Kossacks Call to Action: Cosco Busan Oil Spill Relief

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Saturday November 17, 2007 · 4:23 PM PST

2007/11/17 · 16:23

Just over a week ago, the Cosco Busan container ship collided with the San Francisco Bay Bridge and leaked 58,000 gallons of toxic fuel oil into the Bay. As Plutonium Page diaried here already, the spill is the largest in the Bay since 1996 and poses untold environmental damage to both humans and a perpetually vulnerable ecosystem. Salon.com has a poignant piece up today about why the timing of the disaster -- right in the middle of birds' winter migratory season -- is particularly tragic:

Every fall millions of birds fly south from their summer breeding homes in Alaska's tundra and Canada's boreal forests, bound for the warm climes and plentiful food of South America. Along the way more than 1 million stop, sometimes for the entire winter, in the San Francisco Bay, the largest estuary on the West Coast. This year the birds, some of them not a year old, alighted on the bay, weakened from their long flight, aiming to feed and rest for the long journey ahead, only to find that their sanctuary had become a toxic-tainted stew.

Follow me down below for more.

ZanderOC

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Tuesday September 27, 2005 · 11:36 AM PDT

2005/09/27 · 11:36

From the Department of desperate housewives:

Facing criticism that he appeared disengaged from the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush has been looking for opportunities to show his concern. But the White House will take the effort a step further Tuesday, venturing into untested waters by putting the nation's first lady on reality television.

Laura Bush will travel to storm-damaged Biloxi, Miss., to film a spot on the feel-good, wish-granting hit "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Mrs. Bush sought to be on the program because she shares the "same principles" that the producers hold, her press secretary said.

But wait -- who booked Laura on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? You guessed it... Read More

The Token Liberal Strikes Back

ZanderOC

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Monday June 27, 2005 · 6:45 PM PDT

2005/06/27 · 18:45

I was hired a few weeks ago as a freelance writer/blogger commenting on entertainment and television. "Write whatever you want about," they said. And in that time, I've written about a lot of things, including politics. Not a lot -- it's a TV writing gig -- but just enough to make me realize what I am: the token liberal.

The other bloggers they've hired are mostly conservative and the audience doesn't want to be bothered by politics. Here's a typical comment from a reader:

"Lynne writes --
It just kills me to watch the news banner rolling across the TV screen reporting deaths in Iraq, murders in Los Angeles, child molestations, etc. etc. Meanwhile -Charles and Diane are wearing formal evening wear and yucking it up with Wolfgang Puck who is making post Oscar pancakes on GMA. Does anyone at the networks actually watch these programs? Do they really think we need an update on the number of people killed that day every five minutes?"

And now I've gone and gotten myself into an argument with one of my fellow TV bloggers. More on the flip. Read More

Frist to Ignore Nuclear Deal, File for Cloture on Myers

ZanderOC

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Tuesday May 24, 2005 · 4:19 PM PDT

2005/05/24 · 16:19

Posted on ThinkProgress.org :

BREAKING: Ignoring Deal, Frist to File for Cloture on Myers

Last night, Frist indicated he would abide by the agreement.

...

But Congress Daily PM reports that Frist has other ideas for later in the week:

Senate Majority Leader Frist will file for cloture on President Bush's nomination of William Myers to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later this week, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill, wasting no time in testing the resolve of 14 Republican and Democratic senators who forced at least a temporary halt to the battle over Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial picks.

Maybe this isn't such an anti-climactic Tuesday after all? Read More

The Rotting Corpse of TV News, or How to Spend a Friday Night Alone

ZanderOC

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Friday March 18, 2005 · 9:10 PM PST

2005/03/18 · 21:10

After watching my Lakers lose again tonight (talk about ugly), I decided to lazily flip through the channels. I was hoping to stumble across something entertaining but not too engaging -- something that would provide a nice Friday night vacation for my restless mind.

To my horror, what I came across was the rotting corpse of TV news. Like a zombie that rises up from the grave, there was John Stossel on 20/20 doing a "Desperate Housewives" tie-in piece. Flip flip flip. Is that the smell of human flesh? Ah, it's Candy Crowley on CNN doing a "report" on "Blogger Moms." Where is Bruce Campbell when you need him?

After the flip: More Swingers, Zombies, and Bloggers (oh my!) Read More

Arnold, Propaganda, & Narrative Dysfunction

ZanderOC

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Monday February 28, 2005 · 2:49 PM PST

2005/02/28 · 14:49

George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and their Republican cronies have built a massive propaganda machine to shape public opinion (See Jeff Gannon, Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, fake "town hall" style meetings, fake news, Fox News, etc.).

And, as the LA Times reports today, Arnold Schwarzenegger has now taken a page from their playbook:

Using taxpayer money, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has sent television stations statewide a mock news story extolling a proposal that would benefit political boosters in the business community by ending mandatory lunch breaks for many hourly workers.

More below.
Read More

According to Bush, This Guy Has a Mandate

ZanderOC

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Tuesday November 09, 2004 · 9:22 AM PST

2004/11/09 · 09:22

He won with 54% of the vote here in Orange County -- that's a "broad county-wide victory." I daresay, a "mandate." Maybe his opponent should re-evaluate all of his fundamental principles in order to woo those important "swing voters" next time?

AP: Orange County 'Mystery Candidate' Wins Spot on School Board Despite Never Running Campaign

SANTA ANA, Calif. Nov 6, 2004 -- Steve Rocco didn't file a candidate statement or mount a campaign for the school board. He's unknown to teachers and the district and only barely known to his neighbors. Nonetheless, the man being called a "mystery candidate" easily beat an opponent who is active, and relatively well known, in the Orange Unified School District. Now all that's left is to find him.

"Absolutely nobody, but nobody has seen this guy," said Paul Pruss, a middle school teacher and the president of the union. "The whole thing is just bizarre."

Full story here.

Nice commentary here.

And an invitation to compare & contrast: Voting Without the Facts.

Down, But Defiant

ZanderOC

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Wednesday November 03, 2004 · 6:09 PM PST

2004/11/03 · 18:09

Today's events have thrown most of us off our game. There's no shame in that after all of the work we've put in - all the calls, emails, canvassing trips, and donations. We thought we'd wake up to a different America today, and we did, but it wasn't the one we expected.

But we have to look ahead to the future, no matter how dark and uncertain it seems. Last night's loss only underscores just how much work must still be done. We must craft a clearer message and we must have better party leaders to communicate that message. We must fight everywhere all the time, not just in states we think we can win and not just during election years, because the fight is larger than any margin in the Electoral College - it is philosophical. We must embrace our role as the political and moral opposition to the Right Wing agenda, so that when the Neocons' global house of cards collapses - and there's no question that it will - the American people will have a place to turn.

In the immediate aftermath, these things should be on our agenda:
Read More

Osama: Why is he still alive?

ZanderOC

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Saturday October 30, 2004 · 9:18 AM PDT

2004/10/30 · 09:18

This is the email I sent out to the mass media late last night (including a list of major Bush WOT failures below the fold). I know everyone's moved on from the OBL tape, but we still have to control the media spin around it. So, in the spirit of contributing my two cents...

As I watched the new Osama Bin Laden videotape tonight, I had to wonder why this man was still around to threaten us. Didn't the president say "dead or alive" sometime long, long ago? Weren't we going to "smoke him out of his hole?" It seems he's very much alive and still a threat, and the only smoke we've been seeing in recent days has been coming from the president's campaign.

The bottom line is Bush has failed in his efforts to fight terrorism. This is not opinion; this is fact.

(cont.)

ZanderOC

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Friday October 29, 2004 · 10:09 AM PDT

2004/10/29 · 10:09

Can you smell the desperation?

10/29/2004
In final hours, Bush mailings display images of burning World Trade Center
By John Byrne, RAW STORY Editor

In a last ditch bid to win Pennsylvania's electoral votes, where Democratic Sen. John Kerry is leading is most polls, President George W. Bush has engaged in mailings which contain myriad graphic images of the burning World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Link & more below the fold. Read More

RSS

Kossacks Call to Action: Cosco Busan Oil Spill Relief

Extreme Makeover: Bush Edition

The Token Liberal Strikes Back

Frist to Ignore Nuclear Deal, File for Cloture on Myers

The Rotting Corpse of TV News, or How to Spend a Friday Night Alone

Arnold, Propaganda, & Narrative Dysfunction

According to Bush, This Guy Has a Mandate

Down, But Defiant

Osama: Why is he still alive?

Burning Towers in BC04 Print Ad