"We must develop and maintain the capacity to
forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the
power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in
the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our
enemies. Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent
attitude." - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"On January 5, 2005 Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the
ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, released
Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio. The report
was the result of a five-week investigation by the committee’s
Democrats, who reviewed thousands of complaints of fraud,
malfeasance, or incompetence surrounding the election in Ohio,
and further thousands of complaints that poured in by phone and
email as word of the inquiry spread. The congressional
researchers were assisted by volunteers in Ohio who held public
hearings in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, and Cincinnati, and
questioned more than two hundred witnesses. (Although they were
invited, Republicans chose not to join in the inquiry.)
Preserving Democracy describes three phases of Republican
chicanery: the run-up to the election, the election itself, and
the post-election cover-up. The wrongs exposed are not mere
dirty tricks (though Bush/Cheney also went in heavily for those)
but specific violations of the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, the
Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the National
Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act. Although
Conyers trod carefully when the report came out, insisting that
the crimes did not affect the outcome of the race (a point he
had to make, he told me, “just to get a hearing”), his report
does “raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said that
the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in
a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone Federal
requirements and constitutional standards.” The report cites
“massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies”
throughout the state—wrongs, moreover, that were hardly random
accidents. “In many cases,” the report says, “these
irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal
behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."
For twenty five years, Mary Mapes has been an award-winning
television producer and reporter—the last fifteen of them for
CBS News, principally for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
and 60 Minutes. She had the bedrock of respect of her peers—in
the last year alone, she broke the story of the Abu Ghraib
prison tortures (which won CBS The Peabody Award) and the
existence of Strom Thurmond's illegitimate bi-racial daughter
Essie Mae Washington. But it was Dan Rather's lightning rod of a
story on George W. Bush's National Guard Service that brought
Mapes into an unwanted limelight. The firestorm that followed
the broadcast led not only to Mapes' firing and Rather's
stepping down from his anchor chair a year early, but to an
unprecedented "internal" inquiry into the story—chaired by
former Reagan Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.
Peopled with an historic and colorful cast of characters—from
Karl Rove to Summer Redstone to John Kerry to Col. Bobby
Hodges—this groundbreaking book about how the news is made (and
unmade) will make news when it appears this fall. But this, it
turns out, is only part of the story. Mapes talks for the first
time about the riveting behind-the-scenes action at CBS during
this frenzied period and exposes some of the largest political
and social controversies that have broken in this new age of
dissonance."
“If members of the general public read this book, or even
portions of it, they will be appalled. To the uninitiated
reader, the accounts of what goes on behind the scenes at major
news organizations are shocking.” - Publisher’s Weekly; See
also: Paraview
Literary Agency.
"The three largest local phone
companies control 83 percent of home telephone lines. The top
two long distance carriers control 67 percent of that market.
The four biggest cellular phone companies have 64 percent of the
wireless market. The five largest cable companies pipe
programming to 74 percent of the cable subscribers nationwide.
Those findings come from the Center for Public Integrity’s
unprecedented examination of the telecommunications industry,
the centerpiece of which is a first-of-its-kind, 65,000 record,
searchable database containing ownership information on
virtually every radio station, television station, cable
television system and telephone company in America."
The
Center for Public Integrity, Well Connected web site.
"...The Issue is Whether we Want to Live in a Free
Society or Whether we Want to Live Under What Amounts to a form of
Self-Imposed Totalitarianism, with the Bewildered Herd Marginalized,
Directed Elsewhere, Terrified, Screaming Patriotic Slogans, Fearing for
Their Lives, and Admiring with Awe the Leader who Saved them from
Destruction, While the Educated Masses Goose-Step on Command and Repeat
the Slogans They're Supposed to Repeat and the Society Deteriorates at
Home. We End Up Serving as a Mercenary Enforcer State, Hoping That others
are Going to Pay Us to Smash Up the World." - From:
Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, by Noam
Chomsky, Seven Stories Press, 10/2002
American
Journalism Review
National magazine that covers all
aspects of print, television, radio &
online media. Examines how the media
cover specific stories & broader
coverage trends.
Editor
& Publisher Media Links
Associations, city guides, magazine,
newspaper, news services & syndicates,
radio & television web sites.
EmergencyNet
Reporting arm of the Emergency
Response & Research Institute
- a "think-tank" studying emergency
response, intelligence, military
& national security issues.
Photojournalistas
Monthly online magazine bringing
in-depth visual & written story coverage.
Topics range from issues & sports to
interesting people & places.
The
Publishing Triangle
The purpose of the Publishing Triangle is to
further the publication of books & other
materials written by lesbian & gay authors or
with lesbian & gay themes.
RadioTower
Online radio stations throughout the world
Wisdom Radio, Internet & Television
Wisdom is a global media resource
to the growing, worldwide community
interested in health and wellness, improved
personal growth, heightened spirituality & life
purpose, global issues, human potential
& self discovery.
American Radio Works
The national documentary unit of
Minnesota Public Radio. Creates
documentaries, series projects, &
investigative reports for the public
radio system and the Internet.
"From what we get, we can make a living, what we give, however, makes a life."
"I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life, comes with trying to help others."
"The absence of coherent national health care policy is, in my opinion, one of the major disgraces of American life. Greed should not blind doctors to the devastating effect of the absence of such a policy on the American poor and middle class."
"I think that
the illness is a good thing in some ways. I wouldn't want to do it
again. But the time away from cycling and the time to think about
what's really important in life was great. I've come back with a
new perspective and a whole new list of priorities."- Lance
Armstrong after his July, 1999 victory in the 86th Tour de France.
In 1996, he was diagnosed with with testicular cancer and
was told by doctors it had spread to his lungs and brain. He had
surgery to remove a testicle and lesions from his brain and
underwent months of chemotherapy. Today, his doctors say there is
a tiny chance the cancer will return. See also: the Lance
Armstrong Foundation & Lance
Armstrong Online
Baseball
Almanac
Facts, stories, famous firsts, quotes,
autographs, stats, records, & other information.
The V
Foundation
"Created by ESPN & the late Jim Valvano
in 1993. Jim announced the creation of
The V Foundation for Cancer Research &
proclaimed “Don’t Give Up. . .Don’t Ever
Give Up!”® as the motto in the fight
against the disease that ultimately claimed
him at the age of 47 after a brief & very
public 10-month battle."
"I know that
the outcome is in God's hands, but with God's help and with your
continued prayers, I know that I will have the strength to do His
will.
In my life I have tried to ease the suffering of
others through the Walter
Payton Foundation. I now hope that I can turn the negative of
being afflicted with this liver condition into the positive of
being able to raise awareness for organ donation."
Cartoon appearing on
United Church of Christ Home
Page in response to NBC and CBS refusing to air a
message showing the church welcoming to all people-
including sexual minorities.
"War's cost is exacting. It
destroys families. It leaves behind a wasteland,
irreconcilable grief. It is a disease, and in
the night air I smell its contagion. Justice is
not at issue here: war consumes the good along
with the wicked. There will be no stopping it.
Pity will be banished. Fear will rule. It is the
old lie again, told to children desperate for
glory: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It
is sweet and fitting to die for one's
country)."-
"A Gaza Diary- Scenes from the Palestinian
Uprising," by Chris Hedges. See also,
"War
is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," by Chris
Hedges.
"...A war memorial that attempted to
depict the reality of war would be too subversive. It would
condemn us and our capacity for evil. It would show that the
line between the victim and the victimizer is razor-thin,
that human beings, when the restraints are cut, are
intoxicated by mass killing, and that war, rather than being
noble, heroic and glorious, obliterates all that is tender,
decent and kind. It would tell us that the celebration of
national greatness is the celebration of our technological
capacity to kill. It would warn us that war is always
morally depraved, that even in “good” wars such as World War
II all can become war criminals. We dropped the atomic bomb
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Nazis ran the death camps.
But this narrative of war is unsettling. It does not create
a collective memory that serves the interests of those who
wage war and permit us to wallow in self-exaltation..." -
From
Chris Hedges, Celebrating Slaughter: War and Collective
Amnesia, 10/5/2009
"We’re in the midst of a somewhat
muted arms race, not with the Soviet Union but with the rest
of the world. We’re busily trying to fabricate enemies. We
shift from the North Koreans, and then we’re engaging with
Iraq and Iran again, and then we take a shot at Libya. We
wait for any of these people to raise their heads up and
we’re ready to go against them. This means nuclear weapons.
We had 600 warheads in the Gulf during the Iraq War, and if
American troops would have died there in considerable
numbers, we would’ve used those warheads. That’s why they
were there."
1996 Interview with Phillip Berrigan by Matthew Rothschild,
The Progressive.
And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.
Jackals that the jackals would despise
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate.
Face to face with you I have seen the blood
of Spain tower like a tide
to drown you in one wave
of pride and knives.
Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain:
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers
from every socket of Spain
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.
And you will ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land.
The
Advocate
National gay and lesbian news
magazine.
AlterNet.org
Journalism, public-interest news
& advocacy. Alternative to
corporate media conglomerates.
Americablog.org "A great nation deserves the truth,"
John Aravosis, a gay journalist
& political consultant in Washington,
DC who cares about gay politics &
likes getting involved & making a
difference.
The
American Prospect
Aim is to contribute to a renewal of
America's democratic traditions by
presenting a practical and convincing
vision of liberal philosophy, politics,
& public life.
The
Black Commentator
The Black Commentator's core audience
is African Americans & their allies in the
struggle for social and economic justice.
It is also important to share Black American
perspectives with the rest of the world, a
mission uniquely suited to the Internet. Our
focus is commentary, analysis & investigation,
elements of political dialogue that are
absolutely essential to the creation of
movements for social change. Without regular
forums for advocacy and debate, a people are
at the mercy of their adversaries.
Consortium
"We founded the Consortiumnews.com
Web site in 1995, back in the "early days"
of the modern Internet. The site was meant
to be a home for important, well-reported
stories that weren't welcome in the O.J.
Simpson-obsessed, conventional-wisdom
-driven national news media of that time.
CounterPunch
Bi-weekly muckraking newsletter
with a radical attitude. Battles
against the war machine, big
business & the rapists of nature.
Common
Dreams News Center
Works to bring progressive Americans
together to promote progressive
visions for America's future.
Corporate
Watch
Counters corporate-led globalization
through education & activism. Works
to foster democratic control over
corporations by building grassroots
globalization--a diverse movement for
human rights, labor rights & environmental
justice.
Crimes of
War Project
Collaboration of journalists, lawyers, &
scholars that seeks to raise
awareness of the laws of war & of
the human consequences when
armed conflict becomes entrenched.
Democracy
Now!
News program airing on over 225 stations
in North America. Provides audiences access
to people and perspectives rarely heard in the
U.S. corporate-sponsored media, including
independent and international journalists, ordinary
people from around the world who are directly
affected by U.S. foreign policy, grassroots leaders
& peace activists, artists, academics &
independent analysts. In addition, the War &
Peace Report hosts real debates - debates
between people who substantially disagree, such
as between the White House or the Pentagon
spokespeople on the one hand, & grassroots
activists on the other.
DisInformation
Alternative news & underground
culture destination.
The Ethical Spectacle
"Mission is to shine a lantern on the
intersection at which ethics, law &
politics meet (or collide) in our civilization,
particularly that part of it known as
the United States of America."
FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
National media watch group, has been
offering well-documented criticism of
media bias and censorship since 1986.
Foreign Policy in Focus
Seeks to make the U.S. a more
responsible global leader and global
partner. It is a "think tank without walls"
that functions as an international
network of more than 650 policy analysts
and advocates. Unlike traditional think
tanks, FPIF is committed to advancing
a citizen-based foreign policy agenda
--one that is fundamentally rooted in
citizen initiatives and movements.
Free Press
National nonpartisan organization
working to increase informed public
participation in crucial media policy
debates, and to generate policies that
will produce a more competitive &
public interest-oriented media system
with a strong nonprofit & noncommercial
sector.
Governing Monthly magazine whose
primary
audience is state & local government
officials: governors, legislators, mayors,
city managers, council members &
other elected, appointed and career officials.
Greg Palast
Journalism & Film “Greg Palast is investigative
journalism
at its best. No one has exposed more
truth about the Bush Cartel & lived
to tell the story.”
Guerilla News
Network
Underground news organization whose
mission is to expose people to important
global issues through guerrilla programming
on the web and on television.
The Hill
Weekly newspaper that describes the
inner workings of Congress, the pressures
confronting policy makers and the many
ways in which decisions are made.
Independent
Media Center
Collective of independent media
organizations & hundreds of journalists
offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.
Stories come from the hearts & minds of
people on the frontlines of the struggle for
justice against tyranny. Indymedia has grown
into a network of nearly 100 Independent
Media Centers (IMCs) all over the world by
means of a commitment to equality,
decentralization & autonomy.
In These Times
Dedicated to informing & analyzing popular
movements for social, environmental &
economic justice; to providing a forum for
discussing the politics that shape our lives; &
to producing a magazine that is read by the
broadest and most diverse audience possible.
Keithboykin.com
Born on the anniversary of Dr. King’s
famous
March on Washington, Keith
Boykin has become one of the nation's
leading commentators on race,
sexuality & politics.
Left Business Observer
Monthly newsletter on economics &
politics in the U.S. and the world at large.
Media
Matters for America
Web-based, not-for-profit progressive
research &d information center dedicated
to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing,
& correcting conservative misinformation
in the U.S. media. Conservative misinformation
is defined as news or commentary presented
in the media that is not accurate, reliable, or
credible & that forwards the conservative agenda.
Media
Monitors Network
Non-profit, non-biased &non-political
platform seeking to uncover the whole
truth & facilitate answers to disputed,
controversial topics being broadcast,
web cast, published, distributed or
telecast in the world media.
The Nation
"The Nation will not be the organ of any
party, sect, or body. It will, on the contrary,
make an earnest effort to bring to the
discussion of political and social questions
a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon
the vices of violence, exaggeration, &
misrepresentation by which so much of the
political writing of the day is marred. --
from The Nation's founding prospectus, 1865"
The Nation
Institute | TomDispatch
"Has a fundamental commitment to the
values of free speech & open discourse.
The Institute places particular importance on
strengthening the independent press in the
face of America's increasingly corporate-
controlled flow of information, & through its
programs the Institute promotes progressive
values on a variety of media platforms."
openDemocracy
Channel for knowledge, learning,
participation & understanding that is
not owned by a media corporation,
does not serve a special interest &
does not adhere to a single ideological
position.
The
Progressive
Journalistic voice for peace & social
justice at home & abroad.
PR Watch
Public Interest Reporting on the
PR/Public Affairs Industry.
The Raw Story
Alternative news directory providing
news stories of interest to the
progressive audience.
The Republican Noise Machine:
Right-Wing Media and How It
Corrupts Democracy, by David Brock
From the Publisher: "Brock
documents how
in the last several decades the GOP built a
powerful media machine--newspapers &magazines,
think tanks, talk radio networks, op-ed columnists,
the FOX News Channel, Christian Right
broadcasting, book publishers, & high-traffic
internet sites--to sell conservatism to the public
& discredit its opponents."
Stafanki Radio documentaries, talks, discussion
& comedy.
Talking
Points Memo
Joshua Micah Marshall is a Contributing
Writer for the Washington Monthly &
a columnist for The Hill.
The Texas
Observer
Writes about issues ignored or underreported
in the mainstream press, in pursuit of a
vision of Texas in which education, justice
& material progress are available to all.
Goal is to cover stories crucial to the
public interest and to provoke dialogue
that promotes democratic participation
& open government.
Think
Progress
Think Progress is a project of the
American Progress Action Fund.
The American
Progress Action Fund is a nonpartisan
organization. With the blog, APAF seeks
to provide a forum that advances
progressive ideas and policies.
TomPaine.com
Public interest journal inspired by the
great patriot Thomas Paine. Seeks to
enrich the national debate on controversial
public issues by featuring the ideas,
opinions, and analyses too often overlooked
by the mainstream media.
TPM Cafe
TPMCafe is a public meeting place to read
about and discuss politics, culture and
public life in the United States. The site
hosts both blogs and public discussion
areas.
Truthdig
The purpose of our new Web magazine
is to provide you with insightful & accurate
reporting on current subjects and on issues
that need to be brought to your attention.
We want to challenge conventional wisdom.
Over time, we hope to build a solid & reliable
resource for those of you who want to explore
particular topics by drilling down to unusual
depth. In addition, we hope to create a home
for thoughtful, provocative ideas & dialogue
by a group of talented contributors & editors.
Unanswered Questions.org
Online meeting place for researchers,
investigative journalists & concerned
citizens to pose thoughtful & engaging
questions about today's most pressing
issues.
UN Wire Daily news summary covering the United
Nations, global affairs & international
issues.
Utne
Articles from over 2,000 alternative media
sources bringing the reader ideas &
trends emerging in our culture.
Vermont
Guardian
"Less than two decades ago, Vermonters
could pick up a newspaper and expect solid
reporting from a locally owned business with
stakes in the community. But as Vermont led
the way toward social and political progress in
the United States, its media outlets moved in
the opposite direction, falling victim to corporate
consolidation taking shape at the national level.
Out-of-state conglomerates have bought many
of the best dailies. In attempts to keep pace
with these fierce new competitors, other Vermont
papers have cut staffing and squeezed news space
to make room for more advertising." The Vermont
Guardian will stand in stark contrast to this trend.
Through our weekly newspaper and daily Web site,
we will provide an independent perspective with a
commitment to credible investigations, & provocative
& informative stories that others either miss or
choose to ignore. Too often, today's media cast
coverage in a political rather than a human light.
Stories and subjects are tagged as "left" or "right,"
ignoring the subtleties and nuances that define Vermont.
WebActive
Designed to make the Internet an effective tool
for progressive activism.
White Crane: A Journal of Gay Men's
Spirituality
Explores gay spirituality to uncover the
variety of the manifestations of spiritual quest
among contemporary gay men & to reclaim
their place in the development of human
consciousness, committed to the intuition that
gay consciousness plays a special and important
role in the evolution of life on planet Earth.
Whitehouse.org
A comedic spoof on the Bush
White House. Sometimes humorous-
sometimes not.
WireTap
Independent information source by &
for socially conscious youth. Showcases
investigative news articles, personal essays
& opinions, artwork and activism resources
that challenge stereotypes, inspire creativity,
foster dialogue and give young people a
voice in the media.
Yes! Quarterly magazine that invites the
reader
to be part of a global community of
change makers. Each issue focuses on a
theme, showing the possibilities & practical
steps that can lead to a more positive future.
A consistent message of realistic hope
clarifies thinking & encourages their active
engagement in change.
The Yes Men
"The Yes Men are a genderless, loose
knit association of some three hundred
impostors worldwide. Their feeling today
can be summed up in one simple phrase:
Good Office Environment.
Although their name contains the word
"Men,"
it doesn't describe who they are,
it describes
what they do: they use any
means necessary
to agree their way into
the fortified compounds
of commerce,
ask questions, and then smuggle
out the stories of their undercover
escapades to
provide a public glimpse
at the behind-the-scenes world of business."
ZNet
Independent monthly magazine dedicated
to resisting injustice, defending against
repression, & creating liberty. It sees the
racial, gender, class, & political dimensions
of personal life as fundamental to understanding
& improving contemporary circumstances;
& it aims to assist activist efforts for a
better future.
