Good for Al Jazeera for picking up Dahr Jamail. Dahr has been covering this non-stop for the past year in his email dispatches (i still get those emails from when he was unembedded in Iraq).

Not surprised. But totally speechless.

Thanks for this, David.

Admire Obama’s pecs, revel in Michelle’s victory garden, and have yourself a cool draught of Barack home-brew.

That’s why you can’t have better media, they are fixated on the really important things.

Media? Yes, it would be nice to have real media. It would also be nice to have a real government, including regulatory agencies and, for that matter, courts. We can now see what the end state of right wing ideology looks like. It is staring up at us from the Gulf.

Anyone who is not outraged is in a godamned coma.

What good is decent media in this country when government officials lie through their teeth? Last summer when this kid went swimming we were being told the water was safe. I didn’t buy it then and I don’t believe it’s any better now.

This whole disaster was just swept under the sand and it’s still there. You couldn’t pay me to set foot on a beach on the west coast of Florida and I have serious doubts about the east coast.

And any fish coming from the gulf. Forget it. Last April/May, before the extent of this was known, my husband and I ate all the oysters we could get our hands on, as even at that point, I knew we wouldn’t be eating any fish from the gulf for a very, very long time. And since you can’t get an honest answer from anyone as to where the fish came from, no warm water seafood for us.

As the full article mentioned, those of us in gulf states are nothing but guinea pigs. It wouldn’t surprise me if the whole area weren’t declared a superfund site at some point in the distant future.

Yes, I live in Florida and this fuckin’ mess really, really pisses me off, from the oil to the lies and to the complete silence on what has to be a public health threat that is quickly reaching a boil, but rarely mentioned.

tuezday gets it! (That was a no-doubter, tuez)

Th fix was clearly on during the early stages of the disaster, when the Coast Guard was getting more negative pushback from commentators and pundits then BP. It was about the heroic efforts of the BP engineers to fix the “no one could have foreseen such an event” rupture, and “the Coast Guard continues to screw up the spill”.

I really don’t know what to do anymore. I think maybe our country is lost, lost to the corporate masters and their media.

One more whine: Last night on All Things Considered the ending two segments interviewed Wisconsin GOP Senator (assistant majority leader) Glenn Grothman, who spoke lie after lie, turning the truth on it’s head and blaming the whole thing on the Democrats. Nothing new, but I was surprised to hear Robert Siegel do this interview straight, with very little challenge to Grothman’s lies. And that there was no balancing interview, not even a mention of the Democratic side of the issue.

The next segment was about Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, by Mara Liasson, including this gem at the end,

What Daniels has done is put a spotlight on what I call the grown-up brand of fiscal conservative politics that tells the truth about big problems without pandering to the simple answers or the kneejerk. It tells the truth about how to win a general election, which is not just about purity, and talks to all voters about the fact that we have to face this out-of-control spending we have, and facing it means some sacrifice that people will have to make as part of being citizens.

again, with absolutely no counter or challenge.

It’s clear to me that NPR decided to go down to their knees for the GOP.

Other than http://www.democracynow.org we have no independent media in this country that is owned & operated for, by and of the uber rich. Americans fell asleep in front of the television sets & did nothing as the GOP systematically stripped us of our rights & devoured the system of checks and balances necessary for a democratic republic to function. As a people Americans are stupid, fat & lazy; we deserve the slave state we find ourselves in.

People still believe Reagan is a god & unions are evil; they’ve swallowed so much kool aid we can forget about any meaningful reform; only a small minority of Americans are sufficiently educated to form opinions based upon reality, while the majority will find a ‘Hitler’ to throw their support & the results will be a disaster. Sure we are seeing a turnaround in Wisconsin but there has been little protest coming from the much larger state of Michigan that is now passing a much more draconian law that will allow appointed tzars freedom to dissolve democratically-elected governments, and give the property to private corporations that are now fully ‘artificial persons’ and they will pillage public property for private profit.

The media will crow about how lucky we are to live here in the United States: we’re truly fucked.

For the same reason it takes Al Jazeera to report anything truthful. American media isn’t into news, they’re into narrative. Period.

as, not at in first sent. Threw me off for a sec.

As good as AJ is, don’t forget that AJ has its own biases.

So now if I don’t give up my retirement savings I’m unpatriotic? Fuck these people.

True. For profit news soon srops being about news and starts being about advancing an agenda to increase those profits.

Yep more “shared sacrifice” that the rich won’t have to share.

This is getting really ugly, really fast:

TOKYO — Radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level Saturday in the control room of the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

Ugly and deadly.

I been watching mostly Al-Jazeera since I returned my cable box to Comcast.

I do have better media. I do not watch broadcast TV anymore.

Good for AJE!

Dahr’s work on the Gulf has been covered by the Alaska bloggers. A particular poignant part of Darh’s coverage has been the photography of his collaborator, Erika Blumenfeld.

Alaskan Riki Ott has been reporting on illness in the Gulf since the week she arrived there last spring. I just received this from Riki this morning:

I’m still in the Gulf. Will be here one full year through one-year memorial.
Now organizing this:
National Teach In

Changing the Endgame — America’s Energy Future
Earth Week, April 18-22

The teach-in will revisit the Gulf––and other communities that disproportionately bear the costs of America’s fossil fuel addiction––to unite Americans in a serious commitment to transition off fossil fuels and to confront the dangerous expansion of corporate power. Our goal is to make sure the outcome of the BP Gulf disaster is not a return to “oil business as usual” but to present a systemic problem with holistic solutions to change the endgame.

NATIONAL WEBCAST
Three one-hour pre-recorded sessions will be webcast during April 18-22. It will put the real Gulf story (Part 1) in the larger perspective of America’s energy future and the devastating consequences of our oil addiction, including privatization, globalization, militarization, the climate crisis, and corporate personhood (Part 2) and, finally, examine what ordinary people are doing to create self-reliant sustainable communities (Part 3). This will be a useful resource for schools and activists when completed.

LIVE IN THE GULF
During the Earth Week Teach-In, an estimated 25 folks will visit 5 communities in the Gulf and present talks on campuses with live speakers to share the real Gulf story, and pre-recorded material to put this story in in the larger perspective of America’s energy future as described above. We will also host a Democracy Training workshop with leaders from the national movement, Move to Amend. Simultaneously, youth ambassadors traveling with the group will present similar information at high schools.

POST PRODUCTION
Film producer Bo Boudart (Oil on Ice) will produce these webcast sessions as a mini-series for broad distribution to schools and the general public, using outlets such as public television and house parties.

I knew we were fucked with Obama’s first response to the BP induced tragedy. He let us know that it was not up to the federal government to interfere with the BP “clean up”. Then BP wouldn’t allow reporters or citizens on their own beaches. What is the definition again of fascism?

This is what constitutes news.

Everyone please keep in mind that BP intentionally used a more hazardous dispersant than the one that is used by almost every major environmental remediation outfit. Why? Because the company that makes it is privately held, by present and former BP executives. BP was attacked at the time for using that dispersant, but Obama let them go on using it – and they used far more than was necessary, according to the petroleum chemists who looked into it.

How much you wanna bet that Dispersant Sickness claims will be foreclosed by Obama’s claims agreement with BP? And time-barred as well, no doubt…

Post this.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/3788886037/nuclear-crisis-at-fukushima

Union of Concerned Scientists complete rundown of the reactor crisis by people who know stuff… like… you know…SCIENCE? Not one word run by PR people from BP or General Electric.

ProPublica has been consistently reporting on the BP oil spill and its impact on health and the environment.

Are you going to lecture me on science Adam?

he is really creepy…..as in sociopath

20 years ago TV became a business versus a public information center. Prior to this we would go after advertisers if they were worth investigating (there would be a lot of back and forth between sales and news, but news always won). Suddenly, the only thing that mattered (and continues to this day) is the bottom line. Long ago we did away with any expense report lines so reporters could make and maintain contacts. So reporting has very little to no funding. What is left? Anchors and celebrity news and sports and weather.

what is left

why Andrea Greenspin of course

http://cashpeters.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/katherine_helmond_x.jpg

and lets not forget
lets go swimmin in the GULF pr

http://www.celebrity-parenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Obama_and_Sasha_Swim_in_Florida.jpg

No… Just being sarcastic. There wasn’t an anti-nuclear energy story the entire time GE owned NBC, though. Been a weird day.

I had massive earthquake, a tsunami, and now nuclear reactor accident fall on my birthday. Hard to hit the right note on that one.

Al Jazeera was also giving excellent coverage of the earthquake in Japan. Katie Couric was tied up trying to land an interview with Justin Bieber.

re: that link – eeeeeeewwwwwwwww

Why o why can’t we have a better media?

we can thank clinton for that, even though reagan started the decline it took a democratic president to cement that decline

consolidation of our media sources from dozens and dozens to less then 5

that is why oh why we cannot have real media in this country

thank you big dog

Sorry. Was just asking. Yep. While we’re on the subject of the lame ass US media…
Edit: And it’s meant sincerely. Happy Birthday. I know it sucks ass but, well, anyway.

Happy B-day on an otherwise lousy day…go have a Blue Moon….i just did!

Bad girl!! What’s a Blue Moon.

Happy Birthday Adam!

BP buys a lot of advertising time on US media. That pretty much assures no negative coverage.

AlJazeera English has become my first choice for real and raw news, meaning that I don’t need CNN or any of the others predigesting it and reporting what they think it might mean. I first started using the site during the Iraq debacle when I started reading anything I could get my mind on by Dahr Jamail. The piece on the Gulf oil gusher was last of a series of eight articles by Jamail concerning the Gulf, very interesting body of work! Even today, with the coverage of the Japan earthquake and tidal wave, AlJazeera has the best coverage. By the way, birthday boy Adam, did you know that on this date in 1818, the book FRANKENSTEIN was published? Thought that might take the sting out of it a little!

The corporate media are the domestic propaganda machine for the Fascist American government. Their job is to keep you ill-informed and misinformed. It’s not about ratings or money. It’s about perception management and oppression.

If you are voluntarily exposing yourself to Fascist propaganda you should ask yourself why. Is it because you like Fascist propaganda? Is it because you think you are immune to it? You’re not. It has it’s affect even when you know it’s bull shit.

The only way to counter the propaganda is to avoid it. Bitching doesn’t help.

A simple way to improve the quality of news coverage in the U.S. is to provide Al Jazerra as an option in more markets.

hey girl

http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/blue-moon-pale-ale.jpg

BP supply US armed forces
end of story

written by a 21 year old girl,about her pregnancy

It is actually good to know what the rest of the country is drinking. I sometimes turn on Fox for 30 -40 seconds just to see what they are spewing. But my beau inevitably shouts, “You have to turn that off, I cant stand it!”

Oy vey. Thanks for the update. I *knew* beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’d be illness issues with the laughingly termed BP “clean up” which used worst dispersants than the oil, itself. And I *knew* when it all conveniently dropped off the “nooz,” it’d take an outside source, such as AJ, to *inform* us about what’s really going on.

There are no words left to describe… what? how effed up this all is? what a sociopath Obama & the Oligarchs are? how angry/sad/upset/frazzled I feel?

Mega-mess. Good for AJ. It’s only going to get worse, I fear, and I hate being negative, but I think I’m merely being realistic.

The dog help us all.

Eh – you can pretty much sum up what the bullshite fascist media is “saying” by very quickly *glancing* at the “magazines” littering the area in front of your grocery-store check-out line. IF I feel the need to know what junky-crap the fascists are pooping out at some point in time, I just head to the store (seriously).

I’ve actually taken to being a bit rude lately to friends and acquaintances who starting *blathering* about Charlie Sheen. Seriously, I have *no interest whatsoever* in that overly paid drug addict. And it really makes me quite angry how easily citizens willingly permit themselves to be distracted by a bunch of JUNK.

My tolerance for otherwise intelligent citizens babbling about *nothing* when the world is literally “burning” has gone to less than zero. I have to watch my tongue a lot anymore.

The media is represented by AFL-CIO affillates AFTRA and CWA. Union members bashing unions for a paycheck under the cover of free speech. Lies and falsehoods by scabs that need a sargent of arms intervention under the cover of UNION SOLIDARITY.

The US citizen can’t handle the news.I’ve quite watching the US corporate controled news just flash.Even NPR.AlJazeera seems to put picture with fact Black Agenda Radio also seems to be more fact base like the news was in the USA in the late 1960′s.

Why o why can’t we have a better media?

Because “the media” are simply the marketing department of the larger business/government/media entity.

Expecting the media to cover critical stories is like expecting to find pictures of burn victims in the ads for the ’72 Ford Pinto.

Why? Well, it would seem that is the corporate MSM actually reported more of the real news to the masses, then the likely outcome would be to hasten the time when the masses decide to experiment in how much effort it takes to separate a MOTU’s, or lackey’s, head from their body. So, its purpose is to shield the real criminals from being identified while providing targets and distractions for the masses, already very confused and angry.

Fun times are coming no doubt, but the purpose of much of our “news” today, and “our” government ((such as it is) seems to be to delay the consequences of the abuse and theft by the oligarchy and corporations upon we the people as long as possible. This allows natural causes, like resource wars, famine, disease vectors, etc. do their job at population reduction of the rabble. I do expect this century to see 50-80% of the world’s population to die off without replacement on our current course. IMHO.

Indeed, Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan, Brittany Speers, Paris Hilton and the other over indulged, pampered and slobbered over cretins is much less relevant than the current market price of hog bellies. The MSM is either pandering to the lowest common denominator or dispensing praise to those who hold the reins of the media.
The media is the only non-government entity that is specifically protected by the Constitution as they are supposed to be the public’s protection against malfeasance in the government and private interests – they have shit all over that responsibility.

Corporate Owned Propaganda Channels, that’s today’s news outlets. A few nuggets of truth get out, but true journalism is either dead or suppressed. Online news has some bright spots. But overall, the majority of the population is quite brainwashed to the point where they can’t distinguish between reality and a propped up story.

I guess the American people are not longer “allies of the government­” like Japan is.

Responsible reporting is liberal bias.

Kassanda, maybe you have not reched the same conclusion I have. The american citizen worker is no longer needed. The rich and theier corporations have offshred our jobsa as fast as a bad flush of the crapper. The rich,the privileged, and the corporate owners now run our goverment with thiwr very own bought up lobbyist –your friendly eleectred congressman, their top rated lobbyist bought and paid for. So why would they now need us as the corporations offshore our jobs to a cheap labor market which makes our corking class no longer a needed commodity. Unless you will worker cheaper than the chinese or a person from India. So you see the working class has become obsolete.