11/19/2007
Accumulation Creep, Pt. 2
As the wife and I prepare for The Great Thanksgiving Roadtrip - laundering, packing, placating clients - I view with some alarm the lengthening list of bookmarks bulging out of my browser. Since I doubt I'll be posting again until next week because the Rural Relations (left) don't have broadband, wi-fi, or any of that newfangled stuff, I offer another hurried list of interesting links to pursue. With a few comments, natch.
Meanwhile, I'll be working on liner notes for the Steinski Retrospective on Illegal Art due in February (if my procrastination doesn't mess it up), sippin' fine, aged likker with my father-in-law, and playing with the young niece.
A happy holiday to all.
*****************************
There are a couple of interesting developments on the newsgathering/reporting/death-of-newspaper front, gathered from the latest issue of CJR.
First is news of a new investigative journalism effort started by a former managing editor at the Wall Street Journal. Scheduled to go online in 2008, you can read the ProPublica mission statement and get a bit excited in advance. The entire venture is funded by philanthropist Herbert M. Sandler. Editor & Publisher covered the opening announcement.
Voice Of San Diego is an online news effort by pro journalists attempting to reach the demographic that no longer gets info from teevee news or printed-on-paper media.
These are hopeful developments in the world of newsgathering and delivery, considering the dire straits in which most newspapers find themselves.
And according to a recent study, most information will have to be conveyed in short words and with simple pictures; think Our Current Mess as explained by The Cat In The Hat.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Also from CJR comes a spot-on essay by Brent Cunningham about the choice of language by Bush and the media in the immediate wake of 9/11. It might have been called a criminal act, but the immediate characterization of the incident as "war" did a lot to shape our response and subsequent actions.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The quote of the week comes from Anthony Campolo , a left-wing evangelist whom I suspect of being a bit too slick, but nonetheless:
"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."
Now that's religious logic I can get behind. How Would Jesus Curse?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
While normal people spend 10% of their income caring for aging relatives, the US Congress - not one of whom will ever have to spend a dime on healthcare for themselves or their families for the rest of their lives - spend their time figuring out how to take vacations, trips, and outright bribes from the "healthcare" industry, because national healthcare is communistic, socialistic, and favored by Al Qaeda.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Republican document thief and Bill Frist butt-licker gets new job from Republicans - "teaching democracy" to Iraqis. How the poor Iraqis will rejoice.
+++++++++++++++++++++
A wonderful idea. Help start the worldwide revolution over at One Laptop Per Child.
##############################
War on Drugs, War on Terror, and War on Whistleblowers.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
A Boy Scout is clean, reverent, respectful, thrifty, and very, very, very well-paid. Even better than some rappers.
This tidbit came from the investigative reporting site Extra! Extra!, where you can jumpstart your righteous anger many times over.
============================
Another example of the human cost of our Republican rule is detailed in Harper's. Warning: contains administration lies and torture. Oh, and stupidity.
**************************
US Army Torture Academy scene of protest by thousands. Hell yeah.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Selling the idea of war on Iran; it's not a matter of conviction, facts, and logic, just a simple exercise in marketing.
/////////////////////////////
No matter what sort of public relations talk they use in the media, right-wing "think tanks" and giant oil corporations are working hard to undercut any kind of reaction to this here so-called global warming nonsense. If you need an example...
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Here's a novel idea: a way to keep Congress honest.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In the deepest depths of my heart, I am actually a little old lady: