Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

Al Gore remarks on threats to American democracy and the marketplace of ideas at a conference at The Media Center at the American Press Institute.

Read or listen to the entire address. Here are a few quotes:

I thought maybe it was an aberration when three-quarters of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11, 2001. But more than four years later, between a third and a half still believe Saddam was personally responsible for planning and supporting the attack.

Keep in mind, your thoughts and opinions matter. Just because an event is not on major television, does not mean it did not happen. It still is valid, it exists. If it is covered on television, most likely it is not news and information with clarity, but planned out entertainment, advertising and propaganda.

The access to digital cameras and electronic publishing has produced a huge wave of amateur photographers posting on the web, including soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Abu Ghraib was just the tip of a bloody nasty iceberg.

Last week SF Chronicle columnist Neva Chonin published an article “Porn Wars, Part II”, pointing out a website and this backstory:

“For a year now, American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been posting photographs of corpses — insurgent corpses, civilian corpses, unidentifiable piles of guts in various stages of mutilation — on the site in return for free access to its porn cache.”

Caution: this website is for mature adults with strong stomachs. The combat images are labelled “General” others “Gory.” The gory ones show the true horrors suffered by humanity as a result of the weapons of war and violence. A dose of this might shock some folks out of their abstract theorizing over the merits of fighting this foreign war.

These photographs should serve as a reminder of the consequences of armed combat. Look at the carnage before leaping into war. Incredibly, Vietnam was not enough of a history lesson to radical conservatives. They see the Vietnam era as “America’s Second Civil War,” and new war in Iraq will provide vindication. I’ll talk in simple Texan language, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

If you are an electronic music fan like me, then you will appreciate this treat. Post Beatles Number Nine, Pre Nine Inch Nails, give a listen to 58 minutes of experimental Synclavier compositions by Frank Zappa during his Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention period. Labelled Resolver + Brutality by FZ himself, this music is now online at the Kill Ugly Radio Site’s Friday Boot. A word of warning, the Friday Boot offering changes week to week, so Resolver + Brutality tracks may not be there after October 14. More info at afka.net.

Which one of the above had more impact on world affairs in 2000? Why did the media focus on Monica and ignore Osama until it was too late?

Mainstream media deserves a major share in the blame game for ignoring the developing global terrorism stories connecting the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania, and the U.S.S. Cole bombing leading up to the 9/11/2001 terrorism attacks on U.S. soil. Instead, the press chose to host a juicy media circus, pandering to lowest common denominator advertising ratings driven tastes and engaging in wag the dog games with national security. Most Americans had never heard of al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden until the days after 9/11.

To her credit Molly Ivins has written an exemplary article asking for a Media Accountability Day and providing attention to Project Censored. Their Top Ten Stories not covered by Corporate Media:

1. Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government
2. Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Deathtoll
3. Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage
4. Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In
5. U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia
6. The Real Oil for Food Scam
7. Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood
8. Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates
9. Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency
10. Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy

Yes, there are smart, studious people out there who do not appreciate being sold on repetitive simplistic sound bite themes, and then hood winked, having the wool pulled over their eyes, jerked around, blown off… you get the idea. Some of them are graduate students at top universities, such as Al Franken’s research team of 14 Harvard students who fact-checked statements made by the right wing media. Franken and his team dissects these loud mouthed phoneys, who broadcoast unaccountable idealogical opinions, sold as facts in, Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

Checking out Google Maps to locate some neighborhoods where I had spent time in New Orleans. They have some post Katrina satellite photos up.

Much more detailed satellite photos showing the path of Hurrican Katrina can be found by going to Space Imaging and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. From what I can tell, the ocean and atmosphere appear to be way beyond administration.

Back in the Vietnam era a phrase was coined, and surprisingly it has not come back, or achieved traction again, yet: credibility gap. Harry Shearer was in a radio satire group of that name, and his web site advertises an old anti-Clinton book “It’s the Stupidity, Stupid.” I guess for a pro comic, any President is fair game and I gotta admit, running up these tax break and foreign war deficits requires real men of genius, Mr. 43rd President of the Crude Oil Age!

Some may ask… Is Iraq Vietnam on crack?

For those dumbasses who did vote for Bush, they must be scratching their sorry asses wondering, “How come gas is so high? I thought we were ‘sposed to take over Iraq and get their oil!” Well, there’s a credibility gap for ya, buddy.

There are plenty of more complex gaps for those who do their homework, such as the bait and switch of al Qaeda for Saddam, the phony Niger yellow cake document accompanied by the smoking gun mushroom cloud scare, the missing WMDs, the neglect for wartime planning protocols, the hiring of contractors to sidestep Geneva Convention laws… it goes on and on. People have been asleep at the wheel and they need the sobering slap of hurricane Katrina to wake themselves up. Here’s Condi Rice’s credibility gaps.

When I lived in Jacksonville, FL the regular guy on the street, or golf course, did not see much difference between Osama and Saddam. “They’re both a couple of camel jockeys, what’s the difference?” they’d say using their charming down home Southern comfort logic.

As resources, lives and patience wears thin here in the U.S.A. homeland, ask youselves, “Is this president credible or just an unbelievably incredible Hulk cartoon?” How much B.S.ing are you gonna take?

Art for God is a web site that appears to be run by a modern Christian artist and his model who poses as Jesus, announcing a National Christian Art Competion.

Link to story about model for Steve Sawyer’s paintings.

More contemporary renderings of Jesus Christ:

After looking at this commercial confusion of the image of Jesus, the Muslim limitations on figurative art is understandable, thus there are very few images of Muhammed to be found on the web.

There is a large assortment at Jesus of the Week 2005.

My alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been ranked the number one party school by the annual Princeton Review survey, and I agree completely. Congratulations Badgers!

Madison is a wonderful town, with excellent public transportation and bike trails. It is also in the middle of a state with many breweries and a Mid Western atmosphere of relaxed friendly fun times, eh?

Proving that you could party and have fun without drinking, Leon Varjian would lead a boom box symphony around the state capitol and down State Street on April Fools Day and Thanksgiving. A local radio station would broadcast John Philip Sousa marching band music, so we could all stay perfectly in tune.

Butch Vig of Garbage and Jim Mallon of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are among the creative talents who hung out in Mad City with Leon in those fun times. Jim and Leon’s Pail and Shovel Party were behind the installation of a Statue of Liberty head on Lake Mendota, and an early surprise attack of pink flamingos on Bascom Hill. In this atmosphere of fun and creativity it is no wonder that Rodney Dangerfield chose UW for a prime location of his Back To School comedy, and The Onion grew out of Mad City’s side streets. Madison also throws a great borderline out of control multi-block outdoor Halloween party (at least they did when I was there). I was glad to get a top notch education there and survive to write about it.