Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

Postal rates being influenced by a large media company? Who would have believed it? In a world where big money greases the wheels of politics, this is what the little guys face. Smaller publishers will be asked to pay higher postal rates than big media publishers due to economies of scale if this rate change goes through.

PBS has been airing a thought provoking nightly series of programs, “AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS.” Much of the series goes into depth and detail not normally covered in mainstream media, including daring film and video footage shot while bombs and mortars are exploding on the streets of Baghdad. A surprise segment is Richard Perle’s “The Case for War: In Defense pf Freedom.” To Perle’s credit, he opens up the debate over America’s foreign policy, and exposes himself as a stubborn believer of his distorted views which I’ll name, PerleVision.

Unfortunately for those of us effected by his powerful abilities to lobby and pursuade US government policy officials, PerleVision pushes the simplistic and jingoistic Reagan ideals that America can run around the planet saving everybody with an aerosol spray can of All American happy dust, and a fresh paint job of red, white and blue stars and stripes forever.
The crossroads America stands at is whether or not to continue playing at the old Superpower game. The concept of Superpowers has been somehow accepted as reality, based on the nuclear arms race between the USSR and the USA. Today we see many more nuclear players and ever more growing economies. The playing field is gradually being leveled. Americans need to clean out their closets and discard their old Superhero costumes. In PerleVision to clean up your own house and restore it in order is to do nothing. Tell that to New Orleans, and the rest of the country’s tightened budgets.

The voices at home are speaking louder and clearer than ever for cleaning up American’s own house. Such is the case at the citizen built Lafayette Iraq War Memorial where we recently videotaped and interviewed volunteers for the project. Politicians and policy pushers such as Perle should take notice. See the video.

Why escalate the American troop levels, death and injury count in Iraq? We certainly do not wish to add more crosses to these pictures of the Lafayette, CA memorial to the U.S. troop fallen in Iraq. See the blog Eschew Obfuscation for more detailed coverage of the Crosses of Lafayette.

The Contra Costa Times covers soldiers’ moms involvement with the memorial site.

Lafayette is a quiet enclave nestled in rolling hills east of Berkeley near Walnut Creek. It is relatively upscale with well educated residents with expensive homes and refined tastes.

About a month ago, my wife who uses the Lafayette BART station mentioned seeing many white crosses (over 400) and the death toll sign planted on a hillside across from the station. She veers from political discussions, and has had to brush off an upset commuter trying to share her displeasure with the memorial.

Next thing, a student in the Ohlone TV News class brought in a story about the controversy arising over the crosses and sign display, and mentioned it had been discussed on nationally syndicated conservative talk radio programs.

This morning I noticed a San Francisco Chronicle article about an upcoming City Council meeting where locals will express their feelings about this free speech issue.

So, I drove to Lafayette, about 5 miles from my home, and shot some video and photos of the hillside and around the train station. There was a local CBS radio reporter scouting for people to interview. Then a woman with a shovel came, climbed up the hill and began digging holes. The reporter told me that there would be more crosses arriving later in the day to go into the fresh holes. Some other people there confirmed that they had seen the story covered on CNN television news.

I’ll probably go there and shoot some more video, then edit it and upload them to a few of the online video web sites.

On my return trip in the afternoon, I met Bob Hanson, Co-chair of the Mount Diablo Peace Center of Walnut Creek. He explained their mission of peace and justice through this hillside installation, which is also described on their web site.

See the video. 

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Here is SNAFUPERMAN! From the YouTube posting by videolicious… “This is one of 26 Private SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios – employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling’s music.”

Also, this is a test of the mytube WordPress plug-in.

Donald Rumsfeld blew many a smokescreen in his days of diffusing clarity on the purposes and strategies of the invasion of Iraq. He projected an air of superior intelligence in his obfuscations. He will be remembered for this rambling poetic cosmic theory:

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns,” he said.

See the video.

So, I’m listening to the President’s post 2006 election press conference today on the radio, a bit more intently than usual, because I was assigned to write a news story about it for the Ohlone Network News. Much of the press Q & A seemed to be directed around what message the President had received from the sweeping Democratic Party victories.

As W is known to do, he lapsed into Texas talkin’ and mentioned this isn’t my first rodeo and it was a thumpin’. Amusing, colorful talk. Here is the NPR.org transcript:

“I mean, look, this is a close election. Race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close, it was a thumpin’. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That’s what they expect. And as I said in my opening comments, there comes responsibility with victory, and that’s what Nancy Pelosi told me this morning. She said in the phone call she wants to work together, and so do I. And so that’s how you deal with it.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo. In other words, this is not the first time I’ve been in a campaign where people have expressed themselves and in different kinds of ways. But I have learned that if you focus on the big picture, which in this case is our nation and issues we need to work together on, you can get stuff done.”

Here is the version from whitehouse.gov:

Look, this was a close election. If you look at race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That’s what they expect. And as I said in my opening comments, there comes responsibility with victory. And that’s what Nancy Pelosi told me this morning. She said in the phone call she wants to work together. And so do I. And so that’s how you deal with it.

This isn’t — this isn’t my first rodeo. In other words, I haven’t — this is not the first time I’ve been in a campaign where people have expressed themselves, and in different kinds of ways. But I have learned that if you focus on the big picture, which, in this case, is our nation and issues we need to work together on, you can get stuff done.

Not a great difference, but let’s face it, -ing is not used in Texas ranch slang speech. So, which information source do you really trust?

Funny, because later that night, a student in the news writing class called my use of the quote “totally innacurate.” It’s clear that Bush and many Republican faithful are still in a stubborn state of shock, awe and denial. Tough when the shoe is on the other foot, ain’t it pardner? Yee haaw!

BTW, gotta love the Huffington Post headline: “IT WAS THE WAR, STUPID…”

Plus Bye, bye Santorum.

No more “stay the course.” The American people voted yesterday to clean up the corrupt, unaccountable GOP Congressional war machine mess. In search of diversion, Republicans turned their attention to Britney Spears divorce of Kevin Federline. It’s a relief to see the American system still works. This is a vote for a movement towards government accountability and a more peaceful world.