Wednesday, May 31, 2006

And now the New York Times

On the same day that the Washington Post published the perversion of journalism described below, the New York Times published this article by Carl Hulse regarding a supposed "grass-roots" campaign to send bricks to Congress organized by "Kirsten Heffron, a Virginian who is helping coordinate the effort."
Advocates of tougher border security have sent thousands of bricks to Senate and House offices in recent weeks to make a none-too-subtle point with lawmakers about where many of their constituents come down on emerging immigration bills.

Leaders of the campaign, which has delivered an estimated 10,000 bricks since it began in April, said they had hit on the idea as a way to emphasize the benefits of a fence along the border with Mexico.

In an age when professionally planned lobbying campaigns have long since overwhelmed spontaneous grass-roots pressure, organizers of the brick brigade said they also saw an opportunity to deliver a missive not easily discarded.
Well... as the Attywood blog pointed out, it didn't take a hell of a lot of Googling to learn some significant aspects of this story that the venerable New York Times seemingly missed.
The truth is out there about Kirsten Heffron, and it's not far out there at all. In fact, when it comes to investigative reporting, we're not talking "All the President's Men" here -- it took this intrepid reporter literally five minutes of Googling to learn the following about the spokeswoman for the Send-a-Brick Project.

-- In the heat of the 2004 presidential campaign, writing as "Kirsten Andersen Heffron" on the JerseyGOP.com Web site, she penned a hate-filled attack on John Kerry -- "'Thank You, John Kerry,' A Dear John Letter" -- that goes way lower than the notorious Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, calling the former Vietnam Vet "a treasonous scumbag." Her letter suggests -- without any supporting evidence -- that Kerry forged documents and raises "the questionable circumstances surrounding your three Purple Hearts."

-- On the Send-a-Brick Project Web site, Heffron boast of working for conservative GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes (would that have been hard for the Times to squeeze in the article -- it's only 11 letters!) but adds that she served as "Public Affairs Director for a 2-million-member national grassroots advocacy group."

For some reason, she won't tell you what it is, so we will: It was the anti-union National Right-to-Work Committee. We guess that if it came out that Heffron worked against both unions and illegal immigrants, people might get the idea that maybe she just doesn't like working people.

Here's some more of her writings on the various right-wing cause du jour -- this is her Frist-like diagnosis of Terri Schiavo on Free Republic:

Terri Schiavo is not brain dead. She is not in a coma. She is not on life support. She responds to stimuli, smiles at her mother, and expresses agitation and distress. Yes, she is severely handicapped compared to the vibrant, intelligent young woman she apparently was at 26 years of age. But she is conscious, and aware, and most certainly alive in the truest sense of the word.

OK, Kirsten -- and you're a Virginian.

Like we said up top, none of this means the bricks aren't a story, but why doesn't the Times -- the agenda setter for the national media -- take the five minutes and 20 words to tell readers who these people really are.
Lord help us all if this is the best the journalistic elites can do.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Requiem for the Washington Post

Zachary A. Goldfarb wrote what can only be described as flagrantly one-sided "Special to The Washington Post" article about the new White House domestic policy advisor, Karl Zinsmeister. Zinsmeister was caught redhanded rewriting an article by Justin Park that originally appeared in the Syracuse New Times so that he could then "reprint" it elsewhere. The ethical implications of this are obvious to anyone with any semblence of a moral compass - liberal or conservative.

Goldfard reported (regurgitated?) Zinmeister's side of the story without, it would appear, making any effort to discern if Justin Park might have a different version. Hell, Park reportedly told the New York Sun that he was surprised by Zinmeister's contentions. I'm no friggin' Ben Bradlee but this is downright appalling. Go read the article linked above and draw your own conclusions.

But I blame this on the editor much more than the reporter. My journalism professor (I only have 3 credits so don't jump to any conclusions) told us this kind of journalistic malpractice is what editors are paid to prevent from happening.

Update: This is rather interesting. Mr. Goldfarb's article was posted under the washingtonpost.com > Politics > Federal Page section of washingtonpost.com but if you follow that link you won't find any reference to Mr. Goldfarb's article as of 10:07pm 05/30/06. I'm gonna do screen captures.

Update 2:
Glenn Greenwald did a much more thorough job on this issue.

Update 3: Get this from Editor and Publisher:

NEW YORK The top editor of Syracuse (N.Y.) New Times, which saw its profile of President Bush's new chief domestic advisor altered and reposted on his Web site, calls the incident "insulting" and said she plans to consult a lawyer about possible legal action.

"What is getting lost here is that he changed quotes, that is getting lost here," Molly English, who has served as editor-in-chief of the alternative weekly for five years, told E&P today. "I find it insulting and his excuse is awfully lame."
Lame is putting it too kindly. Pathetic and despicable are more like it.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Resolunacy (n.): Fear of 'flip-flopping"

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I one had a boss who would take a position on a policy issue early on and was unwilling to reconsider it no matter what new information came to light. Her initial position usually made sense based on what was known at the time but seemed indefensible in light of the new information. Well, I've decided to coin a term for this: Resolunacy.

I'm no psychologist but I think it's reasonable to conclude that there is a neurosis involved when a person is confronted with clear evidence that their prior beliefs were incorrect and insists on sticking to their position. Fear of being labelled a "flip-flopper" seems to trump their willingness to face the facts.

I fear that we have become so used to "spin" that we no longer trust our own senses and reasoning. This brings us to Gallileo. I suspect when he saw the crescent Venus in his telescope, the logic of a earth centric universe immediately seemed dubious. But rather than try to create some elaborate conspiracy theory as to why this evidence didn't support the conventional wisdom, he faced the facts. Venus (and Earth) revolve around the sun. He'd be branded a "flip-flopper" nowadays.

There seems to be an epidemic of resolunacy here in the States. People deny things like global warming and evolution without even giving the actual data underpining those conepts a second thought. This is a dangerous trend in my humble opinion. I realize to the average citizen "facts" and "spin" are not always easily distinguishable. They aren't. But this is a larger problem. Resolunacy often seems to be portrayed as a positive value of firm convictions. To quote Stephen Colbert's description of President Bush:
The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will.
In my opinion, an unwillingness to ever reconsider ones position should be recognized for the moral vacuity that it implies. We all make mistakes. People who can't reconsider their stance in the face of new information should be called "resolunatics." People who can reconsider thier stance should NOT be called "flip-floppers".

Thursday, May 25, 2006

DeFend DeLay DeLusions

If you read my earlier posts, I hope you'll recognize that I really don't want to be perceived as being some sort of liberal whacko. But any sane person has to wonder WHAT WERE THEY THINKING when the Defend DeLay website decided to post a YouTube video capture of a Stephen Colbert interview "criticising" the movie “The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress”.

These folks have a serious iron(y) deficiency. Yeah, I know it's satire, not irony, but the line was too good to pass up.

More to follow.....

Monday, May 15, 2006

What the President Pointedly Did Not Address....

...is where the funding for all this new spending is going to come from? I lived in Baltimore when William Donald Schaefer was mayor and one thing I remember was that he was often asked if supported proposal xyz which would be of obvious benefit to the citizenry and his answer woulld often be "Sure, but where is the money going to come from?"

Baltimore, as a result this fiscal bullheadness, kept it's top notch bond rating (which is a gift that keeps on giving if you think about long term municipal bonds). At what point do tax cuts become counterintuitive to all these promises and commitments?

Well....

Karl Rove was talking about fiscal responsibility in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute today and according to Dana Milbank of the Washington Post...
David Corn of the liberal Nation magazine made the obligatory (and fruitless) attempt to draw Rove into a discussion about his role in the Plame affair. "My attorney, Mr. Luskin, made a statement on April 26th," the policymaker said. "I refer you to that statement. I have nothing more to add to it. Nice try, though."

What Rove had much to add to was the Bush economic record. As he described it, the administration has increased the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans and restrained the federal budget through frequent veto threats. These were difficult claims, but Rove was equal to the task.

For example, groups such as the Congressional Budget Office have reported that the Bush tax cuts have shifted the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class. But Rove had another way to look at it: For the top 1 percent, "their share of income tax payments is up by 1.5 percent."

Likewise, federal spending has increased some 40 percent over the past five years, with discretionary spending jumping by more than 55 percent. But, again, Rove had a different view. "The president has reduced the growth of non-security discretionary spending every year in office," he said.

In a similar vein, Bush has not vetoed a single bill since he became president. But Rove said that it was "39 veto threats" that had the effect of "restraining spending to the levels proposed in the president's budget."
Well I guess we're just flush with money, eh? Forgive me for being a fiscal conservative.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Northern (musical) Lights - Carol Noonan

A lot of the independent artists that I particularly enjoy seem toi hail from either New England, Canada, Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. So this is the latest in the series. Since today is Mother's Day here in the U.S., I'm going to point you first to this wonderful musical essay.

Carol Noonan is from Maine. As her bio accurately states, she is "a contemporary singer-song writer, but is also known for her haunting renditions of Irish, English, and American traditionals." I'm a big fan of her original compositions and her incredible voice. She and her husband also have a larger vision that will come to fruition with the opening of the Stone Mountain Arts Center later this year.

You can hear lots of samples of Carol's music at http://www.carolnoonanmusic.com/Listen.htm

Earlier posts:

Irene Jackson

Ann Pence

Thursday, May 11, 2006

A Somewhat Late Light-bulb Moment

A month ago Thomas E. Ricks of the Washington Post reported
The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
That's a pretty damning indictment in my humble opinion. Actively trying to manufacture a false percption of the connection between Operation Iraqi Freedom and al-Queda implies that our justification for being there is questionable.

If I has a son or daughter in uniform, I'd be... well I can't really describe that combination of fear/dread/anger.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Bill Frist - Presidential TIMMMMMMBERRRRRR

Y'know, sometimes I wonder if I've been laboring under a massive misconception of how representative government is supposed to work. Today's Tennessean has an article entitled Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law.

It states:
Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group.

E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers show the organization met privately with Frist's staff and the White House about measures that would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines.
It may be wishful thinking on my part but I simply refuse to believe that one of only two choices I may have in November 2008 is the inventor of the "Fristian Diagnosis" and this absolutely goofy political and legislative answer to high gasoline prices: $100 rebate checks to every American household!

The Republican House Majority Leader called the proposal "insulting" according to Reuters.
A Senate Republican proposal to offer a $100 check to taxpayers to offset high gas prices is "insulting," House Majority Leader John Boehner said on Tuesday.

"The really insulting part of this whole proposal is the fact that somebody is offering $100 to every American family over this. This is not going to solve the problem," Boehner said at a press conference.

"I don't like the proposal. And over the weekend I heard back from my constituents. They thought it was stupid," said Boehner, an Ohio Republican.
So today in the Washington Post, Dana Millbank reports on the Republican's latest attempt to enact limits on medical malpractice suits. Our illustrious Senate Majority Leader must enjoy going on fools errands, otherwise explain this:
Kicking off what he dubbed "Health Week" in the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) admitted from the start that he didn't have the 60 votes he needed to force action on the two malpractice bills. But this is an election year, and limits on jury awards are a favorite of the chamber of commerce set. So Frist and his colleagues dusted off their two-year-old medical malpractice speeches and read them again.
Now that's a really fine example of doing the peoples business. If Frist is the seriously considered Presidential timber, this nation is truly experiencing a leadership crisis.

Monday, May 01, 2006

And I thought MY ideas were half baked...

Dr. Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, and inventor of the "Fristian Diagnosis" has decided to drop his "off the scale on the You-Gotta-Be-Kidding guage" tax proposal. Read the New York Times article and then realize that he seriously floated it as a political and legislative answer to high gasoline prices. The $100 [overstrike]bribe[/overstrike] rebate check was something I would have expected from Saturday Night Live for chrissakes.

If he's the leading Republican presidential candidate, Lord help us all.