Category: Media

http://www.baltimorechronicle….

http://www.consortiumnews.com/…

I’d like to invite folks here at Docudharma to check out two key pieces now up at ePluribus Media, and to re-view and pass along the contents of one Open Thread.  Additionally, out of all the spectacular stuff that gets posted here, if there are a couple of items that are exclusive to Docudharma that you think deserve extra eyeballs, please post a small blurb over on ePluribus Media letting us and our readers know about it.

I don’t get over here as often as I’d like, and I hope to post more here more often, but in the meantime I hope we can build an “Online Information and Cultural Exchange” (OICE) program where we can alert each other of significant items that their readers might enjoy.  That said…please make the jump for the goodies…

I’ve only caught some news snippets lately but I noticed what might be a pattern emerging.

The big immigrant round-up in Postville, IA was an exercise in mass processing of a large round-up of illegal immigrants. They were taken to a cattle auction fairground and batch processed through a rigged system that put them each in prison for five months prior to their deportation. There are some good diaries around on the subject. I’ll add some links if I have time, otherwise a google should do it.

My discipline is computer science and I have had a lot of management experience in a large organization (IBM after they bought Lotus out; I was and am a Loti, ex). This whole operation struck me as a trial run for a process that would be repeated and refined over time. The victims in this case were the evil brown people – the illegal immigrants. They’ve been getting demonized for years now so the collective working class sympathy for them is pretty low. After all, they’re taking American jobs. That those are jobs that Uhmericans won’t do doesn’t matter. They are part of the economic problem and therefore – no widespread outrage.

The second mass operation was the combined federal, state and local mass round-up of sex offenders. No big deal, they deserved it right? No one wants to defend that crowd. That makes it very easy to do a trial run on them, too. The feds made this happen by doling out huge sums of cash for lots of OT pay for state and local authorities. Everyone likes more cash in their pockets. One of the big benefits was building longer term relationships among the three governmental law enforcement levels. This was even touted in some of the press coverage. What a wonderful thing to see such cooperation on a multi-state, multi-locality effort.

So first the illegal immigrants and then the sex offenders. Nice, safely demonizable practice groups is what I see. The first run at Postville hit a single location and gave valuable feedback on how to process human beings through a carefully jury-rigged (npi) legal chute. (Check out the huge busing capacity in the first link up top.) It was just like cattle to the slaughter except the outcome was temporary imprisonment at just below the maximum sentence. Of course the immigrants will now be available as free prison labor for those five months.

The second run is more insidious. I’ve seen small rumblings here and there about the feds identifying state and local law enforcement types who would be willing to go so far as to shoot at Uhmerican citizens. I’ll have to research that a bit more. Maybe someone can link to any relevant bits in the comments. The pervert posse set up what can be a continuing and growing bond, well lubricated by federal funds, to develop a vertical enforcement structure that could, if it fell into evil hands, be used to round up any stray thinkers. Not that anyone would actually be so evil as to conceive of such a thing.

Separately, these two events seem unrelated. Add a huge dash of illegal, warrantless wiretapping and let it simmer for a bit. Smells like soup to me. What would be the next ingredient? Across Russia and Europe it would always be the Jews, gypsys and gays. I suppose Muslims could be next. I doubt they’d go after the drug gangs. They’re better armed and funded.

Oops, missed an earlier one in 2006 under Gonzo. They’ve been practicing longer than I thought. Bonus – illegal immigrant sex offenders!

OK. I give up. Here it is: Operation Falcon! Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally. I guess I’m just slow tonight. That’s the official government web site touting its huge benefits.

I suppose the next move is outsourcing the wet work to Blackwater and Dyncorp. The last eight years will never be taught in American History classes. At least not the way they actually happened. File the American Dream under Nice-Try, No-Cigar.

The Peoples Republic of CNN reports today that the Bush Administration is running a whole lot of covert operations inside Iran in order to prepare the battlefield for an attack against their nuclear facilities while really trying to make trouble for the current regime in Iran.  

My guess is that the real reasoning has nothing at all to do with nuclear anything, but has much more to do with the fact that the current regime in Iran isn’t very friendly to Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, Shell Oil, etc, etc.  I think that the entire situation emanating from BushCo regarding Iran is all about regime change due to oil.  The continuation of the War On Terror For Oil, if you will.

Hey, call me silly, but it could be true!  😉

June 29, 2008

The Media Project

WAMC, Northeast Public Radio

318 Central Avenue

Albany, New York 12206

Dear Alan, Ira, Elisa and Rex:

This evening, again, the subject of Blogs came up during your show, the Media Project.  And, to nobody’s particular surprise, the usual, superficial analysis was quickly dispensed: bloggers are not journalists, blogs have no quality control, blogs are too quick, blogs have no restraints, blogs by anonymous writers are irresponsible, blogs don’t gather news, some blogs print “horrible” things. I’ve come to expect this.

The fact is that there are millions of blogs.  For political and cultural analysis these come in two main types: group blogs (e.g., daily Kos in left Blogistan) and individual blogs.  Individual blogs, like newspapers, radio, and TV, have enormous variations in intelligence and quality.  Some are absolutely brilliant; others, unreadable.  But both kinds of blogs are extremely democratic: anybody with access to a computer can be a writer and express an opinion or an analysis or spread a story.  Anybody with a comment about a story is free to post it.  Yoanni Sanchez, a prizewinning Cuban blogger, uses the computer at the local library.  One doesn’t need money to be a blogger.  Only time and desire.  Bloggers who are no good remain unread and eventually give up.  Bloggers who have something to say are ultimately recognized and build a readership.

The free ride that John McCain is getting from the mainstream media continues.  McCain has been around so long that the cozy relationship that he’s built with the media for many years is turning out to provide a super-Teflon coating for the candidate of 2008.  The flip flops, back-flips, miss-statements, and outright deceptions go uncovered by reporters eager to curry favor with the candidate.

The Nation magazine this week does a brilliant job of first acknowledging McCain’s likability, then his blatant pandering, and lying.  It’s both common knowledge and unspoken criticism that the candidate McCain of 2000 is vastly different than the candidate of 2008.  Eric Alterman and George Zornick sum it up succinctly below the fold:

I just got done reading Keith Olbermann’s tortured excuse for not calling out Barack Obama on his FISA cave, and frankly, it’s as lame as it can get.  Sorry, Keith, but you’ve sold out to the far right without even realizing it.  Here’s why.

Throughout this campaign, you’ve been doing little or nothing but bash Hillary Clinton for all the wrong reasons.  While the senator supposedly representing New York has undoubtedly made plenty of verbal gaffes and has a poor record of defending the Constitution against the shrub and his gargoyle, you focused your rage exclusively upon her, and for all the wrong things.  One example is her suggestion that the bigot bloc might not vote for Obama, which is true: no matter how much he panders to the far right, no matter how often he bashes blacks to their faces, the bigots in this country simply are not going to vote for a black man for president; they’d sooner cast their ballots for a white woman.  You, however, joined in with those who relentlessly attacked her for pointing out this fundamental truth.

“I’ve said from the beginning that we can’t reform immigration laws until we control immigration, and we can’t control immigration unless we control our borders and our ports.” – Lou Dobbs

We’ve heard that statement in various forms a millions times, repeated ad infinitum by various politicians and talking heads since Frank Luntz first advised anti-immigrant Republicans to stress that “”A country that can’t control its own borders can’t control its own destiny” to sell an anti-immigrant agenda to the American public.

But it has always gone without saying that the border that needed to be controlled has been the one to the south.  Rarely, if ever, has the northern border been mentioned in most border security screeds.  

We continue to hear from the strains of Right Wing Hate Radio programming to the musings in conservative rags such as the Washington Times that the media has a Liberal Bias to the stories they cover.  

The Neo-Con’s whine and cry and complain that the New York Times (to a conservative, synonymous with George Soros’ personal newspaper), CNN, The Washington Post, USA Today, BBC News, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and on and on, are nothing more than the mouthpieces of the dangerous liberal movement in our country!  The Wingnut set decries these media outlets for only giving us one side, TEH LIBERAL SIDE, of any story.

Well, lets once again check into the world of teh Librul Media and see exactly what they have on tap for us.  

Today we will venture into that No-Repulican-Man’s Land of The George Soros New York Times and see what those bastions of Liberal Media claptrap have up their devious progressive sleeves.

Hmmmmm, let’s see.  A story about the South Korean leader.  Nope, nothing to bash Bush or konservatives about in there.  Ok, next story!  This one compares and contrasts Senator’s Obama and McCain in a story by Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter entitled:

We continue to hear from the strains of Right Wing Hate Radio programming to the musings in conservative rags such as the Washington Times that the media has a Liberal Bias to the stories they cover.  

The Neo-Con’s whine and cry and complain that the New York Times (to a conservative, synonymous with George Soros’ personal newspaper), CNN, The Washington Post, USA Today, BBC News, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and on and on, are nothing more than the mouthpieces of the dangerous liberal movement in our country!  The Wingnut set decries these media outlets for only giving us one side, TEH LIBERAL SIDE, of any story.

According to the Konservative Kidz, only fair and balanced news outlets such as Fox News, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Times, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and on and on, are able to tell the REAL side of the story.

Today, we will begin a series of diaries that takes on this well worn right-wing-talking-point and see if there is really any truth to this meme, or is this just another Republican Bumper Sticker Slogan that is meant to enrage the 20%’ers that still Love ’em some George Bush and Pals?

Let’s see!

The Hustle

Denver, CO – At the main entrance to Denver International Airport there is a towering statue of a blue fiberglass bronco with blazing eyes. Mustang is the closest thing to a horse from Hell that I have personally ever seen and the fucker is eerily disturbing on a very basic level. It pops up visibly from miles away as you drive into that massive airport that is closer to the fucking Kansas state line than the Mile High City like some primitive warning to ward off warring tribes, very primal. The story behind the damned thing apparently is more than somewhat macabre as it fell upon the sculptor one Luis Jiminez, killing him prior to being finished which to the more superstitious amongst us is in and of itself enough to send chills up the spine and make the roots of hair follicles tingle. The brutal irony of this monstrosity guarding DIA with the coming war for the future of the Democratic party at the Denver convention this August is absolutely delicious.