Why is Chris Matthews such a panty waist? I’ve asked this question many times before and yet somehow I’m still surprised when new evidence of his fresh disposal is found. Thanks to TPM for this little clip where Matthews discusses how the Justice Department has dropped the charges against Senator Ted Stevens due to prosecutorial misconduct… Well, sort of. That is why the charges were dropped, but apparently Tweety Bird thinks the charges should have never been brought! Oh, and apparently Sen. Stevens is no longer the senior Senator from Alaska BECAUSE of these now dropped charges, according to this blithering idiot.

Well, Mr. Matthews – Just to clarify a few points: Sen. Stevens was already convicted last fall for not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from an oil executive (normally we would call this a bribe, but somehow in this country the crime is just not telling anyone about the bribe, not the bribe itself). And to say that the charges should have never been brought? That is not at all what the Justice Department has said, rather that the charges held merit but that the prosecution failed to share evidence with the defense, thereby screwing up the case. On a related note though, perhaps Matthews should be more concerned with another politician whose re-election bid and political career WERE affected by prosecutorial misconduct, politicization of a trial and a whole other list of crap. Don Siegelman, the former Democratic Governor of Alabama has another appeal pending to try and have his charges dismissed, but he lost his re-election bid years ago because of this crap. Any mention from Matthews on this lately? Some of his other colleagues at MSNBC are a bit better, but so far only when it is convenient. Siegelman was interviewed by TPM regarding these comparisons and you can read that here.

Continuing on my previous post about anonymity and blogging, I came across some related news this morning in catching up on my RSS feeds after a brief vacation. The MudFlats is a political blog in Alaska written by a local person who cares about the issues concerning her city, state and nation. A patriot who decided, for her own reasons, to share her opinions anonymously. At least until she happened to piss off a local politician. Alaska State Rep. Mike Doogan made it his mission to out the MudFlats blogger and has apparently succeeded in doing so. I’m not sure even he knows what he has accomplished, other than to apparently piss off his political base and endanger his career, but he did it anyway. Despicable indeed. Well, the blogger has responded with a very well written post on how she feels, some of the history behind it and this very good segment I’d like to share:

“If he were around, we could ask the “anonymous blogger” of his day, Benjamin Franklin what he thought about this.  Using the “screen name” Mrs. Silence Dogood, Franklin was able to put out thoughts and ideas that were weighted on their own merits, not attached to a particular person.  Sometimes it’s easier, if you don’t want to think, to attack the person, rather than the idea.  I think Franklin would heartily approve of anonymous bloggers.

So, it seemed odd to me that Mr. Doogan was seemingly more focused on the messenger, than on defending his position, or even better, apologizing to people whom he had insulted.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

This is the first of a two-part series on international bribery and the use of offshore accounts. We first touched on this subject a couple of months ago when pointing you towards Lowell Bergman and Frontline’s excellent work on international bribery. I’d like to thank Frontline for pointing me to the following report. They have compiled some great reporting on bribery which can be seen here. However, the greater issue here is transparency vs. secrecy, what part politicians play and how the media report on such activities, or not… The second part of this series will focus on the ongoing US financial bailout and how US taxpayers’ money is being used to prop up companies who invest millions in the politicians they lobby.

Below are two reports from a Swedish television crew who investigated a multinational arms deal between Sweden and the Czech Republic. Demonstrating great investigative reporting, they uncover how SAAB (working with BAE Systems) used third parties and offshore holdings to influence the deal in their favor, to the tune of millions of euros in compensation to any number of agents, politicians and defense contractors. The Czech deal was just one of many, including similar arrangements with South Africa and Hungary. The first video explains the Czech deal and the second video goes into greater detail when the reporters work under cover to expose the rampant bribery going on in the international arms industry.

I would like to give thanks this season for two things: One is knowing that Sarah Palin still holds “the same values and convictions” today (that apparently she held yesterday). Number two is the awareness that Slate Video was put on this Net to entertain us all with the mindless babbling of this idiot some call guvna… (pronounced the same, but spelled ‘gowno’ in Polish for a similar meaning).

Here is the original interview with Sarah Palin after she pardoned a turkey. (WARNING: If you don’t want to know where your Thanksgiving bird comes from, just skip to the second video).

And here are the deleted scenes:

“All over our country people are hurting.” Bill Moyers started Friday’s Journal with these words. He went on to describe the pain and uncertainty many in this world are feeling right now. Questioning how it is politicians remain so out of touch from the reality of the every day and the issues with which most Americans are regularly dealing.

Most blogs, news organizations, pundits, columnists and comedians have been focused almost 24/7 on the election these past number of months and, on a personal level, I am no exception. My partner in life and crime told me the other day that she can’t wait until the election is over so she can get me back. I can’t wait until the election is over to get my life back. However, with all of my personal focus spent on politics, I have opted instead to blog about subjects such as the economy, torture, unethical pharmaceutical giants and jackasses like Bill O’Reilly making a fool of himself.

I don’t know that this decision was a conscious one I made for any particular reason at the time. But after watching Bill Moyers’ interview with music and film producer, Mark Johnson, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place for me. There was enough ugliness, enough crap being slung and enough guessing, opinionating and whining about politics from almost every other source available to fill a thousand Albert Hall’s without MediaSlackers.com being brought down too. While the other subjects written about here have not exactly been positive or friendly, at least they haven’t been about this campaign. Moyers couldn’t have put it better when he said,

“How foreign and fraudulent the politics of sleaze, the polarizing almost savage pursuit of power that strokes the paranoia in us in order to divide and conquer. When this election is over, no matter who wins, there will be much to repair, if we have the will for it.”

The interview with Jackson is well worth the time to watch it and available in full here. Now I’m really looking forward to seeing his documentary entitled, “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music;” because if anything can bring us back together, not just as a country but as a planet, music is the key.

Here is a clip from the film featuring musicians from all over the world singing, “Stand By Me.”