Saturday, May 21, 2005
Getting to the bottom of things
The Raw Story | House Dems to hold forum on media bias Tuesday with Franken, Brock, others
Bout frikkin' time. I have no idea what this will accomplish, as doubtlessly the average American citizen will see no coverage of this event, but it's nice to know someone is looking into it none the less.
Conyers is rapidly becoming my favorite rep.
I'm off to vacation now. I will post once or twice i imagine, but getting away from technology is a big part of this getaway.
later,
Tomkitty
Bout frikkin' time. I have no idea what this will accomplish, as doubtlessly the average American citizen will see no coverage of this event, but it's nice to know someone is looking into it none the less.
Conyers is rapidly becoming my favorite rep.
I'm off to vacation now. I will post once or twice i imagine, but getting away from technology is a big part of this getaway.
later,
Tomkitty
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Well now
Regarding my post from this morning, i noticed that they have already pulled the story from the front page. They are still hosting the page, but it is no longer listed anywhere...
This happened with the first story they did about the memo (Conyer's letter to the White House), but not to the 'McCain: I don't agree with British war memo' story...
Now why would they post a story for a few hours, then remove all mention of it from their site? I wonder who gave them a call...
Funny enough, most folks consider CNN to be a 'lefty' news source, and i can see where it might look that way when you compare it to Faux News (Little Known Fact: CNN licks bush's balls 80% less than Faux, of course Faux is a hard act to follow in that regard), but it really is just the Corporate News Network now. Why do i rail against them when i know that they are just an ineffectual bunch of hacks? Why do i read their website when i know that they aren't covering the news, the whole news, and nothing but the news?
Because other people think that CNN is 'your one source for news'. Its still the preferred channel in our breakroom at work, which is better than having to sit and watch Faux all day. CNN has become the mainstream pacifier of journalism, and i worry about what they are focusing on, or hiding. how is it that they can spend WEEKS on Terri Shiavo (none of our business), but something that could cause problems for the bushies only gets a few hours on their website?? Why the hell would you post a story that you were only going to try and hide from your readers anyway?
Is there some sort of internal conflict over there? is the night-webmaster a liberal, and the morning-webmaster a conservative? Whats up? I think i need some answers here...
tomkitty
This happened with the first story they did about the memo (Conyer's letter to the White House), but not to the 'McCain: I don't agree with British war memo' story...
Now why would they post a story for a few hours, then remove all mention of it from their site? I wonder who gave them a call...
Funny enough, most folks consider CNN to be a 'lefty' news source, and i can see where it might look that way when you compare it to Faux News (Little Known Fact: CNN licks bush's balls 80% less than Faux, of course Faux is a hard act to follow in that regard), but it really is just the Corporate News Network now. Why do i rail against them when i know that they are just an ineffectual bunch of hacks? Why do i read their website when i know that they aren't covering the news, the whole news, and nothing but the news?
Because other people think that CNN is 'your one source for news'. Its still the preferred channel in our breakroom at work, which is better than having to sit and watch Faux all day. CNN has become the mainstream pacifier of journalism, and i worry about what they are focusing on, or hiding. how is it that they can spend WEEKS on Terri Shiavo (none of our business), but something that could cause problems for the bushies only gets a few hours on their website?? Why the hell would you post a story that you were only going to try and hide from your readers anyway?
Is there some sort of internal conflict over there? is the night-webmaster a liberal, and the morning-webmaster a conservative? Whats up? I think i need some answers here...
tomkitty
Front Page. How bout that?
CNN.com - White House challenges UK Iraq memo - May 16, 2005
Now we are getting somewhere. I don't know where exactly, but the fact that CNN has pulled its head out of the sand is a plus.
tomkitty
Now we are getting somewhere. I don't know where exactly, but the fact that CNN has pulled its head out of the sand is a plus.
tomkitty
Thursday, May 12, 2005
CNN.com - Bush asked to explain UK war memo - May 12, 2005
CNN.com - Bush asked to explain UK war memo - May 12, 2005
Hey what do you know? CNN actually is covering an important story. Did bush LIE to the American people? Will he admit to it? Who will he blame?
I am all a twitter this morning. I was beginning to think that this memo was going the way of Gannon.
Make sure that everyone you know hears about this memo.
tomkitty
Hey what do you know? CNN actually is covering an important story. Did bush LIE to the American people? Will he admit to it? Who will he blame?
I am all a twitter this morning. I was beginning to think that this memo was going the way of Gannon.
Make sure that everyone you know hears about this memo.
tomkitty
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Appeals Court Dismisses Cheney Suit
Wha?
I'm getting the feeling i'm missing something here... A American Vice President.... Has meetings with folks from the energy industry... Including an indicted CEO who left his employees without their retirement funds... With the purpose of creating an 'energy (+environmental) policy... a matter that has Nothing To Do With National Security.... And the citzens of Amerca don't have a right to know anything about who was there, and how they arrived at their conclusions...
during one of my lunch time 'conversations', i ran into one of my favorite, miss informed, Faux News watching conservatives, and he said the following:
"Why is that these liberals need to know who was there? its not really important. all this fuss over nothing."
To which my response:
"Why is it so important that it be kept a secret? If its not important, why keep people from knowing?"
Lovely moments of listening to him sputter incoherantly while his face turned red soon followed, this being the reason he is one of my favorite conservatives.
I hope they don't drop the issue here. They had best not, or we're not giving to the Sierra Club again.
I'm getting the feeling i'm missing something here... A American Vice President.... Has meetings with folks from the energy industry... Including an indicted CEO who left his employees without their retirement funds... With the purpose of creating an 'energy (+environmental) policy... a matter that has Nothing To Do With National Security.... And the citzens of Amerca don't have a right to know anything about who was there, and how they arrived at their conclusions...
during one of my lunch time 'conversations', i ran into one of my favorite, miss informed, Faux News watching conservatives, and he said the following:
"Why is that these liberals need to know who was there? its not really important. all this fuss over nothing."
To which my response:
"Why is it so important that it be kept a secret? If its not important, why keep people from knowing?"
Lovely moments of listening to him sputter incoherantly while his face turned red soon followed, this being the reason he is one of my favorite conservatives.
I hope they don't drop the issue here. They had best not, or we're not giving to the Sierra Club again.
you dont say
CNN.com - Jesus Christ in legal battle to get license - May 10, 2005:
"Christ is not speaking to the press at this time,' Pishevar said."
When was the last time you heard something like that?
tomkitty
"Christ is not speaking to the press at this time,' Pishevar said."
When was the last time you heard something like that?
tomkitty
Monday, May 09, 2005
I swear to god...
CNN.com - Conservative group seeks probe of Sen. Clinton's Hollywood fundraiser - May 9, 2005
If one more cent of taxpayer dollars are spent on this stupid vendetta, i will lose my frikkin mind.
you neo-cons already wasted 70 milllion dollars on this nonsense, and if i have to hear any more....
*degenerates into yosemite sam...
Here. I will compromise. you can investigate Hillary AFTER you investigate tom delay. There i go being generous again.
tomkitty
If one more cent of taxpayer dollars are spent on this stupid vendetta, i will lose my frikkin mind.
you neo-cons already wasted 70 milllion dollars on this nonsense, and if i have to hear any more....
*degenerates into yosemite sam...
Here. I will compromise. you can investigate Hillary AFTER you investigate tom delay. There i go being generous again.
tomkitty
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Blogs and News
There has been a lot of talk about bloggers versus reporters, and the definition of news in these oh so turbulent times. I don't claim to report any sort of news here, this is really an extended rant, and editorial run amok if you will, but it was this thought of news and reporting that brought me on board with Hepkitty's blog. Jeff Gannon was the catalyst that started this ranting for me, and I'm not alone so far as the left half of the blog-o-sphere is concerned.
I have been following the posts on Why Are We Back In Iraq that deal with plagiarism, with a special focus on Jeff Gannon and Talon News. In a recent post, Ron mentions a letter he sent to Editor and Publisher regarding the lack of coverage of plagiarism. This is a pretty fair question, especially of a publication that is dedicated to covering the news paper industry. The one line of the response from Seth Porges from E&P that sticks out in my mind is: Every blogger screams at the world that their pet story is not receiving adequate media coverage.
Perhaps this is because there are too many things that ARE NOT RECEIVING ADEQUATE MEDIA COVERAGE. There are a few real problems with the media today. Here are what I see as the big three:
1. The absence of a 'Liberal Media' in a main stream sense (excepting Air America Radio of course, I listen all day at work.)
2. The overwhelming presence of corporate, ratings driven media
3. Successful attempts to control the news by the far right
Ron has every right to complain that plagiarism, especially Gannon's kind which dances across the line deep into the territory of propaganda, isn't getting enough coverage. This isn't the only story that is getting ignored. The Gannongate thing really exists more here on the blogs than in the rest of reality. The fact that the MSM haven't devoted hours and hours to covering a story that hints a media manipulation is an indictment of the media itself.
CNN won't touch it for 2 reasons; 1. That they tend to want to focus on stuff that generates ratings (Terri Shiavo, the runaway bride, Michael Jackson and the like), and 2. That their corporate sponsors, including members of the defense, banking, credit card, and pharmaceutical industries, don't want to hear anything bad about themselves and the pro-business bush administration. There was a quick, non-confrontational conversation with Jeff Gannon by Wolf Blitzer, one mention on their website, and nothing. This lets Fox dismiss the issue quickly, and avoid debate on the administration's Nazi like attempts to control the media. There was some of coverage from other TV media and no small amount of editorials in local newspapers, but the MSM by and large dropped the story without much attention. I have said before that if this happened during the Clinton administration that there would have been hell to pay in the white house at the time, newt gingrich would be screaming for Clinton's head, and rush limbaugh would have felt as high as he later would feel while he was addicted to narcotics. That bushie can walk away from a tip-top scandal once more without a scratch on him befuddles me to no end.
Gannon isn't the only thing they don't want to talk about. The news story I'm interested in lately has been the leak of the British memo prior to the the elections. and again there is noise on the blogs and a dead silence from the MSM... how damning, fixing intelligence to fit the policy... that this administration lied to the American people to start a war, and we now have proof of this, and once more george is heading for another walk because of this complicity from the major news outlets is terrifying, but it is happening.
Blogs as news on the other hand have been quite useful to me. i often find things while wandering about online that i would hear no where else, and while i do more moaning than informing with this blog, i try to make an impact with conversation with conservatives in realtime. i am a proud lunch room progressive; i listen for comments about the news by those around me, and attempt to better inform people as to what's really going on that thy are not being told. I especially like going after the conservatives, mostly with a gentle tack, but for some people, the especially brainwashed, i just enjoy a good fiery debate. This has done some good, and generated some good hearted laughter. I think its a good way of defusing this partisan crap that the far right is feeding off of these days. I love the blogs because they pick up on things that are otherwise ignored.
but someone please tell me that one day this political climate will end. Tell me the media will one day inform people of current events without taking cues from political or business interests. Tell me that our elected officials will one day put people above corporate interests. Tell me one day that people in general might wake up and resume forming their own opinions instead of being spoon fed their views. Tell me that one day this administration will be brought to light for what it is: greedy, shortsighted, and foolish.
until these things come to pass, i'm going to keep reading the blogs, bitching at corporations, and try to bring a little reality to the lunch room.
tomkitty
I have been following the posts on Why Are We Back In Iraq that deal with plagiarism, with a special focus on Jeff Gannon and Talon News. In a recent post, Ron mentions a letter he sent to Editor and Publisher regarding the lack of coverage of plagiarism. This is a pretty fair question, especially of a publication that is dedicated to covering the news paper industry. The one line of the response from Seth Porges from E&P that sticks out in my mind is: Every blogger screams at the world that their pet story is not receiving adequate media coverage.
Perhaps this is because there are too many things that ARE NOT RECEIVING ADEQUATE MEDIA COVERAGE. There are a few real problems with the media today. Here are what I see as the big three:
1. The absence of a 'Liberal Media' in a main stream sense (excepting Air America Radio of course, I listen all day at work.)
2. The overwhelming presence of corporate, ratings driven media
3. Successful attempts to control the news by the far right
Ron has every right to complain that plagiarism, especially Gannon's kind which dances across the line deep into the territory of propaganda, isn't getting enough coverage. This isn't the only story that is getting ignored. The Gannongate thing really exists more here on the blogs than in the rest of reality. The fact that the MSM haven't devoted hours and hours to covering a story that hints a media manipulation is an indictment of the media itself.
CNN won't touch it for 2 reasons; 1. That they tend to want to focus on stuff that generates ratings (Terri Shiavo, the runaway bride, Michael Jackson and the like), and 2. That their corporate sponsors, including members of the defense, banking, credit card, and pharmaceutical industries, don't want to hear anything bad about themselves and the pro-business bush administration. There was a quick, non-confrontational conversation with Jeff Gannon by Wolf Blitzer, one mention on their website, and nothing. This lets Fox dismiss the issue quickly, and avoid debate on the administration's Nazi like attempts to control the media. There was some of coverage from other TV media and no small amount of editorials in local newspapers, but the MSM by and large dropped the story without much attention. I have said before that if this happened during the Clinton administration that there would have been hell to pay in the white house at the time, newt gingrich would be screaming for Clinton's head, and rush limbaugh would have felt as high as he later would feel while he was addicted to narcotics. That bushie can walk away from a tip-top scandal once more without a scratch on him befuddles me to no end.
Gannon isn't the only thing they don't want to talk about. The news story I'm interested in lately has been the leak of the British memo prior to the the elections. and again there is noise on the blogs and a dead silence from the MSM... how damning, fixing intelligence to fit the policy... that this administration lied to the American people to start a war, and we now have proof of this, and once more george is heading for another walk because of this complicity from the major news outlets is terrifying, but it is happening.
Blogs as news on the other hand have been quite useful to me. i often find things while wandering about online that i would hear no where else, and while i do more moaning than informing with this blog, i try to make an impact with conversation with conservatives in realtime. i am a proud lunch room progressive; i listen for comments about the news by those around me, and attempt to better inform people as to what's really going on that thy are not being told. I especially like going after the conservatives, mostly with a gentle tack, but for some people, the especially brainwashed, i just enjoy a good fiery debate. This has done some good, and generated some good hearted laughter. I think its a good way of defusing this partisan crap that the far right is feeding off of these days. I love the blogs because they pick up on things that are otherwise ignored.
but someone please tell me that one day this political climate will end. Tell me the media will one day inform people of current events without taking cues from political or business interests. Tell me that our elected officials will one day put people above corporate interests. Tell me one day that people in general might wake up and resume forming their own opinions instead of being spoon fed their views. Tell me that one day this administration will be brought to light for what it is: greedy, shortsighted, and foolish.
until these things come to pass, i'm going to keep reading the blogs, bitching at corporations, and try to bring a little reality to the lunch room.
tomkitty
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Tony in trouble?
Could Leaks Sink Tony Blair?
The memo i posted about earlier made the post, but but it focuses on blair and doesn't address that one very important line:
But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.
Conyers has written a letter about it as well.
and it is posted on CNN... somewhat... in a tucked-away-in-the-international-edition-cause-its-written-by-a-blogger sort of way.
tomkitty
The memo i posted about earlier made the post, but but it focuses on blair and doesn't address that one very important line:
But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.
Conyers has written a letter about it as well.
and it is posted on CNN... somewhat... in a tucked-away-in-the-international-edition-cause-its-written-by-a-blogger sort of way.
tomkitty
My my my
Blair hit by new leak of secret war plan - Britain - Times Online
I've never blogged at work before, but i ran across this and just had to link to it.
tomkitty
I've never blogged at work before, but i ran across this and just had to link to it.
tomkitty
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Mind the company you keep
Untangling a Lobbyist's Stake in a Casino Fleet
Tom Delay has certainly kept some interesting company. by the tone of the article, it sounds like Abramoff played Delay like a harp, and it seems that Delay was more than happy to be played. Delay's claims of ignorance are a bit meaningless really. Perhaps he didn't know the full extent of Abramoff's and Kiden's fraud and criminal connections, but he was more than willing to play along in the name of money, and of course a golf outing to Scotland.
here is a helpful graphic that can help you keep track of the players. You wouldn't want to get your House Reps mixed up with the dirty businessmen, or the former house staffers with the mafia, though i know somedays i have a hard time with that.
tomkitty
Tom Delay has certainly kept some interesting company. by the tone of the article, it sounds like Abramoff played Delay like a harp, and it seems that Delay was more than happy to be played. Delay's claims of ignorance are a bit meaningless really. Perhaps he didn't know the full extent of Abramoff's and Kiden's fraud and criminal connections, but he was more than willing to play along in the name of money, and of course a golf outing to Scotland.
here is a helpful graphic that can help you keep track of the players. You wouldn't want to get your House Reps mixed up with the dirty businessmen, or the former house staffers with the mafia, though i know somedays i have a hard time with that.
tomkitty
