Author: Marc

To be fair, such little things as Pat Robertson issuing criminal threats against a democratically elected national leader are newsworthy. Choosing, however, to focus on them as the foremost topic of the week is irresponsible journalism. An interesting facet of Karl Rove's hiding-in-plain-sight-strategy for Bush has been the way he "encourages" so-called "news organizations" to focus on the latest little juicy tidbit. Even if the source of the distraction causes the Republican Party some mild embarassment, the results are well worth it: (1) The right-wing can claim "liberal media bias". (2) The memories of the voting public have proven to be terribly short. (3) The occasional embarassment can lend creedence to the illusion that the U.S. media are free and independent. (4) In a case such as this one, the figure taking the blow is one that is almost universally disliked by Democrats and Independents. Allowing a despised enemy like Pat Robertson to be raked over the coals is simply throwing moderates a bone.

Little things like Chuck Hagel (R-KS) seemingly coming to his senses also provide some smoke, behind which the most wicked plans of the extremists are coming to fruition. While much of the American populace awaits a Karl Rove (et al.) indictment with bated breath, Special Prosecutor Fitzgeralds case will slowly slip out of the headlines and into obscurity.

What brought down Nixon was he ran out of free passes. That was when the corporate takeover of the news media began. It has reached the point the originators of the movement had always hoped for. The day he was appointed president, Bush was awarded an unlimited supply with no expiration date.

Author: Marc

In a recent article posted on daily kos spells out what I have witnessed in my travels over the last couple of months.

I went on a business trip to Quantico, VA (Washington, D.C. area) recently. I occasionally (as a news nerd) peruse the local news, if for no other reason than to compare it with the national news agencies. I watched a brief story about the housing market in the Washington suburbs. It seems that those in the know were speculating that the local housing market was weakening. A couple of trips later, I spent a few days at Camp Pendleton, CA (San Diego area). Again, the local news believed that their market was drying up. The experts spoke of indicators that led them to this conclusion. When I made my was back to the D.C. area a couple of weeks later, speculation had given way to documentable decline in the rate at which houses were sold.

The story I just read only serves to increase my paranoia about the housing bubble and what it will mean to the U.S. economy. It would be easier to wave off as "media hype" were it not for the fact that I had seen such analysis by people in their home areas.

Whatever will we do??

Author: Marc

In a recent article posted on daily kos spells out what I have witnessed in my travels over the last couple of months.

I went on a business trip to Quantico, VA (Washington, D.C. area) recently. I occasionally (as a news nerd) peruse the local news, if for no other reason than to compare it with the national news agencies. I watched a brief story about the housing market in the Washington suburbs. It seems that those in the know were speculating that the local housing market was weakening. A couple of trips later, I spent a few days at Camp Pendleton, CA (San Diego area). Again, the local news believed that their market was drying up. The experts spoke of indicators that led them to this conclusion. When I made my was back to the D.C. area a couple of weeks later, speculation had given way to documentable decline in the rate at which houses were sold.

The story I just read only serves to increase my paranoia about the housing bubble and what it will mean to the U.S. economy. It would be easier to wave off as "media hype" were it not for the fact that I had seen such analysis by people in their home areas.

Whatever will we do??

Author: Marc

Despite the near-constant propaganda spewed out by the right-wing's lapdog media, the truth is peeking out from behind the clouds of intentional obfuscation. The misdirection, omissions, and Republican-sympathetic opinion have kept much of the public in the dark. Only those who were not distracted by celebrity trials, "reality" television, and missing white girls have been able to discern actual news.

I will not be easily forgiving those who voted or otherwise showed support for George W. Bush in the last few years.

The "good people of Germany" made ridiculous claims that Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent murderous reign weren't their fault and that they were misled by a pro-Nazi press. People get the government they deserve.

Assuming that the Bush administration is unable to complete the transformation from proto-fascist one-party rule to true fascism (though at this point, we should not harbor any unreasonable optimism), what will we say of its supporters? Certainly, they will be able to make the same claims the German citizenry did in the mid 1940s.

Even while allowing themselves to be disparaged as "the liberal media", the news outlets of the United States have become less of a conduit for information than an obstacle. They have held a mutually beneficial relationship with the (formerly) extremist reactionary wing of the Republican Party. As each strengthened the other, the only losers were the people of America, the people of the world, and the truth. Hundreds of thousands have been killed or maimed (just during the reign of Bush II) as the political machine bears fruit in the form of blood-soaked dollars.

The latest polls show Americans approval of Bush's performance at under 37%. I have recently updated the Bush Approval Chart, so you can see for yourself just how things appear to be going for the administration.

Mercifully, they apparently now consider phony "orange alert" press releases passe.

Author: Marc

It has been a difficult couple of weeks. I soon hope to be back up to speed with all the home-related issues. I am far too behind at work to take any days off for a while, so I may not be able to catch up for a while.

Author: Marc

I've had a problem lately. My father-in-law's computer was working perfectly until a couple of days ago. Then it crapped out. That means that I have been practically incommunicado since then. The result is that I am only now beginning to catch up on the news (they only had news in Cantonese, so I had no idea what was going on in the outside world) and updating my website.

I had started to write about a third "interesting talk" when the computer died. I hate attempting to reproduce things I have already written. Suffice it to say that I am now more keenly aware of the work done by the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center as well as the current state of white supremacist organizations in the US (as related by a consultant to the two organizations mentioned, among others).

Anyway, there has been much to discuss, and I have been unable to make any notes. So I will be skipping over large sections of important recent history just to try to catch up. Tomorrow, I will likely be able to address some of these issues.

Author: Marc

Yesterday, a friend of my wife's family came over. She was a retired professor at University of Washington, D.C. She spoke of her international travels and he varied cultural and linguistic interests.
She expressed an interest in the American Indians, and of uncovering the hidden relationships between the peoples of Northern China and native Americans. I was rather surprised that I had never before made that connection that she made: The "Hopi" means peace, as does the Chinese word "Heping". She had a number of intersting stories relating to her personal pursuit ofanthropological and cultural knowledge.

One thing that I found peculiar was that she had similar feelings about Clinton to those of the woman I had met from Kenya. Strangely, she expressed almost exactly what had been expressed by the young Egyptian scientist (back on Memorial Day), the German graduate students at the Clinton speech just before the election, and various others. I have yet to meet a foreigner that did not bring up Clinton and express admiration of him. I am beginning to think maybe he was something special after all...