Here is a round up with a few noteworthy developments and articles and an absurdity or two. This week Peter B Collins and I will be recording interviews with two special guests. It is going to be lively, interesting and I think rather controversial. Stay tuned.

The Conditional Antiwar Movement- Party Based AntiWar-ism

The following article is based on a new study showing that the antiwar movement in the US demobilized as Democrats, who had been motivated to participate by anti-Republican sentiments, withdrew from antiwar protests when the Democratic Party achieved electoral success. The findings are complementary (unfortunately) to my previous post on partisan & biased media reports. Ignorant & blinded partisanship in action: atrocious wars and major presidential abuses are all okay if committed by X Party, but awful and impeachable offenses if exercised by Y party.

Did Obama’s Election mean the End of the Anti-War Movement? 
By Bernie DeGroat, Spero News

As president, Obama has maintained the occupation of Iraq and escalated the war in Afghanistan,” said Heaney, U-M assistant professor of organizational studies and political science. “The antiwar movement should have been furious at Obama’s ‘betrayal’ and reinvigorated its protest activity.

“Instead, attendance at antiwar rallies declined precipitously and financial resources available to the movement have dissipated. The election of Obama appeared to be a demobilizing force on the antiwar movement, even in the face of his pro-war decisions.”

Heaney and Rojas analyzed the demobilization of the antiwar movement by using surveys of 5,400 demonstrators at 27 protests mostly in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and San Francisco from January 2007 to December 2009. The surveys asked questions on basic demographics, partisan affiliations, organizational affiliations, reasons for attending the events, histories of political participation, and attitudes toward the movement, war and the political system.

…

A New Memo Reveals: FBI Had Mole Inside ABC News- Why the surprise?!

A recently declassified FBI memo reveals that a senior ABC News journalist acted (and performed) as a confidential informant to the bureau in the 1990s. I know this is significant, but shocking? That’s what I don’t understand. Do you?

Memo Suggests FBI Had Mole Inside ABC News in 1990s 
By John Solomon & Aeron Mehta

A once-classified FBI memo reveals that the bureau treated a senior ABC News journalist as a potential confidential informant in the 1990s, pumping the reporter to ascertain the source of a sensational but uncorroborated tip that the network had obtained during its early coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The journalist, whose name is not disclosed in the document labeled “secret,� not only cooperated but provided the identity of a confidential source, according to the FBI memo — a possible breach of journalistic ethics if he or she did not have the source’s permission.

The ABC employee was even assigned a number in the FBI’s informant database, indicating he or she was still being vetted for suitability as a snitch after providing “highly accurate and reliable information in the past� and then revealing information the network had obtained in the hours just after the 1995 terrorist attack by Timothy McVeigh.

…

More on Biased-Partisan Media & Double Standards

On Friday I published a brief commentary on the Lefts’ Hypocrisy when it comes to investigative reporting on the Obama administration’s atrocities nationally and internationally. Considering the level of controversy accompanied by lots of snarls, spits and insults, it must have struck a chord with ‘some people.’ Suddenly, these people forget my 7-year long battle during the Bush administration-the gag orders I received, polygraphs, being fired, secrecy…you name it. I used to be, back in the Bush days, their heroine, their respected whistleblower. Obama administration comes in, I see what goes on, I write about it and voice my opinion against the same atrocities, and suddenly I become the …hmmmmm, I am not going to use their x-rated and colorful adjectives. If I remember correctly, it started with this piece I wrote during the early Obama days: Two Sides of the Same Coin … Heads-Heads. No worries; I won’t be easily deterred. Here is another commentary on the Left’s double standards when it comes to ‘their’ president of wars-abuses: Read more È

After a month of being away and with so much happening on all the fronts of interest I am finding it hard to pick a starting point. First, I wanted to do a piece on Libya and the Manchurian Candidate of our government’s choice over there. After all, he fits right in with several others we have covered here at BFP. Then, I decided there were already so many sound bites, so many competing sexy-cutesy headlines, a major surplus of blogo-diarrhea, and tons of crisscross debates on this topic out there, and decided it would not be a good starting point. Next, I thought about doing a weekly round up for the latest noteworthy developments and articles. When I looked at my list of noteworthy items I saw that many went back further than a week, more like a monthly round up, and considering the length of the list I decided against a painfully long monthly round up. Then, I felt like sharing with you some of my relocation adventures and blissful trip, but quickly I reminded myself of my pledge to not cover much personal information at this site; I sure don’t want to be a hypocrite! Okay, now you see what I mean by finding it ‘hard’ to pick a starting point; right?

Finally, I remembered some friends asking me ‘why are you always so hard on yourself, Sibel,’ and… I see their point Therefore, instead of making things more complicated than they should be, instead of wasting time coming up with a subjective best and most appropriate topic, I am going to begin our operation with a brief potpourri of topics, and see how it goes.

Boiling Frogs Post Countdown & Status

As always I am going to start by thanking our supporters who have kindly contributed: Thank You. Even though we haven’t reached our objective, at least not yet, seeing your support in action keeps us on our toes and encourages us to hold on and keep trying. Based on what we have received (so far) we are in the position of continuing this website for five or six months; until October. After thinking, thinking very hard, about where we are, what our main objectives are, and ways to achieve these objectives, I am leaning towards turning this site into a subscription-based model. Why?

I am still wary of even considering advertisements. I hate it when I go to some sites, and while I am in the middle of reading, I am forced to constantly close this pop up ad window and that pop up ad box-like swatting flies. I simply hate it. I don’t want to turn around and give my readers and listeners what I seriously despise. So, ads are out.

I am not a marketing pro or a saleswoman, and I am not going to go through a round of fundraising with everything that has to go with that every three or four months. That’s too much, and no, I won’t do it.

On the other hand, I want to be able to offer you regular, even better, weekly podcast interviews. I want to be able to provide more frequent, ideally daily or nightly, noteworthy news and articles round ups. I certainly want to be able to write and publish in-depth analyses, and bring in other A-class experts and analysts work by being able to compensate them. All that and more! So, considering the level of volunteer donations we’ve been getting, excluding company ads, foundation briberies, and frequent ‘calls for support,’ how do we get there? Well, I am still thinking about it and discussing it with our team members, but the idea of a subscription-based model, at least for our podcast show and select articles, seems right. Of course, I welcome your suggestions-input, so please chime in.

My Relocation Study Journey & Status

I want to first thank all of you who have been sending me good-wishes in my relocation preparation and journey. Some of you have rightfully pointed out the difficulties of starting in a new place. Let me assure you: as far as the emotional aspects of it go, I will have none. Here is why:

I live less than two miles from the Pentagon. Just think about how I feel each time (very frequently, that is!) I pass that monstrosity. I get to hear (very loudly, that is!) helicopters making their ‘national security check’ rounds every day; not once, not twice, not three times…you get the point, right? It takes us a minimum of 30 minutes to commute a distance of less than 5 miles; not only during morning or evening rush hour, but around the clock. The majority of my neighbors are either defense contractors, national security related government contractors, lobbyists, or active members of shady organizations like AEI, AIPAC …Add to that a very sad state of public schools, astronomical housing prices, horrendous shape of hospitals-emergency rooms, crime rate, and the Red Light District across the river called the Capitol ….well, you get it, right?

I have been thinking about, planning, and working on this relocation for several years; to be exact, since 2007. So, this is not some spur of the moment, whimsical or hasty life-changing decision. Most importantly, this is a decision to provide my daughter with the best within my ability, and the most that I can. Speaking of my daughter, here are a few select pictures of her during our trip:

Literally reaching out for the olive branch

Greeting the sheep in the morning

Searching for Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Her new friend Toby

Savoring Farmers Market’s handmade ice cream

As you can see it will be a world far away from wars, pat-downs & groping, lobbyists, traffic, congested schools, glitzy people & shiny cars …hmmmm, does it sound like heaven?

The Growing List of Untouchable- Notorious-Infamous US War Profiteers…Still Operating!

Please raise your hand if you’ve never heard of the criminal-notorious yet still happily in operation Blackwater Inc.aka Xe Services LLC? No hands? Please raise your hand if you are fairly familiar with the scandalous-infamous yet untouchable Mina Corp? Okay, now get ready to add another one to your list: ladies and gentleman meet please meet Harry Sargeant III . You see, there are many chapters involved when it comes to Harry Sergeant; the latest being this one. So the moral of the story here is not as much Harry Sergeant per se, but the fact that his chapters, like the rest of the criminal operators in the long-list of our nation’s war profiteers, never seem to come to an end. These companies, the criminal-notorious-infamous war profiteers, keep operating, and their profits keep skyrocketing; with 100% immunity and impunity. Read more È