I thought it was a wizard of oz reference... "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto"

"Al-Jazeera" means "the Island" not "the Truth." You might be thinking of Pravda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera (right at the top)

Well one outlet that doesn't take any corporate/foundation funding is: http://www.democracynow.org/ Any community-sponsored outlet is generally a good bet.

But as far as what we should "rally around," I think your question is missing the point. It isn't that the NYT, Slashdot, Fox, are 100% full of lies. There's obviously some truth/stories in there. You just need to figure out how to read them. Reading Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky and Herman is a great way to start to learn how to separate truth from falsehood.

And it's entirely possible that Democracy Now (not that I think this is at all likely) will be subverted by corporate goons tomorrow. So it's not like DN is infallible or anything. You just have to use your best judgment about how and where you consume news. As soon as you trust anyone else to carry out that task for you, you risk being deceived.

Who knows? If it's explained honestly to people, they will care. And you might be surprised about Fox: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/21/need-care-net-neutrality/ In terms of harm that the media causes, I think Fox is a relatively small player because most know they're full of it. As opposed to, say, the NYT http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730#

I agree, violence is not a solution. (But the Black Panthers were a much more complicated organization than you suggest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton )

Think of how any positive, lasting social change has come about: popular movements. Women's rights, civil rights, labor rights, etc... every single time a bunch of people got angry, informed, and organized and refused to go home until their demands were met. If we had a million strong rally outside the White House, you'd be sure Obama wouldn't cave again and again to the fringe right and the business lobbies.

It does not seem like the organization is calling for him to step down, rather a supporter of the organization.

Sorry for the short summary, I know it left out a lot of facts. If you want further (good) commentary and analysis of the issue, please see:

• Glenn Greenwald
• Heathlander

There are a lot of vigils / protests being planned worldwide to condemn this barbaric act of murder. These atrocities will only continue if the international community and the United States tolerate it, so it's important to participate. (If you want my opinion on this issue, please see: http://www.stanford.edu/~colligan/writings/israel.html )

1) Recruiting people does not mean you share their ideological views. Indeed, one of the selling points of Kagan (according to her supporters) is that in spite of her supposed liberal views she was able to recruit people from across the ideological spectrum, including conservatives, to Harvard Law School.

2) As the Solicitor General, you are a lawyer for the government. You argue their cases. We should not confuse positions she took as the Solicitor General with her own personal opinions on the cases.

If anyone wants the real story on Kagan (she's woefully unprepared for the Supreme Court) please read what Glenn Greenwald has recently been writing about her http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/13/kagan and a debate yesterday http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/10/progressives_divided_over_obamas_nomination_of

Glenn Greenwald has been writing about the anthrax issue for a while... check him out: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2008/08/01/anthrax and http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/03/04/anthrax/index.html and http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2008/08/04/anthrax/ and http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2007/04/09/abc_anthrax/index.html for starters

http://questioncopyright.org/what_we_lose_when_we_embrace_copyright

This guy sounds like the most prolific patent filer, not necessarily the most prolific inventor.

I am never very sympathetic to this argument that "media decentralization is bringing about the apocalypse." The New York Times can't print all the important news every day. Indeed, elite media outlets go out of their way to censor news that they feel is inconvenient for the elites -- see Chomsky and Herman's "Manufacturing Consent." Furthermore, there are dangers inherent in just the opposite, media consolidation. I don't want Rupert Murdoch (or whoever) determining programming on every channel I get.

Well also tar doesn't produce any output to stdout, so this will create an empty bigfile... use the -O option for that. cat * | tar -zxO > bigfile

Too complicated. Just use a console all the time. Nobody will ask to use your 'DOS' machine again.

From the linked article: "Editors Note - This story originally contained a representation that the biometrics trial in Atlanta and Detroit included the fingerprint scanning of US citizens. This has since been proved to be incorrect and the story has been modified - only non-US citizens will be expected to provide a biometric record."