NEWSBITS FROM PETER'S NEW YORK - AUGUST 29, 2007

American Elections are controlled by the Media
It appears that American elections are in large part determined by the mass media, who control which candidates will be considered front-runners, thus preventing anyone else from getting publicity.

That this actually occurs, I became convinced after a debate among candidates for the Republican presidential primary in, I guess, 1999. After the debate, Morris (forget his first name) did a poll, and it turned out that Keyes came out on top, well above Bush and any of the other candidates. The Bush team was furious, and ordered that publicity on this poll be quashed, which it was. After that, I understood the roll of the media in the elections.

The same scenario is being played out today with the candidacy of Ron Paul, and perhaps with Dennis Kucinich as well. Paul, a long-time conservative (not of the neocon ilk and their fellow travelers, but more of the Ronald Reagan tradition), has won several straw polls. I think one is in North Carolina, another in Washington state. This information has not been shared with the public by the major media outlets, since it does not go along with their scenario of how the elections should unfold.

The media play a major roll in American national elections, limiting the field to only candidates which for one reason or another have been pre-approved. Elections in America have become a sham. It may be that the best we can do to have our voice heard is to boycott them.

Maliki's friendly relations with Iran do not bode him well
Iraqi puppet-president Maliki has not been behaving. He has actually tried to establish good relations with Iran. This is a no-no. The United States is about to bomb Iran into oblivion. The goal of those who run the United States is total conquest of the Middle East. Iraq is not meant to have good relations with Iran.

Maliki has basically signed his death sentence. Of course he has been doing the right thing, but not by the Bush Administration's thinking. We do hope, indeed, that, he will survive, because he might be just the man to throw the Iraqi government into an alliance with the Iranians, which is just what is needed to balance the power in the Middle East. An Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian axis would stabilize and balance the other forces acting in the region. While Washington may think it has all the aces in its pocket, one never knows. It may just turn out differently. That would be cool.

Let's hope the next spate of American elections can demonstrate that we want a regime change in Washington, and an end to the destructive policies of conquest that this and past administrations have tried to implement at the expense of American taxpayers and the brainwashed kids in the military.

US antsy over possible acquittal of Philippine pres on corruption charges
The United States is starting to worry that Joseph Estrada ("Erap"), the Philippine president it likely helped topple at the beginning of the decade, may be found innocent of long-standing corruption charges. As a result, it appears that the Americans are trying to implicate him in a coup against the American-allied Gloria Arroyo, who replaced him in a so-called "people's revolution." If I am not mistaken, Estrada was relieved of command by the Philippine Supreme Court. Arroyo then stepped in, as she was vice president. Arroyo, however, is under suspicion of having rigged the 2004 elections that gave her original assumption of power a quasi-official stamp. (By the way, I think it is illegal in the Philippines to say that Mrs. Arroyo is not the president of the Philippines, and that Erap is. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

It seems that a Philippine member of the U.S. F.B.I. was recently convicted of spying for a group trying to topple Arroyo. This alleged plot was said to be linked to Erap, who has been under house arrest for most of the decade while awaiting a final decision on his case. Erap denies any attempt to form a coup or to cooperate with such an attempt, if one did indeed exist. A verdict by the Supreme Court on Erap's appeal in the corruption case is expected in September. Philippine society is incredibly divided over this issue, and a decision either way could be explosive.

In the meantime, the U.S. has sent over information about the spy case to Philippine officials, probably in an attempt to keep Erap in jail under new charges of aiding and abetting a coup, if he is indeed acquitted of the corruption charges. If he is found innocent, it would call into question Arroyo's credentials, since Erap was deposed on the grounds of his supposed guilt. A finding of innocence is very likely not acceptable to the US administration, which must be hell-bent on making sure the democratically elected president Erap who they in all likelihood helped depose does not escape from jail. Thus the trumped up coup charges.

Erap has often asserted that he is still the legal president of the Philippines. It would be an incredible boon to the Philippine people if Erap were found innocent. Let's cross our fingers.

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