Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

Photo by Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times, Newspaper Photographer of the Year 2004.

Working above and beyond the political posturing, opinions, rhetoric and editorials, many photojournalists risk their lives to shed a little light on some very dark places. Photojournalism is raw photography on the jagged edge of survival. Red hot as in risk-your-life endangerment, not Frederick’s of Hollywood hot. No photo retouched beautification allowed in Iraq, Liberia, The West Bank, Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay. Witness the true stories at The Best of Photojournalism 2004.

“When any country says it’s going to go to war, these are the kinds of things that we can expect,” reflects photojournalist Chris Hondros as he narrates The Orphans of Tall Afar on the tragic events he witnessed and photographed. During a routine night patrol through the streets of Tall Afar, Iraq, as is customary after curfew U.S. soldiers ordered a car to stop. When the car failed to slow down, soldiers fired directly into the front seats. After the shooting was over, in the back seat were six crying children instantly orphaned.

While exploring the many uses of the online community photo web site Flickr, stumbled across this group sharing their best, “Do Your Worst” face. These photos will test those seeking careers in medicine or dentistry.

The book 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA by Bernard Goldberg is a simple and cute idea. The American Film Institute has their 100 Greatest Films lists, there’s the easy reading 100 Naked Girls which could lead to 100 Promises to My Baby.

By pointing a finger at living people the author disapproves of, this catchy title smells a bit like the intolerance of the Hollywood Blacklist, made amidst anti-Communist hysteria in America in the 1950’s. Stay tuned for many magazine and hastily published copy cat and follow-up 100 Lists, each with their own spin.

Everyone has an opinion about this concept, and it makes for interesting brain scanning while one is idlely waiting for hours at an airport or painting a house. An equally interesting, and perhaps more helpful book would be 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE HELPING IMPROVE AMERICA, but perhaps that would be too Reader’s Digesty or just too difficult for Bernard Goldberg to research. It’s easier to criticize than to create, and we live in rootin’ tootin’ times when folks find it more convenient to shoot first and ask questions later. Or as the “screwed up” Michael Moore says on his web site, it’s easier to investigate steroid use in baseball, than to investigate CIA leaks.

Here is a link to the complete list at progressive U. I am happy to see on the list the bizarre radio mouth, Michael Savage, as well as the hooker lovin’ preacher Jimmy Swaggart. And yet the list is benign, as if Goldberg omitted the best and brightest investigative journalists, truth tellers, muckrakers such as Seymour Hersh, in favor of folks who are better known and in many cases retired, thus being ineffective at screwing up America. So, beware of the horrible Anna Nicole Smith and Harry “Dayo!” Belaphonte! And that do gooder Jimmy Carter, he may just pump up another dangerous charity such as Habitat for Humanity and cause property values to plummet!

While avoiding these screw ups in the Entertainment world, you can work on a list of 100 Screw Ups in the U.S. Goverment, such as Abu Ghraib prison commander, General Janis Karpinski and her band of photo happy prison pranksters, Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick II, Specialist Charles A. Graner, Private Lynndie England, and four others. Following a chain of command of government officials and the contractors they hired, it would be very easy to make a list of 100. Not a book that many proud Americans would care to buy and display on their living room coffee tables.

Following up on a previous entry, “Education In Terrorism”, apparently George Clooney is seriously taking notes on the thought provoking and intriguing historical stories within these books. He is filming “Syriana” an adaptation of the story of Middle East CIA operative Robert Baer based on his book,
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism.

Most likely I’ll only see “Wedding Crashers” when it goes to DVD. Those who need summertime head-in-the-sand escapism, then take heart. Newspaper reviews cheer…

• FUNNIER THAN “ANCHORMAN!”
• HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE “DODGEBALL!”

Hey man, that sounds great. I’ll bet it’s even funnier than “Million Dollar Baby” too. Unfortunately some real unhumorous critics, probably liberal gay marriage soreheads wrote…

• RECYCLED “PORKEY’S” ERA GAGS.
• UNLIKE “OLD SCHOOL” and “STARSKY & HUTCH.”

Geez, the competition is tough. The bar gets raised higher every day, dammit!

Have to admit I’ve grown weary of Owen’s poo poo lips face. This may be Wilson’s Jim Carrey turning point where in his next movies he will be curled up in a fetal ball questioning his existence. Can’t he stand up for something real, like Scientology, which looks like 1950’s repackaged Vedanta Yoga… or is he just trapped in a swampy Butterscotch Stallion controversy?

As a lower life form, Karl Rove just couldn’t help himself. A vindictive creature defends its territory. When a primary Bush Iraq WMD smokescreen point was debunked by Joe Wilson, a former US ambassador, the rebuttal was to reveal Wilson’s wife as a working CIA agent. Treasonous! This has become a test of Deep Throat style entrusted journalistic sources, and now looks like Rove is the latest deep throat. The Bush Administration is cautiously coping with the case of the squealer.

Current CIA Leak Timeline. My apologies to all good pigs of the world.

Sign here to throw Karl Rove out… or if you LOVE Karl Rove, check this site out.

London Calling: Wake Up! The terrorist bombings in London today are yet another rude awaking to the presence of Al-Qaeda in many countries around the world.

Many of these authors listed below are U.S. government, CIA, or Washington D.C. insiders aware of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda well before the 9/11 attacks. Read some of these and learn more about the dark factors that mold our times.

See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism by Robert Baer, former CIA officer.

Sleeping With The Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by Robert Baer, former CIA officer.

Against All Enemies by Richard A. Clarke

Defeating The Jihadists: A Blueprint For Action by Richard A. Clarke, began his federal service in 1973 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In the Reagan administration, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence. In the first Bush administration, he was the Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs and then a member of the National Security Council staff. He served for eight years as a special assistant to President Clinton and was National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism for both President Clinton and President George W. Bush.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll, managing editor for the Washington Post.

Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John W. Dean, Nixon’s White House counsel.

Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter.

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror by Michael Scheuer, senior intelligence analyst who created and advised a secret CIA unit for tracking and eliminating bin Laden since 1996.

Through Our Enemies’ Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam & the Future of America by Michael Scheuer, senior intelligence analyst who created and advised a secret CIA unit for tracking and eliminating bin Laden since 1996.

House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties by Craig Unger, investigative journalist.

A Pretext For War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies by James Bamford.

Plan Of Attack by Bob Woodward, famous reporter for the Washington Post.

Age of Sacred Terror: Radical Islam’s War Against Americaby Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, National Security Council directors during the Clinton administration.

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States