Jim Webb disses McCain and Bush on Olbermann

They took credit for G.I. Bill. Uh, well, maybe not deserving...

Seymour Hersh on Iran....

Courtesy of Talking Points Memo.

A couple of new posts....

Been busy (new book proposal) and under the weather but here is link to Huff Post which has a couple of my most recent postings (along with dozens from the past): Texas' top court backs exorcism, which could help or hurt past endorser Bobby Jindal -- and more stuff involving a death in a war zone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/

Is Lara Logan being punished for Iraq news views?

Sorry so few posts this week, have battled bad cold. Anyway, Will Bunch has an interesting post at Attytood today on the Lara Logan "sex scandal" breaking today, raising the possibility that she is being trashed for her outspoken views on (lack of) Iraq coverage even at her own CBS, where she just got a big promotion. She was a hit on the Daily Show last week and Will has a link to it, too.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Is_Lara_Logan_being_smeared_for_her_criticism_of_the_media.html

Sunday transcendence

In this week's installment of our ongoing Beethoven festival, we have something a little different: rather than a 5 to 10 minute clip of an epic performance, here is a 56-minute lecture-with-music at Stanford by public radio's Rob Kapilow with the St. Lawrence Quartet probing one of the master's greatest works, the "Heiliger Dangesang" movement. Keep this in mind for a rainy day (such as right now in the NYC area).

Military lied to press and family about murder in Iraq

Last August I reported on yet another "noncombat" death in Iraq, a 20-year-old woman from Texas who allegedly was a victim of friendly fire. Late her family was told that, actually, it was murder (her fellow soldier then killed himself), but it took them another six months to get more from the military. The full story:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003819038

Jeff Gannon is back!

Actually, it turns out he never left. The former rightwing White House correspondent/alleged male escort quietly joined the National Press Club in Washington and has even been named to two committees and has a blog there. E&P was the first mainstream outlet to write about Gannon/Guckert years but a high point was at Stephen Colbert's famous White House Correspondents Dinner routine -- that film he did with Helen Thomas featured a "Gannon" button on the press secretary's podium. Back in the days of ....Scott McClellan. Here is something from me:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/jeff-gannon-returns----as_b_107799.html

V.A. using Iraq vets as guinea pigs in drug tests

Here's my E&P piece, also posted at Huff and Kos.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003817362

He shot himself in front of his troops -- the update

Last December, the great Kelly Kennedy at Military Times in her four-part series on a unit she embedded with in Iraq revealed that a much-respected but highly-stressed first sergeant killed himself in front of his troops. It was a key that led to a mini-mutiny. I wrote about Kelly's first article months ago but now she has produced the full story. I put it up at DailyKos and it has been the top "diary" there almost all day. Here is the E&P version:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003816740

Sunday transcendence

Continuing (barely) our tradition, here is Jonathan Biss playing and "explaining" Beethoven, a three-minute clip. We will be seeing Jonathan a couple of times at Tanglewood next month doing the Triple Concerto and the immortal "Archduke."

For Father's Day: Saying goodbye to Shea

Well, it will be memorable, I'll say that. My son Andy is home from film school for another week, so for Father's Day we went to an alleged Mets game at Shea Stadium. We are both longtime Mets lovers and he wanted to say goodbye to Shea -- and get a look at the hulking new brick stadium going up just beyond the left field fence. Great idea.

What a night! Rained all the way to Flushing, then we sat in the downpour--with the sun out--in the parking lot for 25 minutes, then when in when let up a bit, got inside and grabbed a dog. Andy ordered a coke but the vendor gave him a beer (he is 20.9 years-old), so we shared our first beers at a ball game ever.

Moved upstairs in the Mezz under the overhang to stay dry. And there we sat in the rain, with the tarp NOT coming off the field and thunder and lightning flashin', just like in "Chimes of Freedom." I had just got done telling Andy that on rare occasions, players emerge from a dressing room and do belly flops on the slick tarp, just for fun - probably more for themselves than for the fans. Ten minutes later, sure enough, Josh Hamilton and five other Rangers came out and did just that, to the delight of the fans, who started chanting "Let's go Rangers." The game got called ten minutes later, so maybe the Rangers knew something.

Then, on the radio driving back home -- still raining! -- the WFAN callers complained that passionless Willie Randolph had blown it again, supposedly not letting his Mets join the fun on the tarp. Andy called in and actually got on the air with a more sensible observation: the tired Mets desperately needed the night off, even if we missed our game. That's my photo above as evidence.

On father's day: Remembering the kids left fatherless by the war

My entry today at Huff Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/on-fathers-day-remember-t_b_107190.html

Good golly, Miss Molly! I was finalist for Ivins' honor

As a longtime fan of Molly Ivins, it was a thrill to learn that I was one of six finalists for the first MOLLY journalism prize, named in honor of the writer who died last year and given by her beloved Texas Observer. We put a story up about it today at E&P, and others also covered it. I was honored for four columns I wrote for E&P on issues surrounding Iraq soldiers or vets -- three of them appear in my new Iraq/media book.

The awards dinner is tonight in Austin and I am here to say that I did NOT win, but as they say, it was great to just be nominated, considering the woman behind the award. My wife Barbara was one of the last people to interview her, just before she died, and Molly said then that she had decided not to write about any other subject beyond Iraq until the war ended. So, sadly, had she lived, she would still be sticking to that subject today. I am proud to carry on that work in my own way.

Joe the Schmoe: Lieberman Needed Obama's Help in 2006, Now Turns Against Him

That's gratitude for you. Now he hints that Obama may be a Muslim or even a Marxist.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/details-on-the-night-obam_b_106589.html

PTSD, suicides, soldiers-on-meds gets major attention

At long last. Here is my Huff Post post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/scandal-of-suicides-soldi_b_106295.html

Moyers hails my book in speech

I am re-posting this Moyers speech for this weekend since someone has helpfully pointed out that he mentions my work and my book just after the 20-minute mark...Also, hope you have caught on the web or on Olbermann, Moyers' run-in with Bill O'Reilly's "stalker."

"Courage" from Dan Rather?

Sounding more like Bill Moyers every day, Dan Rather hit Iraq coverage and "corporate media" at the Reform conference on Saturday. Here is my write-up:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003813671

Sunday transcendence

Visitors may know that in this space each week we present some phenomenal performance of some amazing Beethoven piece. Just to show we don't take it all that seriously, here is a famous Beethoven parody by the late Dudley Moore. There's an earlier black and white concert hall version also at YouTube.

Bill Moyers speaks today to the Media Reform conference

In Minneapolis. Here is most of it.

Family still awaits truth on death of Mia Farrow's nephew in Iraq

I wrote about this case a couple of weeks ago and it continues to haunt. Dene was sent back to Iraq for another tour despite severe medical issues, and leaves behind a wife and three kids. The uncle previously called Bush a "war criminal." Mia Farrow paid tribute to him on her blog and asked, "How many more?" Of course, this is just one of hundreds of recent cases much like this, which I have been covering for fully five years now. My latest at Huff Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/family-of-mia-farrows-nep_b_105672.html

Video and transcript for GM on Moyers show tonight

Here it is. Interview was heavily edited but came out well, I think. I am also blogging there, check it out.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06062008/watch2.html

How to order my book, 'So Wrong for So Long'

You can do it via the links section at the left (clicking on the book cover won't work), taking you to Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or find it in leading bookstores. I'm grateful for the tremendous response so far, ranging from appearances on the Jim Lehrer NewsHour, NPR, Keith Olbermann, and Democracy Now! to great reviews in the L.A. Times and Vanity Fair online, with more to come. It has been a featured book selection at Talking Points Memo and FireDogLake, excerpted at Salon, with articles drawn from it at Mother Jones, Huff Post, Daily Kos, TPM, and a dozen other leading sites. The blurbs for the book follow. The book features a preface by Bruce Springsteen and foreword by Joe Galloway. Thanks again for your support.

"Greg Mitchell has given us a razor-sharp critique of how the media and the government connived in one of the great blunders of American foreign policy. Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit—and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looks to the press to help keep them separate—should read this book. Twice."— Bill Moyers

“The profound failure of the American press with regard to the Iraq War may very well be the most significant political story of this generation. Greg Mitchell has established himself as one of our country's most perceptive media critics, and here he provides invaluable insight into how massive journalistic failures enabled the greatest strategic disaster in the nation's history.”— Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com writer and author of A Tragic Legacy and How Would a Patriot Act?

"With the tragic war in Iraq dragging on, and the drumbeat for new conflicts growing louder, this is more than a five-year history of the biggest foreign policy debacle of our times—it's a cautionary tale that is as relevant as this morning's headlines. Read it and weep; read it and get enraged; read it and make sure it doesn't happen again."— Arianna Huffington

"Anyone who cares about the integrity of the American media should read this book. Greg Mitchell asks tough questions about the Iraq war that should have been asked long ago, in a poignant, patriotic, and thoughtful dissection of our war in Iraq. Mitchell names names and places blame on those who’ve blundered. Examining the most complex issue of our time, he connects the dots like no one else has."— Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America and author of Chasing Ghosts

Watch me on 'Bill Moyers Journal' on Friday night

We taped this morning in NYC for a show that also features two of the McClatchy/Knight Ridder team who were among the few who were NOT so wrong for so long, John Walcott and Jonathan Landay. More later. I am also blogging at the popular Moyers site where you will be able to read much more about show and war issues. Promo for Moyers here and story below: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14148317ke2Jzhrm
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003812986

McCain's "Margaritaville" speech a classic

Enjoy the senator's attempt to counter Obama, against a lime backdrop, and wonder if it offers hints of things to come. Talking Points Memo has the fun video.

Obama beats both Clintons to wrap it up

So much for the Yogi Berra strategy -- it's over so that means it's over. But Hillary still won't concede and Terry McAuliffe, minus whiskey bottle, just showed up on The Daily Show to proclaim her the winner. Meanwhile, Bill C calls Todd Purdum a "scumbag" but the NYT won't print that word. Here is my report:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003811120

Jon and Stephen have some fun with Scotty

McClellan on The Daily Show and Colbert on "media culpa."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=100381093

Charlie bit me

My won sent me this under-60-seconds video-- has gotten 29 MILLION YouTube views and, eat your hearts out fellow bloggers, over 38,000 COMMENTS.

Sunday transcendence

In our weekly feature, the concluding four minutes of the 3rd movement of Beethoven's final immortal string quarter, Opus 135, by the Amedeus Quartet, whose 2nd violinist just passed away 11 days ago.

Mia Farrow's nephew dies in Iraq -- uncle pens angry letter

Yet another horrific "noncombat" story: And the uncle labels Bush a "war criminal." Read it here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003810398