11/11/2005

talking about the common ills

mike just called. he and nina are already in line for the movie they're going to see but he asked me if i'd do something for him? surely.

he meant to note a favorite entry from the common ills tonight and forgot. he's trying to remember to do that and the reason for that is the first year anniversary of the common ills is coming up and he knows c.i. won't make anything out of it.

79,651 views of c.i.'s profile. pretty impressive. but i actually just pulled it up because they used to tell you how many posts you'd done (and they used to give a sample, a few lines, of about 4 posts and also tell your weekly average number of posts). i'm not sure when they stopped providing all that information. my plan was to note how many posts c.i. had done. i'm sure it's over a thousand by now.

and i should note that the posts includes members like ruth, isaiah, kat, gina, dallas, billie, shirley ... members make the common ills, c.i. always says that and it's true.

i log on and i get to write about whatever i want to. that's never the case for c.i. after elaine told me last thanksgiving that c.i. was the 1 doing the site she kept telling me to visit, i went there right away. that's what friends are for, as dionne, stevie, gladys and elton sang.

but before i started my site, i was pestering elaine to start 1. and i would talk to c.i. about it and how could we get elaine to do 1. i wasn't thinking about doing 1 then. but 1 thing that came up was the issue of water privatization and c.i.'s very big on that issue and how we need to pay attention to it. c.i. was hoping to write about that topic. it still hasn't happened. it will soon be a year and it still hasn't happened.

that's because members (and i'm one) will write in and say 'c.i., no 1's talking about ___ and this is really important to me because ___' and that becomes the thrust of the entry.

c.i. planned a site and it's not anything like what it was planned. it was going to be common sense based and that's remained. but otherwise, what the common ills is nothing like what was planned. in the original days, you could post comments. but back then, you had to be a member of blogger to post comments at the site. c.i. figured out how to allow anonymous posts and switched that but by that point, the community gathering had already decided no to comments.
that was at least partly because idiots kept dropping by. 2 in particular who were 'centrist' dems and would say idiotic things like 'there's nothing more beautiful than a blue dog democrat' or some sort of nonsense.

1 thing c.i. believed firmly in was that it would be a work safe environment because a friend of c.i.'s got a verbal warning at their job for visiting a site - what site? the washington post. it was when the post quoted cheney using the f word.

keesha was 1 of the 1s saying 'lose the comments' the most loudly. c.i. was trying to figure out how to do that (you change it to 'do not allow comments') but new to blogger's program and to blogging. (back then, it was a blog.) then some 1 posted a comment that had nothing to do with the topic but was advertising a porn site with all these graphic terms and c.i. shut down the comments because something like that could get some 1 in trouble at work.

members weren't interested in going through a ton of comments. they wanted to read a voice.

that was the other change. gina was especially fond of saying 'oh it's oprah time!' in the early days because c.i. would say something like 'i disagree with _-- in the times' and that was it. c.i. had let it rip a few times by this point and members knew it could be funny or to the point or both and that's what they wanted.

that is so not c.i. c.i. wants time to reflect. if you ask c.i. a question, expect the answer to be a question. that's a given. a lot of times those questions are too narrow down what you are asking because it may be a broad category and c.i. may be attempting to zone in on what you're really wanting.

but 'snap' analysis really isn't c.i.'s thing. but that's what the community wanted and c.i. listens to the community.

members see c.i. as the voice of the community and that's a huge burden. i wouldn't want that burden. i can write something here and if i piss you off i'm not overly concerned if it's something i really believe in. if c.i. upsets even 1 member, there's a back and forth of attempting to find a common ground and figure out how to address something better the next time it arises.

it's a huge responsibility and c.i. never whines about. i wasn't even aware of it for the longest time. it's something that would come up in discussions at the third estate sunday review. if a member had an issue that they'd e-mailed c.i. about, c.i. would say 'okay, you can do this but i can't be a part of it because ___ has an issue and . . .'

i prefer saying it the way i say it, hopefully they'll get over it. but c.i.'s got to be the voice speaking for every members.

it's not all negative. members (and i'm 1) love c.i. and the closeness they feel (which is shared by c.i. towards them) is incredible bond. and members have c.i.'s back.

but along with that and other positives come a lot of negatives because that's how i see them.

so a year's around the corner and what has c.i. done?

i think the most amazing thing c.i. has done is be a strong voice against the war. after the election, you saw a lot of groups and people drop the war issue. you saw moveon.org ... move on.
c.i. didn't. the common ills has spoken out strongly against the war and strongly insisted that the troops need to come home because this american led occupation only inflames the tensions. c.i. raised the stakes for others who might want to be mild.

and kids were looking for a strong voice. i think it was february 2003 when c.i. began speaking to student groups and that was as a favor to a friend who's schedule changed and c.i. was asked to fill in for 6 weeks. it was still going on during the election. and after the election, the day after, when we were all depressed, c.i. got up and gave the most inspirational speech that had us all jazzed. but because c.i. had spent about 20 months speaking to students all over there was no need for a focus group or a poll.

so when the common ills took off with college students immediately, it wasn't a surprise.

and while c.i. cares about the feelings of members, c.i.'s not about to stay silent. we saw that when c.i. took on the myth of simon rosenberg is a shoe in for dnc chair and a hero and all the other crap that was all over the net.

it is hard to be an independent voice while also factoring in the issues of a huge community, but c.i. manages to swing it.

and day in, day out, the common ills has been there. c.i. might have to dictate entries over the phone to a few trusted friends and lord knows when there's time for sleep, but day in and day out, the common ills has been there.

the community has grown and grown. and even at the beginning it wasn't just college students. you've had eli, ruth and you've had other adults of various ages.

and it's the site that has spawned other sites. i was the first spin off. then came the third estate sunday review (jim, dona, ty, jess and ava), then a winding road by folding star who gave up on the hassles of blogging in july for a variety of reasons, then betty with thomas friedman is a great man, then kat decided to start kat's korner in addition to her cd reviews at the common ills, then mike started mikey likes it, then cedric started cedric's big mix, then elaine started like maria said paz, then seth started seth in the city and then wally started the daily jot. the common ills spawned 10 sites, 9 that are still going.

it also spawned the uk computer gurus biweekly newsletter and the gina and krista round-robin which publishes every friday as well as doing special editions when needed.

my favorite entry? that's always a hard thing to pin down but i think i'll go with 'should this marriage be saved?' and i'm sure that as soon as this posts, i'll kick myself and say, 'rebecca! you should have picked ___!'

that's it for tonight. i've spent a lot of time on this entry. i'll try to grab time to do a sex post soon. in fact, i know what i want. let's do 1 on sex and music. what i need from you is to know what your favorite make out song is. so weigh in if you've got 1.










Posted by at

11/10/2005

hanging out with a friend

starting late because t called me this afternoon to say she never sees me lately and so i went into the city to visit.

i'm not 1 of those women who dumps her friends because she's going out with some guy. but my saturdays are usually focused on the third estate sunday review and last week, we (my ex, mike, mike's mother, elaine and i) went to nyc for the world can't wait rally there. so i've been busy and am fortunate to have friends who will say, 'i don't see you anymore.'

t and i hung out her place listening to music, fooling around on the internet and just having fun.

1 think i found out is that my site is worthless.

there's this thing you can go to and put in your web address and it will tell you the value of your site. it's a technorati thing and despite doing tags and putting their code on this page - you can see it on the right - and using their manual ping, they have never registered any of the tags i do.
it's the same way with elaine and cedric too, by the way.

so i don't take it seriously especially with the big kick up in e-mails lately.

but i thought i'd share that because we were laughing about it.

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/, is worth $0.00

in fact let me do all the community sites.


How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/, is worth $0.00

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/, is worth $0.00

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/, is worth $0.00

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, thedailyjot.blogspot.com/, is worth $0.00

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, sethinthecity.blogspot.com/, is worth $2,258.16

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/, is worth $2,822.70


How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/, is worth $5,080.86
Here's a button you can put on your blog: (the HTML is below)


How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/, is worth $8,468.10

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, thecommonills.blogspot.com/, is worth $20,887.98

so those are the stats.

i'm glad the common ills came out so well but c.i. would be the 1st to laugh at that nonsense.

i'll toss out ron because i think he reached a milestone recently of 100,000 visitors.

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Your blog, whyareweback.blogspot.com/ , is worth $0.00

ron, we better pack it in, we're worthless. as soon as i'm done with my boxes, i'll loan them to you.

i'm joking. atrios also comes out as worth zero and a number of other sites t and i checked on.

obviously ron has visitors. it's a silly thing.

t found it while we were playing around online and we checked my site 1st and burst out laughing.

i think it has to do with whether technorati reads your tags or not and they don't read mine. but it has to have something else as well because betty posts no more than twice a week and mike posts five or six times a week. both of their tags are read by techonrati on their sites.

here's their 'in depth explanation:'

How Much Is My Blog Worth?
Inspired by Tristan Louis's research into the value of each link to Weblogs Inc, I've created this little applet using Technorati's API which computes and displays your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal.

t and i went through a long list of sites and were about to give up because every 1 was coming up as zero when t said 'check the common ills' so we did and were happy that it was judged as worth something. (seriously, c.i. works like crazy - reading and answering e-mails and also posting which sometimes requires dictating them over the phone. c.i. hasn't missed a day and it's almost the first year anniversary of that site.)

but it's meaningless.

t had the new wallflowers cd (she's just moved in a new lover) and i didn't even know the wallflowers had a new cd out.

so we were just foolling around on the net and playing music and chatting. a totally frivilous evening is what c.i. would call it if it was c.i.'s evening.

but it's important to let off steam and to catch up with friends and t's 1 of my best friends.

sherry wondered how we met? when t and i met she was with a company i was doing pr for. she was very lively and after i was done with the press campaign, i kept in touch with her. e-mails and quick phone calls. then 1 day we bumped into each other at a bookstore and went out to grab something to eat. i was surprised she was so miserable at her job because she was always full of energy and just so positive. she said that was the company mask.

so we were talking and she mentioned that she'd thought about doing hair when she was 'younger.' i said she wasn't old now and she should go for it. apparently no 1 told her that because after a few minutes of 'no, i'm too old' she started thinking about it. i was her test case throughout beauty school and most of the time it worked out pretty well. when it didn't, i'd just pull it into a pony tail. by the time she got her lic. she was the most gifted stylist i've ever known and that's because she loves doing hair.

i told her about sherry's e-mail and we talked about that tonight.

she said at the company she had worked at, she was always having to figure out whose ass to kiss which day and trying to determine the line of how much input do they really want and how much don't they want. plus she didn't believe in the stuff they were making and didn't feel appreciated.

she likes being her own boss and she cleans up now because she's established and her tip money is so huge. she kept asking if i thought any 1 would find that interesting, i do, and said if i did write about it to put in that if there's any point to her story it's that if you're job's making you miserable and there's something you wish you were doing instead, take a chance and go for it.

i think t has many stories worth telling but i agree that's an important 1.

like a lot of e-mails that come into the site, she asked the question - am i getting back with my ex-husband.

i honestly don't know. we enjoy spending time together. we care about each other. but it's also true that the holidays are bearing down on us and whether that has anything to do with it or not, i don't know.

i'll say 'we're dating' and that's as far as i'll go. actually, i'll go further. we are having sex often.
t asked me why i wasn't talking about hotties lately and i said i'd been busy and trying to focus on some other stuff here. she said good because she was afraid from visiting here and from the few times we've talked on the phone lately that i might be becoming a prude since i hadn't talked about sex in some time. i told her i'd make friday's entry about sex or at least partly which seemed to satisfy her.

a part of me feels like i need to note something in the news tonight. but there's another part of me that says 'no, don't.'

because friends are important and i know i've mentioned t many times here as well as elaine and c.i. and other friends but i don't know that i've ever done an entry that could be seen as just about relaxing with a friend. that's important too.

we basically laughed, ate, drank, listened to music and caught up.

she put on carole king's writer which is a good cd but i told her 'geez, t, are you turning into a white woman!' we laughed at that because she was mainly playing her girlfriend's music. so she pulled out the bootsy collins and, for me, some otis.

the bully boy did come up. it's hard for him not as he destroys our world a little more with each passing day. iraq came up as well.

t's thoughts there are bring the troops home and let iraq get down to the business of self-rule.
she doesn't think that will happen since we're setting up permanent bases, but that was what she thought needed to happen. (and i agree.)

she's reading a cookbook by maya angelou. i had no idea maya had done a cookbook. (it's a little more than your average cookbook.) the food we ate was from the book and if it hadn't been so late when i left, i would've tried to pick up a copy at a bookstore.

and since we were eating food cooked according to maya's instructions, we listened to been found. i don't know how many people know about the cd. it's ashford & simpson with maya.

so that's what i've done this evening and tonight. we were just being silly. like grabbing hairbrushes and singing along with carole king on 'up on the roof.'

and i'm tossing this up quick because it'll be midnight in about 10 minutes and i don't want any 1 to write elaine griping that rebecca didn't blog on 'thursday.'









t

Posted by at

11/09/2005

news from democracy now

here are 3 things from democracy now so don't say i don't do my part to get the word out.

"UN General Assembly Votes To End U.S. Embargo of Cuba"
And for the fourteenth consecutive year, the U.N. General Assembly has cast a near unanimous vote calling on the United States to end its four-decade old embargo against Cuba. The vote passed with a record 184 countries in favor. Only the United States, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands voted against. United States envoy to the U.N. Ronald Godard said: "If the people of Cuba are jobless, hungry, or lack medical care, as Castro admits, it's because of his economic mismanagement."

i don't know what to say on that 1. it bothers me and i can't believe that we've decided, for 40 years, to push through this embargo. the republicans, not the 1s in office, are supposed to be 'realists' - realism means that henry kissinger can justify human rights violations and possibly help aid them because we need to be 'realistic.' so here's some realism - fidel castro is an old man. a really old man. at some point, he will die. the 'realistic' thing to do, would be to begin to build bridges with cuba so that when a new leader is in place we can attempt to have a more civil relationship.

my own personal feelings are that we hate fidel because he survived the cold war and our assassination attempts as well as our character smears. we're often a proud to the point of blind nation. (sometimes we're much worse when we've got a bully boy at the wheel.)

to move this away from castro, there are people in cuba, there are people here. you'd think after 40 years we'd have a found a way to interact in a civil manner.

"CIA Official Discloses Agency’s Budget"
In other intelligence news, a CIA official appears to have disclosed the agency’s budget -- long a national secret. At an intelligence conference in San Antonio last week, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection Mary Margaret Graham, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.

eli's big on this item because we've never been told the budget. did it slip out? eli e-mailed about that. he wonders if it slipped out or if this is an attempt at disinformation - which the cia is so good at?

what are we getting for our money? that's the question i'd ask. i'd also, were i a senator, insist that the budget be publicly disclosed. if i couldn't get a figure, i'd block funding until i did.

"2nd Lawyer in Hussein Trial Assassinated"
For the second time in three weeks, a defense lawyer in the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and other former regime officials has been assassinated. Adel Muhammad al-Zubaidi was killed instantly when gunmen shot his car in the Baghdad suburb of Adel. Another lawyer suffered serious injuries and was taken to a U.S. military hospital. Members of Hussein’s defense team renewed calls to move the trial out of Iraq. The Iraqi Bar Association said it would maintain a boycott of the trial it announced after Hussein lawyer Sadoun al-Janabi was killed October 20th, just 36 hours after he had appeared at opening proceedings.

iraq. what can you say? this is what we've done. we haven't brought freedom, liberation, stability or safety. aren't we proud?

yesterday elaine wrote a really strong thing about falluja so be sure to read that.

i also want to recommend kat's review of stevie wonder's a time to love.





Posted by at

11/08/2005

the things humor can accomplish

if you watched democracy now today then you already know it's the one year anniversary of the slaughter of falluja.

remember when a reporter - or 'reporter' - like dexter filkins could spit out whatever the military whispered in his ear and not get called on his crap?

those days are over.

i was talking to betty today to tell her how much i loved her latest chapter at thomas friedman is a great man and she was pulling an ava & c.i. by saying, 'it is so awful.' it's not awful at all, it's funny and you should check it out. from 'From buffets to smokes:'

As I often do when Thomas Friedman's windbag still has a plentiful supply of air, I imagined a better life, one without him, one where people talked about real events and real people. Not made up visits to places and made up people who never existed. A place where no one passed off something as tired as "The World Is Flat" as pithy or worldly. Such a place has to exist, right?

i think betty makes a difference by using humor to make points. it's something that funny people can do. ava and c.i. do it every week with their tv reviews. here's 1 that's a favorite of sherry's and my apologies because it just hit me today that sherry asked me to post this 2 days before i took my vacation. i'm sorry, sherry, i had a lot on my mind and didn't even remember until today when i was flipping channels and saw some footage of a press conference. this tv review was ava and c.i. evaluating bully boy's big prime time press conference.

"TV Review: Make Room for Bully"
After two weeks of body wash operettas, it was like a spray of Axe on our skins to watch something where thirty-year-olds didn't pretend to be high schoolers. And we were so excited to discover that Tuesday night would feature a brave programming choice in a nation grown timid -- Make Room for Bully!
That's what we dubbed it because, honestly, we must have missed the opening credits. Our apologies to our loyal readers for that but, believe us, no one regrets that more than we do. We've tried to imagine the theme song that played over those opening credits:

He's screwed up Afghanistan
Turned Iraq into the killing land
Make Room for Bully
Make Room for Bully
Bully Boy is on his way.

We pictured that theme playing while he wonders around the oval office, shaking hands, flipping the bird and choking on pretzels. We especially liked the choking on the pretzel because it would be kind of like when Dick Van Dyke would trip during the opening credits of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Tuesday was innovative television like we haven't seen since Julia Louis Dreyfuss tried to do her show in real time. Make Room for Bully appeared to run in real time as well. And no laugh track! It takes a brave spirit to put on a sitcom without the canned laughter. You're never sure if the folks watching at home will get it if you don't have laughs-a-plenty blasting through their speakers.
The star, fortunately, is a natural born comedian. We were confused early on but finally figured out it was Timothy Bottoms in the lead. (Again, we missed the opening credits.) He's gifted. He didn't break character once.
Our biggest laugh early on was when he said this line:

The troops here and across the world are fighting a global war on terror.

The troops here are fighting! We were rolling! Only someone parodying the Bully Boy could make such an idiotic comment with a straight face! What? We're under martial law?

It got better. He followed that with:

The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001.

See, there Timothy Bottoms and the writers were sending up the real Bully Boy's incessant attempts to make a connection between 9-11 and Iraq. That seemed a little unfair, maybe even a cheap shot, because, in real life, Bully Boy did admit there was no connection so even he wouldn't dare try to trick the people again. Would he?
Regardless, this was really strong, social commentary comedy. And we started wondering if Larry Gelbart had returned to television? Take, for example, this moment when Bottoms said, "After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again."
We can imagine the protests letters from the fright wing on that. I mean Bottoms (as Bully) is admitting that he did nothing before the attacks of 9-11. (Well, he "waited.") Bottoms (as Bully) is admitting that only after the attacks did he make a committment to national security. That was pointed commentary.
We're sure lines like that scared off the sponsors (the program aired commercial free).We're sorry that the emperor has no clothes but don't blame the comedy writers for sending up the obvious.
And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our armed forces.
No higher calling? A line like that only works because in real life the Bully Boy has made statements like that about teachers and mothers and assorted other groups before. It's completley meaningless and for the writers to put it in the part where Bottoms is talking about the lives lost (and saying he's seen "the pictures" -- not of coffins!) makes it especially biting and strong.
Bottoms is giving empty lip service (he captured that perfectly!) when reciting the lines on "sacrifice." The character he's playing is infamous not just for "Bring it on" but also for the "brave" sacrifice of giving up sweets when Operation Enduring Falsehood began. Judging by the size of the Bully's gut during the 2004 campaign, that's just one more promise he broke.
Here are the words of Osama bin Laden.That line may have crossed the line since in real life Bully Boy's gone from "Wanted Dead or Alive" to "Who cares?" But we think with brave writing, you give a little leeway to the ones willing to go out on limb since so many people just recycle the obvious. Here were writers trying to send up the Bully Boy and coming up with things that even he would never say.
Yes, we're focusing a great deal on the writing -- that's because there really wasn't much action. Bottoms basically stood at the podium for about an hour. The extras they got to play the crowd were perfection. If only the real Bully Boy's speech could be greeted with such silence, huh? Would that not say once and for all that the tide has turned, hit the lights and go home because Bully Boy is so out of here?
Bottoms deserves an Emmy. He not only had the mannerisms down (from the idiotic blank expression to that smug smile), he also demonstrated the core of the character: a man completely divorced from reality, willing to resort to any lie to fool the people.We do have some concerns about future episodes. The real-time thing has never really worked (even with the drama 24, you're talking about a specialized audience -- read "small"). It was a bravo performance from Bottoms. Okay, we saw it, we know he can do it. Now stick to rounding out the supporting cast.
Obviously Bully's the madcap one, so he needs a sidekick who's a little more serious and a lot more prissy. We think they should create a character named Cheney who goes around hiding maps of the Middle East and stroking his stuffed cat that he calls Boo-Boo Kitty WMD. We think Jonathan Winters would be perfection in the role.
Yeah, it's a steal from Laverne & Shirley but imagine the opening credits as they skip down Pennsylvania Avenue singing "Give us any treaty we'll break it . . ."And think of how humorous it would be if Bottoms had a big "B" on all his outfits. Especially if they dressed him up in military garb! The AWOL Bully in military garb would bring the house down. It would be "high-larious" to use a word none of the kids are saying but What I Like About You tries to convince us they are.
The biggest obstacle we can see is the lack of sex appeal. We're sure Bottoms tickled everyone's funny bone Tuesday night but with that squat figure and the hair that screams "I Remember Mama!" we're just not sure that people would tune in each Tuesday. There's got to be some eye candy and, frankly, what we saw on our screens Tuesday night was physically repugnant, if not repulsive.
So we started wondering who they could bring on to up the sex quotient?
Then we remembered that Nick Lachey. He truly has no career beyond serving as a display model for Jessica Simpson. So what about Lachey?
He's already guested on Hope & Faith this year as well as Charmed. We suggest that they bring him on. (Bring Him On! We even amuse ourselves!) Granted, with his fading teen-throb looks and stiff mannerism, there's not much he'd be believable as. Then we remembered how a certain hairball was all the rage in the nineties until he became All Too Human and now hosts a chat & chew. Maybe a character who had something to do with the press would work for Lachey?
We were just brain storming and trying to come up with the wildest premise, high concept comedy, when we thought, "What if he regularly attends press conferences and asks really stupid questions?" Okay, it could work (and wouldn't require Lachey to stretch as an "actor"), but what's the back story?
Here's the high concept part, he's not really a reporter! No, he's not. He's a male porn star. Maybe a male prostitute!Now we know that seems unbelievable and could never happen -- a male prostitute/porn star in a White House press conference! -- but comedy is about inflating reality. So suspend your disbelief and just picture Lachey in that role. We even have a name for the character: Jeff Guckert! "Guckert!" It's got yucks all over it (at least we hope those are yucks) -- just saying it makes you laugh.
So we've got the sidekick Cheney (Winters) and we've got the sex appeal factor with Guckert (Lachey). But we needed a strong first season storyline to make sure that the show gets picked up for the fall. What could the story arc be? We thought of a coming out episode for the Bully but Ellen's already 'been there, done that, shocked the Baptists.' So what's left? We finally had to put the storyline arc on hold and focus on something else. But that was okay because our brainstorming had underscored how Bottoms would be playing a character who repeatedly screws up. That means we need a catch phrase!
Fonzie had "Aaaay." Arnold had, "What you talking 'bout Willis?" Dee had "I'm telling!" What could be Bully's catch phrase?
We had trouble with this one. Maybe when ever things lagged, this was one idea, Bully could start nosing around the basement apartment he shares with Cheney and saying dopey things like, "Those weapons of mass destruction have to be around here somewhere." But then we thought, "Surely no one would be stupid enough to laugh at that." Not after all the lives lost, right? No one would, right? They'd be embarrassed to show their face if they laughed at that, right?
So what about, if every time the show lagged, Bottoms turned to the camera (a la Norman Fell) and asked, "What Downing Street Memo?" We think it would bring the house down, show after show.
Bottoms proved Tuesday night that he's perfectly captured the Bully Boy's essence (aggressive posturing and little activity in the brain). But we worry that if the show isn't fleshed out with other characters and other sets, it's a one trick pony. We hope that Gelbart, or whomever was behind the hilarity on Tuesday, we'll give serious consideration to bringing on a supporting cast. Maybe a someone who worships the boss and always almost calls him her "husband" while sporting a hair cut that appears to be a homage to Peanut's Lucy?
We finally did figure out the season one arc that would make the network pick up the show for this fall: impeachment!All season long, Bottoms would play the bumbling fool and all around him people would be revealed to be liars (and worse) as we worked up to the season ending cliffhanger where Bottoms gets told the House has just voted to impeach him. As the shot tightens, Bottoms turns to the camera and says "What Downing Street Memo?" Freeze frame, stamp on production credit and then a dissolve.
posted by Third Estate Sunday Review @ Sunday, July 03, 2005

c.i. always says 'don't knock the mock' and i agree. i think that humor can be used for a number of purposes and 1 of the things about humor like the humor above is it can expose the frauds and liars for what they are. we need more activism and we need more laughs - when the 2 are combined, it can be very powerful.




Posted by at

11/07/2005

public access, web tv

a few e-mails came in about elaine's 'Still blogging' from friday. people were wondering if i laughed at the parts elaine thought i would? yes, i did.

here's a part of it:

I went to the one in NYC with Rebecca, Mike, Mike's mother and "Fly Boy" (as Mike has dubbed Rebecca's ex-husband). Not having Rebecca's large breasts (trust me, she'll laugh when she reads that), I wasn't able to just pull on a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. I wore a medium hell and grew to regret that as the day wore on. My feet were killing me by the time I got back and, though excited by the day, I was also tired and figured the smartest thing would be to just get some sleep. (Rebecca would say, "How very non C.I. of you!")

i did laugh. we always joke about it. but i did not laugh about the way elaine presents herself as 'plain jane.' she's not. she's very beautiful. she's tall, long waisted, beautiful bone structure, gorgeous skin. she's like audrey heburn only taller. i didn't read her post until sunday but when i read it, i got on the phone and balled her out for acting like she was 'plain jane approximately.'

that's the only thing that bothered me. we joke all the time, elaine, c.i. and i. but i don't like her acting like she's nothing special because she's very beautiful.

something i caught up on this morning was a post c.i. did last night called 'Your responses to "Show The War, Tell The Truth".' danny schechter wrote a piece called 'MediaChannel Appeal: Join Us In A "Show The War, Tell The Truth" Campaign' and c.i.'s piece was summing up members feelings. here's one section of c.i.'s post:

75 members, with Brandon being the most vocal on this, felt that the weekly program should come with video. Brandon cited the success he has at work with Democracy Now! People will walk by his cubicle while he's watching it online and they'll stop to watch as well. Brandon also listens to audio programs and doesn't see a similar response even when that program is Democracy Now! which he'll listen to when he can't get the video stream to work.
Brandon feels visuals are important and 74 others agree with him. Most, like Brandon, cited Danny's work on 20/20.

and that reminded me of something i saw on c-span awhile back. it was from booknotes and from when amy goodman was the guest. the booknotes program was june 6, 2004 and was called 'The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them by Amy Goodman:'


LAMB: Is there any way to characterize how much it costs to do "Democracy Now" for a year?
GOODMAN: I don't know the exact budget. I'll just say it is a fraction of the corporate networks, to say the least, but it is a team of absolutely remarkable producers, who are just completely committed. It's both television and radio, we are the only ones doing that daily, and the first daily national public broadcast on radio and television at the same time. And it`s really opened up a new world going to television.
First of all, most people -- people get most of their news from television, so it is very important. Images really matter. And to be able to broadcast the images, for example, of war, and we talk about this in the book, to counter the sanitized media, is very, very important. People listen to radio, won't even know that the images are going by. But people who watch television see the film and photos of the independent journalists who are out there, videographers and photographers, and also corporate -- those who work for the networks who don't get some of this stuff on their stations. It's very important. I'm not for reality television, except when it comes to war. Then I am for showing exactly what's happening.
LAMB: When it comes to money, on this book, are you taking the money yourself?
GOODMAN: No, the royalties are for "Democracy Now," which is a nonprofit.
LAMB: Why don't you take it yourself?
GOODMAN; Because I want to shore up independent media. In fact, we're on a more than 70-city book and media tour, called "The Exception to the Rulers" tour. And we are going from independent radio station to independent radio station. We started in BAI, big fund-raiser for WBAI, headed on the 55th anniversary of Pacifica. KPSA, to a big celebration there, and made our way to Los Angeles. And each of these -- Los Angeles, 2,000 people came out. Minneapolis, KFAI, the big community radio station there. We did a big fund-raiser; 1, 500 people came out.
And I think it is about a tremendous hunger for independent voices. People hungry for, searching for not the views of a fringe minority, as I was saying. I mean, I have come to think about the corporate networks in this way. You have all of these pundits -- actually, it`s a very small group of them -- who know so little about so much. I'm beginning to think they sit in a room and they just change the logo throughout the day, CBS, NBC, ABC. Now, they are wringing their hands. How did we get it so wrong about weapons of mass destruction? Why not invite someone into the studios who got it right and who got it right more than a year ago when it mattered? Who was questioning the credibility of the so-called intelligence?
And I'm not talking about just people outside the system, outside the establishment. But people in the establishment. People in the intelligence agencies who were saying, no, we are being manipulated, the intelligence is being misrepresented. I'm talking about military families who are asking very serious questions, and now so many servicemen and women have been lost.

i emphasized the section that i felt backed up the point brandon was making.

i'd love to tell you that i weighed in via e-mail or even on the phone with c.i. but i didn't. but i really think the suggestions were accurate. danny schechter has the experience and talent to really do an amazing weekly online program.

i prefer watching democracy now. if i was going to miss it on television and was near a radio, i would turn on the radio but i try to arrange my day so that i don't miss it. i usually watch it twice honestly. once with my morning coffee and the new york times and then when i've woken up and gotten my blood pumping, i'll watch it again.

which reminds me that there was something i wanted to note from democracy now:

Public Access TV Stations Plan Protest Tonight
And public access TV stations across the country are planning on stopping programming tonight in protest of new Congressional legislation that could lead to the elimination of public access television. At 9 p.m. eastern-standard time, scores of stations are planning to air one minute of snow. Anthony Riddle of the Alliance for Community Media said "this snowstorm is to remind communities what could be lost if new cable legislation before Congress is not fixed to protect the wonderful community channels we have all come to know and love."

i get it on the local npr and i get it on satellite. but there are areas where people who watch do so via public access and if you're 1 one of those people, you need to be contacting your congress members. i think you should contact any way because public access is community tv and we need it.

you can go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ and enter your address and zip - it will give you contact info on your reps and you can let them know that public access tv matters to you.

public access matters and i think we also need more web programming. so hopefully danny schechter and media channel will think about producing a program. i think it would be a great calling card for their site that would bring in new traffic and help get the word out on realities in iraq.






Posted by at

11/06/2005

the boy pretties with so little to offer

c.i. asked me if i'd seen any of seth's post last week? i read the 1 on wednesday but i hadn't read the 1 from friday. i think my readers might enjoy friday's especially so i will note it here, it's called 'e-mails:'

I have an e-mail from a reader wondering which of the TV reviews on Third Estate Sunday Review is my very favorite. That's a tough question, because each weekend those reviews are truly the highlight of my Sunday morning. I'm going to have to be honest and say that my favorite is whichever one I'm reading on any given Sunday morning, and last weekend's review of Freddie was no exception!I laughed so hard while reading it, and as with all of CI and Ava's reviews, I recognized so much truth amid the humor. This one especially rang true, because Freddie Prinze Jr was totally the sort of blandly sexy, safe crush I used to have a few years back! Of course, for me he was even then always overshadowed by others. I mean, you can't watch I Know What You Did Last Summer and come away with any other male image in mind besides Ryan Phillippe's locker room shower/towel scene!
Speaking of Ryan, my ultimate crush of days gone by, I recently saw the movie Crash. I have to tell you, I was seriously impressed with the film itself, and with most of the performances. It's one of those all too rare films that really makes you think, and not just for a few minutes after the film ends. I think it's one of the best films dealing with the realities of racism in this country that I've ever seen. So if you haven't seen it, you should really think about renting it.
With that said, Ryan Philippe looked oh so pretty as always, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't still gladly take him to bed for a meaningless fling. But as usual, his performance was all surface. It just stood out more in a film where he was working with some truly talented actors, and which called for some real depth on his part.
Maybe one of these days, Ryan will end up trying to salvage his career with a TV show. Maybe he could even go back to his roots, having once played a gay teen character on the soap One Life to Live. Ryan's performances, based so much on looking hot while he fails to emote, are a staple of daytime TV these days. Someone should do him a favor and slip him the casting director's number at Passions.

and speaking funny tv reviews, ava and c.i. review bones and there's a new edition of the third estate sunday review up so check that out.



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illustration for the third estate sunday review done by isaiah. Posted by Picasa
Posted by at

11/04/2005

the summer became the fall

this is a friday post. consider yourself lucky. elaine called every 1 today saying she'd gotten about 100 e-mails asking why the community wasn't blogging and everyone's going to try to get something up tonight. anything.

hello, i have been blogging! i don't think i missed a day this week.

but you had people participating in the world can't wait events and that was a midweek thing. i am fully aware that c.i. crawled from the sick bed to the computer day after day at the start of the week but not every 1 has that kind of determination.

people write when they can.

i'll write a little about victim of romance. if you missed it, c.i. reffed a song from michelle phillips' victim of romance this week. it was in 'other items' and i'll grab it and copy it here.

There's a "White House Memo" that Carl e-mails about. He wonders whether it will get the sort of ridicule that it deserves and that a "White House Letter" by Elisabeth Bumiller would? Good question.
It's entitled "Press Secretary on Trial in the Briefing Room" and attempts to provide you with the crashing waves that have threatened the love tunnel that exists between the press and Scott McClellan. Stretch praises him. Elite Fluff Patrol squad member Richard W. Stevenson blows air kisses. See, Scotty said Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren't involved in the outing of Valerie Plame and now that the "public record" demonstrates that this false, poor Scotty and poor press just aren't sure, as Dionne Warwick once sang, what to do with themselves.
It's a tough time for both sides. All those expectations. All those laughs. Could it all be coming to end? He fed them, they stroked him. It was a mutal love affair born of self-interests on both sides. So Stevenson uses terms like "unwilling or unable" (is he charting on patients?) to attempt to explain the bind Scotty finds himself in (although it applies equally as well to what passes for the press). If Scotty comes out and speaks the truth (highly unlikely considering the administration he serves in), Karl Rove might go ballistic on him.
What's Scotty to do?
Stevenson frets and worries.
It's all so very "Victim of Romance:"
Homeroom studyhall
I knew that I was gonna fall
Late at night I weep
Mumble in my sleep
Yeah knock on wood
Say I never felt so good
Heaven above
It must be love
Victim
Victim
I'm a victim of romance
Sing it, Stevenson, sing it!
("Victim of Romance" is written by John Martin. I'll plug Michelle Phillips' version which is available on the album of the same name and which Hip-O Select released this year on CD.)
"A member of a prominent Texas political family, he was viewed by many reporters when he took the job as genial and straightforward but difficult to knock off the White House's talking points," Stevenson all but sobs into pillow.
Stevenson reassures us that, in all the madness, Scotty's high roaded it and "has instead appealed to the better instincts of his journalistic inquisitors." Yes, he can't stop singing "Victim of Romance:"
Cold blooded felony
Murder in the first degree
It's a crime
What he's done to my spine
It certainly is. It certainly is a crime what Scotty's done to Richie's spine. A victim . . . a victim. . . Stevenson's just a victim of romance.
Hopefully, it will all be worked out in time for home coming. I'd hate to think Richie might miss getting pinned by Scotty.

if you know the song, you were probably laughing hard. i went through the day humming the song. so tonight i've just been listening to the album. relaxing. i'm staying in tonight.

'fly boy' - as mike has nicknamed my ex-husband - will be over later. but i've mainly just listened to michelle phillips and otis today. danced around the place, singing along.

i know a lot of people hate the cold. c.i.'s one. fall rolls around and c.i.'s already singing 'all the leaves are brown and the sky is gray' but i really enjoy the fall and the winter as well.

i usually lag in the heat and stay indoors during the summer unless i'm trying to get a tan. i always tease c.i. because when it gets cold (or c.i.'s idea of cold), it's hibernation time. i think c.i.'s o.d.ed for too many years on vitamin d from the sunlight.

i'm joking but really c.i. loathes fall ('everything's dying') and winter ('everything's dead') and c.i. doesn't experience a real fall or winter for that matter. the temperature drops below 70 and c.i.'s grumbling about the 'cold.'

i love the cold. i love the way it stings your face when the wind blows. i know a lot of people do hate winter but i'm 1 of those people who just really loves the snow.

'it's snowing!' i'll squeal. same way i did when i was a kid.

i'll squeal 'it's snowing!' even if i'm all by myself. then i'll call every 1 i know to tell them it's snowing and usually they aren't as excited as i am. elaine will usually play along but she'll note 'do you realize how many accidents happen in the snow' and i'll have to say, 'talk to me as a friend, not as a medical professional!'

today i was thinking about how it would be snowing soon and went outside to look at the leaves in all their golden beauty. i spent about an hour outside just walking around and taking in all the colors. i was so happy i was singing 'baby as you turn away' to myself.

now. you're gone. this road i walk upon is just another place for me to hide.
still. my man. there's proof of who i am except without your love i'm dead inside.

i think that's a bee gees song. i was never a big fan of bee gees - or a non fan of them - but i really love michelle phillips' version of 'baby as you turn away.'

so is that all you did today? just sit around listening to music and then strolling around outdoors?

no. i did an extensive beauty regime and the women will know that's time consuming. i don't have to worry about my hair too much because t is the best and she always takes care of it when i go into the salon and makes sure i'm using the right products at home. but i did have to get rid of some dead skin and i was also in the mood for some deep pore cleansing and probably over did that actually. then i rotated the clothes in the closet to make sure all the winter stuff was visible because if i can't see it, i don't think to wear it. i cleaned and tidied the house.

the intent was to clean it but i got so caught up in otis and michelle that i kept stopping to sing along and dance around that i lost interest in serious cleaning and just started doing the tidying up. i'm 1 of those clean as you go types so there's usually not a great deal to do.

and of course, i watched democracy now.

there was a discussion of the ohio vote and let me be lazy and go see if c.i. has a link to that at the common ills that i can swipe.

there are 2 links.

1) "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?: A Debate on Ohio One Year After Bush's Victory"
2) "Mark Crispin Miller: "Kerry Told Me He Now Thinks the Election Was Stolen"

so here's the gist, john kerry thinks the election was stolen. he told mark crispin miller that. i'm not surprised by that. he pretty much said that in january (the 18th?) of this year. but when mark crispin miller talked about this, the other guy in the debate who was a 'cautious type' suddenly grew animated and was full of suggestions that john kerry should write an op-ed in the washington post or the new york times.

why?

do you really think they'd print it?

the times? adam cohen has disappeared from the op-ed pages and he was writing a series on the election. i don't think they care.

i'm not saying john kerry shouldn't go public with his feelings. and i understand that an op-ed in the times means a lot. one firm i worked for always celebrated when we placed an op-ed in the times. it's a big deal and it gets attention. nationally.

the washington post doesn't. with the post, you're getting the dc crowd's attention.

if you want to reach the nation with an op-ed, the times is the way to go.

but i'm confused as to why the cautious type feels that the new york times has any interest in running an op-ed by john kerry on this subject?

i'm also confused as to why a similar idea didn't come up re: john edwards. if john edwards feels the election was stolen, shouldn't they also be recommending that he write an op-ed?

or is it that since he's not a senator no 1 really cares what john edwards has to say?

i think the election was stolen. we were in boston election night and we were seeing photos via cell phone of people standing in line still in ohio waiting to vote when the polls were supposed to be closed. as john kerry said back in january, the machines weren't where they needed to be and the long lines . . .

the cautious type writes for mother jones. my ex, fly boy, used to read that magazine all the time. it's a good magazine but they've been dismissive of the election for some time now. probably because they have the timid mouse todd gitlin on their staff.

but they did an editorial ridiculing people for questioning the election totals not all that long ago.
i don't think any 1, after that, is going to look to mother jones for a solid story about the election.

it's a good magazine but when you scorn readers they're not going to look to you for coverage on the issue you mocked.

and watching the debate, it was interesting to see the cautious guy insult people and organizations (like the free press who did a great job covering the election). at 1 point he denies 1 story based upon the fact that he spoke to a guy involved and the guy says he's 'a liberal democrat' as though that would prove anything or even be true.

i also gritted my teeth as he abused the concept of theory because elaine's been very big on 'use hypothesis' due to the assault on science.

the guy was just dismissive of everything and then, like a press whore, the minute mark crispin miller talks about what kerry said to him, the guy is all excited. and suddenly he's offering remarks like 'i didn't say it wasn't possible' and watching i thought, 'you have spent this whole time shooting down mark crispin miller, degrading the free press and now, because of something john kerry said, you're all excited.'

mother jones is alternative media but i don't think the cautious type knows that. if he did, the word of 1 'name' (john kerry) wouldn't be weighted so much.

so that's my friday post. i posted. you have something and you don't need to rag on people to elaine about how there aren't enough posts lately. you heard about my day, music, the seasons and democracy now.












Posted by at

11/03/2005

heads up to a new review by kat

starting late tonight. the reason is i've been on the phone with kat. for 2 hours.

i'm not joking. she turned in a mammoth review of stevie wonder's a time to love and asked c.i. for editing help. c.i. had recommended some cuts and then kat wanted more. then more. she's still not sure enough has been cut. so she wanted to know if it was okay to read it to me over the phone and get my opinion.

a) i was flattered and b) i love her album reviews so of course the answer was 'hell yes!'

she read it and it blew me away. i love her writing.

she says that she feels like it could still be tighter.

she loves stevie wonder but this isn't a "great album, stevie!' review and that's probably why she's so on edge about it.

which isn't to say she's worried about any 1's reaction. kat could truly care less. 'it is what it is' is her motto. but she struggled over whether or not to turn in the review on carole king's the living room tour because she hated that album and she loves carole king. it's the same thing, my opinion, going on here.

after 90 minutes, i asked her if she'd read it to my ex who was over. she agreed and he was laughing out loud several times. he told her it was a great review but she's still got her doubts.

i marvel at people like kat and betty who work and work on 1 thing, debating each clause and word. i know ava and c.i. will put a lot of work, in very little time, into their tv reviews but i also know c.i.'s truly 'it is what it is' when it comes to something at the common ills. ironically, 'it is what it is' is a kat phrase.

jim will say 'why did you include that opening paragraph to the members, the thing would be so much better if you start with the second paragraph' and c.i. will respond, rightly, that the common ills is a resource/review and not some writing show case.

c.i. is a great editor with tremendous skills (much more so than a mutual friend who's an editor at a newspaper i won't name but if you're reading this, you have no editing skills at all). but the common ills takes a lot of time and if c.i. held out for perfection, nothing would go up there. but over at the third estate sunday review, dona, jim and c.i. will go over and over a piece when there's time for it. jim will tell you that c.i. has saved pieces that were crap by restructuring them. when c.i.'s really tired, it will be like barking out orders - 'take the fifth paragraph and make it the lead, drop the sentence in the final paragraph, use the last four words in the mid-section to develop a transition and get jimmy olsen in here on the double!'

but the common ills is a conversation and it's a private conversation between members taking place in a public space. jim hates that argument but gina & krista came up with it and they love it and so does c.i. i think it's the perfect description of the common ills.

kat is consumed with a review sounding right. she wants it to sound like a conversation but like a really good 1. i think it has a lot to do with being creative. i don't have that bent. i can market but i never considered public relations to be creative. i know right now betty is obsessing over a piece that if she posted it, people would laugh and think it's incredible but she's called about 1 phrase twice tonight. i've told her it's perfect but she wants something else in there and feels that the phrase is a betty phrase and not a betinna 1.

so tomorrow morning, unless kat pulls it to work on it some more, look for a review of stevie wonder's a time to love at the common ills. that's my heads up and really all i have time for tonight.






Posted by at

11/02/2005

world can't wait drive out the bully boy regime

world can't wait. i hope every 1 participated that was able to. that was the point c.i. kept making in the gina & krista round-robin, that no one needed to feel guilty if they were at a job where missing work would mean losing it.

mike, elaine and i went to new york to join ava, jim, dona, ty and jess. and yes, my ex-husband went along.

betty wasn't able to participate. as she noted in the round-robin, with her kids and the way sick time works at her job, she can't afford to take off. a lot of people probably had similar problems and none should feel guilty. but those who could participate, i hope you did.

i was really impressed with the turn out, with the level of energy and the level of committment.

if it were up to the people, and not congress, i think bully boy would be impeached right now.

and let's hear it for the young people in america because, despite what gas bag cokie roberts thinks, they do participate.

for me, the thing comes back to the people. taking part in this made me aware of not only how out of touch our elected leaders are with the people on the invasion/occupation of iraq, but also how out of touch they are on the people's feelings about the bully boy.

the media will be silent of course. they're interested in propping up the bully boy. especially now that they think they can 'lead' him since, for the first time, he really needs them. you can hear the gas bags offering advice.

bully boy won't take it. he's an idiot. their olive branch will be dismissed.

but the people don't want an olive branch, they want him out of office.

my grandmother told me yesterday if she was 10 'or even 5 years younger' she'd want to tag along. he's got to be the most disliked occupant of the oval office we've had.

but the media wants further deregulation and there's all that money to be made in the selling of analog so don't expect to read the truth in your paper or hear it on your tv.

there were lots of wonderful signs. some were the green ones, professionally made, that said 'world can't wait' and i grabbed one of those but my favorite was 2 signs that read 'flowers' and 'not bushes.' i think 2 women carried those but i was too far away to tell for sure. (they had the signs mounted on sticks so they were held high.)

i meant to check in with cedric because i knew he wanted to participate in his area but i haven't had a chance and in c.i.'s area, the thing is probably just winding down.

i haven't even checked the e-mail. we got back here and i had to return a few calls that came in today and my ex checked out things online. he says wally has a powerful piece and i intend to read that and read some e-mails tonight.

i hope every 1 who was able participated and if you weren't able to don't beat yourself up. if you were and didn'y, instead of getting lost in could-have, should-haves, remember this feeling the next time you hear about a rally.

i'm more than a little hyper tonight, in case you didn't notice. the people were amazing. d.c. was great in spetember but i just felt like i was surrounded by even more energy today. it's like another step on the path and the summer of activism has lit a fire. cindy sheehan sparked us to more action. she put a face on the body count that bully boy tried to keep hidden and as 1 woman demanding an answer, she exposed the hollow bully boy and his empty posturing for what it was.

my ex reads all the community websites (and of course knows elaine and c.i. and has for years). when he read the 100 voices piece on the d.c. protests, he said he wished he'd gone. he's jazzed as well and singing a song that i don't recognize but was probably performed today. i bring him up because when third started noting the summer of activism, he asked if we were 'reporting' or 'leading.' as if you can't do both.

but i told him that was the mood and if he wasn't getting that, he needed to leave the country club and get out in the real world. he was in it today and saw what the common ills community has been noting. i'm saying the common ills community not just to recognize all the web sites by members but also all the comments by members who don't run websites. you go back and read members comments at the common ills (or go through the gina & krista round-robins) and you'll see that the mood changed. i think cindy sheehan sparked action and give her full credit.

i also give credit to the voices that spoke out often and early on. but if you got your news from nbc nightly news, nightline or the new york times, you may see the mood today and scratch your head. the shift wasn't as sudden as big media likes to pretend. it's been developing.

and it was so exciting today to see that. i think we're seeing serious dissastifaction being voiced strongly and i think the administration may get a pass from the congress but the public isn't going to stand for it. maybe our elected leaders will get the message in the 2006 elections?

let me close by noting democracy now because, before my vacation, i was going to try to note something positive so that the screeds didn't leave one feeling hopeless. if you watched democracy now, you weren't surprised by the events of today or this summer. you were informed. so watch democracy now. or listen to it or read it. real news programs still exist, you just can't find them on the big networks.

i'm updating the blogroll to add brian conley's alive in baghdad as c.i. (and the community) have requested as well as corrente which i meant to add last week.












Posted by at

11/01/2005

ted koppel go away already

The indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak investigation was major news. Libby--who promptly resigned from his position as Dick Cheney's chief of staff--is portrayed in the indictment as repeatedly, and deceptively, claiming he learned about Valerie Plame Wilson's classified status at the CIA from reporters. This explains why special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was so adamant about getting reporters to testify.After Friday's announcement of the indictments(10/28/05), however, some journalists seemed to think that the story was not so newsworthy. On ABC's Nightline, Ted Koppel devoted only a few minutes to the indictment before beginning a scheduled town hall meeting on disaster preparedness. Koppel offered the following explanation:
"Scooter Libby's indictment today is indisputably a major story. It was the lead on all the television network news programs earlier this evening. It will be the object of banner headlines in all of your morning newspapers tomorrow. As for its real impact on the lives of most American, though, not much. Not really. That's the strange thing about our business, the news business. Often, what seems so important to us, reporters that is, is of little or no consequence to many of you."
Why Libby's indictment is "of little consequence" is worth some explanation. Valerie Wilson's job at the CIA was preventing the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction; if blowing her cover jeopardized that work, then this story certainly does affect all Americans.

the above is from an e-mail fair sent out. (you can sign up to get their alerts. i recommend you do.)

ted koppel's so annoying. henry kissinger's best friend has never been a 'brave journalist.' but since he doesn't do live remotes from aruba, people have mistaken his dullness for 'integrity.'
integrity doesn't lead to be embarrassed this year when your mash notes to henry kissinger are made public.

integrity doesn't allow for bullshit claims of 'we were all wrong.' we weren't all wrong. and if ted koppel had any 'integrity' he'd apologize to the american people.

when he leaves his crappy show we'll see tributes (c.i. and were laughing about this today - i hope that cheered up c.i.) and we'll all be called on to applaud him for his service. but he's been a schill for his friends for years.
1 of the guests who's been on nightline the most is henry kissinger, which tells you a great deal.

if he was a real news person, he would have featured anti-war voices and he would have seriously examined the case for war. he didn't and he didn't.

he was 1 more cheerleader and he can't take responsibilty for his actions.

retired? he should be fired. for journalistic malpractice.

instead, he's headed over to hbo where hopefully no 1 will watch him.

a friend said to me today, 'but becky, when we get the crap that replaces him, you'll feel different.'

no, i won't.

i'd prefer crap to disinformation given an air of dignity.

crap is crap. some people like it, some people don't. but most people know it's crap.

with ted koppel's bullshit, people bought into it.

you can hear them whining 'oh ted's leaving' when they should be applauding.

it's been big business, war machinery and other nonsense at nightline. nightline has not served the people or featured them.

and let's be really clear here, this is a program that devoted not just an episode to the anniversary of the crappy film animal house (a favorite of matt cooper which gives you an idea of what a piece of crap it is), ted also 'probed' madonna over 'justify my love.' this was a hiar above a barbara walters special so let's not kid.

republicans wanted to cripple jimmy carter and ted koppel was there. republicans wanted to smear bill clinton and ted koppel was there. scooter libby is indicted and ted koppel is where?

he's bullshit, he's always been bullshit just like he's always looked like a freak with big ears.

pull his ass of the air already.





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10/31/2005

about 'the daily...'

C.I.: That is a very important point. Thank you, Elaine and Mike. Scooter Libby indicted for a number of counts -- perjury, false testimony, etc. -- in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson who went public to expose Bully Boy's 16 word lie in the 2003 State of the Union address regarding "British intelligence has recently learned that Sadaam Hussein sought" yellow cake from Niger. Also, quickly, Eric Schmitt's "An Influential Bush Insider Who Is Used to Challenges" rightly pointed out that Scooter Libby is not just Cheney's chief of staff. Scooter was "assistant to the president, chief of staff to the vice president and Mr. Cheney's national security advisor." Now we go to Rebecca, of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, offers us a look at the news from the world of science. Rebecca?

Rebecca: C.I., Steve Connor notes in the UK's Independent that last week Prince Charles of England declared "climate change was one of the greatest problems" facing the world. As England experiences a surprisingly warm October, Connor reminds that "[t] exceptionally hot, dry summer of 2003 is estimated to have resulted in about 35,000 extra deaths in Western Europe." Are any guys drinking hard this Halloween weekend? If so, you might want to know that a recent study in India found it can effect sperm and increase difficulties in having children as well as in getting erections. Erectile dysfunction? In this day and age of Viagra? The consumer organization Public Citizen is asking the FDA "to add warnings to the labels of Viagra and other impotence drugs, noting that some users have gone blind." Is Tony Blair politically impotent? Marie Woolf reports in "Blair caved in after secret royal memo on badger culling" that a snap of the royal fingers by Prince Charles, or in this case a letter, and Tony Blair goes into lapdog mode, panting with a frenzy he usually reserves solely for the Bully Boy. A leaked memo results in the latest embarrassment for Blair. Prince Charles wrote Blair that a thinning of the badger population would meet with his approval due to his belief that this would reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis from badgers to cattle.

C.I.: Thank you, Rebecca. Now for a report from Flordia, we go to Wally of The Daily Jot.


that's from the third estate sunday review news review.

wally didn't post today so i called him to check up. he's fine but they were low on gas for the generator so he left early and it was a long, long wait. he said about 3 hours. so when he got back, he was hot and tired and just not in the mood for the daily jot. he was going to call c.i. to pass it on but then was reading the common ills and saw that c.i. was feeling really sick so he didn't want to be another phone call c.i. would either have to dodge or put on a happy face for.

i'm amazed by how little is being done to help the people in florida and by how little the national press seems to care.

are we suffering compassion damage? we gave all we had as a nation to the victims of hurricane katrina and now we just don't want to be bothered?

i think it's far more likely that we're suffering from a lack of saturation coverage on this topic. the news media seems to all be gearing up for their own vacations (the senate starts their vacation shortly) and they feel like they covered katrina so now they can be lazy again.

that would explain their shoddy coverage of the scooter libby indictment which they treat like 'oh well.' they should be out digging for information and instead they just wait for it to come to them.

sunday, we worked on 'the daily.' if you haven't read it, you should.

i already had e-mails about the topic so i told everyone going in that i would write about the process on that piece. hope i'm not stepping on any toes.

that took forever. it was supposed to be a parody and we handled that pretty well (ava, c.i. and betty were the comic chefs but wally and mike and jess also had some strong stuff in there as well and ty had some serious contributions that were just amazing). then it was time to add the stuff surrounding the parodies.

most people know c.i. but i don't think they really know . . . by that i mean, if it's a process, and this was a process, anything can get tossed out and because it's people brainstorming, fine. but when it's time for the piece to be finalized, not so.

(c.i. tells a story about ann wilson, or used to, and the process she and nancy wilson - the rock group heart - go through to write a song which is toss it out there and just keep pressing on and then at the end refine.)

some of the commentary around the parodies was rather 'tart' (kat's word) and kat and c.i. were especially concerned about that. c.i. wanted to know if we were doing a parody or an expose?

and i think it's a good question. c.i. likes bob somerby and feels bob somerby has not been as forthcoming as he should be but felt the parodies had addressed that and that the other stuff was belaboring a point and also not as funny.

the 'old man' line was 1 that kat questioned but since it was supposed to be funny, she went along with that.

there was a conclusion to the piece and c.i. said 'take my name off of this if that's in there.'

c.i. felt is was 'lacerating' to somerby and also that it sunk the piece. that was the c.i.'s biggest criticism about the commentary throughout. c.i. said the jokes are structured in such a way that if you do more between them than joke, you're blowing the jokes and turning a sitcom into a dramedy. so the inbetween's were reworked (and elaine got in 2 funny jokes during that!).

jim wanted the introduction and the conclusion in but dona, as we reworked the commentaries, saw c.i.'s point and argued that we didn't need both. so jim went with the opening.

i don't know. on sunday morning, i was agreeing with jim but i called him today and offered that i thought the parodies nailed it and that the commentary at the start kind of made it more difficult to get the laughs rolling in the first parody. jim agreed with me.

he said he was thinking with a 'news man's cap' and what ava and c.i. do is social commentary that's entertaining and makes it easier to swallow. he thinks their might be too much of a 'news' attempt in that piece. i asked if he and dona had talked about it and he said not yet becuase it was obvious to him that dona was right and he'd tell her that tonight but was in no hurry to start the day with 'honey, you were right.'

the piece does work. but jim and i both think it would work more if we'd followed c.i. and ava's suggestions. and probably if betty hadn't had to bail, she goes to church sunday mornings, we would have had another voice that could have persuaded us. (betty participated in the writing, just not in the editing.)


it's funny and the e-mails i've gotten on it demonstrate that people are laughing but when we do the piece for next week (which is already planned) we'll go more for jokes that make you laugh and make a comment and leave it to that.

that's really what we did with 'watchdog daily' and that worked very well. here, it's almost like, 'okay let's explain everything for you so that when the jokes come, you'll get them.'


so those are our thoughts now. jim thinks in terms of news and i just wanted to get it all out, to be honest. i'm tired of it.


as most people have surmised, this isn't a case for c.i. or for me where we disagree with a view that's been expressed at bob somerby's site. we often do. this runs a little deeper than that. (and the parodies convey that judging from the e-mails - in fact sherry and lila have guessed it and they both got it from 1 of the parodies so the commentary at the beginning wasn't needed.)

i want to quote cedric's things on rosa parks but i'll do it tomorrow because i've felt tired all day and probably the smart thing to do is to turn in.









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