One of my heros. Arundhati Roy

Say it aint so!

First, the idiotic figurehead of the republican party (that would be incurious George) had to read the names of the Israeli and Palestinian participants at the so-called peace talks off of a cheat sheet. Is it too much to ask that our highest (s)elected official do three minutes of research before going into one of the most important meetings of our time? Could you at least make a tiny showing of taking it seriously, sir? We all know you don't give a crap, but just pretend, for appearances, ok? To make matters worse, he mispronounced their names.
The most obvious sign that the Bush group could not possible care less about the proceedings, or the Palestinians, was when, according to Thom Hartman, Condoleeza Rice, ever the professional, sat it the front row flashing her pussy to all the Muslim men.
Ok, Rice, you don't have to wear a floor length robe and head scarf, but...and maybe you did not know this...a big part of diplomacy is to be aware of the cultures of the people you are meeting with, and to make some small effort to respect their culture.
Giving the Muslim participants the middle finger, in the form of mini skirts and crotch shots may advance the Bush agenda of antagonism, but it is no way to conduct a peace talk.

F.C.C. Hearings, or Screw you non-corporatists.

On November 9^th, 2007 at Seattle Town Hall, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held its sixth (and final) hearing about media consolidation. In short, they were deciding whether the ban on one media outlet being allowed to own several other media outlets, should be upheld or eliminated. If eliminated it could mean, in many markets, that a single company could control all the content of the news community members get. From the perspective of those who believe that an informed public makes better decisions ( like the founding fathers for instance, who believed that a free press was so important in the prevention of the rise of tyranny that they created government subsidies for newspapers to help insure that they prospered) the idea of media consolidation is a bad idea. Alternatively, from the point of view of corporate media owners, consolidation is a dream come true. It would help cement their control of the messages the public was getting. They could control who got to advertise and who got to tell their stories. Politicians who favor large corporations could be given wide coverage, while representatives of small business and of individual voters like Ralph Nader, Howard Dean, or Dennis Kucinich, for example) could be ignored, minimized, marginalized, demonized and ridiculed on a wide spread basis.

The FCC gave a whopping five days notice prior to the convening of the hearing, making it impossible to organize any real action related to carrying the opposition’s point of view into the hearing. Even with only five days notice, an estimated 1100 people turned out at Town Hall to attend the hearing. Our Governor, Christine Gregoire was in attendance and to her credit, spoke out vehemently against further consolidation (for upholding the ban on media consolidation). She was not alone. Nearly everyone to speak at this public hearing spoke out in opposition to consolidation. Two days later FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that he would be loosening the ban (pending final vote in FCC). In other words, FCC Chairman Martin ignored public opposition and is proceeding with his own agenda. Chairman Martin is a republican appointee of President GW Bush who was a member of the Bush-Cheney Transition Team and also served as Deputy General Counsel for the Bush campaign.