Listics

There is growing concern in Colorado and across the country that the US Secret Service is fast becoming a "political arm of the President."  Thanks to Poor Richard’s Anorak for the link.

I received this as part of an email…  it reminded me of a conversation this weekend when I mentioned Copintelpro in exactly this context and the person with whom I was speaking had no idea what I was talking about.  Here then, is one person’s transcription of another person’s reflection, as cut and pasted by a blogger who is amazed daily by the lack of continuity in transmission of truth…

In light of the recent "Deep Throat" revelation, a word from Noam Chomsky
on Watergate.  I think you’ll find it very interesting, even though its not
directly about deepthroat.

 

(Took me almost an hour to type this in…)

 

From Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky pages
117-120

[In response to Chomsky’s claim that the corporate news media
serves the interests of state-corporate power rather than as a check on its’
power.]

Man: But how do you explain Watergate, then? Those reporters
weren’t very sympathetic to power–they toppled a President.

Read the rest of this entry »

The French voted and the world may never be the same.  The BBC reported:

In the French referendum almost 55% of people voted "No", with 45% in favour. Turnout was high, at about 70%.

It is a severe - perhaps fatal - blow to the EU constitution, which needs to be ratified by all 25 member states.

The French have a democratic tradition that is objectively superior to the United States’. Freedom House ranks them at least our equal in terms of political liberty and civil rights, but Freedom House is perhaps less than objective in their assessment of America.   The French in fact have the world’s greatest democracy.  The French had a revolution.  America had a colonial insurrection.  The people of France, victors in a revolution that overthrew the monarchy and laid the foundation for democracy, came to the aid of the ragtag American colonials who were seeking tax relief.   We have always resented that.  Now we will watch and see what French influence brings to the EU constitutional process.  The people have spoken.

NEW YORK "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau again listed American war dead in his Sunday comic this Memorial Day weekend.

The strip is titled "Operation Iraqi Freedom — In
Memoriam — Since 4/28/04– Part 1." Included are the names of hundreds
of soldiers. So many, in fact, that the listing will continue next week
in "Doonesbury."

The names fill six panels. The first two panels carry a soldier playing taps and a line of soldiers saluting.

What a terrible way to have to acknowledge Memorial Day. This year let’s end the war.

The Governor of Florida’s brother visited the offices of OnMilwaukee.com yesterday.  The Republicans seem to get this online influence thing.  Andy Tarnoff, Democrat and co-owner of OMC, is presumably too happy with the site traffic to worry much about the fact that now satan owns his soul and has prepared a place in hell for him where he will count hanging chads at 1200 degrees for all eternity. 

Thanks to Dale Lature for the link to Taegan Goddard’s post on The Hill article about the new Dem think tank, the NPI.  NPI stands for New Politics Institute. They don’t have a web site.  How new is that.  NPI also stands for National Provident Institution, National Pollutant Inventory, Nuclear Physics Institute, National Preservation Institute, New Product Innovations, National Productivity Institute, and about 800,000 other things, especially if you’re counting non-English acronyms.

There’s a lot I have to say about this but I want to say it right… meanwhile, here’s a thought provoking column by the Boston Globe’s Derrick Jackson.

…groundbreaking findings in the ’40s and early ’50s by Clark and his
wife, Mamie Phipps Clark, who found that black children in both the
South and the North overwhelmingly said white dolls were nicer and
prettier than black dolls, and black dolls were bad. The tests were so
traumatic, Clark said, that in Massachusetts, some black children
refused to participate, running out of the room in tears. This evidence
of psychological damage was so searing that the U.S. Supreme Court
cited it in its 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing
segregated schools.

Dave Winer is facilitating this discussion.  This is a tough session to run and an impossible one to both blog and engage.  Dave’s a liberal.  The room is mostly conservative.

Transparency and accountability, Stan Brown, a lawyer, suggests as basic values.  I think maybe passion and creativity are as important or more important than "T&A."   I get quite passionate about this.   I think it’s a good example of respectful, but charged disagreement.  The discussion moves on to others who also have something to say so once again I’m not the center of the universe.  Damn… coulda swore I wuz.

John Jay Hooker suggests that the practice of blogging is a lot like the practice of law… adversarial by nature.  Questions we’re addressing get down to good manners… we have to learn to disagree without being disagreeable.

Debate versus dialog…  the crossfire marketing concept has come to dominate public discourse in main stream media. 

Question is asked:  Does the blogosphere contribute to the polarization of public perspective or does it have a mediating effect?

Good passionate discussion going on.  Dave has stepped back from facilitating role as the group gels to a polite and excited exchange.