An example of the sad state of American News (hidden in a movie review)

Ebert Review's ELEPHANT / **** (R)

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. "Wouldn't you say," she asked, "that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?" No, I said, I wouldn't say that. "But what about 'Basketball Diaries'?" she asked. "Doesn't that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?" The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it's unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. "Events like this," I said, "if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn't have messed with me. I'll go out in a blaze of glory."

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

- rob 5:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

An excellent read:

General Wesley Clark Outlines Success Strategy in Iraq

If I am elected President, I pledge to you that America will never, under my leadership, choose to isolate itself without allies, in a "long, hard slog" that drains our money, strains our military, and squanders our moral authority.
...

Despite our overwhelming military might, our economic strength and the power of our democracy, we cannot win these battles alone. We can't pursue Arab-Israeli peace, maintain stability in the Middle East, support reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, deal with the challenges of North Korea, track down Osama bin Laden, fight the global war against terrorism, face the problem of Iran, and return to prosperity in this country, unless we have allies to help us.

- rob 5:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The End of Checks and Balances

White House Puts Limits on Queries From Democrats (washingtonpost.com)

The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers.

The decision -- one that Democrats and scholars said is highly unusual -- was announced in an e-mail sent Wednesday to the staff of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. House committee Democrats had just asked for information about how much the White House spent making and installing the "Mission Accomplished" banner for President Bush's May 1 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The director of the White House Office of Administration, Timothy A. Campen, sent an e-mail titled "congressional questions" to majority and minority staff on the House and Senate Appropriations panels. Expressing "the need to add a bit of structure to the Q&A process," he wrote: "Given the increase in the number and types of requests we are beginning to receive from the House and Senate, and in deference to the various committee chairmen and our desire to better coordinate these requests, I am asking that all requests for information and materials be coordinated through the committee chairmen and be put in writing from the committee."

He said this would limit "duplicate requests" and help answer questions "in a timely fashion."

It would also do another thing: prevent Democrats from getting questions answered without the blessing of the GOP committee chairmen.

I'm sorry it's irritating to answer "pesky" questions Mr. Bush, but, ummm, isn't that what happens in a democracy, of course, as you said, it would be easier if this was a dictatorship... well it seems you are making it easier for yourself.

- rob 4:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Saddam 'offered Bush a huge oil deal to avert war'

Days before the US invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's spy chiefs attempted to buy off the Bush administration with huge oil concessions, it was reported yesterday.

The offer of lucrative oil and mineral deals for US companies was conveyed to Richard Perle, an influential Pentagon adviser, but was rejected as yet another stalling tactic.

The White House noted yesterday that Saddam was given 48 hours to leave Iraq and avert war, but refused. Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, said: "The United States exhausted every legitimate and credible opportunity to resolve this peacefully."

So I guess this means the war was about more than oil.

On the eve of war, Iraq publicly offered unlimited access for American and British weapons hunters.

In private, Mr Hage said they offered co-operation in the Middle East peace process, unlimited access for 2,000 US weapons hunters, and a pledge that US companies would be granted first priority in securing valuable Iraqi oil and mining concessions.

Habbush, who is number 16 on the US list of Iraq's most wanted, was also reported to have offered to hand over Abdul Rahman Yasin, an Islamic militant who fled to Iraq after being indicted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York.

Mr Perle met Mr Hage in London, with CIA and Pentagon permission, and was told that Iraqi spy chiefs wanted to meet him in Beirut. But when he sought CIA guidance, he was told that the Bush administration was not interested. "I was given the impression that there had already been contacts," said Mr Perle.

Hmmm... improved insepctions and the handing over a terrorist. Then what was this all about?

- rob 4:52 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

A nice way to help. Donate frequent flier miles.

In September 2003, the Pentagon started giving soldiers stationed in Iraq two-week leaves in the largest R & R program since the Vietnam War. Soldiers on R & R or Emergency Leave are flown by the military to Germany or three airports in the United States, Baltimore/Washington, (BWI), Dallas/FortWorth, (DFW), or Atlanta, (ATL ) for free.

The soldiers have been responsible for flights the rest of the way in the U.S. to their destinations, until Congress provided funding for this purpose on November 3, 2003. However, this funding is not yet available and may not be sufficient for all the troops or troops on "Emergency Leave".

More than 470 soldiers a day are arriving in the U.S. Until the Department of Defense can authorize payment for their connecting flights under the new law, many soldiers often have to purchase high-priced, last minute tickets to get home to their families. The new law does not help soldiers on "Emergency Leave" who still must pay for their domestic travel to get home for the death, illness or birth of a family member.

- rob 2:54 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

TCS Store updates



A Made In America fitted T (I don't know what fitted means though... can anyone explain this?) with our famous "I Miss America" slogan on the front, and out "leadership is not dictatorship" slogan on the back (looking snazzy).

We also are now offering some of the most hideous Christmas ornaments known to man:

&

Thanks to everyone that has shopped at the TCS Store, because it has generated $19.17 in the past 6 months, okay that isn't much, but it is cool that that means we've sold over 22 items. Someday I'm sure we'll think of a really excellent print ad or something that will help in the fight against Bush, maybe we'll use that money to buy ad space. Right now I think we've got enough for a classified ad.

Or if you want to buy something you actually might want you can always buy it at Amazon, but remember to click our link on the left first so we get 5% or so of your purchase at no cost to you. We've made $5.00 or so this way.

thanks.

- rob 2:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Sign the petition

Citizens working to end special-interest politics and reform government ethics.

I, the undersigned, am protesting the appearance of favoritism in granting Iraq reconstruction contracts to companies with connections to the White House or the Pentagon. It seems that the entire process of awarding contracts to rebuild Iraq favors companies like Halliburton, which was invited to work on a no-bid contract and now enjoys a head start on all other companies as a result.

The Bush Administration's promise to return the country to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible appears disingenuous if the reconstruction profits politically connected companies at the expense of the majority of Iraqis who want to help rebuild their own country.

- rob 2:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Why an independent media matters
or
How fatty foods may have saved our democracy

Americans recognize that their media are experiencing digital Wal-Martization. Like the chain that earns billions but cannot be bothered to pay employee health benefits, major media concerns in the United States brag about their profits to Wall Street but still cry poor when it comes to covering the news that matters to Main Street. A 2002 study by the Project on the State of the American Newspaper found that the number of reporters covering state capitols across the country full-time had fallen to just over 500, a figure the American Journalism Review described as "the lowest number we have seen, and probably the lowest in at least the last quarter century." Is this the market at work? Have citizens demanded, in the midst of a period of devolution that has made state governments more powerful than ever, that they get less state capitol coverage? Not at all. "It comes almost entirely as a consequence of newsroom budget cuts by companies seeking to bolster their shrinking profit margins during an economic downturn," says AJR. Those cuts parallel a decline in political coverage on television news programs, which fell in 2002 to the lowest level in decades. And what if one corporation owned the newspaper as well as TV and radio stations in the same market? "It's a given that you'll see more cuts in staffing, fewer reporters covering city halls, state capitals, Washington and the world," says Newspaper Guild president Linda Foley. "And people know that. They know that if one company owns most of the media outlets--in their town, in their state or in the country as a whole--they are going to get a one-size-fits-all news that is a lot more likely to serve the people in power than it is the public interest and democracy."

To many Americans, it seems clear that the one-size-fits-all moment has already arrived. After years of decreasing international coverage--all the major television networks have shuttered foreign bureaus over the past decade in a wave of cutbacks that Pew International Journalism Program director John Schidlovsky refers to as "perhaps the single most negative development in journalism in my lifetime"--the United States found itself in March on the verge of launching a major invasion of a Middle Eastern country that most Americans could not locate on a map.

Indeed, it was the war on Iraq that triggered some of the most intense opposition to Powell's rules changes. At Bush's last prewar press conference, the White House press corps looked more like stenographers than journalists. Even some reporters were appalled; ABC News White House correspondent Terry Moran said the reporters looked "like zombies," while Copley News Service Washington correspondent George Condon Jr. told AJR that it "just became an article of faith among a lot of people: 'Look at this White House press corps; it's just abdicated all responsibility.'" Millions of Americans agreed. "I talked to people everywhere I went who said that if the media, especially the television media, had done its job, there wouldn't have been a war," says Representative Jim McDermott

From: Up in Flames

Do we really have a media that is more likely to serve the people in power than it is the public interest and democracy? Well, we recently had a war for fictitious reasons, and many Americans are just now starting to realize it. Is this because the media kept them ill-informed? Let's see:



From: Misperceptions, The Media and The Iraq War (requires Adobe Acrobat), for more information read The media and public misconceptions

If a President saves your company tens of millions in taxes with his ill conceived tax cut and by allowing you to continue to use off shore tax shelters, then why not reward him by reporting only his lies.

This is where McDonald's comes in. No really.

You'll notice NPR readers had the best understanding of what was happening in Iraq. It wasn't perfect. If you listen to NPR they too have been surprisingly gentle to the constant Bush administration mendacity. Perhaps this fear to truly report on the corruption of the present GOP is due to much of their funding coming from the government. What if they didn't need this money any more?

NPR Given Record Donation

National Public Radio will announce today the largest donation in its history, a cash bequest from the will of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc of about $200 million.

The bequest from the widow of the founder of the McDonald's fast-food chain both shocked and delighted people at NPR's headquarters in Washington yesterday. It amounts to almost twice NPR's annual operating budget. "No one saw this coming," said one person.

This is an opportunity that can not be lost, NPR needs to separate itself for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and become a completely independent nonprofit organization. This sum could become a good basis for a trust from which the new independent media chain could operate, the rest could be generated via fund raising (heck, I'd be willing to hand over all the money TCS raised... okay that's only $30, but its only been six months, give us time, we'll raise lots).

I don't want it to be liberal, I cetainly don't want it to be conservative. I'd want the reporting to be decidedly anti-government, anti-corporate, and pretty much anti-everything. i.e. I'd just want it to report with out trying to defend anyone or spin for anyone.

Tell NPR's Ombudsman what you think they could do with the money: ombudsman@npr.org

- rob 2:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Executive privilege seen as leak-case option

WASHINGTON -- Despite President Bush's repeated pledges of full cooperation, administration officials yesterday refused to rule out invoking executive privilege to shield some documents from Justice Department investigators looking into whether someone in the White House illegally leaked the name of a CIA operative.

Loyalty is very very important to Bush. You can leak the name's of CIA operatives and damage the intergity of some of our intelligence operations that are helping us in our fight against terrorism, and he'll stay loyal to you. You can make up reasons about why we went to war, and he'll stay loyal to you. You can 'forget' that information in a state of the union speech are false, and he'll stay loyal to you.

Some see this kind of loyalty as a virtue. The kind of loyalty I want from a President is loyalty to the nation, Bush's loyalty seems reserved for his frat brothers (my new nickname for his administration).

- rob 1:30 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Could be good news

Halliburton Contract Extension Cancelled Amid Allegations of Overcharging Taxpayers

The Army Corps of Engineers is "likely" to cancel the no-bid contract extension granted a week ago to Halliburton for delivery of oil-related services amid allegations that Halliburton is overcharging the federal government to import oil into Iraq. The decision to revisit the contract extension comes in part due to the assertions from inside the Pentagon that Halliburton's price for imported gasoline was "at least double what it should be."

Jeffrey Jones, the Director of the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), told minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee that it costs the DESC $1.08 to $1.19 to buy and import fuel via truck into Iraq - a price that's less than half the $2.65 Halliburton is charging the US government.
...

Scrutiny of the Halliburton contract has become more intense since Congress passed the President's emergency request for $87 billion. Stripped from the final bill, at White House insistence, say Senate Democrats, was a provision to subject those who deliberately defrauded the United States or Iraq to jail terms of up to 20 years and costly fines. Emphasis mine.

Because if Bush's friends aren't allowed to make a lot of money off of this war, than this war really would have been fought for no reason.

- rob 12:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Last century sucked too, as we learn of the sick crimes of Gary L. Ridgway, America's most prolific known serial killer.

"I killed the 48 women," the statement began. "In most cases, when I murdered [them] I did not know their names. Most of the time I killed them the first time I met them, and I did not have a good memory for their faces. I killed so many ... I have a hard time keeping them straight."

"It's hard to sit there and not see him show any feeling or anything — any remorse or anything ..." [said] Kathy Mills, whose daughter Opal, 16, was one of the victims.

Contrast this with what Maureen Dowd points out about our president just hours after news of the downing of the Chinook helicopter that claimed the lives of 15 people in one shot.

On Monday, arriving for a fund-raiser in Birmingham, he was upbeat, not somber. As Mike Allen of The Washington Post reported in his pool report, "The president, who gave his usual salute as he stepped off Marine One, appeared to start the day in a fabulous mood. . . . An Alabama reporter who was under the wing shouted, `How long will U.S. troops be in Iraq?' The president gave him an unappreciative look."

I wonder if Bush has a good memory for faces. I know he has a hard time keeping his own straight. Remember: U.S. rocket-propelled grenade launchers don't kill people, terrorists do.

- Michael 11:29 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

British Police Brace for Bush Visit

LONDON, Nov. 5 — President Bush, who has been shielded from protests in recent travels, arrives in Britain on a state visit in two weeks, and the police here are weighing how to control promised street demonstrations without resorting to crowd control measures that could be seen as curbing free expression.

"There will be substantial demonstrations over President Bush's visit — as much as 50,000 to 60,000 people," Sir John Stevens, the Scotland Yard chief, told the Police Complaints Authority. "Apart from ensuring his safety, which is our primary concern, we have to ensure the demonstrations are allowed to take place in the normal way we do in this democracy." Emphasis Mine.

This is in strong contrast to George Bush's vision of democracy in which protestors in America are placed in "free speech zones." You know, fenced in areas far from where Bush is. "Free Speech Zones" (which used to mean all of America, but not in this sucky century I guess) is not for the physical security of the president, it is for the mental security of the president, he has been told that he is loved by all Americans, the truth might awaken his mind to the truth, which may result in a total mental breakdown.

Another fun quote from the Brits:

"A central problem for Bush in Britain is that while he is greeted with wary respect at 10 Downing Street, his unilateralism and folksy Texas style don't go down well with the chattering classes, who regard him as exceedingly dangerous and something of a buffoon," said Anthony King, professor of government at Essex University.

- rob 10:57 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Oh, now they complain

Voting Machine Glitches Prompt GOP Challenge

Better late then never welcome to the fight for a democracy that actually can be counted on.

Widespread problems with new touch-screen voting machines delayed election results in Fairfax County Tuesday night and led to a legal challenge by Republican officials.

Nine malfunctioning voting machines were removed for repair and then put back in service, a move that Fairfax Republicans said broke election law. Several hundred votes were under scrutiny, not enough to affect the outcome of county-wide races.
...

Craig acknowledged that the number of votes, estimated in the hundreds, "may not make any difference, but that is not the point."

"It's about voter integrity," he said.

In Montgomery County elections in September 2002, electronic voting machines were blamed for confusion. Several polling places opened late because the equipment was not set up, and inaccurate results were posted on the county Web site while judges struggled through complicated forms and tabulations.

- rob 1:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

44% say they’ll vote against Bush

THE SURVEY BY Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion found that 44 percent of the voters questioned said they planned to definitely vote against the Republican president while 38 percent said they would support his re-election.

An April survey from the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based pollsters had found that 40 percent of voters nationwide planned to vote for Bush while 30 percent said they would vote against him.

- rob 12:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

How the White House deletes the truth

A nice editorial that sums up many of the things we have mentioned here in the past.

PRESIDENT BUSH blames the media for filtering out good news on Iraq. He says he does not even read newspapers. "The best way to get the news is from objective sources," Bush said in a Fox News interview. "And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world."

This is the same president who erases history itself.

Bush's desire for us to become ostriches over the deaths and wounding of American soldiers in Iraq -- 379 dead and 2,155 hurt at last count -- is but one more pathological act in sticking all of America into the sand. Bush severely limited access to the presidential papers of his father. Vice President Dick Cheney erected an iron curtain around his energy task force. Hundreds of Muslim immigrants were detained without due process and with no evidence they were involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The administration wiped out parts of an Environmental Protection Agency report that specifically tied human activities to global warming.

Bush has his eraser out again. The Justice Department recently released a commissioned report on diversity among its attorneys. Half of its 186 pages were blacked out.
...

With all these deletions, it was no surprise that all nine pages of "Recommendations" were blacked out. Hear no problem, see no problem, solve no problem. Bush blames the media when he is bringing back memories of Nixon erasing tapes. The administration deleted the data on global warming. It blacked out diversity reports. It disappears immigrants. With a war built on falsehoods failing with fatal consequences, Bush now wants to disappear the media. It is all part of Bush erasing you.

Calpundit has a nice summation of some of the more subtle editing of history that has been going on on some government web sites:

But yesterday there was more historical revision: an interview in which an administration official said reconstruction would cost no more than $1.7 billion was mysteriously deleted from the USAID website.

- rob 12:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

This land is my land, all mine not your land
From total recalls, to White House lying
From logging forests, to polluting waters
This land is made for only me

As I was voting in a rigged election
I saw before me the Court's selection
Who touts religion and hates exception
This land is hating you and me

I ran and stumbled, I fell and tumbled
To try to hide from
Queer-bashing God men
Who beat and jabbed me
And kicked and stabbed me
This land's a kinder place to be

The Ten Commandments, and Charlton Heston
From the Second Amendment, to Smith and Wesson
If Columbine doesn't teach you a lesson
This gun is aimed at you and me

As I was talkin' -- right near the border
I saw a sign there -- "We Will Never Forget"
Next to a portrait of freedom dying
This land has now become a threat

In the squares of the city -- in the shadow of the steeple
In Guantanamo Bay -- I see my people
And the rule of law ... is now suspended
Thanks to all who fear like you and me

- Michael 12:52 AM - [PermaLink] -

----

Funny

Rep. Dingell (D, Michigan) Joins Republicans to Protest CBS’s Mini-Series "The Reagans"

Rep. Dingell, who served in the Congress during both of President Reagan’s terms in office, offered this advice to Mr. Moonves [CBS President]:

"As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling."

Rep. Dingell concluded, "I hope you find these facts useful in accurately depicting President Reagan’s time in office."

- rob 5:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

What is George planning if he wins in 2004?

DefendAmerica News - Article

The Selective Service System wants to hear from men and women in the community who might be willing to serve as members of a local draft board.
...

Local Board Members are uncompensated volunteers who play an important community role closely connected with our Nation's defense. If a military draft becomes necessary, approximately 2,000 Local and Appeal Boards throughout America would decide which young men, who submit a claim, receive deferments, postponements or exemptions from military service, based on Federal guidelines.

- rob 5:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Diebold Gets Caught (well sort of... not really)

Calif. Halts E-Vote Certification

SACRAMENTO, California -- Uncertified software may have been installed on electronic voting machines used in one California county, according to the secretary of state's office.

Marc Carrel, assistant secretary of state for policy and planning, told attendees Thursday at a panel on voting systems that California was halting the certification process for new voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.

The reason, Carrel said, was that his office had recently received "disconcerting information" that Diebold may have installed uncertified software on its touch-screen machines used in one county.
...

Diebold officials, who were attending the meeting, seemed surprised by the announcement and expressed displeasure to several panelists afterward that it had been introduced in a public forum. They were unavailable for comment.

Now if Marc Carrel had simply brought it up in private he'd have gotten a big check, and Diebold would take care of the matter. See it would have been a win win situation. I can certainly understand Diebold's displeasure.

- rob 4:07 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Stonewalling the Sept. 11 probe

President Bush had strong words when he signed legislation creating a federal commission to investigate the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.

"We must uncover every detail and learn every lesson of September the 11th," he said last year, speaking as family members of victims looked on. The commission, he said, "should carefully examine all the evidence and follow all the facts, wherever they lead."

Now, uncomfortably enough for the president, the fact-finding trail has led to the White House. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States is asking intelligence agencies to produce top-secret memos known as the President's Daily Brief. So far, the White House has refused.

- rob 4:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Reporting at its finest

GARBLING LINDA TRIPP

Eric Alterman reviews the fine reporting of CNN (and as an aside, isn't it great that Linda Tripp gets $600,000 or so of our tax dollars... I guess the good news is that that money isn't going to Halliburton):

The CNN story in question makes a zillion mistakes, every one of them in Tripp’s favor. It says she was a minor, when arrested. She was an adult. It says the government leaked information about her arrest. It did not. It says the case involved drinking — it was a grand larceny charge, which as George W. Bush, could tell you, is much more serious. They say she was never charged. She was charged in an open court with Grand Larceny, and then, in a plea agreement, she pled guilty to a reduced charge of loitering. The case was adjudicated, not dropped.

And no one until this day has ever prosecuted her or disciplined her for lying and covering up her arrest, in order to get an undeserved top security clearance. Instead, the government is paying her $600,000 despite the fact that she clearly lied about her status.

The media has done a completely miserable job at holding its own against her spin-meisters. The press seems to have been incapable of getting the facts of her case right — over and over she’s portrayed herself as a juvenile, and claimed she was never charged, when all you have to do is go to look at The Smoking Gun.

- rob 3:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Insurgents’ Attacks in Iraq Intensifying

``We have to be realistic,'' Bremer said after learning of Sunday's heavy toll. ``We're in a war here.''

Oh... we're in a war there. So is Bush the lowest polling war time president in history? Are we at LBJ levels?

Hey Hey
G W B
How many coffins
can we not see?

Back in Washington, the Pentagon has banned photographs of the arriving coffins of U.S. dead. In Iraq, at the site of the helicopter shootdown, American troops tried to confiscate news photographers' digital camera disks. No matter: The picture from Iraq, day by day, will grow sharp and clear.

- rob 2:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Its official: The ruling party of America can decide what shows you can watch

CNN.com - CBS pulls Reagan miniseries

Okay... not yet, but it is getting close. You'll have to have premium cable to see what probably was a lame movie, but does the right wing of this nation have the right to prevent us from seeing lame movies (and if so we didn't they stop Gigli)?

CBS insisted it was not bowing to pressure about portions of the script, but that the decision was made after seeing the finished film.

"Although the miniseries features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience," the network said in a statement.

So their statement, when translated, is: "well the show is pretty much full of facts, but as the right wing is deeply into idolatry we understand that Reagan is not a historical figure but a religious figure and given the sensitivities of the biggest whiners in American history, and that they control the government (and thus the FCC), we've decided what's 9 million bucks compared to our future. We wouldn't want to be arrested like Bush's buddy Putin does to rich folk that support views other than his own."

- rob 2:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The White House rewrites history... literally

From: Talking Points Memo

[Reader]: "A few days ago (10/23), you quoted Bush as speaking to the Australian Parliament and saying that he "sees" a China that is free, etc. At the time, I didn't go back to the White House press release, but if you look at it now you will see that it says he "seeks" a free China. Did you misread it, or have they been massaging the record after the fact? I don't know how to go about looking for a cached version of the page, but maybe it's worth pursuing."

Well, I'm not sure I'd know how to go about getting the cached version either. But luckily that's not necessary, since I made a PDF version of the original White House transcript as it appeared on the day in question. (Call me suspicious.) You can see it right here. If you scroll down to the big, clumsily-drawn red circle you'll see that the word was 'see' not 'seek'. Then compare it to the current version now at the White House website.

At some later point, they (i.e., someone in the White House press operation) simply changed the word and thus utterly changed the meaning.

Now, I've heard some speculate that the president had meant to say 'seek' but somehow misspoke or perhaps was supposed to say 'seek'.

Maybe.

But I find that a touch dubious because I think that on such a delicate matter the White House would check the 'transcript' against the prepared speech that the president read from.

And Atrios points out, the Australians heard "see" as well, as you can see from a transcript from an Australian site, which also has the audio of the speech where you can hear the president say "see" for yourself.

So do you see China as a nation working to secure the freedom of it own people? Bush does:

Bush: "We see a China that is stable and prosperous - a nation that respects the peace of its neighbors and works to secure the freedom of its own people."

- rob 2:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Follow up on an earlier posting today

The War Over the Gipper

The script was vetted by two teams of lawyers, and producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who would not be interviewed by NEWSWEEK, have insisted that every fact (though not every line of dialogue) is supported by at least two sources. Before a New York Times story last month detailed conservatives’ complaints, network executives reportedly loved the movie. “They all thought it was brilliant,” says someone who worked on the film.

But the day the Times’s story broke—”The Reagans” crew calls it “Black Tuesday”—the movie instantly became trouble. CBS chairman Leslie Moonves, who approved both the script and a juicy eight-minute trailer, ordered the lawyers to look at the movie again, and asked for assurances that the facts were all in order. When he was told everything was fine, Moonves started editing anyway.

- rob 5:52 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

The scariest Halloween costume this year?

This Modern World: Something Truly Terrifying

- rob 5:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Eighteen Die in Second Deadliest Day for U.S. in Iraq

Rumsfeld said on Sunday: "I think the American people have a good center of gravity. I think they get it. They would rather have us fighting terrorists outside the United States of America than inside."

Okay, I think it is a given most people inside the US would rather have us fight terrorists outside the US (I sure would), but that isn't what is happening in Iraq. We aren't fighting "pre-existing" terrorists. We aren't fighting terrorists who would otherwise by in Washington D.C.

We are allowing the terrorists to recruit and expand. If anything we are just taxing the administrative overhead of running a terrorist organization, that isn't worth our soldiers lives nor the future of a secure Iraq. The fighting in Iraq if from friends of saddam and locals recently recurited by terrorist organizations. The idea that no attack has happened in the United States because al Quaeda is too busy with Iraq is a delusional fantasy. Beside our own home grown terrorists there were no terrorism in America between 1993 and 2001. Does that mean Clinton was being amazing successful? No, he wasn't doing enough to fight terrorism either, but with the invasion of Iraq, the world and America has become a more dramatic target of terrorism.

The American people do have a good center of gravity Mr. Rumsfeld and though they want to be trusting and let themselves by lied into war they won't let you use the same lies again to excuse the failure of the Bush administration's policies.

- rob 2:58 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Excuse me?

RNC asks to review 'The Reagans'

I've never understood the present republican parties die hard worship of Reagan, it strikes me as self-delusional as the democratic worship of Kennedy, but at least the latter seems rooted in his life being cut short and the haze of the past. Reagan's presidency now seems to have been the neo-con training ground. The seeds of the neo-con take over of the country were planted with Nixon, but they really didn't take root until Reagan.

"take over?" you say. "Isn't that a bit strong?"

Well if we now live in a nation where a network has to "clear" a tv movie with the ruling party, which we do, than no "take over" isn't too strong at all.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Republican National Committee Friday asked CBS to allow a team of historians and friends of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife to review a miniseries about the couple before it airs.

Republicans have expressed concern that the miniseries, titled "The Reagans," may inaccurately portray the couple.

In a conference call with reporters, RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie said he sent the request to CBS Television President Leslie Moonves.

Gillespie said that if CBS denies the request, he will ask the network to run a note across the bottom of the screen every 10 minutes during the program's presentation informing viewers that the miniseries is not accurate.

If it is inaccurate then sue for libel and slander, freedom of speech doesn't cover knowingly telling lies to damage another individual. But they won't do that because they would lose the suit, and not because Reagan is a "public figure" and thus not as protect as a private citizen, no they would lose because the CBS team actually has some facts on their side.

- rob 2:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Diego's Modus Operandi And A Call For Vigilance

Last week I posted a link to a blog from a legitimate blogger in Iraq, and I posted a link to a website almost identical in name and design and URL by a GOP Team Leader except the content of said site was pro-Bush war propoganda, taking dirty tricks to the internet age. A person visiting our fine little site left a comment noting how his site had been following the issue. Interesting read, it gets even more slimy.

This shows that on Sept 20 2003 Diego went to a Usenet news group to which he had never posted before, picked up a thread inactive for weeks, responded to a post mentioning the genuine Riverbend blog and *changed* the quote of the original post in his reply to make it look as if the original poster had mentioned the riverSbend blog instead. The deceptive intent is quite plain. Diego looked for people on Usenet discussing the genuine blog and tried subtly to mislead them into going to the smearblog. This is only one instance where Diego did this. There are others.

- rob 1:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

House Nixes Anti-Profiteering Penalties in Iraq Spending Bill

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The final version of the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is missing provisions the Senate had passed to penalize war profiteers who defraud American taxpayers. House negotiators on the package refused to accept the Senate provisions.

The Senate provision was authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). It was one of the last major sticking points this week as negotiators worked through the compromise appropriations bill. The conferees narrowly defeated the amendment after lengthy debate, with House negotiators offering no substitute and no willingness to compromise, despite repeated offers from Senate conferees to negotiate the language. Republican and Democratic Senate conferees consistently supported the provision, which had been unanimously accepted during Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the bill.

I see why the House took out the provision: It could add accountability, it could save tax payers money, it would make us look better internationally. I mean, why risk Bechtel and Halliburton profits on those concepts?

The House of Representatives is full of idiots from both sides who do not serve the people and have no intellectual capacity to think of the higher concepts of democracy and freedom, and rather than work to make American and the world a better place they are quite happy taking their pork while stuffing their ears with freedom fries.

- rob 1:08 PM - [PermaLink] -

----

Subscribe to the TCS Feed

Having trouble with some of the poor English on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:

Search TCS

Archive

Archive Index Page

What is this?

This is a "team" blog.  We are a bunch of Americans, whose rising distress in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.  As Bush said, he's a "uniter."  Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.

This Century Sucks Store

Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.  

We have a little Store you can visit.  

Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come see what we have.

 

We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.

Search Now:

Sites we often like:

Tin Foil Caps

The Free Speech Zone

The office of the independent blogger

Buzzflash

Tom The Dancing Bug

VerifiedVoting.org

Get Your War On

This Modern World

Eschaton / Atrios

Daily Kos

Contribute to America's Future

It is now more important then ever.

Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee

Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Some More Site Mottos

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt



"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response."
 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt



"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson



"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison



"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy



"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

More Sites we often like:

more coming...

"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.