on Judy Miller: NY Times vs LA Times editorials (poll)
Sun Oct 10, 2004 at 06:30:56 AM PDT
There are two competing editorials today about the Judy Miller story and the rights and responsibilities of journalists to protect sources, offer anonymity, and cooperate in criminal investigations.
First, in the New York Times, publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger defends Ms. Miller for the crime of "doing her job as the founders of this nation intended."
Meanwhile, Michael Kinsley argues in the LA Times that we must weigh the value to the public interest in keeping the confidentiality of news sources vs. that of undercover espionage agents.
NYC Street News Network
Mon Aug 30, 2004 at 07:03:59 AM PDT
For people who aren't in NYC (or who are and like me are stuck at work and can't get to the protests) here are some great ways to tap into what's happening at the street level directly from the protesters, legal advocates and interested observers. And none of it is filtered through the corporate media before it gets to you. Enjoy!
listen to NYC protest reports: LIVE
Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:36:19 PM PDT
For voyeuristic kosscks who couldn't make it to NYC, tonight you can have the next best thing and listen live to a radio station broadcasting reports about ongoing protests & arrests in NYC:
A-Noise is webcasting a live stream and taking cell phone calls from people as they are being arrested or witnessing arrests as a result of a massive bike ride that took place this evening. It started around 7:30 PM, had up to 10,000 participants and took up about 30 city blocks, but has now degenerated to the point that cops are encircling people, handcuffing them and putting them on buses in large numbers.
For real time updates, check out http://nyc.indymedia.org/ - it even includes reports of Foxy Brown running down a cyclist in her SUV :)
not a great start to a long week here in RNC-land
RNC Event Calendar: Friday 8/27
Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 03:08:04 AM PDT
Not sure if anyone else is already planning to do this, so as a service to the visiting (and resident) dKos community in NYC, here are some events that look interesting today:
9:30 a.m.: March across the Brooklyn Bridge (MOB)
to get your marching shoes all nice & broken in.
2 p.m.: Crossing of New York Harbor (Greene Dragon)
cross the harbor in your red white & blue to re-enact George W's (the other one) famous crossing for freedom
Bloomberg to Protesters' Money: welcome!
Tue Aug 17, 2004 at 01:19:06 PM PDT
This is real. I'm serious.
look!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 17, 2004
No. 224
www.nyc.gov
MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYORS EDWARD I. KOCH AND DAVID N. DINKINS AND NYC & COMPANY TO WELCOME POLITICAL ACTIVISTS TO CITY WITH PROMOTION DESIGNED TO BOOST VISITOR SPENDING DURING THE 2004 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
Hugo Chavez to Nat'l Hurricane Center: "Go Cheney Yourself!"
Mon Aug 16, 2004 at 06:56:54 PM PDT
This story is too strange not to share. You have to be a weather geek (guilty) to have caught it.
Last night, Venezuela refused to allow U.S. government reconnaissance aircraft into their airspace to take a look at tropical storm earl!
TROPICAL STORM EARL DISCUSSION NUMBER 10
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
11 PM EDT SUN AUG 15 2004
IF NOT FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA THIS PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST ADVISORY ON EARL...AT LEAST FOR NOW. THE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT SCHEDULED TO INVESTIGATE EARL THIS EVENING WAS DENIED ACCESS TO VENEZUELAN AIRSPACE.
Plame: Fitzgerald questioned Russert today
Sat Aug 07, 2004 at 04:17:26 PM PDT
NBC news this on-air commentary by John Siegenthaler during Nightly News just now:
"More tonight on the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame. Prosecutors had subpoenaed NBC's News' Tim Russert, and NBC had gone to court to block the subpoena.
As reported previously, Russert was not a recipient of the leak.
Today, Russert was interviewed under oath by the Special Prosecutor, and was not asked any questions that would require him to disclose information provided in confidence.
The questioning focused on what Russert said when Lewis "Scooter" Libby, VP's Chief of Staff, phoned him last summer. Russert testified that at the time of the conversation, Russert didn't know Plame's name or that she was a CIA operative, and he didn't provide that information to Libby. He said that the first time he learned the information was when he later read a column by Robert Novak.
Seemann & DKos in the news again (and again)
Sun Jul 18, 2004 at 10:56:11 AM PDT
I set up a Google News alert on "Jeff Seemann" and have started to see an almost daily pattern of stories promoting sites like Dkos in making underdog candidates viable, thanks to the fundraising sites like ours can do.
check out the latest stories:
Blogosphere discovers Tomah Journal
July 15 - The Tomah Journal - Tomah,WI,USA
"Bloggers shrink the political universe. Want to know what's going on in the Alaska U.S. Senate race? Dailykos.com has the info. Ever heard of Richard Morrison? He's the Democrat challenging Tom DeLay in Texas. Jeff Seemann? He looked like a hopeless Democrat in Ohio's 16th Congressional District until one of President Bush's supporters shut down a factory in Canton and shipped 1,300 jobs overseas. Bush himself visited the plant last year and touted it as evidence that his economic policies are working. Progressive web sites are promoting longshot Democrats like Morrison and Seemann with exposure and campaign cash. The national Democratic Party does a miserable job of expanding the political playing field, but sites like dailykos.com are filling the gap."
So true, and great examples! I've given to Knowles and Seemann and am even considering spending my weekend-before-the-election in Canton getting out the vote for a fellow kossack.
LA Times: state legislators could pick the president
Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 05:34:00 AM PDT
From today's LA Times: "
Terrorists Can't Halt Vote, Experts Say" a line caught my eye as much more horrifying than the possibility of postponed elections:
In the case of a presidential election, a state legislature can directly appoint the electors who will cast the state's votes in the electoral college.
Wilgoren smack-down from Kaus
Mon Jun 14, 2004 at 11:41:04 AM PDT
I know I'm not the only former Dean supporter who tired of Jodi Wilgoren's "profiles" on the candidate for
The New Pravda.
For anyone else who felt the same way, I present the following
blog entry from Kaus in which he slams her for the weakness of her Sunday profile of John Kerry (excerpt:)
what does Wilgoren come up with after her "observations on the campaign trail over several months, combined with interviews with politicians and aides who spend time by his side"? Kerry polishes his speeches. He talks a lot on the phone. He went to an aide's wedding! Wow! That's journalistic gold.
read the rest.
What is up with the editors of the NY Times? Why is Jodi allowed to effectively come up with a formulation to describe Kerry -- "Mr. Kerry is anything but simple and straightforward, a man of many sides and surprises, some seemingly contradictory" -- when all her examples prove otherwise?
The outtakes provided in her story (beyond those noted by Kaus) have Kerry taking a walk, playing football, riding a motorcycle, shaking hands, playing hockey, and attending a baseball game. Nothing in there says "suprising" and "contradictory" to me. "Simple and straightforward," in fact, just about perfectly describe him from the picture she paints.
whatever. I'm finished with the NY Times. I just unsubscribed and will throw the money for the rest of the year to the Kerry campaign, instead.
Sunday Morning Talk Shows
Sun May 02, 2004 at 06:52:48 AM PDT
Hopefully I'm not the only person awake this morning, but I'm not seeing much reaction to the talk shows yet.
At the moment, General Myers is on This Week being questioned by Stephanopolous and George Will about prisoner abuse.
Myers says they have taken actions against the six people involved, have initiated a "theatre-wide review" of practices, and he has "seen no evidence" that torture & abuse is a system-wide problem. And yet, when confronted with the 53-page report by General Taguba alleging these are widespread abuses, Myers claims "I haven't read the report." George didn't let him off the hook, pointing out how crazy it was that he hadn't read the report yet, but also didn't really get anything more than spin.
It's brilliant, really - say you are looking into it and initiated a study, then don't read the report from the study, then claim to have "seen no evidence" of a problem. Therefore... no problem! QED.
Governor Dean is on the This Week roundtable, and I also heard that Joe Wilson will be on Meet the Press.
Any other good stuff on the other morning shows anybody can recommend?
Wolfie testifying NOW on C-Span
Tue Apr 20, 2004 at 08:31:06 AM PDT
For everyone asking "when is Congress going to ask about the $700 Million?," the answer is now.
C-Span is currently airing a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in which Senators are questioning Wolfowitz, General Myers and some undersecretary of State I've never heard of.
Good clips so far include the Chairman, John Warner (R-VA) asking: If on July 1, Iraqis are sovereign and can make decisions for themselves, but U.S. troops will be under U.S. control, then what do we do if in early July, there is an uprising and the U.S. military differs with the Iraqi government on how to respond? Who decides whether our troops will engage in hostile action? I thought it was a great question. (Wolfie's answer, essentially, is that "we will" whatever the Iraqi government opinion happens to be and even if it's their country)
Wolfie also basically called Dick Clarke a liar.
Kennedy asked why the administration diverted funds for Iraq "when we had Osama Bin Laden" cornered in Tora Bora. Wolfie claims we didn't.
Now Susan Collins is asking about the involuntary draft of Guard and Reservists.
good stuff! tune in and comment.
i wasn't allowed to vote
Wed Nov 05, 2003 at 09:08:42 AM PDT
so I move around a lot and don't bother to learn all the ins and outs of election laws. but this pissed me off:
I live in NJ but work in NYC so I wasn't sure if I'd make it to the polls. To be safe I ordered an absentee ballot. It arrived around Oct 25th. The instructions said it had to be returned to the county clerk (i think) by the 28th. Not postmarked by the 28th, not by the actual day of the election, but to them by the 28th. So I didn't have time. I thought, no problem, I'll just vote at the polls.
So I made sure to be in NJ on election day, went to the polls, and my name was marked as having requested an absentee ballot, and they wouldn't let me vote. I said I didn't turn in the ballot, and even if they did, they could just check the rolls and see I'd voted, throwing out the other one. THey wouldn't even let me turn in my absentee ballot at the polls (that's what I did last year in Arizona).
It just seems like they make it so damned hard, the instructions are counter-intuitive (based on my recollection of Florida 2000, I'd have thought all you had to do was postmark your ballot by the election date) and the onus is totally on the voter, not the system, to make sure your vote gets counted. And I'm not illiterate, nor am I uninclined to find out the procedures. So if I can screw it up, I imagine a lot of people do.
I know, whine whine...
getting out the vote in northern NJ
Wed Nov 05, 2003 at 09:02:33 AM PDT
I worked on my first GOTV effort yesterday, for a state assembly candidate from a Republican stronghold in Northern NJ. I learned about the candidate because of her strong support for Howard Dean, so I, like other NJ Dean supporters, went to pitch in and make some phone calls to get supporters to the polls.
Generally, it was a positive experience, but I wonder how much of an impact it has. Most people were friendly and told me they already voted, many others were brusque and said they would try and hung up. The vast majority didn't pick up the phone at all.
I found nearly everyone in their early 20s on our list was "off at college." Makes you wonder if an effective GOTV effort should aim to target those folks with absentee ballots about a month before the election -- anyone heard of this happening?
One odd incident - a fellow volunteer and I were the only two in the room at the time, and he obviously got into it with a voter he'd called, who apparently challenged our right to call under the Do Not Call rules. Well, the volunteer must have gotten provoked because he started YELLING at the caller, like really loud. No profanities, but it was totally inappropriate. About five minutes later the phone rang and the voter reached another volunteer (who'd been out of the room at the time), and eventually we got the candidate on the phone, who spent about 15 minutes calming the guy down and vowing to get to the bottom of it. Then the volunteer fessed up to talking to the guy, but completely denied having been hostile or angry. It was odd, watching someone so blatantly lie like that. He was actually a really effective caller, so I was hesitant to rat him out, I just crossed my fingers and hoped he wouldn't get any hostile voters on the line again who'd provoke him.
In the end the candidate lost, but it was a solid GOP district and she was the highest vote-getting Dem in the district.
NJ did pick up some seats in the Senate, gaining control of a body which had been evenly split 20-20. So in that sense it was a positive day, as I'd read the GOP was looking at NJ as a place they could gain some ground.
would you fight a raging forest fire without good health insurance?
Sun Nov 02, 2003 at 01:49:03 AM PDT
Watching the California wildfires, we hear all the stories about the families who've lost homes and belongings. But there's another story of hardship on the fire lines that nobody in the media seems to be telling.
My brother's a HotShot for the Forest Service, based in northern California. Every year these guys work 6-7 months on fires all over the US. They operate on little sleep, without showers, hot food, or a roof over their heads. The work is physically exhausting, and performed under hellish conditions. Sadly, sometimes they meet a tragic fate.
And because these guys are classified as "temporary," they have no benefits, no pension, no health care. Once the season ends, many of them take jobs in bars or construction, again without benefits. Others go on unemployment and some get food stamps. Many have active hobbies like snowboarding and rock-climbing, where an injury would put them out of business and into debt paying their medical bills. I have no clue what they do when they get too old to work the fires, they sure don't have pensions or 401(k) plans.
So while the politicians fall all over themselves trying to obtain federal funds to help rebuild McMansions in the hills, and let timber companies harvest the trees, I just wish one of them (hello, Democrats? you busy?) would bother to meet the fire crews, learn how precarious their futures are, and offer to do something about that too.
