Top Scoops: Comment & Opinion Digest 9 May 2007

Wednesday, 9 May 2007, 1:36 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
S59: Dr Ian Hassall - Perspective On The New Section 59
Paul Smith On Media: Crank It Up For The Oldies
MOTORNET: Best Of Both Worlds - Volvo C70
Energy: Bonus Joules - Eye of the Unknown
War & Religion: Jason Leopold - A Holy War In The US Military
UQ Wire: Dusty & 'The Boys' II
American Coup: RFK & Palast - Rove And Rove's Brain, 'Should be in jail'
US Election 2008:Sam Smith On Why Obama Is Called Black
US Attorneys: Thor Hearne The White House & A Fire In Missouri
George Tenet's Book: -Robert Parry On Tenet-Bush Pre-9/11 "Small Talk"
LATEST IRAQ WAR COMMENT & NEWS:
LATEST SOUTH ASIAN COMMENT & OPINION:
MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:

S59: Dr Ian Hassall: Perspective On The New Section 59

- Public uncertainty over the fate of the Crimes (Substituted S59) Amendment Bill came suddenly and dramatically to an end last Wednesday. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Bill’s sponsor called a press conference mid-morning and announced that they had struck a deal to allow the passage of the Bill which had up to then been held up by a National-led parliamentary filibuster. More >> [1]

MORE:
• Michael Collins - A Modest Proposal [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00108.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00100.htm

Paul Smith On Media: Crank It Up For The Oldies

Once upon a time older TV viewers were barely considered by those running the media Market, though occasionally a stallholder might offer glimpses into their lives. Now all that's changing rapidly. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00075.htm

MOTORNET: Best Of Both Worlds - Volvo C70

- It’s easy to feel smug in a convertible. It’s also easy to feel a bit of a git. On the one hand you’re confident that people are looking at you enviously as you cruise with the top down, the sunlight reflecting stylishly on your sunglasses. But there’s also a sneaking suspicion that everyone’s secretly laughing at you. After all, you’re putting yourself out there as if to say, ‘this is cool, don’t you want to be like me?’ And that has its price as I was to discover. More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00099.htm

Energy: Bonus Joules - Eye of the Unknown

- Dear Bryan Leyland. No, start again. Dear all the Bryan Leylands in New Zealand. And the world, for that matter. I believe you are making a massive error demolishing the Auckland Energy Community Trust, which owns most of Vector Ltd i.e. the utility grids of Auckland and Wellington cities. Your action will dwarf the disastrous fiascos of NZ Telecom and NZ Rail and will cost our nation dearly. Please, please reconsider. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00191.htm

War & Religion: Jason Leopold - A Holy War In The US Military

An Orthodox Jew and former petty officer in the US Navy said his civil rights were violated after a chaplain and officials at a Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, tried to convert him to Christianity while he was under the VA's care. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00190.htm

UQ Wire: Dusty & 'The Boys' II

- A MadCowMorningNews investigation has learned that the company which owned the DC9 airliner caught carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine at an airport in Mexico’s Yucatan last year was engaged in other illegal activities as well, including massive “pump and dump” stock fraud involving a network of companies led by scandal-ridden San Diego defense contractor Titan Corp. See... More >> [1]

MORE UQ WIRE:
• UQ Wire - Italian TV Report On WTC7 Demolition [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00188.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00134.htm

American Coup: RFK & Palast - Rove And Rove's Brain, 'Should be in jail'

NEW YORK -- Voting rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for prison time for the new US Attorney for Arkansas, Timothy Griffin and investigation of Griffin's former boss, Karl Rove, chief political advisor to President Bush. See... More >> [1]

MORE AMERICAN COUP:
• Bradblog.Com - KC Star's Law Firm At Heart of Voter Fraud Scandal [2]
• Bradblog.Com - ACORN Takes Control of High-Level GOP Front Group [3]
• Scoop Link - Florida Acts to Eliminate Touch-Screen Voting [4]
• John Gideon - Daily Voting News For May 8, 2007 [5] , May 7, 2007 [6] , May 6, 2007 [7] & May 4, 2007 [8]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00178.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00189.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00162.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00132.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00192.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00161.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00158.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00141.htm

US Election 2008:Sam Smith On Why Obama Is Called Black

- One of the jobs of a journalist is to keep cleaning up one's own mind. It is so easy to drift into a colloquial world in which habit, cliche and spin conspire to make one an unconscious co-conspirator in the myths of the time. See... More >> [1]

ALSO:
• Sam Smith - Why Obama Attracts The Right [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00183.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00156.htm

US Attorneys: Thor Hearne The White House & A Fire In Missouri

A high-level GOP operative and master "voter fraud" snake-oil salesman, Mark F. "Thor" Hearne of Missouri, was in charge of hiring a high-level White House/DoJ operative to help put out the fire in an investigation by former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, according to a recent interview. See... More >> [1]

MORE US ATTORNEYS:
• Truthout Links - US Attorneys: Keith Olbermann Talks Voter Fraud [2]
• Truthout Links - US Attorneys: Immunity for Goodling? [3]
• Truthout Links - US Attorneys: Goodling Shed Tears Before Talking [4]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00094.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00181.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00168.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00144.htm

George Tenet's Book: -Robert Parry On Tenet-Bush Pre-9/11 "Small Talk"

In late August 2001, when aggressive presidential action might have changed the course of US history, CIA Director George Tenet made a special trip to Crawford, Texas, to get George W. Bush to focus on an imminent threat of a spectacular al-Qaeda attack only to have the conversation descend into meaningless small talk. More >> [1]

MORE ON TENET'S BOOK:
• Jason Leopold - Leopold: Clarke, O'Neill Accounts Support Tenet's [2]
• Matt Renner - Matt Renner: Tenet Battled With Office of Special [3]
• Jason Leopold - Tenet Book Blames White House for "16 Words" [4]
• George Tenet - Book Excerpt: CIA Director Tenet on Anthrax & Al Qaeda [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00179.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00167.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00091.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00035.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00053.htm

LATEST IRAQ WAR COMMENT & NEWS:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00142.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00097.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00098.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00164.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00166.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00157.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00154.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00153.htm

LATEST SOUTH ASIAN COMMENT & OPINION:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00177.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00176.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00172.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00139.htm
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ENDS

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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