Lies, Damned Lies, and Crappy Reporting - with poll
Tue May 15, 2007 at 01:05:13 PM PDT
It is the job of the blogosphere to keep an eye on the blather of the Big Media and correct it from time to time. I'd say we're pretty good at it, as, for instance, the New York Times learned following Judith Miller's paid complicity in the run up to war.
Miller, seems to me, was a fully-conscious shill for the Bushies, trading stories for flattery and easy access to power. No one could argue from the evidence that she is stupid or badly trained or casual about overlooking new directions that a story wants to take. She was on the take.
Others who write news for national consumption - and who are not necessarily shilling for the man - might as well be. When stinky little turds are left lying around important stories and passed off as posies, the quality of news suffers.
A small, but non-trivial example follows:
On Gay Sheep, Dkos, and the New York Times
Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 09:23:01 PM PDT
In a science article entitled Of Gay Sheep, Modern Science and Bad Publicity , New York Times writer John Schwartz looks at the bizarre and erroneous coverage that complex stories often receive from respected mainstream media - especially, perhaps, when the topics might be touchy.
Follow me toward the meadow...
Liberals leaving Texas for Oregon; Any kossacks in Salem?
Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 12:19:55 PM PDT
Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving Austin with a truck and Uhaul full of my daughter's household goods. She and her boyfriend are moving to Salem, where he's enrolled in law school. She'll be looking for some kind of non-profit or activist job, such as she's done in Houston.
They're young and excited; I'm old and a little sad to have her moving so far away, and a little envious, frankly, of their big adventure.
But you know what? The kids are all right, and they're really looking forward to living in a more liberal community than Houston. More and a chance to get involved on the flip:
"We are teachers and we are fighting the government. They have guns." With pix from today.
Thu Jun 15, 2006 at 02:22:34 PM PDT
No matter how hip I think I look, in my jeans and sandals, she spotted me for a tourist and stepped out of the march to explain what was going on. She spoke little English but her statement was as concise and accurate as could be. Tears welled up in my eyes.
"Yo se," I replied. "Soy muy simpatico."
But for most of the two weeks we've been in Oaxaca, the statewide teacher's strike has been a nuisance. Teachers have been camped all over the downtown tourist district, with low-hung ropes tied to every wall and lamp post, supporting tents and tarps of all descriptions, offering difficult passage to turistas and reduced incomes to stores and street vendors.
Winger sees the light! Time for a new Left/Right Alliance?
Wed May 10, 2006 at 07:43:03 AM PDT
Many Democrats have known for a long time that George W. Bush and his cohorts are dangerous and foolhardy men. We are acutely aware of the assaults on our Constitution, even on common sense, that they have undertaken. We have lately been cheered to see some on the other side of the spectrum now coming around.
A column by a winger so pure that he's a lifetime Bircher - former staff member there - raises an interesting question and offers some historic examples of times when left and right cooperated to good purpose.
More in the foggy otherside...
Republicans don't hate freedom of speech. Oh, yeah? With Poll
Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 02:43:39 PM PDT
The hell they don't. Here's just one more damn example. And it's a doozy.
LITTLE BROTHER IS WATCHING reads a billboard atop a Massachusetts parking garage. There's a dark image of GWB on it. The billboard is owned by John Rosenthal who is also responsible for the message. Now, powerful Republicans are trying to force Rosenthal to remove the sign.
''It's censorship on the part of the Republican administration either here or in Washington that doesn't appreciate the humor or, frankly, having their tyrannical policies questioned," Rosenthal said. ''If that billboard said, 'Support Our Troops,' no one would be questioning it."
Rosenthal added, ''There's no agenda here, other than a public discussion."
More and link below...
ADDED: Check Here:Little Brother is Watching
Who's the stand-up guy? George W. Bush or Saddam Hussein? With Poll
Wed Mar 01, 2006 at 10:47:02 AM PDT
From the
BBC::
No one else to blame, says Saddam Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has told his trial in Baghdad that he alone should be made to answer for the actions of his regime.
Hussein has stood up and said that he was in charge and therefore should be charged, if anyone is.
At the end of a second straight day of prosecution evidence, he said the court should not be trying anyone else - a reference to his seven co-defendants.
Earlier, he admitted razing the farms of those convicted of trying to kill him in the town of Dujail in 1982.
More...
The personal is the damn political. Privatization Ripoffs. W/poll
Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 09:54:43 AM PDT
Ok, Ok, I concede that on the scale of the war in Iraq, the deliberate bankrupting of the United States government, rampant cronyism, the highjacking of foreign policy by the Vice President and the neocons, a lousy healthcare system, inability to respond to real, not imagined, disasters, etc., ad nauseum, this is a little thing.
But is it?
How about private ripoffs of state agency services?
More after the fold:
Pentagon gone mad! Wrong troops to wrong places
Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 05:19:03 AM PDT
This is clear evidence the administration has utterly ruined a fine military. You want more torture, more killings of prisoners, more loss of American lives, you got it, right here.
From the LA Times.
WASHINGTON -- Straining to find ground troops to maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has begun deploying thousands of Air Force personnel to combat zones in new jobs as interrogators, prison sentries and gunners on supply trucks.
Air Force personnel? Lemme tell you flip side.
It's the POLICIES, stupid.
Tue Sep 27, 2005 at 04:13:02 PM PDT
So Karen Hughes is off to the Arab world on a mission to get 'em to like us better. I never did see what she has to offer. She's been pretty good cleaning up Bush's miserable communications skills in the past, but she's sure as hell no diplomat.
This from the Washington Post blog:
Karen Hughes Catches Flak
Arab analysts recognize Hughes' skill at staying on message -- not entirely unlike being simple-minded. But her naivete seems to be showing.
Hughes found her message greeted politely but skeptically in Egypt, even by audiences selected and controlled by U.S. officials. Today, she meets with college students and journalists as the Saudi Gazette headlines doubts about her "cosmetic" approach.
So even in the most controlled environments, it ain't working.
More below;
Bloody New York Times can't find dKos with both hands!
Mon Nov 01, 2004 at 08:52:14 PM PDT
So, their editorial page decides to include what the bloggers are saying:
The Revolution Will Be Posted
Published: November 2, 2004
Every four years, by journalistic if not political tradition, the presidential election must be accompanied by a "revolution." So what transformed politics this time around? The rise of the Web log, or blog. The commentary of bloggers - individuals or groups posting daily, hourly or second-by-second observations of and opinions on the campaign on their own Web sites - helped shape the 2004 race. The Op-Ed page asked bloggers from all points on the political spectrum to say what they thought was the most important event or moment of the campaign that, we hope, comes to an end today.
Explosive New Kerry Ad: Goes off under Bush
Tue Oct 26, 2004 at 02:54:41 PM PDT
The Kerry campaign has a new one. While Bush is fiddling with his closing ad, Big John gets new material every day, right off the front pages.
Check it out!
Script:
"The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops and now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly explosives. The kind used for attacks in Iraq, and for terrorist bombings. His Iraq misjudgments put our soldiers at risk, and make our country less secure. And all he offers is more of the same. As President, I'll bring a fresh start to protect our troops and our nation. I'm John Kerry and I approved this message."
Silly-ass poll:
Breaking- NASA Scientist: BUSH BAD
Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 08:16:46 PM PDT
Global Warming Dangerous and Real
From the NYT
A top NASA climate expert who twice briefed Vice President Dick Cheney on global warming plans to criticize the administration's approach to the issue in a lecture at the University of Iowa tonight and say that a senior administration official told him last year not to discuss dangerous consequences of rising temperatures.
The anti-science administration may drown us all!
Kerry Scourging Bush With Scripture!
Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:30:35 PM PDT
From the
Book of John (Kerry, that is):
Kerry's Latest Attacks on Bush Borrow a Page From Scripture
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and DAVID E. SANGER,
NYT
Published: October 25, 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 24 - Appealing to late-deciding voters in explicitly religious terms, Senator John Kerry used the Bible on Sunday to accuse President Bush of trying to scare America, and said his own Catholicism moved him to help those in need but not to "write every doctrine into law."
(This is yesterday's news, but if it was posted here I missed it. Seems significant.)
Report from OCCUPIED FLORIDA w/poll
Sat Oct 23, 2004 at 01:48:43 PM PDT
Just when I'm getting tired and a little grumpy, and less optimistic than is my custom, this email arrived from a friend in the Sunshine State.
Brothers and sisters, it's happenin' all over:
St. Petersburg turns out to "Fire the Liar"
October 22, 2004 - ST. PETERSBURG
With less than 24 hours notice, approximately seventy-five protesters gathered on the corners of a well-to-do St. Petersburg neighborhood to send George Bush a clear message - well actually, we sent him several clear messages, including one transmitted by an older activist with a very eloquent middle finger.
But wait! There's more: And a silly-ass poll.
Eminem? Whoa, how can we lose?
Fri Oct 22, 2004 at 10:39:12 AM PDT
Folks, we've got a
broad coalition.
This from the incredibly well connected Juan Cole:
I don't know what Marshall Mathers's politics are. But I do know that they could be of consequence for the youth vote, and his loud pleas for everyone to vote may also have an impact at the margins (this election is about the margins).
That he is issuing a song, Mosh, which directly attacks Bush on the Iraq war may be a sign of the times:
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell/
We gonna let him know/
Stomp, push, shove, mush, fuck Bush!
Until they bring our troops home . . .
Let the president answer on higher anarchy
Strap him with an AK-47, let him go fight his own war/
Let him impress daddy that way . . . No more blood for oil."
Flip Side:
Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cheney and Bush ARE the Insane Clown Posse...
Once-proud republic, now beggar nation under Bush
Thu Oct 21, 2004 at 05:33:12 PM PDT
Private Doctors in Frantic Quest for Flu Vaccine
This sad and infuriating tale comes from the NYT.
Oncologist flies to Canada, desperately seeking flu vaccine for cancer patients with ravaged immune systems:
Dr. Rodney Sherman, an oncologist on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who has 350 chronically ill patients in need of protection against the flu, is giving up on the United States government.
After weeks of trying to get answers as to whether he is in line to get vaccine - and calm his patients' fears - he has decided to take matters into his own hands.
This morning, he is flying to Canada, hoping to buy vaccine, even though he does not know if any will be available.
Fistfight in the hallways at NYT?
Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 05:08:36 AM PDT
LADEEZ AND GENTLEMEN! ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE RING, I GIVE YOU "DUPLICITOUS DAVY" BROOKS:
Kerry's second wild attack is that Bush would reinstate the draft. The administration, which hasn't even asked for trivial public sacrifices in a time of war, does not want to bring back the draft. The Pentagon does not want to bring back the draft. The Republican Party does not want to bring back the draft. Given the nature of military technology, it doesn't make sense to bring back the draft. There may be some in the bureaucracy taking precautions, but it is hard to imagine an attack with less basis in fact.
AND ON THE LEFT, PAUL "THE KILLER" KRUGMAN:
Below the fold Take the poll
