Harold Ford and the Reverend Moon

This week's Memphis Flyer has an odd politics short from Jackson Baker, in which he talks with Representative Harold Ford, Jr. about a Reverend Sun Myung Moon event and his purported participation in it.

Only problem: Ford -- one of eight congressmen supposedly honored at the event as an "Ambassador of Peace" -- said categorically he wasn't there, never heard of it, never got any such award, and has never met the Reverend Moon.

Unfortunately, said Ford, public officials' names often get used without their permission.

Which is odd. The event was held on March 23 of this year -- two months ago. What reason is there for putting out this blanket denial statement now? If he hadn't done this, 99% of his constituents would never have known, so what is important enough to make it public now? Is it Baker's deliberately vague and vaporous "and in other media outlets" that covers the problem? What's going on out there?

You can read the original Washington Times story on the event here. This is the relevant passage:

Nearly 90 other religious, civil, political and educational "ambassadors for peace" were cited for their regional efforts. Members of Congress assisting at the event included Sen. Mark Dayton, Minnesota Democrat, Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland, Christopher B. Cannon of Utah and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, all Republicans, and Democratic Reps. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Harold E Ford Jr. of Tennessee and Sanford D. Bishop Jr. of Georgia.

I found another story which is similarly inconclusive at Alternet, dated May 11th:

On the evening of March 23, a group of the Rev. Moon's powerful political friends gathered at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. There, the Reverend presided over a ceremony presenting "Crown of Peace" awards to a number of honored guests. Seven U.S. Congressmen – Democrats Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Rep. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Harold E Ford Jr. of Tennessee, Sanford D. Bishop Jr. of Georgia and Republicans Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland, Christopher B. Cannon of Utah, and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania – received "Ambassadors for Peace" awards.

Notice that this story says "awards were presented." You don't have to be present to win. Did this story just work from the Times story without fact-checking and new reporting of its own?

The Alternet story also says:

On his way to becoming a powerful, influential and controversial political figure, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon has developed a special relationship with the Bush family. After supporting Dubya's election through his flagship publication, The Washington Times, the newspaper's foundation sponsored a prayer luncheon attended by some 1,700 religious, civic and political leaders the day before Bush's inauguration. The guest list contained a host of religious right luminaries including the Rev. Jerry Falwell, former National Evangelical Association President Don Argue, Trinity Broadcasting Network's Paul Crouch and a host of leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention.

Ford is a staunch Democrat, but he's been known to make overtures to Republicans (He signed a pro-Iraqi War petition with a small group of conservative Republicans before the war was launched.) and is a member of the centrist-y Democratic Leadership Council, President Clinton's organisation that successfully shifted the Democrats to the right and got him elected. Has Ford gotten snared in there somewhere with a Moon-connected group that he now needs to disassociate from?

I found a Moon website that had lots of pictures from the March event, but nowhere can I spot Representative Ford in there, although some commenters on a Moon-watch blog have spotted other Congressmen and a governor there. That page has screen caps from a Moon video that has clips from the March event, which you can find a link to on this FreeRepublic discussion thread. I've tried playing the video, but my Windows Media Player has problems that render it unusable. You might have better luck.

John Gorenfeld has been all over this story from the beginning. John even has a picture of the official event program, listing eight Congressmen, including our Harold. Moe Gorenfeld here and here.

Curiouser and curiouser, as they say. What, if anything, is going on? Why was Ford so bothered as to make a fuss over a decidedly obscure thing? I have sent out some email to see if I can find pictures or some corroboration of Ford's presence at this event, if he did in fact attend.

I had noted and dismissed the Flyer story as an oddity from the Ford-philic Jackson Baker, a long-time Democratic shill. Watching the news locals fawn over Ford is nothing new. Lots of local reporters and commentators have been trying to get in on the ground floor with the rapidly rising Harold Ford, who will be a national political figure for years to come, maybe even a Senator, Cabinet member or Presidential candidate. Who can say? All these locals are locking in future access now.

I figured this was some obscure bit of coverage by Baker until I saw a post from Brock at Signifying Nothing pointing me to John Gorenfeld's website. Thanks Brock! Good catch.

I'll let you know if I learn anything more.

Angel Series Finale

Last night was the series end of Angel. It was anticipated in a lot of quarters and this morning the opinion on its success seems divided. A lot of folks were upset with what they perceived as a "cliffhanger" ending, or the lack of character resolutions.

Me, I kinda liked it. I thought Joss (Whedon, series and Buffyverse creator) was true to his vision of the show as the on-going fight between Good and Evil. It could have had more drama and more "bang," but it did get to a place that feels satisfying. A lot of folks felt cheated by the end coming just before a climactic battle was about to ensue, but as a some-time fiction writer I like how Joss leaves us to imagine what is to come.

Some folks thought the ending was ambiguous, in that we don't see Gigantic Evil vanquished or our heroes slaughtered. It's a device that lets the viewer imagine! Joss was clear enough in the past few episodes that our heroes were going to die. Angel said as much when he finally let the Fang Gang into his plan. He admitted that evil was always with us, would always be with us, was unvanquishable and unending. He also said that the measure of a life was in whether those who were called continued the fight, or gave in. When, in the finale, Gunn went to visit Ann (a minor character from a couple of seasons back who runs a shelter for troubled youth and had a run-in with uber-bad guys Wolfram & Hart), she even reinforces that point. When given a choice of fighting unstoppable evil or continuing to do good works, she immediately chose to keep doing good.

I believe that all of the final four -- Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria -- will die in the fight. But, as Angel said last time, their fight would trip up, however momentarily, the Senior Partners and would shock and surprise them. Evil wouldn't win after all, but would also have to keep fighting.

Harmony proved to be a traitor, and self-serving to the end. After being revealed, she has the nerve to ask for a letter of recommendation! And Angel has already left one for her in her desk. We also got to see her in some Victoria's Secret underwear for just a few moments, which was quite pleasant.

Some character beats deserve special mention. When former Wolfram & Hart bad guy Lindsay is brought into the team and sent out with Lorne, we know he hasn't changed his stripes. So when Lorne turns on him after they complete their mission, it was a great film noir moment. Lindsay is outraged that a "sidekick" is the one to kill him and not the hero, Angel. Lorne, on the other hand, has been getting increasingly dissatisfied with everything. Killing Lindsay in cold blood, no matter how necessary it was, is simply the last straw. He walks away from Team Angel a tired, sad, and bitter man. The light-hearted, fun-loving bar owner is now dark and will never be the same. It's a terrible thing to see after Lorne was so much the source of series comedy, but emotionally powerful.

The resoltuion of the Fred/Wes relationship -- in Wes' death -- also was stunning. Wes has, since Fred's death and her subsequent reappearance as the demi-god Illyria, been a shattered and grieving man. He's been yanked back and forth between hope and despair as Illyria has denied having any of Fred left in her while showing that in fact quite a bit remains! I think Illyria being a god who sees humans as meaningless ants and who despises us and our world, would naturally deny and suppress any part of Fred she found. Wes' yearning for his lost love has bothered and intriqued her. When Illyria takes on Fred's form in Wes' final moments, she whispers earnestly, "I love you. I love you. My beloved...my beloved," it almost broke my heart. Then to see Wes' face shine in return was devastating. Illyria finally understands and begins to accept her human part; Wes is finally given peace of heart.

However, I haven't seen anyone note that Wes' death was typical Wesley Wyndham-Price. He went off alone to kill his demon, full of the usual Wesley overconfidence, and failed. He failed! His demon survived and had just given him a fatal knife stab when Illyria burst in to rescue him. She killed his demon. We've seen Wesley be successful when he's allowed his darkest side to come forward, but whenever he leads with his "hero to the rescue" persona, he always screws up. He screwed up fatally this time. It was painful to see him die, and die in failure, but so very right for Wesley to go that way. It was going to happen sooner or later.

Spike got his moment as well. Remember that we first met him as a failed and ridiculed 19th century poet. His poetry was laughed at, which is what drove him to accept vampirism. So, when we see him reciting a poem at a Poetry Slam full of bikers and get an ovation, it was a small gift to him, salve for his pain.

The Shanshu prophecy was resolved, in a manner of speaking. Angel supposedly gave up any chance at becoming human again when he signed his name to the parchment. But some have noted that he signed it as "Angel" and not "Angelus." Lawyers can debate which is his "real" name, or which him the prophecy refers to: the vampire he first was, or the ensouled vampire from the prophecy. It's wiggle room for any possible later movies. Note however, that Spike is also a vampire with a soul, so the Shanshu prophecy might now apply to him instead!

Lots of great moments: Harmony in the underwear. "Can I deny you three times?" The battle with Angel and Connor against Hamilton. "Blue Thunder." “I mean, really. I crap better magic than this.” “Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn’t have said?” “I feel grief for him. I can’t seem to control it. I wish to do more violence.” The whole approaching horde of Evil at the end did carry the appropriate sense of overwhelming odds and certain doom, especially the thirty or forty foot tall monster glimpsed in the background!

Still, it was a bit underwhelming. We get told numerous times this season how evil and all-pervasive the Senior Partners are, but we don't see any evidence in the final run of episodes. Regular viewers know they're high-level nasty, but it would have raised the dramatic stakes to have seen some.

Introducing the Circle of the Black Thorn in the final run-up may have given Team Angel a focus in their fight, instead of the amorphous Senior Partners, but it also brought in something we haven't heard of or seen in the years previous. They didn't come with a cache of evil that would make the end more impressive.

They try to wrap up the Angel, Spike, Buffy triangle in a clumsy (though really hilarious) episode that doesn't have Buffy in it! This is something that's lurked in the series for several seasons -- since the beginnging of Buffy -- and it deserved better. Fans have anguished over this far too much for such a knocked off resolution.

And I've felt that the show has been just a tad turgid for the past couple of seasons. It's meant to be dark and we get a lot of character writing, but the sense of forward momentum is really slowed as a result. Instead of a sense of hurtling to an apocalyptic finale, I felt more like we were trudging morosely, like sullen children.

Ah well. It was still great fun and I did enjoy it. Give it maybe an A- or a B+.

Ugh...Summer's Here

Up until recently, Memphis had long, enjoyable Springs. You could turn off the heat and the A/C for weeks at a time, throw open your windows and enjoy the weather. But in the past couple of years, Winter and Summer have been like a crowded bus, pushing their shoulders up against Spring and making life uncomfortable.

This year was no exception. Winter hung in a bit too long, so we had a shorter open-window season. Then there was the past Week of Rain. Now, today, we have the first day of real summer weather.

It's the residual humidity that's doing it. I was horribly surprised by my first Memphis summer fifteen years ago. The air really was like soup. You could see it waving in the heat. It clung to your skin like an unwelcome suitor and made your clothes a sodden mess. I can stand heat, but I wasn't prepared for air that actually pressed up against you.

Temps are running about five to ten degrees above normal, but it's that sticky air -- made so by a week of rain and a large high-pressure system shovelling humid Gulf air up into the Mid-South -- that's made today a mixed blessing. I'm waiting still for the front we need to blow through and clear the air.

We'll be dealing with this mess until early October. A long summer comin'....

Follow-up on the Monroe Avenue Story

Slightly more than a week ago, the Attorney General, my landlord, some cleaners and some sheriffs, and the whole panoply of local television news showed up at my apartment building to cover the eviction of some drug users and dealers from their apartments. It made all the news shows all day.

I blogged about my experience of the day down below. Now it's time to follow up the story.

The most notable change has been the dramatic drop in drug traffic on my street! There were still some folks cruising in over the weekend, getting the news from the stragglers still here, but overall it's way, way down. The hooker who used to ply her trade out front has gone down low, but she's still here. The folks in the building down the block who were hooked up with my complex's drug dealers have gone to ground. Overall, it's a much nicer atmosphere now on Monroe.

Of course, last week's weather was cloudy and rainy, so that played a part in it, but I think it's fair to say that a hammer blow was delivered.

But. Yeah, there's always a but. We have a new hooker now. She's older, mean and part-crazy and walks right out in the middle of the street in "fuck me" clothes. Not sure where she came from, but she's a worry. It's very obvious she's a long-time pro out to make herself some money.

Although the former crowd of young men -- eyes restlessly wandering the street, cell plastered to their ears, talking with the other no-accounts who wandered by -- who just stood in the middle of the apartment drive right under my front door are gone, a new bunch has shown up. One seems to live on my block, but has made a second home right underneath my door, sitting behind the cover of the large shrub there. Another is my neighbor from behind me, who is OK in a loud and thoughtless way, and some of his friends. As best I can tell, they get bored out back and come to the front to hang out. There are signs that some of the old activity has moved down the block.

The landlord put up some fence signs mid-week warning tenants that he was pro-active about drugs and evictions. They were pulled down a couple of days later.

For the three weeks prior to the raid, we had a constant stream of police cars coming down the street. They would roust people, blare messages through their PAs, shine spotlights around the buildings and generally make their presence a nuisance to those with something to hide. Since the raid, the police patrols are back to the former, occasional, level.

I'm still told that the landlord will be putting some more folks out the first of June, including the woman on the other end of my building who is an enabler for some of the problem folk in the neighborhood. We'll see. He's been more visible and there are signs he's ready to start filling the buildings back up, though no serious clean-up crews have been around yet.

One note for County Mayor AC Wharton: AG Bill Gibbons made a well-publicised event of the evictions. It was all over the news. It was an action of County government that put a whole lot of possessions and garbage on the sidewalk. And yet, no one came to pick up the mess! Some of it is still out there today, waiting for clean-up. If you're going to tout clean street measures, then your AG dumps a lot of crap on the streets, it should behoove you to follow up, no?

One thing I didn't notice the day of the event, but which has struck me since is the fact that the whole she-bang was for nought. Supposedly, the purpose of the event was to evict a lot of drug dealers on camera. But all, repeat all, of the tenants were gone before they arrived! And I know for sure they were there the night before. So, what happened? Who leaked the word? Blew the surprise?

If I were Bill Gibbons, I'd do this regularly. Make a lot of commotion with the Sheriff's office about evicitions coming up at one complex or another. Give it a date and make some realistic preparations. Call the media. Then, don't bother. The folks will have already fled and you can do something else. Same result, but with less work!

Just a thought....

Now Let's See What Happens

Hi, it's me again. I wanted to be sure to get this post up before today's evening news comes on, just in case I'm right.

News reports today say that a US copter shot up a wedding party in Iraq last night, killing as many as 45 people. The Army, being a bureaucratic organisation, hasn't officially commented on what happened as they have to let their wheels grind, but reporters and cameras are already in the area.

From the AP story:

Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one atop the other. Several were children, one of whom had been decapitated.

I'll stake a bet right now. You will see this video on network television. It will not be as severely edited and trimmed as the Nick Berg video, but will be digitised like the Abu Ghraib photos. You will see the decapitated child.

The television network news organisations will say that they are responding to complaints about their handling of the Berg video. And mainstream papers will respond sagely to the resulting outcry when they do by saying, "Well, this is what you wanted. Don't complain now, when it's the other side."

But that's the point. The Berg video was handled differently, markedly so, than the Abu Ghraib photos. AG was all over the news shows, and still is. The Berg video is already gone. One story, the one that makes America look bad and encourages a defeatist mood, gets continuing play; the other, that would inflame American anger at terrorist action, is seemingly pushed aside. This wedding party video allows the nets to have it both ways, and smugly so. They get to once again focus on the bad things (Yes, they are very bad. We need to investigate what happened, prosecute those who did wrong, and correct the process that led to this tragedy if possible.) that make America look bad, while getting an undeserved free pass on shocking and outrageous images that amplify their apparent anti-war point. Read this Jay Rosen column for more on that.

This is my prediction: you will see the headless body of that poor decapitated child on the major television and cable news shows tonight. Probably you will see that image in the major papers tomorrow. It will be contrasted with the Berg video, which will lead back to the Abu Ghraib story. More time will be spent on the child / wedding party images and the Abu Ghraib story individually than will be spent on the Berg video.

Let's see what happens.

INSTANT UPDATE Well, good thing I didn't take that bet! I watched ABC, CBS and NBC. All three showed the same APTN tape mentioned in the story above, even to showing the same clips from that tape. There was only one shot of a dead child, a brief glimpse. No sign of the decapitated child.

However, all three nets played the story as a new trigger for increased Arab anger at Americans. The guilty plea from the first trial of an Abu Ghraib guard was connected to the wedding story in all three reports, and of course, all three showed the Abu Ghraib photos once again.

Still, we'll see what tomorrow's news cycle brings.

The President Appears Before the Commission

From William Katz and the New York Sun (No link as the whole paper's site is behind a registration wall! Screw you fella.) comes this transcript of the President's appearance before a Commission examining why we got into the War.

No, not that President, not that Commission, not that War.

Mr. Ben-Gorelick: Good evening, President Lincoln. The Select Commission on Gettysberg thanks you for taking time out from the Civil War to appear.

Lincoln: You're welcome, sir. I respect the commission.

Mr. B.: Before I get to the blunders at Gettysburg, sir, I must ask about the speech you just gave there dedicating the cemetery. This "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth..." Do you have the...

Lincoln: I know it.

Mr.B.: I call your attention, sir, to paragraph three, where you state, "...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause..." Do you recall that?

Lincoln: "...for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

Mr. B.: What cause is that, sir?

Lincoln: Why, winning the war.

Mr. B.: No, that's not what I meant. We all want to win the war, and, of course, we honor the troops. But what's the cause? Let me be clear...

Lincoln: I wish you would be.

Mr.B.: Mr. Lincoln, you took us to war two years ago and said it was to save the union.

Lincoln: It still is.

Mr.B.: And yet - and I'll put this text in the record - there's not a single reference in this speech to saving the union.

Lincoln: It's implied.

Mr. B.: Not a single reference. Isn't it a fact that you said in the speech, "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal"?

Lincoln: Yes, in the first sentence.

Mr. B.: And isn't it a fact that you say, and again I quote, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom..."?

Lincoln: Yes.

Mr. B.: Isn't it a fact that you were referring to slavery?

Lincoln: Well, yes. But I also said, second paragraph, that they died, quote, "that that nation might live."

Mr. B.: Yes, but what nation, sir? Clearly, your real goal is to abolish slavery. You took us to war under false pretense, didn't you, sir?

Lincoln: No.

Mr. B.: "...of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Last line of the speech, Mr. President. Nothing about saving the union. This freedom thing is, perhaps, a kind of obsession with you, isn't it? Some would say it's a fever.

Lincoln: There are good reasons for this war.

Mr.B. "I hate slavery," you said in Peoria, Ill. in 1854, seven years before you became president. This is a crusade. You couldn't knock off slavery then, so you're trying it now.

Lincoln: Saving the union is my main goal.

Mr. B.: No, it's a talking point. Let's take a break.

***

Chris Matthews: This is Chris Matthews, playing "Hardball." The commission's on a break. I'm here with the Gettysburg widows - four women whose husbands died in the battle. Okay, not much time. What'd you think of the president?

Clara: Disgraceful.

Mary: Sickening.

Mr. M.: You other two agree?

Elizabeth: Absolutely.

Mr. M.: Why?

Mary: Can I answer, Chris?

Mr. M.: Sure, Mary.

Mary: He just sits there and lies. He wears this silly hat. He grows this beard to look presidential...

Mr. M.: It's all image these days.

Mary: Right. But he ducked the questions. My husband didn't join the Army to fight slavery. He fought for the union. So Honest Abe, ha, goes to Gettysburg and gives a speech that lasts two minutes...

Mr. M.: Were you insulted? Elizabeth, quickly.

Elizabeth: Were we? He didn't mention a single soldier.

Ellen: Not one. And like Mr. Ben-Gorelick said, never talked about the union. You know what else?

Mr. M.: I've got 30 seconds.

Ellen: You know where he sat? He didn't sit with the families. He sat between that orator, Edward Everett, who gave a speech, and his flunkie, the secretary of state, William Seward. All cozy, protected by the politicians.

Mr. M.: Out of touch.

Mary: Terribly out.

Mr.M.: My gut tells me this guy's going down in the 1864 election. Back to the hearings.

***

Mr. B.: Mr. Lincoln, isn't it a fact that you also said in your speech that the men who died consecrated that cemetery, and I quote, "far above our poor power to add or detract"? Did you use those words, sir?

Lincoln: I did.

Mr. B.: Aren't you passing the buck?

Lincoln: Sir?

Mr. B.: You're president of America. Isn't it your job to add or detract?

Lincoln: Well, in some matters...

Mr. B.: Presidents add or detract all the time. Isn't it a fact that Thomas Jefferson added Louisiana, and James Polk added Texas?

Lincoln: It was a spiritual reference.

Mr. B.: Like your "under God" phrase?

Lincoln: Yes.

Mr.B: Doesn't that confirm the charge that you're a religious zealot, seeking to impose your views on the nation?

Lincoln: I do think this country exists under God.

Mr. B.: You may be in violation of the First Amendment, and might need counsel. I'll consult with my colleagues. We'll take a break.

***

Mr. M.: Chris Matthews back. More "Hardball." Wow. Gettysburg widows, what'd you think of that?

Clara: I'm scared to death. He thinks he's God.

Elizabeth: It's where he comes from - the sticks out there in Illinois. They're like that.

Mr. M.: You believe he's on a religious mission?

Mary: He pretty much admitted it.

Question of the Day

Do you think Nick Berg would have minded if his captors had just made him put women's underwear on his head?

Volunteer Tailgate Party Time

It's that other Wednesday, and that mean it's time for another Volunteer Tailgate Party! It's a sampling of the best of some of Tennessee's finest bloggers, hosted this week by Queen Medb of ARACHIBUTYROPHOBIA. This one is a lottery-themed Party, so you know there's a winner in there somewhere. Surf on over and check it out.

The Press as Gatekeepers

I've added a new website to my daily rounds, CableNewser. He scans the media and media criticism, then posts what he's found and some comment. It's not a bad site, for what he does.

Today, he posted an open question about the press in the Internet age:

Allow me to just float an idea here. What would be the reaction if one of the cable news web sites streamed the beheading video? No unsuspecting viewer would be caught off-guard. I've watched the clip several times now, and the parts you don't see on TV are the parts that are truly impactful. In this Internet age, at what point do media organizations stop playing gatekeeper, and start providing raw content for consumers who want it?

An excellent question!

Locally, I don't think anyone is successfully blending Internet and old-media operations especially well. Both the Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Flyer have web sites that are mostly repositories for their print content. The CA is doing blogs now, sort of, but they still wait for some reporter, journalist or news service to provide content before putting it on the web site. Perfect example was the Dyersburg hostage situation. The CA was hopelessly far behind everyone in keeping up with the situation, even with a web site available. The Flyer will occasionally post "Hot" material before the weekly update, and I think there's some web-only content, though it's not always clear.

The television news stations are all far behind the curve. Why newscast video isn't put up on their sites, available any time of day after broadcast and for days after, I don't know? Is it the cost of housing all that server space? The cost of bandwidth? Some stations have some stories' video available, and some written summaries of news stories; others have basically nothing at all.

I will say that all these sites -- print and television -- have twigged to the advertising potential, though. Every single one is packed full of flashing ads, java, scrolling stuff, ads, ads, more ads, links to advertisers and marketing stuff, bells, whistles, surveys, you name it! I'm on dial-up, which is already the red-headed step-child of the Internet for major companies in the media business, and waiting for some of these sites to load is just painful. And unnecessary. And off-putting to potential readers.

On the good side was a recent move by the Commercial Appeal. In response to reader requests, they put up the audio of Mayor Herenton's incendiary New Year's Inaugural speech. They posted the whole speech as an mp3 file for anyone to download. They even created a special "themed" web page for stories related to the speech and all the Council upset that followed.

Which is an illustration of what should have happened right away. Tape and/or audio, and a full transcript, of that speech should have been posted to the websites of any or all of the local news websites. It was available and so was the server space. Given that everyone was only printing or showing carefully trimmed edits from the speech, allowing the public to hear and decide for themselves would be the preferable choice. The same goes for Carol Chumney's Day of Hell when she was upbraided in both Council committee and full City Council sessions. Video and audio was available of the whole thing, but we never got more than bits. I and others I've talked to still have no idea what it was that set Councillor Jones off on his tirade in the committee meeting. It's on tape, but we've not seen it. We could....

Print news is limited by space for a variety of reasons. The Commercial Appeal puts a priority on national and international stuff in their A section; local news tends to go to the cramped "Metro" section, except for the big news of the day. As much page count as the Flyer has, most of it is advertising and the rest is already committed to regular features.

The television stations have hours every day to fill, but have chosen a pretty rapid pace of presentation that precludes longer, detailed reports. Plus, showing all twenty minutes of a Herenton speech several times a day, for a week, is too much to ask of anyone. But the format and pace of broadcast news just isn't made fuller examination.

Then there's the whole matter of bias and presentation. The "Brawl at City Hall" and the "fireworks." Deciding what's shown and how much is shown. The way the story is reported by the journalist. Whether you believe that news is carefully reported in a neutral, balanced way or believe that partisan editors and writers put their own spin on what they report, the issue can be sidestepped easily by simply providing the raw information.

Which gets back to the original point. With the websites and bandwidth available, what reason is there to not provide raw video or other data for readers/viewers to check out for themselves? The usual edited and manipulated reporting can still be done alongside it, for those who don't want to check out the raw feed or don't have the time or inclination.

It's a good question.

Even Terrorists Are Editors

I was just doing some daily reading and found this thread on FreeRepublic about the Nick Berg death tape. Some of the commenters had noticed the time stamps on the video. It appears that two separate cameras were used and that footage was compiled out of filmed order!

I have a different copy I think with different time stamps, not only that, but the time stamping does weird things, like at one point, it seems to go from 2:40:40 down to 2:40:10 without skipping a beat, then continues on past 2:40:40. The talking and blather goes on until they throw him to the ground (2:22:42), then the timestamp jumps to 13:45:47, and a different angle (perhaps a different camera?) up to 13:46:33, where it jumps again (apparent an edit here occurs) up to 13:47:46 - 47:52 where they remove the head finally. Then back to 2:46:17 - 2:46:22 (original camera?) where they show off the head. Then back to 13:48:42-49 where they show the head on the body, and pan around the headless neck to show off the blood.

Another poster noted that there's a one minute-thirty seconds gap from the time the blade cuts into Berg's neck until it's severed. That means they took nearly two minutes to behead him!

Gruesome stuff, yes, but compare their brutality to our alleged "brutality" at Abu Ghraib. Our photos were never meant to get outside the Iraqi prison system and military circles. Theirs was sent directly to the Internet. Compare and contrast.

Bloggers Bash Time Again?

Well, it's mid-May. School's almost over and so is Spring. The long hot Summer isn't quite here yet, but is banging loudly at the door. Maybe it's time for another Memphis (and Mid-South) Bloggers Bash? What say you? The last one was a huge success, with great turn-out, lots of conversation, civility and respect o'er all. Since then, we've found more area bloggers; some who couldn't make the last one ought to be more available now.

I'm open to inviting LiveJournallers this time, if any want to attend. LJs are kissin' cousins to blogs; at least some are. And if your blog is a corporate, paid gig, as long as it's publicly open and publicly oriented I'm fine with that too. (As long as all you CA folks don't go all clique-y and reporter-esque on us!)

Ideas, suggetions? I would suggest an earlier start time if we do this midweek, as we flat out ran out of time with the last one! Or maybe a Saturday afternoon? Should we move to someone's home, or would a larger restaurant be better? Maybe a mall food court? We had nearly a dozen last time and I think we can expect fifteen or twenty this time.

Let's start this ball rolling!

[If we use quote marks, can we get away with calling this one the "Memphis in May" Bloggers Bash? Just a thought. Don't sue!]

Hot Internet Babe News

Bad news and good news on the Hot Internet Babe front. It seems that Alabama blogger Sugarmama is taking a summer break. She's got yard work and home remodelling work to get done, and she's getting a bit burned out and fed up blogging. I'm sad to see her go, but at least we know she'll be back later.

On the good news front, spicy Texas pistol (OK, fully automatic rifle) Rachel Lucas is back! She's returned under new terms -- no comments, no email, rants only -- because although she wants an outlet for all the rantage that builds up in her brain, she got disgusted and burned out with all the other stuff blogging can wrap you up with.

On the local Hot Internet Babe front, Memphian Rachel is back from her New York trip and blogging again. With pictures!

Alien Landscapes

I just love the Encounter and Spirit rover photos from Mars, like this one. They remind us that other landscapes are also alien. They are spooky precisely because they don't resemble the world we know and our animal brains react to that.

While you're at it, take a look at these landscape photos from Venus. Donald Mitchell took the original telemetry from Russian probes of the Seventies and applied modern tools and techniques to the data. His results are startling. And, once again, alien. Remember, the air pressure here is equivalent to being at the bottom of the ocean and the temperatures are about 500 degrees; the atmosphere is a sulphurous acid bath, which is why probes don't survive long.

An East Tennessean Talks 'Q

South Knox Bubba is a good guy from Knoxville, and the Big Cheese of the Rocky Top Brigade, "...men of good standing (and women too, for that matter) throughout the land...hereby enjoined in the battle for truth, justice, and a good single malt Scotch whiskey for around $20." Remember, RTB is TCB! Okay, then.

Well, over the weekend, SKB (as folks call him), posted some of his experience and advice on cooking BBQ. Fine, fun reading for Memphians, who like to think we are the connoisseurs of swine. Be warned, though, that he cooks with gas. (Apostasy!)

Remembering the Jackson Tornados

It was slightly more than a year ago that a series of powerful tornados plowed through Jackson, Tennessee, killing fifteen people and levelling the downtown.

While just following links around last night, I found yet another WMC Channel 5 blogger: Jason Plank. They seem to proliferate like cicadas! He has this vivid post about his evening of chasing the storms and covering the damage.

Arriving in Newburn, there was indeed some damage. At the time, I honestly thought I would be bringing home the "video of the night." Among other things, I shot a UHaul truck that was blown over, a home that had it's roof blown off, and a lots of various wind damage to local buildings. While the weather there was still REALLY bad, I huddled with the camera under a gas station roof with a group of other people unfortunate enough to be out in it. I also phoned back to the station, and gave a report over the phone that ended up going on-air. The most striking thing I saw was when I went to the top of a hill, and pointed my camera east. The lighting was so constant and so bright that you almost didn't need any other light to see.

When I had everything I could get in Newburn, I was told to head back to Jackson. It was probably 11:30 or so by this time. Listening to 101.5, they kept talking high winds and a possible tornado in Jackson. At one point, I heard something to the effect of, "It's heading right for our location here downtown. We're going to take shelter now", followed by silence. Shortly after, calling the TV station was impossible as well...the line simply was dead.

Read the whole thing.

Jason also notes the calls a television station gets whenever they interrupt programming for weather alerts. I'm of divided mind on this. On the one hand, yes it's important to offer information that protects peoples' lives. It's part of their civic responsibility to the communties they serve. On the other hand, the stations really seem to leap at any serious storm and define "community" more by the reach of their radars than anything else. "Memphis' most powerful Doppler radar" (or whatever) suddenly becomes a guardian for Jonesboro, Arkansas, or Bolivar in Hardeman County, or Olive Branch, Mississippi. To the bulk of the viewing audience in Memphis, it's hard to embrace these far-flung places with our sympathies.

But Jason's post shows why. One Jackson viewer emailed to say: "I don't care if people are dying, put the damn show back on." People were dying -- fifteen of them. I wonder if the station ever later contacted that emailer to ask what he thought now?

Video Makes the Story

On Saturday, a body was found in Baghdad. It was American Nick Berg, who had been missing since April 9th. The story says:

An American civilian was found dead near a highway overpass in Baghdad, the United States military said today.

There were signs of trauma on the corpse, the military said.

"Signs of trauma." You can see a picture of the body as it was found here. It's an ugly, but not graphic photo.

Now today, Tuesday, an Al-Qaida website posts horrifying, graphic video of the death of Nick Berg. They slit his throat with a large knife, and then beheaded him, parading the head before the camera.

Hunh..."signs of traumu" indeed. Did the military downplay his death for "the family's sake?" Who took the photo of his body? Why wasn't that in the news? Did no member of the press bother to get the details?

Notice that Berg's initial discovery barely rated a mention around the media. It was far, far behind the "story" of the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, and all those "shocking" photos. Only now that there's "graphic video" to show does Mr. Berg's death become a "story."

Murderers, bombers, grenadiers, snipers. Killers. Locked up in American prisons to be pumped for information that will lead to capturing their leaders and cohorts before they are tried, convicted and then imprisoned or executed. The guards' leaders didn't supervise them, military and civilian intelligence agents egged them on, and the guards lost the restraints of civil behavior. But never forget that the folks they are guarding are scum and murderers

The Al-Qaida goons captured Nick Berg long before the Abu Ghraib story broke. Was he being held for trial, the slow grinding of a legal process? No, he was held like a cow for sacrifice, to be offered up as "revenge" for whatever blood lust needs justification. He was held in reserve, to be used when needed.

Which story got, and will continue to get after the initial days of sensationalisation, sustained coverage? Who will be held up to America, day after day, as the "bad guys?" Which moral and ethical system will be studied and found lacking?

What exactly are the organising principles that our national news media operate under? Which story, to the average American worried about Americans in Iraq, average Americans in "flyover country," is the more important to tell? Where are the medias' priorities? Their allegiances?

I think this "story" tells us a lot about that.

UPDATE 10PM Radio station KTAR in Phoenix, Arizona, has posted 10 screen grabs from the video. You can see them here. WARNING! Extreme, graphic gore.

Principle Before Personality?

Radley Balko of The Agitator has a great post looking at a new book about Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. After quoting a passage from the book, about Bill's final days, he writes:

So did your blood run cold? Were you shocked that Bill Wilson would ask for alcohol on his deathbed, but relieved to learn he didn't get it? I'd guess that a healthy majority of the people who read the article felt the same way.

That's because they've been brainwashed. I found it rather abhorrent that Bill Wilson couldn't get a taste of the one thing that may have made him feel a bit better on his deathbed. That allegiance to some stupid code of an earthly recovery group made one man's descent into death much more difficult than it needed to be.

I'm not horrified that Bill Wilson asked for alcohol as he was dying. I'm horrified that he didn't get it.

I wasn't especially surprised, nor did I find it heretical as some did. AAs have always had a tendency to forget the dictum from the Big Book to place principle before personality, moreso when it comes to Bill and Doctor Bob, AA's founders. It's easy to want the man to conform to our needed vision of him, rather than accept the messy and conflicting realities. There are also, as Balko notes, too many AAs who turn the Program into a psuedo-religion to assuage emotional problems they still haven't faced using the Twelve Steps. That's not healthy for the recovering alcoholic, nor the people around them.

On the other hand, we're not really given enough information to have a really informed opinion. If Bill was on powerful painkillers, alcohol would have been dangerous to him. So denying him was the right course. Did Bill, while still in his "right mind" before the final, pain-filled, days, specifically tell those around him to help him keep from drinking? Then they were honoring his request and acting as any good friend would. Without more background, we just can't know.

Read the Whole Thing, especially the comments. It's tough stuff, but a good corrective as well. It's always too easy to let AA turn into a psuedo-cultish evangelism in which you're a disciple and your whole life revolves around the Program. I've seen a lot of that and don't think it's healthy. Folks who treat their recovery and the Program more like a treatment regemin, say the way diabetics treat their insulin injections and their dietary changes, tend to be healthier overall. But that's just my opinion.

No Spoiler Space For You!

Spoilers -- those leaks of what's to come on your favorite television shows -- are a fact of life in the Internet age. They're easy to find and hard to ignore, especially if you're a fan of a particular show and participate in message boards. Producers and creators have a love/hate relationship with the folks who traffic in them, as the New York Times article shows.

Personally, I like spoilers and look for them for the few shows I watch, right now just Alias, Enterprise and Angel. It's good to know, for some reason, and if the episode is going to suck, I can avoid it. I have the ability to forget what I know once I start watching the episodes themselves, which helps.

The Singhsons

The Simpsons' Indian relations. Meet Omar, Mar-ji, Bartinder, Lisajit and Mugglie! Make sure to read the background stuff, too.

Hat tip to my new posting outlet: Blogcritics.org! Make sure to stop by and click around.

Fun With Numbers

The headline says, "More Ads Found in State Judicial Races." You can read the story here. Some advocacy group is up in arms and the story starts like this:

The number of outside interest groups trying to influence state supreme court elections by running political advertisements on television doubled from 2000 to 2002, a report released Thursday said.

Oooh, some real FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) here! Sounds ominous. There's even a scare quote a bit later on:

"No state that elects judges is safe," said Bert Brandenburg, deputy director of the coalition, which is concerned about the influence of special-interest money in state supreme court elections. This year, 29 states will hold such races.

Wow, I'm worried now!

Then comes the meat:

In its study, the Justice at Stake Campaign, a coalition of 40 groups advocating for an impartial judiciary, found that 10 groups intervened with ads in state judicial races two years ago compared to five groups in the 2000 elections.

Commercials were aired, either by the candidates or interest groups, in nine states in 2002, up from four in 2000.

To quote from Butt-head: "Uhhh...whut?" Four states had five groups producing ads in 2000. Two years later, nine states had ten groups. Go ahead and do the math. I'll wait.

Note the scare word used: "intervened." And note as well that the groups themselves arent' identified or explained in any detail. I have a feeling that's where the real story lies.

But wait! There's more!

In 2002, candidates spent $6 million on TV ads, while interest groups allotted $2.2 million. The most money by far was spent in Ohio — $3.7 million by candidates and $1.6 million from interest groups.

So, subtract out the one anomalous state (Ohio) and you learn that nine candidates spent $2.3 million, or about $256,000 each. Interest groups spent, per state, roughly $56,000.

Yeah, I'm really worried.