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June 17, 2004
Johnny Ramone losing cancer fightJohnny Ramone once handed me his guitar pick from onstage at a club when I was a teenager. I was squished in the front row, and at the end of each song I would scream and reach toward Johnny, who was about 2-3 feet from the end of my reach, if that. And during one of these brief moments (the Ramones would break between songs for only as long as it took drummer Marky to say "...2, 3, 4!"), Johnny quickly reached forward and slipped his guitar pick right into my hand. It has ruts in it, caused by the pick slides that come during "Psychotherapy", which was the song just finished as I was given that trinket -- and that lasting memory -- by Johnny Ramone. CNN.com - Report: Johnny Ramone losing cancer fight - Jun 16, 2004 |
Moore held back on releasing prisoner abuse footage
Documentarian kept quiet after filming U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis
(permacopy)
Filmmaker Michael Moore said Friday he wasn't sure he did the right thing by saving footage of U.S. American soldiers' cruelty toward Iraqis for his controversial documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11,'' instead of releasing the evidence earlier when it might have helped halt such abuse.
"I had it months before the story broke on '60 Minutes,' and I really struggled with what to do with it,'' Moore said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. "I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I'd be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie. That prevented me from making maybe the right decision.''
The footage, eerily similar to film of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison, shows GIs laughing as they snap photos of each other putting hoods over Iraqi detainees.
In the same scene from "Fahrenheit 9/11,'' which opens Friday at Bay Area theaters, an American soldier fondles a prisoner's genitals through a blanket.
...
June 07, 2004
WEB GAL MAKES D.C. POLS SQUIRM
New York Post Online Edition: WEB GAL MAKES D.C. POLS SQUIRM
May 25, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - If the war and the presidential election aren't generating enough headlines, Washington finally has the ultimate attention getter: a good, old-fashioned sex scandal.
Thank Jessica Cutler.
Her Internet diary, which graphically recorded what she claims are steamy sexploits with powerful D.C. lawyers and Bush administration honchos, has exploded like a grenade in the nation's capital.
...
May 26, 2004
Berg Video Conspiracy Theories
(Warning: This is about a nasty decapitation video, and the links below show parts of it. My text below also discusses parts of it in detail.)
Most of the pieces of these theories don't sway me much (like the much-vaunted difference between the time-stamps on the shots)...but the first link below shows two spots where an additional person appears on the right side of the frame, and that person does seem out of place as compared to his presumed colleagues in the main shot.
The first time I saw the viedo I found the manner of the execution to be very strange -- all of the hooded figures swarm around Berg, obscuring almost all of the killing portion of the decapitation. While you do hear screaming among the "Allahu Akbar"'s being chanted by the captors, you don't actually see Berg screaming or the graphic element of his killing (as you would in a horror or action movie, for example). It's not that I wanted to see that, but it seemed very strange that the terrorists would have arranged their act so that the most horror-filled part was not muddled, blocked, and unclear.
Once the screaming is over, and the decapitator is finishing the job of separating the head, the clustering hooded guys pull back, and that part is shown more clearly.
I just don't see any strategic reason to cluster around him during the killing part, unless there is some sort of ritual custom involved...and it seems as though this video was very carefully planned out. (i.e., everything seems to have been done for a reason in a rehearsed manner).
Aside from that, I also found the fidgeting terrorists to be a little suspicious, and their stances seemed undisciplined. Which again seems strange for such presumably dedicated religious extremists, who are trying to instill fear in the hearts of millions.
So, I'm not ready to buy into the conspiracy theories, but I'm still suspicious of the video (as I was from the first time I saw it, without hearing anyone's theories). I'm skeptical in both directions.
Berg decapitation video was filmed inside the Abu Ghraib prison
Marc Perkel Rantz: Berg Video - SMOKING GUN?
The Nick Berg execution: a working hypothesis and a resolution for the orange jumpsuit mystery
May 11, 2004
Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
May 08, 2004
How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
What's Next Online Interview: Expertizing -- How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
May 06, 2004
May 02, 2004
What the US papers don't say
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What the US papers don't say
(TruthOut permacopy -- second story on page)
Michael Hann examines the air of secrecy and silence surrounding the US media's treatment of George Bush's 'war on terror'
Friday April 30, 2004
American contractors and soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in a prison outside Baghdad? A huge story, by anyone's standards, surely, especially when pictures of the abuse were broadcast on the US TV network CBS.
So it was no surprise that newspapers around the world made huge, horrified play of the events at the Abu Ghraib prison. It was more of a surprise, however, that the story did not receive the same level of coverage in the US papers.
The Baltimore Sun, however, was damning in its verdict. "Television footage of the mistreatment of Iraqi war prisoners by their American captors was shockingly disturbing and hauntingly reminiscent of the horror stories from the regime of Saddam Hussein," it said. Punishment of those responsible, it added, would not on its own be sufficient response. "The Pentagon must be held accountable if the military failed to provide the training, staffing, supervision and leadership required to ensure that prisoners of war are treated humanely."
Perhaps the difference between the US coverage and that elsewhere should have been expected. CBS admitted it had come under severe pressure from the Pentagon not to broadcast the images, and the issue of what is and what is not fit for US public consumption has been an ongoing theme, applicable to events both domestic and foreign.
Tonight, for example, the ABC network's Nightline programme is to feature host Ted Koppel reading the names of all members of the American military killed in Iraq, while pictures of them appear on screen. But, as the New York Daily News reported, one local broadcasting group that controls eight ABC-affiliated stations has "angrily pulled" the show, claiming the naming of the dead "is a blatant anti-war ploy".
...
April 25, 2004
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
Ghosts of Ted McGinley
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
by Nick Gillespie
Reason
April 24, 2004
Commentary: Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
April 20, 2004
April 19, 2004
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
WEB GAL MAKES D.C. POLS SQUIRM
New York Post Online Edition: WEB GAL MAKES D.C. POLS SQUIRM
May 25, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - If the war and the presidential election aren't generating enough headlines, Washington finally has the ultimate attention getter: a good, old-fashioned sex scandal.
Thank Jessica Cutler.
Her Internet diary, which graphically recorded what she claims are steamy sexploits with powerful D.C. lawyers and Bush administration honchos, has exploded like a grenade in the nation's capital.
...
Berg Video Conspiracy Theories
(Warning: This is about a nasty decapitation video, and the links below show parts of it. My text below also discusses parts of it in detail.)
Most of the pieces of these theories don't sway me much (like the much-vaunted difference between the time-stamps on the shots)...but the first link below shows two spots where an additional person appears on the right side of the frame, and that person does seem out of place as compared to his presumed colleagues in the main shot.
The first time I saw the viedo I found the manner of the execution to be very strange -- all of the hooded figures swarm around Berg, obscuring almost all of the killing portion of the decapitation. While you do hear screaming among the "Allahu Akbar"'s being chanted by the captors, you don't actually see Berg screaming or the graphic element of his killing (as you would in a horror or action movie, for example). It's not that I wanted to see that, but it seemed very strange that the terrorists would have arranged their act so that the most horror-filled part was not muddled, blocked, and unclear.
Once the screaming is over, and the decapitator is finishing the job of separating the head, the clustering hooded guys pull back, and that part is shown more clearly.
I just don't see any strategic reason to cluster around him during the killing part, unless there is some sort of ritual custom involved...and it seems as though this video was very carefully planned out. (i.e., everything seems to have been done for a reason in a rehearsed manner).
Aside from that, I also found the fidgeting terrorists to be a little suspicious, and their stances seemed undisciplined. Which again seems strange for such presumably dedicated religious extremists, who are trying to instill fear in the hearts of millions.
So, I'm not ready to buy into the conspiracy theories, but I'm still suspicious of the video (as I was from the first time I saw it, without hearing anyone's theories). I'm skeptical in both directions.
Berg decapitation video was filmed inside the Abu Ghraib prison
Marc Perkel Rantz: Berg Video - SMOKING GUN?
The Nick Berg execution: a working hypothesis and a resolution for the orange jumpsuit mystery
May 11, 2004
Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
May 08, 2004
How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
What's Next Online Interview: Expertizing -- How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
May 06, 2004
May 02, 2004
What the US papers don't say
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What the US papers don't say
(TruthOut permacopy -- second story on page)
Michael Hann examines the air of secrecy and silence surrounding the US media's treatment of George Bush's 'war on terror'
Friday April 30, 2004
American contractors and soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in a prison outside Baghdad? A huge story, by anyone's standards, surely, especially when pictures of the abuse were broadcast on the US TV network CBS.
So it was no surprise that newspapers around the world made huge, horrified play of the events at the Abu Ghraib prison. It was more of a surprise, however, that the story did not receive the same level of coverage in the US papers.
The Baltimore Sun, however, was damning in its verdict. "Television footage of the mistreatment of Iraqi war prisoners by their American captors was shockingly disturbing and hauntingly reminiscent of the horror stories from the regime of Saddam Hussein," it said. Punishment of those responsible, it added, would not on its own be sufficient response. "The Pentagon must be held accountable if the military failed to provide the training, staffing, supervision and leadership required to ensure that prisoners of war are treated humanely."
Perhaps the difference between the US coverage and that elsewhere should have been expected. CBS admitted it had come under severe pressure from the Pentagon not to broadcast the images, and the issue of what is and what is not fit for US public consumption has been an ongoing theme, applicable to events both domestic and foreign.
Tonight, for example, the ABC network's Nightline programme is to feature host Ted Koppel reading the names of all members of the American military killed in Iraq, while pictures of them appear on screen. But, as the New York Daily News reported, one local broadcasting group that controls eight ABC-affiliated stations has "angrily pulled" the show, claiming the naming of the dead "is a blatant anti-war ploy".
...
April 25, 2004
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
Ghosts of Ted McGinley
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
by Nick Gillespie
Reason
April 24, 2004
Commentary: Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
April 20, 2004
April 19, 2004
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Media Outlets Won't Show Beheading Video
How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
What's Next Online Interview: Expertizing -- How to Become Known As An Expert -- On Anything
May 06, 2004
May 02, 2004
What the US papers don't say
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What the US papers don't say
(TruthOut permacopy -- second story on page)
Michael Hann examines the air of secrecy and silence surrounding the US media's treatment of George Bush's 'war on terror'
Friday April 30, 2004
American contractors and soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in a prison outside Baghdad? A huge story, by anyone's standards, surely, especially when pictures of the abuse were broadcast on the US TV network CBS.
So it was no surprise that newspapers around the world made huge, horrified play of the events at the Abu Ghraib prison. It was more of a surprise, however, that the story did not receive the same level of coverage in the US papers.
The Baltimore Sun, however, was damning in its verdict. "Television footage of the mistreatment of Iraqi war prisoners by their American captors was shockingly disturbing and hauntingly reminiscent of the horror stories from the regime of Saddam Hussein," it said. Punishment of those responsible, it added, would not on its own be sufficient response. "The Pentagon must be held accountable if the military failed to provide the training, staffing, supervision and leadership required to ensure that prisoners of war are treated humanely."
Perhaps the difference between the US coverage and that elsewhere should have been expected. CBS admitted it had come under severe pressure from the Pentagon not to broadcast the images, and the issue of what is and what is not fit for US public consumption has been an ongoing theme, applicable to events both domestic and foreign.
Tonight, for example, the ABC network's Nightline programme is to feature host Ted Koppel reading the names of all members of the American military killed in Iraq, while pictures of them appear on screen. But, as the New York Daily News reported, one local broadcasting group that controls eight ABC-affiliated stations has "angrily pulled" the show, claiming the naming of the dead "is a blatant anti-war ploy".
...
April 25, 2004
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
Ghosts of Ted McGinley
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
by Nick Gillespie
Reason
April 24, 2004
Commentary: Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
April 20, 2004
April 19, 2004
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
What the US papers don't say
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What the US papers don't say
(TruthOut permacopy -- second story on page)
Michael Hann examines the air of secrecy and silence surrounding the US media's treatment of George Bush's 'war on terror'
Friday April 30, 2004
American contractors and soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in a prison outside Baghdad? A huge story, by anyone's standards, surely, especially when pictures of the abuse were broadcast on the US TV network CBS.
So it was no surprise that newspapers around the world made huge, horrified play of the events at the Abu Ghraib prison. It was more of a surprise, however, that the story did not receive the same level of coverage in the US papers.
The Baltimore Sun, however, was damning in its verdict. "Television footage of the mistreatment of Iraqi war prisoners by their American captors was shockingly disturbing and hauntingly reminiscent of the horror stories from the regime of Saddam Hussein," it said. Punishment of those responsible, it added, would not on its own be sufficient response. "The Pentagon must be held accountable if the military failed to provide the training, staffing, supervision and leadership required to ensure that prisoners of war are treated humanely."
Perhaps the difference between the US coverage and that elsewhere should have been expected. CBS admitted it had come under severe pressure from the Pentagon not to broadcast the images, and the issue of what is and what is not fit for US public consumption has been an ongoing theme, applicable to events both domestic and foreign.
Tonight, for example, the ABC network's Nightline programme is to feature host Ted Koppel reading the names of all members of the American military killed in Iraq, while pictures of them appear on screen. But, as the New York Daily News reported, one local broadcasting group that controls eight ABC-affiliated stations has "angrily pulled" the show, claiming the naming of the dead "is a blatant anti-war ploy".
...
April 25, 2004
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
Ghosts of Ted McGinley
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
by Nick Gillespie
Reason
April 24, 2004
Commentary: Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
April 20, 2004
April 19, 2004
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
Ghosts of Ted McGinley
Unplugging the stupidity of TV Turnoff Week
by Nick Gillespie
Reason
Commentary: Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Hip-hop politics must look beyond 2004
April 20, 2004
April 19, 2004
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Is Oliver Stone's latest film soft on Castro?
Oliver Stone's Twist - Is the director's latest film soft on Castro? By Ann Louise Bardach
April 02, 2004
April 01, 2004
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Ruling deals blow to music industry
Ruling deals blow to music industry
A much-anticipated court decision released yesterday was supposed to clarify the rights of Internet access providers to protect the privacy of their customers. But in a surprising twist, the Federal Court's decision went far beyond privacy issues, dealing a huge blow to the Canadian music industry and its efforts to stop Internet users from sharing music files.
Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled yesterday that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) failed in all respects to make a case for requiring Internet companies to turn over the identities of big music downloaders. CRIA, he said, didn't prove it could identify who had shared the music files, nor whether the specific music files at issue in the current lawsuit infringed copyright rules, nor whether there was any other way the music companies could have found the identities of the Internet users.
But the biggest blow to the music industry came when Judge von Finckenstein addressed the broader question of whether there was evidence of a legal violation that would justify revealing the private identities of Internet users. He concluded that sharing music files doesn't constitute copyright infringement at all.
...
March 30, 2004
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 19, 2004
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
Contra Costa Times | 03/29/2004 | Stern does about-turn, takes on Bush, FCC
March 16, 2004
March 07, 2004
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
RNC Tells TV Stations Not to Run Anti-Bush Ads
CNN.com - RNC tells TV stations not to run anti-Bush ads - Mar 6, 2004
(TruthOut permacopy)
March 04, 2004
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
March 03, 2004
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Campaign funding loophole exploited
Campaign funding loophole exploited
TACTICS: Groups download photos of candidates and attach them to their issue ads.
February 27, 2004
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
February 21, 2004
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Yahoo! News - Oscar bites his fingernails over politically active stars
Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Wired News: Blogs Pump Bucks Into Campaigns
Not even his own staff would call Democratic congressional candidate Ben Chandler a nethead.
"He uses the Internet almost exclusively for fantasy baseball," said campaign spokesman Jason Sauer, who added that he wasn't sure whether, until recently, Chandler even knew what a blog was.
But that was before Chandler's campaign turned a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks. Chandler -- who won a seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening -- definitely knows what a blog is now, Sauer said. "It's that thing that brings in money."
...
February 17, 2004
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
February 15, 2004
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
HSAN adds worthy layer to the upcoming election
Although it hasn't gotten much attention or exposure other than in music publications, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) has the potential to make an enormous impact on the political front. Since January the three-year-old organization has been spearheading a nationwide voter registration drive called "Hip-Hop Team Vote."
...
Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
t r u t h o u t - Scott Galindez | Shame on You, Ann Coulter
February 14, 2004
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
February 11, 2004
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam
CBS News icon fields questions
Walter Cronkite draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam for Thomas students
(TruthOut permacopy)
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.
The Government Doesn’t Belong in Television
The Government Doesn't Belong in Television
by Scott McPherson, February 6, 2003
"Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property — by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort. "
— Ayn Rand, “The Property Status of Airwaves” (1964)
Outrage over Janet Jackson’s racy half-time performance during Super Bowl XXXVIII did not go unnoticed by television’s government overseers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actually considering fining CBS for the broadcast.
According to the February 3 Washington Times, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell ... ordered an investigation of the Super Bowl halftime show.... ‘I am outraged at what I saw ... ,’ Mr. Powell said.” So-called pro-family groups and a number of talk-radio hosts are likewise disgusted with the Super Bowl show.
Okay, so people found the show revolting. But what does that have to do with the government?
...
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
An Open Letter from Michael Moore to George "I'm a War President!" Bush
February 10, 2004
February 06, 2004
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
t r u t h o u t - After Flash of Flesh, CBS Again Is in Denial
February 05, 2004
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
February 04, 2004
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
(review of) Dude, where's my country?
WorldNetDaily: Dude, where's my country?
Excerpts:
It's surprising, and gratifying, to see something that makes a strong anti-war, pro personal-freedom case sit atop the best-seller list. And not just in the U.S. – I bought my copy last week in London. So I really liked the first half of the book. Then Mike has a psychotic break of sorts in the second half, starting with a chapter called "Horatio Alger Must Die," where he debunks, as myth, the notion anybody in America can get rich.
...
The first half of the book is very worthwhile, and will reaffirm your faith in the fact America is going to hell in a handbasket under the Republicans. The second half will reaffirm your faith in the fact America will go to hell in an even larger-sized container, maybe a stolen shopping cart, should the Democrats get in.
CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring
There's one thing I haven't heard in all the reporting of this story:
IT'S JUST A BREAST. EVERYONE HAS THEM.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed at how immature our culture is when it comes to certain things...like, say, the human body.
It's 2004, folks -- don't forget to be ashamed of your bodies! Dirty dirty dirty!
SI.com - CBS apologizes for halftime breast-baring - Monday February 2, 2004 12:20PM
February 03, 2004
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
February 02, 2004
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Shales: a Superbowl of Sleaze
Incomplete! (washingtonpost.com)
Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing.
...
Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot at FTAA
The Miami Herald | 02/01/2004 | Nonprotesting filmmaker wonders why he was shot
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
Narrating your way into—and out of—the White House
by Charles Paul Freund
Reason
Are this year's Democratic primary competitions shaping up as more examples of the nation's developing style of "cultural campaigning"? In the midst of the 2000 presidential race, reason magazine argued that, due largely to the growth of ever more intimate media, as well as the decline of a foreign military threat, presidential candidates were under pressure to expose more and more of their private, "backstage" lives, and to offer voters an ever more compelling story about themselves.
This process is not merely a matter of establishing the gravity of a candidate's character, which has always been a political necessity. Nor is it a question of shaping a politically advantageous candidate biography, a fundamental aspect of national campaigns since 1840. Rather, it is an issue of recognizing that candidates and voters must now find a way to deal with a revolutionary level of candidate exposure, and of intimacy that candidates and voters did not previously share. These developments have altered the political process.
...
January 24, 2004
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
January 23, 2004
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - 'Bloggers' Chronicle Presidential Campaign
Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Eminem's Mother Carjacked on Eight Mile Road
NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - NBC Pulls 'Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad
January 13, 2004
January 12, 2004
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Goyette: How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio
Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.
By Charles Goyette
“Imagine these startling headlines with the nation at war in the Pacific six months after Dec. 7, 1941: “No Signs of Japanese Involvement in Pearl Harbor Attack! Faulty Intelligence Cited; Wolfowitz: Mistakes Were Made.”
Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: “German Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ‘Oops!’, Powell Silent; ‘Bring ’Em On,’ Says Defiant FDR.”
It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, “I told you so!” But it sure isn’t doing my career as a talk-show host any good.
...
January 06, 2004
January 01, 2004
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process
DodgeGlobe.com:Anderson: Internet must extend its influence in election process 12/12/03
December 31, 2003
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
December 28, 2003
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station
Latest path around soft-money ban: Buy a TV station | csmonitor.com
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
Everybody Wants to Rule the Web
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a global cyber-zone of freedom -- where governments generally take a "hands off" approach -- may be numbered. In fact, last week, delegates from 192 countries met in Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global "digital divide" and "harness the potential of information" on behalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session -- the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society -- was the question of domain name management and how much protection free speech and expression should receive on the Net.
The real issue, however, is whether a "U.N. for the Internet" is on the way. Last week's summit and another in 2005 will discuss whether Internet decisionmaking should be shifted from largely private management to the United Nations.
In one sense, none of this is surprising. Regulators across the globe have long been clamoring for greater control over content and commerce on the Internet. Ironically, in the guise of protecting the world's citizens, Statists around the world want to get their hands on one of the world's most liberating communications technologies.
...
December 26, 2003
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 13, 2003
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
Where Political Influence Is Only a Keyboard Away
More than ever, the Internet gives people a connection -- and a voice -- in campaigns.
By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
(TruthOut permacopy)
December 01, 2003
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
November 29, 2003
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
George Orwell: Why I Write
This was really interesting for me. Thanks to Tim at Libertarian Rant for pointing it out.
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
'Punkvoter' founder aims to unify youth vote
Nov. 4, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Would a plea from the lead singer of "Anti-Flag," "Bouncing Souls," "Frenzal Rhomb" or "Sick Of It All" get you to turn out and vote in the 2004 presidential election?
Probably not if you're a mainstream music fan downloading the latest tune from Britney Spears. But, if you're an avid young punk music lover, it just might do the trick.
At least that's what "NOFX" lead singer and founder of "Punkvoter" Mike Burkett is hoping. Burkett or "Fat Mike" as he's known to his legion of fans, is teaming up with roughly 50 punk bands and a dozen record labels to form Punkvoter, a group designed to register, educate and push 500,000 18-24 year-olds to the polls next year.
"So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
...
Read It Rating: 4
Left/Right Rating: L3
Freedom Rating: .3
Learning Percentage: 20%
November 24, 2003
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
November 18, 2003
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Review: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
Doug Hoekstra is one of my favorite musical artists, and probably deserves to be considered one of America's greatest living singer-songwriters. All in due time, hopefully.
This is a short review of his album followed by an interview with Doug, from PennyBlackMusic.com:
Review & Interview: "Waiting" by Doug Hoekstra
‘Waiting’ is the sixth solo album of the much acclaimed Nashville-based musician and songwriter, Doug Hoekstra. Perhaps predictably for a singer-songwriter coming from the Tennessee capital, Hoekstra has strong roots in country. Hoekstra's other influences, however, include blues, avant-garde, jazz, folk, gospel and pop, and his albums are fluent, eclectic affairs, which flit effortlessly, sometimes several times in the same song, from one genre to another.
The subject matter of ‘Waiting’ , like its five predecessors, ‘When the Tubes Begin to Glow (1994)’, ‘Rickety Stairs’ (1996), ‘Make Me Believe’ (1999), ‘Around the Margins’ and “The Past is Never Past’ (both 2001), is typically broad in theme and scope. ’Theresa’ examines the plight of a Brazilian street child, while ‘Dark Side of a Pearl’, which is written from the slant of a baffled close friend, tells of the rapidly dissolving, violent relationship of a once perfect couple. ‘Screwball Comedy’, in contrast, however, is richly comical.
In all other senses though, even by the ever-eclectic Hoekstra’s standards, ‘Waiting’ , however, represents a change in direction. While previously Hoekstra, who has experimented with strings, horn sections and gospel choirs, has teamed up in the studio often with scores of other musicians to make his albums, ‘Waiting’, in contrast , is stripped down and bare. Recorded last winter at home while Hoekstra and his wife, Molly, awaited the birth of their first child, Jude Aaron, its tracks, while again diverse in tone,return to basics, and usually feature Hoekstra on his own, accompanied by just an electric and acoustic guitar.
...
Read It Rating: 7.5
Learning Percentage: 15%
Arrested Development's Name Claim
Arrested Development's Name Claim
by Lia Haberman
Nov 6, 2003, 9:30 PM PT
Arrested Development is:
A. What makes Ashton Kutcher tick.
B. An Atlanta-based hip-hop group.
C. The title of a new Fox sitcom.
And the answer is…to be determined in court.
Pioneering hip-hop ensemble Arrested Development has filed a trademark-infringement suit against Fox claiming ownership of the moniker, which the network is using for one of its new series.
...
Read It Rating: 2
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -.05
Learning Percentage: 40%
November 13, 2003
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
November 12, 2003
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Cancer survivor: Rosie O'Donnell told her liars 'get cancer'
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rosie O'Donnell taunted a cancer survivor working at her now-defunct magazine by saying people who lie "get sick and they get cancer," the woman testified. O'Donnell said she later apologized.
Cindy Spengler, who was head of marketing at "Rosie" magazine, said Wednesday that O'Donnell made the remark after a meeting to discuss the magazine's problems. Spengler said O'Donnell told her that her silence in the meeting was tantamount to lying.
"You know what happens to people who lie," the witness tearfully quoted O'Donnell as saying. "They get sick and they get cancer. If they keep lying, they get it again."
Spengler testified in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, where O'Donnell and "Rosie" publisher Gruner Jahr USA are suing each other for breach of contract.
Helen Thomas: President Should Get His News From Newspapers
President Should Get His News From Newspapers
by Helen Thomas
The Boston Channel
Friday 10 October 2003
Bush Tells Fox Interviewer He Gets News From White House Staff
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions. Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.
Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He walks into the Oval Office in the morning, Bush said, and asks Card: "what's in the newspapers worth worrying about? I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.
Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."
...
Read It Rating: 9
Left/Right Rating: L2
Freedom Rating: .2
Learning Percentage: 10%
November 09, 2003
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Fox News threatened to sue, claims Simpsons creator
Simpsons parody upset Fox News, says Groening
Ciar Byrne
Wednesday October 29, 2003
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of the Simpsons over a spoof news ticker, the show's creator Matt Groening has claimed.
Mr Groening said Fox News raised the unlikely prospect of suing a show broadcast by its sister channel, Fox Entertainment, because it wanted to stop the Simpsons parodying its famously anti-Democratic party agenda.
The alleged row centred on a parody of Fox News' rolling news ticker, which included headlines such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?"
...
Read It Rating: 4.5
Left/Right Rating: L1.5
Freedom Rating: 0
Learning Percentage: 50%