I heard John Gorenfeld interviewed on The Young Turks. He wrote “Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom.” Media propagandists like Fox News and The Washington Times are free to keep spewing lies of right-wingers and Neocon nutjobs whether or not they are profitable businesses. At times they’ve been kept propped up artificially and suffered no ill consequences of being a loser in the free market.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/79529/
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Moon…..0979482232

- Tom

Late to the thread from very late start today, “thanks” to horrible dreams all last night from stewing just a tad too much over the state of the world all yesterday. Yesterday? Schmesterday!!!! Ever since I read our dear Molly Ivins’ “Bushed” back before 2000, I’ve been rapidly losing my cool.

But just stewing doesn’t help, no more than hurting yourownself putting your fist through a wall in misdirected frustration.

Thank you (((Christy))) for this wonderful post.

Thank you (((Jane))) for this blog.

Deep deep thanks to everyone who dives right in and keeps the Lake rippling and growing in influence.

I do not believe in evil per se. I believe people, whether deliberately and maliciously (like a few i don’t have to mention here lest my language dive into the gutter post haste), or ignorance, or fear, or mental illness, – people can do evil things.

We can choose to ignore their influence, or to fight back and/or counteract it, and – sigh – to pick up the pieces and try to put things back to rights.

I was born right before Pearl Harbor was attacked and while Hitler was indulging in his madness. Grew up watching the civil rights struggle unfurl, and trying to take my part in helping hatch the movement even before high school (much to my parents’ chagrin – too bad – we just didn’t talk about it at home after that 1st time I asked them a question and had my leash yanked HARD). I necessarily went silent on the subject in my parents’ house, out of some sort of “respect” for folks who otherwise were wonderful, loving people. But I didn’t stop working against them in that and some other realms [yes, Raven]. Lordy be! Those staunch Repubs had hatched a flaming Liberal.

On and on and on, we ALL must march, doing what we can. I love the ideas of paying forward, random acts of kindness, regarding the concept “value” as something WAYYY broader than just a measure of material wealth. Using a combo of stealth and stubbornness to outlast the dirtydeeddoers, if all else fails; but not forsaking proactive measures that call the meanest ones out and make them own up to their deliberate cussedness.

But it takes constant work to keep things going. We must not falter at this point. Too many courageous, wonderful people have gone before. We owe them. And we owe those to come

Thank you (((barbara))) #138 for pulling the whole thing together with a delightful zing that says it all:

Do not sleep, do not slumber.
Hypervigilate.
Crap takes years to unravel.

nice article link about ramps festivals, with upcoming festival dates!!, that’s the place we went and when we got there, they were closing up shop! the one i talked about earlier in the comments.

ends up one of my mom and dad’s friends from ava-american volksmarching association-is from there, small world, again. was talking with her one day, and found out she lives there.

going to ramps festivals is the perfect spring outing to wake up your senses, driving through the mountains, spring poppin’ out all over the place…..warm day, then you drive by areas of springs and the temp drops..then back into the warmth….too cool.

the ground finally thawing, smells wonderful.

I wonder how Laura likes sleeping with an agent of torture. Maybe she could spill the beans like Martha Mitchell. Now, that makes me smile.

I wonder if Laura thinks badly about that at all. Laura, and I would imagine, a sizable portion of the population, would not think too badly about the President and his staff discussing how far they should go in trying to bring down “the terrorists.” Keep in mind that we have basically been anesthetized by programs like “24″ (which I don’t watch) or “The Unit” which I do watch. The difference between me and many other people who watch these programs is that I haven’t adopted the idea that it’s ok to assassinate or torture people contrary to the Geneva Conventions and the basic morality of civilization dictates. But many people have. Do we even know for sure how many are outraged at the President’s letting his staff discuss doing torture to prisoners as a wholesale policy? Do we have any concept of how many think they needed to do whatever is necessary, including reverting to barbarism? We need to know these things.

my browser quit, don’t know if my ’good’ comment posted.

oh, goody!-someone just pulled up the drive-nice day to hangout on the deck and visit……-bbl….

“Who got to decide this?” she asked about the media’s anointment of certain candidates worthy of attention over others. “Whoever decided this probably also decided that Fred Thompson was a serious candidate for president.” (Again, Mrs. Edwards faulted the media for hyping Mr. Thompson’s presidential prospects in the months before his Republican campaign collapsed.)

Mrs. Edwards didn’t just focus on the media coverage of political candidates; like many others who crave policy discussions on National Public Radio or in documentary-style formats, she pleaded for less Britney Spears (oh, she lamented, on the cover of the Atlantic Monthly she was last month), and more dissection of critical issues like health policy.

She says the absolute truth, yet it’s framed as merely a sour-grapes whine.