lullaby pit

biasedreporter asked the community what it thought about coverage of the Schiavo story. I posted a comment, but then I got to expanding on it and thought I’d xpost the revised comment here for the benefit of those who don’t read that community. The “coverage” of the story has been appalling. Again we have a case where the institutional press

Thx to fikshun for pointing out that Terri Schiavo has an LJ account at terrischiavo. So, so very wrong….

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” –Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man’s natural sickness to believe

Florida bill aims to control ‘leftist’ profs — The law could let students sue for untolerated beliefs TALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities. The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by

sunfell offers an outstanding take on the GOP, Frank Lutz, and their methods for mastering public opinion.

Surprising no one, the Supreme Court has just rejected the appeal by Terri Schiavo’s parents to reinsert her feeding tube. No doubt GOP grandstanders will try to find a way of spinning this into even more cynical, pro-life base-energizing gold. But the thing that’s worth noting is just how quickly all the federal courts appealed to since Congress passed “Terri’s

I’m in SD for the Popular Culture Association conference, which is now officially under way. But let me tell you, getting here was an ordeal. Wake up at 2:30 am. Leave at 3 am for 90-minute drive to Buffalo Airport. Uneventful first leg, culminating in 2-hour layover in Philly. Flight from Philly to SD is 45 minutes late getting off

Cody Barstow at Mojo City News takes a little different approach to Hunter Thompson’s death than I did, and his recollections are very much worth a few moments. Start here and keep hitting “next”….

This year, for the first time in history that you know of, the Popular Culture Association has extended press credentials to bloggers. Truly, we live in an Age of Marvelous Technology. Ahem. Anyhow, I’ll be lightin’ outta here (that’s Southern for “leaving”) tomorrow morning (and by “morning” I mean “hours before the roosters wake up”) to attend PCA 2k5 in

Damn. Thanks to kyburg for pointing this out. Walk. Talk. You be the judge.

The Republican Party, the party of: less government state’s rights individual freedoms Yeah, them. They just rammed through Federal legislation removing the case of one individual from state purview. Up next before the Supreme Court: Big Brother v. Schiavo. By the way, the bigger a deal Bush and Congress make this, the less I believe it’s anything but a misdirection.

Lately I’ve been trying very hard to notice when the public eye is being dominated by the trivial and cynical. There’s always something important in the world that ought to be top-of-mind, so when politicians and their pet mainstream media institutions start devoting lots of attention to something of no real consequence, I want to step back and see what

“Disco Duck”? Come on, Jim. Look, I think we agreed, once upon a time, that disco was just too easy. And you really don’t want to go there with me. Your generation was generally too coked to the gills to remember the most egregious crimes against humanity committed by that “genre,” but my generation, well, we might as well have

John Lawrence at myths_americana offers a great read on the Wolfowitz appt. to the World Bank. FWIW, Lawrence’s blog continues to be absolute must reading for me….

See, sirpaulsbuddy knows better. He’s intentionally baiting me with this stuff, and assumes (despite past experience) that he can win this kind of exchange. He’s older and has more experience, he says. He forgets that my high school years were plagued by the curse that was disco, and as such, I have a far greater tolerance (if not love) for