:10 PM.

Hillary Clinton talks about counting all the votes, but what she doesn't talk about is that she also wants to use super delegates to overturn the judgment of voters. It's just another example Hillary Clinton's New Rules. Check out the video made by the Jed Report (the folks behind the Bosnia video) to your right for more.

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

Al Gore on '08 Democratic Race: "I'm Not Applying for the Job of Broker" [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on April 1, 2008 at 6:11 AM.

Whenever I see Al Gore these days, I always think back to when I was a freshman in college and my dear friends were passionately arguing that Gore would be no different that Bush if he were elected and so I should vote for Nader. I didn't listen to them and I'm proud of that now, even if at the time I wasn't all that enthusiastic about my vote.

On global warming:

"We all share the exact same interest in doing the right thing on this. Who are we as human beings? Are we destined to destroy this place that we call home, planet earth? I can't believe that that's our destiny. It is not our destiny. But we have to awaken to the moral duty that we have to do the right thing and get out of this silly political game-playing about it. This is about survival,"

And on the deniers:

"I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view. They’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the earth is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it’s not that far off."

Nice. Check out the video to your right for more.

Cusack on Military Contractors in Iraq: "I'm Not Ready to Cede the Constitution to This Bunch of Hoodlums [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 31, 2008 at 3:15 PM.

In the clip to your right, actor John Cusack talks about how Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine inspired his upcoming dark comedy War Inc a satire of the military industrial complex. Bill Maher suggests that the American public may be just as guilty as the government when it comes to the rise of companies like Halliburton and Blackwater because of their indifference to the War and how it's run. Cusack concedes that Maher may have a point but adds, "After a while, you have to just expose and shame and indict and hopefully, convict the participants in this illegal, immoral ideology. So yeah, are Americans complacent. But I’m not…I’m not ready to give up or cede the Constitution of the United States to this bunch of hoodlums."

The Murat Kurnaz Story: An Innocent Man Tortured at Gitmo Tells All [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 31, 2008 at 8:49 AM.

At the age of 19, Murat Kurnaz vanished into America's shadow prison system in the war on terror. He was from Germany, traveling in Pakistan, and was picked up three months after 9/11. But there seemed to be ample evidence that Kurnaz was an innocent man with no connection to terrorism. The FBI thought so, U.S. intelligence thought so, and German intelligence agreed. But once he was picked up, Kurnaz found himself in a prison system that required no evidence and answered to no one. The story Kurnaz told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley is a rare look inside that clandestine system of justice, where the government's own secret files reveal that an innocent man lost his liberty, his dignity, his identity, and ultimately five years of his life. Check out the video to your right for more.

Keith Olbermann Presents the Commander-in-Chief Test [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 31, 2008 at 7:27 AM.

This is Keith Olbermann's diary regarding this video on Daily Kos

   Well, it's not a Special Comment, and with one possible exception, I don't think it's particularly nasty towards one side more than the other in the current Democratic Endlessness.
   But, if like me, you've recently been called out by Governor Ed Rendell or James Carville, you probably need a few yucks.
   So tonight when the show celebrates its 5th Anniversary with our special on NBC, we will be laying on the network folks, four minutes' worth of our exclusive "discovery" of the actual "Commander-In-Chief Threshold Test," the existence of which was revealed by Senator Clinton and Mr. Wolfson earlier in the month.

   That's right: if you hear any small explosions or "thunk"-like sounds just after sunset, that may be one of your neighbors exposed to this kind of stuff for the first time, since it's on real tee-vee.
   So you know what's coming: we have a video package illustrating the seventeen questions on the test.

QUESTION NINE: How often should the commander-in-chief joke about nuclear holocaust?

   Ronald Reagan: "I've introduced legislation to outlaw Russia. We begin bombing in five minutes."    

   Let me repeat Question Nine: How often should the commander-in-chief joke about nuclear holocaust?

   John McCain: "The Beach Boys Song? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."

   We have everybody in here from LBJ to Bob Dole, seen everywhere from inside tanks, to inside (then outside) the stage at the incredibly dangerous pancake-flipping contest.

QUESTION SIXTEEN: Explain the fallacious reports of any interaction between secular groups amid the 90% Shia population of Iran, and the violent groups of extremists in 35% Sunni Iraq identifying themselves as Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia?

   And no help from other students.
   John McCain answers.    
   Senator Leiberman corrects him.
   I said no help.

   And not to give it all away, but just one more.

QUESTION SEVENTEEN, the Commander-in-Chief Field Danger Assessment.
   Watch this videotape carefully.  
   Is this a dangerous situation on the front-lines somewhere requiring the Commander-in-Chief to run to his or her vehicle, or is this a meet-and-greet photo-op at an airport?

   Bonus points: Is that a little girl with a poem, or a sniper.  
   A very short sniper.  
   With a poem.

   OK, I take back what I said about it not being particularly nasty towards one side more than the other.
   Plus Worst Persons, Bussssshed, Rachel Maddow, Richard Wolffe, Lewis Black.

   Mort Lindsey conducts the orchestra.

Bush Gets Booed by Crowd of 41,000 at Baseball's Season Opener [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 30, 2008 at 8:11 PM.

President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight at the Washington Nationals season opener and the inaugural game at Washington's National Ballpark. But the President — an avid baseball fan and the former owner of the Texas Rangers — probably didn't get the fan response he was hoping for, as he was largely booed by the 41,000-person sellout crowd as he walked out to throw the pitch. Watch the video to your right.

h/t The Huffington Post

Sadr Tells Mahdi Army: Don't Lay Down Your Arms [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 29, 2008 at 1:37 PM.

This can't be good...

NAJAF, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has told his followers not to lay down their arms, rejecting a demand by the Iraqi government which launched a crackdown against them this week, a top aide said on Saturday.

"Moqtada al-Sadr asks his followers not to deliver weapons to the government. Weapons should be turned over only to a government which can expel the occupiers," aide Hassan Zargani told Reuters by telephone.

A member of the Sadrist political committee in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, Haidar al-Jabari, confirmed the remarks.

Iraqi security forces launched an offensive against Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Sadr in the southern oil port of Basra but have so far failed to dislodge the militants from their strongholds.

Fighting has since spread to other towns and cities in southern Iraq where the Medhi Army has a presence.

So how about that surge eh?

Recession the Movie: Now Playing Everywhere [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 28, 2008 at 12:15 PM.

John McCain and George W. Bush told us it couldn't be true, that their policies could never lead to a recession. They were wrong. From the producers who brought you "The Iraq War" comes a new thriller, guaranteed to send a chill up your spine. Watch this short film highlighting their rosy predictions vs. reality.

Creationists Pollute Young Minds at Museum [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 27, 2008 at 6:20 AM.

I've never seen Jesus Camp for one, admittedly silly reason, I know it will disturb and depress me too much. There's something so upsetting to me about seeing children indoctrinated in hate and ignorance. I am so much more freaked out by the idea that there's a KKK clown aimed at seducing children than the adult guy in the hood. With that in mind I present you this shocking segment from Nightline where you see two moronic assholes fill some very impressionable kids with nothing but lies about history, science and nature, which the children end up repeating like zombies. Check out the video to your right for more.

Eliot Spitzer Linked to Yet Another Upscale Prostitution Ring
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 27, 2008 at 5:53 AM.

This entire report comes from the The Huffington Post

Today's NY Post links former New York governor Eliot Spitzer to Wicked Models, a high-priced prostitution ring busted this week. His spokeswoman denies he was a client. Three weeks ago Spitzer stepped down as governor when he was linked to Emperors Club VIP. Based in midtown Manhattan, Wicked Models was run by a buxom blonde named Kristin "Billie" Davis, who also saw clients. Davis, 32, is currently being held on $2 M bail after pleading not guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

Writes the Post:

The ex-governor regularly patronized Wicked Models, the Manhattan-based operation taken down Tuesday, according to financial documents and other evidence unearthed in a yearlong prostitution in investigation, law-enforcement sources said...

A source said Davis personally serviced Spitzer.

"She personally interfaced with Spitzer a number of times" since 2003 before she became a madam, a source close to Davis said.

When asked about the allegation, Davis told The Post, "I can't talk about it." Spitzer's spokeswoman, Anna Cordasco, countered that "Mr. Spitzer was not ever a client of Ms. Davis."

Wicked Models is rumored to a have a client list that includes athletes and politicians. Writes the NY Daily News, who reported the bust but not the Spitzer link:

Investigators Wednesday night pored over the little black book of an alleged midtown madam whose clients are rumored to include athletes and powerhouse politicians.

Kristin Davis, a busty bottle-blond accused of running a $1,600-an-hour call girl service, was jailed on $2 million bail after pleading not guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

"I think any time she got her hands on someone worth bragging about, she might have kept a memento," said Jason Itzler, the self-proclaimed "King of All Pimps," who claims Davis worked for him in 2004. "She was a rock star escort."

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

McCain's Achilles Heel [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 26, 2008 at 12:12 PM.

100 years? 1,000 years? 10,000 years!?! Think what you want about who's being unfair, who should drop out and the like in the primary race. The Democrats are missing a big opportunity to strike early at John McCain's Achilles heel -- his lockstep support for an extremely unpopular war. The key points are laid out in today's episode of TPMtv. Check out the video to your right for more.

h/t Brave New Films

Wal-Mart Sues Brain-Damaged Employee [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet on March 26, 2008 at 7:05 AM.

Debbie Shank used to stock shelves at night for Wal-Mart so she could spend time in the afternoons with her three sons. Now she lives in a nursing home, requires around-the-clock medical care and owes Wal-Mart almost $500,000.

The story of the Shank family is heartbreaking in the sense that it could happen to anyone. Driving home one night, Debbie's car was hit by a tractor-trailier, leaving her brain-damaged and paralyzed. After collecting health insurance money for hospital bills (Debbie's policy with Wal-Mart paid for over $400,000 worth of emergency care), the Shanks sued the trucking company responsible for the accident, hoping to provide for Debbie's long term needs.

Now Wal-Mart has sued the Shanks, citing a line of fine print in Debbie's insurance policy that entitles the company to any lawsuit settlement. Wal-Mart intends to collect $470,000 from the Shanks, despite the fact that this will undoubtedly bankrupt Debbie's family.

A CNN interview with Jim Shank, Debbie's husband, gives some insight into how difficult the legal proceedings have been. Wal-Mart earned $100 billion in the final fiscal quarter end of 2007, meaning the company earned the disputed $470,000 in just 38 seconds. When confronted with a lifetime of medical bills and longterm care, Jim Shank was understandably disspirited.

"They are quite within their rights. But I just wonder if they need it that bad," he said.

Wal-Mart already has a reputation for treating its employees poorly, but for Wal-Mart to take Debbie Shank’s money shows that Wal-Mart and the Walton family are truly heartless.

Wal-Mart could take its legal victory and simply do the right thing and leave the Shank family and their money alone. Surely, even CEO Lee Scott himself would agree that the Shank family has suffered enough.