Chatting with journalist and author Greg Palast

Administrator: Thanks for your patience...We’ll be with you in a moment!

FLoppy: Where’s Palast?

timesbooth1: Do you have any morsel of hope to toss to your rather rage-fatigued readers? Please? :o) Anything in the news?

FLoppy: Do you think the media helps or hurts the democratic process in the U.S.?

Greg Palast: Greg Palast, reporting

timesbooth1: Hooray!

Greg Palast: ..Morsel of hope? What regime do you live in?

seantgla: What’s the biggest issue confronting the United States?

Greg Palast: Yeah, here’s something to hand on to ....They had to STEAL the election.

FLoppy: What evidence do you have of ballot rigging in Florida?

timesbooth1: If you saw me, I’m covered in black.....

Greg Palast: You’ll have to buy the books, FLop. Until Patriot Act III goes into effect, you can get Armed Madhouse which gives you the skinny on the Theft of 2000, 2004 and 2008.

timesbooth1: ...and there is plenty of evidence in the book. It seemed to be common knowledge to Europeans that our elections were unfair. DO you see the veil falling away from the eyes of Americans or is there still a lot of resistance?

Greg Palast: Here’s other good news. Karl Rove just reviewed my book. I’m not kidding. In an email subpoened by Congress, his Rove-bots were gloating that ‘British reporter Palast’ can’t get US media cover. We’ll I’m on Book TV this week with Amy Goodman. It ain’t the BS nightly news, but it’s a crack in the Berlin wall.

Administrator: Greg, what makes you angriest about the U.S

timesbooth1: There are worse things than being pegged as British. Especially by ROve.

Greg Palast: the biggest issue facing the US? The Truth Famine. Americans are starved for information. We get McNews -- which makes us fat, indolent and fearful.

FLoppy: Are you some kind of commie?

Administrator: Why are americans starved for information? they get more information than ever?!

Greg Palast: Resistence in US media? No s---!

howdy: I thought this was a moderated conversation. What kind of question is that FLop?

Greg Palast: Some kind of commie? Yeah, a GregPalast-dot-commie. Same as your mommie.

seantgla: What’s the best sourcve of news in the U.S.?

gary: We have more news cable channels, web sites, but no context or analysis of how events relate to each other.

timesbooth1: I know the media won’t cover it--but are more Americans realizing what’s going on by other informatin such as your website, etc.. Or is it just the same group of us squawking a little louder?

Greg Palast: Other good news - which I probably shouldn’t put on the Times website -- but it’s great to see American metropolitcan dailies dying of self-inflicted wounds. Too many pre-cooked stories. The only organic stuff’s on the ‘Net.

Administrator: Who can we trust? what are the blogs we can trust?

timesbooth1: Any new sites to recommend?

FLoppy: Well, since you’ve got the inside track: What [Participant left chat.]

Greg Palast: I don’t trust ‘blogs’ either. They are spots for commentaries ... you want something to gnaw on? Go to BBC. com and DemocracyNow.com

Greg Palast: oops -- DemocracyNow.org

gary: I don’t think one website has the corner on news, but you need to sample a few to get the big picture.

timesbooth1: Is the BBC news that we see chnged or edited (as the USA version)?

seantgla: You don’t think the BBC has a bias?

Greg Palast: I tend, myself, to read nothing but the Wall Street Journal. Though I skim the NY Times every day to find out what my betters think I should know.

Greg Palast: BBC has lots of biases. Don’t YOU?

Administrator: Why the WSJ?

Greg Palast: Keep in mind that I’m not a commentator. I’m not a faux economist like Thomas Friedman. I’m an investigative reporter. So the sites I check on the

FLoppy: Do you think it would be better if American media all took a side, like FNC?

Greg Palast: ... so the sites I check on the ‘Net are all technical. Though I did find Al Qaeda’s site informative, as you’ll see in Armed Madhouse.

Administrator: Which sites do you go to for news besides WSJ and DN.org?

Administrator: do you ever read TruthOut?

Greg Palast: American media DOES that a side. The side of the owners of American media. All my stuff on BBC Newsnight is available free to ABC TV. Do you think that pimple on the corporate rectum of Mickey Mouse is going to put on anything that will disturb the Corporate Cheese-biters?

Administrator: what’s a cheese biter?

timesbooth1: It seems that the mainstream media is now reflecting the disilusionment of the bulk of America, but still won’t ask the toough questions or expose any information toounsettling. What do you think will be the turning point? What does this regime have to do to get called on the carpet--besides a good old fashioned sex scandal?

Greg Palast: The corporate chiefs at Disney that own ABC. You know, the guys with the big salaries and big ears.

Administrator: Greg has to go now, but thank you all for joining us and thank you, Greg!

timesbooth1: Thank you!

howdy: keep on rocking in the free world!

howdy: keep on rocking in the free world!

Greg Palast: If you want to rock, check out the CD that goes with the book: Live from the Armed Madhouse, produced by Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) which includes my rants plus Ed Asner reading my book to a hip-hop track. If that ain’t strange, I don’t know what is.

Greg Palast: One other thing before I shunt my moral coil: A big up to my friend Alec Baldwin - who may join me tonight at the Immanuel Presby church 3300 Wilshire Blvd - a benefit at 7pm for KPFK.