Part-Time Pundit

The “Can Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation” Conference

On May 10th and 11th, the Institute of Communications Research (www.iimpr.org) hosted a conference named “Can Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation?” The conference featured Seymour Hersh, Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman, and Danny Goldberg. I went to this conference ready to witness outrageous examples of bias, partisanship, and carping. As I expected, there was not one conservative on the panel, and it seemed that everyone there was a socialist. They discussed free press, limited debate, and media bias. I had planned to write about these issues directly, but something else happened.

While it was clear that the free press and limited debate concerns pertained only to their viewpoints, I reflected on their arguments and realized that they had many of the same fundamental complaints as conservatives. Conservatives aren’t happy about the media either, though we complain of other biases. Largely speaking, the problem of the mainstream media trying to fit everything into a six-second sound-bite is one that I agree with. They complained of the stories the media doesn’t run and I agreed. I’ve broken and will be breaking stories that no one else is touching on my blog. Why am I, a system administrator with no journalism experience whatsoever, breaking these stories? The truth is, if you want the news report of the day, you can take 5 minutes to read the GOP website and 5 minutes to read the DNC website and you’ve got all the mainstream media is going to report. This is not a good thing.

I agree that only a few corporations owning media is bad. Media consolidation has led directly to the rise of blogs. People aren’t being served by the media. Take the Social Security debate. The Republicans say the system is going bankrupt and won’t be available to the young workers, and the Democrats say changing it would harm the elderly. But these talking points are not important right now. What we should be discussing is what we want Social Security to be. Partisan debate has made this into a war about who is the biggest victim. This means no compromise is available. We need to have a discussion on what Social Security should be before we talk about fixing anything.

I left this conference feeling that conservatives, at least this conservative, share many of the same basic complaints that progressives have about the media. More importantly, I left with a sense of disappointment. It seems to me neither progressives nor conservatives feel well served by the media, and for that matter, by the two major political parties. Why we as people don’t join together to demand better is beyond me. I have absolutely no problem with progressive Indy media; I think it is a great thing. But I left this conference with the impression that the feeling is not reciprocal and that’s a shame. Democracy is best served by debate where every side of the issue is represented, not just the side you think should be the winner.

(I’ll have more to say about individual speakers later)

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | University of Illinois | one comment

Just When You Thought You Were Done with Spencer High School

Ok, here’s the deal. When you moused over Del Parker’s e-mail text you see dparker@mindspring.com, that is not D. Parker but Dave Parker. He decided to “play along” and pretend to be on the board and send out inflammatory e-mails. So because of the error on the website, he got copied on these messages and then he responded as part of the board here. It was assumed legitimate because he was on the list which we assumed to be correct. The website is getting fixed, honest mistake on my part and I probably should have checked first. Apologizes to Del Parker and school board for this mistake.

====

Attached is e-mail coorespondence with someone who was outraged and the treasurer of the school board. This is how they look on parents and children, not as someone they are serving but subjects to command and cow into obedience. Maybe you didn’t find the suspension outrageous, but this response is that much more outrageous. It’s dripping contempt for the public for having a say and a criticism of them is too much. The absolute ridicule of a servicewoman trying to talk to her son and the son who wants to talk to his mom is beyond description. This is beyond the pale and merits, this time, a call for this politician’s resignation.

> Dear Del Parker,
> http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/11575912.htm
> I sincerely hope that you and your fellow board members have a plan
where by this travesity of justice can be undone.
> I find it very hard to believe that any school which is located so
closely to, and affiliated with, a military base, would not be aware of
the tremendous sacrifice being given by the personnel assigned to that
base and the sacrifice being borne by their dependants.
> I find it hard to believe that there was an adult, let alone a school
staff member, who acted with such a callous lack of forethought.
> Do you not screen and select your management staff better than this?
> Or is this evidence of a bigger and more systemic problem in your
school district?
> I am sure there are very many service personnel in your district who
will be watching to see how you remedy this situation.
> I think you need to apologize to the young man, his mother and to the
school population as a whole for putting them in a command structure
which is devoid of good judgement.
> I’m sure you are aware that a very large number of people, all across
the United States, are watching to see what you do to rectify this
situation.
> I sincerely wish you God Speed and good insight.
> It is obvious that the latter is lacking in your appointments.
> Thank you.
> Yours truly,
> ###########
>

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Education | one comment

School Administrators Doing Something Right

I know I rail against the public schools in this space alot mostly because it is so easy to be negative as opposed to finding positive news. Well here is something good that was done by the schools. Some anti-AIDS people started giving out condoms to 10 year olds and the school stopped it as soon as it learned about it. So kudos to them.

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Education | no comments

Culture & Cosmos / Pro-Life Democrats have a plan but…

Why is it that in this pro-choice world that those who support abortion see the need to take away the choice of providers in choosing not to offer it? What’s so wrong with choice for providers when it is so good for women?

===

CULTURE & COSMOS
May 10, 2005
Volume 2, Number 40

Pro-Life Democrats Offer Mixed Bag of Proposals Designed to Reduce
Abortions

A series of legislative proposals aimed at reducing abortions by 95
percent in the next 10 years was recently announced by pro-life Democrats
at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. It is a move that may
indicate the party is taking seriously recent polling data indicating the
party’s unwavering support for abortion to be politically damaging. But
the proposal contains a provision that would require insurance companies
to provide coverage for contraceptives. Such a provision could make it
difficult for the proposal to gain the support of stalwart pro-life
Republicans that it would need to gain passage.

Called the 95-10 Initiative, it is made up of 17 individual proposals
aimed at reducing the number of abortions. The proposals are expected to
be introduced as a single piece of legislation by Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, one
of about 29 pro-life Democratic members of Congress. Jennifer Moore, a
legislative assistant to Ryan, told Culture & Cosmos that the proposal was
largely crafted by Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life
of America. The goal of ending 95 percent of abortions was arrived at
because it is thought to be the percentage of abortions obtained for
reasons other than rape, incest or the health of the mother.

The plan would attempt to encourage adoption through several
measures. It calls on tax credits for adoptive parents that are temporally
in place to be made permanent. The proposal would also require states to
create advertising campaigns that provide a toll free number “to
organizations that provide support services for pregnant women who want to
carry their children to term” or “direct women to adoption centers.” The
plan stipulates that such organizations must “not provide abortion
referral services.”

Other elements of the initiative include a requirement that insurance
companies remove pregnancy from their lists of pre-existing conditions.
The plan also calls for “grants to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations for
the purchase of ultrasound equipment to provide free examinations to
pregnant women needing such services.” Staffers at pregnancy crisis
centers report that many pregnant women decide against having an abortion
after seeing their unborn child or hearing his or her heartbeat.

The plan calls for “grants to school districts that are in need of
funds to administer effective, age-appropriate pregnancy prevention
education” which could be interpreted to mean funding for sex-ed programs.
The proposal does not state whether such programs would have to be
“abstinence only” in order to receive the funds. More disturbing to
pro-lifers is the proposal’s call for “Contraception Equity” which would
“[r]equire insurance coverage of contraception approved by the Food and
Drug Administration.” The text of the 95-10 Initiative states that the
idea is based on “Missouri legislation that was supported by both pro-life
and pro-choice groups.” But it is unclear how such a proposal could gain
pro-life support given that “the pill” can act as an abortifacient. More
broadly, some pro-life experts have noted that the widespread use of
contraception is always accompanied by an increase in abortions.

Moore said it was a positive sign that Howard Dean, president of the
Democratic National Committee, gave permission for the 95-10 Initiative to
be announced at the DNC headquarters. Since the November election some
Democrats have indicated that the party’s unqualified support for abortion
on demand should be tempered. Most notably, New York Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who is held in high reverence by radical feminists,
recently delivered a speech in which she called abortion a “tragic
choice.” Research by the liberal Democracy Corps revealed that Democrats
are losing white Catholics to the Republican Party because of the abortion
issue.

Copyright 2005—Culture of Life Foundation.
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

Culture of Life Foundation
1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-2500 Fax: (202) 289-2502
E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Friday Fax / Culture & Cosmos | no comments

MoveOn Watch: Investigate DeLay! But only DeLay!

Here’s a list of congresspeople that have committed or apparently committed the same thing DeLay has done:

Rep. Jim Clyburn
Rep. Bennie Thompson - Both on the same trip as DeLay
Sen. Gordon Smith
Sen. Don Nickles
Rep. Howard Coble
Rep. Harold Rogers
Rep. Clay Shaw
Rep. Bill Thomas
Rep. Neil Abercrombie
Rep. Norm Dicks
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Sen. Hillary Clinton who’s fundraiser crimes are in trial now
List goes on.

(Read some of it here)

But MoveOn is apparently only concerned with Tom DeLay’s ethical lapses… As usual, it isn’t the ethics that are the real udnerlying concern, but it is a convenient club to knock down someone they can’t defeat in elections. If they cared about elections they could start by demanding resignations from Clyborn and Thompson who were on the very same trip as DeLay and paid for by the very same Abramoff credit card. Call your MoveOn representatives…

====================

Report Card
Rep. Timothy Johnson’s Connections to Tom DeLay

Accepted $25,000
from Tom DeLay’s PAC

Voted 82.98%
of the time with DeLay
(980 of 1,181 votes)

Tell Rep. Johnson,
“Fire Tom DeLay!”

sign the petition

Data in the “Report Card” was compiled by Public Campaign Action Fund for its DeLay Rankings at http://www.InDeLaysPocket.com

Dear MoveOn member,

A month ago it looked like the scandals surrounding Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay couldn’t get any worse. Newspapers were breaking new stories every week about lobbyist-paid golf trips, the $500,000 paid from DeLay’s political coffers to his family, and back-room deals DeLay was cutting to save his hide.

Then, it got worse.

The latest scandal connects DeLay to sweatshops in the Mariana Islands making apparel with “Made in the USA” labeling while avoiding U.S. labor laws — exploiting Chinese immigrant labor. But a growing number of Republicans are going mute on DeLay’s ethical abuses. They’re afraid of far-right organizations — who are staunch DeLay supporters — and of retribution from DeLay himself.

The thing that will push Tom DeLay out of his leadership role is a public outcry and pressure on the Republicans who gave him that office. That’s where you come in. In a few weeks, we’re going to organize events across the nation to deliver our petition to fire Tom DeLay to the Republicans who still back him — either Republicans in Congress or the local Republican Party.

Take a moment to sign it now — the more signatures we can deliver Rep. Johnson, the more likely he is to think twice about DeLay’s leadership.

[snip link]

The tangled web of backslapping relationships between DeLay, other Republicans, and lobbyists needs to be exposed to the light. So we’ve taken the best information out there on the connections between Republican members of Congress and Rep. Tom DeLay and we’re sending it to you as your own personal “Report Card on Rep. Johnson” (see right).

After you read the report card please sign our petition and forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues. This is exactly the sort of detailed information they’re looking for and will find useful.

So far, nearly 300,000 of us have signed a petition to Congress urging them to fire Tom DeLay as Majority Leader. We want to collect at least 500,000 petition signatures before the beginning of June when Congress returns home for a week.

During the first week in June MoveOn members will deliver the petition to Republican members of Congress while they’re home. If you live in a Democratic district, we will deliver the petition to the local Republican Party headquarters. You can volunteer to get involved in the petition delivery when you sign the petition.

Please take the time now to sign our petition urging Congress to fire Tom DeLay as majority leader.

[snip link]

We need to turn the heat up on representatives about their association with DeLay. As absurd as it sounds, many Republicans are actually gathering later this week at a banquet to honor DeLay. Rep. Johnson might be one of them.

Among his offenses, Tom Delay:

* Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed

* Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules

* Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

* Helped sweatshops in the Mariana Islands at the behest of a lobbyist.

* Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor

* Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare

* Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law

* Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas

* Diverted funds from a children’s charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention

* Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don’t support Republicans

* Stacked the House Ethics Committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund

* Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him

* Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel

* Sought a rule change that would have no longer “required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted”

(See postscript below for a link to citations.)

As Majority Leader, DeLay is the second-ranking leader in the House of Representatives. He is responsible for developing the Republican issue agenda and sets the legislative schedule by selecting which bills the House will consider.

The ranks of government contractors and lobbyists who depend on this legislative authority have slathered DeLay, his cronies and related organizations with millions of dollars.

Please sign our petition today urging Congress to fire Tom Delay!

[snip link]

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Wes, Adam, Laura and the MoveOn PAC Team
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005

P.S. Here is a link to the brief that we used to document DeLay’s abuses. It includes links to news reports with the specific background on each of the assertions we make above. “DeLay’s Dirty Dozen” from the American Progress Action Fund http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=430

P.P.S. Our work in this campaign is inspired by a number of organizations who have taken the lead.

One of the best resources for information on the Tom DeLay scandals and how other members of Congress are connected to it is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee run by Rep. Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois. Visit http://www.houseofscandal.org and join their e-mail list for alerts on how to clean up Congress.

Check out the DeLay Rankings from the Public Campaign Action Fund. http://www.indelayspocket.com/

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington drafted the ethics complaint against DeLay, who then tried to have them held in contempt of Congress. http://www.citizensforethics.org/

You can make a contribution to support MoveOn PAC’s work on this and other issues by clicking on the link below. https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/donate.html

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | MoveOn Watch | no comments

COTV #138 Up

The Carnival of the Vanities #138 is up.

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Carnivals | no comments