Greg Palast
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Greg Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author and a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper The Observer. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer advocacy 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 election fraud during the US Presidential Election of 2000 and again in 2004 where he argued that the problems and machinations from 2000 continued, and that challenger Kerry actually would have won if not for disproportional "spoilage" of Democratic votes. [1] (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-36.htm)
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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Election Claims
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.
Palast has also claimed that Ohio and New Mexico were really won by John Kerry in 2004, citing the results of exit polls, the second time in two Presidential elections he has leveled accusations of a stolen election.
Long Island Lighting
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.
Exxon Valdez
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.
Reliant
Palast believes that Reliant Energy maintains a file on him, including false data regarding his sex life, which they distribute as propaganda against him (1-p.112).
Quotes by Greg Palast
- "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?"
- "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."
- "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!"
- "Multinational corporations, many you've never heard of, may soon have extraordinary control of your health, your culture, and your freedom."
- "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."
- "In the deregulated market, profits are privatized and losses are socialized."
- "The purpose of every industrial revolution is to make craft and skills obsolete, and thereby make people interchangeable and cheap."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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?"
- "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?"
Quotes regarding Greg Palast
- Cleveland Free Times -- "The world's greatest investigative reporter you've never heard of."
- Daily Mirror -- "The Liar! Sleaze Reporter!"
- Tony Blair-- "Palast's reports have not one shred of evidence!"
- Will Hutton -- "All power to Palast's pen!"
Writings by Greg Palast
Columns
Books
- Democracy and Regulation (2003) (Co-Authors: Theo MacGregor and Jerrold Oppenheim)
- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (2002)
See also
- International Monetary Fund
- Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sin
- World Bank
- World Trade Organization
External links
- The Writings of Greg Palast (http://www.gregpalast.com) (official)
References
- 1 -- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast (2002)de:Greg Palast