Month: January 2006

Deadlines

Posted by on January 24, 2006 at 12:55 pm. NO Comments :

For those who care enough to have noticed…..Yes, I have not posted in a little while. I am preparing for an exhibition in early February and this has dominated every spare moment I have. But New Corpse marches on because there is an enemy that lurks (the media). In the meantime, here are some juicy tidbits to keep you irritated.


Bush is now putting the squeeze on leakers and journalists
With the vice president’s former top aide Lewis Libby under indictment and Karl Rove still in the special counsel’s sights, the Bush administration is eager to go on the offensive about classified leaks.

Debunking the Myth of a Liberal Media
A new right wing-funded ‘study’ employs comically unsound criteria to rate the media.

Reporters Ejected from Gov. Jeb Bush Speech in Florida
Five hotel security staffers and a sheriff’s deputy led reporters away from where they could hear the governor in the middle of a speech.

UPN and WB to Combine to Form New Network
Because more consolidation is exactly what broadcast media needs.

Paper Shutters Blog After Ombudsman Post
In her Sunday column, ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote that Abramoff “had made substantial campaign contributions to both major parties,” prompting a wave of nasty reader postings on post.blog.

CNN Headline News adds talk radio’s Beck to lineup
Beck’s selection has alarmed some liberal media watchdog groups, who view his new show as a sign that the CNN network is embracing the kind of opinionated conservative talk shows that helped make Fox News the top-ranked cable news channel.

White House Follows NewsMax’s Lead
[T]he administration does not want the public to think President Bush authorized “an illegal and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy of all Americans,” they are pushing back with a new name for the program.

NewsBlusters

Posted by on January 2, 2006 at 5:28 pm. NO Comments :

NewsBusters is a new project of the Media Research Center (MRC), the official public relations arm of the right-wing propaganda machine. A co-production of the MRC’s Brent Bozell and the team behind RatherBiased, NewsBusters describes their mission as providing, “…immediate exposure of liberal media bias, insightful analysis, constructive criticism and timely corrections to news media reporting.”

With a pedigree like that, you would be right to expect a frothing puddle of drool staining the blognoleum. Their current front page contains six alleged examples of liberal media bias that are actually the work of opinion columnists not reporters. Columnists, of course, are paid to be biased, and they share space/time with their conservative counterparts. One post that does address bona fide news content condemns the liberal slant because the reporter, Terry Moran, asks General Peter Pace, Chaiman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if he is concerned about the possibility of civil war in Iraq. How dare Moran ask such a reasonable question?

But the slimiest strand of spittle hanging from the NewsBuster’s lip is the article where they catch Jon Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek, explaining to Tim Russert that a new generation of news consumers may be less than impressed by the Bush administration’s accomplishments in 2005. NewsBusters says:

Meacham zeroes in on Bush as he bemoaned how Bush’s conduct “has raised a lot of questions about fundamental competence of the government, both abroad and at home, whether it’s in Baghdad or in New Orleans.” A conservative might see that as an unintended positive development.

Thank you, Buster Brent Baker, for admitting that conservatives view the tragedies in Iraq and New Orleans as positive because of their ability to paint government as incompetent. Now we know that the true agenda of BushCo all along was to fail so badly that America’s youth would learn to despise its government. Submission Accomplished.

Give Me Liberty, But Not Too Much

Posted by on January 1, 2006 at 7:17 pm. NO Comments :

The commencement of a new year brings with it an almost genetic predisposition for optimism. There is a sense of starting over with fresh enthusiasm and a renewed determination to realize your hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, the White House has entered the new year clinging stubbornly to the one whose expiration just came due.

2005 was a year that saw the glaze clearing from America’s eyes. The public’s opinion of the president and his policies declined steadily throughout the year. Social Security privatization, Cindy Sheehan, and Valerie Plame all contributed to this. So did the continuing incompetency in the handling of the war in Iraq, the war on terror, and a new level of incompetency when Katrina came ashore in New Orleans. Certainly the indictments of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, et al, didn’t help the president’s image.

But Bush soldiers on without regret or consolation. He has lately taken to declarations of responsibility (WMDs, Katrina, bad intelligence, etc.), but with an insincerity that negates the point. His version of responsibility contains none. There are no consequences, no restitution, and no modification of behavior. No one has been fired or even punished for these failures. Indeed, many have been promoted and/or rewarded. Policy has not been amended, tactics have not been changed and oversight has been obstructed at all levels of government and law. Exactly what does responsibility mean to Mr. Bush?

On this New Year’s Day, President Bush continues to defend the warrantless eavesdropping that he authorized the National Security Agency to engage in. New reports indicate that even high-ranking officials in the Ashcroft Justice Department refused to go along these measures. And despite the dubious legality of this, he has insisted that it will continue because he says that…
“…the American people expect the Commander-in-Chief to protect them, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
But the American people have made it clear that they oppose these violations of their civil liberties. Any expression of this opposition, however, is viewed as de facto treason. Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) went so far as to preemptively blame any future terrorist attacks on opponents of the renewal of the Patriot Act. The administration view is that Liberty is a bargaining chip in the negotiation for Security. The more Liberty you give up, the more Security you get. Such a deal.

The NSA affair has at least alerted the president to the potential harm that leaking classified information can cause. Well, maybe not when it’s one of his top advisors disclosing the identity of covert CIA agents, but if someone spills to the New York Times that the president may be in violation of federal law, there will be hell to pay. Or maybe not.

The president has recently been whining about the shameless leaks that formed the basis of the Times’ story. This is the story that the Times withheld for more than a year at the request of the president. Now the Justice Department has joined in by announcing that there will be a full investigation. Here’s what I want to know: If leaking these activities to the Times was such a threat to national security, and the White House new about the leaks a year ago when they convinced the Times to hold back, why wasn’t there an investigation initiated a year ago when this so-called national security threat was revealed? Apparently the only threat the White House recognizes is the one to the president’s political viability.