NDBT

And Tash, our full time trainer here, showed me this, which also happens to brilliant segue from entertainment to politics! 

I’m reposting this, courtesy of Shari; “Man, check out www.Haleakalatimes.com. What incredible journalism! For example: “August 14, 2007. People complain to me about the mainstream American media on a regular basis. They tell me they’re spineless, corporate lapdogs who want to keep the populous frightened and docile. That they are inaccurate and misleading. Passionless and boring. They tell me these things largely because they know I agree with them. The majority of the media is owned by the same mega-corporations that are poisoning the planet, starving the poor and depressing the hell out of the the rest of us. They convinced the population that the war on terror could justify all manner of torture and annihilation. They’re writing the story of our nation through the eyes of CEOs and war profiteers, and there’s very little any of us can do about it. 

Unless of course, we can. This is the 21st century folks. We are the media. I don’t mean we the Haleakala Times. I mean we the people. We the bloggers and the skeptics and the documentary filmmakers and the underground zine makers and the spoken word artists and the citizen journalists everywhere who write letters to the editor and contact their senators and tip off reporters to stories that matter. Anyone who has the courage to speak truth to power can be “the media.” We have never before had more thorough or instantaneous access to information or modes of speaking truth. When, in the 2004 vice-presidential debates, Dick Cheney bragged about some glorious, freedom-inspired military operation in Guatemala. I could go to truthout.org and commondreams.org and follow links to fact-checking websites before Dick had even finished speaking. When, in the state of the 2002 State of the Union address, George W. Bush described the Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction with harrowing precision, I turned to NPR and listened to Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter describe the expiration dates on the alleged weapons and the impossibility of producing powdered anthrax without a processing plant. Do you want to know what’s really happening at community forums and hearings? Flip on Akaku, or catch them on YouTube or open up a copy of Haleakala Times. 

Criticism of the mainstream media is important, but it should hardly be a cause for despair. There is no time for despair. If you know the mainstream media is not providing the truth, then you’d better get busy telling the story before someone else tells it for you. The media did not allow Iraq to happen without help from millions of uncritical readers and viewers. It is also worth noting that even within the “mainstream” there are pockets of hope. Progressive columnists are thriving all over the nation. Websites like grist.org, truthout.org and commondreams.org have hundreds of thousands of viewers every day. Fox News might be evil incarnate, but it’s so far from being the only option out there that I have trouble sympathizing with its willfully ignorant viewers. Criticizing the mainstream media without supporting real alternatives is like whining about the government and refusing to vote. Now, write me a letter, send me a story tip, start a website, write a letter to your representative, and start a political discussion around the water cooler. Media can be dynamic and exciting and liberating. Make sure you’re a protagonist and not a spectator.” –Bree Ullman” 

Yeah, Bree! (We went to Pomona together) I think she has it totally right. BTW – I unsubscribed from daily grist.org newsletters while I’m traveling, but I highly, highly recommend them if you can get them. They’re frequently quite funny (which is useful when you’re dealing with news about the destruction of our environment). 

And while we’re on the subject, the media is misrepresenting the surge. If you subscribe to NYTimes select, you can check it out here. And I encourage everyone to check out the Courage Campaign and what they’re doing to prevent republicans from stealing Californian electoral votes here.

While we’re on politics, here are a couple oldies-but-goodies; 

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” -Theodore Roosevelt 1918 

And, a day in the life of Joe Republican; “Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised. 

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. 

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. 

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. 

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air. 

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor. 

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. 

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune. 

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. 

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university. 

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads. 

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. 

The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. 

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. 

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.” 

Yeah, my desktop is the Colbert Report. I’m feeling feisty.

Musica; back to black – Amy Winehouse, sugar – ladytron, snuff on digital – blaqk audio, closer – nine inch nails, another day – RENT.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.