Still Fighting has moved! Check us out at
www.stillfighting.com!
December 29, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Sunday's Links
Activism
Question War. Look, the central message of the "Support Our Troops" ribbons is certainly worth supporting - the troops do need and deserve our support. But what frustrates us to no end is the simplistic jingoism that leads people to believe slapping a magnet on their car is the best way of doing so - it's worthless tokenism, bordering on mindless propaganda. Furthermore, many of these people likely believe that supporting our troops is the same as blindly supporting the administration that sent so many of them to die. Finally, someone's come up with a retort - an unwound ribbon in the shape of a question mark, urging people to "question war". Of course, there's a lot more you can do to end the war, and slapping a ribbon on your car really isn't that powerful a statement, but it's better than rear-ending that car with 87 magnets all over its bumper. Maybe one of those fools will see your ribbon and get the message. We can dream, can't we?
News
Truck Bomb Explosion in Iraq Kills 26. This is what Scooter Libby was covering up. He (and his boss) didn't want America to know that what we were getting into wasn't worth the cost. Scooter may go to jail for up to 30 years, although Cheney and Bush still walk free, but tens of thousands of people are paying for their sins with their lives. They won't go to jail. Almost all of them did nothing wrong, yet they'll be giving their lives up for this ridiculous war. And nothing's changed, as we hear Bush utter the same things, over and over again, fiddling while his empire burns. What kind of perverse logic concludes that the only way to honor death is with more death?
U.S. Quietly Issues Estimate of Iraqi Civilian Casualties. You didn't think they'd just trumpet this at a press conference, did you? Of course, it's shameful that it's not on the front page of most papers. Care to hazard a guess at the estimates? Well, using the coarse statistics provided, the estimate is that 25,902 civilians and security forces have been killed by insurgents. This doesn't count the ones killed by American troops - there's an estimate of 589 killed in Baghdad alone. The details are fuzzy because the military is only releasing estimates in the form of bar graphs, but not the underlying data, citing security issues.
Commissions Are Fine, but Rarely What Changes the Light Bulb. This is an interesting news article about presidential commissions. The reports that presidential commissions compile are rarely used. The two biggest commissions in history were the 9/11 commission and the Warren commission, and in both cases it was looked at, people said "ah," and then they went on a shelf. Most don't even get the "ah." The newest report is from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, and although the changes that are made are probably good, they won't be implemented. They'll get read by some administration official, they'll be posted on a website, and then they will be forgotten. Once again, your tax dollars are hard at work.
Editorials
News Media Profits Undermine Reporting. Michael Bugeja, posting on Nieman Watchdog, writes about how profits ultimately trump everything in the media. This shouldn't be news to anyone. After all, media outlets are corporations. They exist to make money. The idea that the press is "a mouthpiece to the public" is all well and good, but profit trumps that. Need to break a story first, but don't have all the facts? That's OK (see Newsweek). Tied to a political party, so you want to slant your reporting? That's OK too (see Fox News). "It doesn’t matter if sources are lying, spinning, manipulating, hoaxing or misinformed. Fact-checking, once routine, has been eliminated at many outlets because it cuts into productivity, resulting in cases of plagiarism at newspapers." (read: Jayson Blair). Bugeja's article is extremely well thought out, and you should definitely check it out.
Our 27 Months of Hell. Hey, remember Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV? You know, the guy who's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed and let to Scooter's resignation? Wilson has an editorial up on Truthout, in which he discusses the "27 months of hell" since Plame was outed. Wilson doesn't offer thanks that Scooter resigned, which is good, because it's not over. Wilson laments th Iraq War, because he knows that the justification for that war was "faulty," to say the least. He ends the editorial with a heartfelt sentiment: "We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology."
Blogger Commentary
Fitz’s Knuckle Ball. By now, you're all away of Libby's indictment in the Plame leak case. And we warned you that once indictments were handed down, fur would fly. The initial question is, what's really going on? Libby was indicted, and that's it? What about Rove? What about Cheney? Well, of course, because Fitzgerald is a professional, no one really knows. And we're back to the guessing game, although it's nice to have bagged Cheney's Chief of Staff. But one of the important things that Fitzgerald said (and we urge you to read the entire transcript of the press conference here) is that Libby's obstruction of justice impeded his investigation into who was actually responsible for the leak itself. This is important to note. Gadfly's article delves into some more details of the case and what's coming up. He believes that Fitzgerald's gearing up to take a shot at Cheney. Let's hope he's right!
Reform Ohio Now: By the Numbers. With all the issues surrounding Ohio in 2004, it's extremely interesting to see where the state stands now. There are four measures on the ballot next month, and of the two biggest PACs in the state, the liberal PAC (Reform Ohio Now) is far outdistancing the GOP PAC (Ohio First), in terms of total donations, average donations and total donors. Tim Tagaris does a "Harpers-style index" of the issues in Ohio, and the results are not only pretty interesting, but they lend further credence to the idea that Ohio was "stolen" in 2004.
|
December 29, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Sunday's Links
Activism
Question War. Look, the central message of the "Support Our Troops" ribbons is certainly worth supporting - the troops do need and deserve our support. But what frustrates us to no end is the simplistic jingoism that leads people to believe slapping a magnet on their car is the best way of doing so - it's worthless tokenism, bordering on mindless propaganda. Furthermore, many of these people likely believe that supporting our troops is the same as blindly supporting the administration that sent so many of them to die. Finally, someone's come up with a retort - an unwound ribbon in the shape of a question mark, urging people to "question war". Of course, there's a lot more you can do to end the war, and slapping a ribbon on your car really isn't that powerful a statement, but it's better than rear-ending that car with 87 magnets all over its bumper. Maybe one of those fools will see your ribbon and get the message. We can dream, can't we?
News
Truck Bomb Explosion in Iraq Kills 26. This is what Scooter Libby was covering up. He (and his boss) didn't want America to know that what we were getting into wasn't worth the cost. Scooter may go to jail for up to 30 years, although Cheney and Bush still walk free, but tens of thousands of people are paying for their sins with their lives. They won't go to jail. Almost all of them did nothing wrong, yet they'll be giving their lives up for this ridiculous war. And nothing's changed, as we hear Bush utter the same things, over and over again, fiddling while his empire burns. What kind of perverse logic concludes that the only way to honor death is with more death?
U.S. Quietly Issues Estimate of Iraqi Civilian Casualties. You didn't think they'd just trumpet this at a press conference, did you? Of course, it's shameful that it's not on the front page of most papers. Care to hazard a guess at the estimates? Well, using the coarse statistics provided, the estimate is that 25,902 civilians and security forces have been killed by insurgents. This doesn't count the ones killed by American troops - there's an estimate of 589 killed in Baghdad alone. The details are fuzzy because the military is only releasing estimates in the form of bar graphs, but not the underlying data, citing security issues.
Commissions Are Fine, but Rarely What Changes the Light Bulb. This is an interesting news article about presidential commissions. The reports that presidential commissions compile are rarely used. The two biggest commissions in history were the 9/11 commission and the Warren commission, and in both cases it was looked at, people said "ah," and then they went on a shelf. Most don't even get the "ah." The newest report is from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, and although the changes that are made are probably good, they won't be implemented. They'll get read by some administration official, they'll be posted on a website, and then they will be forgotten. Once again, your tax dollars are hard at work.
Editorials
News Media Profits Undermine Reporting. Michael Bugeja, posting on Nieman Watchdog, writes about how profits ultimately trump everything in the media. This shouldn't be news to anyone. After all, media outlets are corporations. They exist to make money. The idea that the press is "a mouthpiece to the public" is all well and good, but profit trumps that. Need to break a story first, but don't have all the facts? That's OK (see Newsweek). Tied to a political party, so you want to slant your reporting? That's OK too (see Fox News). "It doesn’t matter if sources are lying, spinning, manipulating, hoaxing or misinformed. Fact-checking, once routine, has been eliminated at many outlets because it cuts into productivity, resulting in cases of plagiarism at newspapers." (read: Jayson Blair). Bugeja's article is extremely well thought out, and you should definitely check it out.
Our 27 Months of Hell. Hey, remember Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV? You know, the guy who's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed and let to Scooter's resignation? Wilson has an editorial up on Truthout, in which he discusses the "27 months of hell" since Plame was outed. Wilson doesn't offer thanks that Scooter resigned, which is good, because it's not over. Wilson laments th Iraq War, because he knows that the justification for that war was "faulty," to say the least. He ends the editorial with a heartfelt sentiment: "We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology."
Blogger Commentary
Fitz’s Knuckle Ball. By now, you're all away of Libby's indictment in the Plame leak case. And we warned you that once indictments were handed down, fur would fly. The initial question is, what's really going on? Libby was indicted, and that's it? What about Rove? What about Cheney? Well, of course, because Fitzgerald is a professional, no one really knows. And we're back to the guessing game, although it's nice to have bagged Cheney's Chief of Staff. But one of the important things that Fitzgerald said (and we urge you to read the entire transcript of the press conference here) is that Libby's obstruction of justice impeded his investigation into who was actually responsible for the leak itself. This is important to note. Gadfly's article delves into some more details of the case and what's coming up. He believes that Fitzgerald's gearing up to take a shot at Cheney. Let's hope he's right!
Reform Ohio Now: By the Numbers. With all the issues surrounding Ohio in 2004, it's extremely interesting to see where the state stands now. There are four measures on the ballot next month, and of the two biggest PACs in the state, the liberal PAC (Reform Ohio Now) is far outdistancing the GOP PAC (Ohio First), in terms of total donations, average donations and total donors. Tim Tagaris does a "Harpers-style index" of the issues in Ohio, and the results are not only pretty interesting, but they lend further credence to the idea that Ohio was "stolen" in 2004.
|
December 29, 2005
Question War. Look, the central message of the "Support Our Troops" ribbons is certainly worth supporting - the troops do need and deserve our support. But what frustrates us to no end is the simplistic jingoism that leads people to believe slapping a magnet on their car is the best way of doing so - it's worthless tokenism, bordering on mindless propaganda. Furthermore, many of these people likely believe that supporting our troops is the same as blindly supporting the administration that sent so many of them to die. Finally, someone's come up with a retort - an unwound ribbon in the shape of a question mark, urging people to "question war". Of course, there's a lot more you can do to end the war, and slapping a ribbon on your car really isn't that powerful a statement, but it's better than rear-ending that car with 87 magnets all over its bumper. Maybe one of those fools will see your ribbon and get the message. We can dream, can't we?
News
Truck Bomb Explosion in Iraq Kills 26. This is what Scooter Libby was covering up. He (and his boss) didn't want America to know that what we were getting into wasn't worth the cost. Scooter may go to jail for up to 30 years, although Cheney and Bush still walk free, but tens of thousands of people are paying for their sins with their lives. They won't go to jail. Almost all of them did nothing wrong, yet they'll be giving their lives up for this ridiculous war. And nothing's changed, as we hear Bush utter the same things, over and over again, fiddling while his empire burns. What kind of perverse logic concludes that the only way to honor death is with more death?
U.S. Quietly Issues Estimate of Iraqi Civilian Casualties. You didn't think they'd just trumpet this at a press conference, did you? Of course, it's shameful that it's not on the front page of most papers. Care to hazard a guess at the estimates? Well, using the coarse statistics provided, the estimate is that 25,902 civilians and security forces have been killed by insurgents. This doesn't count the ones killed by American troops - there's an estimate of 589 killed in Baghdad alone. The details are fuzzy because the military is only releasing estimates in the form of bar graphs, but not the underlying data, citing security issues.
Commissions Are Fine, but Rarely What Changes the Light Bulb. This is an interesting news article about presidential commissions. The reports that presidential commissions compile are rarely used. The two biggest commissions in history were the 9/11 commission and the Warren commission, and in both cases it was looked at, people said "ah," and then they went on a shelf. Most don't even get the "ah." The newest report is from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, and although the changes that are made are probably good, they won't be implemented. They'll get read by some administration official, they'll be posted on a website, and then they will be forgotten. Once again, your tax dollars are hard at work.
Editorials
News Media Profits Undermine Reporting. Michael Bugeja, posting on Nieman Watchdog, writes about how profits ultimately trump everything in the media. This shouldn't be news to anyone. After all, media outlets are corporations. They exist to make money. The idea that the press is "a mouthpiece to the public" is all well and good, but profit trumps that. Need to break a story first, but don't have all the facts? That's OK (see Newsweek). Tied to a political party, so you want to slant your reporting? That's OK too (see Fox News). "It doesn’t matter if sources are lying, spinning, manipulating, hoaxing or misinformed. Fact-checking, once routine, has been eliminated at many outlets because it cuts into productivity, resulting in cases of plagiarism at newspapers." (read: Jayson Blair). Bugeja's article is extremely well thought out, and you should definitely check it out.
Our 27 Months of Hell. Hey, remember Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV? You know, the guy who's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed and let to Scooter's resignation? Wilson has an editorial up on Truthout, in which he discusses the "27 months of hell" since Plame was outed. Wilson doesn't offer thanks that Scooter resigned, which is good, because it's not over. Wilson laments th Iraq War, because he knows that the justification for that war was "faulty," to say the least. He ends the editorial with a heartfelt sentiment: "We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology."
Blogger Commentary
Fitz’s Knuckle Ball. By now, you're all away of Libby's indictment in the Plame leak case. And we warned you that once indictments were handed down, fur would fly. The initial question is, what's really going on? Libby was indicted, and that's it? What about Rove? What about Cheney? Well, of course, because Fitzgerald is a professional, no one really knows. And we're back to the guessing game, although it's nice to have bagged Cheney's Chief of Staff. But one of the important things that Fitzgerald said (and we urge you to read the entire transcript of the press conference here) is that Libby's obstruction of justice impeded his investigation into who was actually responsible for the leak itself. This is important to note. Gadfly's article delves into some more details of the case and what's coming up. He believes that Fitzgerald's gearing up to take a shot at Cheney. Let's hope he's right!
Reform Ohio Now: By the Numbers. With all the issues surrounding Ohio in 2004, it's extremely interesting to see where the state stands now. There are four measures on the ballot next month, and of the two biggest PACs in the state, the liberal PAC (Reform Ohio Now) is far outdistancing the GOP PAC (Ohio First), in terms of total donations, average donations and total donors. Tim Tagaris does a "Harpers-style index" of the issues in Ohio, and the results are not only pretty interesting, but they lend further credence to the idea that Ohio was "stolen" in 2004.
