Labels: fisa, George W. Bush, Keith Olbermann, media

After nearly a solid week of dropping hints, Stephen Colbert threw his hat in the ring in the race for president tonight.

First, he made a surprise appearance at his old home, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Tuesday night to make an official announcement: He was officially considering a run for president and would announce his decision "some time soon."

Soon arrived about 20 minutes later on his own show, The Colbert Report, when, with balloons falling, he said, 'Yes, I'm doing it!" Then he welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to analyze his impact on the race "in the past three minutes."

Greenfield said it was "astounding."

He announced that he will be running in his home state of South Carolina. Here are links for the South Carolina Democratic Party and South Carolina GOP for those interested in keeping an eye on what is likely to be one hell of a spectacle.

Labels: 2008 Election, media, Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert promotes his new book, "I Am America (And So Can You!)", by writing an op-ed piece in the New York Times.

"I'd like to thank Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging me to write her column today. As I type this, she's watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito. Which reminds me: Before I get started, I have to take care of one other bit of business:

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn't have to think about. It's all George Bush's fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I've written Frank Rich's column too."

And if the Colbert/Dowd/Rich combo wasn't enough cognitive dissonance to cause a rupture in your personal space-time continuum, I offer this as clear evidence that the end times are near:



In all seriousness I support the First Lady in her efforts to end the crisis in Burma, and hope that her voice will continue to be heard in the White House on this and similar matters.

Funny, Karl Rove leaves the White House and all of a sudden the Administration has a soul. Go figure.

Labels: Burma, Laura Bush, media, Stephen Colbert

Labels: Joe Scarborough, media, Mika Brzezinski, Paris Hilton, Video

China Plans Big Increase in Military Budget!

The People's Republic of China - population: 1.6 Billion, with a standing army of approximately 2.3 million service members - is increasing it's annual national defense budget by almost 18%. The total expenditure? About 45 Billion US dollars annually.

Um...Big. Fucking. Deal. Let's have some perspective here:

Military analysts say that China’s public military budget actually reflects only a fraction of its overall military spending, and that the real figure is likely to be two to four times higher.

Even so, China's defense spending - and let's try to keep in mind that as a Communist state (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge) this budget is spent on everything from weapons systems to hotel chains to China's emergent space program (which threatens U.S. commercial interests) - doesn't come close to that of the U.S. (2006 defense budget: $419.3 billion, not counting 'emergency spending' authorizations) or other Western powers a fraction of its size.

Don't get me wrong, I think that any expansion of military spending by any nation at this point in human History is nothing short of pathetic. But this Yellow Peril race baiting has to stop. The U.S. media needs to take a long hard look in the mirror before even insinuating that another nation's increase in military spending is a threat.

Scare Americans, sell ads, profit!

Labels: china, media

After a hiatus of several weeks, rapid dissent is back in time for the run up to the November elections, or as it is being billed in the mainstream media: The Election of Death!!! TUESDAY, TUESDAY, TUESDAY! November 7th! NO HOLDS BARRED! The fate of all Humanity will be decided! Be there (or just watch the coverage from the comfort of your own home)!

Every election is important, and perhaps this election is particularly important as it will be a test of the Neoconservative mandate in Washington, but the media doesn't see it that way. Their interests lay in raking enough muck between now and November to justify their own existence as a profit making entity for the next two years. The bottom line IS the bottom line. See the round-the-clock nothing-else-in-the-world-matters coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect arrest, the liquid on a motherfucking plane terror plot in the UK, and the EVERYBODY PANIC! mode of current weather reporting for example.

Fear not. For in this maelstrom of hyperbole and invective a voice of calm rationale will ring through the cacophony of self-serving Wall Street/Beltway sycophants to document the train wreck that the 2006 mid-term election will become.

Stay tuned.

Labels: 2006 mid-term election, media

WASHINGTON, May 18 Gen. Michael V. Hayden sought on Thursday to distance himself from the Pentagon and its role in prewar intelligence on Iraq, in an appearance that put him on track to win swift confirmation as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. ~ NYT

There's nothing to stand in the way of this confirmation now.

Given that the NSA has been collecting data on phone calls and web traffic for at least a couple of years now it's probably safe to say that no single member of Congress would dare speak out against this nomination. Not in an election year.

Journalists have been gelded as well. If monitoring them wasn't enough to shut them up, Alberto Gonzales is now considering prosecution.

If our government abuses its power, we have no way of knowing. Well, almost no way. After all, information wants to be free.

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, cia, General Michael Hayden, media, nsa, tia

On hearing of the nomination of Air Force General Michael Hayden (qt video via) as the director of the CIA, Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the general would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time"”.

Republicans voiced concern about the Pentagon's growing control of US intelligence operations yesterday. General Hayden would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time", Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said.

...The Times Online

That is how it was reported by everyone on Sunday night, but lo and behold Monday:

"The CIA is the nation's premier, all-source civilian intelligence agency and that is what it should remain. There is no question that General Hayden is an outstanding military officer and a strong leader with a proven history in the Intelligence Community leading to his current position in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence." _ Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee

...The Washington Post

As a matter of fact, try to news.google Hoekstra and the phrase "wrong person". The phrase pops several articles, but click through and see that the words have been scrubbed from the text. Run a find on the word "wrong" to see for yourself.

CBS page 1

CBS page 2

Neat trick...I wonder how they did it.

This is not a unique phenomena. As of this writing the San Jose Mercury News is the only major US media outlet to retain the original text of Hoekstra's quote. You can also still find the quote correctly reported by our friends abroad.

All journalists - including online journalists - have a duty to search for and report the truth.

Oppose this nomination.

Labels: cia, General Michael Hayden, media, Peter Hoekstra

You provide the story, and I'll provide the war. Familiar yes, but has the system really changed all that much since then? How much of our current mediascape is true? Just how many shapers of our reality are there? One-Hundred? Fifty? Twenty? Now another question, how much of what these writers write becomes fact? You know: Global Fact. This is something that happened. Period. That kind of fact.

Given that in the past media moguls created wars to sell papers, is it so far afield to ask if the reverend Sun Myung Moon or Ted Turner produced a press release then passed it off as a "leak" from the White House or Pentagon, what exactly would stop them from presenting it as news? Another hypothetical while you chew on that: Would any other news outlet - i.e. the 99 other hypothetical makers of our collective realities - ever, ever call bullshit? Or would they just roll with it, safe in the knowledge that maybe next time they'd get the "scoop".

This idea is no more far fetched than the notion that the Administration works the weekly news cycle to its advantage; See: Releasing unfavorable economic and environmental studies late on a Friday afternoon.

Paranoid yet? Don't be. Just turn off your fucking T.V.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, media

Howard Dean. Former Governor of Vermont. Medical Doctor. You might have heard of him.

This week marks a historic moment in American history. It's a moment when a candidate for the highest office in the land has risen – against the will of Democratic Party “leadership” – from a grassroots campaign to the national media stage.

Time, Newsweek, MSNBC, CNN and others are all abuzz with Howard Dean, once termed “a second-tier candidate destined to be an ‘also-ran.’” This mainstream media attention – while lagging FAR behind independent, internet news and opinion sources – is right on the mark. Dean is, and will continue to be, the candidate to beat in the 2004 Presidential Election.

This goes not only for his fellow “Democrats” (widely considered “Bush-lites”), but also for the President himself. Bush’s approval ratings a sinking lower with each passing week of dismal news both on the “War on Terrorism” front, and on the “It’s the economy, stupid” front. What’s a “rank and file” non-Republican to do?

Well that depends on your news sources. If you read this piece from the New York Times (reg. req.), “Democrats Seeking Labor's Backing Call for More Health Benefits and Less Free Trade,” then you might not have even noticed that Gov. Dean was present at “a 90-minute forum sponsored by the A.F.L.-C.I.O” in Chicago. Howard Dean is barely mentioned until the last paragraph which states:

“For his part, Dr. Dean warned about efforts by the administration to restrict the ability of union workers to organize. "What we have to do is let the American people understand that if you want a strong economy, the right to organize is important because you have to make sure middle-class people have enough money in their pockets," he said.”

Other articles discussed Dean’s views as they were expressed at the forum in more detail. For instance an AP piece run on CNN.com, titled “AFL-CIO forum exposes divisions in Democratic field Cheers for Gephardt, boos for Lieberman,” stated:

“Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, cited the case of Larry Allen, a
Wal-Mart worker in the audience who was fired after he returned from a
United Food and Commercial Workers union convention.
"If you want to protect pensions, the way to do that is to organize," Dean said.
Other candidates weren't so blatant in their effort to court the politically powerful AFL-CIO.”

The divisions within the party mentioned in the title have been discussed a lot lately. Mainly, they come down to this: The Democratic Leadership Council (a.k.a. “Bush-lite”) vs. The-rest-of-us-who-hate-Bush. The point of contention? Does a contender for the Oval Office need to be so moderate and bland that they appeal to everyone, or can a “flinty,” critical candidate inspire a constituency into action vs. an increasingly unpopular president.

The powers that be – and here I’m referring to the 10 unions who've hastily signed-on to the Gephardt campaign – believed that an insider with name recognition had the best chance of unseating the current President. Of course, that was back when that president’s approval ratings were much, much higher. Today, as one recent headline puts it: “Bush's drop in polls forces Democrats to reassess crop of candidates.”

Given Howard Dean’s broad internet appeal, and fundraising momentum, the endorsement of a major labor organization such as the AFL-CIO would all but clinch the Democratic Party nomination for him. Fortunately, his people are quite aware of this fact, as is MSNBC's Tom Curry who offer’s this veiled assessment of Dean’s need for labor:

“The 13 million-member AFL-CIO labor confederation is not likely to
endorse a Democratic contender until October. And due to splits among the
member unions, the labor confederation may not issue an endorsement at all
until after the Democrats select their nominee next summer.
In an age of Internet fund-raising and the Meetup.com Web site that
allows a candidate’s supporters — principally Dean’s — to spontaneously
organize at the grass roots, who needs labor unions?
The answer: any Democrat who hopes to defeat George Bush.”

So who are the 13 million members of the AFL-CIO, what do they want, and who might they support in October?

First-off, we now know they don’t like Lieberman, who – as mentioned above – was booed at the AFL-CIO event in Chicago that drew a crowd of 2,000. Apparently that audience didn’t like the Senator’s school voucher program which is strongly opposed by several unions. Go figure.

Gephardt has a strong lead against his follow candidates in the union-courting race, but that momentum may now be shifting. There’s a strong indication that the so called rank-and-file of the AFL-CIO, and particularly the largest union in that organization, the 1.5 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are not so sure about Mr. Gephardt.

Dr. Dean on the other hand is another story. Health insurance and the right to organize are two issues he discussed with the group in Chicago. They loved it. There’s also some sentiment within the organization that the spending of billions of U.S. tax dollars abroad while our economy is hemorrhaging jobs at home might not be the best course of action at present. Dean agrees.

I said this was a historic moment in our nation. I meant it. I honestly believe that Howard Dean can win the support of the AFL-CIO, and with it have a very serious chance at taking the White House in 2004. The question is will the Democratic Leadership Council come to terms with this fact, or will they attempt to thwart the will of the people?

Labels: 2004 election, George W. Bush, howard dean, media

Via Metafilter:

"The Blazers are extremely proud of the leadership that Coach Cheeks showed to Natalie Gilbert(asf video), our National Anthem singer for Game 3 of the playoffs. Coach’s immediate and compassionate intervention turned what could have been a terribly humiliating event into an uplifting one. And when the entire arena joined in – it was truly a moving experience for everyone and will most likely be one of the most memorable moments of the entire 2003 playoffs.

"This heartfelt story has picked up momentum and was featured on Inside Edition, CNN This Morning, TNT live, The View and Good Morning America!

"We received hundreds of emails of support for Coach Cheeks. We have forwarded each email and note to Maurice, and are putting as many of them as possible in one area to share with our fans. Coach wants you to know how much he appreciates your kind words." ~ BLAZERS.com

Labels: media

I hate self-righteous bloggers who watch the news like vultures, posting every headline of even minor importance just so they can say, “See, I told ya so!” a few weeks later when the mainstream news finally catches up. Poor CNN, they never even saw it coming. Oh well.

But I’m not one of those smarmy blogging pseudo-intellectuals who would declare “You heard it here first” after scooping every major news outlet in America. Nope, not me. That would imply that I take pride in scouring the web for news and cool stuff 8 to 12 hours a day. I don’t. It’s a sickness really, and I probably couldn’t stop if I wanted to. Now, if there were just some way to make a living as an intelligence analyst outside the military…

Anywho, here’s an update on the US-backed, post-Saddam leader of Iraq via ABC News Online, Austrailia:

Missing Iraqi General in Kuwait after CIA aided Denmark escape

Why it’s none other than Nizar al-Khazraji, the former Iraqi Army Chief of Staff who disappeared from Denmark – where he was under house arrest while being tried for war crimes (when will they just get over gassing people to death, sheesh!) – back on March 17th. What a surprise!

Not to worry though, the CIA says he’s A-OK with the USA. He’s a GOOD (suspected) mass-murdering fuck-head TM.

I’m going to take a nap now.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, cia, iraq, media, Nizar al-Khazraji

I have no idea what is happening in the world anymore. It could be the lingering effects of the massive amounts of pain killers I’ve been taking – the only GOOD thing about my experience in undergoing invasive surgery at a facility run by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs (The same incompetent slobs who are about to suffer massive budgetary cuts so the Bush administration can “afford” to line the pockets of our nation’s most wealthy citizens). Or it could be that there’s just a hell of a lot going on right now, and no one seems to have a handle on any of it except this guy. This is, of course, disconcerting.

I’m reminded of the final scene in Star Wars: A New Hope (“from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker” for you purists out there). It was the assault on the Death Star – the Empire’s ultimate weapon (Although in hindsight we should have guessed that it was just a prototype, and that the Empire was secretly building a bigger, badder Death Star battle station all along. But I digress).

Despite all the confusion of that epic fight, two things are permanently burned into my memory. The first is the line “Stay on target!”, referring to the small thermal exhaust port the rebel insurgents were gunning for in their attempt to destroy the Death Star with a single, well placed proton torpedo. The second is Porkins.

Porkins has nothing to do with anything else in the movie – or the trilogy for that mater (I say trilogy because there are only three Star Wars movies in my reality). He’s just a fat schmuck who lives his life under the increasingly oppressive thumb of the Empire until he just can’t stand it anymore. He finally works up the courage to do something about it one day, and joins the rebellion. Leaving his shity life behind, Porkins works his ass off to become a skilled X-Wing star fighter pilot, and eventually makes it into the rebel’s feared Red Squadron. Then - about a minute and thirty seconds after his character is introduced – his X-Wing is vaporized. If that’s not the most depressing thing you’ve ever heard…Well, you’re just dead inside.

At any rate, the phrase “Stay on target” has been echoing in my mind the past few days as I’ve been reading the news. The war, SARS, the RIAA, a laughable budget…it just doesn’t stop. Every time I read something and think “Shit, it just doesn’t get any more screwed-up than that,” another headline comes along.

I’m left asking myself if it’s always been like this? Has the United States always teetered on the edge of ruin, and we’re just now coming to realize it because news gets disseminated so quickly these days? Or have we progressed to an actual point of no return after generations of over-consumption, political corruption, and public apathy?

I’m still trying to figure it all out, but one thing I do know is this: I’m not going out like Porkins.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, media

Live video feed from Baghdad back up: new angle.

Labels: iraq, media, Shock and Awe

CNN's "Live video feed from Baghdad" has gone dead. Can anyone else confirm this? E-mail me: ernestlombardi@yahoo.com

Labels: iraq, media, Shock and Awe

I definitely hear birds on the CNN video feed now - and still a lot vehicular activity. It’s strange to think of Baghdad as just a city; Sleeping right now - as much as it can - in the lull of bombing and sirens. I’m listening to the birds chirp wildly in the relative silence of the night. It’s so easy to imagine it’s my city, Portland, in the summer. My windows are open and I can hear life beginning to stir in the hours before the dawn. Soon enough, I’ll no doubt be violently shaken from this peaceful reverie by the air raid sirens, then the bombing will begin. It will likely be the awful display that the world has been promised: Shock and Awe. It disgusts me that this city – so much like any other city on Earth - will be subjected to that horror. All I can do now is listen and wait for the inevitable. When the birds no longer sing I will curse this administration and the senseless destruction it has wrought.

Labels: iraq, media, Shock and Awe

Listening to the CNN Live video feed from Baghdad, I swear I can hear several heavy vehicles driving by. Damn I wish I could maneuver the camera via the web.

Labels: Baghdad, iraq, media, Shock and Awe

British Commandos seize Al Faw Peninsula and the border town of Umm Qasr.

BBC Radio reports that the "road to Basra is now open."

Labels: Al Faw Peninsula, Basra, iraq, media, Shock and Awe, Umm Qasr

Via CNet:

Israel warns Web sites on war coverage

WASHINGTON--Israel's top government censor has warned Web sites in her country not to publish sensitive information about the war with Iraq.

Chief Censor Rachel Dolev sent a letter on Wednesday to "scoop" news sites, instructing editors to seek government permission before publishing information about "materials that could pose a threat to the security of the State of Israel and its residents."

Labels: bloggers, blogging, media, Shock and Awe