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Monday, January 30
Goodbye to Local News
by
Arron Wings
on Mon 30 Jan 2006 02:00 PM CST
 Goodbye to Local News
MediaCitizen
By Timothy Karr
In a final act of defiance, the anchor at Honolulu Fox
affiliate KHON-2 gives management a piece of his mind, before they pull the
plug.
THE BIGGEST THREAT to the type of broadcast journalism that
Edward R. Murrow championed in the 1950s comes today not from Congressmen of
the Joe McCarthy mold, but by way of the industry itself. Profit-driven
broadcast owners have strangled off local reporting to line their pockets with
more advertising dollars.
This crisis in journalism is explicitly tied to the dangers
of consolidated media ownership and speculation. We all suffer when media
corporations trample public service and local journalism in their drive for
larger profits.
Joe Moore, a veteran newscaster at Fox’s Honolulu affiliate, KHON-2, can speak well to
the issue. On Thursday, he anchored the station’s newscast as sweeping newsroom
layoffs were taking effect. As a small concession from management, Moore was allowed to
write and read his sign off to viewers. Courtesy of NewsBlues (a newscaster
gossip site).
The Transcript of the Final Newscast
Finally
tonight, this has been a difficult day for most of us here at KHON2. It
was the final day on the job for our general manager Rick Blangiardi,
who refused to carry out the mass firing of over one third of our
station employees as ordered by our new owners, who will take over
tomorrow.
The firings are not a matter of
cutting excess fat to improve efficiency; they will be a butchering of
an already lean workforce that will remove muscle, bone, and vital
organs.
(click here to read the rest of the transcript)
Don't let this happen in Iowa! If you would like
to be part of organized media reform efforts in Iowa, please consider joining
Iowans for Better Local TV.
To find out more, click
here
Sunday, January 29
Call Harkin and Urge Him to Support a Filibuster
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 29 Jan 2006 04:00 AM CST
 Call Harkin and Urge Him to Support a Filibuster
Mike Ganzeveld from the Green Tea Blog posted this in the Blog for Iowa comments yesterday:
Tom Harkin is on the fence right now
trying to decided whether or not he should vote for a potential
filibuster of judicial nominee and reactionary statist Samuel Alito. At
this moment Tom Harkin thinks that a filibuster would be a "waste of
time." Ted Kennedy informed bloggers and activists [yesterday] morning in a
coference call that supporting a filibuster would cost political
capital because of fear of the "obstructionist" label.
We need to call
Tom Harkin this weekend and let him know that slinking off in defeat is
a helluva lot worse than being labeled an obstructionist by the usual
suspects on the Sunday morning cable news yap-fests. We need to let him
know that it's important to future Americans that a man like Samuel
Alito *is* obstructed from taking a LIFETIME position on the Supreme
Court. If you have already called, faxed, thanks! If you haven't, then I
implore you to go ahead and take a minute to do so. Best wishes!
Senator Tom Harkin
Phone: 202-224-3254
Saturday, January 28
Bush Job Approval Ratings Take Another Dive
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 28 Jan 2006 11:00 AM CST
 Bush Job Approval Ratings Take Another Dive
American Research Group, Inc.
If it's not on TV, is it real?
You would never know this if you get
your news from television, but "W" is not doing
so well with the American public. Is it possible that, contrary
to what the broadcast media would have us believe, the "brilliant"
Rove-ian strategy ISN'T WORKING?
George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has returned to
its lowest point as Americans again turn less optimistic
about the national economy according to the latest survey from the American
Research Group. Among all Americans, 36%
approve of the way Bush is handling "his job" and 58% disapprove.
When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 34% approve and 60%
disapprove.
A total of 14% of Americans say the national economy is
getting better, which is down from 30% in December and 52% say the national
economy is getting worse, which is up from 40% in December. When asked about
the national economy a year from now, 15% say it will be better, which is down
from 28% in December, and 62% say it will be worse, which is up from 39% in
December.
(click here for more results)
If you would like to be part of organized media reform efforts in Iowa, please consider joining Iowans for Better Local TV.
To find out more, click here
Wednesday, January 25
The Congressman and Abramoff (as told by Dr Seuss)
by
Caroline Vernon
on Wed 25 Jan 2006 04:40 PM CST
 The Congressman and Abramoff (As Told by Dr. Seuss)
Thanks to Jim Nickel for sharing this.
That Abramoff!
That Abramoff!
I do not like that Abramoff!
"Would you like to play some golf?"
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"We could fly you there for free.
Off to Scotland, by the sea."
I do not want to fly for free.
I don't like Scotland by the sea.
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"Would you, could you, take this bribe?
Could you, would you, for the tribe?"
I would not, could not, take this bribe.
I could not, would not, for the tribe.
"If we strong armed the corporations
Into giving you donations?
They'd be funneled to your PAC.
Would you then cut us some slack?"
I would not, could not, cut you slack.
I do not care about my PAC.
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"A plane! A plane! A plane! A plane!
Would you, could you, for a plane?"
I could not, would not, for a plane.
Not for a bribe, not for the tribe.
Not for your corporate donations.
Not for my PAC, not for some slack.
Not from ANY schmoe named Jack.
"Would you help us buy some ships
Perfect for quick gambling trips?
Talk to people in the know
For a little quid pro quo?
Oh come now, don't be such a snob.
Let us give your wife a job."
I will not help you buy some ships.
I do not wish for gambling trips.
My wife she does not need a job
Even if she is a snob.
I do not like bribes, can't you see?
Why won't you please just let me be?
"You do not like bribes, so you say.
Try them, try them, and you may.
Try them and you may, I say."
Jack, if you will just let me be
I will try them, then you'll see.
Say.... I do like playing golf!
I like it, I do, Abramoff!
I do like Scotland by the sea.
It's such a thrilling place to be!
And so I will take this large bribe.
And I will help the indian tribe.
And I will take your large donations
From all your big corporations.
And I will help you buy some ships.
And I will take quick gambling trips.
Say, I'll give anyone the shaft
As long as it involves some graft!
I do so like playing golf!
Thank you! Thank you,
Abramoff!
Saturday, January 21
The Politics of Domestic Spying
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 21 Jan 2006 08:26 AM CST
 The Politics of Domestic Spying
The Daily Iowan
by Nicholas Johnson (used with permission)
Nicholas Johnson, who held three presidential appointments in the federal government during the 1960s and 1970s, now teaches communications law at the UI College of Law and maintains nicholasjohnson.org.
President Bush's authorization of NSA spying on American citizens raises issues more deserving of books than a column. Topping the list are potential political abuses that would make President Richard Nixon's bungled burglary of the Democratic Party's Watergate offices look like a kindergarten prank.
Other issues abound.
Why not monitor everything? It's tough to get search warrants if you don't know whom, what, or where you want to search.
But does it work? Is it cost effective?
How many freedoms are we willing to sacrifice in the name of "protecting our freedoms"?
Does spying violate Fourth Amendment protection from "unreasonable" searches?
Does it taint the FISA court's process?
Was Congress adequately briefed? Did the president violate the law?
Even if the president's actions are an unconstitutional, impeachable offense, does that justify news stories that threaten national security? Who leaked his secret decision, anyway?
But, let's focus on the possible political abuses. It's no longer enough to say, "Why should I care about spying, if I'm doing nothing wrong?"
The secret NSA, once said to stand for "No Such Agency," is the National Security Agency. Larger than the CIA, its surveillance technology is unrivaled. Its encryption crackers include the world's largest collection of mathematicians.
Experts on a CBS "60 Minutes" segment described how the NSA's global fish net, Echelon, covers all of Planet Earth, monitoring airwaves and optic fiber, picking up everything from e-mail and faxes to cell phones and baby monitors. Of course, even the NSA's staff isn't large enough to sort through overwhelming flows of data. So, it uses the world's largest supercomputers to pluck from that haystack the needles of programmed patterns, names, voices, key words, or phone numbers.
Originally focused overseas, Bush's secret order permitted the NSA to spy on Americans. Are your communications being spied on? Well, yes and no. Your communications are probably captured and analyzed. But the odds are they're not being spotlighted.
Why worry about potential political abuses? Because they've already occurred. Nixon's impeachment included old-fashioned wiretapping for political advantage. The "60 Minutes" Echelon experts revealed:
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used the technology to spy on her Cabinet -- with deniability. Canadians did it for her.
Europeans documented concerns our government passed information to Boeing that caused Airbus to lose airplane sales to Saudi Arabia.
Princess Diana's affairs suddenly reached the British tabloids after the NSA started monitoring her opposition to our land mines.
A former NSA employee admitted listening to Sen. Strom Thurmond's phone calls.
NSA abuses led to the Church Committee's 1970s investigations and laws prohibiting domestic spying. NSA's Office of Security Services tracked 75,000 Americans between 1952 and 1974. During the 1960s, its project "Shamrock" examined Americans' telegrams. There was a "watch list" of Vietnam War opponents.
Today, the NSA examines billions of items. Similar "data mining" was proposed for the "Total Information Awareness" project.
If the technology is used to track drug dealers as well as terrorists, if it can help American corporations gain advantage over foreign competitors, imagine what it could do in a political campaign. If such abuses have already occurred in the past, how realistic is it to think they're not going on now?
"Trust but verify?" How would we even know if abuses occurred during our congressional and presidential elections? The NSA is, after all, an agency with virtually no transparency and oversight that secretly reports to the Commander in Chief.
In 1949, George Orwell warned us of trends he saw unfolding by 1984 - his book's title. Now, 22 years later, the NSA's technology is more powerfully intrusive than even he imagined. The slogan of Orwell's fictional government, "Big Brother is watching you," is fiction no more.
What of his main character's ultimate realization that "he loved Big Brother?" Still fiction? Or have Americans already come to accept, if not love, the NSA's "protecting us from terrorism?" Have you?
_______________
Nicholas Johnson
nicholasjohnson.org
(source)
Thursday, January 19
A 'True Revolution of Values'
by
Caroline Vernon
on Thu 19 Jan 2006 04:35 PM CST
A 'True Revolution of Values'
By Michael Eric Dyson
www.beliefnet.com
Martin Luther King, Jr., warned America about the danger of unquestioning national pride. How far have we come?
Michael Eric Dyson, best-selling author, ordained Baptist minister, and professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania, says it was Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life inspired him to "embrace social redemption through the written word." In his latest book, "Pride," excerpted below, Dyson explores King's role as an American prophet.
The voice of the dissenter is often the conscience of the nation. Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s prophetic voice rang forth in the first half of the twentieth century; Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice was a clarion call for freedom and democracy in the century’s closing half.
"God didn’t call America to do what she’s doing in the world now," King thundered from his Atlanta pulpit exactly two months before his death at the hands of a cowardly racial terrorist. "God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war." Here, of course, King referred to the Vietnam War, and he took a lashing in public for his dissenting views. He was accused of being unpatriotic. He was charged with moral treason. Other black leaders like Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young lambasted him (though they later came to acknowledge, as did the nation, that King’s views were courageous and correct). And yet, King was one of the greatest patriots this nation has produced. He proved it by giving his life in a fight to defend this country’s best side against its worst. As we struggle for ethical guidance in the shadow of terrorism and war, it is good to remember that dissent helps national flourishing and aids in clarifying our political vision. If King’s actions against war prove anything, it’s that there’s a huge difference between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is the critical affirmation of one’s country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it’s in error. Nationalism is the uncritical support of one’s nation regardless of its moral or political bearing.
Patriotism "often takes the form of beliefs in the social system and values of one’s country. Expressions of nationalism, on the other hand, are often appeals to advance the national interests in the international order." This latter version of an insular and narrowly conceived national pride is expressed in the slogan, “my country, right or wrong.” Too often nationalism has prevailed over patriotism in expressions of national pride. The confusion between the two has blurred the difference between love and worship of country, a distinction King never failed to make.
In a commencement address at Lincoln University in 1961, King praised the American dream and the Declaration of Independence, saying that “seldom if ever in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profoundly eloquent and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality.” And when he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech before the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, King reaffirmed that his dream was “deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ ”
But King understood the contradictions at the heart of American society. In his Lincoln University commencement address, King said “since the founding fathers of our nation dreamed this noble dream, America has been something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against herself.” America, King understood, preaches democracy but practices its selective application. Moreover, King understood the perils of an isolationist nationalism that celebrates one’s country at the expense of recognizing one’s global citizenship. In such a case, loyalty to nation might turn vicious, demanding that one subordinate moral principle to narrow national self-interest. In his church sermon, King said that in Vietnam, America had “committed more war
crimes almost than any nation in the world.” And we wouldn’t stop it “because of
our pride and our arrogance as a nation.”
To read the rest of this article, click here:
Sunday, January 15
COW EXCAPES SLAUGHTER
by
Molly Regan
on Sun 15 Jan 2006 10:15 AM CST
 COW ESCAPES SLAUGHTER
QuadCity Times
GREAT FALLS, Mont. - A spirited cow that jumped a slaughterhouse
gate and evaded capture for six hours may not be doomed after
all. Appeals to spare the life of the 1,200-pound heifer came
from across the nation after she fled Mickey's Packing Plant on
Thursday (January 5th) and had several near-death experiences before
walking into a makeshift pen and then a stock trailer.
"Road and rail traffic nearly hit her; she almost drowned while
crossing the Missouri River and she refused to be stilled by three
tranquilizer darts.
"The manager of Mickey's Packing Plant said the animal he dubbed Molly
B. probably will be spared from the killing floor. Employees
voted 10-1 to keep her alive.
"The manager said the owner is willing to sell Molly B., but wants more than the estimated $1,140 she is worth slaughtered."
This from the QuadCityTimes.
Maybe some force in the universe talked with that cow.
Anyway, don't forget CPR: CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
Friday, January 13
A Call to Action on Samuel Alito
by
Caroline Vernon
on Fri 13 Jan 2006 04:00 PM CST
 A Call To Action - Judge Samuel Alito
by Caroline Vernon
Progressive Action for the Common Good
www.qcprogressiveaction.org
Calling all Progressive Activists....
Call on
Senate Democrats ASAP to stand together and block Judge Alito’s confirmation
with every means at their disposal!
Call Senator Harkin, Senator Durbin,
and Senator Obama at:
1-800-426-8073
Senator Grassley is on the
Senate Judiciary Committee so please be sure to also let him know that you
oppose Samuel Alito's confirmation to the US Supreme Court.
Send
emails through their websites:
obama.senate.gov/contact/,
durbin.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.htm,
harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm,
http://grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Or send postal letters to:
SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC, 20510
Progressive Action for the Common Good and other organizations such as QC NOW, ACLU, NAACP,
QC Federation of Labor, Democracy for the Quad Cities, and Churches United
Justice Issues Committee are organizing a letter writing campaign.
Please assist us in our efforts by writing a letter to the Editor of
your local newspaper as well as the Des Moines Register, The NY Times,
and Newsweek.
Send Letters to:
letters@qconline.com, letters@rcreader.com, opinions@qctimes.com,
letters@dmregister.com, letters@nytimes.com, letters@newsweek.com
Or click here to use a feature on the Democratic Party website that provides you with most of your local newspapers.
Here
is more information for your review:
Judge Alito has regularly ruled against civil rights and civil liberties claims. For example, Judge Alito:
Wrote a
dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey arguing that a state's spousal
notification requirement did not unduly burden a woman's right to
privacy, a position later rejected by the Supreme Court;
Joined a
dissent arguing that a student-led prayer at a high school graduation
ceremony did not violate the Establishment Clause;
Wrote
several dissents arguing for tighter standards for plaintiffs seeking
trial on their race, gender and disability discrimination claims;
Dissented
from a decision ruling that the strip search of a suspect's wife and
ten-year-old daughter exceeded the scope of the search warrant and was
therefore unconstitutional;
Rejected
a death row inmate's ineffective assistance of counsel claim where the
trial counsel had failed to uncover substantial mitigating evidence — a
decision later reversed by the Supreme Court; Dissented from an /en
banc/ ruling in a death penalty case arguing that the prosecution had
unconstitutionally used its peremptory challenges to exclude all the
black prospective jurors;
Wrote a
dissent arguing that a policy prohibiting all prisoners in long-term
segregation from possessing newspapers, magazines or photographs unless
they were religious or legal did not violate the First Amendment.
It is,
of course, impossible to summarize a fifteen-year judicial career in a
few bullet points. But it is also fair to say that these highlighted
decisions illustrate a broader pattern of judicial decision-making. By
and large, Judge Alito's opinions make it more difficult for plaintiffs
alleging discrimination to prevail, easier for the government to lend
its support to religion, and harder to challenge questionable tactics
by the police and prosecution.
Judge
Alito has also taken a narrow view of congressional power in two
noteworthy cases. First, Judge Alito held that Congress had exceeded
its power under the Fourteenth Amendment by requiring the states to
provide time off for sick employees under the Family and Medical Leave
Act. Several years later, the Supreme Court rejected a similar claim in
upholding a parallel provision of the FMLA. Second, Judge Alito argued
in dissent that Congress had exceeded its power under the Commerce
Clause by making it a federal crime to possess a machine gun. This
narrow view of the Commerce Clause could have implications in future
civil rights cases.
I encourage you to read the ACLU's full report
at:
http://www.aclu.org/scotus/2005/23308res20060103.html
Thanks
for all you do!!!!!
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