If you turn up the music you can't hear the screams, [BOPnews]

Well, losing NPR will only drive me more to Air America. I guess it is one more step along the way to Room 101.  11:29:29 AM    

The Black Hole where the press used to be

via  Driftglass :

How bad is it? Well, what do you think future generations will make of the fact that with little more than publicly available video clips and clever writing, John Stewart makes better ratings and tell more pure truth in any given four minutes of what is clearly labeled "Fake News" than the Empires of Mainstream Media can manage with a multi-billion dollar budget, a global infrastructure, and a 100,000 Klieg lights, satellites and pairs of hands?

There is nothing in modern history short of the collapse of the Soviet Union with which I can compare it for the scope and speed at which the implosion came, and in the great halls and palaces of Big Media we are left only with trivia and circuses. They have fallen, and they are never coming back....

Would that there was a Free Press who would report it? 

Read it all...it's absolutely great

[Crooks and Liars]

It is Crooks and Liars, all the time! This article demonstrates just how poor the media are today when it comes to anything other than ambulance chasing. The good reporters need to find a new approach, because the old ways are broken.  11:23:26 AM    

 The Bible as weapon in the culture war

 By John Shelby Spong/Chicago Tribune 

 The Bible regularly is quoted by conservative Christians to argue that what they call "the homosexual lifestyle" is contrary to Scripture. Politically this takes the form of seeking to amend the Constitution to discriminate against our citizens who are gay or lesbian.  In this basic charter nearly every previous attempt at amendment has been to expand freedom.  Now these Bible quoters want to reverse that trend, failing to see that if today's majority can amend the Constitution to discriminate, then no one is safe from tomorrow's majority.  -- Our nation's judiciary has been called "anti-religious." When leaders seek to intimidate the
presumably independent courts, the first step toward a totalitarian government has been taken.

(Hat tip Todd) John Shelby Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop, on the misuse of the bible and the Christian religion.

[Crooks and Liars]

A very interesting read.  11:10:35 AM    

More on Newsweek

Howie reports : Whitaker said  that a senior Pentagon official, for reasons that "are still a little mysterious to us," had declined to comment after Newsweek correspondent John Barry showed him a draft before the item was published and asked whether it was accurate, adding that the magazine would have held off had military spokesmen made such a request. Whitaker said Pentagon officials raised no objection to the story for a week after it was published, until it was translated by some Arab media outlets and led to the rioting.

 The item was principally reported by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek's veteran investigative reporter. "Obviously we all feel horrible about what flowed from this, but it's important to remember there was absolutely no lapse in journalistic standards here," he said. "We relied on sources we had every reason to trust and gave the Pentagon ample opportunity to comment. . . . We're going to continue to investigate what remains a very murky situation."

Why didn't the Pentagon raise a red flag? Why didn't they say hold on while we check those facts? Newsweek didn't blind side the Pentagon. They acted in good faith by giving the Pentagon access before they ran the story. The first reported incident made it seem like they printed the story with no notification. That's not the case.  Didn't the "senior" Pentagon official have an idea what might happen? This doesn't excuse Newsweek, but the mayhem that ensued could have been averted.

[Crooks and Liars]

So, the Pentagon knew about the Newsweek report and said nothing. For over a week, until the crap started hitting the fan. So, either the Pentagon is run by idiots, a scary thought, or this is another in a series of attepts to discredit the press.   11:08:28 AM    

 Guantanamo Controversies The Bible and the Koran

Juan Cole gives an in depth report on the Newsweek story that broke yesterday.

[Crooks and Liars]

Juan COle points out that Newsweek is not retracting the basis of the story. Its source is just not as confident that theinformation came from a specific report. And the fact is that this disregard for the Koran had been well publicized from several other reports over the last few years. So the question sould be, why did this information explode now, rather than before? Turns out there are lots of political reasons this would be used. Going after Newsweek will not change these political reasons.  10:59:12 AM    

Sensenbrenner's Sntich-or-Go-to-Jail Bill

via Talk Left

" I don't think I've ever seen a bill as destructive as Rep. Sensenbrenner's new drug bill, H.R. 1528, the "The Safe Access to Drug Treatment & Child Protection Act of 2005." You think America's prison population is too high at 2 million? Get ready for 15 million. 

An excellent bill summary is here.

You may remember this as the bill that provides for a five year mandatory minimum sentence for passing a joint to someone who's been through a drug treatment program. That's nothing. Read about what else this doozy of a bill will do. Like the "snitch or go to jail" provisions. If you are a college professor or student, you should be very afraid. The bill provides for a two year jail sentence if you observe or come across information about drug distribution near colleges and do not report it to authorities within 24 hours and provide full assistance investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting those involved.  read on"

If we extend this bill to the Bush Administration we might have something here. Seriously,  this is whacked. As Jeralyn points out, we'll need to build bigger prisons. I wouldn't be surprised to see a healthy rise in violent crimes either, because criminals will most likely take actions to prevent from being"snitched" upon. Do you think people will come in and actually help when a few examples are being made of the innocent? These are the kind of bills when you understand the "living in an ivory tower" metaphor.

[Crooks and Liars]

It is bad enough that they ant to send someone to prison for 5 years for passing a joint. What I find interesting is that the supposed party of state's rights is federalizing so many things. WHy does the Federal government have to get involved in this? What happens in Western states, where marijuana has medicianl uses? Are they going to haul off Granny who uses it for her glaucoma? Bad laws make for criminals of good people.   10:53:41 AM    

Accused hockey dad awaits trial for fraud

What a fine example this guy gave for the children. Lying and taking money from people is just fine, if you use it to win hocley games. The downfall of this generation will be 'the ends justify the means.' And some of the greatest propronents of this meme complain about the moral relativism of others.  10:47:52 AM