Petition! White House Press Corps
Jul 30th
In the London Symphony Orchestra, the members of the orchestra vote to decide who gets to be first chair violin. In Britain the person with this honor is known as the “leader.” (In the U.S. she or he is the “concert master.”) The role is practical as well as symbolic. It matters.
- The leader of the LSO earned his position by being a genuine musician.
- Helen Thomas earned her position by being a genuine journalist.
- There are no genuine journalists at Fox. Some could be—not including “couldn’t manage to pass even a single semester of college” Beck, of course. But all the potential journalists there have either sold out or been intimidated by Roger Aisles.
The White House Press Corps might be associated more with fatuous cacophony than with soul-stirring expression, but they too elect their own “leader” or “concert master.” They’re about to do that again, and there’s a theoretical possibility the honor and power might go to Faux News—never fair, never balanced, never honest, never showing the least respect for true journalism. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Various leading journalism and freedom of the press organizations have been organizing petitions. Below, I’ve included a badge that will take you to such a petition. Don’t take my word for it, though. That’s the Fox way. Instead, check the facts—all of them. Then, if you think signing will promote legitimate journalism rather than propaganda, sign. If not, don’t.
This is war. This is what our young people are suffering. This is what we are doing to others.
Jul 30th
Great, but heart-breaking video from the Guardian .
In respect to business, how small is “small”?
Jul 30th
I’ve written about this before, but I was stimulated to return to the topic by what Mike Pence said in defense of continuing the disastrous Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest fraction of our population:
I wrote the following as a comment to the blog entry where I found his remarks on Crooks and Liars:
The casualness with which the term “small business” is tossed around does everyone a grave disservice.
Let’s play George Lakoff’s little game. I say, “Quick! Don’t think of a small business!” In your mind’s eye you immediately see a small business. Now here’s where it get’s interesting: I ask you to describe what you’re seeing.
The great majority of persons would describe something like my friend Scott’s small deli, or the mom and pop optical shop where I get my glasses, or the hardware franchise with its 8-10 employees where I shop for nuts and bolts and shovels and such.
But compare that typical image to the U.S. government’s definitions of “small business.” Couple of examples. Depending on the field a “small business” might…
• have 1000 employees
• do $35.5 million in business per year
• have a net worth of $175 million
No conscientious person should ever use the term “small business” without qualifying what she or he means by it.
Caught in the act!
Jul 27th
On the one hand, I’ve always been an idealist in the sense of believing in honor and fair play. That part of me continues to be puzzled and outraged by those who trample such basic human standards. I’ll give you an example of how naive I’ve been.
Some years back I yielded to cajoling and agreed to play on our racquet club’s tennis league team. First meeting I attended, people were complaining about the practice of “stacking lineups.” (The rule was that teams would assign players top to bottom on the basis of ranking and success rate. “Stacking” means putting the weakest player in 1st position as a sacrifice, then moving everyone else down a level so as to gain an overall competitive advantage.) I raised my hand and said, “I can’t believe anyone would cheat that way! The only thing at stake is a cheap-ass plastic trophy and personal satisfaction. But how could anyone take satisfaction knowing that he or she had been able to win only by cheating?”
Obviously I was a rookie as well as an idealistic liberal. My comment was greeted universally by derisive laughter.
Fast forward to when I began to get practically interested in politics. We live on a busy street, and candidates began to ask if they could put signs in our yard. We supported the candidate, we agreed. We didn’t support the candidate, we politely declined, explaining why. I felt good. We had (have) always voted, but now we were participating more directly in the democratic process. We were being responsible citizens.
But then they began to steal or destroy our yard signs, or in some cases to replace them with nasty homemade insults. Fuck! Another kick in the jock strap for my fatuous idealism.
I imagined all sorts of ways to identify the violators and make them answer… but life is short, responsibilities are many… The guy who shot this video actually followed through, though. Right here in the strange state of Florida, where my wife and I were born, reared, and continue to live. The cool thing is that this is one Republican catching another Republican and spouse, well, acting like Republicans.
Coincidence?
Jul 24th
Ever notice how much Andrew Breitbart resembles the villain from the campy sci-fi movie Buckaroo Bonzai?
In case it isn’t clear, on the left is Lord John Whorfin, a.k.a. Dr. Emilio Lizardo. On the right the moral and ethical vacuum, a.k.a. Andrew Breitbart.
Never Surrender!
Jul 23rd
Inspiration from the Democratic Governors’ Conference. Trust me. This is good! 