Phil Burress is president of the Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values. Any group that has the words ‘traditional’, ‘family’, ‘values’, and the like in its title is likely to be narrow-minded and this one is no exception. CCV is one of those groups that fights for ‘Judeo-Christian moral values’ and ‘has been ‘protecting the family since 1983’ mainly, it seems, by fighting against pornography and homosexuality. [Read more…]
Although I own a TV, it is used almost exclusively to watch DVDs and I have not watched TV news or any programs in ages, preferring to get both via the radio or the internet. But I can imagine that there must have been wall-to-wall coverage of the shootings at the elementary school last week. My local newspaper the Plain Dealer had massive front-page, above the fold coverage of the news on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday even though the events took place in a distant state and had no local connection. [Read more…]
Robert Greenwald is a documentary filmmaker who has produced some excellent feature length documentaries that have exposed Fox News, Wal-Mart, and the Iraq war. He also produces short pieces through his own company called Brave New Foundation. [Read more…]
I am a big supporter of WikiLeaks and similar organizations that seek to increase government transparency. I contributed money until credit card agencies refused to allow payments to it, because of fear of offending the US government. I now hear of an excellent new organization called the Freedom of the Press Foundation that works towards increasing government transparency by encouraging whistleblowers and investigative journalism. [Read more…]
I have not seen (and will not see) this film that deals with the killing of Osama bin Laden but have been following the controversy over it. Glenn Greenwald has a powerful essay about the film that touches on a whole range of important issues. [Read more…]
There was recently a big fuss about how the Hostess company was going out of business, because many people seemed to have a sentimental childhood attachment to its products though I personally had never eaten any, perhaps because I had not grown up in the US. Much of the media spread the message that the cause was that the workers were not willing to grant huge concessions in salary and benefits for the company to stay in business. [Read more…]
Glenn Greenwald points out that the soft-glove treatment given by the government to mega-bank HSBC for its crimes illustrates how the US has now gone to a system where a small class of individuals and corporations have been openly given immunity from prosecution for even major crimes, while at the same time ordinary people are cracked down hard for even minor ones. [Read more…]