Moyers vs media

from Yahoo! Picks

Bill Moyers is on the air again, kicking butt and taking names in his own inimitable fashion. If you haven't seen the new weekly series yet, this PBS companion site will serve as a great introduction. You can watch his recent two-hour documentary on the media's culpability in "buying the war" and perpetuating the myths of Iraqi weapons and a Saddam-al Qaida link. Also catch interviews with "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and journalist/blogger Josh Marshall. A complete show archive, a blog, a...[the story]

why war? no, why peace?

from SciTech daily:

Instead of asking, "Why is there war?", Steven Pinker asks "Why is there peace?" ... [more]

How Do We Stop Genocide When We Begin To Lose Interest After The First Victim?

I got this link from my subscription to the e-newsletter SciTech Daily. The article is in Science Daily. Troubling, but I can see their point :-(

abstract: Follow your intuition and act? When it comes to genocide, forget it. It doesn't work, says a University of Oregon psychologist. The large numbers of reported deaths represent dry statistics that fail to spark emotion and feeling and thus fail to motivate actions. Even going from one to two victims, feeling and meaning begin to fade, he said.
[read the article]

don't wanna vote dumb

I have not been keeping up with politician's views lately, except for what they're putting into their TV ads.

Given the reliability of the above source of information, I've been looking around to see if I can find a source of objective information on each of the offices that I need to vote for. So far I've found the following:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/

If you've found any, I'll be interested in looking.

(added 11/3/06): Utne's Guide to Voter's Guides

ProCon.org

from Yahoo! Picks:

ProCon.org

In 1984, a businessman and a mayoral aide decided that they'd had enough with "how difficult and time-consuming" it was to understand the hot-button issues of our time. So they formed a nonprofit corporation and set about compiling clear breakdowns of the arguments for and against a host of thorny subjects. As you can imagine, this calls out for the Web. And sure enough, in 2003 ProCon.org came into being. Since that time, it has provided overviews, historical summaries, little-known facts, and pro/con charts for such fun dinner table conversations as:

• Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq, with or without the U.N.?
• What are the solutions to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict?
• Is the ACLU good for America?

You're guaranteed to disagree with 50% of what you read here, but you'll come away better informed and -- if the site's founders are proved out -- a better citizen, to boot. (in Issues and Causes)

Most Outrageous Statements of 2005

from Utne Web Watch:

The news in 2005 often resembled the Theater of the Absurd, and Media Matters was there to monitor the misinformation. To recap the year, the accuracy watchdog harvested the finest blustering from the likes of Pat Robertson and Ann Coulter. Among the pronouncements is this gem from Rush Limbaugh: "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society." [the story]

Christmas under siege?

Beliefnet.com posted a set of correspondances between a FoxNews guy and a "separation of church and state" guy. First of all, the posting seems biased because they posted the following:

• long letter from FoxNews guy
• long letter of response from "separation of church and state" guy
• long letter from FoxNews guy, apparently being given the last word

On the related discussion board, I posted the following:

The idea that Christmas is "under siege" has less to do with religion than with politics.

It is about what lengths should be taken to ensure the separation of church and state.

More and more groups have become vocal over the last few decades, including, on one end of the holiday spectrum, "religious right", and, on the other end of the holiday spectrum, "atheists".

Note that these are the most vocal because they are at the extreme opposite points of view of the article. We don't hear so much about the moderate, quieter, viewpoints that are those of the vast majority of citizens.

God plus war

from Arts & Letters Daily:

We underestimate how much random processes can create order: we think order was made where no maker exists. Thus do we believe in God... more»

Buddhist monks, throats slit, Christian girls beheaded, Muslim dissenters blown to bits. It’s Southeast Asia’s newest war... more»

30's politics & inferences towards today

from KNAPPSTER:

..."A lot of of people (even libertarians, unless they notice one brief reference to it in something by Ayn Rand) don't know that FDR attempted to introduce labor conscription under the rubric of the National Recovery Act, and was only stopped from doing so by the Supreme Court. Few remember that today's Planned Parenthood was founded on the "eugenics" vision of Margaret Sanger, who was awarded a medal by Hitler for her contribution to the theories underlying his monstrous racial programs."... [the story]

NGO Bashing

from Utne web watch:

Governments around the globe are perplexed as to "who unleashed ... civil society?" in the form of powerful nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Many countries' top leaders aren't happy about the burst of strength NGOs have experienced over the past decade and a half, including Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and the Czech Republic's President Vaclav Klaus, not to mention a few members of the Bush Administration. Some leaders have gone so far as to overtly limit some groups' activities. -- Rose Miller
[the story]

e-voting

from Wired News:

Machine Politics
The lowdown on e-voting

Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning

from ICUJP.com:

All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena risks losing its tax-exempt status because of a former rector's remarks in 2004.

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election. [the story] [the sermon]

low-down on riots in France

from BBC News:

Urban crisis
France's response to riots exposes depth of society's wounds [the story]

poli-sci

from Arts & Letters Daily:

George Bush may be the most powerful man on earth, but he will never change the nature of politics. It’s time for the U.S. to get real... more»

neo-neocon

from Utne Web Watch:

THE NEOCON WHO ISN'T
By Robert S. Boynton, American Prospect Online
Political scientist Francis Fukuyama, famous for penning The End of History, has leapt back aboard the timeline with his sharp criticism of the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's foreign policy. His political detour has confounded fellow neoconservatives and incited debates about American politics within conservative circles.

we love drug companies

from Utne:

Panexa. Ask Your Doctor for a Reason to Take It
By Staff, Stay Free!This parody drug ad with its excessive small print and sales-pitch drivel shoves a sharp peccadillo in the side of the big pharma bull. The panacean poison Panexa has side effects that include "really geeky laughs," "shiny, valuable feces," and "susceptibility to wedgies." -- Archie Ingersoll
http://www.panexa.com/

peace pic

more war thoughts

war on terror - goal: eradicate terror so that the world may live in peace and not fear

Does anyone really believe that the US war against Iraq can ultimately end in there being no more terrorism in the world?

oughtta be a law . . .

from AlterNet:

A new U.N. declaration grants the world community the right to intervene and prevent governments from committing massive crimes against their own citizens. [the story]


Just makes me sad that such a thing is necessary . . .

how to get peace?

from Alternet:

"Doing what's necessary for a lasting peace in Iraq won't be easy -- and it doesn't include bringing the troops home now." [the story]

I'm just starting to read the article. I don't know yet if I will be in firm alignment with the opinions expressed, but it is intriguing.