buzz twang

Not a mob obviously. The term has been tossed around in some cases, accurate in others. It’s like dealing with a bunch of hecklers. And, Al Franken does well. People do want to know the facts. But, it’s so heated out there, as you can see, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of work to be done.

Douglas Rushkoff on how to take back our world by seeing the current economic crisis as a great opportunity.

Life Inc. Dispatch 01: Crisis as Opportunity from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

The great Ben E. King tune, from around the world. Brilliant. From playingforchange.com
Enjoy.

A few from Starre… my fav Eco chick.

She has a new book out. Get it now. Thank you. Come again.

Finally, go green with Twitter…

Just watch your back. We live in uncertain times. And, I’m not talking about getting blown away by some sicko dip wad while eating your ding dong at the school cafeteria, but that sucks too.

Watch the video and sign the petition.

Yes, even a good fiction writer couldn’t make this stuff up.

The simple fact of the matter is: we are better than torture. We are, or at least we once were… The country that held the moral high ground during the Nuremburg trials would not condone torture of enemies. Torture was the tactic of savages, of the evil Japanese Empire, the Nazi’s, the Soviets, the Red Army, the Khymer Rouge…

Not the USA.

Robert Greenwald has a new video, which is directly below.

Digby is keeping this issue on the fire, by posting some posts from the past. Here’s one that I wrote two and a half years ago as well.

Hot topic at: Empty Wheel, and Think Progress, and Open Left and Attytood.

This shall not stand. Our failure of a president supports torture. We do not. Write to your local press or nearest media outlet and let them know.

Then, get thee over to Condi Must Go and sign the petition.

the fabulous furry freak brothers movie is on the way. love it. one of my all time fav comics. it’ll be stop animation, like Wallace and Gromit. here’s a test trailer:

Spent the weekend really digesting a lot of MLK information… which I’ll be posting throughout the week.

Here’s a nice version of U2’s song Pride (In the name of love) by John Legend.

Speech by Martin Luther King Jr. on the war in Vietnam, but applicable to all war. Timely and timeless.
Note his comments on those who would equate dissent with disloyalty… “a dark day…”.

As noted earlier, the Bush Administration and the FCC are attempting to do an end run on the democratic process in regard to legislative measures concerning media consolidation coming before Congress on December 18, 2007. Bill Moyers Journal did their usual top notch investigative work on this important issue (watch the video) and it’s all heating up rather nicely. What’s it all about? Ralph Bernarado wrote in his post to the Disinformation group on Facebook:

If you think media consolidation doesn’t matter much, just consider this country’s march to the Iraq War. A more diverse media landscape means more voices, more critical thinking, and therefore less groupthink: which is essential to a healthy democracy.

And, that is what is at stake. A healthy democracy.

Writes Josh Nelson:

Rule changes such as the one (FCC Chairman) Martin is proposing are designed to further consolidate media ownership into the hands of the powerful few. Free Press conducted a study which found that while minorities make up 33% of the U.S. population, they make up just 3.26% of all TV station owners. Download the full study as a PDF here.

At the hearing, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said: “The commission always seems to be on the fast break to help big media, but it’s slow as molasses when the topic is the public interest. I will fight against any efforts to short-circuit the process.” Kudos to Commissioner Copps, but if we are going to stop this dangerous deregulation, we are all going to have to fight alongside him.

For more information in his matter, the Center for Public Integrity has a nice study called “Well Connected” that gets down to who owns what and why it’s important. They also have a Media Tracker so you can find out who owns the media that controls the information in your neck of the woods. (You might be surprised.)

Wanna get your hands dirty and make your voice heard? Good.

If you are on Facebook, join the 100,000 by 12/18/07 to Fight Media Consolidation group and get your friends to join.

Write an e-mail. You can contact the FCC directly, or use the handy dandy form that Common Cause has provided.

Contact your elected officials in Congress. The folks at Free Press have a form for that too.

Learn more at Stop Big Media.