Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20130807 : comparemela.

Bezos purchases the Washington Post. Year, amazon inked a 600 million Cloud Computing deal with the cia. Now the founder owns the most important newspaper in washington. We will speak to media critics as well as book publisher Dennis Johnson. In the view of american publishers, they are a threat. They have been discounting books so severely they have done great damage to the markets and publishers have been really struggling as to how to control that. We will also speak to mother jones reporter mac mcclelland, author of i was a warehouse wage slave my brief, backbreaking, rageinducing, lowpaying, dildopacking time inside the onlineshipping machine. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Yemeni officials claim to have foiled a plot to blow up key oil locations. Officials say the motives of the planned attack appears to be retaliation for the u. S. Killing a deputyalshihri, health today in the arabian peninsula. A military jet has reduced the maximum possible prison sentence for Army Whistleblower Bradley Manning to 90 years. Forad faced up to 136 years leaking troves of secret documents to wikileaks. Toise lind allowing them merge a number of accounts against him. Bradley mannings father has spoken out in an interview with anderson cooper. He says he believes his son is innocent and cannot understand how the leaks were logistically possible and that he was carrytanding in order to out his actions. Anderson cooper pross question about what he would say to his son. Right off tell him the bat, he had no excuse for allegedly releasing that information. Fathom any reason to myself why he should be that i should forgive him for doing Something Like that. That is my code of honor. Is there any message you want to get across to him . Like in quantico, but just before i ended the visit, is always, i love the sun i love you, son. Then he would say i love you, dad. Anonymous Officials Say militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala is facing charges for the attack in benghazi. No one has so far been arrested. The pentagon official in charge of guantanamo bay, who played a key role in creating the prison is now saying it should never have been built. In an interview with the british and daily mail newspaper, William Lietzau said that they should be have should have been designated as prisoners of war. He says the most effective way to close the prison now is to announce an end to the socalled war with al qaeda. He said lietzau announced he will be stepping down from the pentagon to take a job with a military contractor, bae. In egypt, one person was injured one person died and others injured during a protest about Mohamed Morsi in alexandria. His comments followed a visit paul when a visit from u. S. Congressmembers, urging for a dialogue on egypts future. John mccain said that he believes the ousting was a coup. Democratic the aspirations and criticisms of the government that led millions into the streets on june 30. Theave also said circumstances of the former governments president s removal was a coup. We have said that we cannot expect egypt or any other country to abide by its laws if we do not abide by hours in the United States. The u. S. Army psychiatrist accused of shooting and killing 13 people at a military base in texas said that his trial would show that he was the shooter. Or the dollar hassan, who is representing spoke in court. The prosecution said that he had hoped to kill as many soldiers as he could. They are pursuing the death penalty. In two major, thousands flocked to the capital city of tunis for. Emonstrations to the chef has been embroiled in a political crisis in the past two weeks following the shooting of another Opposition Leader who was killed on july 25. On tuesday, the assembly suspended effective these indefinitely pending a dialogue between the two sides. An antigovernment demonstrator spoke out on friday. Because the situation in tunisia is critical. The government is devouring the people. We ask for the government to be overthrown and we ask for a National Constituent assembly to dissolved and to start a new government. Every student is asked to watch tunisia and protect it. We have to put an end to violence. We have witnessed three political assassinations. We have also witnessed the attack on our national military. Eight shoulders soldiers were assassinated. We need to stay united for tunisia. The law requires prior authorization from police for political meetings involving three or more people and allows the use of force to clear unauthorized gatherings. The bill passed despite protests and attempts to block it by members of the ugandan government. Ofcomes amidst a crackdown the previous president. President obama delivered his latest address on the economy tuesday claiming a recovery in the Housing Market and calling for private lenders to form the backbone of the market while the government plays a more limited role. Speaking in phoenix, ariz. , he backed a plan to end the firms fannie mae and freddie mac in the effort to avoid another crisis. One thing we can do to make sure this doesnt happen again is to wind down these companies that are not really government but privatesector. They are known as freddie mac and fannie mae. For too long, these companies were allowed to make huge profits, buying mortgages, knowing that if their bets when that, taxpayers would be left holding the bag. Was a heads we win, tails you lose. It was wrong. Along with what happened on wealth wall street, it help to inflate this bubble. The Justice Department sued bank of america, accusing that it willfully defrauding investors. Report from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration says last year was among the 10 warmest on record around the world. Full degree were in higher than the previous record, more than three Degrees Higher than the 20th century average. Another study found the earths climate is currently changing at a rate far faster than any other point in the past 65 million years. Theret intervention, could be an annual raise in temperature of 6 to 9 degrees. Parts of china are seeing their most severe heat wave in at least 140 years. Dozens have died as temperatures have hovered around 104 degrees. The heat has caused glass to crack, roads to warp, and a highway billboard to catch fire. Two activists who advocated for the rights of farmers have been found shot dead. The murdered activists were part of the agrarian league. A third member is missing. Victims include environmentalists murdered last week, and an indigenous rights activist killed last month. The department of Homeland Security has tentatively approved an asylum upon request from a group of immigrants known as the dream 9, which challenged the immigration policy by attempting to cross the border from mexico. Officials claim that they have a fear of persecution if returned to mexico. Most had been forced to leave the United States under current policies, but three left voluntarily to accompany the others. An immigration judge will determine their final status. They remain in detention in arizona. Police in rural pennsylvania say a man whose home had recently been condemned by law allow authorities opened fire on a municipal meeting monday night, killing three people and wounding a number of others. Authorities say he fatally shot a zoning official and two residents before suffering a gunshot wound after a bystander tackled him. Newell is in police custody. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Shaikh. Nermeen welcome to our listeners and viewers around the country and world. We begin the show with a roundtable discussion about the sale of one of the nations leading newspapers to one of the worlds richest men. On monday, the Washington Post announced the paper had been purchased by amazon. Com founder and ceo jeff bezos. He will pay 250 million for the paper and a number of other publications, less than 1 of his wealth. Of the chiefiend executive of the Washington Post company, whose family has owned the paper for eight decades. Bezos said management would remain the same but it is unclear what changes might be coming. Last year, he was quoted in an interview with a german newspaper saying critics of the sale have cited bezos close ties to the government. In 2010, amazon pulled the plug on hosting the wikileaks web site. Earlier this year, amazon inked a 600 million Cloud Computing contract with the cia. We are joined by Bob Mcchesney, author of several books on media and politics, including digital disconnect how capitalism is turning the internet against democracy. You can read the first chapter at our website, democracynow. Org. He also recently coauthored with john nichols, dollarocracy how the money and Media Election complex is destroying america. Us, theen is with director for park center media at ithaca college, where he is also professor of media. Here in new york city, Dennis Johnson is with us, publisher of melvillender house. He recently wrote a book about amazon. Your response to the news that has rocked the industry, that jeff bezos is the new owner of the Washington Post . What is important is to have a structural understanding and content contact for this purchase. The value of the Washington Post, like all other news media in the country, has plummeted in the past couple of years to of what they were. At this point, they are not wise commercial investments. Earlier,owed commercial journalism is no longer profitable, but they still have great political value. It might not be a commercially viable undertaking, but it still has tremendous political power. If we understand it that way, that is the appeal of these legacy for many newspapers like the Washington Post, chicago tribune, boston globe. It will not make the money in the short term on that investment, but it gives them political power to advance their political agenda. For someone like jeff bezos, it could give him a great deal of money down the road. Could you respond about this purchase and to what Bob Mcchesney said about how the value has been declining for several consecutive years, and talk about why jeff bezos may have made the purchase . He talks about being a luxury item, printed newspapers, i have a good sense that jeff bezos Washington Post will not remain a luxury item around capitol hill. It may go on line, but it will stay around capitol hill because he wants that kind of influence in the nations capital. Bezosbeen reading about politics, which is important when you are reducing your owner of a paper as important as the Washington Post, which urged us to get into the invasion of iraq in ticket ago. Bezos is like other corporate executives, liberal on social policy, gave money to the pro gay marriage initiative, but very conservative on economic policies that affect the corporations that made him wealthy and powerful. So we learn about bezos, he has donated money to the initiative in the state of washington, and big money, that was trying to institute an income tax on the top 1 of people in the state of washington. Was supported by bill gates of microsoft. Bezos was one of the millionaire that put money into stopping that. He is conservative on labor policy. We know what a bad neighbor policy amazon has. The Biggest Issue facing american journalism in the last month or so has been the surveillance state, and the corporation that profit from the surveillance state. 70 of the intelligence agencys budget that comes from the taxpayers is delivered to private contractors. As you mentioned, amazon just brought down a huge cia contract to provide clout services. We know that they want more contracts. Dennis johnson of Melville House, as a publisher, what are your feelings about amazon, your thoughts about jeff bezos buying the Washington Post . Publisherings as a are the same as an american, a tough company to deal with, who has developed a whole new model for the marketplace of ideas. Something to contribute to what the previous two speakers talked about, amazon, since its inception, has avoided collecting sales tax, not only in the u. S. , but across the world. Explained that. As a retailer, they are required to collect sales taxes for everything sold on their website. They have not done that since their inception. Originally founded the company on an indian reservation because he thought that he would have to deal less with taxes. It is kind of a sham, the other day, president obama went to speak at the warehouse in chattanooga, tenn. , which is the one that they opened in order to cut a deal with the states to not pay taxes for another year. They have not paid taxes in tennessee to date would have promised to employ 2000 people. Those are the jobs that obama was celebrating. This is a very damaging policy for a company to have. They are also being contested in the u. K. And elsewhere in europe for similar policies. The other thing is that they are a company that feels no pain. As far as i can tell, they never made money. Their sales are up astronomically, they made millions, but their losses are also up. A phenomenal track record. In the retail market, how do you compete with that . In the Book Business, how do the Small Companies compete with a company that can simply lose money like this . Simply, they cannot. So when he takes over the Washington Post and you wonder if he will make it profitable, he probably does not care. That is not what it is about. He does have 20 billion. Personally, yes, one of the wealthiest men in the country, if not the world. But the company, quarter after quarter, does not post a profit. In his letter to employees after purchasing the Washington Post, he seemed to address any potential conflict of interest, saying many people have pointed out that amazon ranks as some of the biggest spenders for High Technology Companies Seeking to influence the federal government. Dennis johnson, could you talk about the politics of what amazons lobbying efforts have been, and if this will influence the post under bezos . This is a very transparent move to make. This is a man that has growing interest in washington. We just concluded the department of justice prosecution of the book industry, a shocking case that seems to fly in the face of what we know about antitrust law in this country. Most in the Book Business feel that it was orchestrated by amazon, and indeed, they did file the initial complaint. When they won, most in the book industry we thought amazon was a monopoly to begin with, now we feel like it is a governmentsanctioned monopoly. Days after the decision comes down, the president goes to their warehouse to slap them on the back and say good job. Now that we have this new information, do you think president obama knew that he would be by the Washington Post when he went down last week . Post,eporters at the everyone seemed shocked. It was a wellkept secret, but other reports say that the deal was probably cut a month ago. Given the amount of information the nsa gathers on us, hard to believe that he did the know. What happened, the president was down there lauding a company that he said would reduce the middleclass, 11 an hour on average, they do not meet the living wage, they have tax avoidance. Breakare going to go to off and then come back. We are speaking to Dennis Johnson of Melville House. It at the college is also with us. Now is democracy we will be back in a minute. [music break] it says here by billy bragg. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. We are having a roundtable discussion of that jeff bezos purchasing the Washington Post. Dennis johnson is with us from of the house. Mac mcclelland is also with us. Read an article about jeff bezos written by someone from the Columbia School of journalism. She wrote interesting questions, and jeff cohen. These are all good questions. The one thing that is missing is the discretion of the hallowed journalistic traditions of the Washington Post. Any Media Consumer who has been looking at the articles in the last day and half has heard about what will happen to the Washington Post journalistic tradition. The paper of watergate. The paper that exposed watergate, published the pentagon papers. Serious and diligent news consumer will realize coming incidents like the watergate conspiracy and the pentagon papers, that was 40 years ago. The hallowed tradition of the Washington Post we are worried that bezos will ruin, and we do not know if it will get worse, it may not but that tradition, the Washington Post has really been a newspaper of the bipartisan consensus. In nations like iraq could hardly have happened without the editorial pages headed by a hawk, fred hiatt, who is still hise today, and in editorial pages before the iraq invasion, more than two d