Short Takes: News From All Over

By Staff Utne.Com
Published on May 1, 2005

Impeachment Time: ‘Facts Were Fixed’
By Greg Palast, BuzzFlash
Greg Palast says the gun is smoking. A memo rehashing a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top policy wonks shows that they were sowing the seeds of war well ahead of the invasion of Iraq, and that in the United States, ‘intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.’ The Times of London caused a bang when it ran the leaked memo. As Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting notes, though, the shot was not heard around the world. In particular, the memo and its implications have gone largely unreported by the U.S. media. — Hannah Lobel
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=426&row=0
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2511

Grocery Store Wars
By Staff, Free Range Studios
The makers of The Meatrix invite you to a supermarket not so far away, where the Organic Rebellion is leading the struggle against the Dark Side of the Farm. Follow Cuke Skywalker and Obi Wan Cannoli — and their comrades-in-arms Ham Solo and Chewbroccoli — as they rescue Princess Lettuce and battle to save the market from the evil Lord Tader. — Leif Utne
http://www.storewars.org/

Must-Flee TV: The G.O.P. on PBS
By Joe Conason, The New York Observer via Working for Change
It’s true, columnist Joe Conason warns, that public broadcasting is about to be flooded with ‘politically correct orthodoxy’ at the taxpayers’ expense. But the party line that’s being toed is Republican. — Hannah Lobel
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18995

A Boon for Caregivers
By Carlin Flora, Psychology Today
Give and you shall receive. New research shows that altruism may help people live longer. A study of 400 older couples found that those who looked after their spouses, friends, or relatives reduced their chances of dying 40 to 60 percent over five years. — Hannah Lobel
http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20040105-000024.html

Je M’accuse
By Fiona Maazel, n+1
At the website grouphug.us, anyone can enter a confession. The resulting revelry in self-exposure inspired this Nietzschean exegesis on guilt and bad conscience in the digital age. If that’s too heavy, the confessions themselves make for an interesting, voyeuristic read. — Hannah Lobel
http://www.nplusonemag.com/confess.html
http://www.grouphug.us/

British Columbia’s Referendum on Electoral Reform
By Staff, Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform
When British Columbians go to the polls for a provincial election on May 17, they’ll also be able to vote on whether or not change how they vote. The proposed British Columbia-Single Transferable Vote (BC-STV) system would let people cast a ballot for more than one candidate — even candidates from different parties or independents — and then rank their choices. It’s meant to scrap the winner-takes-all ethos and replace it with a more proportional approach. — Hannah Lobel
http://citizensassembly.bc.ca/resources/flash/bc-stv-full.swf

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