Majikthise

Greate lede writing: Petra Bartosiewicz

When I first read the U.S. government’s complaint against Aafia Siddiqui, who is awaiting trial in a Brooklyn detention center on charges of attempting to murder a group of U.S. Army officers and FBI agents in Afghanistan, the case it described was so impossibly convoluted—and yet so absurdly incriminating—that I simply assumed she was innocent. [Harper's, Nov 2009]

I'm going to buy the issue on the strength of that sentence.

Media barred from Media Courage award ceremony

Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent and Adele Stan of AlterNet report that the media were barred from the Media Courage award ceremony at the Values Voter summit this weekend. Only Fox News was allowed to film inside the auditorium where Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was being feted (or fetid, depending on your perspective).

[x-post at Obsidian Wings]

Wombs for Rent: Surrogacy scams

Tomorrow NOW will broadcast an expose of scams in the surrogate motherhood industry, supported by my friends at the Nation Institute. Old school investigative reporting meets cutting edge medical technology:

Many European countries, from Spain to Germany to the Netherlands, have banned surrogate motherhood. But in the United States it's the Wild West -- an almost completely unregulated industry that has left some surrogate mothers with thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills and would-be parents with pilfered bank accounts. "If you compare surrogacy to buying a used car," says one expert in the field, "there are many more rules when you buy a used car."

Investigative Fund reporters Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann traveled the country speaking with surrogate mothers, agency operators, and intended parents to expose the human costs of this lack of regulation and produced a segment for NOW on PBS, "Wombs for Rent," which takes a close look at one of the industry's many bad actors, SurroGenesis.

"Wombs for Rent," which was supported by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, airs Friday, September 18, at 8:30 p.m. in New York City. Go to http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html for broadcast times nationwide.

Tampa Tribune ripping off bloggers

Michael Hussey of Pushing Rope reports that the Tampa Tribune has been republishing bloggers' work, including some of his posts, without payment or attribution. Not cool.

Jon Stewart vs. Betsy "Death Panels" Betsy McCaughey

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Tom Daschle is working for the insurance industry, again

Ever wonder why single payer is never, ever on the table? Maybe because so many ostensibly liberal health policy leaders are as beholden to the insurance industry as their conservative counterparts.

For example, Business Week reports that former Democratic senator Tom Daschle is once again working closely with UnitedHealth, the nation's largest health insurance company.

Sommer has retained such influential outsiders as Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate Leader who now works for the large law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle, a liberal from South Dakota, dropped out of the running to be Obama's Secretary of Health & Human Services after disclosures that he failed to pay taxes on perks given to him by a private client. He advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and 2008 and resumed that role this year. Daschle personally advocates a government-run competitor to private insurers. But he sells his expertise to UnitedHealth, which opposes any such public insurance plan. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades.

Conceding that he doesn't always agree with his client, Daschle says: "They just want a description of the lay of the land, an assessment of circumstances as they appear to be as health reform unfolds." He says he leaves direct contacts with members of Congress to others at his firm. [BW]

Even reform standard-bearer Howard Dean joined the lobby firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge in March as a strategic adviser and policy consultant. McKenna lobbies on behalf of several health care, life science, and insurance companies. When Dean joined the firm, it was announced that he would be advising the firm's lobbyists on healthcare issues.

The White House shouldn't allow Daschle and Dean to continue such apparent conflicts of interest. I'm guessing that their job descriptions have been carefully vetted to avoid violating any ethics guidelines, but let's get real here. Lobbyists are paying top dollar for inside information from current movers and shakers in healthcare policy. That stinks.

Even if everything is on the up-and-up, these arrangements make me question Daschle and Dean's leadership. Can't they wait just a few more months to cash in their public sector credentials?

Sometimes the oligarchy in the United States seems every bit as intractable as the power structure in Honduras.

"Grassroots" FreedomWorks paid Armey $400,000 for part-time job

Former House Majority Leader turned lobbyist Dick Armey resigned from the lobbying firm of DLA Piper on Friday amid criticism of his leadership role in FreedomWorks, one of the main right wing groups organizing town hall mobs against health care reform.

Armey probably wasn't spending that much time at DLA Piper anyway. He earned a total of $400,000 from FreedomWorks and the FreedomWorks Foundation during the 2007 tax year, according to tax records. The records say that Armey was putting in 36 hours per week at Freedom Works and the Freedom Works Foundation. (This is original reporting. Please support Majikthise by crediting.)

One wonders whether Armey had much time left over for his lobbying clients at DLA Piper that year, which included pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis and the Medicines Co.. Armey represented Sanofi again in 2008 and continued to represent the Medicines Co. through 2009.

The former Republican congressman told Politico he was resigning because he didn't want his lobbying clients to face media scrutiny for their association with FreedomWorks.

FreedomWorks has been accused of laying down astroturf at town halls. The protesters are real people, but the town hall protests are organized by Freedom Works and other groups underwritten by industries with a financial stake in derailing healthcare reform. 

Netroots Nation recap

Muckraking 101, our investigative skills training at Netroots Nation, was a big success.

The event drew a capacity crowd and the audience feedback was very positive. One respected online journalist who attended the training described the experience as transformative.

Thanks to everyone who came out, panelists Bill Bastone and Brant Houston, moderator Esther Kaplan, the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute (our sponsor), and to the hardworking staffers and volunteers at Netroots Nation.

I was inspired to become an investigative journalist after attending a 2006 presentation by Bill Bastone, organized by Esther Kaplan. So, it was especially satisfying to help bring their expertise to Netroots Nation.

Update: We got a mention in Slate.

My Netroots Nation panel: Investigative techniques to expose the town hall mobs

If you're going to Netroots Nation this week, I invite you to join us for Muckraking 101, an interactive investigative reporting workshop sponsored by the Nation Investigative Fund:

Muckraking 101: Documents You Can Use

Saturday, August 15th 1:30 PM - 4:15 PM

Training, 306

Time: Saturday, August 15th, 1:30pm - 4:15pm

Room: 306

How can bloggers and online activists use simple investigative techniques to increase their impact? Participants in this practical workshop will learn how to use free or cheap web tools to trace the assets of public officials, decipher the SEC filings of public companies, file Freedom of Information Act requests for government documents, and much, much more. Sponsored by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.

The panelists are Esther Kaplan of the Nation, Bill Bastone of the Smoking Gun, Brant Houston of the University of Illinois, and me.

You'll learn powerful investigative techniques to make your blog posts stand out. These strategies are based on free tools available to anyone with an internet connection.

Bring your laptops. This is a hands-on training. We're going to be exploring one of the most urgent investigative puzzles facing the netroots today: Who's funding the town hall mobs?

Recommended pre-reading: Addie Stan's AlterNet expose on the mob phenom, and teabagger astroturf oppo research by Kate Thomas of SEIU.

Chris Matthews demolishes "birther" G. Gordon Liddy

You know, Chris Matthews is pretty smart when he remembers to take his Ritalin. Watch him demolish G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate burglar turned "birther" (a term for those conspiracy theorists who believe that president Barack Obama is an illegal alien from Mombassa, Kenya). For more on the birther phenom, check out my friend Dave Weigel's recent appearance on Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy