Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
I wonder what Medgar would think of his brother enabling and giving cover to politicians who routinely play the race card to get elected, or to advance an ideological agenda?
"To my astonishment, I found that the only voices that seemed to me to be intellectually and morally honest were on the right. Suddenly, I was listening to conservative talk-show hosts on the radio and reading conservative columnists, and they were making sense."
"....that's Depp for you. He has a number of words he tries to live by. From the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann:'In the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.'From the preface to The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan:'Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption.'And from Depp himself, from deep within himself, when faced with his fears, doubts, anxieties, uncertainties and ambivalences, which are legion: 'F*ck it!'
'I've ended up saying it in life a lot and in the work a lot, and I've always found it very helpful,' he said. 'Yes,' he went on, between sips of red wine, '"F*ck it" over the years has always been pretty soothing.'
LAKEWOOD, Ohio – Americans distraught over the 2004 election results now have a unique outlet to fight back: shopping. ProgressiveDepot.com, a new online shopping portal, promises to invest a percentage of its shoppers’ dollars in progressive causes.
Located at http://www.progressivedepot.com, ProgressiveDepot.com offers thousands of products from over 150 online merchants, including clothing and accessories, books, furniture and home décor, travel services, electronics and electronic media, food, automotive products and more.
"The Progressive dollar has power," says Adam Jusko, ProgressiveDepot.com owner and a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "The challenge is to make our dollars command attention and create positive change."
"Immediately after the election, some progressives suggested boycotting companies perceived to be conservative supporters. I felt it would be more practical in the long term to create a site where visitors could shop with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that a piece of their shopping dollar goes toward progressive organizations they support."
ProgressiveDepot.com will announce its first contributions to progressive non-profits and/or political organizations in early July of 2005. Site visitors can sign up for the ProgressiveDepot.com mailing list and suggest organizations they feel deserve financial support.
Uptown Ruler has more on the "F-word".
With a tip o'the blog-hat to Some Bourbon Guerillas, Screwy Hooley presents further adventures in framing.
"In an act of astounding humility, President Bush expressed deep regret for the mistakes that were made during the lead-up to the Iraq war and asked the world community to join the U.S. in all efforts to end terror."I realize it may never happen. Yet, common sense would tell me that it would be just the kind of news that would heal resentments and enable us to move on with greater success against radical Islamic politics.
It was remarkable to see President Bush lecture Vladimir Putin on the importance of checks and balances in a democratic society.I like that description: "Checkbook journalism."
Remarkably brazen, given that the only checks Mr. Bush seems to believe in are those written to the "journalists" Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Karen Ryan, the fake TV anchor, to help promote his policies. The administration has given a whole new meaning to checkbook journalism, paying a stupendous $97 million to an outside P.R. firm to buy columnists and produce propaganda, including faux video news releases.
"Now the trail has led to Jeff Gannon, and In the Press Room of the White House that is Post Press. As far as I'm concerned, it is all one story. But I do not pretend to understand it yet."I agree. The Right began their push to turn free press into a tool for their propaganda over 20 years ago, and dismantling their "handiwork" will take a lot of committed concentration and effort on the part of citizens like you and me. It has become apparent that we cannot depend upon the mainstream media to save themselves.
If Fitzwater or Neuman honestly believes that there is any comparison to be made between Helen Thomas and a fake journalist with a fake name working for a fake news outlet asking fake questions at a real press briefing, then Neuman's feigned befuddlement over what a journalist is begins to seem less feigned. Alas, if the Los Angeles Times sees fit to print lazy and misleading pieces such as this, then the craft may indeed be facing an identity crisis, the likes of which Jean-Paul Sartre described 50 years ago.American Street
-the piece misses so many of the actual truths invovled in this fiasco, that we were forced to write a letter to the editor of the latimes:ladies and gentlemen:
i was happy to see your paper finally cover the gannon/guckert story about a phony reporter having access to the white house without proper credentials for over two years (a story which has been discussed publicly in other print media, on television and on internet discussion forums for more than a month, but better late than never, right?). however, i have some reservations about your reportage.
ms. neuman, aside from not researching or contacting the so-called “gay activists” and “left-wing bloggers” that broke the story, stated that those bloggers “posted on the internet homoerotic photos of gannon advertising himself as a $200-an-hour gay escort.” this implies some sort of invasion of privacy “outing” activity. ms. neuman failed to make clear that it was gannon/guckert who posted those “homoerotic photos” of himself on the internet for anyone with a mouse click to see (including print reporters for a large metropolitan newspaper, if they were so inclined to do any actual investigating).
and, by quoting gannon/guckert when he said “i’ve made mistakes in the past,” ms. neuman helps to propagate the implication that gannon/guckert’s escort activities were over with. in reality, the websites advertising his $200 per hour services were still current and active as of the beginning of this year, when the story broke. ms. neuman makes no mention of this fact.
further, ms. neuman failed to specify that talon news, the partisan republican website that gannon/guckert was “reporting” for, did not come into existence until several months after gannon/guckert was already allowed access into the white house under a false identity.
by focusing mainly on the “homoerotic” part of the story, ms. neuman deftly denigrates the points being made and questions being asked by thousands of americans on the internet forums (who have at least as much journalistic integrity as gannon/guckert, and therefore deserve as much respect from your paper). these are questions of national security, to wit: how did a prostitute (male escort renting sexual favors by the hour) get access to the white house under an assumed identity?”.....(read the rest at link)
why not take some time write a letter of your own?
"...as we've seen in spades over the past two years in Iraq, this rashness - this tendency to leap before we look - has its downside. Things don't come out wonderfully just because some fine person asks, Why not here?"Leap before you look?
But this is clearly the question the United States is destined to provoke.
- David Brooks, NYT
The head of the Syrian Press Syndicate told The Times on Thursday: "There's a new world out there and a new reality. You can no longer have business as usual."I'll say.