Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

To see the full text of the C.I.A.’s recently released, yet censored, documents go to The National Security Archives. The National Security Archives web site was written about on this blog in an earlier post about the Nixon-Elvis photo session.

Ugly Dog
Originally uploaded by michvet3

Photos from a World’s Ugliest Dog Contest held recently in Petaluma, CA.   This year’s winner, Elwood (right).

See the SF Chronicle article for more details and photos from this unusual pet show.

2005 newspaper article about Sam (below) from the Ugliest Dog show of that year.  Sam has championship ugliness!

Sam, World’s Ugliest Dog Champ
Originally uploaded by lmennuti

If Monty Python’s Flying Circus had a virtual universe, this would be it. Check out a strange and beautiful land, an interactive 2 1/2 D world, Red Universe.

It’s interesting to observe that as we struggle with the real world, the virtual worlds can be more enabling for design and play. There is so much in the real world we cannot control. Virtual worlds and online communities provide us with experiences that permit more control, opportunities for fresh starts and re-invention.

“Somebody Had to Speak Out. If Not Me, Who?” – Maj. Gen. John Batiste Fired by CBS News for Anti-Iraq War ‘Advocacy’ – From Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk specifically about that decision and, especially for young people to see how you, with your history in the military, your history going back to your father and your grandfather, what those days were like? Where were you when you made this decision?

MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE: Tough decision. As you said, both grandfathers served. My father served multiple times, career infantry officer. Myself, a West Point graduate, thirty-one years in the military. Decision was made in my quarters in Germany in the summer of 2005.

You see, we got this war terribly wrong. I’m not antiwar at all. I don’t support MoveOn.org. That’s the reason I joined Vote Vets. This is all about getting it right. This is all about recognizing that it’s not about timelines and deadlines. It’s more about recognizing that this administration got the national strategy so wrong in Iraq, wrong in March 2003, wrong today in May 2007. This administration failed to mobilize this country in any way, shape or form to complete the important task of defeating worldwide Islamic extremism, global terrorism.

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CBS News is being accused of political censorship after it fired the retired U.S. general, John Batiste, from his position as a paid news consultant after he criticized President Bush’s Iraq war policy. The controversy began when the general appeared in a television commercial sponsored by the group VoteVets.org.

Colby Buzzell, a former U. S. Army machine gunner has won the Blooker Prize, awarded for the best book that began as a blog on the Internet. His book My War: Killing Time in Iraq began as a blog written during his time serving in Iraq. Colby Buzzell continues to blog at MY WAR and has spoken on the radio, recently on NPR’s Talk of the Nation and KQED’s Forum, a program about Memorial Day. He has returned to live with his parents in the San Francisco Bay Area and struggles to adapt and adjust back into civilian life. See also the SF Chronicle story about Colby Buzzell.

Hearing the words, wisdom and insights of those who have been there in combat and faced death while in service to their beloved country provides direct knowledge of war and its implications. These soldiers and those who fought with them deserve our respect and an extract measure of credit in balance for the extra steps they have walked in their boots.

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.

Wha? This is no outer space language, it’s VUZE the new name for the Azureus website distributing long-form, high quality video. Many of the videos available on Vuze are HD resolution 1280 720p widescreen formats.

Azureus engineering has been busy at work on this major upgrade since early 2007.  The site has many new Channels of content to browse, and the Azureus client application has undergone a major upgrade as well.

The company has recently announced content partnerships with Showtime Networks, BBC Worldwide, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4, A&E Networks (including A&E, History, and Biography channels), National Geographic, and Starz Media.

Azureus Inc. is the provider of the most popular P2P application for the transfer of large media files. With more than three years of technology innovation, proven robustness, and more than 140 million downloads of its application, Azureus users connect with one another from more than 100 countries and 40 languages.