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In the third installment of the PPN we have two clips and two promos.
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“Conspiracy Theorists” versus Corporate Journalists
I recently read an article in the New Yorker Magazine that really pissed me off. So I wrote the guy and a letter to the editor. Ordinarily, I read the New Yorker to get pissed off at someone other than the writer, but not this time. This “guy” turns out to be the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism and after doing a little research found that he regularly bashes bloggers and the whole idea of alternative media by contrasting them with “real” journalists. The article is entitled “Paranoid Style” and can be found in the Oct 16 edition. Below is the letter I sent.
Lumping everyone who feels compelled to speak out against the outrages that this country has had to endure under this Bush Administration into a troubled culture on the left in need of psychoanalysis is apparently what Nicholas Lemann attempts to accomplish in his piece entitled, “Paranoid Style.”
From bloggers and podcasters to activists and filmmakers we are seeing an outpouring of work that is attempting to address not only the outrages coming from this White House, but the corporate media, which is perceived more and more each day as a partisan tool of the current power structure, and return the role of the press to checking power with truth. This new media revolution is a democratically based alternative media movement that is more based in truth than spin, and democracy than capitalism.
Lemann’s premise is based in the world of the 911 Truth Movement, where the label of “conspiracy theorist” is routinely used by those who are quick to stereotype millions of citizens around the world who feel short changed by the reigning official explanation, then extends this label across the issues to include Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s work on election fraud, and reputable films by filmmakers like Robert Greenwald (”Iraq for Sale”) and Eugene Jarecki (”Why We Fight”).
Most of this new media movement is fueled by dedicated citizen’s whose concern for the fate of this democracy compels them to spend their all too limited free time trying to do the job that the well paid, mainstream media, including Mr. Lemann, are failing to do.
It is so easy to dismiss anyone raising questions about the 911 attacks by simply uttering the stereotype label “conspiracy theorist” instead of doing the hard, investigative work that journalist should have and should still be doing. It took a handful of widows from New Jersey and millions of supporters to even get a 911 investigation launched, only to have the administration
that opposed it, set up an underfunded whitewash overseen by their man Phillip Zelikow who then proceeded to hand pick the evidence while dismissing a multitude of unanswered questions. And in the aftermath and the run up to the war in Iraq, while the corporate media lended it’s hand to flag waving, this country’s new media got to work and have been a new journalistic force in checking the abuse of power ever since.
If I may be permitted to return the favor to Mr. Lemann with a bit of psychoanalysis of my own, I would say that “Paranoid Style” projects the self-serving attributes that motivate the White House, the corporate media and you sir, onto a movement that is motivated by concern for the fate of this country, it’s Constitution, and, yes, even freedom of the press.
After writing that I am more convinced than ever that we all need to keep doing our part to hold the mainstream media accountable.
Brian
Wake Up AM Podcast
Unions, yes Labor Unions, remember them?, are all watching China to see how the possibly biggest confrontation between labor and capital in many, many years unfolds. According to the NY Times article :
SHANGHAI, Oct. 12 — China is planning to adopt a new law that seeks to crack down on sweatshops and protect workers’ rights by giving labor unions real power for the first time since it introduced market forces in the 1980’s.
The NY Times resports that workers have already set up unions in all 66 Wal Mart outlets in China and are looking to do the same with companies like Kodak and Dell.
I noticed this story was quickly taken off the front page after I read it online and a followup story was published the following day that skewed the emphasis away from U.S. Corporations opposing these basic workers rights and towards a depiction of the government-sanctioned All-China Federation of Trade Unions as wanting to exert conrol over the work force in China. In other words the bad guy went from U.S. Corporations one day to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions the next.
Tim Costello is a member of Global Labor Strategies and their analysis of the story is the one to read.
“‘You have big corporations opposing basically modest reforms,” said Tim Costello, an official of the group and a longtime labor union advocate. “This flies in the face of the idea that globalization and corporations will raise standards around the world.’”
Their report goes on to say that:
This corporate campaign contradicts the justifications that have been given for public policies that encourage corporations to invest in China. US based corporations have repeatedly argued that they are raising human and labor rights standards abroad. But US based corporations are trying to block legislation designed to improve the remuneration, treatment, health and safety, and other standards of Chinese workers.
Where is all this leading? If the standard of living of Chinese workers is raised to a comparable world level will where will the corporations go next?
The corporations can’t argue on the one hand that they are lifting Chinese workers out of poverty and on the other hand oppose basic labor reform. And the U.S. government is going to find it more difficult to uphold this contradiction through policy. Their biggest fear is that workers everywhere are going to figure this out and the words that strike fear into the hearts of the Corporate class will take on new, real meaning when resurrected. Workers of the world, unite!
Brian
Come out come out where ever you are!
It is a proven fact that straight people who know gay & lesbian people, tend to vote more favorably for issues that effect gay & lesbian people. At the moment we need as much help as we can find in Tennessee. This election cycle we are ground zero for anti gay legislation. Anti-gay hate mongers are converging on the state to promote Amendment 1, an addition to the Tennessee state constitution to deny Gay & Lesbian people the right to marry.
Here is my letter to the editor in response to Rev. Jerry Sutton’s article in today’s paper. He is hosting James Dobson next week at his church. (I guess he couldn’t sell enough tickets at the arena where it was originally scheduled) Anyway, don’t know if they’ll print it or not but here it is for your review…
Tennessean
October 11, 2006
To the editor
In response to Rev. Jerry Sutton’s article on October 11th I hope his vision of “a tremendous legacy” does not bear itself out on election day.
Yes, ample proof does exist to verify that most stable adults are products of a loving home with both a mother and father. The reason is simple….most people are raised in heterosexual households. It isn’t the only type of family however that can provide a loving, nurturing home & environment in which to raise a child. Besides Rev. Sutton’s example of a traditional household, other children have two mommies or two daddies. Others may have a mommy or a daddy in a single parent home. Still more children may have a grandmother or an aunt raising them. Many of these children have also grown up to become decent, inspiring,contributing members of our society. The reason for their success & the common factor between all of these different types of families is simple…LOVE. Why is it I am talking to a preacher about that? I thought it was his job to teach us that lesson. Maybe he’s too busy dabbling in politics right now to work on his lesson plan.
Because he is in the majority as a heterosexual, Rev Sutton & his pal James Dobson and others feel they have the right to dictate how the rest of us should live. They have decided that by allowing one group to have certain rights, it somehow takes rights away from another group. “If gay people marry…traditional marriage will be destroyed” huh? How in the world are those even connected? Tell me right now which heterosexual marriages are on very shaky ground right now because I have been in love with my partner (another woman) for eleven years. Come on stand up. I want to know which marriages I’m destroying. Show me one and maybe I’ll listen. The only marriage I know of destroyed because I’m a lesbian is the one I tried to have with a man because I tried to be someone I am not.
One purpose in forming our government was to protect the minority among us from the majority among us who might become tyrannical. Barry Goldwater said that the religious right has no business in politics. I agree with him and I’m a democrat. I’m voting NO on amendment 1 because I believe the constitution should only be changed to expand rights not to deny rights to anybody. I am not living in “a vacuum” Rev. Sutton. I am living in a diverse world in the twenty first century. You sir are living in the dark ages.
Valerie Reynolds
avalonfarms@hughes.net
I include a brief interview done by a PPN forum member with a protester who got sprayed with pepper spray and shoved around by police in Portland.
Also included is a discussion of North Korea, Bush’s failure to act and failure of foreign policy regarding the country, and now how they are trying to blame Bill Clinton, (even John McCain!)
Dissent has never been more important in America than it is right now, unless you count during the Revolutionary War. The World Can’t Wait website with great desciptions of various protests, plans for more, what you can do now, and great speaker audio including Alice Walker can all be found here.
We need to impeach George W. Bush, so be sure you are registered to vote for November’s election!
Submitted by Shelly of Citizen Against Lies.
Mr. Mark Foley! I think you just handed the Democrats and liberals the election this fall. Thank you, Sir Slimey! This podcast covers the Mark Foley scandal, (former Representative from Florida, resigned); Bush’s plan for the Middle East, (including why Lebanon vs. Israel happened); Bush’s ‘State of Denial’ as proven in a couple of his speeches; a conservative guest rant from ‘Ozone’ of the podcast “Democrats are Lost” (an ultra-conservative who defends Israel); and an excerpt from the actual book “State of Denial” by Bob Woodward.
That brings up Condi Rice’s famous brush-off of George Tenet’s attempt to warn her of the imminent danger of 9/11 coming up, back on July 10, 2001. This is written about in detail in Woodward’s book and yes, the State Department does say that Tenet had a special meeting about al Qaeda with Condi Rice in July of 2001. She can deny it all she wants - we won’t believe her because too many people dispute her claims and she’s a proven liar.
Will the Democrats take both houses back? Ten Senate seats are either tied or Democrats are ahead. -This is a big surprise and it all happened before Foley’s boy-page-IM scandal!
I will be at the World Can’t Wait protest Thursday, October 5. The U.S. is headed for fascism, fast and furious, and the Democrats aren’t helping, but there are millions of us to march in the streets on Thursday. JOIN US. Here is the article I mentioned in the podcast that was in Rolling Stone Magazine: Will the Next Election be Hacked? by RFK Jr.
Promos played: Avalon Farmcast, a new member of the Progressive Podcast Network, and Last of the Super Heroes which you can find at the PPN.
Music played: ‘SoULS Of ChAoS’ by Michael Burns; Koba, ‘Rise Up Move’; and ‘Support the Truth’ by Jim’s Big Ego.
submitted by Shelly of Citizen Against Lies
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