Many of you will already be familiar with Robert F. Kennedy Jr's weekly blog for HuffPost, titled Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report. You'll probably agree that it's pretty excellent.
For those who don't know it, RFK II and colleague Brendan DeMelle dig up important stories overlooked not only by the MSM but by most alternative news sources as well. It's basically a media-wide version of dKos's own indispensable Diary Rescue feature.
If you wanna go check it out directly and spare yourselves having to listen to me sing the blog's praises, here's the link to this week's entry:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Otherwise, join me after the jump!
Ok, even if HuffPost is quickly devolving into the web's number one source for Britney updates, gruesome photos of Amy Winehouse's complexion, celebrity attempts (mostly inept) to talk about politics, and a personal advertising platform for Arianna's publications and appearances, there's still some worthwhile stuff to be found there.
Among them is 'Unearthed'. As a staunch environmentalist, RFK II tends to stack the blog with stories on that topic. But there's always plenty of dirt on BushCo and Iraq as well. Here are the titles of this week's entries, only one of which I'd found in my own gluttonous news hounding, and every one of which merits a rec list diary here at dKos:
Bush Admits U.S. 'learning as we go' in Iraq, Afghanistan
Incredibly, Bush also tries to compare our 'rebuilding' of Iraq (if that's what you call the building, ex novo, of fifty permanent military bases...) to the rebuilding of Germany and Japan.
General Electric Claims CO2 "A Possible" Factor in Global Warming
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt admitted to Forbes magazine in 2005 that the company's lofty "Ecomagination" campaign is little more than a sales pitch. "It's primarily that," Immelt said. "In its essence it's a way to sell more products and services."
NASA Inspector General Report Confirms Political Censorship of Climate Data
A new investigation by NASA's inspector general confirms that Bush administration appointees deliberately skewed and deleted scientific findings about the serious threat of global warming from agency press releases for purely political reasons.
Forced by Court Order, Bush administration finally releases long-overdue climate assessment
Gee, guess what the assessment says? Hint: GE is not gonna be using it to defend its skepticism about CO2 as a "possible factor".
Top Scientists Say United States Has Lost Its Stature As Science Leader
An expert panel of scientists, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's top science adviser, detailed at last week's World Science Festival how the disdain for science among high-level political appointees has crippled the United States' once proud international standing as a leader in scientific research. The scientists cited specific examples of how U.S. officials downplayed and suppressed scientific evidence of climate change, derailed federal funding for stem cell research, and promoted creationism while casting doubt on the science of evolution.
Bush Administration submits Yucca Mountain nuclear waste application without required radiation exposure standard
Surprise!...
Proselytizing Marine Suspended In Iraq But Others Continue Attempt to Convert Muslims to Christianity
Not big news, I know, but this is:
The Christian fundamentalist group Bible Pathway Ministries admits it has provided thousands of copies of a special military edition of its Daily Devotional Bible study book to members of the 101st Airborne Division. The book's cover includes the logos of the five branches of the armed forces, implying that the Pentagon approved its publication.
Even if the Pentagon didn't approve it officially, it does so tacitly by allowing it to be circulated.
Veteran's Affairs Secretary says concerns about PTSD 'overblown'
Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake suggested that some concerns about PTSD are "overblown," adding that many of the brain injuries were "akin to what anyone who played football in their youth might have suffered."
and
soldiers at Fort Benning suffering from PTSD and other mental wounds are housed in "warrior transition" barracks roughly 200 yards away from the fort's main infantry firing ranges. The traumatized soldiers are subjected to the sounds of rifle and machine gun fire day and night several days a week.
Which is basically the equivalent of housing rape victims in the sexual offenders wing of a psychiatric hospital - not to mention a great money-saving ploy.
Right Wing Skeptic Group Plans 'Carbon Belch Day'
The "grassroots" group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 to break free from "carbon footprint guilt."
No commentary required...
U.S. Among Countries Who Oppose Ban on Cluster Bombs
Bush administration refused to sign a recent treaty banning cluster bombs, and worked behind the scenes to strongly oppose its adoption by lobbying other nations to resist the treaty's call to eliminate stockpiles of the deadly cluster weapons.
Wouldn't wanna deprive those poor little brown children of their right to play with undetonated bomblets, now, would we?
Anyway, so that's my pitch for 'Unearthed'. I can't be bothered with HuffPost much any more, so I have it delivered by email every week. Have a look, if only to read RFK Jr's bio and discover that he is a "licensed master falconer" (talk about taking that Camelot stuff to an extreme! Does he wear chain mail and a codpiece while falconing, I wonder?) and an accomplished enough white-water rafter to have done first descents of three South American rivers. All in all, a pretty cool guy, I'd say. Drop in and visit. Here's the link again:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...