The American people are very dissatisfied with the present state of affairs in their country. Polls taken in July revealed that less than 20 percent of Americans approve of the direction in which the United States is going. Furthermore, they are not naive as to the reason for this wrong direction: well over half the citizenry understands that a few billionaire tycoons have rigged our political system and media in order to advance their unfettered global business interests.

[cross-posted at Daily Kos -- visit while it's live!]

Withdrawal symptoms are brutal, especially when they last for decades. And we've been jonesing for something approaching journalism on the evening news for a long, long time.

What would you say if I told you that there's a network bursting onto the scene that's going to present you with real journalism untainted by corporate or governmental money -- because it refuses to accept any? That's staffed with "unbought and unbossed" journalists from around the world -- Pakistan, Brazil, Canada, India, as well as the United States? That could have told you in real time that Colin Powell was making things up before a war broke out? I hope you'd respond as I did...

TELL... ME... MORE!

The Lifetime Original Movie "Girl, Positive" addresses teenagers' awareness and misconceptions of HIV, by focusing on an average high school senior who discovers she may be infected. It premieres June 25. Watch the preview at RH Reality Check!

The news just keeps on coming.

This time, Newsweek reported that between 500 and 1,000 OEF/OIF veterans are homeless and that "[military] families [are] sliding into debt as VA case managers study disability claims over many months, and the seriously wounded [require] help from outside experts just to understand the VA's arcane system..."

Last week it was the Washington Post. In December it was NPR. And at various times last year it was the Hartford Courant, the San Diego Union Tribune, The Oregonian or the Colorado Springs Independent.

Each delivered exceptional news coverage. Here's some of their best, along with an invitation to be the first to read the opening installment of a new series on combat PTSD appearing this morning on General Wesley Clark's Clark Community Network blog, Society and the Soldier.

(Crossposted at lethologica)

Just wanted to spread awareness of the concept of Network Neutrality.  If you haven't heard of it, check out http://www.savetheinternet.com.  You don't have to look to far into this issue before you realize that this is an issue which could fundamentally alter the future of the Internet, and not in a good way.

As someone who has worked in the interactive industry for nearly a decade, I can say without a doubt that abolishing protections that keep the Internet free from corporate interference in the flow of information would be a major step backwards and diminish the United States' in the global technology market.

Below the fold is the content of an email I sent to my everyone in my address book as well as my representatives in the House and Senate via SaveTheInternet.com.

Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for f**koffs and misfits - a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage."~~Hunter Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

If the Bush administration and the US mainstream media are united on any one issue, it's an absolute refusal to rock the political boat as they sail mercilessly through the seas of corporate profit on the good ship Terrorbush. For the most part, each group is an incurious lot -- undead creatures who neither care, nor dare, to glance over the side of the ship at the bloated, swirling bodies in the blood-red water below. From the beginning, their mission has been to perform so fantastically against a backdrop of such violent, explosive madness on so many fronts that we watch hypnotically but do not see -- listen intently but do not hear.

They are very good at what they do.

Okay, so Pelosi put herself in the line of fire when she decided to make very public her campaign to make John Murtha her second in charge.

Some say her act was a sign of courage. She took a solid position on what she thought was best and she stuck with it through to the very end -- no apologies, no excuses. That's what leaders do. Of course they can't win every battle.

Others, including the mainstream media and conservative bloggers, have pointed out that Hoyer's win was a 'devastating' defeat for Pelosi -- one that might set the stage for Democratic infighting or serve as a hobbling message to Speaker Pelosi. Clearly this is the easiest tack for media outlets to take. It's simply more exciting to the average reader to hear about such drama. That Pelosi has 'great leadership skills' would seem far less interesting for the majority of the consuming public.

So off they ago...

The AP notes Pelosi's own election is being largely "overshadowed by Murtha's defeat,"

The USA Today says "the next speaker of the House lost her first test Thursday."

Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post that Pelosi "experienced her first smackdown." It "should have been a coronation," but "instead, her party...plunged into fratricide."

The Los Angeles Times wrote "Pelosi's Early Setback Has Her Party On Alert," and says Democrats "gave Pelosi a brusque lesson in the limits of her power." Hoyer "didn't merely defeat Murtha, Pelosi's strong preference, but trounced him."

On the CBS Evening News, Bob Schieffer said the Murtha-Hoyer debate "has raised real questions about [Pelosi's] judgment."

The Washington Post says the vote "was viewed by many in the party as a repudiation of Pelosi's strong-arm tactics."

The Baltimore Sun reports California Rep. Maxine Waters, "a Hoyer supporter, said Pelosi's campaign...had raised serious questions within the party. 'What most people didn't understand was the why's of it all,' Waters said."

And the New York Times notes "some supporters of Mr. Murtha...were disgruntled and said they were trying to identify lawmakers who had broken pledges to support him. 'We won't trust them on issues like this the next time,' said Representative James P. Moran, a Murtha ally from Virginia who said Mr. Murtha had been betrayed."

Perhaps next time, Speaker Pelosi will deal with such internal matters more subtly and behind closed doors as much as possible. After all, she had relatively little to gain and much to lose from making this such an unnecessarily public debate.

[crossposted at dailykos]

I'll admit I can be a glutton for punishment sometimes.

Maybe it's because I really want to believe that everyone has some level of decency; a modicum of respect for their fellow man (and woman). That eventually, anyone could be able to understand someone else's POV, even if they don't agree with it.

In the case with our illustrious media (print, radio, online and TV), I always fall into the trap of thinking that today will be the day that they'll catch on and develop something resembling a spine and a brain.

Unfortunately, more often than not, I get disappointed.

Al Gore's response on this dangerous program is below, which I agree with. Just what will it take before we realize the capabilities we have to destroy ourselves, and that in the hands of the wrong people that well may come to pass?

There's something about Bush declaring a smackdown of Hezbollah that reminds me of the Pharoah Ramses II and his truthiness version of the battle of Qadesh. In 1273, Ramses declared victory over the Hittites despite massive Egyptian casualties and the loss of Syria. Lo and behold, as Bush does his hamster dance of hegemony, here comes Hezbollah's announcement of historic, strategic victory.

Though the mainstream media frequently talks about the "War on Terror" with terminology lifted from the battlefields of World War II, the net has featured some terrific discussion of what it means to engage in warfare against an enemy that refuses to fight by your own standards of "honorable behavior."  In particular, Pericles' diary on asymmetrical warfare is one of the clearest, most informative pieces of writing you're likely to find in any forum.

But as we're appreciating the difficulty that conventional armies face in asymmetrical engagements, let's remember the quote by Mao Tse-Tung: "all politics is war."  And on the political language front, Democrats are fighting a conventional war against an enemy that just won't "fight fair."

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

Last summer, it must have been... I hosted the first of what would become many parties at my home in Sherman Oaks, California. Among the many guests were a vivacious woman named Kathi Gori (pictured above) and her partner, Alan Berger. Brilliant people, naturally -- excellent conversationalists, deeply concerned and active politically -- you know, BLOGGERS.

: )

Time passed and I never saw them at my parties again; seems they up and moved to northern California, the lucky ducks. Well, Alan called me a while back and told me Kathi was about to get into broadcasting again, and how would I like to help her kick off her inaugural podcast, give her a little fanfare introduction to my own modest audience?

Would I?! Hell, yeah!

I am very pleased and proud to introduce to you Ms. Kathi Gori, here interviewing the former White House Counsel to Richard M. Nixon and, more recently, vocal and nonpartisan critic of the Bush Administration (Worse Than Watergate) -- Mr. John Dean, in the inaugural podcast of...

Afternoon on the southbound Garden State Parkway, one of the New Jersey's main arteries.  We are on our way to the so-called exit 0, Cape May, the Victorian vestige at the tip of the state.  The roadway is crowded and we have spent considerable time sitting in stopped traffic.  The Toyota is in need of some fuel and so are we.  Dodging a lumbering SUV, we head off the highway onto the ramp for the next service center.

After some searching, we find a space in the vast and crowded parking lot and walk up to the building.  Once inside we are greeted by crowds and a choice of fast food menus.  After waiting in line and making our selections, we find an empty table amongst the many seated diners.

Once seated, a scan of the dining room reveals that mounted on brackets above the diners are two large TV monitors.  And many heads are turned in the direction of these monitors.  In fact, a number of people are actually standing so that they will be better able to see the broadcast.

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

 A couple months ago I got a cryptic email from someone claiming to be a reporter from the Washington Post; he asked me to call him in regard to a story he wanted to write.

I looked up the reporter on the Internet... turns out David Finkel is a Pulitzer-prize nominated reporter for the Washington Post. Still, easy to write an email and use someone else's name, right? So I called him.

It was for real. Finkel said he got my name from an email someone sent him, which led him to My Left Wing. He'd never been to a blog before (gasp! I thought EVERYBODY read the blogs!), and was intrigued not only by the medium but by my particular 'blog voice,' if you will.

And he wanted to write a piece about me. For the Style section, no doubt, I guessed.

Nope. Front page, baby.

Anytime the president of the United States, even one as unpopular as George W. Bush, arrives in a small town it is big news.

However, the ethically challenged Ogden newspaper chain in West Virginia stepped so over the line from covering the news to being a Bush cheerleader that GOP water carrier and alleged Washington Post media critic Howie Kurtz called it a blunder (albeit in rather tepid criticism).

From the Wheeling Intelligencer:

Bush will be in Wheeling on Wednesday, March 22, to conduct a town hall meeting on the War on Terror. No time for the event has been released, though the visit is tentatively scheduled to take place at the Capitol Music Hall.

A number of local businesses are underwriting the event. Among them are The Ogden Newspapers Inc., Valley National Gases Inc., Paull Associates Insurance/Real Estate, EPS Industries Inc., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center and Beyond Marketing.