Media Crashers

Onion News Network - CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

2011-04-17T02:17:00.000-07:00

CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

Jef Night - The New America

2011-03-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

I have always believed that some of the best work of Jesus today is probably done through atheists while he waits for the Christians to wake the F*** up.

The cross is just another brand in America. People wave it around like a flag and call themselves exceptional. It is the most powerful political symbol there is for some people. In those places I think it just might be taking on a swastika like use. . and I do wonder if Jesus is actually becoming dead in people's minds there.

That is why this song caught my attention and made me cheer inside. I like the slap in the face it presents to our nation of political Christianity.

Agreed

2011-03-19T01:44:00.000-07:00

Absolutely agreed:

The Real News - The Age of Personal Irresponsibility

2010-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

More at The Real News

Fraud Factories: Rep. Alan Grayson Explains the Foreclosure Fraud Crisis

2010-10-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

This is really out of control. The common man is expected to follow every rule to the letter while the bankers and political elites can do anything they want.

Duck and Cover?

2010-10-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Apparently when Fox News requests an interview and you refuse you are a coward who is afraid of tough questions. . but when MSNBC requests an interview they are completely "unacceptable" and it is perfectly fine to avoid their tough questions because. . . I don't know they are meanies or something:

The New Apple TV: Fascinating and Frustrating

2010-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the big Apple announcement today where along with new iOS and iPods, we got a good look at the new Apple TV. There are several things that I like very much:

I really like the new size and the new price. I also like that they have opened it all up to streaming rentals rather than downloads and they included Netflix in their lineup of movies available. This is very big of Apple considering Netflix is technically a competitor. It is also a smart move that the are moving over to the iOS architecture with very little storage rather than being, basically, a scaled down mac with the finder locked out. They are also providing the ability to stream media directly from your mac and other Apple mobile devices so there is no need to store it on Apple TV.

Now for the places that I think it fails:

1) WTF Steve you could have added 90% of this to the existing unit a year ago and given us a decent damn update for our money! Now your early adopters are supposed to throw away their $300 purchases and spend another $100 bucks just to get the new functionality? Bummer.

2) WHERE IS SAFARI???!!! Apple's claim that the number one feature people were clamoring for is full HD is misleading. Their claim that people "don't want a computer" plugged into their TV" is also misleading. I have been testing lots of these set top boxes and following the Apple TV audience in particular. People want two parts of their computer on the TV screen: Their media files AND an internet browser to access the whole universe of other internet media. It was in such high demand that people HACKED Apple TV to get it. Why are they denying this and still choking out the internet access we have had on computers for 10 years now?

I'm beginning to suspect that content licensing is completely out of control in the entertainment industry and there is a media frenzy leveraging hardware manufacturers to lock out our access to internet media the second we start using our HD TV as a computer monitor. All this hoopla about studying their audience and 3 years after I bought Apple TV I still need to plug my laptop into my entertainment center if I want to watch a movie or listen to my local radio station through an internet browser? I don't buy it. Either Steve Jobs is deaf, Apple is playing market games of their own, or they are being leveraged by content providers. There is a disturbing trend among some content licensors to keep the internet off the TV set because TV sets are for cable boxes and broadcasting rights while watching the internet through a TV set is only internet rights.

I'm glad that they are finally back to work on this device and I do really like the direction they are taking it. I just feel frustrated that my original investment in this idea has now become obsolete and it is being replaced with a device that makes basic changes I was still waiting for. In this and this area alone, the new Apple TV is a disappointment to me, the early adopter who spent $300 on the "old" Apple TV which never got a major update after I bought it.

Any Cobb Dogs Ben Quayle

2010-08-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

I am SOOOO sick and tired of Ben Quayle's commercials in AZ. He was running them in heavy rotation and he sounds like a complete douche. How do you judge a President against history before their term is even halfway over? What a moron.

So why not help promote this:

The Real News - Chinese Workers May Challenge Global Capitalism

2010-08-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

More at The Real News

Goldman Sachs Charged with Fraud

2010-04-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Wow what a shock. The masters of the universe thought they were more powerful than the universe.

More at The Real News

Wintersleep - Danse Macabre

2010-04-03T19:22:00.001-07:00

I just love the way this video was put together. It looks like a very cleverly done low budget project. The special effects and the clever directing make up for the cheezy costumes and the "shot on video" look. The music is a little intense. . but so is the video:

It's amazing how it works.

2010-03-31T08:57:00.001-07:00

Isn't it amazing how broadcasters on the right can say all these crazy attention getting things on their "entertainment" and "opinion" shows and then you take a poll of Republicans and they seem to believe it's the way things are in reality. . .

. . such a freaky unpredictable coincidence. . .

Media Matters For America has been focusing their energy on crashing the right wing media for a long time now. They don't just tell us about things. . though. . they are very good at collecting and presenting the evidence. They also provide their sources when they debunk things.

A Christan Nation?

2010-03-23T22:33:00.001-07:00

Crag Jensen lays out the argument that everyone forgets when they are caught up in their religious rhetoric about politics.

The Most Disturbing Part Of The Toyota Recall

2010-02-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

That would probably be this 911 call I just heard about:

You can read about it HERE and HERE

There are also other incidents

Stop Telling Me To Go See Avatar!!!

2010-02-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a stubborn bastard. I will deprive myself of the fantastic experience everyone says Avatar is because I think it is the only power I have to tell the man who created it that being a jerk still means accountability to some people.

I will not forgive him for being a jerk to people just because he has a special talent that will entertain me. I'm like that with most artists. They way they conduct themselves personally is more important to me than their talent. I wish more people also felt that way. Talent is a gift and a privilege provided to people by forces outside their own making. Celebrity is a gift and a privilege given to people by OTHER PEOPLE. When jerks run around like their talent and celebrity is self made and it gives them special powers over others, they are taking a gift from the universe and using it to pollute the universe where it counts most. Who gives a shit if you just grossed a billion dollars again. It's not hard to find people who worked for you who witnessed you tearing into someone and it's not hard to find you dissing the people who support you like you are a little mini king and we must humble ourselves before you. Fuck you James Cameron!

It's no wonder so many people hate Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general. We hear and see every day how they exploit every human weakness for attention getting profit. We see example after example of how the people who entertain us can end up being the worst kinds of humans. . . yet all is forgiven because we laugh and cry and say "WOW!"

I may still see the movie some day and I'm sure it will still be cool and amazing blah blah blah. . . and it is pioneering 3D that I'm missing blah blah blah. The new 3D is a gimmick that the industry is pushing and it will be everywhere soon. I'm not that worried that I will miss amazing 3D. I choose see this particular movie on my own terms through the cheapest legal means possible because I want more out of my entertainment than to just say "WOW." I want entertainers to also say "thanks," and mean it, to EVERYONE who supports them, not just their actors, producers and spouses.

**NOTE:

The link I provide above is from TMZ which is about my least favorite media source ever and it has been correctly pointed out that this guy may have been deliberately trying to evoke a response. He also becomes an inconsistent jerk himself by the end of it all. This isn't about the guy with the camera though. When someone shows you who they are, regardless of why, you should believe them. BOTH men are showing us who they are. One doesn't cancel out the other.

If you watch the part of the video from earlier you will see that he was an asshole right from the moment he walked out the door:

It could still have been a setup but I don't care. As an industry insider I have heard far too many stories that tell me this is who he is. Even if it was a setup and the guy provoked him off camera before hand, it would take the smallest possible effort to bring this behavior out. Cameron is more than comfortable acting this way. In fact, he is positively relaxed and smug about it.

Digital Downloads Are A Scam

2010-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

As far as I am concerned, digital movies, books and music, sold sold as downloads, in the current pricing structure are all a scam and we need to tell the industry to stop scamming us.

When I buy a DVD for $14.95 or a CD for $13.95 I am getting more than just the media. No, I don't mean the special features and the lyrics even though that is also true. What I am getting is a HARD COPY. A disc in a box that I can put on my shelf. When it sits on my shelf it is in a suit of armor. For all intents and purposes it will last forever as long as my house doesn't burn down. Pass a magnet too close to it? Who cares. Drop it while looking at the cover? No biggie. Once upon a time it was also legal to make a copy of this DVD or CD for my own purposes. This allowed me to have a "working copy" that could be worn out and my original which was nice and safe on the shelf. These things, to me, are a big part of what I feel like I am paying for when I buy media in a hard copy form.

When I buy a digitally downloaded movie for $14.95, on the other hand, I am getting only the movie and it must be stored on one of the most unstable and temporary places: the hard drive of a computer. According to the new law, I can't even make a backup of this file to a different place without the seller's permission. Assuming I can even get permission to make a hard copy, then I need to jump through the technical hoops they usually create. I need to pay for my own equipment to make it with, pay for the media I need to store it on and I also need to have the knowledge to do it. All of this just to get it where I would be already if I just buy the DVD. If I want anything but a flimsy temporary form for the download, it adds considerable time and cost on my part. Did I mention the quality also isn't the same? What's more, I could only buy the movie this way in the first place because I am paying for access to the internet. So here we have a vastly inferior product with a vastly more fragile and short life, access I need to pay for and/or a great deal of extra labor and expense on my part if I want it to last. . .being offered for virtually the same price (at best $1-$3 off which is the standard big store discount anyway) .

Now we are moving into digital books with the efforts of Amazon and now Apple. Publishers want to present me with a small fancy device with a technology life of about 2-4 years, a battery life of a day or so worth of use at best and the ability to loose my whole book collection at once without taking additional steps to make hard copies myself. They want me to believe that a file downloaded to this this widget is totally worth the same price as a real book that I would own for the rest of my life even if a truck drove over it. . even if I never owned a separate widget. . and even if I was without power for more than a few hours. .

. . and they don't want me to laugh at them.

What I resent even more about all this is that the ones really getting the convenience here are the distributors. DVD and CD distributors no longer need to pay for printing discs, printing covers and inserts, making special features or providing lyrics. Book distributors no longer need to worry about the expensive printing process. They no longer need to pay for large real world warehouses to store the media in, or trucks to move it across the country. The sellers don't need to pay for stores set up all over the region to allow people access to the material and employees to handle the storage cataloging and sales. Now they just put one copy on a server somewhere, duplicate it a zillion times through an automated sales process and zap it across the internet infrastructure that WE pay to have access to. This is a HUGE savings on the distributors end. We the customers suffer very tangible losses by accepting this new trade off, yet they expect us to accept that the very tangible savings should belong almost entirely to them.

If I am going to buy a movie, book, or CD I'll drive to the store because the price is virtually the same (sometimes vastly cheaper) and the hard copy gives me permanence. Apple helped "soft" music get cheaper and it was a wild success because it made a pretty good deal. By that standard, the studios and publishers look pretty greedy and when they start trying to leverage nearly the full hard copy price out of soft digital downloads of movies and books. What I loose is a little travel time. What I gain is a permanent copy without the need for a backup and, in the case of books, without the need for a separate device to access them with.

It's the same with rentals. If I have to pay $4.95 for a movie rental no matter where I get it, I will go to the rental store where there are 99 cent specials and HD movies cost the same as SD movies. There are people who I can talk to and get recommendations from while I am looking for the rental. If I don't feel like going to the store I will pay even less money and use Netflix. They are about the only digital distribution model that makes sense in today's market. They give unlimited access to thousands of on demand movies similar to the ones movie channels show just for being a member. They also offer tons of old TV shows and even some current ones in the same way. If I want the more current titles I can also order up the hard copies that are also part of my membership. I think even on my laziest day I can manage the trip to my mailbox for the DVD version.

It is wrong to download things illegally but I can't help but wonder if more people than me see this ridiculous digital download system we are expected to accept and feel like being activists against it. People sometimes act out on their resentment in inappropriate ways but that doesn't mean the people who act in appropriate ways shouldn't also feel resentment. DVD sales are going down industry wide. . but I doubt it's because everyone is rushing to download movies for the same price. There are a lot of other factors at play. Hollywood needs to rethink it's strategy here because it obviously learned nothing from the music industry.

Lieberman Socks. . . and sucks. .

2009-12-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

Global warming emails are examined

2009-12-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Fox News: "We distort reality, YOU get a preconceived narrative."

As usual, Fox and conservative groups are busted taking complex concepts out of context and making them mean something completely different. . in order to advance their agenda.

If the video doesn't play it can be found here at The Real News Network

More at The Real News

Wrong Hole

2009-12-13T12:01:00.001-08:00

In case you missed this one. Self explanitory.

Pandora Video - Great American Music Hall

2009-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Pandora is a great music site but they have also begun producing videos. Here is one highlighting a great music venue in San Fransisco.

The Brazen Heads - Curse Of The Hag

2009-11-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

Evony - A Cool Online Strategy Game

2009-10-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

I discovered Evony through the online banners that have been popping up on various websites. It pitched itself as a cross platform, web browser based, player vs player online strategy game with thousands of people playing simultaneously. It is set in a "classical warfare" environment with castles, swordsman, cavalry, archers and of course. . siege engines. The players themselves are the lords of one or many cities which can each build up there own defenses, armies, resources, technology upgrades. . etc.

Evony guarantees that it is "free forever" which it is. All aspects of the game can be played and enjoyed for free without advertising or subscription fees. Unlike many of the other "free" offerings I have researched, Evony doesn't really hold anything significant back to people who aren't paying. Evony's business model is to draw people into the fun of the game and then offer special items which give abilities and enhancements above and beyond the basic gameplay. These items are purchased with a currency called "cents" or "game coins." These coins are bought as an online purchase with a credit card at a 10X exchange rate. So $10 is 100 coins. When you first start you are given a small amount of coins and a generous amount of items as "starter packages." Some are available right away and others are rewards for achieving certain levels of growth. There is also a daily gift of a random item that everyone has available so nobody goes without these enhancements. The game creators also run many specials and offers regularly which give additional items or bonuses for spending money.

I would describe Evony as having the look and feel more like a HUGE interactive board game than a video game. Each server is a massive "gameboard" with hundreds of thousands of "spaces" which can be controlled by players. This "world" is divided up into "states" which each have their own local factions and power struggles. There are interstate relations and travel, but the heart of all the action is mostly the struggle between alliances within a given state. The battles and troop generation are all presented in text within game windows and through "reports" which describe what happened in battles and various other actions. This simplicity makes it possible for the battles to be truly epic with millions of troops involved between many players at their peak. There is also a mail system and a chat window visible no mater what you are doing which is the heart of all communications with individuals, across alliances or across the whole world.

Evony is a little relaxed in the beginning stages while the player is getting established. I entered the game not knowing anyone and with no connections to alliances. With nothing to do but wait on buildings to finish constructing and only the chatter on the world chat for company, it felt downright slow at first. It was on that world chat channel that I found my alliance, however, and the shift from lone wolf to team player improved things immensely. Once I was able to start attacking things it started to get much more interesting. As the politics, intrigue, conquest, and war got more and more intense it became downright gripping and hard to walk away from. The chess players, strategists and lovers of games such as Axis and Allies or Risk will be very pleased with Evony.

There are no "turns" in this game. It is all in real time with each player all doing their own things simultaneously. The currency for every action is a timer which must count down before your action is complete. The more powerful your actions are, or the more travel they involve, the longer the timers take. Actions can be anything from training troops, traveling to places for supply runs, reinforcements or attacks, creating and improving buildings, technology, resource gathering, etc etc. The timer based system provides a significant advantage because you don't need to be in the game to get things done. You can set a bunch of actions up and then log off and they will be completed on their own. This also makes it easy to play Evony for periods in a more casual way while doing other things like working, watching TV, or even playing another video game. More focus is needed during the more intense moments of conflict and communications but for the most part, if you choose, the game can be set on "autopilot" requiring only periodic maintenance while your focus is elsewhere.

While there is a lot of "automation" possible in Evony, the environment is pretty hardcore and the system is not foolproof. The power struggles are always in flux. Smaller alliances are often swallowed up or destroyed by larger more powerful ones and the more powerful you become, the more you put on the line. Players who are inactive and/or without an alliance might find themselves the target of more active players who knock out the defenses and "farm" the city's resources. Even when you are part of an alliance, if you don't have adequate defenses or if you are in the middle of an intense war, you may still be attacked or possibly even have a city taken over while you are away. This is the risk you take for expanding your power and it actually adds to the thrill of the game despite the occasional pain. The good news is that you can never be left with nothing. You can build and loose multiple cities as you become more powerful but you will never loose your last city standing. Recovering and rebuilding also become much faster the more powerful you become. While the end game environment is always dangerous, beginners are not thrown to the wolves. For 7 days after a player begins they have what is called "beginner protection" where they cannot attack or be attacked. This gives adequate time to get familiar with the game, get the city and defenses setup and build up a small army. A very generous quest system goes with this protection period so new players can quickly build up their first city without a lot of down time gathering resources.

After about two months playing Evony I feel like I can say that the environment is hostile and a little brutal at times. . . but the mechanics are pretty well balanced to my taste. There is an over reliance on archers as tools of siege to some extent which I find curious but it might be a necessary balance against other, larger balance concerns and it is manageable. Defensive tactics are as important as offensive tactics. I find it a strong selling point that alliances who use the proper methods and cooperation can still function even under hostile pressure from large overpowering forces. Depending, of course, on the loyalty of their allies. Loyalty and honor on the web can be a fickle thing with it's own realities.

The growth curve in Evony can be easy or challenging depending on personal gaming style and how much "heat" is on the player after beginner protection is over. In either case it is still a much faster growth than the typical online RPG which can take months or years to reach the highest levels. The basic currency for growth is the players time management and consistency. It is not hard to grow in the mechanical sense, but it takes periodic maintenance and focus to keep things building and training. Other players are also at times working to foil those plans so there can be a forward/backward dynamic at times. The public currency of growth that everyone sees is "prestige" which is a collection of points that players gain by building things and training troops. Prestige is generally related to the level of achievement you have gained while playing. The more troops, cities, and technology you have, the higher your prestige grows. A public measure of combat skill is "honor" which is another kind of points you collect for winning battles. Unlike prestige which is permanent, however, honor can be won or lost depending on battle outcomes.

Joining an alliance is highly recommended for the full experience of Evony. When players work together it takes less effort to achieve goals and much more advanced tactics become available. There is also room for lots of different play styles within an alliance. Aggressive players can build massive armies and be out in the field attacking. Players who prefer to play a support role can run resources to alliance members. . . or create massive corps of scouts. . or they can still build large armies but keep them garrisoned as defensive units in other cities to hold down the defense while the local troops are out attacking. There is also a working marketplace where resources can be put into an anonymous system that connects bids with offers. Players can sell their surplus resources for gold and then buy the ones they need. Players who like trade can even try their skill at buying and selling for profit.

All In all I found Evony to be a pleasant surprise and I have had many enjoyable hours playing so far. The discovery of Evony led me to research other, similar, kinds of offerings that are now available out there. While there are a variety of different genres out there who offer a similar kind of free play model, Evony is, in my view, the most generous with what they are willing to invest in you and your fun right up front. The starter packages and quests get your first city up and running very quickly without a lot of effort. The tactics and game balance make survival very manageable for those who us their brains (and their charm). Most important of all, though, is you really can have a great time on a small budget and reward the game developers in what amounts to a "shareware with benefits" sort of model.

North Phoenix ATA - Ninja Rap

2009-08-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

My daughter takes Karate lessons at the local ATA school and this is a project we worked on during a summer camp program. Everyone in the video is a black belt at the school either as a student or as a teacher. The "villian" is the owner and his wife, also a teacher and black belt, was the one who came up with the video concept and coordinated everyone. They did all the fight and dance choreography and I provided the video production.

I have never worked with a more focused and disciplined group of people, especially such a large one, on such a complex project. It all went incredibly smoothly considering how much we had taken on.

Repeat After Me

2009-08-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

Video Activism - United Breaks Guitars

2009-07-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Good old fashion video activism at it's finest. Don't mess with musicians in the age of YouTube! The original video got over 4 million hits!!

There is also a hilarious reaction from a United employee (it starts for a few seconds in just black but stay with it it's great) It reminds me of someone. . . I'm not sure who:

And Taylor Guitars also responded:

Finally, the resolution on how it all turned out:

Regarding Torture

2009-04-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

I figured I would add my own take on this situation.

Olberman On The Tourture Memos

2009-04-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Red State Update - Tea Party Protest

2009-04-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

Facebook reality check.

2009-03-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

What if Facebook were the way we interacted in Real Life?

John Stewart takes on Jim Cramer and CNBC

2009-03-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most stunning and truth telling interviews I have seen in a long time. It is well worth the commercials that Comedy Central shows in these clips before you can see them. It is the complete, uncut, uncensored, interview from John Stewart's show last week which was the climax of a week long battle he had with CNBC about their betrayal of the public in their reporting on the factors that led to today's economic collapse. These include the footage that they had to edit out due to time constraints of the show.

To me, this is required viewing for anyone interested in the state of today's media empires.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Lost Generation

2009-03-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Simple yet powerful.

Bite Me, Warner Brothers

2009-02-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

One YouTuber was not pleased at the recent spate of video removals because Warner Brothers was claiming copyright infringement for use of music without permission on member's videos.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

2009-01-31T23:22:00.000-08:00

Some top notch stop action filmwork here:

Bye George

2009-01-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

Validation. Short Film.

2009-01-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking.

Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.

Stick Planet - The Other Side Of Ballot Initiatives

2008-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is a re-visitation of a comic strip style I have played with in the past. I keep getting ideas for political comics but I can't find a good artist to bring the concepts to paper. This style is not very advanced but at least it will give me an outlet so I don't have to keep describing the ideas to people.

Adagio

2008-12-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

This animated short does a great job of commenting on both human nature and religion without saying a word.

The Dan Band - I Wanna Rock You Hard This Christmas

2008-12-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

A little holiday joy. . .

CNN: Dan Savage V. Tony Perkins

2008-11-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

Ok. I don't usually post mainstream clips but this will be a rare exception.

I'm not gay. . . but I love me some Dan Savage. This is one of the best smackdowns I have seen so far of the whole premise of "defending marriage."

236.com presents: Election Day in a Minute

2008-11-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

A very nice comedic recap of election day as told by the 4th Estate:

52 to 48 with love

2008-11-08T19:45:00.001-08:00

After this election I think what everyone needs right now is a big hug. A great big unifying hug.

I think this is a pretty positive concept, a conciliatory gesture to the 48% of Americans who didn't vote for Barack Obama. Make your own photo asking for unity and submit it to 52 to 48 with love.

This was my photo:

Read about the concept of 52 to 48 with love at the author's original blog entry.

"Fake America" shows its Patriotism

2008-11-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Obama victory celebration in NYC at 1:45AM

Ya know, food tasted better this morning. Colors seemed brighter. The air felt crisper. A spring has returned to my step. And my blanket of cynicism I hold so dearly to my heart is being enveloped with an unfamiliar sense of patriotism and pride in my country again. Lets hope it lasts!

"Remember, Remember, the 5th of November...

2008-11-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

...Gunpowder, treason and plot. We don't see a reason, why gunpowder treason, should ever be forgot."

You've woken to a new world. What will you do now? Where will we go together?

Congratulations America, we have picked a wise leader.

Don't let them Steal Your VOTE

2008-11-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Rachel Maddow gives some good analysis of the schemes used to trick people into NOT voting on election day by intimidation, scams and lies:

Milton The Monster

2008-10-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

Another Halloween has passed.

Many thanks to seedmoon for sharing this wonderful distraction with me:

VideoTheVote.org

2008-10-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

Bring your cellphones, digital and video cameras to the polling booths and document anything you think is delaying, preventing or disenfranchising your vote this Nov. 4th.

videothevote.org

"Video the Vote is a national initiative to protect voting rights by monitoring the electoral process. We organize citizen journalists—ordinary folks like you and me—to document election problems as they occur. And then we distribute their footage to the mainstream media and online to make sure the full story of Election Day gets told. Watch our 2006 highlights and join us as we Video the Vote this November."

Feature Film: Zeitgeist - Addendum

2008-10-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is a sequel to the movie "Zeitgeist" by Peter Joseph which was a web phenomenon from last year. The movie was very controversial and it has been attacked from many angles but I think it did what it set out to do: get people talking about the subjects.

In this sequel, Joseph spends all the time on something that was only a part of the original movie: the financial system. It is 2 hours long but the content was so fascinating to me that it went by very quickly. I'm not sure that I agree with all of the analysis but it is certainly something that makes me think. I think this movie might be more approachable than the original because it taps into something that everyone can relate to. It is still asking us to radically rethink the world around us but I think it does so more productively this time that will not be such a big turnoff to some people.

Obama vs. McCain - Dance Off!

2008-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Let the election be decided... on the Dance Floor!

Remember the Wassaaaaaap Guys?

2008-10-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

60 Frames brings us this video about the wasssup guys in 2008. It looks like times have changed.

McCain: Nuclear Power safety, Blah blah blah....

2008-10-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

John McCain mocked Barack Obama for saying that nuclear power needed to be done safely.

McCain said, "You know, the other night in a debate I said his eloquence is admirable but pay attention to his words. We talked about offshore drilling and he said he would, quote, consider offshore drilling. We talked about nuclear power. Well it has to be safe, environment, blah blah blah."

This video is from CNN.com, broadcast October 25, 2008.

The Vet who did not vet

2008-10-24T13:59:00.001-07:00

A Dr. Seuss style telling of the McCain and Palin tale:

Seesmic - John Cleese interview

2008-10-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

Seesmic is an international web video site that asks everyone to become part of the conversation with their own webcams. See their introductory video at the link for details.

John Cleese has created a profile there and voiced his thoughts on the US elections from a European perspective.

Ted Talks - John Hodgman: A brief digression on matters of lost time

2008-10-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

John "I'm a PC" Hodgman takes his crack at the Ted Talks format.

Funny Or Die - Ron Howards Call To Action

2008-10-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Ron Howard, Andy Griffith, and Henry Winkler demonstrate the lengths they will go to endorse Barack Obama.

Conservatives For Change

2008-10-22T18:03:00.001-07:00

"Conservatives for Change" is a documentary project featuring Republicans and Conservatives voting for Obama. These are real people, speaking in their own words.

Conservatives For Change:

Election 08 - He Said it First

2008-10-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Electon 08 brings us a whole new breed of web attack video. . a hilarious one. .

It's brutal but I bet you laugh anyway. .

The 2009 Job Market

2008-10-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Screaming frog productions presents a humorous look at the future of jobs in America.

McCain supporters stand up to anti-Islam comments at rally

2008-10-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

From The American News Project:

It's about damn time.

Digital TV converters demystified for 2009 changeover!

2008-10-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Racists line up to see Palin in Ohio

2008-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Al Jazeerah visits the Palin stump speech in Ohio, (dear Allah).

The real story is not that these people are stupid, we all know that, it's that they're talking to Al Jazeera about this stuff.

Blumenthal documentary on Palin

2008-10-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

From Andrew Sullivan's blog: "A chilling video from Wasilla by Max Blumenthal that helps explain more deeply how Palin is a product of some of the most extreme forms of Christianism that exist."

Blogger interrupted: The McCain-Palin Mob

2008-10-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

Blogger interrupted brings us this very simple and effective video that simply asks questions of McCain/Palin supporters. At least one of them, the blond lady pictured on the video thumbnail, gets very confrontational without really making much of a case for herself.

And here's part 2:

The Keating 5 and Thoughts on Dergulation

2008-10-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

The McCain campaign lives in a big glass house and now they are throwing bricks at the Obama campaign. In response, this documentary, and a companion website have been released.

The research section of this site is really an eye opener. It has all kinds of letters etc that spell out exactly what this was about. For example: This is a quote from a letter John McCain wrote to the Whitehouse Chief of Staff at the time, James Baker.

Regarding regulation:

"I believe it to be unwise, and I think it flys (sic) in the face of our recent efforts to remove the hand of government from the affairs of private enterprise."

Here's the thing that really bothers me: We have a society here which is made up of human beings. We have agreed that human beings cannot be trusted to always regulate themselves and that the creation of "civilization" requires regulations. . also known as "laws." Without these laws people's primal natures are allowed to run wild and we have anarchy, chaos, tyranny and death.

Human beings once had a free market where everyone was on their own. The strongest families rose to the top and gathered power for themselves. This led to a world overrun for thousands of years by a number of tyrant leaders oppressing their populations and robbing them, and the land, of all wealth. Yet even these tyrants admitted that they needed regulations or their kingdoms would quickly fall apart.

The United States of America is very high minded scheme which attempts to create a society with a level playing field. We pride ourselves on this intention to give everyone a fair shot at success. Yet this doesn't happen without massive regulation imposed upon all of us. By agreeing to this regulation, America has benefited from the talents of many more people, and it has become very powerful.

Why is it that when it comes to human society, regulations (aka law and order) are considered necessary and it is a high minded goal to create a level playing field for all people. Yet, in the financial world, where society's well being is directly effected, regulation is an evil force that is ruining everything? Is there really a difference between tyranny and fraud in civilization and tyranny and fraud in the "marketplace?" Aren't civilization and "the market" a reflection of each other and dependent on each others outcomes?

Why Bother?

2008-10-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Clueless

2008-09-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just, wow. No wonder McCain wants to postpone the debates.

Part 1:

UPDATE(from Plisko):

This video best sums up what I heard when I saw Palin's explanation about why being able to see Russia gave her foreign policy experience.

The original answer can be found here:

Mr. McCain goes to Washington

2008-09-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

So in the latest desperate move by Republican, ~~Mr. Smith~~ Mr. McCain goes to Washington, perhaps on a white horse, to save the day.

It doesn't matter that he hasn't been seen in the Senate chambers in over 6 months, or that he's not even a member of the Senate banking committee, or that he's "not an expert on the economy", yet, this latest P.R. stunt to grab some limelight from Obama's recent surge in the polls has Americans scratching their heads and looking with cynicism at the senior AZ. senator's attempt to maneuver out of the debates this coming Friday.

One could call the campaigns decision to do this as McDesperate.

McCain's Keating 5 connection:

McCain on economics:

And the best one of all, McCain admits he hasn't even read the Paulson Bailout Plan.

The hour grows nigh for the Republicans. This is a total move of desperation by McCain's advisers and nothing more than a media stunt.

2008 Light Up America and Canada Tour

2008-09-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

25 years later, the comedy Duo of Cheech & Chong are back & touring doing their famous pot-smoking-infused comedy routines, updated for today's audience of course. It's nice to see Tommy Chong will get to make some decent bread after his legal problems the last few years.

As a teen during the Reagan years, I watched these funny drug comedies made famous by the duo get hatcheted when they were aired on regular cable in the 80's. Comedy Central, under the guidelines set by the drug free america/just say no witchhunts, removed all the drug references from these films and still aired them. I remember in one Cheech & Chong film, they substituted diamonds for the marijuana and ran with those edits the entire film. They did similar edits in other comedy movies like 9-to-5 to remove the liberation scene where they smoked pot. But I digress.

Coming soon to a city near you: CHEECH & CHONG

2008 Light Up America & Canada Tour

The Bush Doctrine - Who said it first?

2008-09-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

I have revised this to include additional information sent to me in email and on my other blog. Go forth and multiply it in email.

=======================================================

All of the conservative pundits are spinning Sarah Palin's Lack of knowledge concerning "The Bush Doctrine" by dismissing it as a term used by the media to describe the policies of George W. Bush, rather than a term the whitehouse used for describing said policies. Because Palin doesn't follow the "liberal media" asking her this was a trick question.

Now it might be true that on June 4, 2001, Charles Krauthammer coined the phrase "Bush Doctrine" in an issue of the Weekly Standard entitled, "The Bush Doctrine: ABM, Kyoto, and the New American Unilateralism." It's important to note that The Weekly Standard is a "neoconservative op-ed magazine", so they're preaching from the Bush choir. The magazine was founded by William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the literal godparents of modern neo-conservatism that Bush exudes. The point being, the term was born in the neocon media, not the liberal media, and was quickly adopted by the Bush Whitehouse.

But from whitehouse.gov we can see many uses of the term "Bush Doctrine" in the last 7 years, showing it's not a term used exclusively by the media:

October 23, 2001:

VICE-PRESIDENT CHENEY: Under the Bush Doctrine, a regime that harbors or supports terrorists will be regarded as hostile to the United States of America.

November 9, 2001:

Q: Ari, the President said this morning that he was going to, tomorrow at the United Nations, say that the time for condolences is over, it's a time for action. What action is he not seeing that he would like to see?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, in the speech tomorrow at the United Nations, the President is going to thank the United Nations for its strong support, and he will praise the role played by the Secretary General of the United Nations and he will talk to rally the world on behalf of the cause of freedom. And I think what you can expect tomorrow is a fuller explanation of the Bush Doctrine in which those who harbor terrorists will also be held accountable for their actions, just as guilty as the terrorists.

June 26, 2002:

PRESIDENT BUSH: Under the Bush doctrine I said we'd use all resources, all available resources to fight off terror. And that includes working with our friends and allies to cut off money, to use diplomatic pressure, to convince -- to convince those that think they can traffick in terror that they're going to face a mighty coalition. And sometimes we use military force and sometimes we won't.

=======================================================

These are all references from the whitehouse.gov website, so you can hardly call them biased, they come directly from the source.

But to act like this term existed in a vacuum only in the media, and that the whitehouse never used it or adopted it as a namesake is completely false. Krauthammer simply penned into words a descriptive term to name the policy put into place by Bush, another word for a "policy" is a "doctrine". It's been used numerous times by the oval office and in whtehouse press conferences to describe Bush's foreign policy.

So to all those pundits and their news watching followers who keep harping that this was some sort of a trick question to ask Palin, you can now sit down and move on to the next piece of fiction to get outraged about.

-zen

The Creation Adventure Team

2008-09-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

With all the talk surrounding Sarah Palin's former church and their adherence to creationist "young Earth theory" that says "man walked with the dinosaurs" led to me re-watch Jesus Camp again this week.
Surprisingly, the Palin/McCain rally I attended last week was held in Lee's Summit, Mo. At the time I didn't realize that it was the same town where Rev. Becky Fischer ran her Children's Bible School in Jesus Camp.

Scanning through that video, I remembered a children's show/cartoon that a child named Levi is watching which was debunking evolution to kids, albeit with puppets and humor.

Well, some more searching this morning led to me finding that cartoon on YouTube. Sorry for the video quality (not my file), but it's fairly horrifying to think these videos are being produced and marketed to Creationist parents to brainwash their kids into their belief structure. Terrifying stuff.

After you watch the above video come by and see my interview with the two filmmakers in 2006 (Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing) to talk to them about their film.

Kuttner pwns Hannity

2008-09-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Multimillionaire Sean Hannity proved he's not just a loudmouthed blowhard but seriously out of touch with everyday Americans. Kudos to guest Robert Kuttner for refusing to be intimidated. From the 9/10/08 Hannity & Colmes.

How Television Works

2008-09-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is some really great stuff here from UpdocFilms.

"Devon Grey's new trilogy, The Corporate Media Survival Guide introduces viewers to television's hidden technology and the unspoken corporate agenda that surrounds it.

Segmented into five informative and entertaining sections, 'How Television Works' is a must see for anyone curious about who controls television, why producers alter their programming to appease corporate sponsors, and what detrimental affects television has on human brain chemistry, attention span and behaviour."

The video to send to John McCain on Nov. 5th

2008-09-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Reidblog: If I had a 527. . .

2008-09-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic homegrown commercial in the spirit of the Media Crashers mission statement; from Reid Report. The titles are too fast to read in places but the message is there and they are basically footnotes anyway. You can pause it if you really want to know the source.

Brave New Films: John McCain's Ads are lies and here's proof

2008-09-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Once again, Robert Greenwald slams one out of the park.

The RNC in 90 seconds

2008-09-12T20:40:00.001-07:00

Brilliant!

Sarah Palin on Charlie Gibson

2008-09-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Wow... I mean just... Wow.

Especially at 2:30, 4:30, 5:55, 7:55....

This candidate is running on fumes.

Bill O'Reilly Interviews Barack Obama

2008-09-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

I got tired of searching for all 4 parts of the O'Reilly Factor interview with Barack Obama, so I created this 4-part playlist.

A remarkably restrained interview for O'Reilly, he almost seems to genuinely like Obama throughout the entire 30 minutes.

Everything changed since 9/11

2008-09-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

I made this two years ago but nothing has changed. It makes just as much sense today, on the anniversary, of 9/11 as it did then.

Stump Speech Sarah

2008-09-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

So I went down to the Lee's Summit McCain/Palin rally, and was stunned to see such a large multi-state turnout (people from as far as Ohio came). Palin, of course, gave the same stump speech with all of the same embellishments and distortions for the election game-show that she and McCain are now playing. Afterward, I took some Q&A with the Obama protesters, and McCain counter-protesters and whipped this little 3 minute video together.

The video runs like this: 90 seconds of Palin's speech all snipped up, and then the reaction outside. I posed a few questions to the audience, mostly "what does it mean to be (your party affiliation) to you today", and tried to get "are you better off now than you were 8 years ago" -- people were really reluctant to touch that question, but one did.

McCain Betrayed POW's

2008-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain put together this video explaining some of the lesser known aspects of McCain's past including his efforts to shut down the families of missing POW's.

This is video of the actual senate hearing where he berated one of the POW family members who represented families objecting to shutting down the hearing.

I (emoticon) Jon Stewart

2008-09-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday Distraction

2008-09-04T12:33:00.001-07:00

This is quite probably the greatest cola (soda) commerical ever made:

At the end of the video it says in German, "Much, much (more) caffeine"

HeartBeat

2008-09-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin is a heartbeat from the presidency.

I couldn't let plisko have all the fun editing his own political ads, now could I?

This was an interesting project artistically, in that it was the first edit I ever did with video I downloaded as FLV (flash) which was then converted to MPG, then edited.

It gives it an otherworldly look in parts and makes the footage look older than it really is, like it was edited 20 years ago. I also zoom in on some clips, making the faces more pronounced, or granier.

I remember an old technique in the 3/4 and VHS tape days was to make a copy of a copy of your footage over and over, this would degrade the image to the point of it being vaguely recognizable. Fun stuff. I might work on this some more.

Massive police raids on suspected RNC protesters in Minneapolis

2008-09-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Some great stuff in the OpEd section of SALON.com as the RNC gets into full swing:

Massive police raids on suspected RNC protesters in Minneapolis

Protesters in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets.

Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota Lawyer's Guild, regarding these raids:

Palin: Set... Match... Point

2008-09-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

IMHO, McCain made the best VP choice since Ross Perot chose Admiral James Stockdale. Comedically speaking.

The VP debates should be hilarious.

Swiftboating John McCain

2008-08-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has looked into the "swift boating" of John Kerry will quickly see that there was more going on than just a blind smear campaign. There was an underlying resentment against some of the actions John Kerry took that many military members saw as dishonorable or treasonous. There were veterans groups that had existing, non political, resentments who's military opposition research was tapped for the storyline that the media campaign created. The swift boat campaign ripped the scab off that wound that had not yet healed between John Kerry and some veterans and added some unsubstantiated claims on top of it as frosting. It was that cumulative effect that led to the success of the campaign.

What many people don't realize about John McCain is that his track record when it comes to military affairs is not the impregnable fortress many believe it to be. It takes only a little Google research to find out some surprisingly damaging facts about McCain as both a military officer and, surprisingly, as a POW advocate as well.

This point needs repeating as much as possible: John McCain's war hero status comes from a story he wrote himself. The media narrative about McCain is McCain's own narrative which has been raised to the status of "common wisdom." It is such a powerful narrative that every Democrat who rises to speak about McCain must first bow down to his alter by saying how great and courageous he has been. Ironically, there has been no public discussion as to the credibility of this narrative. Even when facts like this exist:

News pundits have elevated McCain to "the most popular national political figure in the country" by repeatedly describing him as a "war hero" based on his refusal accept a communist offer of "early release" from captivity.

What the media has carelessly refused to acknowledge is that the camp's senior ranking U.S. POW (SRO) had issued unquestionable orders that if a POW was to be released, "it would be the longest held prisoner" Because McCain was not the longest held POW, he would have faced a military court-marshal if he had accepted the offer.

Another common distortion is that McCain's bones were broken during torture when, in fact, it happened during his ejection from the plane. Another fact that is convenienetly passed over is that McCain's father was the commander of the whole Vietnam theater. This made him a rather powerful asset as a prisoner. There is even evidence that the highest officials in the communist party knew who he was and treated him differently:

Phung Van Chung, 70, who was a Communist Party official at the time, claims McCain was quickly singled out for softer treatment, adding: "I found out he was the son of an American admiral, so the top people wanted to keep him as a live witness so they could use him for negotiations."

While it is common knowledge that POW's were tortured, and that McCain was a POW, the specific accounts about what did or did not happen to John McCain during private interrogations are entirely his own. Even some of his medals were given without the required two witnesses that one normally needs. This was a standard practice with POW's but what it means is that his story about his valor and bravery as a POW are a test of his honor and honesty, not proof of it.

When McCain's POW stories are used to get him out of any awkward political moment and they seem to change depending on what state he is talking in or borrow from other stories to gain emotional points, one needs to take this point very, very, seriously.

A strong source of opposition research when it comes to John McCain (and John Kerry) is from POW/MIA groups such as The US Veteran Dispatch. This is one of the groups that was tapped in the swiftboat efforts. This is not a left wing group in fact, I would describe them as more right wing. They are no fans of Obama by any stretch. The anger behind this group stems from a Senate Committee, The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, that both Johns were part of. Members of this group have spent years as investigators into Vietnam affairs, missing POW's in particular and they are very versed on the facts. When they felt betrayed by the veterans on this Senate Committee, they used their investigative powers to challenge the "common wisdom" about the men who's veteran status gave them the political power to turn their backs on fellow veterans.

As it turns out, McCain is not the advocate for other POW's that many believe he is. In fact, he has been described in some POW/MIA circles as the strongest opponent of their efforts. These POW/MIA families accuse this Senate committee of playing politics with the missing POW's by covering up very strong evidence that many men were, in fact, still alive and in captivity. They believe that this was done, throughout the early 90's in the name of normalizing relations with Vietnam. It has also been suggested that Ross Perot's efforts to champion the POW/MIA cause was hurting George Bush senior during his re-election campaign and that McCain was motivated, as a Bush advocate, to neutralize this well Perot was drawing from. For whatever reasons, these POW families believe that McCain actually used his power as a Senator and his status as a "war hero" to shut down their efforts.

In an article by The US Veteran Dispatch the following scene is described:

McCain was advised (Nov. 11, 1992) that Dolores Apodaca Alfond, chairwoman of the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families (her pilot brother Capt. Victor J. Apodaca is missing in action in North Vietnam), was offering testimony critical of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. He rushed into the hearing room to confront her.

Award winning journalist Sydney Schanberg described the scene. "His face [McCain] angry and his voice very loud, he accused her of making 'allegations ... that are patently and totally false and deceptive.'

"Making a fist, he shook his index finger at her and said she had insulted an emissary to Vietnam sent by President Bush. He said she had insulted other MIA families with her remarks. And then he said, through clenched teeth: 'And I am sick and tired of you insulting mine and other people's [patriotism] who happen to have different views than yours.'

"By this time, tears were running down Alfond's cheeks. She reached into her handbag for a handkerchief. She tried to speak: 'The family members have been waiting for years -- years! And now you're shutting down.' He kept interrupting her. She tried to say, through tears, that she had issued no insults. He kept talking over her words. He said she was accusing him and others of 'some conspiracy without proof, and some cover-up.' She said she was merely seeking 'some answers. That is what I am asking.' He ripped into her for using the word 'fiasco.' She replied: 'The fiasco was the people that stepped out and said we have written the end, the final chapter to Vietnam.' 'No one said that,' he shouted. 'No one said what you are saying they said, Ms. Alfond.' And then, his face flaming pink, he stalked out of the room, to shouts of disfavor from members of the audience."

Later, the families pressed him further:

In 1996, McCain encountered a group of POW/MIA family members outside a Senate hearing room. The family members were some of the same who worked tirelessly during the Vietnam War to make sure Hanoi released all U.S. POWs - including POW McCain.

McCain immediately began quarreling with the POW/MIA family members, who were eager to question him on the issue of what happened to their loved ones.

Instead showing courtesy and appropriate compassion by answering their questions, the Arizona senator pushed through the group, shoving them out of his way, nearly toppling the wheelchair of POW/MIA mother Jane Duke Gaylor. Her son, Charles Duke, a civilian worker in Vietnam, is among 2,300 American POWs and MIAs still unaccounted for by the communists.

The POW/MIA families, shocked at McCain's overly aggressive behavior toward Mrs. Gaylor, registered complaints with senate officials.

In a Buzzflash article by Elliot D. Cohen an eye witness describes the scene like this (emphasis added):

According to eyewitness Carol Hrdlicka, wife of Vietnam War POW/MIA air force pilot Col. David Hrdlicka, the group had been waiting in the hall of the Russell Office Building in Washington, D.C. for McCain to come out of an office in order to hand deliver letters asking him to forego an amendment to the Missing Service Personnel Act (MSPA) of 2005. . . This law, which updated a 1942 law, had been a major victory for the families of POW/MIAs who worked tirelessly to get it through Congress.

The MSPA required the Pentagon to beef up its resources to find and rescue missing service personnel in a timely manner. For instance, it required the filing of reports on missing persons within 48 hours. Among other substantive provisions, it also criminalized withholding information from the families of POWs by broadly stipulating that "any person who knowingly and willfully withholds from the personnel file of a missing person any information relating to the disappearance or whereabouts and status of a missing person shall be fined as provided in title 18 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." McCain's amendment eviscerated these new changes. For instance, it increased the reporting time to 10 days, and it deleted entirely the stated provision penalizing the withholding of information.

These family members of POW/MIAs had come to speak with McCain to try to convince him to leave the law alone. Mrs. Hrdlicka gives the following description of what happened:

When he [McCain] realized who we were, his face turned red and he became enraged. He would not accept the letters we had brought, he burst through our group assaulting the niece of Jane Duke Gaylor, mother of a MIA. I followed Senator McCain down the hall asking that he leave the legislation alone and all the while he is denying that he knew anything about the Missing Personnel Act. ...As we reached the elevator he said to me that I didn't know what he had been through ... I then stated I understood what he had been through and David Hrdlicka was still going through it. I had the capture picture of my husband and tried to show the picture to him but he would not look at it. ...The elevator arrived and Senator McCain quickly jumped in -- that ended our conversation. After this incident we went to the Capitol Police and filed a report. We also sent complaints to the ethics committee on the Senator's behavior.

"He went from a smiling, congenial, happy face to a beet red, totally enraged face in an instant," she said. "I have never seen a senator act in this way. We were all dumbfounded how this happened. He threw his arm up, and she goes flying and Jane [who was in a wheelchair] gets pushed aside as he brushes by her. All I see is people flying and I'm behind him [McCain]... This was assault."

Along with McCain's rude treatment of some POW families, they also believe he was a little too cozy with his former torturers:

POW families were even more angered when they saw McCain actually bonding with his former torturers during and after the 1992 Senate Select Committee hearings on POW/MIA Affairs. Psychologist have identified behavior in which a prisoner emotionally bonds with an abuser as the Stockholm Syndrome.

The first display of bonding occurred when Col. Bui Tin, a former senior colonel in the North Vietnamese Army who had actually interrogated McCain and other U.S. prisoners, testified before the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

During a break in the hearing, McCain moved to where Col. Bui Tin was seated. Instead of grabbing Bui Tin by the neck and demanding his arrest for war crimes against U.S. POWs, McCain reached out and warmly hugged his former interrogator as if he were a long lost brother. Never mind that at least 55 American POW were murdered by interrogators and guards while in North Vietnamese prisoner of war camps.

In a 1992 visit to Hanoi, McCain warmly greeted Vietnam Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, who had been a ranking Communist Party member of the secret Viet Cong National Liberation Front Central Committee during the Vietnam War.

As a senior Central Committee member, Kiet was responsible for helping formulate Viet Cong policy, which included ordering American POWs to be punished by execution.

On orders issued by Kiet's Viet Cong Central Committee, three U.S POWs, Special Forces Capt. "Rocky" Versace, Special Forces Sgt. Kenneth Mills Roraback and Army Sgt. Harold Bennett were publicly executed by the Viet Cong on Sunday, Sept. 26, 1965

He also seems surprisingly unwilling to go after his torturers for war crimes:

Yet, McCain has resisted any kind of war crimes investigation of his former Vietnamese torturers. Prosecution and subsequent trials could bring to justice the Vietnamese torturers known by the American POWs as the Bug, Slopehead, the Prick, the Soft Soap Fairy, Rabbit, the Cat, Zorba and many others who were responsible for the murder in North Vietnam of at least 55 U.S. POWs and the brutal torture of hundreds of others.

Why exactly would John McCain act to shut down the continuing efforts of the POW organizations that were the very kinds of efforts that secured his own release? Why would he bond with his former interrogators and resist prosecutions of these people who treated him and so many other POW's so badly? Why would he fall on the side of trade relations rather than the side of justice for himself and all the Veterans who suffered with him? Would something undesirable come out in those war crimes trials? Would we then be opening a different book on John McCain, the POW, than the one he wrote himself? For that matter wouldn't it clear things up if John McCain just released his POW records?

I believe it is simply a matter of due diligence on the part of the voters and the media that we begin examining the negative accounts of John McCain along with the positive ones and asking these kinds of questions when necessary. It is the height of ignorance and irresponsibility to simply accept a politicians story about himself as established facts. It is the height of irony that McCain's self woven media status as a war hero is so great that he can use it today as a get out of jail free card, even against the very facts that challenge his hero story.

The Saturday Distraction: Mel Gibson's Apocalypto in under 6 minutes

2008-08-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

This is a great video by Youtuber Bohabb, who shows how a ridiculously long movie like (Mel Gibson's) Apocalypto (139 minutes) can be tidily summarized in under 6 minutes, scored to some kick ass music:

Joe Biden's Acceptance speech

2008-08-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Part 1

Part 2

TED Talks

2008-08-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). Their website makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Here is a lecture of a really animated Richard Dawkins talking about Militant Athiesm, or if that's not your cup of tea browse their speakers for one you'd prefer:

Politics: McCain - Unfit to lead

2008-08-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

This version of the video is a draft that has spelling errors but it got the early web momentum so I am just going with it. If the spelling bothers you then the final version can be found here.

I am sick of the Rove attack machine. I am sick of McCain using Rove as an adviser who comes up with character smears and gimmicks. Now we have a new swiftboat style book being released by the same old Rove operatives. It will go #1 on the NYT best seller list because Right wing organizations are buying them in bulk and giving them away. It is full of made up facts and footnotes that point to the authors opinions in other books. . it is easily debunked but people will be parroting what it says anyway.

Politics used to be like fencing. People would duel but it was mostly honorable and fair. Stuff got dirty but it wasn't really the norm. Somewhere around Reagan or Dukakis or at least by election 2000 the Republicans started to bring guns to this sword fight and institutionalizing dirty politics, literally, so that today it almost happens on an assembly line. Unfortunately, the Democrats still think they are fencing.

I don't believe that people will one day just get sick of the dirty politics and stop listening. It is a very old profession. I think it is more likely that they will start seeing politics as something like professional wrestling and the one who doesn't put on a great show, with the help of their most rabid fans, is the weaker candidate regardless of qualifications.

My suggestion is that it's time to bring our own guns to this gun fight. People of conscience don't like to fight dirty anymore than they like to get violent or go to war. Unfortunately, sometimes, it is necessary for self defense. Obama can take the high road just like Bush did. He believes that this is "politics of the past" and that's fine. That won't stop the past from taking pot shots at him in the present, though. That also shouldn't stop this kind of pushback work from the grass roots. We've been waiting for the moment to arrive when the web can successfully compete with TV and publishing as a powerful messaging machine. I say it's that time is here and now. . and this is how we prove it.

I believe a good viral video can work just like a swift boat book in todays environment, only in this case we don't need to lie, or come up with the cash to publish a book and then buy it back from ourselves. With the strength of video, we can create the exact same kind of message to millions of people as a counter punch. We can get people talking and emailing each other and the next thing you know something from the video is coming up in everyday conversation. Many people don't understand how powerful this medium is becoming these days.

I didn't set these standards of institutionalized dirty politics but it's time we began using our new system to beat up on the old system in self defense. So thatis why I made this video. So we cold have our own "taste of their own medicine" payback device. Use it to help make the case. Use it to help relieve your frustration. Use it as payback. . . use it as an email link!

Copy and paste this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmPZoRVRII

For the record much of the stuff in this video is already out there as common knowledge and the less familiar stuff is backed up by sources including Wikipedia, McCain's own biography, and work by The US Veterans Dispatch. I DO use audacity and the snarky Republican tone. I DON'T just make this stuff up.

The Flobots meet DMZ meet Shatter

2008-08-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of you might not remember SHATTER, the first computer made comic book in 1985 (on a Mac with MacPaint 1.0 and a 9" monitor) of which I still have the premiere first issue. :D. And fewer still will remember DMZ, a D.C. publication with a similar cyberpunk angle.

Enter 2008 and The Flobots new music video Handlebars, and the links to these past groundbreaking works in print come to life all over again.

Politics: Drill Now?

2008-08-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Drill Here, Drill Now is a cute little slogan that the Oil Lobby has come up with and gotten our Republican Politicians to parrot.

The problem is that the oil companies already have 40 million acres of oil drilling rights and they are just sitting on it counting their money. Why should we give them more land to hoard when we know damn well they don't want to flood the market and make oil cheaper.

Politics: Tire Gauge

2008-08-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

John McCain thinks it's a joke that the regular use of a tire gauge by American motorists would create 4 times more oil out of thin air than the Republican Offshore drilling solution. The real joke is that McCain, and Republicans think offshore drilling is a solution when it can be beaten 4 times over by proper use of a a tire gauge.

Video by Plisko

Media Activism: Protect The Box From Fox

2008-07-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of activism against Fox News lately. Color of Change is the most recent but there has also been some great work by Robert Greenwald and Hip Hop Artist: Nas among many others. There has even been a recent revelation by former White House Press secretary, Scott McLellan that the administration was giving Fox commentators Republican talking points to make sure they were on the same page as the Administration in their broadcasts. We here at Media Crashers also feel that Fox News is the poster child for what is wrong with the news media today and we would like to contribute to this effort.

Today we are pleased to suggest the Protect The Box From Fox netroots uprising.

Today, we call upon all cable remote savvy netroots media activists to participate in, perhaps, the greatest political prank of our generation. A little bit of "friendly fun" for us to have with our friends and family. Did you ever turn everything on and blast the radio in someone's car so that they are surprised when they start it up? It's a little like that. This prank, however, also has the added bonus of shutting down, in a small way, an invasive intellectual heist of a TV network right at it's source, the cable box.

The concept is simple:

We believe that Fox is political pornography. Our politicians have given us a tool to fight pornography on the cable box. It is called "lockout controls." Go to your cable boxes right now and figure out how to use those controls to lock out Fox News. Once you feel comfortable with how this is done, go to your parents house and lock it out there. Go to your brothers house, your sister, your children, anyone you can think of and protect that box from Fox when they're not looking! If you really want to have fun, create a new password.

The audience for Fox news is very often either not too bright, very casual, or the 50+ crowd who barely know what a computer is. Many of them might not even know what lockout controls are, let alone how to change them back. If we are lucky, they might just figure Fox got canceled on their cable service. We're sure there are some that will know how to unlock it. Others may even go to the trouble of calling the cable company and getting talked through the process of unlocking it. There are bound to be several, however, who don't know enough or don't care enough and just move on to other TV offerings.

What about free speech you say? Aren't we stepping on this poor "person's" first amendment rights?

The first amendment protects citizens and the press from being shut down by the government. It doesn't protect a giant, private, for profit, media conglomerate from being shut down by citizens who feel it is a fraud masquerading as new standard of "news." That phenomenon is what we call the free market taking action to correct itself. Some might also call it it's own form of free speech.

Women's Rights under a McCain Presidency

2008-06-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Moveon.org: The Bush McCain Challenge

2008-05-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

For more information see the moveon.org page.

They have put together a system where anyone can set up a table somewhere and give this quiz that compares McCain to Bush. This video is just an amusing promo for that effort.

Uncensored Interview: Sway Dasafo - Art Imitating Life

2008-05-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Uncensored Interview:

UI is a free video destination site for indie bands. We find talent in the underground indie world and interview them for current fans to enjoy and for new music aficionados to discover. On top of it, we encourage users to talk to the bands by uploading v-sponses and share your thoughts and ideas with them.

This is a great statement posted by Uncensored Interview. UK Hip Hop artist Sway Dasafo offers his take on the vicious circle he sees in the art of Hip Hop as it first imitates life. . . and then itself.

The Real News - Patriotism and race - Obama disowns Wright

2008-05-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the most intelligent and useful discussion about this issue I have heard from any media source in the 3 weeks they have been talking about it.

Ready -- Set -- BUMBO

2008-04-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

As a new father I was really inspired by this series of videos done by a father and his child for YouTube. Sitting around all day with your kid as a stay-at-home Dad may not sound all that much fun, but with a video camera, a Bumbo brand child chair, and some stop action edits lfatboyl has whipped up trilogy of videos that are catching some serious buzz.

Here's part I, II & III followed by some hillarious behind-the-scenes outtakes.

The Easter Bunny Hates You

2008-03-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!