The Gypsy's Caravan: May 2008

The Fairness Doctrine: Time to Reinstate It

April 2003: In the run up to the war...

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At the same time, MSNBC fired the only real war opponent it had, Phil Donahue, despite very healthy ratings (the highest of any show on MSNBC, including "Hardball"). When interviewed for Bill Moyers' truly superb 2007 documentary on press behavior in the run-up to the war, Donahue reported much the same thing as Yellin, Couric, and Banfield revealed:
BILL MOYERS: You had Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector. Who was saying that if we invade, it will be a historic blunder.
PHIL DONOHUE: You didn't have him alone. He had to be there with someone else who supported the war. In other words, you couldn't have Scott Ritter alone. You could have Richard Perle alone.

BILL MOYERS: You could have the conservative.

PHIL DONOHUE: You could have the supporters of the President alone. And they would say why this war is important. You couldn't have a dissenter alone. Our producers were instructed to feature two conservatives for every liberal.

BILL MOYERS: You're kidding.

PHIL DONOHUE: No this is absolutely true.

BILL MOYERS: Instructed from above?

PHIL DONOHUE: Yes. I was counted as two liberals.
A leaked memo from NBC executives at the time of his firing made clear that Donahue was fired for ideological reasons, not due to ratings:
The study went on to claim that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war . . . . He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."
NBC executives then proceeded to hire Dick Armey as an MSNBC commentator and give a show to Michael Savage. Michael Savage.
This is nothing less than compelling evidence that, in terms of our establishment press, our media is anything but "free." Corporate executives continuously suppressed critical reporting of the Government and the war and forced their paid reporters to mimic the administration line. The evidence proving that comes not from media critics or shrill left-wing bloggers but from those who work at these news outlets, including some of their best-known and highest-paid journalists who are attesting to such facts from first-hand knowledge despite its being in their interests not to speak out about such things.

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This is what I've been saying all along. The corporations that have bought up all of our media since Regan ditched the fairness doctrine and allowed multiple news organizations to be owned by one corp - are not interested in ratings, they're interested in catapulting their propaganda over the wall of truth.

If a person's paycheck is dependent upon pushing one point of view, they will either push that point of view, or they'll not be working in that job. It's that simple.

Glenzilla has the complete details here

Orchids by any other name...

My sweetie bought me these fancy lady slippers last year at The Garden In The Woods. I'm so thrilled that they came up.

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What We All Knew...

Scottie: You're a Douchbag and a traitor for putting greedy carpetbaggers over and above the good of your country, and then trying to cash in on your knowledge after it's too late;

and Bush, Cheney, Rove and Libby: you're treasonous felons and impeachment is too good for the likes of you - Y'all should be in Gitmo.

Update:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, defending his book critical of President George W. Bush and the Iraq war, said on Thursday he may have made a mistake by not speaking out sooner.

Ya think? article

Another Quote of the Day

...this one was so good, I couldn't resist.

“It sounds like the coalition of the willing is the coalition of the paid — they’re willing to be paid,” said Mr. Waxman

The Article

Hattip goes to Hullabaloo

Quote of the day

For those who wouldn't vote for Hillary or Barack for whatever reason and would rather vote for McCain I ask you this. Why would you want a President who doesn't have a clue about the people he'll be sending your children to kill?

~ Fixer - @ Alternate Brain

White House Defends Corn Ethanol

... Corn prices have grown dramatically in recent years, almost tripling since 2005. Along with high prices for other crops, they have been pushed along by the burgeoning biofuels industry as well as rising worldwide demand for food, trade barriers, bad weather in some regions of the world and other international factors.

According to Department of Agriculture economists, higher corn prices increase animal feed and ingredient costs for farmers, ranchers and food manufacturers, but pass through to consumers at a rate less than 10 percent of the corn price change. They say retail food prices would rise less than one percentage point above the normal rate of food price inflation — 2.5 percent — when corn prices increase by 50 percent.

White House economic advisers have said ethanol made from corn is responsible for just 2-3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices, which are up more than 40 percent this year over last year. Opponents say that's still too much. (ems mine)

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, on Monday introduced a bill to freeze the current mandate to produce nine billion gallons of ethanol this year. Energy legislation passed last year would require that 15 billion gallons be produced by 2015.

I think that what will matter in the coming years isn't so much the reality that making corn ethanol is pushing world food prices up only a very little bit.

It is rather the perception on the part of a growing world population that the US will do whatever is in the short term interest of the corporations that have purchased our government. That the US will pollute, use up, and destroy scarce resources no matter the cost, and most especially if that cost is paid by someone - anyone - other than those who directly benefit.

It's called greed.

It will destroy us along with the rest of the world unless we reign it in.

The original story is here

To see a Greenwald vid "War on Greed" and sign a petition, go here

Spring Pics

The violets and lilies of the valley are outdoing themselves this year.

While it's finally warm enough to let all the house plants outside to play

Our sweet shady gardens fill in nicely. (That one big hole is for some impatiens that I will get at teh nursery very soon..)

McCain don't know up from down

After months of ridiculing opponents who want to set a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq, today John McCain is setting his own timetable. In remarks prepared for delivery, he says he envisions that “most” of the troops now serving will be home by January 2013, when his first term would end.

Hell, if the people now serving in Iraq are not home by 2013, that would mean they spent anywhere from 4 to 8 years there. Most of the troops that are now in Iraq are due - LONG overdue - to go home right now!

Sewage, Sludge - a Rose by any other name...

The False Claims Act lawsuit brought by microbiologist David Lewis, who says he was forced out of the agency, alleges that EPA officials and University of Georgia researchers fraudulently orchestrated a grant and then fabricated data to ensure that the EPA's 'biosolids' programme would come out smelling pretty. If the charges stick, the scientists and EPA officials could be held personally liable and may be forced to pay back the original grant as well as some US$4.6 million in subsequent grants, plus penalties.

“This is one of the few ways that you can hold people accountable for bad science and indeed for using false information to create that science,” says attorney Ed Hallman of Decker, Hallman, Barber & Briggs in Atlanta, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lewis and two Georgia dairy farmers. (my ems)

Gosh, I hope they win!

Hattip: Skippy

We're Refiniishing my Computer Room...

...and I've been having a hard time posting the last few weeks. I originally thought that we could take everything out, paint the room, and return all the stuff to it's rightful place in one weekend.

Silly me!

Somehow all of a sudden we're stripping and replacing all the woodwork, steel-wool-ing the whole oak floor to remove the stains...

we're building shelves in the closet to hold my computer and all the peripherals as well as all my sewing stuff... The upside is that when we're finished, we won't have to touch that room again. Until then, I have a camera with a full card that I can't upload, and the hummingbirds have arrived. I'm determined this year to get some usable pics.

My Bloggiversary!

I realized this morning that it's my bloggiversary week(~~FIVE~~ [ack! I cannot add ] THREE years!), and that I haven't been posting pictures as often as usual (gosh, late winter and early spring is ugly). So, without further ado - here's a few to whet your appetite.