Lying Media Bastards
May 29, 2004
Quick Congrats
I'm still on vacation, but had to pop in to congratulate Kill Radio's own "Get the Fuck Up" radio show for being nominated as "Best Radio Show" in the 2004 LA Weekly Music Awards!
GTFU (formerly known as "The Buddyhead Show") is (as its hosts describe it)
"A mix of band interviews, live musical performances, and prank calls, all masked under the clever disguise of being drunken fools."
That's pretty dead-on.
But they also do what any good musical radio show should do: find good new bands and play them so that the audience can hear and enjoy. Unfortunately, the handful of radio shows out there which take chances and play new music often have no interest in playing what's new and good, only in "breaking" new bands, in playing the Next Big Thing while they're still Unknown and Mildly Underground; therefore those shows are not about entertaining and enlightening the audience, they're about raising the prestige of the DJs. I'm glad that GTFU hasn't fallen into that trap.
And to counter that noble-sounding stuff above, the GTFU guys get drunk on the air, talk a bunch of crazy shit, insult each other, and often come across like real assholes. All in all, a pretty unqiue mix of creativity, intrigue and stupidity.
GTFU is up against some stiff competition for this LA Weekly award: Rodney on the ROQ, a new show by former Sex Pistol Steve Jones, an all Grateful Dead and "jam band" show, and some other show on quality college station KXLU.
Congrats, GFTU!!
[edit]
Kill Radio's lydiadeetz reminds us that other LA Weekly Music Award nominees, musicians Mezklah, Go Betty Go, Very Be Careful and Mike Watt have all been guests on Kill Radio programs, or have performed at benefit concerts for Kill Radio.
Which means we're all cool and stuff, verdad?
[/edit]
May 22, 2004
Out to Launch
I'm on vacation, SUCKAZ!!
In the meantime, get your news, politics & snark fixes at Cursor, Pandagon, Rational Enquirer, Steve Gilliard, Mouse Words, Whiskey Bar, Dong Resin, and Bombs & Shields. Links down and to the right somewhere. Hell, look at all the news and blog sites named down there; I wouldn't've put any of those links up if I didn't think they were good.
See ya in a week.
Big mess o' links
I'll pull the troops out: Kerry- "United States Democrat John Kerry promised that, if elected president of the United States, he would pull virtually all American combat troops out of Iraq - away from the 'death zone' - by the end of his first term." Yes, if you vote for Kerry, the US might pull out of Iraq by the end of 2008. That's leadership.
'Significant Adverse Effects'- "Tens of thousands ... suffer debilitating health problems stemming from their exposure to contaminants in the air around the World Trade Center site."
House Bill Threatens Retailers- the proposed "Parents' Empowerment Act" would allow parents to sue "anyone who knowingly disseminates any media which contains 'material that is harmful to minors.'" The whole world must be child-proofed because children live in the world. Fuck off, parents. I'm an adult, and I like adult things.
More carnage in Gaza as the US mutters its disapproval- Israel makes war on Palestine some more.
Tuna Meltdown- I'm pretty pissed off about this one. The American Academy of Family Physicians published a magazine called "Essential Guide to Health and Wellbeing" and sent it out to 50,000 family doctors to put out in their waiting rooms. Among several other questionable advertisements (McDonald's? Dr. Pepper?), there is a full-page ad urging pregnant women to eat canned tuna fish for its numerous health properties. While it does have a number of health benefits, canned tuna is high in mercury, which can utterly fuck up a fetus' entire brain and nervous system! The AAFP estimates it made $100,000 from the advertisments in this magazine.
Material Given to Congress in 2002 Is Now Classified- Two years back, the Justice Department gave some documents to Congress which included testimony from an FBI translator who claimed that the bureau had dropped the ball on terrorism before 9/11. Now, suddenly, Justice has decided that those documents should have always been Classified, so they retroactively classified the documents that have been public for over 2 years. Could it be because they are critical of the government? That's crazy talk.
Sullivan on Iraq War, Sept. 1, 2002- blogger Juan Cole tears into popular conservative counterpart Andrew Sullivan for his pro-war pre-invasion propaganda.
Ammo Dump- simple article that tells you how to argue against people who are in favor of "tort reform."
A Soldier of Conscience- unpleasant tale of how one soldier lost his faith in the war on Iraq.
Raid on Chalabi Puts 'NYT' Even More on the Spot- Editor & Publisher tears into the NY Times for its hypocrisy: it criticizes the government for believing the self-serving lies of Ahmad Chalabi, but neglects to post corrections for the times it believe the self-serving lies of Ahmad Chalabi.
May 20, 2004
Even though I'm not bald, I'm thinking of trying a comb-over. And that doesn't even make sense.
May 19, 2004
Random News
Keep Off the Grass- NYC refuses to grant permission for activists to protest the Republican National Convention in Central Park. Because that many people (an estimated 250,000) would "ruin the lawn." Awfully convenient time to come down with a case of environmentalism...
Brown v. Board Fifty Years Out- fifty years after the monumental court case, America's schools are all totally de-segregated. Kinda. Not really.
Pathological Power of Prisons: Parallel Paths at Stanford and Abu Ghraib- the Iraq prison abuse scandal reminded me of the Stanford prison experiment from the start. In the experiment, a handful of college students were assigned to be either guards or inmates in a mock prison for two weeks. Things got so bad so quickly that they had to pull the plug after only 6 days. After designing one of the least ethical experiments in academic history, psychologist Phil Zimbardo went on to relative fame and fortune, and even has his own line of educational psychology videos. Here is an essay by Zimbardo comparing Abu Ghraib and his own notorious experiment. I hate Phil Zimbardo.
The Jesus Landing Pad- you might have heard about this one already. Apparently, the Bush administration regularly meets with apocalyptic Christian fundamentalists to assure them that current US foreign policy does not contradict Biblical prophecy about The Rapture/Armageddon. Good to know that our government will go out of its way to appease a constituency who's main goal is to see the destruction of mankind.
Can ‘Star Wars: Episode III’ be saved?- okay, not news, just a column bashing George Lucas and his Star Wars neo-trilogy. I'll get my GenX membership card revoked for saying so, but even the first trilogy was pretty bad. For the most part, the movies are acted and directed horribly. Lucas is a fucking hack.
Conservative Legislators Sue Gay Couple Who Sought Marriage License- a gay couple in Pennsylvania is planning to challenge the state's ban on gay marriage. To stop them, some conservative assholes are planning to sue the couple themselves.
Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge To Patriot Act- yes, according to the Patriot Act, it is against the law to announce that you are filing a lawsuit challenging the Patriot Act. Just wait till Patriot Act 2, when the entire city of Washington DC will be draped in a big black cloth so that no one can see what's going on inside. Y'know, for national security.
May 18, 2004
Those Who Forget the Past Are Condemned to Fuck Up Iraq
Columnist Eric Margolis reminds the Bush administration the lessons it should already have learned via past colonial wars.
- People will accept misrule, robbery, abuse and torture by their fellow citizens -- but not by foreigners.- The occupying power will always find locals ready to co-operate and join the colonial police and army for money. Ten percent will serve loyally; 50% will do nothing. The rest will covertly fight the occupiers, provide the resistance with intelligence or quietly sabotage the occupation.
- Most of those who co-operate with the occupation will maintain secret links with the resistance. Massive defections will occur the minute the occupiers show the first signs of thinking about withdrawal.
- Tribal, clan, ethnic and religious loyalties will also prove stronger than political ones imposed by the occupier. You cannot buy loyalty; you can only rent it.
- An inevitable byproduct of colonial adventures is an unwanted, usually massive influx of people from the conquered country.
- Colonial occupations almost always cost far more than planned and produce negative earnings for the invader. Occupying Iraq and Afghanistan now costs at least $6 billion US monthly. The costs of garrisoning and running colonies usually exceeds what can be looted from them.
- It's always cheaper to buy resources than plunder them. The Soviets thought they would pay for their invasion of Afghanistan by stealing its natural gas. The Washington neo-conservatives who engineered the Iraq war ludicrously claimed its stolen oil would fully cover the costs of invasion and occupation.
- Guerrilla wars waged among civilians inevitably produce hatred for occupiers and corrupt the invaders. Torture, brutality, mass reprisals against civilians and black marketeering become epidemic, even among the best-disciplined troops. The longer occupation troops stay on, the more they become corrupted, brutalized and addicted to drugs -- so do the nations that sent them.
Sadly, the Bush administration has neither foresight nor hindsight. They're like those fucking cave fish, with big bulbous sacs where their eyes are supposed to be.
May 17, 2004
05-17-04
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Six Barrel Shotgun
Soggy Bottom Boys- In the Jailhouse Now
DJ Dangermouse & Murs- To a Black Boy
Regan Youth- Jesus Was a Communist
DJ Spinna- Rock (The Grand Finale)
MC5- The American Ruse
Bob Marley- Redemption Song
The Buzzcocks- Orgasm Addict (live)
The Epoxies- Need More Time
Steve Earl & the V-Roys- In the Jailhouse Now
World Inferno Friendship Society- Zen
Paris- Field Nigga Boogie
Cat Power- Good Woman
The Von Bondies- Pawn Shoppe Heart
The Distillers- Sick of It All
Johnny Cash- In the Jailhouse Now
Twista & Timbaland- Who Am I?
Refused- Refused Party Program
Mos Def- Umi Says
The Donnas- Take Me to the Backseat
Tori Amos- Blood Roses (live)
Run DMC- Mary Mary
Hank Williams III- In the Jailhouse Now
Too Much Violence in Film
Apparently, France has some sort of special unemployment benefits for artists between shows/performances, and the government is trying to cut these benefits. In protest, several hundred "show business workers" held a march outside the Cannes Film Festival. Filmmaker Michael Moore joined in the protest (wonder how popular he'll be in France when he's turned his sites to making their government look bad).
Later, about 100 of the marchers raised a real (reel?) ruckus downtown, storming and occupying a movie theater. Le Police showed up to whomp ass: three cops were injured, three protesters were injured, and five protesters were arrested.
May 16, 2004
Sexalogical Warfare
Nice find by our pal Dong Resin.
Sex and Psychological Operations is a historical essay examining the ways in which warring nations dropped propaganda leaflets on their enemy's troops, trying to demoralize them by playing upon the soldiers' sexual fears and frustrations.
The essay reproduces and analyzes many such leaflets, from 1939 through the Vietnam war.
Although there is much variation among these leaflets, the messages really only have about three different messages:
1) If you weren't fighting us, you could be at home having sex with your wife/girlfriend.
2) While you're away, your wife/girlfriend is cheating on you.
3) While you're away, some man might be raping your wife/girlfriend.
My favorite is the series that the Americans dropped on the Germans during WWII which warn that while the German soldier is on the frontlines, their sexually-deprived wives and girlfriends would become lesbians, or have sex with dogs. Several other leaflets in that series also insinuate that adult leaders of the Nazi Youth might be seducing and raping the soldiers' young sons while their fathers were away.
According to the essay, these leaflets always seem to backfire. Not only are the soldiers not demoralized by the messages, but they actually clipped all the ones with sexy pictures for their own arousal, or simply used the leaflets as toilet paper when supplies ran low.
As a history buff with an eye towards propaganda, I find this page damn interesting.
May 15, 2004
The Way We Weren't
I saw this on someone else's blog. Sounds like fun, so I stole it:
"Invent a memory of me, and write it in the comments. It can be anything you want, and as ridiculous and silly as you want. The only stipulation is it must be completely false. Then post this onto your blog so people can create memories of you."
Have a ball. Post it in the comments, the wildest adventures we never had.
"No Damn Cat, and No Damn Cradle!"
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Kurt Vonnegut:
We’re spreading democracy, are we? Same way European explorers brought Christianity to the Indians, what we now call “Native Americans.”How ungrateful they were! How ungrateful are the people of Baghdad today.
So let’s give another big tax cut to the super-rich. That’ll teach bin Laden a lesson he won’t soon forget. Hail to the Chief.
That chief and his cohorts have as little to do with Democracy as the Europeans had to do with Christianity. We the people have absolutely no say in whatever they choose to do next. In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve already cleaned out the treasury, passing it out to pals in the war and national security rackets, leaving your generation and the next one with a perfectly enormous debt that you’ll be asked to repay.
Nobody let out a peep when they did that to you, because they have disconnected every burglar alarm in the Constitution: The House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the FBI, the free press (which, having been embedded, has forsaken the First Amendment) and We the People.
The whole article is good, Vonnegut doing his Twain-esque riffing on politics and society today.
I've been a Vonnegut fan for a long time, although I suppose he does take some getting used to. I think my very favorite Vonnegut moment was in his book Breakfast of Champions. The story is told in a very quirky, jerky way, with lots of crude, hand-drawn sketches of random objects related to the story wedged in between paragraphs. Every time a new character enters the novel, no matter how minor, Vonnegut gives some of their trivia, some of their backstory, and oddly, their physical measurements (bust, hips, waist, penis size where applicable). Until at one point, Vonnegut busts down the fourth wall and in a seeming fit of exasperation, blurts out what he's doing:
As I approaced my fiftieth birthday, I had become more and more enraged and mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen. And then I had come sudddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave so abominably with such abominable results: They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books ... Why were so many Americans treated by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their made up tales
[emphasis mine]
Vonnegut claims that we live our lives as though we were the main character in a novel, and treat our fellow man as though they were merely extras in our important drama. So to counteract that, Vonnegut decides to write a book in which he treats all the characters alike. No one is a bit-part player.
And that was a pretty profound thing to me.
May 14, 2004
Media Week
A Look Inside the PR Battle Against Super Size Me- the site IGN.com is primarily a site of news & reviews of "cool" things for young men: movies; video games; cars; high-tech gadgets; etc. So I was proud of them when I saw that they'd risen above shallow and hip to get an actual newsy scoop. The article above was conceived when IGN received three different press releases attempting to debunk the anti-fast food message of the movie Super Size Me. The IGN guys did their research, finding that each of the press releases originated from a different PR front group funded by members of the junk food industry, often by the Golden Arches themselves.
Reading With the Enemy- allegedly inspired by Super Size Me, liberal writer Oliver Griswold tells his harrowing tale of going 30 days absorbing no media but right-wing news. He sustained permanent liver damage, and he grew three extra toes. Okay, I'm lying.
The Coming Backlash Against Outrage- in a nutshell, the author argues that "In the weeks ahead, we’ll be encouraged to turn away from information surfacing about imprisonment and interrogation techniques that have held sway under U.S. authority in Iraq. Atrocities will be discounted, excuses made, messengers blamed."
Media Matters for America Television Spot Reveals Controversial Iraqi Prisoner Torture Commentary- new media watchdog Media Matters has been driving Rush Limbaugh nuts by publicizing his most ignorant and mean-spirited comments. They now seek to take it to another level by placing commercials on TV, quoting Rush's claims that the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse is no big thing. If it pisses of Limbaugh, I'm glad to hear it.
Fox Doctor's Diploma Mill Degree- Fox's TV show "The Swan" is a fucking atrocity. It should be called "The Prey", as one of the world's largest corporations uses its power to exploit the insecurities of some of America's most emotionally vulnerable women. To make the whole thing more professional, their team of experts--plastic surgeons, nutritionists, personal trainers-- also includes a "therapist"/psychologist. As my brother and I watched part of the show in horror, we wondered what kind of psychologist could possibly find this show to be in the slightest bit ethical. Well, maybe part of that is because she's not exactly a "real" psychologist. This article finds that Dr. Lynn Ianni got her Ph.D from one of those fake universities that will give degrees to anybody for the right price (granted, it looks as though she did get her Master's in psych from a real university).
Party at Rummy's!
This is fun.
Washington, DC: Antiwar Group Protests Torture in Front of Rumsfeld's House
Protesters re-enacted some of the gruesome Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos out in front of Don Rumsfeld's house. Lotsa protest pics, check em out.
The only downside is that Rummy was in Iraq, playing spin doctor, but apparently faced hard questions from his own troops. Questions like "will we be getting better armor for our bodies and our Humvees?", "is it true the military won't pay my full airfare to get me back home?", "why won't the military's medical insurance cover physical therapy for my handicapped child?", "why did you say our goal is to reduce troops in Iraq and then send in additional troops?", "why can the mercenaries carry weapons to protect themselves but Defense Department civilians can't?", and "do we have a plan for stability in Iraq?"
From the sound of it, he dodged their questions too.
May 11, 2004
Vibes
My friend Naomi is going in for some fairly radical surgery tomorrow/Wednesday (I referred to her anonymously in an earlier post as "Sally"). She's become more religious since this crisis began, as one could easily imagine happening when staring mortality in the face. Anyhow, if any of you who are more spiritually-inclined said a prayer for her, or sent some good thoughts her way, I think she would appreciate it.
[update]
Wow. The surgery was even more intense than I had expected. I think they, uh, had to take her heart out, operate, and then put it back in. That was yesterday. As of the last report I heard from her family, Naomi was awake and eating ice cream. She's a scrawny little thing, but I guess she's got the endurance of a Navy Seal inside. The doctors say she's gonna be okay.
[/update]
Manna
Gotta thank Lynn, an LMB reader who sent me free stuff in honor of last month's LMB 2-year anniversary. Y'all might be hearing a little more Harry Belafonte and Bill Hicks on upcoming LMB radio shows.
Thanks again, Lynn!
Sheltering Sky
Funny how this isn't getting much coverage:
Homes of 1,100 Palestinians in Gaza destroyed
According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, in the last 10 days, the Israeli military has destroyed more than 100 Palestinian homes in Gaza, leaving more than 1100 people homeless. By their count, that makes over 17,000 people who have had their homes demolished in Gaza since the second Intifada started, in September 2000.
[via The Killing Train]
"Need" and "steam" do not rhyme, you coffeehouse poet bastard.
May 10, 2004
Radio AWOL
Sorry folks, no LMB radio show today; I got out of town bidness.
BUT... you should listen to Kill Radio during that time anyway, because the legendary Humberto of Con Sin will be filling in for me.
[update]
Or maybe Miriam from The People Who Do That will be subbing? I dunno.
Chaos!! Chaos!!
[/update]
May 09, 2004
Untruer Words...
-George W. Bush
The train has left the station, and we are slowly chugging along the secret back channels of downtown Los Angeles. I think about how bad my luck has been lately, and figure that my train will probably get in an accident. And for a split-second, I panic. Oh my god, we're gonna be hit for sure because I'm on this train!! How could I have been so thoughtless, I've doomed all these people to death!!
May 08, 2004
Tortured Context
Many Americans are suddenly up in arms over the Iraqi prisoner torture, but let's step back a moment. As some of you may recall, prior to the torture, the United States INVADED IRAQ, DROPPED BOMBS ON ITS PEOPLE, AND SMASHED THE PLACE TO BITS. And before that, the United States led a strict economic embargo of the country which led to the DEATHS OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WHO COULDN'T GET FOOD OR MEDICINE. During this time, the US was also patrolling the "no-fly zones" in northern and southern Iraq, DROPPING BOMBS ON A REGULAR BASIS. And, before that, in Gulf War I, the United States INVADED IRAQ, DROPPED BOMBS ON ITS PEOPLE, AND SMASHED THE PLACE TO BITS. And before the Gulf War, the United States SUPPORTED IRAQI DICTATOR SADDAM HUSSEIN, WHO KILLED AND OPPRESSED MILLIONS.
But somehow, most Americans didn't seem to upset by the rest of that. If Iraqis had worn black hoods and posed for photographs earlier, then maybe Americans would've gotten outraged sooner.
Also, it seems sad that more Americans don't realize that the way the guards are acting in the Iraqi prisons aren't that different from the way they act in American prisons. Yes, I suppose that's different because unlike the Iraqi prisons, we know that all of our prisoners are guilty, because they've gone through our impartial, non-racist justice system, that is never biased for or against anyone, no matter how much or little money they have in the bank. So the people in our prisons are obviously bad and deserve whatever they get. Cuz they're bad.
On a related topic, check this press release from the anti-prison group the Pennsylvania Abolitionists, which claims that one of the men prominantly featured in the humiliated Iraqi prisoner photographs is currently working as a guard at a prison about an hour outside of Pittsburgh.
(I highly recommend Christian Parenti's Lockdown America on the subject of American jails)
There's a lot of talk about whether or not the Iraq abuse is widespread, or was limited to just a few soldiers. Well, it certainly seem to be widespread, but it might go even wider.
"This is the new gulag" writes Sidney Blumenthal, and in a way, he's completely right. The United States has created a small network of foreign prisons that have nothing to do with law, in three countries (Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq) holding perhaps as many as 12,000 people. Anyone the US government wishes to confine in these prisons can be held, with no charges, no sentence, no parole, no release date, and no rights. About the only consolation is that the torture probably isn't as bad as it would be in a prison in a military dictatorship.
Although Americans don't want to look this problem in the face, there it is. This is how the world sees us: an arrogant power that has no regard for other people, that will not hestiate to use violence on a whim. And honestly, although it isn't popularly known here, that is much of American history. That's "why do they hate us" in a nutshell. Americans are frequently kind, generous, compassionate people. But the fact that you help little old American ladies across the street is lost on people who live in other countries, who's death squads are armed with American weapons, who's homes are destroyed by American corporations, who's families are killed by American bombs. Most Americans aren't even aware these things are happening in other countries, yet they are being done in our name.
If Americans truly want to show their committment to freedom, democracy, human rights, and compassion, it is our duty to take back the power from these American predators. Ain't no other way.
Wheeled American
I have finally re-acquired an automobile!
Although I live in the drivin'-est city in the drivin-est region of the globe, I was actually getting by okay without one. Every place I needed to get to was within walking distance of my home, or of the easily accessible (and largely unknown) LA subway.
So why did I get a car?
Two reasons.
The first is that I really enjoy driving (which from an ecological point of view is like admitting "I really enjoy stabbing baby ducks in the head"). Not hot smoggy gridlocked LA driving, but exploratory drives, long coastal jaunts, cool inky night cruises, etc. Guess as a teen I fell in love with the freedom and cool of solo drives with the windows rolled down and some serious rock booming through the speakers.
The second reason is that I can't get to many of the places I want to go without a car. Which means that I either have to beg for rides, beg for friends to come out to my neighborhood, or just kinda go without friends and restrict myself to pretty much a four block radius. All of which I'd rather not.
Honestly, I think I came out slightly ahead of the game. For a price slightly higher than the amount I was given by my insurance company, I get a car nearly identical to my old one, just slightly newer, slightly less driven, and in somewhat better shape.
Now I just need to get me a nice part-time job, and things'll start being okay again.
Pundititis
I usually don't pick on right-wing pundits, because it's so unfair. It's just so easy. They're fucking lunatics who usually suck at writing, arguing and researching. They also often lie. I try to spend my time trying to figure out and explain what's really going on, not debating dumbasses.
But sometimes, a commentator steps over a line and you've just gotta say something. And this pundit jumped so far over the line that wherever she ended up, it's tomorrow morning there.
Remember how those US soldiers abused and sexually humiliated all those Iraq prisoners? Well, according to conservative Kathleen Parker, those acts weren't sadism that the soldiers were taught by military intelligence, they are acts of "gross-out humor" learned by watching Farrelly Brothers movies.
It's a slippery slope, one day you're watching "Dumb and Dumber" or "Me, Myself and Irene", the next you're a prison guard, wiring "pretend" electrodes to the genitals of a naked, terrified foreigner.
Jim Carrey must be banned from making any more movies. Not just because it would end all torture on Earth, but because his movies suck.
[via Pandagon]
DNC2K
During the first day of protest outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, the police went nuts. There was a large crowd there to demonstrate, and a large crowd there simply to watch performances by Rage Against the Machine and Ozomatli. During Ozomatli's set, the police abruptly cut the power, and started ordering everyone to disperse. Without giving the crowd much time to even try to disperse, the cops began unloading with rubber bullets and bean bag guns and their usual riot weaponry. Some members of the crowd sued the city for violations of their civil rights.
Today, the city agreed to pay 91 plaintiffs a grand total of $1.2 million, but insists that the LAPD did nothing wrong.
As a sidenote, I think it's a damn shame that news stories about this event systematically forget to mention Ozomatli. They're a great band, and they were playing when this cop riot began, yet they are forgotten in all this.
May 07, 2004
Well Of Course He Does
Donald "Skeletor" Rumsfeld is responding to the prisoner abuse scandal by calling for an investigation into the way the Pentagon does investigations.
We Need Another Holiday Like We Need a Hole in the Knee
Apparently, today is national No Pants Day.
Good to know.
May 05, 2004
Big News Bites
The "Good Guys" Who Can Do No Wrong- Robert Fisk blames the Iraqi prison torture on racist soldiers raised in racist cultures.
U.S. Army report on Iraqi prisoner abuse- the full text of the official report about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Current Iraq Troop Levels to Be Maintained Until End of 2005- pretty much what the headline says.
Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush- Disney subsidiary Miramax was on track to release Michael Moore's new anti-Bush movie "Farenheit 911", until Disney forbade them from doing so. Moore must be cackling with glee, as this can't but help generate buzz and anticipation for his film.
Putting NYC On the Map, Direct Action Groups Bring Tactic to RNC- kind of a funny name ("putting New York City on the map?" I think most folks are aware of its existence). Article about plans for direct action protest at the Republican National Convention in NYC this fall.
The next face of hate?- a look at the white supremacist group National Alliance and some of its members (with emphasis on the NA in Chicago).
May 04, 2004
Yes Strikes Again
Gotta love The Yes Men.
They're a group of anti-capitalist protesters who infiltrate the meetings of corporate bigwigs to create a spectacle.
Read about their latest exploit, attending a meeting of the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, posing as the fictional conservative organization, Society for Socioeconomic Stability.
Playas Get Played
This is a truly impressive article here:
How Ahmed Chalabi conned the neocons
It's long, and you'll have to watch a mini-commercial to read the whole thing, but it's chock-full of information. If you don't want to bother, I'll break it down for you.
This article essentially argues that the Iraq war happened because it was pushed by the neoconservative faction in the White House. And the neoconservatives pushed for the war because Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi painted them a very pretty picture of such a war's results. And Chalabi painted this picture because he was lying. And he was lying because he was using the neocons for his own ends.
It seems that Chalabi told the necons that if the US could overthrow Saddam Hussien, that Chalabi and his ilk could take power, and that he could then make peace between with Israel and build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel.
Now that Chalabi and some of his cronies have a measure of power in Iraq, it seems that they are making friends with Israel's enemy, Iran (including giving Iran American military secrets recently), and have no plans to build an Iraq-Israel pipeline. And now that he's gotten what he wanted from the US, Chalabi seems to be throwing in with Shia leaders in Iraq and Iran.
Long story short, if this article is correct, the Iraq war was largely due to Ahmed Chalabi tricking some White House rubes into thinking that he could achieve much of the neocon agenda. And, last I heard, the US government was still giving Chalabi around $340,000 a month.
Lotta blood on that man's hands.
Down to Earth
I was actually pretty touched by this article.
We all heard about Pat Tillman, the pro football player who turned down a lucrative sports career to go fight in Afghanistan. He was lauded as a mythic hero by just about everybody.
But this article about Tillman's funeral depicts him not as Captain America, but as a man, a brother, a thinker, a friend.
Strangely, the death of a man seems so much more tragic than the death of a hero. The politics fade, the stories drift and all that's left are people and pain.
PSA
Note to folks who bank with Washington Mutual: your bank is trying to screw you.
Washington Mutual has plans to sell your personal information to both their business affiliates and third party companies, unless you tell them not to. They included a notice to this effect in your latest bank statement. Gotta love how instead of asking your permission, they assume your permission, and if you don't want to be inundated with even more junk mail and credit card offers and shit, that the burden is placed on you.
Assholes.
Anyhow, if you don't want them to sell your info, call this number and follow the bouncing menu ball: 1-800-533-3534. I think you want option #3.
[update]
Actually, I just called that number again, hit '0' to talk to a person, and filed a complaint. It could've just been then humoring me, but the lady I spoke with said that if enough people filed complaints, the corporate office might take notice.
[/update]
New Kids on the Blog
Oh god, I hate myself for that title.
David Brock used to be a Republican hitman, smearing and sliming anyone who got in the way of the conservative agenda. He's allegedly the one behind the anti-Anita Hill campaign during Clarence Thomas' nomination for the Supreme Court. But in the past few years, he apparently changed sides, seeing the error of his ways (or at least pretending to, I don't know). He wrote an expose of how the right-wing worked, and now he has a new project: Media Matters for America.
Media Matters is a new website which analyzes, documents, and critiques the craziness of America's right wing media (from a liberal perspective, of course). At first, I thought this was a rather pointless endeavor, but after reading Brock's rationale, I do see some utility for the project.
First of all, right-wing media is ignored by pretty much everyone who's not super right-wing, which means that they can lie and distort with impunity. The MM project will drag all this into the light of day, both so non-conservatives can see it and so that the claims made in this media can be challenged. This will let the general public see what krazy things are being said in this arena, and perhaps force the right-wing audience to see another side to the story.
Second, it simply documents such media. Much of the supercharged conservative rhetoric is done in the fairly ephemeral media of radio and television. Which means that unless someone records the A/V or makes a transcript, the only people who ever hear these words are the audience tuned in at that very moment. This makes these can lead to pundits being quite irresponsible, knowing that they can rarely be held accountable for the things that they say. And this can have serious repercussions: David Neiwert makes a compelling case that some of these right-wing pundits act as "transmitters", spreading surprisingly reactionary/fascist concepts and rhetoric to an audience who's views are more moderate than that. If they knew that their words were seen by mainstream America, would they continue to say such things? Maybe they would temper themselves.
Also, lefty blogger Oliver Willis is joining the Media Matters team. Give em hell, Oliver!
Anyhow. Media Matters for America. Check em out.
May 03, 2004
Odds Unt Ends
Regarding the site:
1) My former domain "straybulletins.com" is about to expire. Anyone trying to reach that site or contact me through that domain's email addresses had better switch over to LyingMediaBastards.com
2) There was some confusion about the LMB button sale. I've changed the text there slightly to clarify.
3) I just added about 2 months' worth of radio show playlists to the pull-down menu in the upper right corner, if you're into that kinda thing.
And in real life, the adventures of Jake and His Demon Car near their end. As it turns out, I misunderstood what it meant when the insurance company declares your car a "total loss". For your own future knowledge, it means that a) your insurance company thinks it would cost them more money to fix your car than it would cost to pay you what the car is worth, and b) the insurance company notifies the DMV that your car is no longer a car, it is "salvage", and the process of getting it declared a "car" again sounds like a real pain in the ass. So I should be receiving a check soon that should actually be large enough that I could buy the exact same model of 14 year old car that just turned into salvage.
I have often joked that between my real job, this website, and my radio show, that it's like I have 3 jobs, only one of which pays. But the real job is being cut back, at least temporarily, so it seems that now I have 2 1/2 jobs, only 1/2 of which pays. So I have to find myself a part-time job to help make ends meet for at least 5 months or so. Should be... interesting.
I plan on taking a weeklong "get the hell away from everyone and everything" vacation soon. The site will probably be on hiatus then, but I admit that I find a certain romance in the idea of posting reflections from the road. We'll see what happens.
And sometime after that, I think I'm going to get a dog.
05-03-04
Tom Waits- I'll Be Gone
Madvillain- All Caps
The Ramones- Judy Is a Punk
Interpol- Hands Away (live)
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Art Star
The Von Bondies- Pawn Shoppe Heart
Kool Moe Dee- I Go To Work
Princess Superstar- Super Fantasy
Bad Religion- Operation Rescue
Eminem- Snookered (mashup)
The Lightning Seeds- Pure / You Showed Me
Jay Dee- Fuck the Police
Heavenly- P.U.N.K. Girl
KMD- Who Me?
Guns 'n Roses- Rocket Queen
Ken Booth- Arte Bella
Sleater-Kinney- Youth Decay
Sneaker Pimps- Spin Spin Sugar
The Cure- Like Cockatoos
The Pixies- Distance Equals Rate Times Time / Lovely Day
The Quadrajets- All My Rowdy Friends are Dead
The Vines- Get Free
Motorhead- Ace of Spades
Correct
"[The Bush administration] doesn't want us to believe what they say. They want us to believe what they say they said."
Torture
So last week, the photos hit, of American soldiers humiliating and near-torturing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison. Government officials tell us that these are just a few bad apples, and that the guards don't usually treat the prisoners this way.
Then photos and stories come out about British soldiers doing the same or worse.
Then, Amnesty International puts out a (rather vague) press release claiming that they have "received frequent reports of torture or other ill-treatment by Coalition Forces during the past year."
Then, we read allegations that British soldiers have been swapping hundreds of such photos of Iraqis being abused, for the soldiers' own amusement.
Then, most daming of all, reporter Seymour Hersh weighs in with an article mostly based upon the US Army's internal investigation about abuse in Iraqi prisons.
And finally, to personalize it all, we read first-hand accounts of the prisoners' treatment (well, alleged accounts).
So we've got a number of issues here.
First, some of those initial pictures document how the prisoners are being treated, but some are just sick souvenir photos that the fucked-up guards can show to their friends back home.
Second, Hersh's article tells us that this abuse started no later than October 2003, that there were many "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses", and included some of the following:
Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.
(although honestly, I have to wonder how much better or worse these Iraqi prisoners have been treated than American inmates in American jails)
Third, Hersh's article, and several others, allege that the guards (Military Police AKA MPs) were ordered to abuse the prisoners by members of military intelligence (MI). MI wanted the MPs to "soften up" the prisoners-- break their spirits-- so that it would be easier for MI to interrogate them.
As there is not much of a court system in Iraq right now, how many of these detainees are innocent? How many are guilty, but don't deserve to be beaten or electrocuted?
Another disturbing possiblity comes from this line this article:
"A month before the alleged abuses occurred, [Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski ] said, a team of military intelligence officers from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, came to Abu Ghraib last year. 'Their main and specific mission was to get the interrogators -- give them new techniques to get more information from detainees,' she said."
Did MI from Guantanamo go teach the Abu Ghraib guards a few tricks? If so, are the detainees in Guantanamo being abused and tortured the same way that the Iraqi prisoners are? Is this common wherever the US holds foreigners in bondage?
And on top of that, many of the articles idly mention that "civilian contractors" AKA "mercenaries" are working with MI. Mercs are unaccountable to anyone except the guy signing their paychecks.
What's bizarre about some of this is that torture is not a very reliable way of extracting information. Under threat of pain, how long till you start saying whatever you think your torturer wants you to hear? When the guard's about to shove a broom handle up your ass again, do you continue to pretend innocence, tell the guard the truth that he might not believe, or lie and say that you have Osama bin Laden's cell number?
Obviously, this is bad stuff. Apart from the obvious moral and human suffering issues, the Arab and Muslim world see these photos fall neatly into their perception that the US is an uncaring occupying power that wants to destroy Islam and all Arabs. And these perceptions just increase the chances that some angry Mideast resident is going to try to blow up the asses of innocent folks like you and me.
May 02, 2004
"Your head's like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the weight of oceans and the turning stars. Whole universes fit in there! But what do we choose to keep in this miraculous cabinet? Little broken things, sad trinkets that we play with over and over. The world turns our key and we play the same little tune again and again and we think that tune's all we are."
- The Invisibles
May 01, 2004
Why Don't You Tell Us What You Really Think?
www.JohnKerryIsADoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com
May Day
Had to do some research this week about the history of the May Day holiday (AKA International Workers Day), and found it all pretty interesting. Most intriguing is that it is a holiday celebrated around the world, except in the United States, the nation where it began.
The first May Day was May 1, 1886. American workers were fighting for an 8-hour work day, down from 10 or more. Hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike, especially in Chicago. The labor movement was much more radical in those days; many of its members were avowed socialists, communists and anarchists.
The strike lasted several days, with occasional armed conflict breaking out between strikers and police. On May 4, there was a big labor rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square. An unknown person threw a bomb into the crowd, killing several and wounding many. With no evidence, the cops went ahead and arrested eight Chicago labor leaders and convicted them in a show trial. Five were sentenced to death, the other three to prison. One of those sentenced to death avoided execution by detonating a bomb inside is mouth inside the prison.
The "Haymarket Martyrs" electrified radical labor organizations worldwide. In 1889, the organization Socialist International declared May 1 to be a day of protest and celebration every year, honoring the martyrs and the struggles of working people.
May Day was celebrated in the U.S. for many decades, competing somewhat with the less radical, government-sanctioned workers' holiday, Labor Day. It seems that the Cold War killed off May Day. Mainstream labor unions, fearing reprisal for being "unamerican," threw their support behind Labor Day instead of May Day. And groups of "patriots" in the US tried to stamp out May Day by announcing that May 1 would be (I'm not making this up) "Loyalty Day", a day to celebrate one's pride in their country (and their obedience to its leaders, I suppose). Over time, May Day was forgotten, Loyalty Day was forgotten, and all that was left was Labor Day. And, as the years passed, Labor Day was transmuted into a holiday were we Americans celebrate barbecues and beer.
Lying Media Bastards is both a radio show and website. The show airs Mondays 2-4pm PST on KillRadio.org, and couples excellent music with angry news commentary. And the website, well, you're looking at it. Both projects focus on our media-marinated world, political lies, corporate tyranny, and the folks fighting the good fight against these monsters. All brought to you by Jake Sexton, The Most Beloved Man in America ®. contact: jake+at+lyingmediabastards.com |
Media News |
May 14, 2004Media WeekA Look Inside the PR Battle Against Super Size Me- the site IGN.com is primarily a site of news & reviews of "cool" things for young men: movies; video games; cars; high-tech gadgets; etc. So I was proud of them when I saw that they'd risen above shallow and hip to get an actual newsy scoop. The article above was conceived when IGN received three different press releases attempting to debunk the anti-fast food message of the movie Super Size Me. The IGN guys did their research, finding that each of the press releases originated from a different PR front group funded by members of the junk food industry, often by the Golden Arches themselves. Reading With the Enemy- allegedly inspired by Super Size Me, liberal writer Oliver Griswold tells his harrowing tale of going 30 days absorbing no media but right-wing news. He sustained permanent liver damage, and he grew three extra toes. Okay, I'm lying. The Coming Backlash Against Outrage- in a nutshell, the author argues that "In the weeks ahead, we’ll be encouraged to turn away from information surfacing about imprisonment and interrogation techniques that have held sway under U.S. authority in Iraq. Atrocities will be discounted, excuses made, messengers blamed." Media Matters for America Television Spot Reveals Controversial Iraqi Prisoner Torture Commentary- new media watchdog Media Matters has been driving Rush Limbaugh nuts by publicizing his most ignorant and mean-spirited comments. They now seek to take it to another level by placing commercials on TV, quoting Rush's claims that the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse is no big thing. If it pisses of Limbaugh, I'm glad to hear it. Fox Doctor's Diploma Mill Degree- Fox's TV show "The Swan" is a fucking atrocity. It should be called "The Prey", as one of the world's largest corporations uses its power to exploit the insecurities of some of America's most emotionally vulnerable women. To make the whole thing more professional, their team of experts--plastic surgeons, nutritionists, personal trainers-- also includes a "therapist"/psychologist. As my brother and I watched part of the show in horror, we wondered what kind of psychologist could possibly find this show to be in the slightest bit ethical. Well, maybe part of that is because she's not exactly a "real" psychologist. This article finds that Dr. Lynn Ianni got her Ph.D from one of those fake universities that will give degrees to anybody for the right price (granted, it looks as though she did get her Master's in psych from a real university). More Media News |
Quotes |
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"Your head's like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the weight of oceans and the turning stars. Whole universes fit in there! But what do we choose to keep in this miraculous cabinet? Little broken things, sad trinkets that we play with over and over. The world turns our key and we play the same little tune again and again and we think that tune's all we are." |
Snapshots |
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Even though I'm not bald, I'm thinking of trying a comb-over. And that doesn't even make sense. |
