John McCain the Mangler | 1st Video

(NOTE: You may have to refresh (F5) your page - as the crazy FLV plugin I have isn’t working).

Here’s a short little video that I put together tonight, inspired by The Mangler (1995), the Beach Boys, Atom Bombs, and a Little Psycho. Strangely, the guy in The Manger intro sounds a lot like John McCain. Very creepy.
As this is my first attempt at putting together a political, John McCain video, and while I’ve been dying to try out my new software (Final Cut Express, After Effects, Garage Band, Flash), I’m still struggling a bit with the tools. I’m sure you can guess which ones. Forgive my rush to publish stolen content in the name of satire and parody.

Peace. (To Be Continued…)

To Smear or not to Smear: The Ethical Quandary of Bloggers

Blogging is changing politics. As the mainstream media continues to fail the American public, an army of passionate truth-seekers have unleashed a stream of content. And while some content is of the highest quality, there’s also a subset of this community that goes head to head with the tabloids.

The McCain campaign is accusing the Obama campaign, and the left-wing blogging community of a smear campaign that is taking place against Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol.

First, it is ridiculous to suggest Obama has anything to do with the left-wing bloggers. The rumors started out of a bizarre series of events that only Sarah Palin can truthfully answer. And now she has, at least in part, by explaining that her daughter is 5 months pregnant and Trig is only 4 months old.

Okay, end of story. And in case you need reminding, Obama’s campaign had nothing to do with this story.

Here is Obama’s statement:

“I have said before and I will repeat again: People’s families are off limits,” Obama said. “And people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics.”

On charges that his campaign has stoked the story via liberal blogs:

“I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us,” he said. “Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be fired.”

(source: ABCNews Blog)

What Obama should have added was McCain’s response to the Jermoe Corsi smear book, “Gotta keep your sense of humor,” because if I recall, Obama’s wife has been called anti-American and unpatriotic, Obama’s been accused of infanticide, unpatriotic and anti-American. Not to mention that Obama’s constantly battled rumors of being a Muslim, that he’s had connections with domestic terrorist Ayers, that he’s had gay sex and smoked coke with Larry Sinclair, that he maybe dealt drugs while in college, that his daughters are unruly and obnoxious, that he’s secretly supporting Kenya, that he doesn’t even have a valid birth certificate…

Okay, let’s stop for a second.

Do bloggers have the right to follow what appears to be a smear campaign in search for the truth?

I truly believe that Bristol is off limits. This story was based on too much circumstantial pieces of evidence. And a blogger needs to have some journalistic integrity to hold back on a story until some facts check out. However, the truth is, had the left-wing blogging community not pushed the story, the voters who vote based on family values would never know that even the most perfect “appearances” are a facade. The secret wouldn’t have come out until after the election. The smear, in this case, revealed the truth. The same can be said for the Obama/Rezko connection. As more inquires were made, more truth was revealed to the point where I think we can rest satisfied that it’s a non-issue connection.

I don’t think for a second any blogger really wished to harm the Palin family, and especially Bristol and Trig, but when you step into the public spotlight without having been properly vetted, you are no longer your own. You stand for the ideas and policies behind your campaign. And the vetting is going to done real-time.

There is a thin line between following a real story, and pursing what appears to be a smear, however, I tend to go for the side of following the smear, lest every public figure cry “smear” when the truth comes closer to being revealed.

The Associated Press: Disguised Journalism

The Associated Press carries authority. Numerous news organizations subscribe and contribute material. Pick up any daily paper and 90% of the articles carry the credit line, “Associated Press”. The expectation with this brand is balance and fact.

Then you learn the author is Ron Fournier, Washington bureau chief, and past e-mail buddies with Karl Rove. All credibility is lost.

Attack on Obama Biden Ticket

On August 23, while critiquing Obama’s selection of Biden as his vice-president, Ron Fournier makes the claim that the only reason Obama made this choice was a lack of confidence. Fournier continues to write a thinly veiled opinion piece about why Biden “… is anything but a change agent…” and how Biden’s selection undercuts Obama’s core message. Finding the opportunity, Fournier manages to interject white versus black crime fears, accusations of misogyny (Hillary wasn’t chosen), paints Obama as nothing but a opportunistic politician who will do anything for a chance to sit at the oval office, and manages to close with:

“And there’s the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree.”

Of course, Fournier doesn’t mention Biden said those words while running for the office of presidency - I guess that would weaken his close.

And it should be pointed out that this is opinion penned outside the label of AP. However this is the guy behind their journalistic integrity. There are some journalists that have been fired for blogging their personal opinions as it compromises their perspective. How is this different? Ron Fournier happens to be the AP’s Washington Bureau Chief.

According to the AP at the time of his selection to this post:

“The next Washington bureau chief of the AP must preserve the authority and standards we have spent 160 years building, while at the same time leading us into a new and rapidly changing world of journalism,” Oreskes told a staff meeting in the bureau. “Fortunately, we have the perfect candidate at hand.”

Mr. Fournier is tasked to lead the AP into the brand new world of journalism.

Journalism Versus Editorial: Should They Mix?

As an amateur political cartoonist, my work is always accompanied by editorial. I’m not a journalist, nor do I disguise myself as one. However I’m not even close to being the number one news source for the country. The Associated Press is a cancer, infesting ever part of mainstream media and Ron Fournier is the political editor at it’s helm.

It’s good to always look at the author behind a story - in fact it’s a requirement if you want to read the news anymore, as opinion and fact become indistinguishable. Fournier is the man who had a close email relationship with Karl Rove, exchanging a conversation with the political operative that encouraged the good fight in Iraq and discussed a certain American hero, Tillman.

Tillman was an American hero of the highest order. He opted for a chance to fight a war on terror that for all it’s errors, seemed a good fight to take up in 2002. To join this fight he left a career in professional football and $3.6 million, a decision few Americans would even think to make. He lost his life in friendly fire on April 22 2004.

You’d think the Associated Press would be more interested in why the US government tried to cover up Tillman’s death. Instead the guy who should be showing journalistic leadership as a political reporter, is patting Karl Rove on the back, saying, “The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight.”

Faux Facts

And newspapers wonder why their readership is dwindling, why advertising revenues are tanking. It could just be that fewer people are buying the faux facts offered by the Associated Press. Instead, to be a modern consumer of news, everyone becomes an investigative reporter, verifying sources, and cross referencing slanted language.

To this end I say, “Bloggers, keep up the fight.” Only the freedom of the press allows the facts to flourish.

ISM

UPDATE: I just submitted my email both Ron Fournier and his supervisor, as encouraged by MoveOn.org. If your interested in joining this show of protest against denigrated journalism, consider submitting your email as well.

—-

Here’s What I Sent:

Mr. Ron Fournier,

I read a lot of news, and when I pickup a daily paper, it doesn’t matter which city, the major stories on the front page are often from the Associated Press. The Associated Press carries a brand that signifies credibility, with a long history. It says simply, what you are about to read is fact, based on the best of our abilities.

Unfortunately, in the past few months, the quality of reporting, especially as it concern your charge, has so diminished that I now start to look at all articles by the Associated Press with the same hesitation. Is this true, honest journalism? Or is it based on the pretentions of single man and his agenda? These are serious charges. If you want to remain the barometer whereby journalism is measured, then you have to keep personal opinion separate. If you wish instead to engage in political favoritism, then I’m definitely for that, but it should never be under the institution of honesty.

Your article, “Biden Pick Shows Lack of Confidence”, is demonstratively bad writing, and deserves mention only as an example of how bad a journalist can go so quickly. The truth is though, this hasn’t been a quick transition for you, as you’ve found yourself cozy with Karl Rove in the past.

I hope you understand that continued opinion pieces dressed up as journalism, in a single stroke of the submit button, destroy the AP brand. If I read another article by your or one of your staff that demonstrates this lack of integrity, I will refused to use the services, both on-line and print, that subscribe to the Associated Press.

- Nate S.

Investor’s Business Daily and the Fear of Being Social

Twice today I started to read articles on the Investor Business Daily web site, only to find myself frustrated that there was no way to reply to the editorial content. Whenever I come across web content that doesn’t allow feedback, I immediately distrust the author. This is only magnified when the author is also nameless. In the case of The Investor Business Daily, both cases are true.

Skew the Facts. Distort the Truth.

For example, take this headline, “Barack Obama, Doubting Thomas”. This seedme mildly interesting, so as a RSS feed sucker, I bit.

The article starts out:

Sen. Obama joins the high-tech lynch mob that still thinks Clarence Thomas is unfit for the Supreme Court. The ex-state legislator with no accomplishments to his name dares to question Thomas’ experience.

Now in two sentences the anonymous author manages to inject race and discounts any of Obama’s experience…in just two sentences. That’s pretty effective writing, which is why I’ve subscribed to their RSS feed. It’s good to keep abreast of the crackpots ink. But suddenly I’m faced with a desire to write back. I want to point out the obvious error of their rhetoric. And of course I can’t. And so I respond here.

The Injection of Race

First, to equate Obama’s comment, that he didn’t think Thomas should have been on the Supreme Court is the same as being part of a lynch mob…come on. This only works when your a lazy writer looking to stir up images of blacks hanging blacks and therefore mitigating any real horror on the part of whites hanging blacks. Would the same language have been used if Hillary Clinton had mentioned Clarence Thomas? Likely not.

Next President Not Qualified to Question the Supreme Court?

Second point comes to the experience factor. Notice how the author says, ex-state legislator, without mentioning that Obama became an ex-state legislature by becoming a United States Senator. But that’s not necessarily the funny part. Then he adds, “dares to question Thomas’ experience.” (Note: Thomas only had one year experience as a justice before getting on the Supreme Court…that’s questionable experience).

Here’s a man who has a 50/50 chance of becoming the next president. Obama will likely be nominating justices to the bench, and yet he doesn’t have the credentials to “dare” question a sitting justice when asked a hypothetical question? Never mind that he was a constitutional law professor, teaching alongside Scalia. Oh, and this is the same Obama who was the ex-President of the Harvard Law Review and likely could’ve followed a path to the Supreme Court if a democrat was elected in the year he turned 50.

I’m amazed by the intellectual dishonesty. In fact, I’m the first to admit I’m not a high-road freak like Obama. I’ll throw dirt. And maybe a few people will read it and listen. And maybe they’ll throw dirt back. I enjoy the debate, but I’ll never shut off feedback because I deal with too much spam or I hate moderating. In today’s social media environment, that’s just a sign of fear…fear that you’ll be exposed as a fraud.

My Web Dreams

Yes, I confess. Occasionally I have web dreams, dreams that this blog will actually be a vehicle that changes the world, brings the mainstream media to its knees and renders the voice of high-paid political pundits as irrelevant as the telegraph and Morse code.

Exactly…what the hell am I thinking anyway.

In any case, this makeover, while not really a new look, launches me a bit closer to my eventual goal…a shifting maze of pixels that borders between satire and anger, philosophy and filling up space with words.

Like most bloggers, this blog is about having fun, and doing something I enjoy. It’s a path taken each day, without really knowing where it leads. Just last week I had a different idea for this blog with an entirely different design (see image above). Hours went into the design, but in the end, it just didn’t want to work with me. Despite meeting the slaughter house for design ideas, I thought I’d share it, as it still imparts a little bit of what this blog is about - less about “communism” and more about revolution. The communism style and name is mostly to tick off the right wing nuts.

I hope you enjoy the new design. It should allow me to create more quality cartoons, write about the latest peeve that’s on my mind and still keep my sanity. I also noticed that some of my favorite cartoons would get lost in the mutinae of daily blabbery that I found myself enjoying, blabbery that probably didn’t deserve top position on the page. This new design gives me a way to control that.

If you’re interested, I’m using Brian Gartners Revelution Media Pro theme ($70) and it’s likely saved me hundreds of hours in wasted time with PHP.