The press and freedom: some disturbing trends by Bob Edwards, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition”
Being popular might be good for business at a time when newspapers are losing readers and TV networks are losing viewers. And the owners of today�s media, who are business tycoons, not journalists, would like us to be good representatives of the corporate brands. But that is not our job. We are supposed to be surrogates for the public � the eyes and ears of citizens who don�t have the access we have. We are to hold public officials to account, and if that makes them angry at us � well, that just goes with our job, and we have to take it. If pointed questions make public officials squirm � well, that just goes with their job, and they�re supposed to take it. That�s the price that comes with the privilege of serving the people.
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Have two must read/view links for ya. I’m a day behind on the first.
The police placed their fingers on the triggers of their guns and kicked open the kitchen doors. Shouts emanated from the kitchen and a few seconds later five Hispanic men were made to crawl out on their hands and knees, guns pointed at them.
After patting us all down, the five officers seated us at two tables. As they continued to kick open doors to closets and bathrooms with their fingers glued to their triggers, no less than ten officers in suits emerged from the stairwell. Most of them sat in the back of the restaurant typing on their laptop computers. Two of them walked over to our table and identified themselves as officers of the INS and Homeland Security Department.
(Patriot Raid by Jason Halperin
I’m reminded of people who kept saying “no one will abusie the power” and “these powers will only be used when needed” and “that will never happen to American citizens, only terrorists”. Well stack this up next to the deportations, detentions without charges or access to lawyers, increased wiretapping without warrants and more and you can start to see the 4th Amendment eroding away.
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These links come courtesy of MWO, Blah3 and Len. A TON of good links here:
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Alllrighty. It’s been a good day at work. The major bug I’ve been trying to track down with the aid of a developer got pinned down and fixed today, so that’s cool. Ends up I found a major major bug that would have been hard to find had it slipped through QA. Rock!
On that not, gonna do a bunch of political links before I go:
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More jumping on the friday five bandwagon. 
1. What was the last TV show you watched?
A Stargate SG-1 rerun on Sci-Fi
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem?
Geroge Bush and how he said that the Iraqi Information minister was “my man” (read down a couple entries)
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
This is really sad, but I honestly can’t remember. I need to do that more often.
4. What was the last thing you threw away?
Yesterday’s page of my desk calendar.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/
Via http://www.actforchange.com
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Defeat the Judicial Nominations of Owen and Sutton
Currently, Senate Democrats are successfully blocking the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals with a filibuster. There are two other nominees in the final stages of consideration that should also be blocked, via filibuster if necessary: Judge Priscilla Owen for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit and Jeffrey Sutton for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Take action!
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Hey all. Thought I’d just thought I’d say hi. Work has been incredibly busy, but it’s to be expected. We’re workign on a new release and I’ve got this bug I’m trying to help development track down. Super fun is had by all.
Tonight I’m gonna watch the Pacers vs. Boston. Game three of the first round. They really should win this series, but they are also good at losing games they shouldn’t, so we’ll see what happens. This weekend is looking to be pretty busy. Saturday my parents might be coming down with an old full sized bed that I’m taking off their hands. It’s about time I had a real bed instead of a matress on the floor. Then sunday is my mom’s birthday so I’ll be goign home for some sort of dinner activity with the family. I already have her present worked out (chipping in with my dad and sister and brother for something cool. I’ll fill you in after the birthday).
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From MoveOn.org
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MoveOn.org is starting to get a campaign
organized to defeat Bush and the Republicans in 2004. The Republicans are already well under way in their re-election effort, we need to get
started too.
Read their email below and consider signing on to the campaign.
To sign up, click here:
http://www.moveon.org/pac/newpres/
MoveOn will keep you updated when opportunities for action come up.
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Wil Wheaton makes a damn good point over on his blog. Now I consider myself a Democrat (for a couple reason. Idealology when it come sto true democratic ideals and realistically a third party wont’ get elected) but this is just the height of stupidity and no way will we get Bu$h out of office like this.
They sent Wil a nice survey and gave a nice area for comments. Great. Here’s hoping the Dems are caring about what the American People have to say.
The catch? You have to PAY $7.50 to have your survey processed.
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