Amy Goodman teaches reporting

So I spent over half an hour listening to a far left propaganda machine this afternoon.

My professor admitted jokingly he was probably force-feeding...his reasons for playing a pod cast of DomocracyNow! in class is still a bit obscure, besides the fact that he "highly recommends it." You see, he probably thinks it's time we graduated from the elementary and archaic elements of journalism like, say, objectivity.

The pod cast was an interview with British Indy journalist Robert Fisk, a "veteran" of numerous conflicts and, from what I could tell, a pacifist as well. His rant was one continuous stream of deranged pessimism regarding Iraq and how it is simply a mess and he suspects he might not be brave enough to risk another trip.

One half-hour later, as he finished his rant, Goodman asked a final question after the audience finished applauding...

After all you have been through, and all the wars you have covered, all the death you have seem, "what gives you hope?"

...*silence*... "...Nothing...nothing. *shaky voice* I'm sorry, maybe ordinary people speaking out, but nothing really."

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. I should choose the later I suppose because, as a Christian, I hurt for people who have this kind of empty hopelessness. That's got to be an awful way to live.

The prof finally made some point about this can teach us that we should never hesitate to challenge power...

Ok...is that all? Can I go now?

So conservative they look liberal

I had an early distaste for the tactics that GOP haters...er...critics of Harriet Miers have employed in trying to scuttle her nomination. They have fooled themselves into thinking they taking a stand for principled conservatism, while all the while missing their own hypocrisy. The confirmation of Roberts was won primarily by debunking the myth that nominees needed to answer personal question and reveal privileged documents. Roberts stood fast and refused to answer hypothetical questions, brilliantly citing the Ginsberg confirmation hearings as precedent for his silence, winning general admiration even among those who were frustrated by his dodge.

And now...as soon as the "base" thinks they can't totally trust a nominee to be a carbon copy of themselves, they jump on the liberal bandwagon demanding the very hypothetical answers and privileged information Roberts and co. fought so hard to protect.

So for the first time, I suspect we are having conservatives partaking in the so-called "borking" of a nominee. I'm incensed. I began with just as much skepticism and disappointment as everyone else, and now I find I am totally dismayed. You see, if Miers is successfully borked by her own friendlies, there is an even greater chance of never again getting a strong constitutionalist on the bench of the United States Supreme Court.

Crossposted at Meneltarma

If you want to help

Getting some discussion on here is the next goal--besides consistant posting, that is. I recently made up some fliers. Here's one:


Another one:


And yet another one:



If you click on the images you'll get 8.5 x 11 size (or you should anyway). But if you insist on a pdf, here's the links to all respectively:

promo1
promo2
promo3

Open mic at the Underground

I have it on good authority (a friend who actually goes to this more often) that it was an unusually large crowd tonight at the Underground Coffee house.



It's good to know because I had the hardest time just walking the length of the room--and that's not an inducement for me to come here to relax on a regular basis if I know open mic is on the schedule.


There was a corner or two open though.

Washington State fails Justice Scalia

That's the conclusion of many observers who are disturbed by the repressive tactics WSU appears to condone.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has been keeping up with the various outragious happenings in Pullman.

“The latest developments at Washington State are quite revealing,” remarked FIRE President David French. “After the administration twice refused to apologize for subsidizing disruptive hecklers and refused to guarantee that it wouldn’t do so again, the dean of education suggested that Justice Antonin Scalia’s beliefs might disqualify him from earning a teaching degree from Washington State.”

See the complete press release.

PETA: we throw tofu

I really could care less about PETA's vendetta against Vogue Magazine's editor or about the two times they have thrown pie her way. In fact, I'm sure most people just find it amusing. What I do wonder is what on earth happens to people in France when they throw pie.

Really, this story is so definitive. Over here, PETA has allegedly stolen animals from some of the biology labs at Western...true, that was many years ago. In France, they apparently like to through tofu instead. Not only that, the AP story didn't say if anyone was arrested, which makes me think I might get a free pass if I decide to have a little pie-throwing fest outside Jackie Chirac's house. Come to think of it, that might be the easiest way to gain control of the french military--if that was something worth doing that is.

Minutemen are here

Wherever they go, they make waves. The mere mention of the Minutemen and their activities on the border is enough to make the typical Bellinghamster cluck in disdain. Today I was a little incensed when a fellow Klipsun writer announced her feature on the Minutemen. She felt it necessary to explain who they were... "Those border watchers who carry guns and say they are peaceful but are not..." Objectivity...um...not quite. I felt like calling up the Minutemen and telling them to not give her any interviews because it really wasn't worth their time.

Local coverage hasn't been huge but it's been interesting nonetheless. The first story in the Herald had lot of basic info straight from the project, which surprised me--most papers would consider that level of reliance on one source to be biased. But it was worth it in this case because they had a lot of clarification to do. After their description of themselves, one is hard pressed to think of them has causing any harm--they do some pretty intensive screenings of members and limit themselves to zero contact with illegals.

Harmlessness notwithstanding, the local village idiots still found something to protest on Saturday. What were they protesting? Well from what I can see, I guess they are protesting the border's existence. What else can I conclude when I see a sign reading "No one is illegal?" Huh?

Conclusion: strange events make for strange people.

The premise

Throw everything you have at him and hope something sticks.

That's the new rule of thumb for Ronnie Earle and co, the prosecutor leading the charge on Tom "the hammer" DeLay. You should have seen the utter giddiness of Western faculty when the first indictment was handed down. It was the first meeting of the College Republicans that evening and everyone had a story to share about their professors mentioning it in class. One prof. even went so far as to mix DeLay up with Senator Frist. What next!?

Good question. The judge had to throw out the first indictment because it was for a crime that wasn't a crime when he was alleged to have done it. Now they have gone back to the loading station to find a better caliber round. From the AP:

The new indictment, handed up by a grand jury seated Monday, contained two counts. The money laundering charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. The charge of conspiracy to launder money is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

One thing is clear and indisputable from the events as they have unfolded: Earle has started with a biased premise: DeLay is a bad man and must have done SOMETHING wrong. (Is it door one? Door two?) Unfortunately for him, finding the right charge for DeLay is like playing a lively game of Pin the Tail on the Elephant.

San Fran sleaze

It's the rather unfortunate lot of mine to have roots in the bay area so it's always kind of depressing to read up on the lunicy of that particular concentration of humanity. Zombietime featured some analysis of the September 24 anti-war protests as they were covered in the San Francisco Chronicle--or prehaps "covered" isn't the right term...white-washed maybe?

Here's a quote from Zombietime if you need inducement to see the photos and breakdown for youself:

It turns out that the woman giving directions belongs to one of the Communist groups organizing the rally -- if her t-shirt is to be believed, since it depicts the flag of Communist Vietnam, which has been frequently displayed by such groups at protest rallies in the U.S. for decades.

Check it out for yourself.

Two cities: the concise answer

Horace Cooper (from National Center for Public Policy Research) writes in his column, A Tale of Two Cities, what many have been thinking and few have said out loud. He is to be commended:

While it’s true that the two hurricanes hit at different intensity levels, the important differences can best be described as a tale of two cities – New Orleans and Houston.

No two neighboring towns better embody the differences between the two main political philosophies competing in the U.S. today – Houston, Texas which is the embodiment of the Lone Star State’s can do spirit of limited government and self-reliance versus New Orleans, Louisiana, aptly nicknamed the “Big Easy” and perhaps the embodiment of welfare state dependence in the South.

Catch the complete piece at Townhall.com

Crossposted at Head West, Turn Right