Todays WTF moment-courtesy of Roger Hedgecock.

The former mayor of  San Diego, who btw left office disgraced,(what rethug doesn’t),  has come to a very strange conclusion of why Bill Sparkman was murdered:

It’s the illegal immigrants and the Mexican Drug Cartels.

I shit you not. From ThinkProgress via the LAProgressive piece linked above:

The latest comes from right-wing radio host Rodger Hedgecock who seems convinced that the country’s “open border policy” must have had something to do with Sparkman’s gruesome death. Hedgecock dismisses the possibility that Sparkman was targeted and killed by someone motivatedexplicitly bashed the US Census, and instead claims that “illegals” at “pot plantations” may be the cause of forest fires and Sparkman’s death: by the anti-government rhetoric being spewed by teabaggers and right-wing politicians who have

Now it looks more like Sparkman was yet another victim of illegal drug operations on national forest land, and possibly also a victim of our still open border with Mexico.
*snip*
Our open border with Mexico has been changing American society in a number of unpleasant ways. These fires, these destroyed national forest lands, and maybe even Bill Sparkman’s death, may just be the latest way.

Ole Roger is really stretching it here, as the law enforcement folks believe the meth activity in the area might be to blame and those dudes consist of  local inbred white guys.

These guys just crack me up..in a sick twisted way.

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…and that depends on which definition of extremist you’re working with.

Let’s jump right on in.

Since Justice Souter announced that he was outta there at the Supreme Court, this bitch has noticed that conservatives have taken to using words like extremist, radical and activist to describe the kind of judges they intend to oppose.

Cough.

Now, I know that there are some who think that Getting Active on the Court is a land populated exclusively by liberals…and this bitch acknowledges that, since my ass is sitting in a non-segregated hotel room preparing for a meeting having traveled on a non-segregated plane because some judges decided to get their activism on in response to grassroots pressure, I’m not totally against activist judges…but liberals do not own exclusive rights to judicial activism.

I know that there are some people who are incapable of seeing the world as a complex place full of folks with lots of different views…’tis hard to believe, since those of us who regularly disagree with them are loud as a motherfucker…but the reality is that one person’s extremist is another person’s rational thinker.

The chorus to a bitch… “What brought this pondering on? Why doth thou feel the need to state the obvious?”

A bitch, in reply… If I have to hear another news segment covering conservative concern over who President Obama may or may not nominate to replace Justice Souter that fails to touch on the fact that this bitch and many of my fellow Americans were freaked the fuck out by the extreme as hell and now proven to like a side of radical activism with their decisions judges that the President Scooter B. set before the Senate for confirmation back in the day…well, I may have to break out the merciless rod of correction and get busy!

Shit.

Heaven to hell and back again on a red eye, why the fuck does the press always accept the premise of the argument that what alarms the far right alarms the majority?

Why?

And why the hell don’t they at least pretend to value balance and cover the fact that millions of us have been beaten down so much that we are thrilled with the stingy opportunity to maintain the current count instead of lose yet another seat to a throw-back anti-knowledge far right ideologue?

Hell, lots of folks voted for President Obama for this very reason because we all knew back in 2008 that the next President was going to replace at least one Justice.

Sigh.

I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me…a bitch must be suffering from travel brain…because my ass should know by now that coverage like that would just be too much like right.

Blink.

***logs off to go get my meeting on***

Crossposted from the Angry Black Bitch.

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“It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere.”

originally, i thought that i would do a piece on monsanto and genetically modified seeds.  they are, imo, simply evil and lacking any sense of morals or ethics- they force farmers worldwide to use their seeds and buy only their seeds- and the seeds don’t work.  if you don’t go along with them, they basically destroy you.  but then i thought better of it.

because the problem is so very much bigger.  i have been giving some thought as to what american culture is; what the american way of life is; what the ‘american dream’ is- and i really don’t know that we have one that is real.  isn’t that what we all are grappling with- the fact and reality that ‘our way of life’ was one big credit card induced fantasy?  probably so.  but it’s easy to throw out the bad stuff and not as easy to really examine what being american really means.  we are proud- or we were proud- to be americans and i have a feeling that’s really all we know.  americans tend to be an incurious lot as a whole.

but i put a bit of time into my thoughts and opinions and came up with- we are a culture of ideas.  whether they be right ones or wrong ones- we have them.  it has always been our idea that we live in a free democracy and were able to work hard and do better than the previous generation.  our idea was that we were always the land of opportunity and betterment and that we were a safe haven for the world’s beleagured and mistreated.  we were the world’s champion of the underdogs.  of course, then we got fairly prosperous as a whole and stopped having ideas.  we decided to feel rather than think- be hedonistic rather than introspective- and we got lost.  chris rock puts it pretty much in perspective:

“The number one reason people hate America: the number one reason is because of our religion. Americans worship money, we worship money. Separate God from school, separate God from work, separate God from government, but on your money it says in God we trust. All my life I’ve been looking for God, and He’s right in my pocket. Americans worship money, and we all go to the same church, the church of ATM. Everywhere you look there’s a new branch popping up … remind you about how much money you got and how much money you don’t got. And if you got less than twenty dollars, the machine won’t even talk to you. The machine is like, “You better go see a teller.” You ever go to a teller and try to take out eight dollars and fifty cents? Oh, it’s disgusting … oh man, you gotta wait on that long ass line, people doing real transactions in front of you, you get on to the fucking front, you fill out your form, eight fifty. The fucking teller looks at it, she look at you, she looks at the check, she don’t even take the money out of the drawer, she take it out of her pocket, “Here you go, get outta here.” And here’s something, man. Drugs are illegal, but ATM machines are open twenty-four hours a day. Twenty-four hours a day. For who? Who the fuck is it open for? Have you ever taken out three hundred dollars at four o’clock in the morning for something positive? Shit, when you press that machine at four o’clock in the morning, I think a psychiatrist should pop up on the screen and go, “Come on, man, save your money, man. Don’t buy drugs, buy some rims. They spinning, nigga, they spinning, they spinning, nigga, they spinning.” Americans worship money. Shit, you know why banks are closed on Sunday? ‘Cause if they wasn’t, church would be empty.”

i watched bill black on bill moyers and what he said struck me- he said that this whole issue we are having with the economy is- well:

BILL MOYERS: “Yeah, and this week in New York, at this conference, you described this as more than a financial crisis. You called it a moral crisis.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Yes.

BILL MOYERS: Why?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Because it is a fundamental lack of integrity. But also because, if you look back at crises, an economist who is also a presidential appointee, as a regulator in the Savings and Loan industry, right here in New York, Larry White, wrote a book about the Savings and Loan crisis. And he said, you know, one of the most interesting questions is why so few people engaged in fraud? Because objectively, you could have gotten away with it. But only about ten percent of the CEOs, engaged in fraud. So, 90 percent of them were restrained by ethics and integrity. So, far more than law or by F.B.I. agents, it’s our integrity that often prevents the greatest abuses. And what we had in this crisis, instead of the Savings and Loan, is the most elite institutions in America engaging or facilitating fraud. ”

and the enormity of that hit me.  our entire system is broken.  every day i read the news and i see corruption oozing out of every facet of our system- drug and food recalls; people dying from shoddy healthcare or no healthcare; bloated education system based solely on testing, etc., and people firmly plugged into that system- with little choice not to be.

i also watched amy goodman and glenn greenwald on bill moyers- the last great journalist, imo- and listening to them i felt the enormity of broken system.  the establishment exists to protect and perpetuate itself:

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, what I think is interesting is to look at what journalists, establishment journalists, who work in the largest corporations in the country, in the media division, say about what their role is. In order to understand how the reporting on Iraq was done. How it’s done on the financial crisis. Last month Howard Fineman, the “Newsweek” reporter, and MSNBC contributor, wrote an article in which a column, in which he said that the establishment is now worried that Barack Obama is not up to the job. And he made clear that he was speaking on behalf of the establishment, as a member of it. And he said that the establishment, to the extent it exists in America, is now comprised of three stools. The financiers on Wall Street, political elites in Washington, and media stars in the New York/Washington corridor. And there’s a “Newsweek” cover story by Evan Thomas, who’s a long time Washington insider reporter. And it’s concerning Paul Krugman’s status as a critic of Obama from the Left. And in this article Evan Thomas, I thought quite revealingly declared himself, as well, like Howard Fineman did, to be a member of the establishment persuasion, as he called it. And what he said was that, by definition, members of the establishment are devoted to preserving the existing order. The prevailing status quo. Keeping things the way they are.

the fact that the politicians and the bankers and the corporates and the media are all working together to perpetuate an unethical, immoral, greed and wealth driven system on the backs of decent people around the globe angers me like nothing else.  and i know that i am not the only one:

chris hedges- resist or become serfs

joe bageant- we have let corporations and the media rob our souls- let’s do something about it

washington post reporters call george will out for lying on climate crisis

this economic disaster did not happen overnight- it was a well planned, system wide looting of our monies into the pockets of the very people who are now pocketing our money again in the form of bailouts.  we got double dipped and that’s for sure.  probably triple and quadruple dipped.

make no mistake, there are many everyday americans who don’t believe as i do- that every human being deserves basic necessities of life- water, food, clothing, shelter, and imo, healthcare.  many folks right now are going about their lives with nary a thought of the suffering going on around the globe- and here in this country- brought on by ‘our way of life.’  but if and when the shit hits the fan for them- they will be the first ones in line for a handout- from neighbor, family, or government.  because we have lived the life of plenty for so long and lost skill sets to help us get through the bad times.

president obama ran on ‘hope and change’- those were the two themes throughout his campaign and i really believe he meant it.  i don’t know that that is what we need.  oh, the change definitely- but the hope is that we will stabilize and folks can go back to their old lives.  our way of life is gone forever.  the houses with the white picket fences and the dog and the 2 kids- well, it was a bit of 1950’s tv schtick.  the thoughts in my head are far too many for me to keep writing in the post- but it is food for thought.

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Obama leads out in early days

We have seen a great deal of purposeful activity by the Obama administration since the start of business on Tuesday. What can we take from what we see and hear, both explicitly and implicitly? How is our new President doing, so far?

Calm — One of the best newspapers in the business, The Financial Times, described President Barack Obama’s “calm authority of a born leader.” Speaking about his Inauguration day speech,

He was politically encompassing, reaching out to sceptics and opponents. He touched admiringly on US history and traditions, but without vainglory and not without reminding his listeners of its errors. Addressing his nation’s enemies, he was measured but stern. He did not disguise the difficulties that face the country; he addressed them with quiet confidence.There is no bombast or chauvinism or phony sentiment in Mr Obama’s oratory. He inspires, yet his appeal is always to the intellect; still he holds an audience of this size spellbound. It was the performance of a born leader.

Decisive — In a move designed to reinforce a commitment to governmental openness and transparency, it was reported in ProPublica that, “Obama Reverses Bush Executive Privilege Claim Over Documents” (1/21/09). To quote:

. . . President Obama issued an order rolling back the former administration’s restrictive FOIA policies. And now, we learn President Obama has signed another order reversing President George W. Bush’s controversial order that gave ex-presidents and their heirs broad authority to stop release of White House records. . .

Team-style governance — The second day emphasis on the diplomatic side of the house is an effort to return balance to U.S. foreign policy. By enlisting a number of well-know, competent and high profile people to help with foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, it brings up the possibility of confusion about who is heading that enhanced emphasis. Typically, Politico asked Thursday, “who is in charge of foreign policy?” Author Ben Smith concluded, at least in the Middle East, “all of them,” meaning Obama, Clinton, Biden, Mitchell and Holbrook. Each of these people understands who the leader is, and how much trust President Obama has in all. Every one of them has the capacity to know what the policy positions are and sit at the table with the authority to handle negotiations, to communicate policy and to bring back the views of the foreign leaders.

After a good Transition, what then — Will the same things that worked well before the President was sworn in be effective during actual governance? The Democratic Strategist (1/16/09) spoke to some of these same questions recently.

Note: this is a special guest post from Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute. . . .

We’ll find out soon enough whether President-elect Obama is as adept at governing as he is at campaigning. But this much is already certain: Barack Obama has presided over a spectacular presidential transition – maybe the best in modern times.

In picking a crew of political heavyweights to run his administration, Obama has radiated both self-confidence and seriousness about governing. And in recent weeks, he has crystallized the key dilemmas facing the country with greater candor and specificity than ever before.

But, wait a minute — How do we know it will be successful? Given the financial crisis, two wars, energy issues, global warming, etc., etc., what are the realistic chances? The following piece is recommended reading on this: Yahoo! News & Politico.com: “Seven reasons for healthy skepticism#” (1/21/09). To quote:

Here are seven reasons to be skeptical of Obama’s chances — and the Washington establishment he now leads: 1) The genius fallacy. . . 2) The herd instinct . . . 3) We are broke . . . 4) Words, words, words . . . 5) He rarely challenges the home team . . . 6) Everyone is winging it . . . 7) The watchdogs are dozing.

Perhaps not everyone will dutifully fall in line – Another Politico list includes “Ten Dems Obama should look out for.” To summarize (the full story is a good read): Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), VP Joe Biden, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif), Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla), Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont), Rep Barbara Lee (D-Calif), Senator Jim Webb (D-Va), and Michelle Obama.

Press relations not all roses — Politico.com (1/22/09) reveals more information about what President Obama’s relating style with the press could be. Headlined, “Obama flashes irritation in press room,” The vignette describes the inevitable tension between Press, wanting individual access to the president and the President wanting to make information public as he chooses.

Trivia — It has only been a few days since power changed hands. On balance the leadership looks good. It feels nice to the adults back in charge. In conclusion here are a few miscellaneous fun facts, just to keep things light.

• ProPublica: “Who Runs Departments Before Heads Are Confirmed?” (1/22/09)
• Many Americans are still unable to spell “Barack,” according to John Brooks Pounders, CEO of gooseGrade.com
• McClatchy: “Obama photographer got started at K-state*” (1/16/09)

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news obama leadership press foreign policy

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The Death of Journalism

The state of journalism in the modern world reached a new low this week.  As previously discussed here by Dusty in her posting titled Tribune company files bankruptcy, the company that owns two of our country’s largest, most influential newspapers is going down the tubes.  And we have seen other consolidations or downsizing in the newspaper industry during the past few years, almost all of it attributable to the impact of the Internet and the changing playing field in the advertising industry.

It is widely understood that Internet advertising, facilitated by the likes of Google, has fatally undermined the newspaper business model.  Advertising dollars have not increased with the advent of the new advertising channels, they have just been redirected.   Traditional display advertising pages in newspapers have decreased significantly, and it would be logical to surmise that newspaper classified advertising inches have significantly decreased thanks to the Internet phenomena of eBay and CraigsList and their like.

The erosion of newspapers transcends the Internet age, though,  It actually began with the advent of radio in the early twentieth century, which blossomed during the Second World War in its ability to bring the words of journalists alive together with the sounds of war.  After the war we not only had the Baby Boom generation but also the nascent and subsequent boom in the television industry, initially broadcast on the airwaves and then augmented via the cable and satellite delivery channels.  Throughout this evolution of technology, delivery of news, journalism, has also evolved.

In my mind what we see in terms of news dissemination is no longer termed journalism, but media/marketing message delivery.  Traditional news gathering and publication organizations are now simply appendages of media conglomerates.  With the overriding mission to provide financial return to their owners through their extraordinary ability to market and sell stuff. As examples I cite Time/Warner, how many people associate that media conglomerate with journalism and Time magazine, as opposed to movies, recordings, theme parks, product tie-ins  and other vehicles designed to sell something?  ABC, American Broadcasting Company, and their news division are owned by the Walt Disney Company, owner of the Disney entertainment library, Disney (entertainment) studio, the premiere theme parks in the world, ESPN, the Disney Channel, Disney stores, and numerous other distribution channels.  ABC’s delivery of news, at their local Los Angeles owned television station is totally pimped out.  There are constant tie-in “news stories” broadcast by this outlet that are nothing but undisguised advertising promotions for other Disney media products.  A typical example is that when the television show “Dancing With The Stars” is in active production and broadcast, viewers can expect a phony “news story” about “Dancing With The Stars” every evening.  The same operating practices are seen with regularity on the other broadcast networks also, as we all know.

It was not always this way in broadcast journalism.  In the earlier days, first in radio, then in television, the people gathering the news and delivering the news on air were consummate professional journalists, trained and developed during the hey day of print journalism.  Think of names like Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkeit.  As time went on, though, and television prevailed over radio, professional journalists were replaced by camera ready news readers, pretty faces simply reading a script that came originally from a real writer, or from a wire service.  We went through an era of “happy talk” on most local news programs, and the old lions who anchored the network news begain to fade away, which is graphically illustrated by all of the talking heads sitting behind anchor desks on the cable channels.  No longer was a college degree and working experience in journalism the  best entree to a broadcast news organization, but rather a communications degree, what ever that is, coupled with a pleasing to the eye of the target demographic, camera ready face and an ability to engage in endless ignorant speculation in on screen chatter with their peers during breaking news events.  An ability to run the mouth while saying nothing of substance or accuracy when breaking in to normal broadcast content with the latest police car pursuit, or wild fire, or celebrity’s self serving news conference is what is sought by the broadcast and cable networks.  The ideal canditate for a broadcast news position is now anyone with a similar background to Sara Palin.

Things are looking grim, the tradtional print news gathering and distribution organizations are suffering a prolonged death, the modern era media/marketing companies are applying the coup de gras to traditional journalistic ethics and values with their rampant, unrestrained hucksterism.  I am afraid that those channels we have traditionally depended upon for our sources of news and information will soon disappear entirely, and as far as I can tell, broadcast, cable and Internet, while they have brought us immediacy, and ubiquitous distribution, have discarded the depth, research, ethics and quality of true journalism, and we are all going to suffer, and all be more suspectible to manipulation and loss of liberty by any huckster or demagogue with deep pockets.

As a final example of the death of journalism, one cannot overlook the egregious example of MSNBC yesterday, during the biggest news story of the week, the arrest and indictment of governor Rob Blagovejich of Illinois.  In the middle off broadcasting the story, the genius’s at MSNBC broke in with a direct feed from Jay Leno’s news conference announcing his new contract to deliver a prime time entertainment program for their parent, NBC.  They had the gall to call this “breaking news”, when it was obvious it had all been choreographed, given the fact that the story had already appeared in the newspapers received via home delivery earlier yesterday.  I never thought I’d see the day where in another segment on MSNBC I would see Andrea Mitchell, a heretofore credible journalist, gushing over Jay Leno.  This was truly appalling, Steven Capus, the president of NBC news should be fired over this, but most likely, he will receive a bonus from his corporate masters, after all NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric, one of our county’s premier makers and sellers of stuff.

Updated 11-Dec:

Jon Stewart weighs in:

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Stop the Presses! Palin takes reporters questions..

She took all of Five questions..CNN also has another writeup about the cough..Q&A here. From the very short transcript, here are the questions:

CNN: On the topic of never letting this happen again, do you agree with the way the Bush administration has handled the war on terrorism, is there anything you would do differently?

POLITICO: Do you think our presence in Iraq and afghan and our continued presence there is inflaming islamic extremists?

POLITICO: Do you support the reelection bids of embattled Alaska Republicans, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens?

POLITICO: Are you gong to vote for them?

JERSEY JOURNAL: What do you think of bailout package before congress?

The answers were worthless so why waste space printing them here? The phrase…,trained seal…comes to my mind.

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Obama-Biden is the ticket

Three great Democrats responded to John McCain’s acceptance speech on CNN’s Thursday night post convention Larry King Live (transcript). The Nation’s editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, and Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, were all very effective at keeping on message. Subtly and skilfully their comments reinforced the reality of the convention, as it was characterized by The Raw Story (9/4/08): “Attacks, praise stretch truth# at GOP convention.” The Republican drama, all the huffing and puffing, Rove’s name-calling of Biden,* the attacks on the media for so-called bias, are well-crafted tactics to keep the real story of the Republicans’ 8-year history buried.

Seriously! But not every journalist is actually taking the bait. Politico.com’s Roger Simon appeared to be properly chastened when he offered this: “Why the media should apologize” (9/4/08) To quote:

On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

Arianna Huffington made a very good point. She reminded Democrats that focusing on the Sara Palin story is a distraction we should avoid. To quote:

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: That is a little bit like the same sarcasm that we had last night from Sarah Palin about Obama.

But it was also a speech — I feel her contradictions. Although he had these things to say against Obama, the speech was primarily against George Bush. He actually said we need to change almost everything. He said we need to restore the pride and the principals of our party. He talked about bringing back transparency and accountability. He talked about responding to disasters differently and protecting our security differently. These are all attacks on George Bush. So even though his speech started with his gratitude towards the president, there is no question this was his effort to distance himself from Bush, which of course started…

KING: Isn’t that smart?

HUFFINGTON: Of course, he has to do that. But can he really convince the American people that this man, who has basically voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time, who has changed his positions on taxes, on torture, on immigration, is actually going to bring change to Washington? It really demands a huge suspension of this belief. And I don’t think the American people will go there unless they’re seriously distracted by the soap opera of Sarah Palin. That’s why Democrats need to be very careful not to focus on Sarah Palin. This is not what this election needs to be about.

If you just cannot abstain, however, Ed Kilgore offers these Palin premises for reference: “A TDS Strategy Memo: Six Highly-Targeted Democratic Messages responding to the V.P. Selection of Sarah Palin,” from The Democratic Strategist of 9/2/08. Kilgore begins with four facts:

1. That McCain rejected Mitt Romney in order to pick Palin
2. That Rush Limbaugh energetically promoted Palin’s candidacy and Ralph Reed, James Dobson and Richard Viguerie all consider her one of their own. A number of articles suggest that the desire to satisfy this group played a very significant role in McCain’s decision to choose her.
3. That Palin has extremely limited experience.
4. That Palin has a history of pressuring and firing political opponents. This is not just in relation to a single case regarding a particular State Trooper, but in other cases as well when she was mayor of her small town.

Regarding Obama/Biden – Getting back to the real candidates about which we all should be talking, bobcesca.com “makes sense to me,” says “betmo.” The blogger’s point (on 9/1/08), focused on the subject of all the Republican “venting*” about the candidates executive qualities. To quote:

Would someone somewhere on television repeat, over and over, that, for the last 18 months, Senator Obama been the chief executive in charge of the insanely successful ‘Obama for America’ campaign and has raised more money, received more primary votes and registered more voters than any political campaign in American history?

I agree with Arianna Huffington. Republicans have no program to offer. They are offering two personalities – two Heroes For the 21st Century. According to the Republican plan, we voters need to just get over the first 8 years of the 21st century and move on in to the Era of Heroes.

My conclusion — These morning-after thoughts are from my dear roommate, “Seven-of-Eight:

When choosing a President for the United States each voter has a responsibility that extends far beyond their immediate surroundings and circumstances.

With our system of government, it is highly unlikely that either of the current candidates, or those in the future can bring about all the changes they promise. There are, however, serious consequences from action that a president may take on his own, with or without the approval of the American people. The Bush administration is proof that information can be manipulated to justify whatever a president may decide to do.

We simply cannot afford to have someone in the oval office that is unstable, prone to temper-fits, and an agenda that is military in nature. John McCain is a good person, no doubt. Our country owes him for his service. We don’t owe him the presidency and can’t afford to make that mistake when we vote.

References:

• U.S. Election in Depth from the Financial Times (9/5/08 newsletter)
• Ed Kilgore @ 9/2/08 Democratic Strategist: A collection of “the Best Sound-Bites and Brief Quotes from the Democratic Convention in Denver” — Obama, Biden, Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Gore — and many others.
• The Democratic Strategist 8/23/08 — “The Biden Choice, Women and the South“
• Brad Jacobson* @ at-largely: ” Scant Coverage of Obama Assassination Plot — Irresponsible Or Cautious?”

Hat Tip to regular contributors (#Jon) and (*”betmo“) for their links.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics republicans mccain palin arianna huffington 2008 election

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Pot vs. Kettle: OMG!! They’re Black!

This ranks right up there with ‘teh stupid’.

When a weary and jet-lagged Barack Obama took the stage on the last day of the UNITY Journalists of Color convention in Chicago last month, most of the attendees had already left. But there was still a healthy crowd of over 2,500 there to hear the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

That is when, according to the mainstream media, black folks apparently acted like natural-born fools.

“When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so,” reported The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama.” - The Root

This nation has been subjected to 7 years of the MSM schmoozing of the Bush Whitehouse, under reporting of the facts in order to continue to have access to the Bush Whitehouse, accepting non reporters as reporters in the White house Press Corps, since saying anything might jeopardize access, and 8.3 megatons of BS dribbling out of our TV ‘s every Sunday. That’s just for starters.

There is no difference in the fawn, fucktards.

I can’t believe that even had to be said. The number of egos propped up by double standards in this country is embarrassing. There will be a certain amount of bias produced by reporters. Human beings do that. That’s why papers and media have editors. If the media is quality, they actually have editors with chops and balls. Every writer has seen their work slashed by editors, the nuance they’re so fond of stripped out. The bones are the facts. Let’s apply that here. This holier than thou crap is ridiculous to anyone who’s paid the slightest bit of attention since 2000.

Black journalists don’t have to be somehow magically less human than their access-whore white counterparts. They get to use the same toilets, sit where they want on the bus and date de white wimmens, too. ::eyeroll:: Just because a double standard ceases to be of the ‘in your face’ variety, doesn’t mean it isn’t unmitigated bull.

Black journalists are being taken to task by white journalists who suggest that to remain journalistically chaste they must not show one shred of pride or enthusiasm in light of Barack Obama’s history-making presidential bid, lest our precious “objectivity” be called into question.

“I would think that you give up certain rights when you are a journalist and if you are married to a journalist,” Shepard said.

I, for one, am not giving up anything to meet Shepard’s arbitrary standards of what makes a good journalist. Too many people gave up too much blood to get me the rights I enjoy today.

If my white colleagues are confused as to where my allegiances are, let me make it clear for them: I am a human being first, a black man second and journalist last. Dead last. It’s not even remotely a close call.

Journalism is what I do. Black is what I am. – The Root

Duh.

Crossposted at Bring It On!

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Nyah, Nyah, Nyah: Color Me Unimpressed

In a parallel universe somewhere, Americans have their shit together. I have to believe this in order to get up each morning. In that universe, grownups have a grip. They communicate with a reasonable degree of effectiveness. It’s not unheard of to talk to a person of a differing opinion without resorting to 3rd grader behavior, name calling and general insouciance.

Or not.

Net-Roots Ninnies: Dem Left’s Dumb Bam Slams? Jesus. Who’s mature here? It is possible, when you are an adult, to focus on more than one topic, have more than one agenda, execute more than one plan. Multi-tasking runs the world, but you’d never guess it based on the over-weaning desire to cram the left into a tiny, single talking point box. Why can’t we get past this? Is it too complicated to discuss the economy AND the implication of FISA? Are we going to fast if we brainstorm solutions to gas prices and the overall issue of global warming? If you sycophantic puppies can’t hang, get off the porch.

As for my alternate universe… fuck it. I’m going back to bed.

On second thought, I think instead I’ll head to Netroots Nation, talk to some smart people about a myriad of topics, and generally improve my mind, my knowledge base, and my network contacts to help instigate change. I’m running with the big dogs, people. I’ll have a few “tails” to share with you while I’m gone.

I’m trusting you to  keep an eye on the single issue puppies, OK?

Crossposted at Bring It On!

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Is the Associated Press blurring the lines between news and opinion?

AP has been around, according to Politico, for 162 years. Recently, many in the blogosphere have turned sour on AP due to some legal grumblings by a blogger that was lifting entire articles from AP and posting them on his blog. But that isn’t what this post is about.

AP has, by and large, given us the news and nothing but the news. They very seldom waxed poetic about an issue or an individual. It was a ‘just the facts’ type of operation and their writeups might of been dry but they did provide us with basic facts. Recently AP underwent a change from the top down, removing Sandy Johnson as head of the Washington Bureau and replacing her with Ron Fournier.

Mr. Fournier believes its ok for journalists to insert their personal opinions into hard news stories. He thinks this means they are ‘cutting through the clutter’. As Steve Benen notes today over at The Carpetbagger Report, this blurs the line between a news story and an opinion piece:

If the AP wants to change the game, I’d be thrilled. But I’ve seen the results of Fournier’s work lately, and while the idea may have merit, there’s a problem in the execution.

I suppose the first time I noticed this “new” AP came in March, when Fournier wrote an item – whether it was a news article or an opinion piece was unclear – that said Barack Obama is “bordering on arrogance,” “a bit too cocky,” and that the senator and his wife “ooze a sense of entitlement.” To substantiate the criticism, Fournier pointed to … not a whole lot. It was basically the Republicans’ “uppity” talking point in the form of an AP article.

But the AP’s coverage has deteriorated since – and it goes beyond just the AP giving John McCain donuts and McCain giving the AP barbecue. There was the slam-job on Obama that read like an RNC oppo dump, followed by a scathing, 900-word reprimand of Obama’s decision to bypass the public financing system in the general election, filled with errors of fact and judgment.

If I want someones opinion, I read the OpEd pages or a specific writers column which is not trying to pass as a hard news story. I want my news to be free of a pundits pov. I just want the facts. AP, prior to Fournier’s hiring, was such an organization. As Michael Calderone notes in the Politico link:

Others warn that what Fournier and other proponents see as truth-telling can easily bleed into opinionizing – exactly the opposite of the AP’s mission of “delivering fast, unbiased news.”

“The problem,” says James Taranto, the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web columnist and a frequent critic of what he sees as the AP’s liberal bias, “is that while you can do opinion journalism and incorporate reporting into it, you can’t say you’re doing straight reporting, and then add opinion to that.”

I know that I am a leftwing nutjob, I freely admit it. But, I really do not want anyone’s personal pov when I read a hard news story, or what passes as a hard news story. Asking the hard questions of a candidate is the journalists job, and that is what I want from a journalist, but giving me his opinion of the candidate or a particular issue isn’t.

I see AP becoming more like Fox News wherein they sprinkle their personal propaganda/agenda throughout the writeup and then have the audacity to call it a hard news story. A good example below, again from the Politico article:

In April, Fouhy wrote a 225-word dispatch from South Bend, Ind. that called out the Clinton campaign for an event in which the candidate, with the press in tow, rode with a commuter to a gas station to fill up. The lead: “Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady who hasn’t driven a car or pumped gas in many years because of Secret Service restrictions, joined a blue-collar worker at a filling station Wednesday to illustrate how the high price of gasoline is squeezing consumers.”

“It was a totally camera-driven political stunt that was one for the record books,” Fouhy said, adding that she was “taking Ron’s philosophy” in calling it as she sees it.(emphasis mine)

I feel I am intelligent enough that I realized what Hillary did was a political stunt..I didn’t need to be told that by Fouhy, just like when McCain did his little ‘walk though’ the Baghdad market last year, accompanied by helicopters and the full armament protection of the military. My problem with this type of journalism is this: Will they be honest enough to tell me when McCain does the same damn thing? I doubt it based on this writeup and this writeup. One person’s fact is another person’s opinion, in my humble point of view. Journalists give us the facts, pundits give us their opinion. With many media outlets cutting back on reporters, AP articles will be given more and more acreage on the front page of major newspapers. With these examples of what AP has gotten wrong lately..it doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy.

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Et tu, ‘bama?

This was in response to a fellow at B. Obama’s official campaign site, who asked that I vote for Obama, his capitulation to the FISA/telecom Immunity bill notwithstanding:

• Sender: trog69
• Subject: Voting for Barack
• Received: 6/27/08 6:13PM

Thank you for your response to my comment, and in let me say in answer that I will probably vote for Mr. Obama; In any case short of mass murder by Barack, (And I’d still want to know who and why first.)there is no possible chance of me voting for the warmonger on the Republican ticker. Er…ticket.

OTOH, I have no intention of participating in anything resembling Obamania. I will strive to always remember, as I hope others will, that Barack Obama is a politician first. As anyone paying attention will attest, after winning the nomination, seeing him fling himself as far right as possible to reach out to the Republican voters who, like me, do not trust the party itself anymore, and who learn what they can about the candidates from a variety of sources. I do indeed understand WHY he is doing that, and I’m not condemning it out of hand. I merely point out the similarity to past elections, and how it shows that Barack Obama hasn’t done anything that past candidates haven’t also done.

I do not watch TV, nor do I read the actual newspapers anymore. I am, for good or ill, tied exclusively to the internet. (Which of course relies on those shunned news delivery vehicles, but anyway…) I mention this because I care a great deal about the internet’s freedoms, and our right to read and say whatever we want, with no fear of repercussions by government eavesdroppers. So you can imagine my shock and horror to learn about Mr. Obama’s recent capitulation on the FISA/Telecom Immunity bill. I refuse to just keep quiet about this, just because Barack’s positions mirror mine on most other topics. To me, this goes to the heart of the problem we already face. The news media, considered by T. Jefferson to be one of the most important tools the common populace has to keep our elected officials somewhat honest, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate interests. Newspapers themselves are turning to the internet to save money, since they’ve laid off or by attrition lost most of their reporters and overseas bureaus. So, if the only way to get some basic, honest reporting is from my laptop, I don’t want to fear that my profile in the gov’t. database is flagged because I frequent liberal websites. Sure, I’m probably worrying needlessly; I don’t want to have to consider it, though. Giving the NSA the ability to not only datamine, but without oversight, is not my idea of protecting our rights. I won’t even go into why the immunity for telecoms is so blatantly against the Rule of Law, and instead shows the two-tiered standard of ‘justice’ now being openly  considered .

Even if I decide not to vote at all, in protest, I would not do anything to derail Barack’s election chances, in case someone thinks I’m one of those “Repub. trolls sicced on the liberal sites.

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Presidential candidates switch seats this week.

The Democratic Party’s campaign has come to an ending and a beginning during the past few days. This momentous week that is now coming to a close. Saturday will mark the official end of Senator Hillary Clinton’s historic bid for the U.S. presidency. The presidential election will be contested from now until November by Senators Obama and McCain.

What do we know? We know an awful lot. A search on “obama” in my Bloglines aggregator returned 3,155,000 posts. Memeorandum.com leads with the best and most prominent current info about the changes with the Democratic campaign. The news that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had a meeting somewhere in Washington, D.C. Thursday night was the most intriguing. The New York Times reported much of what is known about the event, headlining “Clinton meets with Obama, and the rest is secret.” To quote the story’s conclusion:

Finally, as Mr. Obama was headed back to Chicago on a private plane and Mrs. Clinton had returned to her home, another rarity took place. A joint statement was issued by representatives of the two senators, but sent out by Mr. Obama’s staff. Those words, perhaps, were the first cooperative undertaking since the presidential race began six seasons ago.

“Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November,” the statement said.Mrs. Clinton’s farewell from the race comes Saturday. When she offers her endorsement, Mr. Obama said he intends to be in Chicago with his family. Unless, of course, he isn’t.

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check this out

i picked this photo off of google. it is ‘eggs racism’- apropos. please take a moment to read this article by dedurkheim from rising hegemon. the photos in the article illustrate something that we should have known all along- the msm is complicit in advancing racism. take a quick read- and the article at kos. it’s eye opening.

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to view or not to view

I got e-mail from my sister the other day. She is new to the computer world and I read her e-mails even if they are these ‘pass on to another person or you’ll die a fiery and terrible death by unga bunga’ emails. Oh well, I’m waiting. I’m sure I will eventually die, so what the e-mails say must be true.

My sister’s e-mail was this list of things from the 50’s and maybe early 60’s. You read the remark and fill in the blank. Some were trivia from old TV shows; others were completing words in commercial jingles. I got them all right. When I scrolled down to the bottom of the letter and read the answers, sure enough, I was spot on! This made me sad. It made me sad that I remembered all this stuff from the past and I watched it on TV. I mean, what does it say about yourself? That I watched enough TV, even back then when there was no cable or satellite and there were only four stations, that I remembered it all? Think this way, I immersed my brain in TV, and not into very many books, or very many experiences and communal meetings with nature. It just made me sad to think about it. Sure, I’ll post the e-mail at the end of this write up so you can see if you were saturated to the point of depression like I was.

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The most important issue of this election..

DivaJood is back! And let me be the first to say..she is in fine form! She has this video up on her site. Enjoy!-Dusty

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

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