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It is a frightening fact that, in a time of unprecedented advances in communication technology, the quality of that communication is in sharp decline.

Indeed in American Culture, quality journalism seems to be in crisis. Newspapers are closing, broadcast news rooms are being emptied of some of the brightest and most experienced reporters and public scrutiny of public business...particularly in the government...is absent at best and intentionally skewed at worst.

Robert McChesney brings his educated viewpoint to this crisis in the communications era. McChesney is the author of several books on media and politics, professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, host of the weekly talk show, Media Matters, on WILL-AM radio, and cofounder of the media reform organization Free Press. Free Press Co Founder and journalist John Nichols is his collaborator on this important new book

Not only does "The Death and Life of American Journalism" Take a close look at the forces...some economic, some accidental and some deliberate...that have put the craft of the journalist in a state of crisis...but the book also details how the same social and technological forces that have endangered the craft can revitalize it...and revitalize America in the Process.

For additional information on Robert McChesney "The Death and Life of American Journalism" please visit http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Death-and-Life-of-American-Journalism


The US Supreme Court's Sanctions Injustice

•  Justice Stories     updated  2011/04/09 12:08

The INSIDER EXCLUSIVE will produce a Network TV Special on this tragic story of Injustice... detailing the "illegal activities" of the New Orleans DA's Office, and examine the "mindset" of the five Justices who sanction prosecutorial misconduct in America today.... putting innocent people in jail.

"Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere"  - as John Thompson personally tells his own "nightmare story of injustice".

Last month, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to overturn a case John had won against Harry Connick Sr's New Orleans DA Office who oversaw his case, ruling that they were not liable for the failure to turn over that evidence — which included proof that blood at the robbery scene wasn’t John Thompson's.

The prosecutors involved in his two cases, from the office of the Orleans Parish district attorney, Harry Connick Sr., helped to cover up 10 separate pieces of evidence. And most of them are still able to practice law today.

In addition, of the six men one of John's prosecutors got sentenced to death, five eventually had their convictions reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In America today......This could happen to you 

Because of that, prosecutors are free to do the same thing to someone else today.


Read John's personal NY Times Opinion essay "The Prosecution Rests, but I Can’t".... and remember "Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere".

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10thompson.html?pagewanted=2&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Please visit John's website:  Resurrection After Exoneration   http://www.r-a-e.org/home

Right to Die – Dr. Jack Kevorkian

•  Justice Stories     updated  2010/01/12 21:39

William James once said, “In any project the important factor is your belief. Without belief there can be no successful outcome.” Dr. Jack Kevorkian believes... and believes... and believes in every terminal patient’s right to physician-assisted suicide. He famously said that “dying is not a crime.” Passion and purpose go hand in hand. When you discover your purpose, you will normally find it’s something you’re tremendously passionate about. And that is the simple reason why Geoffrey Fieger became the lawyer for “Dr. Death,” Dr Jack Kevorkian. Both Jack and Geoff forced us to pay attention to one of the biggest elephants in society’s living room: the fact that today vast numbers of people are alive who would rather be dead, people who have lives not worth living.

On the November 22, 1998, broadcast of 60 Minutes, Jack aired a videotape he had made on September 17, 1998, which showed the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, 52, an adult male of sound mind, who was in the final stages of ALS. After Youk provided his fully-informed consent on September 17, 1998, Jack himself administered a lethal injection to Youk. During the videotape, Jack dared the authorities to try to convict him or stop him from carrying out assisted suicides. This incited the prosecuting attorney to bring murder charges against Jack, claiming he had single-handedly caused the death of Youk. On March 26, 1999, Jack was charged with first-degree homicide and the delivery of a controlled substance. Jack was found guilty of second-degree homicide and the judge sentenced him to a 10-25 year prison sentence. Kevorkian was denied parole repeatedly. Terminally ill with Hepatitis C, which he contracted while doing research on blood transfusions in Vietnam, Jack was expected to die within a year in May 2006. He was paroled on June 1, 2007. He spent 8 years and 2 1/2 months behind bars rather than the predicted 10–25 years. Jack said he would abstain from assisting any more terminal patients with death, and his role in the matter would strictly be to persuade states to change their laws on assisted suicide. He is also forbidden by the rules of his parole from commenting about assisted suicide. Today, The Insider Exclusive will go “Behind the Headlines” as we visit with Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s lawyes, including his former trial lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, and his current lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, as well as journalist Jack Lessonberry, who has written extensively about Jack.

Mayer Morganroth is a high distinguished attorney who represented, among others, former Detroit Michigan mayor Coleman Young, and John DeLorean. In one of the most important "David-versus-Goliath" legal battles of recent years, it was Mayer Morganroth whose consummate legal skills won a $19 million dollar judgment for Murray Hill Publications against media giant 20th Century Fox in 2001. The best proof of the talent and skill of an attorney is that he is selected by another high-profile lawyer who is looking for legal help. Such was the case when Geoffrey Feiger, himself a nationally renowned attorney (with whom Mayer has worked in defense of Jack Kevorkian), asked Mayer to represent him in a recent case. But even in the sometimes electric atmosphere of a courtroom, Mayer is ingenious in displaying another of his many skills: the ability to assess a situation and handle it with just the right amount of seriousness-- or, if need be, just the right amount of levity.

http://www.insiderexclusive.com/component/content/article/1-shows/114-right-to-die-dr-jack-kevorkian-fieger-fieger-kenney-johnson-a-giroux

Geoffrey Fieger devotes himself to getting justice for his clients. He is a tireless and fearless champion for those whose rights have been violated. He was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of the State of Michigan in 1998, and the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University recently named its school for the education of trial lawyers The Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute. In June 2008 after almost three years, Geoffrey, represented by the legendary Gerry Spence in his final trial, won his own court battle against the Gonzales/Rove/Bush Justice Department when he was acquitted on all counts of alleged illegal campaign donations. Geoffrey has two degrees from the University of Michigan (B.A., 1974; M.A.,1976) and received his law degree from the Detroit College of Law-Michigan State University (J.D., 1979). He is a member of the Michigan and Florida Bar Associations.

Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Johnson & Giroux was founded over 50 years ago by Geoffrey’s father, Bernard Fieger, in a small house which still stands as the cornerstone of Fieger Law. Today, FFKJG is a 40,000-square-foot elegant edifice with 60 employees occupying a quarter mile of land in Southfield, Michigan—a near suburb of Detroit. Today, the Fieger Law Firm is the top personal injury firm in the country. People turn to Geoffrey Fieger and the other attorneys at the firm for help when they have been the victims of injustice, medical malpractice or personal injury.

You can contact Geoffrey Fieger at 248-355-5555, or www.fiegerlaw.com


GNC Faces Steriod Fraud Class Action

•  Justice Stories     updated  2008/10/06 09:29

General Nutrition Centers sells 19 ineffective steroid products aslegal, and if they are effective, then they're illegal, a class actionclaims in Federal Court. "If the steroid hormones marketed and sold byGNC were effective for such purpose, they would be illegal anabolicsteroids under Illinois and federal law. GNC is thus marketing andselling either snake oil or illegal controlled substances," thecomplaint states.
     "This consumer class action arises formGNC's sale of certain steroid hormones that GNC knows are ineffectivefor their intended, marketed and ordinary purpose," the complaintstates.
     "The utter lack of value to consumers who purchasesteroid hormone products from GNC lies at the heart of this case. GNCunfairly and deceptively masks this lack of value through knowingconcealments, false implications and affirmative misrepresentations."
    Plaintiffsdemand damages and an injunction for consumer fraud. They arerepresented in Cook County Chancery Court by John Goldsmith withTrenam, Kemker, Scharf of Tampa, Fla

Judge Demands the Opportunity to Defend Behavior

•  Justice Stories     updated  2008/08/06 10:28

Embattled District Judge Elizabeth Halverson says her due-process rights were trampled leading up to a Judicial Discipline Commission hearing this week to consider 14 counts of alleged misconduct lodged against the elected judge. Halverson was suspended last summer amid allegations that she created a hostile work environment, fell asleep during trials, improperly communicated with jurors and was inept at conducting trials.

She has continued to collect an annual salary of $130,000, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The judge has denied all charges of wrongdoing.

Halverson, who is up for re-election in the Aug. 12 primaries, says the hearing was calculated to generate "so much adverse media publicity so as to deny her any chance of re-election to the state office of which she is the incumbent."

Halverson says in her complaint filed in federal court that she was denied information and evidence necessary to her defense, and wasn't allowed to interview witnesses. She also claims alleged evidence against her was seized through warrantless searches.

Additionally, the judge says officials violated her Sixth Amendment right to counsel of her own choice by allowing her to select her own attorney on the condition that no continuance be sought.

Halverson has maintained that she has been unfairly targeted because of longstanding animosity between her and Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle, the Review-Journal reported. Hardcastle has denied those claims.

The discipline hearing began Monday and is expected to end Friday.

On Monday, Halverson, who had oxygen tubes in her nose, faced her former bailiff, who testified that the judge made him rub her feet, ordered him to microwave her meals in a bathroom after she used it, and had him spy on other judges and court staff, the Review-Journal reported.

Halverson is represented by Luke Ciciliano.

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