Difference between revisions of "Greg Palast"

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(*Allen Ruff, "[http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/07/palast-on-the-steppes-of-a-dictatorship/ American Borat? Palast on the Steppes of a Dictatorship]", ''Counterpunch'', May 7, 2013.)
 
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Greg Palast is a journalist for the British Observer (a newspaper) and a self-proclaimed expert on corporate power; who works with labor groups and consumer groups. Notably, he has accused Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and Florida Elections Unit Chief Clay Roberts, along with the ChoicePoint corporation, of voter fraud during the US Presidential Election of 2000.
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'''Greg Palast''' is a [[journalist]] for ''The Observer'', a UK newspaper, and numerous other media oulets including the BBC. Palast [[blogs]] at [http://www.gregpalast.com/index.php GregPalast.com].
  
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Palast has lectured at Cambridge University and the University of São Paulo. He lives in London and New York City. Palast is originally from Los Angeles, the "scum-end of LA, between the power plant and the garbage dump", and was educated at the University of Chicago, where he claims to have infiltrated the "Chicago Boys".
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==Background==
  
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ChoicePoint and the 2000 Election
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Palast is originally from Los Angeles, the "scum-end of LA, between the power plant and the garbage dump". In his book ''The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'' Palast recounts that he attended the [[University of Chicago]] where he worked his "way into [[Milton Freedman]]'s post-graduate seminar and into a strange clique, which later became known as the 'Chicago Boys'." From 1975 he worked as a researcher and negotiator for the United Electrical Workers Union. 
  
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Palast argues that ChoicePoint has a bias in favor of the Republican Party and knowingly used inaccurate data during the 2000 Election. Allegations include listing voters as felons for alleged crimes said to have been committed several years in the future. In addition, people who had been convicted of a felony in a different state and had their rights restored by said state, were not allowed to vote despite the restoration of their rights. Furthermore, it is argued that people were listed as felons based on a coincidence of names, despite other data (such as date of birth) which showed that the criminal record did not apply to the voter in question.
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He went on to work for the Chugach tribe in Alaska investigating the Exxon Valdez disaster before moving into journalism.
  
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One should note Schlenther v. Florida Department of State (June 1998) which ruled that Florida could not prevent a man convicted of a felony in Connecticut, where he had not lost his voting rights, from voting. However, Florida continued to insist that felons who had been granted their full rights must first receive clemency from Governor Bush, a process which could take up to 2 years and ultimately was left to the discretion of Bush. NAACP filed suit arguing that Florida was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 and the US Constitution, while others argued that Florida was in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
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Palast has lectured at Cambridge University and the University of São Paulo. He lives in London and New York City.
  
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Long Island Lighting
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*Member of the [[The Real News: International Founding Committee]]
  
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In 1988, Palast directed a US civil racketeering investigation into the nuclear plant builder Long Island Lighting, in which a jury awarded the plaintiffs US$4.8 billion, however, New York's chief federal judge had the verdict thrown out.
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==ChoicePoint and the 2000 Election==
  
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Exxon Valdez
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More recently, Palast is best known for his investigations of Florida Governor [[Jeb Bush]], Florida Secretary of State [[Katherine Harris]], and Florida Elections Unit Chief [[Clay Roberts]], along with the [[ChoicePoint]] corporation, of 'scrubbing' voter lists ahead of the US Presidential Election of 2000.
  
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Palast has argued that the cause of the Exxon Valdez accident (1989) was an Exxon decision to turn the ship's radar off (in order to save money), as well as to various other breaches of safety regulations.
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Palast argues that ChoicePoint has a bias in favor of the [[Republican Party]] and knowingly used inaccurate data during the 2000 Election. Allegations include listing voters as felons for alleged crimes said to have been committed several years in the future. In addition, people who had been convicted of a felony in a different state and had their rights restored by said state, were not allowed to vote despite the restoration of their rights. Furthermore, it is argued that people were listed as felons based on a coincidence of names, despite other data (such as date of birth) which showed that the criminal record did not apply to the voter in question.
  
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Reliant
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One should note Schlenther v. Florida Department of State (June 1998) which ruled that Florida could not prevent a man convicted of a felony in Connecticut, where he had not lost his voting rights, from voting. However, Florida continued to insist that felons who had been granted their full rights must first receive clemency from Governor Bush, a process which could take up to 2 years and ultimately was left to the discretion of Bush. [[NAACP]] filed suit arguing that Florida was in violation of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1964]] and the US Constitution, while others argued that Florida was in violation of the [[National Voter Registration Act of 1993]].
  
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Palast believes that Reliant maintains a file on him, including false data regarding his sex life, which they distribute as propaganda against him (1-p.112).
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==Writings by Greg Palast==
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===Articles===
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*[http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4594 "The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom. And The No Longer 'Missing' Rove Emails Revealing the Cagey Scheme to Steal 2008...,"] ''The Brad Blog'', May 24, 2007. re [[Monica Goodling]] and the [[Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy]]
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===Columns===
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*[http://www.gregpalast.com/archive/ Archived articles] at GregPalast.com.
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:*Greg Palast, "[http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=402&row=0 A stolen Election: The View From My Black Helicopter]", ''The Nation'', December 29, 2004.
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* Inside Corporate America
  
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Quotes by Greg Palast
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===Books===
  
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    * "A couple of years ago, Mike Isikoff, passed me truly disturbing information on President Clinton, not your usual intern-under-the-desk stuff. I said, "Mike, why don't you print this?" And he said, "Because no one gives a shit." Where are you, America? Don't you want to know how your president was elected? How the IMF spends your money?"
 
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    * "Come by my town today and count the strip malls and fluorescent signs directing you to, "Bagels Hot! Cars Like NEW No Down-Payment! Dog Burger!", where corn once grew."
 
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    * "Every landlord of fenced-in intellectual real estate began life as a thief. As Isaac Newton would say now, "If I see further than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants too dumb to patent their discoveries!"
 
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    * "Multinational corporations, many you've never heard of, may soon have extraordinary control of your health, your culture, and your freedom."
 
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    * "One in eight American adults has worked at a McDonald's. This acts as a kind of moral instruction for the working class, as jail time does for ghetto residents."
 
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    * "In the deregulated market, profits are privatized and losses are socialized."
 
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    * "The purpose of every industrial revolution is to make craft and skills obsolete, and thereby make people interchangeable and cheap."
 
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    * "Quietly tucked into Bush's budget is a big fat zero for the key EPA civil enforcement team. This has no connection whatsoever to the petrochemical industry dumping $48,000,000 into the Republican campaign."
 
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    * "The spiky-haired protesters in Seattle believe there's some kind of grand conspiracy between the corporate powers, the IMF, the World Bank, and agencies which work to suck the blood of Bolivians and steal the gold from Tanzania. But the tree-huggers are wrong; the details are far more stomach-churning than they imagine."
 
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    * "Who owns America? How much did it cost? Was the transaction cash, check, or credit? Or a donation? Or a consulting contract? What do you give a billionaire who has everything? A gold mine? Immunity from prosecution?"
 
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    * "The world's 300 richest people are worth more than the world's poorest 3,000,000,000. Between 1983 and 1997, 85.5% of the increase in America's wealth was captured by the richest 1%. Overall US income rocketed - of which 80% of Americans saw 0%. The market's up, but who is the market?"
 
  
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*Greg Palast, [http://www.amazon.com/Armed-Madhouse-Baghdad-Orleans--Sordid-Secrets/dp/0452288312/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1286529327&sr=8-3 Armed Madhouse], Plume, Revised U.S. Edition April 2007. ISBN 0452288312
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*Greg Palast, [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452283914/104-0170010-2537534 The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization and High-Finance Fraudsters], Plume Books, revised U.S. edition January 2003. ISBN 0452283914
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*Greg Palast, Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor (editors), [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0745319424/qid=1106784702/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-0170010-2537534?v=glance&s=books Democracy And Regulation : How the Public can Govern Essential Services], Pluto Press, January 2003. ISBN 0745319424
  
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Quotes regarding Greg Palast
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==Criticism==
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*Allen Ruff, "[http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/07/palast-on-the-steppes-of-a-dictatorship/ American Borat? Palast on the Steppes of a Dictatorship]", ''Counterpunch'', May 7, 2013.
  
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    * Cleveland Free Times -- "The world's greatest investigative reporter you've never heard of."
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==Related SourceWatch Resources==
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    * Daily Mirror -- "The Liar! Sleaze Reporter!"
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* [[electoral fraud]]
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    * Tony Blair-- "Palast's reports have not one shred of evidence!"
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* [[International Monetary Fund]]
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    * Will Hutton -- "All power to Palast's pen!"
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* [[Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sin]]
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* [[World Bank]]
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* [[World Trade Organization]]
  
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Writings by Greg Palast
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==External links==
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*Max Gross, [http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.08.15/faces.html Muckraking Crusader Creeps Onto the Bestseller List], ''Forward'', August 15, 2003.
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*[[David Corn]], "[http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=2037 More on the 'Stolen Election']", ''The Nation'', November 30, 2004.
  
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Columns
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[[category:journalism]][[category:media]]
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    * Inside Corporate America
 
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Books
 
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    * Democracy and Regulation (2003) (Co-Authors: Theo MacGregor and Jerrold Oppenheim)
 
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    * The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (2002)
 
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External link
 
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    * The Writings of Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com) (official)
 
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See also:
 
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    * International Monetary Fund
 
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    * Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sin
 
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    * World Bank
 
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    * World Trade Organization
 
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References
 
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    * 1 -- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast (2002)
 

Latest revision as of 21:07, 7 May 2013

Greg Palast is a journalist for The Observer, a UK newspaper, and numerous other media oulets including the BBC. Palast blogs at GregPalast.com.

Background

Palast is originally from Los Angeles, the "scum-end of LA, between the power plant and the garbage dump". In his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy Palast recounts that he attended the University of Chicago where he worked his "way into Milton Freedman's post-graduate seminar and into a strange clique, which later became known as the 'Chicago Boys'." From 1975 he worked as a researcher and negotiator for the United Electrical Workers Union.

He went on to work for the Chugach tribe in Alaska investigating the Exxon Valdez disaster before moving into journalism.

Palast has lectured at Cambridge University and the University of São Paulo. He lives in London and New York City.

ChoicePoint and the 2000 Election

More recently, Palast is best known for his investigations of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and Florida Elections Unit Chief Clay Roberts, along with the ChoicePoint corporation, of 'scrubbing' voter lists ahead of the US Presidential Election of 2000.

Palast argues that ChoicePoint has a bias in favor of the Republican Party and knowingly used inaccurate data during the 2000 Election. Allegations include listing voters as felons for alleged crimes said to have been committed several years in the future. In addition, people who had been convicted of a felony in a different state and had their rights restored by said state, were not allowed to vote despite the restoration of their rights. Furthermore, it is argued that people were listed as felons based on a coincidence of names, despite other data (such as date of birth) which showed that the criminal record did not apply to the voter in question.

One should note Schlenther v. Florida Department of State (June 1998) which ruled that Florida could not prevent a man convicted of a felony in Connecticut, where he had not lost his voting rights, from voting. However, Florida continued to insist that felons who had been granted their full rights must first receive clemency from Governor Bush, a process which could take up to 2 years and ultimately was left to the discretion of Bush. NAACP filed suit arguing that Florida was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 and the US Constitution, while others argued that Florida was in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Writings by Greg Palast

Articles

Columns

  • Inside Corporate America

Books

Criticism

Related SourceWatch Resources

External links

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