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"Local Residents Revive Democracy"
Linked to groups: DFA Columbia
That is the headline accompanying photos of our own Sharon Pasley and yours truly in the Fulton Sun, a very conservative local paper in Mid Missouri. We were canvassing for Barack Obama but the story focuses on the importance of citizen involvement in our Democracy. We were using the tools learned at DFA trainings. Here is the article:
http://www.fultonsun.com/articles/2008/01/20/news/346news02campaign.txt
Thank you Dean brothers for your inspiration and the determnation to conduct a 50 State Strategy, and to Matt and Arshad for the great training you conducted here last Spring. For those who missed it, the training is coming to Kansas City on June 14th and 15th:
It's customary to alert the previous thread of a new one. LOL
more of that fine snow that makes driving difficult, see you tonight at the meeting Kevin, bring your platform resolutions if you didn't mail them to jean
KUNSTLER'S WEEKLY DOSE OF REALITY
Knees knocked last week from sea to shining sea as the shape-shifting monster of economic reality cut a swathe of destruction through the markets and financial ranks.
George W. Bush, tried to appease the beast by offering each American adult the dollar equivalent of half a month's mortgage payment -- with the exhortation to drive forthwith to the nearest WalMart and blow it on salad shooters and plasma TV's -- but Hooverzilla just laughed at the offering and pounded the equity markets further into the dust of loss, while the "bank-like" guardians of wealth lay in the drainage ditches bleeding from their ears and eyes.
The United States is so broke, its people at every level from the Federal Reserve on down don't know whether to shit or go blind. The homeowners cringing in the media rooms of their 5000-square-foot personal family resorts don't know how long they can stay put microwaving pepperoni hot pockets with the default clock ticking.
A whole closet full of "other shoes" is now waiting to be dropped. Surely the biggest clodhoppers in the closet belong to the hedge funds, representing trillions and trillions of dollar-denominated "positions" which, however hallucinatory, had previously yielded enough real "money" year-by-year to keep all the realtors and Humvee dealers in the Hamptons goose-stepping to Goldman Sachs's drumbeat.
This is going to be a rough week. Fastening your seat belts may not be enough for this ride. Better superglue yourselves to the floorboards and pray for God's mercy.
It's customary to alert the previous thread of a new one. LOL
Guess what Monica, I did.
09:22 am
Monica,
I tried to get back to the old thread but it wouldn't load for me. When I finally got there, the deed was done......... :(
January 21, 2008
What a shot in the arm the Nevada caucuses were, where we took the silver as #2, beating McCain, Huckabee, Thompson, and -- of course -- Giuliani. We also got four more delegates. In South Carolina, we beat Rudy again. A big thank you to all our wonderful donors, volunteers, and voters. So many people worked so hard to spread our message of liberty, honest money, peace, and free-market prosperity. I owe you all my deepest gratitude. So do our fellow citizens. So do all future Americans. Most of the mainstream media continue to pretend that we do not exist. Yet soon the race will be down to four candidates-Romney, McCain, Huckabee, and me, and there is no stopping us, as Tim Russert grudgingly pointed out the other night. Thanks to you, we are in this all the way through a brokered convention.
Nevada, by the way, is known as the Silver State for a reason-its great mining industry produced the precious metal for the beautiful silver dollars minted at the fabled Carson City mint. These constitutional coins, include .775 ounces of silver, in accord with the Coinage Act of 1792. Today these coins, worth $1 in my father's day, have about $14 in silver. That is, the dollar is worth 1/14th of what it was, thanks to the counterfeiting Federal Reserve.
The Fed has again taken our country into a terrible crisis. Who else is talking about honest money that cannot be printed up at will by DC bureaucrats? My opponents in both parties are all some variety of print-and-spend Keynesians. Only we are telling the truth, about who is to blame for this recession, and how we can build real prosperity with sound money, no IRS, no deficit, and strict obedience to the Constitution. And, of course, no hyper-expensive, hyper-dangerous empire all around the globe.
When I met with some great ladies in Charleston, all of whom wore beautiful hats, I talked about the young people flocking to our banner. "Don't forget the young at heart," said one. Darn right! A youthful outlook, work ethic, and optimism characterizes all of us. Frederic Bastiat predicted many years ago that liberty would be saved by the young. He might have added the young at heart as well, and how right he was!
I continue to be astounded not only by all our revolutionaries, but by our fellow travelers. Democrats and even the workers for my Republican opponents come up to me to talk about our ideas. They are fascinated, and want to learn more. Reaching so many people doesn't necessarily mean a victory in the next primary, but it counts for the real changes we want in our country, now and for our children and grandchildren.
Of course, I am mainly paying attention to the next primary! We are working hard in Florida, in Louisiana for the caucuses, and then for Super Tuesday in more than 20 states. Meanwhile, the whole world is watching how we do tomorrow in fundraising, on a day dedicated to the memory of Martin
Luther King, the great champion of non-violence at home, peace abroad, and civil disobedience against tyrannical government.
Please make your most generous donation https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/ . We can't let this movement be stopped, nor slowed. I promise you that I will continue to pour all my heart and mind and strength into the battle. I know you will too. Let's work together for all we love, and all we hope for: freedom! Surely, it is worth all our efforts.
Sincerely,
Ron
As the primary silly season drags on, one really funny reminder four years ago.
While the rest of the candidates were trudging thru snow and freezing weather, the Terrible Dennis was going for the handful of delegate votes in... Hawaii.
Nice timing Dennis...
Phil,
The platform resolutions got to Jean Marie on Sunday after the caucus. Not a lot out of our precinct this year in regards to resolutions.
Re: Clinton and Obama on the issues:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_meryl_an_080121_americans_of_color_a.htm
B.A.R. Managing Editor Bruce Dixon notes that Obama’s “first act as a U.S. Senator was to refuse to stand with the Congressional Black Caucus and California Senator Barbara Boxer in opposition to Ohio's nullification of hundreds of thousands of black votes.” Dixon also listed some of the other candidate’s early senatorial activities:
- Obama “declined to ask any difficult, pointed or revealing questions of Condoleezza Rice and two of the president's disastrous Supreme Court nominees.”
- He “actually voted for two out of three of these.”
- He voted “for a bill that made it nearly impossible for ordinary people to sue giant corporations who rob, defraud, maim or kill, and another vote to renew the hated Patriot Act.”
Ford suggests, “since the corporate media is totally incapable of covering or even tolerating the raising of any issues of substance, and because both Obama and Clinton avoid real issues, real facts, and real history like the plague, we urge that thinking voters put the candidates to the Martin Luther King Test. What would Dr. King do, if he were alive?”
Ford says Obama and Hillary have already failed the test, “miserably”, and that “the only candidate who would pass the Martin Luther King Test is Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, whose platform for peace, truly universal health care, a living wage, and an end to corporate domination of American life harkens back to that "shining moment" in the Sixties that King mentioned, when there were "hopes" and "new beginnings."
The DLC is the elitist wing of the Democratic Party.
Howard's wing is the egalitarians.
I was pleased to hear Obama speak of equality and justice and liberty. Some people think that freedom means the same thing. It doesn't.
Also, when we talk about equality, we need to distinguish between input and outcome. Justice implies equality on the front end. Those who refer to equal outcomes implicitly negate the principle of equality because outcomes are ipso facto unequal.
Think of the rules of a game being applied equally. The results of a game are bound to be different because of different abilities and talents and even the luck of the draw. The rule of law defines the competition as equitable--i.e. success is not undermined by cheating.
It's my sense that those who yearn for the laws of God in the affairs of men are distressed by the apparent success of criminals when the secular law is applied. The reality is that evil doers and criminals abound regardless of the laws of God or man. The law is not an automatic guarantor of good or an amulet against evil. Evil thrives when good men are inattentive. The federal government has become a nest of vipers on our watch. The crooks need to be thrown out. Bush/Cheney need to be impeached. Their medals need to be taken away.
When Bill Cosby was Larry King’s guest last October, Larry’s assumption that Bill would be supporting Obama met with a furled brow. “Do you ask white people that question?” Cosby bristled. “There’s a guy in Ohio that I happen to love … (he’s) running for president … Kucinich … I love what he says! … I love what he says, and—“
Larry King cut in with a break, and viewers never found out what was on the other side of Cosby’s “and.” But, clearly, Bill’s criteria are based on more than color.
THE DEMOCRATS COULD BLOW IT AGAIN
"...I see trouble ahead for the Democrats in that voting patterns so far, as well as rumbling tensions over race and gender, suggest serious vulnerabilities in both of the Democratic front-runners that McCain or another rival could exploit. Most pundits assume it's the Republicans who have the weak field, but the leading Democrats -- both attractive and impressive people -- carry dangerous downsides of their own.
Sen. Barack Obama appeals strongly to affluent whites and minorities -- the old John Lindsay coalition -- but he seems to lose working-class whites, who may well be attracted to McCain's image as a man of old-fashioned virtues. Moreover, if the pollsters turn out to have been wrong in predicting the outcome in New Hampshire in part because of the "Bradley effect" -- that is, the polling tendency to overestimate the number of votes a black candidate will win because some whites opposed to that candidate refuse to speak to pollsters or claim to be undecided - then Democrats may also be deceiving themselves about the Illinois senator's chances in the general election. National surveys that show Obama beating various Republicans may be overstating his potential share of the vote.
For her part, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has done better at appealing to lower- and middle-income whites, especially women. But her loss to Obama among male voters in New Hampshire suggests that just as race may block Obama's path to the presidency, so gender may obstruct hers. That's hardly a surprise, of course. But Democrats have been so excited about the prospect of a historical breakthrough that many of them seemed to forget that plenty of voters are still swayed by old prejudices.
6. I do not agree that the value of our currency should be tied to a relatively scarce metal, be it gold or silver. I am quite happy to have the value of money tied to the good faith and credit of our people. The problem we currently have is that the good faith and credit of our people has been violated by a bunch of crooks.
more of same article and link:
The very qualities in Obama that progressive Democrats and independents find thrilling -- the sheer power of his oratory and physical presence -- may stir an unspoken anxiety and panic among other voters who fear the kind of change that Obama would bring. Likewise, Clinton's strength is also a source of uneasiness. Throughout her career, she has stirred an irrational hatred that is not primarily of her own making. To much of the public, when she is tough, she seems unwomanly and therefore inhuman; when she is soft, she seems unfit to be commander in chief. It's the old double bind that women have always faced in acquiring power, but wishing it weren't so won't make the dilemma vanish.
Although each candidate faces deep and abiding obstacles, racism today operates for the most part insidiously, below the surface of politics, while gender stereotypes are on more open display. Even when race rises to the surface in a political campaign, as it did last week, it usually carries with it an uncomfortable sense that the conversation is coded and that anyone bringing up the subject is out to stigmatize a black candidate. By contrast, women can be belittled and mocked in ways that no one would dare publicly try with African Americans. And in Clinton's case, much of the acid sprayed at her comes from other women, some of them on the op-ed pages of national newspapers.
(more at the link)
Edwards still has a role in nominating process
by Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 21, 2008
On a sunny weekend day in front of San Francisco's Ferry Building, volunteers at the Barack Obama for president table were selling an inch-thick booklet explaining Obama's policy positions for $5. A few feet away, volunteers supporting John Edwards were handing out campaign flyers - that they made and paid for themselves.
One flyer read: "It's not over until everyone votes. Don't let the pundits take away your voice for 2008." ....full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...
15. They may also be swayed by various guilty feelings.
As I previously suggested, our candidates may be gilded by guilt.
Monica Smith
Mon, 01/21/08
__________________
Interesting story, it shows quite a bit about Bloomberg's police state thought.
A Howardly for John Edwards.
---
A Seat in the Pew Rather Than a Speech By Julie Bosman
COLUMBIA, S.C. – On the last Sunday before the Democratic primary in South Carolina, there is no such thing as separation of church and politics.
John Edwards had been scheduled to speak this afternoon at the Zion Baptist Church here. But just before the service was set to begin, the Edwards campaign quietly put out word to reporters that he would not be speaking after all.
The reason? The campaigns for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were upset.
“There was some angst and concern from other campaigns that he was participating and they were not,” said Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for Mr. Edwards. “So in order to avoid politicizing Dr. King’s life and legacy, we thought it best to just participate in the ceremony today and save the remarks for tomorrow.” (Mr. Edwards is scheduled to address the NAACP’s King Day in Columbia on Monday.)
Instead, Mr. Edwards opted to hold a news conference outside the church with Leon Howard, the chair of the Black Caucus in South Carolina, at his side. After saying how happy he was to be there, and talking about Dr. King’s legacy, Mr. Edwards went into the church and sat in the front row. ... http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/...
Susan, I'll support a HOWARDLY for John Edwards any day but I think he should have gone ahead with his plans to speak.
Obama's speech yesterday...I don't understand the thing with Edwards not speaking. It could be he has a bit of integrity about marketing his values in a church?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012108...
Edwards a real class act. It was Sunday Services. He did the right thing.
Actually, Susan on second thought, he did the right thing. I don't really support politicking from a church. Period.
19. I just turned the URL into a link for whoever posted it. Went and had a look at it and came away with the thought that our agents of government all seem to be a little weak on what their responsibilities are. They keep trying to tell people what to do, instead of doing what they are told.
While it makes sense to require a permit to operate an intrinsically dangerous machine (like a car of truck) in public (note that no license is required to operate one on one's own land), trying to require a permit for a sniffing machine is a step too far. As Justice Kennedy says, the permitting process is such that, when the conditions have been met (such as ability to operate or navigate) the issuance of the permit is not optional. Except for the fact that people have gotten used to them, I'm not convinced that liquor licenses which give the purveyors of alcohol a monopoly are constitutional. Why should the sellers be regulated because the buyers might misuse the product?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/story...
Here's the ABC interview from GMA this morning. I'd say the 'main idea' is that Barack is calling Bill a liar, not in so many- I mean- few words of course. One of those prevarications he mentions is the notion that Barack's folks were strongarming union people in LV, a notion posted here and supported with 'frequent reports from cable news.'
I generally agree that churches should stay out of politics. But this was the first (except maybe Jesse) serious black candidate for President ever speaking at MLK's church on MLK weekend -- maybe the historic nature of the event overrode the politics in church thing this time. And altho I still haven't seen the speech end to end, I don't think he was saying 'vote for me.'
cC wrote "I don't really support politicking from a church. Period."
Ha ha, you and Tucker Carlson. He gets beside himself.
Robert and I disagreed strenuously on this point, but I felt that Al Gore spoke more forcefully and eloquently before church congregations than in any other forum. His voice took on the husky tone and lilting cadence of a preacher, and it brought down the house. Of course, he did attend divinity school.
26. I heard someone - perhaps a caller - say this morning on CSPAN - I think - that Barack IS MLK's dream.
15&18
My take exactly on what is going to happen cC.
The Bradley effect and downright bigotry will come into play if Obama is nominated.
Sexism and misogyny, as well as "Clinton fatigue" will be a significant factor in a Clinton candidacy.
And Sitka, I haven't used the "E" word.
Rest assured, a McCain or Romney campaign will play the race or gender card for all it's worth. And the Democrats will have their asses handed to them yet again......
"25. *** cChalfonte***"
Yup--esp. considering Billary sat out on the bankruptcy reform roll call vote in 2005 (S.256).
http://tinyurl.com/6db58
Harry Reid is an abject disgrace (as are the other DLC Dems who voted for the damned thing).
They deserve NOTHING.
Votes, freebie labor, or one dime of support in '08.
Nobody's mentioned as yet the disastrous effects of Big Dog's "ending welfare as we know it," and its accompanying BILLIONS of dollars in block grant monies to so-called "faith-based initiatives" & "marriage promotion" programs.
Ruined the lives of millions of women and children (of color) in this country, BTW.
I guess that low income single women & "motherhood" doesn't constitute a "countable work activity" to Big Dog, Billary, and the DLC misogynists?
http://tinyurl.com/26qay6
Let's be consistent w/the federally subsidized misogyny & racism, already.
Any 1969 Wellesley grad. KNOWS this is a feminist sellout, vs. personal glass ceiling shattering (Big Dog left those women and children in the ditch).
So, Billary's "faith" (gag me) was integral in forgiving Big Dog for decades of f^cking around on her?
Disgusting...she hasn't an ounce of judgment or common sense.
So enmeshed, it's beyond revolting...needs a shrink.
I have zero empathy for women like her--those low income women on TANF have no "voice," or choice ($$$) if wanting to end toxic DV-related relationships.
Their only alternative is poverty and/or homelessness (or death from longstanding DV).
Keep the f^cking church & organized religion out of politics, already.
I'm more than sick and tired of the propaganda (which is all it is).
The same is true for *billions* in governmental monies (state block grants, sans any accountability) to churches (hell, they're already tax-exempt; and shouldn't be).
That's disgusting enough; and hardly memorializes King's poverty-related directives of his oratories.
Enough of the rhetoric..."hope," prayer, and "faith" don't put food on the table, or pay the bills.
"Show me the money," Honey.
Hi Tom. Had our politics not been hijacked by the religious right, I probably wouldn't mind it. But if we as liberals are serious about keeping a line between church and state then we shouldn't approve of church sponsored/hosted political speech making. My mom is a lifelong Catholic, of the go to church daily variety. Once (and only once) did Sacramento's bishop suggest to the new priest at mom's church that political literature be made available on the tables as folks left church. The practice stopped. Her friend, Patti, (big Bush supporter) is a Lutheran...mom has attended church a few times at Patti's. Lots of pro-Bush, pro-war literature on display.
We need to draw that line. Clearly.
Al Gore was raised in the South and was raised Baptist. His "speaking like a southern baptist" is come by naturally. The more I think about it the more I don't like Barak's speech.... what a pander. he wasn't raised in the south, was he? He was not brought up a southern baptist, was he?
"If we can shake'em here we can shake'em thaya".
Shake it like a polaroid picture.
John wrote "Rest assured, a McCain or Romney campaign will play the race or gender card for all it's worth."
All right! Romney's Democratic foe will thereby obtain license to play the Mormon card. That will be an inspiring contest in the best American political tradition.
cC wrote "The more I think about it the more I don't like Barak's speech.... what a pander. he wasn't raised in the south, was he? He was not brought up a southern baptist, was he?"
It's not possible to expect he would not appear in that setting. Not only have Democratic presidential candidates, from Carter to Jackson to Clinton to Gore, made it a habit of appearing as candidates in churches, far more than Republican candidates, but the churches they have tended to appear in are primarily those with black congregations. Being both black and a Democat, and running a historic campaign, Obama would be snubbing that sector of the electorate if he didn't speak.
and just to be clear, I have no issues with church-goers or people of faith. My issue is faith injected into politics. Has no place there, imo.
Mainefem, I get your point about Clinton and social welfare, though I do see it as needing reform.
34. Good points, all.
but if we are serious about removing the cancer of religious right driven politics then we have to ask our candidates to stop making speeches at churches as well.
DAN ELLSBERG ON THE SIBEL EDMONDS TRAVESTY
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_luke_ryl_080121_dan_ellsberg_slams_m.htm
In response to the latest stories in the UK Times - including yesterdays's blockbuster proving that the FBI is lying about the existence of a multi-year counter-intelligence operation involving criminality at the highest levels of the US government - famed Pentagon whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg has written a new op-ed.
Ellsberg calls out Waxman and Leahy for sitting on the evidence for years, and he suggests that other whistleblowers come forward in the case with more documents and evidence.
But Ellsberg saves his best for the US media.
Ellsberg excoriates the media - the journalists and the corporate owners - for abiding by this nonsense, citing Iran-Contra, illegal spying and secret torture camps as examples where the fact that the operations were authorized at the highest levels doesn't negate the fact that they are criminal, and doesn't negate the public's right to know.
---------------------
Waxman and Leahy are toeing the Reid-Pelosi line, and are thus complicit in the coverup.
Edwards still has a role in nominating process
He's one more big loss from being as irrelevant as Kucinich.
I know this is news from the weekend. Nor is it new that the Clintons are playing more third-world politics. Once you win, you win, nothing will change that as we saw with GWB. The Clinton has learned well and are now doing as the GOP does.
Spokesmen for Obama's campaign told reporters that a Clinton party handout urged registration lines for the caucuses Saturday to close at 11:30 am, whereas state party rules said anyone in line until 12:00 pm was to be allowed to participate.
"Despite clear rules and timelines laid out by the Nevada Democratic Party that caucus doors should remain open and voter registration should continue until noon, the Clinton campaign encouraged their operatives to close the caucus doors at 11:30 am, a half hour before that deadline," said spokesman Bill Burton.
. . .
"We found an unusually high number of reports that the Clinton campaign was insisting that 11:30 was the deadline," said general counsel Bob Bauer, adding that at least 300 complaints had come in.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080120/ts_alt_afp/usvote2008nevadaobama_080120230437
All right! Romney's Democratic foe will thereby obtain license to play the Mormon card. That will be an inspiring contest in the best American political tradition.
You haven't paid attention to Howard Tom. The Repugs couch all of their racism and bigotry in code words that are easily deciphered, but are not overtly racist. Obama, by declaring the end of racism in America, is at a dsiadvantage on that issue.
McCain's Democratic foe could bring up his age--worked very well for Fritz Mondale wrt Reagan!
Here is a link to the video of the speech. Note who is burning the midnight oil to get it posted...Joe Rospars!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rospars/CGCXL
It is an amazing speech. I am still crying.
Ellsberg calls out Waxman and Leahy for sitting on the evidence for years
Leahey demonstrated his complicity by letting the Mukasey nomination go forward after proclaiming he wouldn't until Bush came clean about Gonzogate.
Waxman seems like a paper cutout of his old self.
cC wrote "but if we are serious about removing the cancer of religious right driven politics then we have to ask our candidates to stop making speeches at churches as well."
My perspective is entirely different. I too was raised Catholic and attended a seminary for three years in high school. In my formative years, my exposure to church tenets was what primarily galvanized my liberal beliefs forever.
In the seminary, we walked in the Poor Peoples' March and the war moratorium in Detroit. People like me remember Dan and Philip Berrigan, Thomas Merton and the Catonsville Nine. I remember the rise of liberation theology and in fact, great liberal traditions that emerged from the influence of the Second Vatican Council, much the same as they rose in households where Judaism was practiced, and in black households where portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy hung on the walls.
Evangelical Christians have garnered headlines in the past decade for reasons related to the rise of the current administration, but I've never felt that their influence was accurately metered by observers and the media on the hunt for "faith-based" and "values" voters. They just fit into the preconceived notions and canned story lines of intellectually lazy reporters.
Huron John
Mon, 01/21/08
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Plus, Mccain age 70? Brings his...................Mother? on the stage with him His Mother?
Love the documentaries with footage of Fannie Lou Hamer, Maine. Talk about courage. Now, THAT'S someone who's story moves you to tears.
MLK AND BO
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=5714
Barack Obama approaches change ready to compromise and articulate his vision from incorporating what others want. Had Martin Luther King Jr. taken this approach, the civil rights reforms would have been noticeably weaker than they were when they were enacted because it would have meant compromising with people like Strom Thurmond.
Martin Luther King Jr. believed "a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus."
Unfortunately, the Americans of today constrain their vision because there are few leaders who speak with the candor that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with. And until leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. speak with unbridled judgment of America and with spirit for revolution while leading Americans in a demand to take to the streets, there will be no dream.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream will not be realized.
"but I've never felt that their influence was accurately metered by observers and the media on the hunt for "faith-based" and "values" voters. "
Well, on this you're just dead wrong, imo. They control that party. If they nominated Giuliani then I'd say that the Republicans have taken back their party.
and no, I'm not a Rudy G. supporter but I do like his stand on the social issues. He's more of what their Party claims to be or used to be.
Huckabee is a religious whacko and draws well in the republican campaign.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream will not be realized.
Some would say that nominating and electing the first person of Obama's outward appearance is the realization of King's dream of judging people by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin.
I'm concerned that what might be explained as just pandering for an endorsement, Obamas' remark, "Reagan offered a sense of dynamism and entrepreneurism that had been missing" will be a damaging campaign commercial for the Repubs. in the General Election.
An Iowahawk Special Investigative Report
With Statistical Guidance from the New York Times
A Denver newspaper columnist is arrested for stalking a story subject. In Cincinnati, a television reporter is arrested on charges of child molestation. A North Carolina newspaper reporter is arrested for harassing a local woman. A drunken Chicago Sun-Times columnist and editorial board member is arrested for wife beating. A Baltimore newspaper editor is arrested for threatening neighbors with a shotgun. In Florida, one TV reporter is arrested for DUI, while another is charged with carrying a gun into a high school. A Philadelphia news anchorwoman goes on a violent drunken rampage, assaulting a police officer. In England, a newspaper columnist is arrested for killing her elderly aunt.
Unrelated incidents, or mounting evidence of that America's newsrooms have become a breeding ground for murderous, drunk, gun-wielding child molesters? Answers are elusive, but the ever-increasing toll of violent crimes committed by journalists has led some experts to warn that without programs for intensive mental health care, the nation faces a potential bloodbath at the hands of psychopathic media vets.
"These people could snap at any minute," says James Treacher of the Treacher Institute for Journalist Studies. "We need to get them the help and medication they need before it's too late."
Statistics of Shame
Accounts of media psychopathy, while widespread, have until now been largely anecdotal. In order to provide a more focused and systematic study of the crisis, Iowahawk researchers set out to identify and tabulate criminal arrests and convictions of current and former journalists. While by no means comprehensive, this 10-minute project yielded a grim picture of a once-proud profession now in the grips of tragic, drunk, violent, child-raping rage.
The stories cited in the opening paragraph, while instructive, are by no means isolated. Google searches return hundreds of crimes attributable to workers in America's media industry, and millions of pages containing the terms "journalist" and "murder." They are as shocking in their detail as they are in their number.
While some journalists' alleged offenses are limited to propery crimes and theft -- such as Redwood City (CA) radio reporter Joe McConnell and Former Detroit TV Reporter Suzanne Wangler -- often they take a darker turn, resulting in public endangerment. Current and former journalists seem particularly enthusiastic about driving the nation's highways and streets in drug and alcohol fueled stupors. Among the journalists arrested or charged with DUI offenses since 2000 include Salon and Guardian columnist Sidney Blumenthal, Chicago TV news anchor Walter Jacobson, Kansas City TV reporter Steve Shaw, Nashville newspaper columnist Brad Schmitt, Albuquerque Journal reporter Chris Vogel, Rocky Mountain News editor Holger Jesen, New York Post Columnist Richard Johnson, Idaho State Journal columnist Brady Slater, Tampa Tribune editor Janet Weaver, St. Petersburg Times reporter Eric Robert Gershman, and Lexington (KY) TV reporter Angelica St. John.
How many unsuspecting American motorists and pedestrians remain at risk from alcoholic media professionals is still a matter of scientific conjecture, but one thing is certain: journalists can be even more deadly outside their cars. Often the journalistic gateway to violent behavior begins with stalking and trespassing -- such as has been alleged of People magazine reporters Jeffrey Neal Weiss, and, in an unrelated incident, Don Sider. But sometimes, as in the case of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, serial stalking behavior goes unpunished and the perpetrators go on to seek more serious thrill-crimes. Journalists recently charged with violent offenses include New York Times reporter and alleged batterer Michael Katz, British reporter Ben Stubbings, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Margaret Gillerman, charged with striking a police officer.
Often, the objects of journalist rage turn out to be the perpetrator's own family and loved ones. For example, in 2005 Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Neil Steinberg was charged with domestic violence for striking his wife in an alcoholic rage. But this tendency obeys no gender, as evidenced by domestic violence charges against female newspaper editor Rebekah Wade, and Tampa reporter Roxanne Evanina, charged with domestic battery for spraying bleach into her boyfriend's face.
But the Americans most vulnerable to attacks from media sociopaths are its smallest. A shocking number of journalism-related crimes involve child molestation, child pornography, and internet stalking of minors. Journalists recently charged with sickening crimes in this category include Arizona newspaper editor Lindsey Stockton, Arkansas radio reporter Charles "David" Ballard, New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter William Kalec, Former KTTV-TV Los Angeles reporter Rod Bernsen, Washington DC TV weatherman Bill Kamal, and Noel Neff, former editor of the children's magazine We
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By Kevin Powell on Jan 21, 2008 8:59 AM ESTThe good doctor is first on this snowy day....