Important Update: For New Vid Adds Go Here and Here (Widescreen!) Got tired of looking for new videos. Note to Atrios: the kewl kids aren't creating old fashioned MP3 lists. They're creating their own television channels. I told you I'd have my vengeance Reginald Hudlin. Newest version of the Anti Bet on J/Anti Tony Mowad jazz channel. Actually, it's more than just acid jazz. There's straight ahead and a few rock tunes thrown in for good measure. Plus toons and politics. This is set on random play so every time you refresh the 80 ~~230~~ ~~350~~ ~~502~~ ~~1060~~ ~~2100~~ 4500 or so vids appear in a different order. You shall rue the day that you crossed me Reginald Hudlin. And Goddamn you Reginald Hudlin. Goddamn you and BET on J to Hell. More legal update: This is actually more of a search engine (me plus the tech). All of these vids are available on the public youtubes (or have been publicly available) and such. Vids that are copyright violations are often taken down. More Update: Fullscreen function fully enabled. ON the bottom right corner that's the box that's furthest to the left.

July 3rd

ITEM: I should get one of these bracelets. Two stunning pro public option ads came to my attention the other day. One is by MoveOn which is raising money to put this on the airwaves. Out here on the Internets, of course, we can provide your artificial progressive consensual reality free and easy.

And this guy Lee Stranahan, an uninsured guy who's taking on the insurance industry, does fantastic progressive ads. Check out his whole page.

July 1st

ITEM: Over the last week or so I've been busy with my complaint against Jenn Jannon and Working America. We came close to getting a negotiated settlement but no cigar. Hey, I tried.

It also looks like an EEOC investigator will formally recommend this week (or the next, this is a government bureaucracy afterall...) that there is direct evidence that Working America is guilty of retaliation, at least that's the word according to EEOC investigator John Wozniak. For you kids playing at home, direct evidence is like a home run. It's like Jenn Jannon called me a nigger to my face, which, to be frank, she kind of has when you look at all the circumstantial evidence and the no less than 32 examples of Pretext I've presented against Working America. (The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission had already written the complaint....)How rare is a finding or a formal charge like this by the EEOC? It's about one out of ten. Pretty damn rare. I should point out that retaliation is different from discrimination. But its still a crime. By the way, whenever I write of Jenn Jannon and Working America, it should be known that everything is written in the positive productive spirit of hoping that Working America doesn't tolerate bigots or their bigotry and would make an attempt to excise such people and practices from their ranks. Here's some more "constructive assessment": Working America should fire incompetent and racist and bigoted managers like Ayn Rand fan Jenn "We the Living" Jannon.

More on this later.

June 26 PST

ITEM: I've looked deep into my soul and I have nothing pertinent or interesting to say about the deaths of Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett. She was never my favorite angel anyway. I liked the smart one. I am guessing that if you look elsewhere you may find some news about those people.

June 24 PST

ITEM: I really liked John ~~Platz's~~ Flatz's photos of Pittsburgh, which I saw at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. You can find his website here.

ITEM: Two new healthcare blogs that report on the public option. Healthcare for America Now and PA Health Access Network Related: Yesterday I hurt my ankle (true story). My choices were to walk it off or risk spending up to a thousand dollars in some emergency care room. So, and here's where the drama kicks in....wait for it...I chose walking it off! This has been another exciting chapter in the book that is known as "Living Without Healthcare".

ITEM: Its Battle of the Vids time. Which insurance sketch is funnier? Can anyone stop Monty Python and Mr. Devious? Why am I doing almost whole posts composed of nothing but questions? No, really...why?

vs. Firecare

June 23 PST

A Late Tuesday Night/Wednesday Morning Around the Internets

ITEM: Yet another talented artist I found at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Her name is Daphne Covington.

Here's some damn links.

ITEM: Jane Hamsher Explains How to Lobby for the Public Option

ITEM: One of the reasons I'm not crying about dead newspapers is that they're completely ineffective about reporting about the really important things. Last time I checked I couldn't even find an editorial about the public option at the "liberal" paper the Post Gazette. Also, see if the Post Gazette has done any reporting on something called ""The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement". Truth be told the corporate media isn't really allowed to write critically about these trade deals--e.g., NAFTA or the WTO-- that essentially supersede and undermine our sorry excuse for a democracy. I suppose, like in many other areas, if I want to really learn about something then I should look on the Internet, while that's still legal of course.

From Boing Boing:

Glyn sez, "The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement [ed: a secret, non-UN treaty that rich countries are cooking up that will criminalize copyright infringement, sending non-commercial file-sharers to prison; authorize border guards to search your hard-drive and personal electronics for copyright infringements; and require governments to give media giants the power to decide who should and shouldn't have Internet access, without having to prove anything in a court of law] has been making its way in secret for some time, a coalition of consumer groups have now demanded that the text of the directive be made public.

For example, even though our government has shown some restraint by not just criminalizing file trading (probably because the worst infringers are rich white college kids...gawd help us all if infringement was something only poor black kids did...) and there was a great French court decision calling the use of the Internet a human right, you might still find yourself in jail for downloading music or tv videos if this trade agreement goes into effect.

ITEM: Also from Boing Boing: Steon has been finally debunked. But there's still hope for BlackLight Labs...

June 22 PST

ITEM: Above: Very talented artist named Kana who I saw at the Three River Arts Festival.

Below: Funny political cartoon about Iran. What's not so funny is while its kind of cool to see people fight back you're not really sure if this will end well. You have to sustain national strikes and protests for...how long actually? Weeks? How do you live while you do that? The truly horrible thing about the stolen presidential elections of 2000 and 2004--aside from the fact that our window to stop climate change may have closed and that he's succeeding in killing us all--is that its given a blank check to every thug and junta on earth to do the same thing. We've seen several dicey elections in Africa from the usual suspects. The last national election in Mexico appeared to be stolen. Their posture seems to be "Yeah, we stole it...what are you going to do about it? Vote harder...?"

Because what can decent people do? Iran is now busy arresting protesters and preparing show trials no doubt. There really isn't an alternative except counter force. Are you prepared to face down soldiers and policemen? Its quite clear, at least in this country and no doubt Iran, that they're quite prepared to shoot you. How many martyrs will it take? With that said, I wish the Iranian people luck. Perhaps they will fight for something worthwhile and get it. It has been known to happen on the rare occasion.

ITEM: What you can do to fight for a public option for healthcare. From MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

Health care reform is in trouble in the Senate.

Conservatives in Congress, including some Democrats, are trying to kill Obama's public health insurance option not by opposing it outright, but by pushing weak half-measures and calling them "public plans."1 The latest is a proposal for small, regional "co-ops" that would have no chance of competing against insurance companies to bring costs down.2

If we act immediately, we have a good shot at defeating ploys like the "co-op." The key is to make it clear that we support a strong public health insurance option and lay out exactly what that means.
Click below and we'll fax a flier in your name (for free!) to Sens. Casey and Specter that sets the bar for a strong public health insurance option. Faxes come directly into the office, so staffers are guaranteed to see them. And if enough of us send faxes, staffers will pass the flier on to their senator.

http://pol.moveon.org/fax?tg=FSPA_2.FSPA_1&cp_id=967&id=16427-3053238-Iqn5plx&t=3

It's up to us to remind our senators that an overwhelming majority of Americans—83%—supports a public health insurance option,3 and that weak half-measures like the "co-op" plan are no substitute for real reform.
The flier says: "A strong public health insurance option must be part of health care reform this year," and outlines key criteria that a plan must be based upon:
* Available to all of us: A strong public health insurance option should be available to anyone who chooses to participate. If you like your current plan, you can keep it; if you want to participate in the public health insurance plan, you can choose that.
* A national plan with real bargaining clout: In order to truly control costs and compete with private health insurance plans, a strong public health insurance option must be available nationwide.
* Ready on day one: Every day we wait on real reform, health care costs continue to rise. A strong public health insurance option with a broad network of providers right out of the gate is key to building a competitive program that will help control costs.
* A truly public plan: To ensure it's held to the highest standards of accountability, a public health insurance option must be truly publicly run—accountable and transparent to Congress and to voters.
If thousands of us send faxes to Senate offices this week, we can make sure that message is heard loud and clear. Can you fax Sens. Casey and Specter today? Click below and we'll send one for you:
http://pol.moveon.org/fax?tg=FSPA_2.FSPA_1&cp_id=967&id=16427-3053238-Iqn5plx&t=4

Thanks for all that you do.

–Patrick S., Kat, Justin, Wes, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "A Public Health Plan," The New York Times, June 21, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51519&id=16427-3053238-Iqn5plx&t=5

2. "A co-op for the public option? Let's talk principles," The Now! Blog, June 12, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51498&id=16427-3053238-Iqn5plx&t=6

3. "New Poll Shows Tremendous Support for Public Health Care Option," Blog for Our Future, June 15, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51510&id=16427-3053238-Iqn5plx&t=7

What Should Have Been Published June 18th

ITEM: This is from Aimee Manion, a fellow IUPer (I went there for four years but never graduated...) who was at last week's Art Festival. And she's cute, too.

ITEM: I've been unable to post because I've been trying to get my high speed FIOs connection fixed. So far, I've spent about an hour and a half on the phone and I've failed to get anyone to help me with anything. I spent an hour Thursday waiting online before speaking to a live person. This live person couldn't identify me by my online account number and I was promptly disconnected. I then called later that night and messed around for a half hour only to find out that their hours for answering that kind of call were over. The service has been fantastic and there hasn't been a single outage in about six months but their support is terrible. They seem determined to make it a Hellish unbearable ordeal. I'll keep at it.

June 14th PST

ITEM: I'll be featuring the best artists (IMHO) I saw at the Three Rivers Arts Festival all this week. This is Mr. Hooper. He's from Nashville. Looks like he's ready for the cover of Juxtapoz.

ITEM: Healthcare, for me, will be the defining moment of the Obama administration. If he manages to pass a strong health care bill with a public option--and not some mealy mouthed coop plan or an option made worthless by a 7 year to infinity "trigger"--then I think he'll be reelected. Right now, he's doing terribly on the entirety of the Big Three, or Four if you read Glenn Greenwald's constant and irritating reports about Barry's "no snitchin' " policy when it comes to Republican war crimes. The Big Three include healthcare, EFCA and a real climate change bill. His climate change bill, which I canvassed on several weeks ago while waving around John Fetterman's picture on a flyer, simply won't get it done as it was written as it passed out of Waxmen's US House committee. Today, there was an AP report that he's considering Kent Conrad's coop idea so he can get bipartisan support. Look, the goal of the government isn't to be bipartisan. It's to pass a bill that provides a real health care alternative to upwards of 40 million Americans. Chris Bowers wrote the definitive piece on this topic here. I don't want to get "along" with or "work" with the Republicans. They're an evil party. You're an evil party, by the way, when you always frak over the public interest on behalf of rich fatcats. That's the very definition of the Republican Party. Turns out, though, that may be a lot of democrats as well. We've always suspected the Blue Dogs and Ben Nelsons of the world but I was kind of hoping the President would be on my side. So far, not so much.

The Big Payoff for the president if he were to pass real health care reform is that it almost guarantees his reelection. For example, I'm not happy with a lot of the president's policies but could I afford to vote against him if I had real healthcare? No I couldn't. The reason why I couldn't is that I know that if the Republicans were to retake the White House their first order of business would be destroying meaningful health care reform. That's the nature of the Scorpion. There would be upwards of 40 million previously uninsured Americans just like me who simply couldn't afford a Democratic Party loss.

Here's the worst case scenario: Obama fails to pass meaningful health care reform. His climate change bill passes congress but it not only doesn't help the climate but there would be no incentives--as environmentalists have argued--to actually create "green jobs." Zippo. They won't be building wind turbines in Braddock because the utility companies will have no incentive to do so. Third, well, if he punts on both climate change and healthcare we can imagine how hard he'll fight for a meaningful EFCA bill. Not much. Keep in mind that Penny Pritzker, billionaire benefactor and rainmaker, has already been reported to oppose EFCA because she happens to be a hotel magnate, who benefits from keeping the hotel "help" reliably under a Living Wage. And don't get me started on Barry's "no snitchin" policy on Republican War Crimes.

(You know, the really interesting thing about Barry's "no snitchin" policy is that Republican judges--which dems never seem to block--can actually abide by the constitution and screw Obama's presidency at the same time. Read Greenwald's point five.)

If that worst case scenario comes to pass and if he's 0 for 4 on those important issues, then I don't see how he gets reelected. I think he might even have a problem getting the nomination again. I would be looking at my options during the primaries... Dick "the banks run this town" Durbin would be nice...

Related: Bill Maher sums it up nicely. "This is not what I voted for."

Related: Reich says its crunch time.

The American Medical Association came out against a public option for healthcare. The President has reaffirmed his support for it. The next weeks will show what Obama is made of -- whether he's willing and able to take on the most formidable lobbying coalition he has faced so far on an issue that will define his presidency.

And make no mistake: A public option large enough to have bargaining leverage to drive down drug prices and private-insurance premiums is the defining issue of universal healthcare. It's the only way to make healthcare affordable. It's the only way to prevent Medicare and Medicaid from eating up future federal budgets. An ersatz public option -- whether Kent Conrad's non-profit cooperatives, Olympia Snowe's "trigger," or regulated state-run plans -- won't do squat.

The last president to successfully take on the giant healthcare lobbies was LBJ. He got Medicare and Medicaid enacted because he weighed into the details, twisted congressional arms, threatened and cajoled, drew lines in the sand, and went to war against the AMA and the other giant lobbyists standing in the way. The question now is how much LBJ is in Barack Obama.

The big guns are out and they're firing. All major lobbying firms in Washington -- many of them brimming with ex-members of Congress -- are now crawling all over the Hill. Lots of money is on the table. AMA's political action committee has contributed $9.8 million to congressional candidates since 2000, and its lobbying arm is one of the most formidable on the Hill. Meanwhile, Big Insurance and Big Pharma are increasing their firepower. The five largest private insurers and their trade group America's Health Insurance Plans spent a total of $6.4 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year, up more than $1 million from the first quarter last year, and are spending even more now. United Health Group spent $1.5 million in the first quarter, up 34 percent from the $1.1 million it spent in the first quarter last year. Aetna spent $809,793 between January and the end of March, up 41 percent from last year. Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, spent more than $6.1 million on lobbying between January and March, more than double what it spent last year. It also spent nearly $3.3 million lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2008. Every one of them is upping their spending.

Some congressional Democrats are willing and able to stand up to this barrage. Many are not. They need cover from the White House.

The President can't do this alone. You must weigh in and get everyone you know to weigh in, too. Bombard your senators and representatives. Organize and mobilize others. And let the White House know how strongly you feel. This is one of those battles that define a presidency. But more importantly, it's one of those battles that define the state of American democracy.

Related: What you can do. From the Daily Kos:

PLEASE CALL the White House and let President Obama know that you don't want him to consider the "7-year trigger" for the public option. Let him know that you're ANGRY that he's doing this. Tell him it won't be REAL health care reform without an immediately available, strong, robust Medicare-like public option.

CALL the White House at: 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL them as well!

PLEASE CALL these Senators on the Senate Finance Committee today to demand a strong, robust affordable Medicare-like public option. Here's a list of talking points below:

Tell Senator [Name] that you DO NOT want the 7-year trigger for the public option and take it off the table, and that you want him to support an affordable strong, robust Medicare-like public option. We NEED a strong, robust Medicare-like public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Also, DON'T TAX OUR EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS. Instead, follow the proposal by President Obama to tax the wealthy above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform.

Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542
Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543
Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472
Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244
Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043
Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521
Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742
Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843
Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822
Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441
Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274
Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744
Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441

This coming week may be one of the most important for healthcare-reform activists this year, and your phonecalls may never have more impact than they do now. Please take the time to let the White House, your senators and your representative know that including a public option is non-negotiable when it comes to your supporting Democratic legislation for healthcare reform.

June 10 PST

\}]

ITEM: Machine Man I think...Some incredible Kirby "Cosmo" wallpapers

A Quick 8 Links O Science Around the Internets

Kewl New Band Name: Radioactive Wasps
How To Build Your Own DIY UAVs. Not to be used by bad people, ever.
New and Free Video Capture Software
Something That Couldn't Possibly Go Wrong
Something That Couldn't Possibly Go Wrong Part II
Interesting Site Called Wise Geek
New Anonymous and Free Bittorrent Client...Which You Shouldn't Use!
15 Year Old Creates Algae Based Energy System

June 9 PST

ITEM: The Goddess destroys Pgh. Lesbian Correspondent Sue Kerr. Really. I'm not kidding. I'll have something more to say on this tomorrow.

June 6

ITEM: Feel Kirby's POW Werrrrr (To be read Darth Vader style)....Some incredible Kirby "Cosmo" wallpapers

ITEM: Actual Headline:

My spat with Pittsburgh Lesbian Sue over the city council's sixth district.

So anyway I endorsed Robert Lavelle for Pittsburgh's sixth district and it turns out my old America Coming Together boss won, which is cool. Before the election I wrote a piece where I criticized Sue , of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents fame, for her thumbs down on Lavelle. You can read Sue's original piece here. My counter piece is here and is called "Question for the Pgh. Lesbian Correspondents: Does Gay Marriage Trump Third World Conditions and Murders in the Black Community?" Since Robert won I assumed the answer was "no".

I thought that was the end of the discussion until I read today's 2 Political Junkies and noticed this comment.

At 11:37 AM, Sue said...

My post "Queer Perspective on District 6" generated some thoughtful responses and some rather vitriolic, ridiculous responses. One blogger suggested I think marriage equality is more important than the unnecessary death of young African-American men in our communities. Unfair attempt to pit an issue of civil rights against an issue of life or death. There doesn't have to be an either/or. It also shows that particular person makes huge leaps with regard to my stance as a resident of the City who happens to be a lesbian.

I was also verbally assualted by a supporter of Lavelle, accusing me of literally wanting people to die b/c of my support for Tonya. This attempt to demonize her supporters was uncalled for and, frankly, puts Mr. Lavelle several steps backwards on the path of leadership for me. I can't speak for Manchester in general, but I think the polls speak for themselves.

I'm certainly willing to give Mr. Lavelle a chance, but his campaign tactics (as well as his recent actions at a community meeting) do not bode well.

We'll see.

So I wrote this in response:

At 9:03 PM, Steelydan3 said...

Well, as that African America blogger, and as the only one in town who writes about politics, I guess that would be me that you're referring to. Go back to your original statement. You said that Tonya was wonderful because you could talk to her, thus paying attention to you folks on the North Side and she was good on lesbian/gay issues. Granted.

I think my argument was black folks have more serious issues to worry about like bullets flying in the streets and rampant joblessness. And Tonya was more than just arrogant she didn't show up for anything. She missed just about every significant debate...just a bad candidate.

I might also add that my hatred of Tonya came exclusively from a black woman known as "The Goddess". You remember her right? The last black writer I've seen down there at the "liberal" paper that Chris runs...Her argument came down to Tonya siding with the mayor (don't we hate the mayor here?) and the Pens against the community on development issues...I think that resonated. I think it resonated more than chit chat with North Siders and Lesbian/gay issues, Sue. Just sayin'...

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

PS: By the way, some errors in yer logic there Sue. Not a big leap to think that black folks in the Hill care more about violence and joblessness than gay issues or chit chat with North Siders. Just sayin there, again, Sue...

PPS: Okay, I'll bite: what were Robert Lavelle's disturbing actions at a recent community meeting...?

Will there be more of a catfight on this issue? Stay tuned....!

June 5 PST

ITEM: Some incredible Kirby "Cosmo" wallpapers. Sometimes I can't think of a striking enough visual to start off my day's posts. These should last me for a week.

Related: Speaking of science fiction, I strongly urge you to take a listen to this Greg Egan podcast of one of his stories called "'Crystal Nights". Interzone has been publishing Greg's fiction for years and righteously so. It's just another outstanding Egan story where he touches upon the whys and wherefores of being an entrepreneurial self designated God who creates AI beings. Its kind of like if the Sims were real. One Warning: if you design your AIs to be smarter than you so you can learn stuff (faster than light travel, more quantum memory, uploading, etc.,), then make sure they like you and aren't mad about you deciding, for example, that they couldn't have kids anymore. They might resent your omniscient puppeteering (even though I thought he was a benevolent god as far as gods go...more merciful than the old testament god that's for sure.) and they might try to off you. That's a spoiler by the way. Actually, while I'm entirely certain that what happens near the end is an escape I'm not entirely certain if it was meant to be a hit as well... both? Damn good fiction though. How good is the story? I had only meant to listen to a minute of it to get a sense of it and I ended up listening to the entire hour.

ITEM: MoveOn wants a stronger carbon caps bill.

I did some canvassing a few weeks ago in the Monroeville/Greensburg area (Tim Murphy's district. Note the poll on the bottom right.) on the Carbon Caps bill that's in congress right now. I was hired indirectly by the Environmental Defense Fund which supports Carbon Caps.

The bill came out of Henry Waxman's very powerful committee but its gotten some heavy criticism from the likes of Greenpeace and other environmental organizations. If I understand their criticisms its entirely possible that this bill could create a lot of jobs, but they wouldn't be clean jobs and there would be no incentive to create clean jobs. In fact, the bill could create a lot of coal jobs which is the worst thing in the world for anybody who calls him or herself an "environmentalist". In fact, it's quite clear that in a choice between coal and nuclear, some environmentalists would choose nuclear. (Emphasis on "some": I'm with the new guy at Greenpeace. We need to push renewables.) Nuclear energy creates waste but its not carbon waste.

Meanwhile, MoveOn is working to strengthen the bill. I got this press release today. I hope they're successful. They're urging you to sign a petition. You can read their full statement here. Related: A very in depth piece about the problems with the ACES bill over at Daily Kos.

June 1

ITEM: There will a vigil tonight for murdered Doctor George Tiller, killed by a pro life terrorist. Here's what I received in my email:

Dear PHILIP,

All of us at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania are outraged and deeply saddened at the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an abortion protester on Sunday morning. Our most sincere sympathies go out to Dr. Tiller's family, to his dedicated and brave staff, and to the thousands of women who have benefited from Dr. Tiller's courage, compassion, and unwavering dedication to women's health care.

Please join the pro-choice community this evening, June 1st, from 7:30 to 8:30 for a candlelight vigil to honor Dr. Tiller. The vigil will be held at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church on the corner of Highland Avenue and Penn Avenue. We urge you to show your support and join us in mourning and solidarity.

***

"Make no mistake, this battle is about self-determination by women of the direction and course of their lives and their family's lives. Abortion is about women's hopes and dreams. Abortion is a matter of survival for women." - Dr. George Tiller, physician and advocate

May 31

ITEM: And yeah, this is why Richard Dawkins is a mean ol atheist. Religion simply isn't harmless. From Pharyngula:

These are the people who fuel the kind of self-righteous ignorance that encourages people to picket reproductive health clinics, treat ob-gyns as public criminals, and incite murder. The heroes are the doctors who sacrifice so much — privacy, security, and in this case, their life — to provide essential services to women, the women in whom Reaganites find so little value, unless they are pregnant. One of the tragedies of this recent killing and the conservative tradition is that it will be increasingly difficult to find heroes brave enough to step into this role…exactly as these narrow-minded, puritanical enemies of human liberty want.

He's probably not thrilled about Saudi funded fundie schools either. Related: Also from Pharyngula, something positive you can do.

May 29

ITEM: Mr Fish has been on a roll lately.

ITEM: If you just sign up to support the SEIU's effort at a public health care option, they will donate one dollar to Open Left. I signed up even though I already get the SEIU's mailings.

I also left this comment::

Thank You Andy Stern and the SEIU (4.00 / 1)
I know there are people who are upset with the SEIU ads that are running over at the Daily Kos but I think those people couldn't be more wrong. Look, we've had a business press and business press only for years now. If the SEIU wants to create a proxy labor press by investing in liberal blogs then let them do so. I suppose that might affect influence but you know what I agree with the SEIU on most issues anyway!

This would create the situation that they have in Europe where different factions have their own papers. That's a good thing. Right now, we have an allegedly "objective" business press that reflects wealth and power on all the important issues, and certainly never gets tired of their half hour infomercial documentaries or their GEICO ads--another reason you will never see real criticism of the insurance industry in the business press. We have a business press and, not surprisingly on a number of issues, one business party. Those facts are related. That has to change and creating a labor press is one way to do it.

What Andy Stern is doing is a good thing. I just wish the rest of the labor movement would wake up and realize that they need to support their liberal blogger friends as well!

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

PS: My site could use some ads too!

PPS: Labor needs its own party! You have the resources. You should run my old ACT co worker Tom Huffman or Braddock's John Fetterman or even Chris Bowers for that PA. Senate seat. If you want access, then elect one of your own...! You have the power to do it...!

PPPS: And start your own labor press...but it looks like you're already moving there. Hell, if you pay me one hundred bucks a week I'll write about labor issues fulltime here....!
by: Steelydan3 @ Fri May 29, 2009 at 15:23
[ Reply ]

Tuesday April 15, 2008

Bloom County character Oliver Wendell Jones and NPR Senior Producer Walter Ray Watson: Separated at birth? Actually, it was a closer resemblance before Walt got the dreds...

Morrissey was right. We hate it when our friends become successful. My former New Pittsburgh Courier colleague Walter Ray Watson is the recipient of a Nieman Fellowship. I think that means he gets to teach and write for a year or a summer and he still gets to go back to his job at NPR when he's done. One of the great crimes of this world would be if Walter was unable to finish a book--I mean, any book--before he leaves this plane. One of the most gifted natural stylists I've ever seen, let alone worked with. Congrats. I should note that this gives me another opportunity to take a shot at my old union busting Courier boss Rod Doss. Keep in mind that not only did Rod not hire Tony Norman, arguably the most interesting essayist in the local corporate media, he wouldn't give Walter a recommendation. True, that's because he sort of supported the union I organized down there. I guess that's the kind of thing that angers a pro life republican. But, and I do so hate giving Rod any credit at all, perhaps its best to have had a bad father than no father at all. Rod at least hired you when the white papers in this town wouldn't. I have to also confess I'm also interested in the topic he's studying which is: "will study how the new media will affect communities that lack access to the changing way news and information are delivered." Welp, as Walt used to write, I think the answer is that the new media will probably supplant and replace most of what now constitutes the mainstream media or at least that's my sincere hope. I do hope that NPR is the last to fall, however, in that they do represent excellence. One snarky point: shouldn't someone who's writing about the New Media actually have a blog or two? Then again, I suppose you could talk about my Morrissey impression among other embarrassing hijinks that we had at the Courier, which we once joked about turning into a sitcom proposal...

July 31

I wish I could say that I was watching Sicko as a completely disinterested party. Unfortunately, I'm one of those 50 million Americans who doesn't have health insurance--

--quick aside: I indirectly work part time for UPMC. I even have an UPMC identification card. But part timers don't get health care benefits for the smaller company that I work for and apparently UPMC, with only 400 million in profits last time I checked, can't afford to cover me as well. Quick note to all you folks who spout AMA propaganda about the "long waits" whenever single payer comes up: I would prefer long waits to never seeing a doctor at all--

--True, I'm in good health (I think. Nothing has fallen off, so far....) and I walk a lot but it would be nice to talk to a doctor other than in an emergency room. The main thing I took away from the movie is that other people in other countries live much better than we do, period. They get better health care, better education, and probably better lives. And yes there are other reasons why they want us to hate France as Mike Moore makes clear in this clip. I guess this is why your usual corporate media outlets don't do more journalism about How People Live abroad. One: They rather you didn't know and two: you might notice that where people have the six week vacations and unemployment insurance that pays better than our minimum wage they tend to have real opposition/labor parties, as opposed to pretend ones that think NAFTA is going great. I guess, and this could be the theme of all of Mike Moore's movies: I live in a country that really doesn't give a fuck about me. Hail America and so forth....

Moore also offers a number of solutions at his website. I'm definitely printing out that Sicko health care card above. Its the only health card I'll have. There's also this:

ACTION PAGE
Tell congress to pass HR 676 now.
31101 submissions so far.

Moore also points out that there is a House Bill that would simply expand Medicare to everybody. Sounds good. I'm sure the insurance lobbies and the AMA will take a break on this and let it pass without objection or outcry or multimillion scary ad campaigns. Yes I like to openly amuse myself. Related: there was a big debate recently between Nathan Newman and Ezra Klein about whether the states should take the lead on providing health care or the feds. I found myself on the Nathan Newman side of things here. Let the states take a crack at it. The federal Republican only filibuster will kill all meaningful change in health care policy and other issues of meaning as well.

Sept. 10

"You can...scream now ~~Cardinal Roark~~ Markos."

MY EVENING WITH KOS or "And my Mitts!"

Okay I do confess to having a slight murder fantasy with Markos for banning me and not allowing me to defend myself on that site of his despite my long years of activism. Markos would have been Cardinal Roark and I would have been Marv mumbling about my "hallucinations" and "mah condition". But then Froth would have shot me 41 times (Police will be police.). But I would have gotten my revenge because Froth would have attempted to take pictures afterward and I would have raised my blood soaked hand and said, "Good shoot Froth. Bloggers probably shouldn't murder other bloggers cough and hack. But I would appreciate it if you let the Multi Medium guy take the photographs. You see, he's a talented photographer (coughs blood.) and I trust him more because he has a wonderful sense of composition. For example, ahhhh the pain, wish you hadn't shot me in the groin, this arc of blood spurting from my chest three to four feet high...I just know Eli's going to do something bold and striking with it. And earlier, when I was digging my thumbs into Markos eyes Eli probably would have known that was an allusion to Sin City which was an allusion to Blade Runner when Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer, kills Dr. Eldon Tyrell. He just has a better visual vocabulary and with my last breath I spit at thee student loan fascists and 'ack' ".

Or something.

So what did Kos actually talk about at his 7 pm talk on the Southside Saturday night? Well, he gave a very short pre canned speech and then opened the floor to questions. I don't have total recall but here's how it went:

Question from Audience: Why didn't you support liberal alternatives to Bob Casey when you had the chance? I believe this could have been his facial response. (More pics at 2 Political Junkies and why does Maria look so glum...)

Kos response: (Keep in mind that I'm not objective and I "got a condition") Some mindless blather about how there was no grassroots support for alt candidates and what can I do I just run the most influential political website on the entire planet? Go Lamont!

The Reality: He made, probably, both a political and financial decision to not rock the boat here in Pennsylvania. Afterall, our alt candidates weren't worth 100 million dollars. Look, I like Lamont, and I hope that the netroots gets him over in November, but it doesn't take a lot of courage to support a candidate who's net worth is in the 100 million dollar range. Also, while I can appreciate him not knowing all the Pittsburgh blogs, he has to have heard of 2 Political Junkies and of course a lot of those political folks crosspost at Kos so there's no excuse. Kos is too intelligent to be that ignorant. He doesn't have the President Bush excuse. Both he and Atrios could have run free ads for Chuck or pointed him to their Act Blue links. Could have shown as much interest in the Pennacchio candidacy as they have in that silly ABC movie. The Path to 9/11. Granted, its a terrible evil movie, but it certainly doesn't warrant quite this much response, or if it does, could you extend the rage to supporting alt candidates or even the voter fraud issue--bigger than anything that's in that book that Kos wrote and that I'm not buying. (A graph about this whole justifiable Mexican Civil War thing? No?)

Question from the audience: Are you concerned about recent purges from the comments sections at the Huffington Post?

Kos response: More mindless drivel & pap about well they're very skittish don't you know. Went through some major financing round and that happens. And, why yes, we do ban people at Kos but I do it on a very narrow basis so on and so forth blah blah blah blather...

The Reality: Well that's just a big fuckin' lie. He's purged 100s if not thousands of people from the Kos "community". In fact, on the Internets, there's a whole page dedicated to icons for people who have been banned from Kos. I might note that I don't think these are legitimate reasons to be banned.

Telling Kos response to that question: "It's a Big Internet."

Translation: "Fuck you I've got mine. Get your own million person a day liberal site." Actually, that's exactly the same response that ABC is giving about their Disneyland special The Path to 9/11. Get your own network. And of course, the average person can't buy their own television network so it matters when these guys lie and distort and censor. Ditto for Kos. The truth of the matter is that it takes a prime mover like Kos for a major issue to take hold. So it's not a good thing that you can't vigorously discuss AIPAC or the vote fraud or whether Israel played a role in determining who the Pennsylvania senate candidate was or even the Mexican Civil War. When you're not winning everything should be on the table..

Question: Why can't there be a third party?

Worthless and Uninformative Kos Response: Wella its kind of hard institutionally to create a Third Party an duh look how fragmented The Reform Party has become nstuff. (Not a completely accurate transcription but I "need my medicine".)

The Correct Answer: First, there is a prominent Third Party effort for a cycle or two. Its called Unity 08. I don't back it because I don't want someone in the middle of the ruthless business party and the not so ruthless business party. I want a party that represents the public interest, period. Two, you can form a valid third party effort if you have about 100 million dollars. If Ross Perot had continued his presidential runs and widened the scope of the party to include senate and house runs as opposed to something to further his own warped ego, that would have become a Third Party. So, if someone like George Soros or Mark Cuban or Bill Gates or Craig Newmark (My fave. He takes the bus, but he'd have to run google ads and get the Craiglist net value up to $100 million dollars) wanted to form a third party they could. Parties are infrastructure and people. Also, the party wouldn't have to contest every seat. I've floated my 5/25 plan to the Green Party (no one has gotten back to me) go for five senate seats and 25 house seats and run on a well funded (where is the Hollywood Left?) populist campaign with real candidates (Tim Robbins or Alec Baldwin for the senate seats in New York. Someone gives the Romanelli campaign a million in infrastructure money, etc.) That way you control majorities in both chambers. In my particular fantasy, the Greens give majority control to the Dems but they get environment and that now worthless committee that Specter runs...

Bottom Line: Despite all the mean things I've said I read Kos daily. You kind of have to. But I don't think he can be a leader for all democrats and certainly not for progressives. Still won't buy his book, but I will take an hour or two and read it. And he's right. It is a Big Internet. Someone should learn the Scoop software and do it right. First rule: No censorship, but widespread ridicule for the LGF flamers of this world. Plus, I actually do want to know what the other side thinks sometime. I'm not always right.

Nicer reviews of Kos from 2 Political Junkies, Multi Medium guy Eli, Froth, who shot me 41 times and this Spork guy, who I should probably permalink.

I sure hope the Instapundit comes to Pittsburgh...I'll be fair and balanced.

June 16

Keep checking out her work. Someone stole her bike recently. Goodwills and second hand shops have great cheap bikes.

(Comment here as well.)

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