Send Me To Netroots Nation

Posted by on May 27, 2008 at 7:49 pm. NO Comments :

Democracy for America is sponsoring a scholarship competition to send a worthy applicant to the Netroots Nation Conference in Austin, TX, in July. I have submitted an application for the scholarship and you can help me to win it.

To support me you can click on this button:

Then just log in (or create an account), optionally leave a comment, and submit your nomination. You can also just visit this page, log in, and click the link under Grassroots Supporters that says “add your support.”

This is a great way to reward me for all the hard work I do here for which I receive no compensation. And I promise to blog the Conference so that you all can benefit from my attendance. This is also an excellent time for you to learn more about Democracy for America and Netroots Nation – two outstanding advocates of media reform and the progressive agenda.

Thanks so much for your support.

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Spy On Vegans For The FBI

Posted by on May 27, 2008 at 11:05 am. 1 Comments :

The City Pages of Minneapolis, MN, is reporting on the recruitment efforts of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in advance of the Republican National Convention. The article tells the story of a University of Minnesota student who was solicited for undercover surveillance duty. The targets of the investigation are potential protesters. But the description of the assignment suggests a more far-reaching and ominous agenda.

“…What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant-someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back…”

So vegans are now a part of the “Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism?” I suppose the ranks of the domestic terrorists would also include peace activists, veterans against the war in Iraq, homeless missions, and senior citizens for health care reform. Obviously the FBI is casting a wide net in the hopes of suppressing dissent and chilling free speech. But it may be even worse than that.

The offer made to the would-be mole included payment, but only if an arrest was made. This arrangement, therefore, provides a financial incentive for participants to entrap subjects, or even to incite unrest. They might as well have placed an advertisement for “Agents Provocateur Wanted: No Scruples Necessary.”

This is another in a long list of initiatives by the Bush administration to pervert the mission of the Justice Department, turning it into a Republican Party Goon Squad. Does the FBI have a similar program for the Democratic National Convention? Who knows? We do know that the Bush Justice Department has prosecuted four times as many Democrats as Republicans. We know that they engaged in an unprecedented, partisan purging of U.S. Attorneys. We know that they have hired more personnel from Pat Robertson’s Regent University than any other single institution. And we know that they are responsible for the Orwellian tagged “Free Speech Zones” at public events where they fear that the voice of the people might be heard.

For now we can all rest a little easier knowing that Homeland Security is on the job protecting us from the unpatriotic cowards who refuse to murder animals for dinner.


The War Prayer

Posted by on May 26, 2008 at 1:30 am. 2 Comments :

From the Washington Monthly:
In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called “The War Prayer.” His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too inflammatory for the times. Twain agreed, but instructed that it be published after his death, saying famously that, “None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.”

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells.
Help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead.
Help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain.
Help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire.
Help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief.
Help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it.
For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.
Amen.”

Happy Memorial Day.


Stuttering Karl Rove Won’t Deny Siegelman Allegations

Posted by on May 25, 2008 at 4:26 pm. NO Comments :

Last week the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove, who has refused to appear before the Committee to answer questions regarding the investigation and prosecution of the former Democratic governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman. Rove is alleged to have improperly directed the Justice Department to pursue the Siegelman case for political purposes. Rove, who still appears on Fox News as Senior Political Contributor, despite his position as an “informal” adviser to John McCain (which Fox does not disclose to their viewers), was interviewed today by George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week. At the end of the interview, Stephanopoulos asks Rove about the Siegelman case and illicits this guilt-ridden response:

Stephanopoulos: To be clear, you did not contact the Justice department about this case?
Rove: Uh, I read about … I’m going to simply say what I’ve said about this before, which is I found out about Don Siegleman’s investigation and indictment by reading about it in the newspaper.
Stephanopoulos: But that’s not a denial.
Rove: Uh … I … I … I’ve … I’ve … uh … uh … I … you know … heh … I read about it … I’ve heard about it, read about it, learned about it for the first time by reading about it in the newspaper.

Stephanopoulos never actually asked Rove where he heard about the case. He asked if Rove had ever contacted the Justice Department about it. Not only did Rove evade answering the question, he couldn’t even spit out the lies his attorney had obviously coached him on. Watch for yourself:

It remains to seen if Rove will ever be brought to justice. The Congress has not been particularly assertive in these matters. And Rove is famous for squirming out of tough situations like this. In fact, that is how he got the nickname “Turd Blossom” bestowed by none other than George W. Bush.


Liz Trotta Of Fox News Jokes About Knocking Off Obama

Posted by on May 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm. 11 Comments :

It doesn’t get much worse than this. Liz Trotta is a Fox News contributor and former New York bureau chief of The Washington [Moonie] Times.

As if it isn’t enough to conflate Osama and Obama by mixing up the names (as many have done before her), she goes on to assert with giddy laughter…

“and now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama …uh… Obama … well, both if we could.”

The Fox anchor, Eric Shawn, merely laughed along saying, “Talk about how you really feel.” This is, sadly, not the first call for violence from Fox News personalities. Bill O’Reilly told listeners that he didn’t want to lynch Michelle Obama unless there was “evidence.” Sean Hannity said that keeping Nancy Pelosi from becoming Speaker of the House was “worth fighting and dying for.” Non-Foxie Rush Limbaugh has been inciting his dittoheads to “riot in Denver” at the Democratic National Convention.

I suppose this just validates O’Reilly’s warning that “before this presidential election year is over somebody is going to get hurt.” And it makes me wonder what he, and the rest of the Fox terrorists, know that we don’t.

Update: In some quarters of the InterTubes™ there is grumbling that the video above was deceptively edited. For anyone interested, here is a longer clip. I don’t see how the context changes with regard to Obama, but it does include Trotta disparaging Clinton as an evasive, lying, pandering, race-baiter. So much for objectivity.

Update II: Trotta apologized this morning:

“I am so sorry about what happened yesterday and the lame attempt at humor. I feel all over myself, making it appear that I wished Barack Obama harm or any other candidate, for that matter, and I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I have offended. It is a very colorful political season, and many of us are making mistakes and saying things we wish we had not said.”

I’m glad she apologized, but did she have to tack on the qualifier at the end that implies an excuse because, “Hey, everybody’s doing it.”?


The Truth About Fox News And Pravda

Posted by on May 25, 2008 at 1:47 pm. 1 Comments :

Ordinarily the viewpoint of a biased, journalistic extension of state propaganda would hardly seem noteworthy. The tendency of such an enterprise to weight its coverage with rosy scenarios penned by government scribes would render the reporting suspect at best. But enough about Fox News…

In an article analyzing the ratings competition between American cable news networks, it is Pravda that provides the clear-eyed view of American media. Reporting that CNN beat Fox News for the first time in seven years, Pravda opined that “TV viewers preferred the ‘objective’ CNN to Fox News that justifies George Bush’s policy. The article went on to quote the views of Joe Cuthbert, whom they identify as a Columbia University journalism professor:

“Fox News, a part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, engaged in one-sided advocacy of the stance of the current US administration, instead of providing all-round objective reports of election campaigns. Economists proved that George Bush would have never won the 2000 election but for the support from Fox News. The TV channel definitely backs up right-wing Republicans, Cuthbert considers. ‘Fox is rather the advocate of Bush’s government than a news TV channel. Now the political ship is sinking, and so is Fox.'”

This astute analysis from Pravda (which means “truth”), while accurate, needs to be taken with a bucket of salt. The article’s headline reads, “Most Americans do not even think about getting information from alternative news sources.” Few could argue with that, but there is nothing in the article that addresses that point other than the headline. And it’s obvious that the Russian version of Fox News is just as likely to propound views favorable to their political benefactors as Fox would be. In that respect they are comrades.

However, it was interesting to note their reference to economists and the 2000 election. They appear to be referring to a study (pdf), prepared by UC Berkeley and Stockholm University, that showed that Fox News may have had a discernible impact on the election that is rarely reported in the U.S.:

“We find a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000. Republicans gained 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns which broadcast Fox News.”

In an election as close as the one in 2000, those numbers could easily have altered the outcome.

While Pravda may have hit the mark as regards Fox News and Rupert Murdoch, I would not rush to associate myself with their conclusions. They are still an arm of the political hierarchy that is more interested in manipulating the public than in informing them. Which is exactly why pseudo-journalistic organizations that are really just fronts for government propaganda are so dangerous to free societies. But as I said above, enough about Fox News…

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Hillary & The Dead Kennedys

Posted by on May 23, 2008 at 9:56 pm. 4 Comments :

This past week has seen a perverse conspiracy of events that strains the capacity for people of good will to avoid giving up on civilization all together.

It began with the sad news that Sen. Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. As the shock and trauma of that news was settling in, James Rosen of Fox News declared on air that this could not be considered a tragedy because he had lived (past tense) a full life. Soon after, radio Neanderthal Michael Savage decided it would be appropriate to play snippets of the 1980’s punk band The Dead Kennedys, which Savage said was “in respect” for the Senator. Finally, Hillary Clinton weighed in on why she persists in pursuit of a nomination she can’t possibly win:

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

So while Sen. Kennedy is awaiting a treatment plan for an often fatal affliction, Sen. Clinton is using brother Bobby’s demise to remind voters that Sen. Obama might be felled before this is all over. If she has any conscience at all, she would be regretting tonight that she didn’t drop out of the race yesterday.

Dragging The Dead Kennedys into this has produced an unexpected benefit in the form of wisdom from their singer, and inspirational hurricane, Jello Biafra. For those not familiar with the band, they were an anarchic, brood of rebellious provocateurs. They chafed at anything hinting of authority. And they would have stuffed a slug like Savage down a garbage disposal if he looked at them funny back in the day. Biafra responded to Savage’s prank in an interview with The Phoenix:

“Obviously he took my song way the hell out of context and did it deliberately. But the bigger issue is Savage himself and how the hell he gets away with stuff like saying this…”

But Biafra went further to assail the broader problem of a media environment that has devolved into a nearly useless heap of bio-waste:

“It scares the shit out of me that the most popular radio talk-show hosts are all foaming-at-the-mouth, ultra-bigoted blabbermongers whom only North Korea or the Nazis could love.

But like it or not, Savage is the third-most popular radio-talk show host in this country behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Nobody from the other side is represented or promoted well enough by the big right-wing-owned radio networks to compete. That’s one of the ways they mindfuck the country into being so dumb they vote for people like George Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The real issue here is why aren’t the big candidates calling for media reform?”

~~~

“The damage was further compounded when your friend and mine Bill Clinton rammed through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, further deregulating how many radio stations and media outlets one corporation can own and what they can do with them and they greenlighted their long-held agenda to throw public interest out the window.”

Jello totally nails it. This problem is bigger than a radio crap dispenser; it’s bigger than a Fox News buffoon; it’s even bigger than a pathetic presidential candidate who is the only one that doesn’t know she’s lost. The problem is the media and, were it fixed, these other travesties would be mere annoyances.


John McCain’s Secret Medical Records Revealed

Posted by on May 23, 2008 at 12:10 pm. 3 Comments :

After more than a year of stalling, John McCain is finally making his medical records public. However, the process by which he is releasing the data suggests that he hopes it doesn’t become too public. His campaign has chosen the Friday prior to the three day Memorial Day weekend for the document dump. Even worse, they are restricting access to the records to a three hour period wherein the reporters may take notes, but will not be allowed to take photos or make copies. That’s three hours to read and analyze 400 complex medical documents. The campaign also restricted the access to two newspapers, two wire services, and the national TV news networks. Prominent news organizations like the New York Times, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, etc., were not invited. Neither were smaller players like McClatchy, weekly newspapers, alternative press, or anyone from the Internet.

However, News Corpse has acquired some of the classified records that McCain hoped would remain secret. Below is an exclusive document leaked from McCain’s medical team:

Following the release, McCain’s campaign declared that the records proved that he was in good health and fit for office. The evidence here may contradict that assessment by exposing McCain’s mental obsessions and deficiencies. His campaign manager, Rick Davis said of McCain that, “He defies all the rules of aging.” If he is referring to the accumulation of wisdom, reason, and judgment that accompanies maturity, I’m inclined to agree.

And anyone who objects to the raising of McCain’s age needs to realize that it is McCain himself who is making it an issue. He frequently refers to himself being “as old as dirt with more scars than Frankenstein.” He joked about it on Saturday Live. He even ruled himself out of a 2008 campaign back in 2000:

“…by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home…”


Battered Nation Syndrome

Posted by on May 21, 2008 at 8:22 am. NO Comments :

As the eight year long nightmare that is the Bush Administration limps to a close, the threat of more pain and suffering is dangled over our heads by the Republican Party that has been so much a part of the recent pattern of abuse. And like many perpetrators of domestic violence, Republicans are begging us to take them back while promising that “it will never happen again.”


Another irony of the new Republican slogan, “The Change You Deserve,” is that it echoes the defense that victims of abuse make for their abusers. Battered spouses commonly excuse their tormentors by claiming that the beatings were deserved; that it was the victim’s fault for having angered the perpetrator. Now Republicans are simultaneously warning that we’re going to get what we deserve, and swearing that the future will be better because they can change.

Most mental health professionals would be staring America in the face right about now and strongly advising us not to buy it.


Barack Obama Is Serious About Anti-Trust

Posted by on May 19, 2008 at 5:14 pm. 8 Comments :

In a statement Sunday at a campaign stop, Barack Obama made it clear that he does not want to continue the Bush policy of ignoring, or advancing, corporate collusion, consolidation, and other anti-competitive activity.

Obama: “We’re going to have an antitrust division in the Justice Department that actually believes in antitrust law. We haven’t had that for the last seven, eight years.”

Obama specifically cited the media as an example of an area that warranted scrutiny with regard to anti-trust behavior, although the scope of his comment was much broader. He has previously addressed media consolidation via his support of the Media Ownership Act of 2007, and an op-ed he co-authored with Sen. John Kerry:

“In recent years, we have witnessed unprecedented consolidation in our traditional media outlets. Large mergers and corporate deals have reduced the number of voices and viewpoints in the media marketplace.”

Taking a hard-line on matters that impact the media’s ambition to grow unrestricted has historically proven to be fraught with risk. Ask Howard Dean. If Obama intends to pursue this issue in the campaign, and in the White House, he better be prepared for the battle. Liebling’s lament that, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one,” has evolved in the electronic era into, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own a massive, vertically integrated, publishing, broadcasting, and Internet monopoly.”

The media can be a dangerous enemy, and any effort to take it on must be approached with an awareness of what’s at the other end of the tail you’re hanging onto.