FITZ!!

Fitz to all.

Whatever happened to mediawhoresonline.com? That site was a wealth of information on the disinformation passing for coverage.

There. I finally got my Fitz!

When do I get to learn the secret handshake?

EPU’d OT

Jack is asking this ? this hour

4 p.m.: Is the right to vote being threatened in the United States?

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/situation.room/

May the Fitz be with you!

Rolling Stone article by Bobby Kennedy Jr http://www.rollingstone.com/ne…..n_stolen/1

damn good ! read it!

A bit OT and perhaps repetitive, but Bobby Kennedy’s Rolling Stone piece on the stolen 2004 election is a must-read–be sure you have some antacids handy for the heartburn: http://www.rollingstone.com/ne…..ion_stolen

angie says:
June 1st, 2006 at 1:34 pm

Thanks, Angie! Sent in my opinion, citing Ohio and Florida as excellent examples of why election officials should not be working for campaigns.

Pulled in the RS article and saved it to floppy. It’s a lot to read in one sitting (four very long pages, with lots of footnotes: not an article, a thesis)!

It’s not a big deal compared to the RS article, but I heard an interview with spokesmen for the misguided “Unity ‘08″ group on the NewsHour last night. My reaction was a bit too long for a comment, so I put it in a diary over at DailyKos. Have a look if you’re so inclined.

Jane:

‘criique” s/b “critique”

:-)

Ballad of the 101st Chairborne

We support the troops
like libruls never will
but the troops’ constant complaining
is making us ill
armor this and armor that
and where’s the exit plan
and give us filtered water
hey, this ain’t the boy scouts, man
so put a sock in it soldier
and salute the CinC
Someone’s gotta fight and die
and it sure as shit ain’t me.

http://www.psywarrior.com/Goebbels.html

Goebbels Principles of Propaganda:

2. Propaganda must be planned and executed by only one authority.
a. It must issue all the propaganda directives.

b. It must explain propaganda directives to important officials and maintain their morale.

c. It must oversee other agencies’ activities which have propaganda consequences

Like RNC talking points? Like agency officials – right down to ag officials – having to put pro-Bush WOT pronouncements into the soybean report?

5. Declassified, operational information must be available to implement a propaganda campaign

Gosh, that makes me think of something. Ummm, something about targeted declassification, oh dangit, it’s hovering there just past tonguetip. Who has been doing something like that?

6. To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.

Banners, Fox New flash, flight attire …

7. Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be true or false.

. . .

13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.
a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of competing propaganda.

b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the optimum moment

c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness

Still wondering about the “Gonzales ready to fight for FBI and DOJ, Addington ready to fight for Congressional deference” bit.

14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.
a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses

b. They must be capable of being easily learned

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations
. . .

Hmmm, sure no evidence of that kind of thing going on here in the states.

15. Propaganda to the home front must prevent the raising of false hopes which can be blasted by future events.

The long war.

16. Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.
a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat

. . .
18. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.

Except for bumping up #18 to #1, I think someone got an A+ on that course.

I’ve been really amazed and disgusted over the last five years to see formerly good correspondents playing like Pravda reporters for Bushco. Do they really believe that “access” for bullshit is worth keeping the job? I guess so. Helen Thomas is the only D.C. correspondent with the courage and integrity to stand up to these criminals. The rest are shameful frauds, groveling at the wolf’s door, asking for more regurgitated lamb to pick through for the nightly newscasts.

And Laura Ingram? Christ, don’t even get me started. But the guy from CBS is exactly spot on. If she wants to go to Bagdhad and mix it up with the troops on the ground, I say go for it. May the first IED blast to the brains be yours, Laura.

I can’t get over the Rolling Stone piece. Wish someone would recap it in a condensed version along the following lines:

“Where did the votes go?”

Exit Polls in Ohio on election day showed that Kerry should have won by x votes- instead George Bush was declared the winner by y votes- so where did the x y votes go?

Kennedy shows that n1 votes were never counted

n2 votes were never allowed to vote

n3 votes were never allowed to register (etc)

So the exit polls WERE wrong- if the election had been handled LEGALLY- Kerry would have won by z votes- substantially more than the exit polling showed.

Quantifying the key points in a way that allows the reader to keep everything in perspective would make the piece much more impactful.

How come my name’s in that berry-colored banner?

Berry is really not the best compliment for my blue eyes.

The Rolling Stone article is quite disturbing. Sorta ties into Janes piece here and the BushCo’s constructed mediated reality. I was convinced that the 2000 election was stolen. I really didn’t want to hear about it in 2004. Too tin-foil-hatty, and I filed it right along with all those 9/11 was an inside job stories.

Bush, apparently was never elected as POTUS. Boy, do we have a lot of work to do on 13,000 mini sovereign fronts.

Great post, Jane.

On last night’s Charlie Rose, host Mary Matalin complimented ABC reporter John Berman on a piece he had done about how Lionel Richie is so popular in Iraq. Berman agreed he had enjoyed doing that piece, but he bemoaned the fact that ABC had broadcast that piece, but not another piece he had put together that he thought was far more important, about thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of stable, middle class, professional Iraqi citizens leaving Iraq because it is just too dangerous to live there anymore.

Blackwell is still in office (I believe) and is overseeing the counting of the votes for his OWN election- Holy Shit!

I’ve gotta run for few hours.

Jane, Christy, Pac – I’m hoping you’ll give us your take on the Kennedy article after you’ve had a chance to read and digest it. I do think it is extremely important. If you disagree, I’d be curious as to why.

Be back later…

With the Chimp’s 30% JAR (or less), it seems that Karl has screwed up and killed the message instead of the messenger!

Ask and ye shall recieve.

Here are just a few highlights of some of the worst offenses carefully organized by Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman:

* Almost half of the 6 million Americans living abroad never recieved their ballots (or received them too late to vote, which is the same thing) after the Pentagon “unaccountably” shut down its “state-of-the-Art Web site designed specifically to file overseas voters!

* A private company hired by the Republican Party to register voters in six “battleground” states has been found to have been caught shredding Democratic registrations.

* In New Mexico, voter machines mysterious malfunctioned and did not register over 20,000 ballots.

* According to the federal election reform commission, over 1 million votes – nationwide – were “spoiled” by “dysfunctional” voting equipment.

* In Ohio, at least 357,000 voters, almost all of them Democratic, were prevented from casting their ballots, or were not counted. (Bush “won” in Ohio by 118,601 votes.)

* One in every four Ohio voters who showed up at the polls on election day were told that they were not registered to vote!

* In Ohio again, at least 80,000 Kerry votes were counted for Bush.

* Not to mention the phone jaming scan in New Hampshire.

Kennedy summarizes the abuse:

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush’s victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.

And according to Senator Christopher Dodd, who helped craft the reforms which were to prevent another 2002 fiasco:

”It was terrible,” says Sen. Christopher Dodd, who helped craft reforms in 2002 that were supposed to prevent such electoral abuses. ”People waiting in line for twelve hours to cast their ballots, people not being allowed to vote because they were in the wrong precinct %u2014 it was an outrage. In Ohio, you had a secretary of state who was determined to guarantee a Republican outcome. I’m terribly disheartened.”

Everyone should read the entire article: http://www.rollingstone.com/ne…..on_stolen.

Should say 2000 fiasco!

Lobstergirl – what was Matalin’s response to his statement? Or did she simply give the stupid, exaggerated rolled-eyes gesture she perfected so well on MTP a few months back?

NEW YORK — State Comptroller Alan Hevesi publicly apologized Thursday for a “beyond dumb” remark about “putting a bullet between the president’s eyes.”

Hevesi hastily called a mea culpa press conference hours after putting his foot in his mouth at the Queens College commencement.

The Queens College media relations office said it had videotaped the commencement but could not immediately provide a copy of the tape or a transcript.

At the press conference, a contrite Hevesi repeated what he recalled saying in the speech. The comptroller said he was merely trying to convey that Sen. Charles Schumer has strength and courage to stand up to the president.

I knew I should have studied journalism in college. It’s such an easy job! You just read/write whatever people hand you. I think too mny “journalists” or rather Communications majors have their eyes set on anchoring some spiffy, slick, tabloid-esque program that they forget you actually need to do the work of reporting and finding CREDIBLE sources.

Shoephone @24 – I wish I could remember. I was only watching with one eye (multitasking) so I was only caught about half of what was said.

Also, Dan Senor (Coalition Provional Authority spokesbot) was one of the panelists, so I was trying to ignore his bullshit.

Great post, Jane! That’s the main thing that sticks in my craw day in and day out – the media! BushCo could never in a million years have gotten away with ANYTHING were the American press doing its job instead of protecting the administration and the corporate bottom line.

This is a little OT – back to the Christy’s post this morning about the “brick girl” – because I saw that piece on MSNBC and was appalled.

My question for Jane and Christy and for any PR people who are posters here: Can’t you demand equal time? If somebody (a PR person?) contacted MSNBC (and NYT and whoever else) demanding equal time for Jane or Christy to talk about THEIR grassroots (netroots) projects that would be a PERFECT opportunity to talk about the rubber stamps and the books and everything else, but also to blow the whistle on that “innocent little miss grassroots activist” crap. Allowing this brick thing to just sit there as a genuine and heartfelt movement by a few caring people just PISSES ME OFF to no end!

Just wonderin’…

Sorry, way OT, but I just saw “V for Vendetta” last night for the first time. WOW!!! Have you guys seen that? It is a MUST–I thought it was just an action flick but of course it’s much, much more and speaks directly to our political situation. Extremely powerful and well-made film.

How fortunate, i just recieved this in my e-mail,It,s right on topic.(Chuckle).

Newspapers attract specific readers:

The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time and if they didn’t have to Leave Southern California to do it.

The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.

The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country…or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occa sional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy provided, of course, that they are not Republicans.

The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

None of these are read by the damn fool who is running the country into the ground.

I can here the smirky meglomaniacal Long Island Loofah phone sex enthusiast deriding the report published in that “far left wing dope-smoking hippy mag by a Kennedy.”

We sort of expect that from him. How about the rest of the MSM? As ReddHedd sed: *crickets chirping*

Also, this is a very topical excerpt from the Harper’s Sept 2005 article on the 2004 election:

The press has had little to say about most of the strange details of the election – except, that is, to ridicule all efforts to discuss them. This animus appeared soon after November 2, in a spate of caustic articles dismissing any critical discussion of the outcome as crazed speculation: “Election paranoia surfaces: Conspiracy theorists call results rigged,” chuckled the Baltimore Sun on November 5. “Internet Buzz on Vote Fraud Is Dismissed,” proclaimed the Boston Globe on November 10. “Latest Conspiracy Theory – Kerry Won – Hits the Ether,” the Washington Post chortled on November 11. The New York Times weighed in with “Vote Fraud Theories, Spread by Blogs, Are Quickly Buried” – making mock not only of the “post-election theorizing” but of cyberspace itself, the fons et origo of all such loony tunes, according to the Times.

I do remember one other thing John Berman said that struck me. He said on the day that those four Blackwell contractors were murdered, mutilated and their burned corpses strung up on a bridge, he heard something from a Bush administration/military spokesperson that he will never forget. The spokesperson said, “Yes, what happened today is horrible, but we should also be aware that a new school opened in [whatever town or city].” As if those two events were even remotely of the same magnitude, like four Americans being mutilated is horribly bad, but a school opening is so terrifically good we have to put them in the same sentence.

I read the RFK Jr. article. Again I ask that a stink be raised, that you ladies contact your blogger buddies and make a concerted effort to put this into the “Headlines”. All you have to do is tell us where to attack first. And don’t do it for just a day or two. Start tommorrow, with say Jack Cafferty’s e-mail box. This is like artillery, if shells land all over the place they don’t work, but if we all have the same set targets….it’s a different story.

The Left Wing Noise Machine

Remember Kaloogian? He was one of the Move America Forward guys who went to Iraq. He’s running for office. Had the pic of a peaceful Bagdad on his site.
Only it was a city in Turkey.

I read the whole RFK jr thing. Awesome that all this may be the tipping point for election reform. I’ve been following Bradblog for a few years. He is also awesome.

Bustedknuckles: What paper do the people read who aren’t sure what country they live in?

(Actually, it’s Red Eye. The tabloid put out by the Chicago Trib for the 18-24 crowd.)

In 2000, the GOP only needed to steal a couple hundred votes. They did it. Dems blamed the Greens.

In 2002, the GOP put all the lessons from 2000 to good use in key house races, and solidified their hold on the house.

In 2004, the GOP needed to steal a few hundred thousand votes – one way or another. They probably managed to steal over a million votes nationwide, perhaps as many as almost 3 million – if you count the people who weren’t allowed to vote through machine breakdowns, registration fiascos, and discarded questioned and provisional ballots.

In 2006 they are already running a new version of this voter disenfranchisement. The PA primaries showed instances of precincts so dysfunctional over multiple voting problems, that nobody has even claimed accurate counts yet. We will see that on an unprecedented scale nationwide this coming November – multiple problems in ALL precincts that might go to the Dems.

Remember, every precinct in NM with diebold machines voted for Bush in 2004. Every precinct.

Kennedy’s article is good, but the Vanity Fair piece on the same subject was better, and blackboxvoting.org has more of this sad, sad info every day.

RW Cole #25 – Have you read this month’s Harper’s? In the Notebook page, literary editor Ben Metcalf posits the question:

“Am I allowed to write that I would like to hunt down George W. Bush, the president of the United States, and kill him with my bare hands?” He then clarifies that he has no desire or intention of doing such a thing, and admits that in needing to even state that, he considers his caution despicable. The piece hinges on the limits of free speech; the fear of the Bush administration’s wholesale redefining of executive orders and free speech laws pertaining to writers, reporters, whistleblowers and citizens; and the very real fear that saying anything deemed unacceptable by Bush et al, could easily land any one of us in a secret prison, bill of rights be damned.

He consults with Floyd Abrams on the issue, and the conversation is pretty telling.

Hey, maybe I’ll get a knock on the door just for repeating Metcalf’s open query to readers.

Paranoid? Maybe. Unreasonable concern? Not likely.

timewarp (#22)

So, Christopher Dodd is “disheartened”. What a WIMPY thing to say.
Why isn’t he mad as HELL and determined to try to find something to actually DO about it. Disheartended my ass!

Ingraham has spent more time in Iraq (and probably New Orleans) than the doughy pantload.

Anyone compiling the number of dead and wounded journalists by news outlet? If so – how many of the brave souls from Fox are on that list?

T-Boy

Mee thinks the ladies of the house are reading the Stones article too. Look to the Northwest, is that a cloud of smoke over the fuming Hamsher House? And to the East. Smokie mountains in WV? or is that one hot Reddhedd?

noblejoanie @ # 3 –

MWO was put out to pasture when it’s (female?) author burned out.

It is preserved at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

lhp – 129 and 153 below. Thank you.

fahrender #38. Sigh. I know. It is times like this when I wonder if any of them are actually human. Disheartened isn’t a *real* emotion. Such as afraid, angry and grief-stricken.

As a NY’er Alan Hevesi just went up about 5 notches in my little notch book. Might not be pretty what he said, but it sure sounds real! For a change.

Meanwhile Chertoff just told his old home town to get fucked. And oh, btw – did you know that the Statue of Liberty has no real symbolic value (doesn’t really represent America, it seems), like why would a terrorist want to attack it?

oscarsmom 29 – I’ve been goin on about Vendetta for weeks, it might be my favorite movie ever. Seen it a bunch of times and still not sick of it! It’s like mainlining Bushworld antidote.

“This world that I am part of, that I helped shape, will come to an end tonight with me…”

That RFK Jr. piece makes my stomach turn in knots and makes me remember the horror I felt on election night all over again.

Lobstergirl #27 and #33 – thanks for more info. Gee. Matalin and Senor at once. Guess Charlie Rose likes to stack the deck too.

Hey, you really don’t think a school opening the same day four contractors were brutally murdered is a sign of progress? Gosh, didn’t you get the Bush memo? “Freedom’s on the march…” and all that.

Lobstergirl -19

I found Mary Matalin and her panel to be both revealing and infuriating. It was an open panel on effective propaganda promotion with a very thin veil indeed. Both the questions asked and obvious questions ignored. An admission that message was the problem not truth ( a word never uttered ). I hope Charlie was not watching since he is out with heart problems.

Timewarp – I look at the Dep’t of Homeland Security stuff as potentially helpful. Hugh Hewitt’s delusion that working in the Empire State Building puts him on the “front lines of the war on terra” and exposed to danger every bit as much as a soldier overseas has been officially popped by HIS masters. There is a certain irony there. I’d love to hear his response.

What makes me crazy is stuff like this, from an article on the Haditha massacre in The Economist:

No reason to scuttle

Succumbing to those arguments would be a tragic mistake. Whatever your views on the Iraq war, America has both a moral obligation to the Iraqis and a powerful interest of its own in making sure that it hands over to a government and army that have at least half a chance of holding the place together and preventing a complete collapse into anarchy and sectarian bloodletting. Iraq’s own elected leaders say that for the present American troops should stay.

In many wars, just or unjust, men commit crimes for which they should be tried and punished. The answer to Haditha is for Mr Bush at last to insist on transparency, justice and accountability. Giving up and shipping out would simply condemn many more Iraqis to a violent death.

The editors supported the war, of course, and have been very reluctant to admit that they were wrong. They printed an editorial earlier, which essentially said that they were right for the wrong reasons.

This quote, on the other hand, is pure nineteenth century “White man’s burden” crap, which one would have thought was long ago debunked, even in England. Absolutely maddening, this self-appointed magisterial class and its apologists, especially its representatives in the UK, who now are reduced to encouraging the U.S. to do the dirty business they used to have the power to do for themselves.

What was Mary wearing besides her awful grimace? A space alien NSA flower thingy and blood red nails and lipstick or did she tone it down, Lobstergirl?

reposting epu’d comment from below thread. Hope I’m not making a pest of myself:

Kerry is full of shit. Dean has been all over this issue and has revitalized the Democratic Lawyers Council to deal with the issue.

BTW to lawyers out there: as part of the 50 state project Gov. Dean would like to see state chapters of the DLC (someday when people see those initials, they will think of lawyers fighting election fraud not the Dem Leadership Council moving the party to the right)in all 50 states. So if anyone wants to start a chapter in their state, call the DNC.

If you ask for a staffer named Anna Martinez, she can probably hook you up. At present there are chapters officially formed in NY and DC, with a couple of other states in formation.

DLC needs lawyers will to be state, county and local coordinators. Don’t worry if you have never done this before. We train both lawyers and poll watchers and we will have a national manual out (hopefully) by this fall.

I have running an election monitoring proram since 2001 and it gets bigger every cycle. And it works!

The thing is, sending ppeople from out of state in atthe last minute, really is not the most effective thing to do. We need homegrown lawyers working in thier own communities and it is a year round effort.

It includes HAVA compliance and voter role purging monitoring and voter registration protection, lots of things beyond just election day.

It is something you can actually get in ther and do that really makes a difference

Oscar’s Mom (#29):

Yeah. My idea is that we have 10,000,000 T-shirts printed up saying:

PERSON OF INTEREST
“I AM NOT AFRAID”

Hand them out to people willing to take a stand and everyone go to their nearest airport on July 3rd and just walk around the departures area wearing the T-shirt. Then we could engage people who are curious about what’s going on in a dialogue. It might be even better if a few airports were chosen and a big number of people showed up at each. That could be a very “V”-like action without the violence, of course.

Similar kinds of things could be done instead if we could manage large numbers of people getting involved and coordinated as to time and place.

The streets of Baghdad? Please. Laura Ingraham needs to go back to Iraq and get out onto the streets in Anbar province to really get the story. Whatever is she waiting for? I’m sure there are lots and lots of happy stories for her to cover. America deserves no less from our ever courageous media.

Mary, I thought no one saw them. Thanks.

SharkB 45: “mainlining Bushworld antidote.” Gimme a hit on that, ma’m….

I can’t read the RFKjr article more than a coupla grafs at a time. I think I’ll wait until the hardcopy hits stands tomorrow, so I don’t throw my computer out the window.

Time for a T&R Commission, people. We need to get this all out of our system, and no wimping out like BigDog did in 1992.

==============
Had enough?
==============

EPU – well, now that is a possitively visionary possibility! Hugh Hewitt might just have to do the manly self-sufficient thing and find himself another office space in a safer neighborhood – I hear there are some good deals to be found in lower manhatten these days.

jane
don’t know if you realize that the picture accompanying this post is from the spanish civil war.
the abraham lincoln brigade…the antithesis of chickenhawks
keep fighting the good fight
aloha

Digby already has a post up about the Stones article

Also from last thread and continuing from my
#52 above:

ANyone wishing to hook up with the democratic Lawyers Council who either can’t get through to Anna martinez at the DNC or who prefers to be on the recieivng end of contact can just put your non spammable version (you know “screen name at esp provider dot com”) in a comment, I will make sure someone from the DLC emails you with further info.

#57

I thought it was a Cheney lawyer quail hunting.

TeddySF #55 – you are much more forgiving than I am. I don’t want a T&R commission. I want the criminal bastards to pay.

The Rolling Stone article is pretty disturbing. Kinda makes you sick to your stomach. I hope the MSM picks it up…

barry (#57):

if memory serves it was a photo taken by roberto matta who kept shootin’ till he died in viet nam

Sharkbabe #45–oh good, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me that was WAY impressed with that movie . . . I’m trying to think of one I think is better, and it just can’t be beat for (1) depth of message, (2) relevance of message, and (3) efficacy in communicating its message. The writers are geniuses!

And on and on and on it goes. From USA Today:

Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to keep histories of the activities of Web users for up to two years to assist in criminal investigations of child pornography and terrorism, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller outlined their request to executives from Google, Microsoft, AOL, Comcast, Verizon and others Friday in a private meeting at the Justice Department. The department has scheduled more discussions as early as Friday. Last week’s meeting was first reported by CNET, an online news service.

The meetings reflect a new approach by law enforcement in anti-terrorism efforts. Previously, the Justice Department had invoked the need for data retention only to battle child pornography. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Internet traffic has become increasingly critical to terrorism investigations, too.

Don’t you just love the part about terrorism and pornography?

So I’m listening to dear Laura Ingram on the radio today–yes, we at froggermarch are fair and fucking balanced indeed–and she has this Marine attorney on who had been stationed at Haditha months before the horrifying events now being investigated.

She wanted him to make the point that there is lots, LOTS we still don’t know (and we’d never rush to judgment about a murder, unless it is of a white woman in Aruba or Beverly Hills, of course).

But the more, gosh, DESPERATE, meme seemed to be this: HE had been to the same area and seen LOTS of Marines face the conditions there and NONE OF THEM had gone ballistic, so why whould we believe some other guys did? Swear to god, that was the line of defense we may be left with.

Like: “Mom, I couldn’t have robbed the cookie jar, because just look at all the other family members who passed by that cauldron of temptation and managed to avoid it.”

Sheesh!

In reality the most disturbing aspect of the RStone article is most of this country is more concerned about voter fraud on American Idol.

Finished the Kennedy article awhile ago but had to sit a spell to get steady enough to type this.

Gerald Ford was wrong. Our long national nightmare wasn’t over. Hell, it hadn’t even BEGUN.

Glad some of you have heads cool enough to think further already. I can’t yet.

William at #50–it’s getting easier and easier these days just to substitute “Vietnam” for “Iraq”: For example:

“Succumbing to those arguments would be a tragic mistake. Whatever your views on the [Vietnam] war, America has both a moral obligation to the Iraqis and a powerful interest of its own . . . Giving up and shipping out would simply condemn many more [Vietnamese] to a violent death.”

See? Easy!

Florida’s homestead tax exemption law allows a person to buy a house and declare homestead exemption for a $25,000 reduction in value for tax purposes (not a big deal anymore with property costs as they are – median home price near 300,000). The big benefit for people like OJ Simpson is that he can’t lose his house (his homestead) in a legal judgement. Other assets, such as a separate vacation home or rental or business property is not protected. A person can only have one homestead – that would be one’s primary residence.

This is the attractive thing about Florida home ownership for people who might anticipate major legal snafus.

I listen to Laura Ingraham and her very irritating, nasally voice every so often when I want to see what the Republican hacks are saying, along with some other conservative talk show hosts – mainly because I have to argue with my Dittohead (all rights reserved to Al Franken) cousin and I want to find out where his talking points are coming from. I was most interested in listening to them when the various NSA wiretapping stories broke. And the topic du jour that took up the most airwaves during the release of that extraordinary information, both at separate times in NYT and USA Today . . . why immigration of course.

Now I am no conspiracy theorist mind you, but I was amazed at how in lock-step they were in ignoring this extraordinary issue of spying on Americans – and data mining is essentially spying in my book – and were talking about immigration. My thinking is that each of them has a Red Phone similar to the ones that you would hear about where in the Soviet Premier would have immediate access to the US President – but in this case it is Karl Rove disseminating the talking point of the day to deflect the attention away from the Sheeple (not sure who to credit that to – Sam Seder maybe) less that they find out that King George is really for Big Business and wealthy Americans.

But what is even more scary, is the MSM then follows that course of discussion — and the NSA is all but forgotten, the countless maimed and wounded in Iraq becomes a sidebar, the corrupt Politian that has been indicted for the day does not have a face or name to the American public, the latest Supreme court ruling that adversely affects our ability to uncover corruption in our government goes un-noticed, and on and on. It is an amazing coordinated effort by a select few that only inspires a true sense of awe that they are able to change the discourse of politics within hours, and then the dumbed down, ratings whore of a media just follows along like a lumbering jackal feeding off the carcass of these blithering idiots hoping to hell that if they spout the same shit, they can have ratings like Rush Limbaugh.

Oscarsmom – I think V was great, particularly the rolling of the eyes at the official news on the telly, which is why I think sometimes we care too much about the CM since TEAM LOSER poll numbers don’t really reflect the official propoganda stream/reportage – for the most part.

As for a better movie. I wouldn’t say it is better, but “Serenity” is really about the same topic – a central government trying to create a universe without “sin” of comformed and comformable people all towing the party line. It is more subtle than V, but just as good – on the “world without sin” everyone is dead. If you haven’t seen it, you shold get the DVD.

fahrender #52–That movie definitely is an inspiration to action–I was thinking it would be great fodder for our “Roots” groups! Power to the people! It’s in our hands–no matter how much they try to convince us otherwise.

Mmmm, anytime you hear about the mouth-breathers called Move America Forward

Just remember MAF=Russo Marsh and Rogers

Tweety does Hill and Bill again…

Tweety gets called on it by Hilary Rosen and she terms it sexist– he gets pissy and he says it is all about the wife of a President who faced impeachment, and then he says it wasn’t me it was Keller and the NYT. LOL

lotuslander

My default position is that all republicans are criminals. Operating from this position only allows me to become shocked at the breadth and depth of their criminal enterprises. The truly disappointing part is the absence of the MSM media, save for the poo-pooing of the conspiracy theorists. There is entirely too much over the top fraud involved not to be blatantly obvious to anybody paying attention. But did you hear about the missing white girl?…

Plano tex–I’m pretty sure homestead exemptions exist in most states–I know we have one here in WA.

(Oh, and for you Seattle area firedoggies, you can catch “V for Vendetta” at the Crest Theater for three bucks right now! I am not kidding this film is a MUST-SEE!)

Oscarsmom – As for older films, try “Battle of Algiers” or Costa-Gavras’ “Z,” then there is the original “Mancurian Candidate,” and “Seven Days in May” is great, and you rarely see it on TV, and is probably the most analogous to our present situation.

Angie @52: What was Mary wearing besides her awful grimace? A space alien NSA flower thingy and blood red nails and lipstick or did she tone it down, Lobstergirl?

Actually that was one thing I did notice – a pale pink suit, kind of Chanel/Jackie Kennedy on assassination day.

It did nothing to mute her grim visage, though.

Finally on topic:

How many times on these threads have I seen people wonder aloud if Bushco was blackmailing, hypnotizing, brin=bing, etc, ect the Old Media.

What if was much more mundane than that. The Old Media had a ring side seat for the swift boating of McCain and Kerry. I don’t think half the crap that was peddled actually made it into the published accounts, so imagine how really bad it was.

Then the machine turns it’s attention, in a minor way toward any media type who looks to get out of line even a little.

Try imagineing this:
You are a captive who has refused to coopeate with your captors. You are forced to watch as another fellow captive (but one who had much more to gain than you from resistance) it brutally tortured and finally knuckles under. They tell you that if you don’t display a more cooperative attitude, you know what to expect. Then they snap your tushie with a wet towel for emphasis. (or maybe pinch your face really really hard)

Well, if the freakin war heros were cowed and they were trying to be president, who the hell are you to be the big brave in your face journalist?

It’s simple mafia style intimidation. I have seen it a million times on construction site and at the Fulton Fish Market. (don’t get me started about intimidation in garbage carting in NY–Sheez!)

thanks, Lobstergirl– tis springtime after all, heh!

EPU 80: May I add “Parallax View” to your list?

“brin=bing” waas supposed to be “bribing”

Even for me, that’s a doozy

Mary at 13

If you’re still here?

Meet Frank Luntz

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5039420.stm

New ‘Iraq massacre’ tape emerges
The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians.

The video appears to challenge the US military’s account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March.

The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq told the BBC an inquiry was under way.

The new evidence comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha, where US marines are suspected of massacring up to 24 Iraqi civilians in November 2005.

MrWonderful was EPU’d by over an hour. I don’t know him but here’s the comment, part one.
“All-Are you kidding? I had to stop reading the Rolling Stone article *during the intro,* my heart was pounding and I was so furious. I have to get some work done before I go back. I may just buy the paper copy, to encourage RS to do more. Jim Preston @ 108-Agree. So here’s my (next) question: Even if you’ve got people waving ten exit polls in full agreement, then what? Who ya gonna call? If the criminals are running the gov’t. (in, say, Ohio), what recourse does anyone have? I mean this literally, not despairingly. The cops? The state’s justice dept.? I can’t even write this, I’m so livid.”

Yuh-huh, I share your assumption, Oilfieldguy, and boy did this piece just prove it once and for all! But I cannot imagine how The Bigs will hide this one under some mis–

WHAT?! There’s a MISSING WHITE GIRL, you say?!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo ….. . . . . .

I can by the intimidation – but I can also buy laziness and cost cutting and economic ties all of which contribute to putting a pre-print from the RNC in front of a botoxed face whose lips still move, in exchange for ez access to another story/personality for next Tues in prime time, no $ allocated to fact checking and a real journalist review and btw – all news that corporate sponsors like too – plus already in a dumbed down muzac format for the audience of the non-stop news channels, who use that coverage as the elevator to the Hannity or O’Reilly or Matthews or Russert floor, where they will get the pretense of questions delivered in their format of choice (Russert gotcha, Hannity shouts etc.)

Article on framing of NSA and other issues – away from the underlying illegal activity and to the leakers – all acquiesced in by the media.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060106A.shtml

The interesting thing is – lots of the pieces have involved reference to Justice Dept sources. So after they exhaust agency personnel, Congressmen and Journalists as leaks to be punished — it really will be a “when they came for me ” moment.

The rest of MrWonderful’s EPU’d rant:

Is it sensible, or deluded, to think that applying concerted pressure on, say, the NY Times, to write about this, will have an effect? Not because everyone is afraid of the NYT, but because once it reaches their front page, everybody thinks that everybody thinks there must be something to it. I don’t think I’m a romantic as regards The Press, but I do think public pressure can result in things, and one way to collect and focus it is through mass media. The larger question would be, if not the media, then who? Look at how wimpy the Dems are. Look at how fully corrupted the Repubs are. Somebody hit me on the head with a brick and put me out of my misery…. “

EPU–thanks for the movie rec’s!! I’ll make a note! :)

P.S., the “real” Manchurian Candidate is indeed a good flick.

Not to hijack the thread entirely, but some of my other favorites have been the English Patient and Apocalypse now–I’d put “V” on that level of quality for sure.

looseheadprop – I think it is significantly more invidious. I don’t believe they are “captives” or “hostages.” Its the cocktail parties. The CM likes the perks and has no reason to tear down the very structure of which they are a part and from which they gain their status and wealth. To them it is a game, maybe not all, but there aren’t many Helen Thomases around these days.

Media is a business, and although maybe once they really did play the role of watchdog, now it is just about personal position and stock prices, etc., and why the “news” has become entertainment. I was holding out on accusing the corporate print media of becoming entertainment, but then the Times (for all its existing warts) decided to become a tabloid.

Controversy and sex sell, kidnapped blonde woman sell – “news” as entertainment sells; dead Iraqis, dead American soldiers, taking a stance, doesn’t for the most part.

Sooner or later the CM is going to have to report on the debacle that is TEAM LOSER. And they’ll do that when they feel it is economically safe for them to do so.

And, if they don’t, well, luckily, the CM is dying, at least in terms of political or news importance, being replaced by the Internet. Which is why bloggers are so reviled. The CM attacks focus on the alleged partisanship or manners or truthfulness of bloggers, etc., but that is just a feint, it is about money and who will get it in the future.

OfT – This just in: the Washington State Pharmacy Board apparently sucks a lot of Christ-ian dick. They decided today that those poor, victimized Christ-ian pharmacists shouldn’t have to compromise on their morals by being forced to prescribe drugs that offend their tender sensibilities. Even when the drugs are legal, apporoved by the FDA, and are prescribed by a personal physician.

Please excuse me while I go shoot up.

V for Vendetta will be released in the USA on August 1st, 2006

John in Sacramento 84 – thank you. Interesting link. The nicest part was contemplating that he TANKED on soc. sec. *g* Too many years of pre-existing new deal propaganda already ingrained?

It also makes me think of the slip by Bush awhile back – something about how you have to keep saying things over and over until people start to believe them they sink in.

I’d also recommend Coppola’s “The Conversation” – a masterpiece in paranoia.

the DVD release of V for Vendetta will be Aug.1, 2006 — of course, it’s already in the theaters…

Teddy SF – You may. Although I was going with political rather than corporate conspiracies, and inarguably “great” movies.

I thought Syriana was great and, obviously, very topical.

oscarsmom

I thought The English Patient was President Bush.

I was so relieved that they found that attorney in Birmingham yesterday. I turned on the news and found her picture looking back at me and I thought, “God, I hope she’s okay, cos otherwise we’ll be hearing about NOTHING ELSE for the rest of the month.”

She is, after all, a blonde, which we know makes Greta van Susterin and the rest completely wet in their britches.

Gilliam’s Brazil in the unhappy-ending version is chilling and horribly prescient . . .

shoephone – so what about when a vegetarian goes to work at the slaughterhouse? You’re telling me PETA is coming off the terrorist list? If their principles tell them to act contrary to the constructs of law and their jobs . . .

looseheadprop 85

‘brin=bing’ waas supposed to be ‘bribing’

or: “bring the bling”

RE: the photo –

It is a Robert Capa, taken in the Spanish Civil War. I believe it is a loyalist soldier, not an American volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

RE: Homestead Exemptions

Every state has one, but in Florida (and Texas?) they are unlimited. Meaning, if a crook puts all of his ill gotten gains into a 10 millon dollar house, it will be protected in bankruptcy court. In Colorado, the exemption is $30k, and if your net equity is more than that, a BK judge will make you sell your house. Most states have exemptions in the $50k to $100k range, IIRC.

Egregious

Re: the Mr. Wonderful rant. The key is a high quality election monitoring effort that starts way, way before election day. The stuff we did in 2004 was nice, but not nearly sophisticated enough. We are goin to train lawyers in the collection and preservation of evidence sufficient to actually bring winnable cases. (please see my #s 53 and 61 above)

In 2000 and 2004, we have tons of annecdotes, but virtually nothing in th eway of admissable evidence suffcient to make a prima facie case.

I have been asked for consultive opinions by several groups and could not find anything close to the kind of critical mass needed based on the “evidence” they produced.

So, we need to train citizen/lawyers in the wonderful art of fraud investigation as well as traditional election monitoring. And we
will.

As a blonde, I just want to register the fact that I’d like my chip chocolate.

“Death of a Loyalist Soldier” by Robert Capa, 1936: perhaps THE greatest war photo ever taken. Capa established the idea of the photojournalist’s ethic to be a part of the action being recorded. He also once said that he preferred to “remain unemployed as war photographer.”

Robert Capa died in 1954 in Indochina, killed by a landmine.

Shoephone,
Great, I was hoping the freepers couldn’t take the cold,wet weather here in the Evergreen State.
Soomebody been talkin to Rape Gurney Joe.Can someone please tell me this is 2006, and not 1606?

#99–Please don’t insult Ralph! LOL

Oh, and V for Vendetta was released back in February, I think–at least, it’s in our second run theaters now! Should be out on video soon as well.

mc – Wasn’t that photo, (the one heading this post), staged?

P.S. oilfieldguy –although if Bush died a slow painful death at this point not sure I’d be sorry. . . LOL!

EPU and MAry

I absolutley agree with both of you about the laziness, the cocktail weenies, the access, et al. I think, so do the metaphorical captors, these are all things that made it easier and easier for Old Media types to do master’s bidding.

It’s no one single thing, it’s all these things. But I think the Rovians accurately and cycnically read the context and knew just how to get additional benefits from the swiftboating. It’s really impressively efficient if you think about it.

maybe it’s my organized crime experience,but this all seems so SOP if you look at like a mafia case. The manipulation always has a carrot and a stick. the mob guys always make it easier to do what they want than to have a spine. The target’s descent into mob sefvitude is always incrimental and he ususally thinks he can still stand up to them if it gets too ugly, until he wakes up one day and he is too far in.

Mary at 97

Catapulting the propaganda

Oscarsmom – The other point of Serenity is Mr. Universe’s (no relation) statement that “You can’t stop the signal.” Basically, the shit is going to come out regardless of government efforts to prevent it. WHich I believe, CM or no CM.

mc @ 106

Nick Ut and Eddie Adams both had some pretty good war photos from Vietnam.

Mary – I guess not being a Christ-ian makes me unable to understand these things.

I wonder if waiters and waitresses should now be able to refuse service to people who have piercings or tatoos?

The Pharmacy Board says there will be a “public comment” period. And I’ll definitely have a few comments of my own. Hope the Board has enough stamina to deal with the onslaught that’s about to hit them.

Loosehead – I guess my take on it is that they are just another mafia family – if we are to continue with the mafia analogy.

Totally OT but what is UP with Greta Van Sustern and her blondes and her predeliction for wearing tuxes to formal gatherings? Isn’t that at least as juicy as Hil and Bill? Or is it not “fair” to inquire into the personal life of journalists tabloid gossips?

Speaking of Gilliam . . . “The Fisher King” is another of my top ten. I need to see Brazil again–haven’t since it came out in the 80’s! Re: “Syriana”, I couldn’t understand half of it (though I got the main points) and that disturbed me–I think if you’re going to try and communicate something it should at least be comprehensible. Other than that, full marks! :)

I am just checking in, and assume that I will be EPU’d. I read the RS article. The only part of it that is new to me is the part about the analysis of the Mitofsky exit polls. As far as I can remember EVERY other part of this was reported by Brad Friedman at BradBlog months and months and months ago, more than a year ago in most cases. It’s probably no coincidence that BB had experts of the article up before it appeared online. Election reform is Brad’s big issue and main focus, and he was all over this.

Ask…and ye shall receive. Jane’s got RFK Jr. upstairs.

shoephone–the pharmacicst decision is totally demoralizing. Plus, as you point out, it makes for a really scary precedent.

Timewarp – There is a new thread

I think she is trying to figure out/exploring Norman Mailer’s statement: “Any women who dyes her hair blonde is a true blonde.”

I’ve never liked Mailer (other than the Naked and the Dead, which is a great book), and I have no clue what he meant.

mc, thanks, I didn’t know that was Capa.
He was at Omaha Beach in ‘44 (First thirty-minutes of Saving Private Ryan), and hung out with Ingrid Bergman, Hemingway, Cartier-Bresson, and Picasso.
Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,”
http://artscenecal.com/Article…..CapaA.html

lhp at 106 — We need some very specific ideas for about 10,000 people to do.

Find out who to call to be a poll monitor.

Take a video of anyone coming to “repair” a voting maching that has a “glitch”.

Count the number of people entering to vote. Sometimes the precinct total is strangely higher than the number of people who showed up.

IMPORTANT: Cover the infrared port with thick enough tape so that there can’t be any data transmission during the vote. After hours…another problem.

Record what happens to voting machines that suddenly don’t work. What about those votes? Do they ever get counted?

Try to arrange for or participate in exit polling, perhaps in conjunction with the local newspaper or university.

Etc, just off the top of my uninformed head. Being from Ohio originally I’m all over the need to prevent voting fraud in 2006. My grandmother was the first president of the League of Women Voters in our town, wonder what she would think of Ohio’s situation now.

Department of being fair to the other side: DeWine is not part of any known Republican scandal. Of course I hope Brown wins for Senate nevertheless. Everybody ELSE…hmmm…

Secretary of State Blackwell, in charge of voter fraud (hey! so sue me for libel!) in 2004 and 2005 will be in charge of counting ballots for his OWN election to Governor in 2006. What is wrong with this picture.

The 2004 election
The 2000 election
9/11
Iraq
Katrina
Spying, torture
Sweetheart deals, laws written by lobbyists, tax cuts for the wealthy

The problem with keeping up with the Bush Administration’s criminality and incompetence is that it is a full time job. I keep thinking that there will be some line they won’t cross, some fiasco they will avoid, some situation they can’t screw up, but they keep proving me wrong. Lie here, lie there, steal a billion here, steal an election there, what’s the difference? These guys are criminals pure and simple. Do not expect them to go quietly.

John Casper,

Thanks for the Capa quote. It is not only a good general statement about journalism, it is what a photographer’s photographer would say.

egregious #125 and #126 -

Your grandmother was a pioneer. The national League is somewhat frayed over the HAVA issue, as regards paper ballots. The national League came to consensus about two years ago that electronic voting machines were okay, it’s the wave of the future, blah blah. Some of the local leagues protested – ours in Seattle was one of them. We don’t trust the machines at all. We are lucky enough to have Bev Harris living here, and she was one of our panelists at the public forum on blackbox voting – her specialty.

I’m on my way to the national League convention next week, and the controversy surrounding paper verified ballots is heating up to be a huge issue there.

jwr (110):

There is some controversy over that particular shot. Staged or not, Capa’s contribution (and ultimate sacrifice to his craft) to photojournalism and war coverage in particular is unmatched.

In these days of Photoshop when anyone can create anything on a computer screen, getting someone to pretend they’re being shot, strikes me as, well, quaint.

MoDo mention’s Ingraham’s vile remark in her latest column. I found a “mirror” here. Good for something when she sets her mind to it.

Buy oil from Venezuela not Texas or Saudi Arabia

–popularly *elected* leader Hugo Chavez although Bush-liars want you to believe otherwise

–not a dollar to US Oil Scumbags

–not a dollar to petro-terror Arab states

CITGO are stores owned and operated by them.

To find one near you:

http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp

In an emergency such as this some things have to be done straight away and then other things done in order to obtain the best result. We have to take a deep breath first. Part of the MSM’s disgust and dislike of the Dems may have a basis in fact if , in fact the majority of dems are like Poker Machine addicts constantly feeding money into a rigged machine. No one can respect a team that always plays on a tilted field with a giant fan machine blasting against them.
So taking charge of fixing the process becomes an immediate priority. Some folks here have been harping on about the machines and that is a big part of it – the rise of the machines.
It is also a combination of things and they include racism, gerrymandering, court stacking, bullying, lying, stealing and manipulating the corporate media amongst other things.
This is now a hot button issue – taking democracy back from the Military/entertainment complex. We will really need to leverage the net and that means we defend and extend the web.
If we lose the web then violent revolution becomes inevitable.
Some other priorities such as a tactical retreat to the Murtha line and a full strategic review of the war situation now becomes a second order issue because the war has come home.
In a war situation such as we know find ourselves the appeasers, the Chamberlains, the Liebermans all have to be replaced by the fighters. The Lee’s, the Feingolds, the Deans and the Lamont’s. This is a matter of life and death but it’s also more important than that.
Lady Liberty is being raped by this gang of criminals – we must act!

Great entry. I did not know there were actual organized “opposition research” campaigns against journalists. That’s astounding.

Plus, I’m a huge fan of Capa. One of the all-time greats.

Yea! A photo credit! Here is a great link regarding that photo. Thanks.
http://www.photographers.it/ar…..pa/falling soldier.pdf
Have fun in Vegas, love The Fly-Man.

I had forgotten about the right-wing truth squad that went over to do “real reporting” from Iraq. Funny, they kind of just blended in with the wallpaper and stfu after they came back, didn’t they? Wonder why?