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Beyond the “Conservative Entertainment Complex”

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By Jim Miller

In this column that originally ran in December of last year, I discuss “the conservative media entertainment complex” as conceived of by former Bush propagandist David Frum and note that he only touches on the tip of the corporate media propaganda iceberg.  What follows this is a beginners primer on how to decipher corporate media propaganda.  

In the weeks following the election, David Frum made waves by explaining the shock in conservative circles over Romney’s loss with a bit of interesting media criticism: “Republicans have been fleeced and exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex.”

Of course, those of us with a historical memory longer than five minutes found it amusing to hear this from Frum, the author of George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech.  Indeed, Frum was one of the central ideologues promulgating lies aboutIraqand demonizing dissent as unpatriotic.  I guess it takes one to know one.

Still, despite the bitter irony of Frum playing the role of truth-teller, he is on to something.  The trouble with his analysis is that it stops at the obvious.  The truth is that the problem with the media is not limited to the universe of Fox News and right wing radio pundits.  The American media landscape distorts the truth not because it is liberal or conservative but because it is corporate.

Eds. Note: Originally Posted in December 2012. We’re re-running some of the best of his columns while Jim takes this ‘vacation’ thing we keep hearing about.   [Read more…]

The US Establishment Wants the American People Under Surveillance

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Let this moment be a educational one so let’s have the Debate that the President calls for

What a dastardly crazy last nine days it’s been.

Beginning Thursday, June 6th, with the Washington Post and the Guardian in London both running with the explosive news about the National Security Agency surveillance programs, we’ve been hit with daily revelations – that are still continuing every news cycle – that have created quiet a long list of whistle blower-delivered disclosures about what the government and the NSA are and have been doing to us – the American people.

Also on June 6th, the director of national intelligence confirmed the existence of a secret program in which the government has tapped into the central servers of 9 leading internet companies to search for data linked to terrorism, espionage or nuclear proliferation. During this six year old program – called PRISM – the FBI and NSA searched emails, videos, photographs and other documents involving Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple – but not Twitter – yet.

Over last weekend, we found out that the federal government has amassed a database at least for these last 7 years – since 2006 during the Bush administration – with details on every telephone call made within the U.S. and between this country and phones overseas. The data collected includes the phone numbers, the time, date, duration of the calls and the route the calls take through the vast phone networks.   [Read more…]

My Father: An American Success Story

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By Carlos Batara

He never went home.

He left his native county at the age of 20 to find work.  Born in an impoverished area of a poor country, he left home to earn money which he could send back to his mother and eight siblings.

He ventured through, and stayed briefly at, a few countries, eventually reaching the United States.

For the next 25 years, he crisscrossed California, Arizona, and Utah, moving from crop to crop before settling in San Diego where he worked as a dishwasher at one of the city’s  most prestigious restaurants.

He worked Monday through Sunday at minimum wage, and was given only two days off per year, Thanksgiving and Christmas.   [Read more…]

The Private Side of the Intelligence Equation – Corporations Exploit Their Access

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By Doug Porter

Much of the mainstream media has decided that trivializing whistleblower Edward Snowden is a safer course that actually exploring the implications of his disclosures.

John Oliver didn’t have to ponder more than a few seconds on the Daily Show before concluding the media had gone “Us Weekly on the messenger”, citing supposed news stories about Edward Snowden’s middle school experiences and his girlfriend’s pole dancing videos.

Fortunately, a few observers have maintained their dignity amid the rush to sensationalize trivia and trumpet the bloviating of ignorant blowhards seeking political advantage.   [Read more…]

The Environmental Blame Game: Time to Look in the Mirror

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By Jeffrey Meyer 

The American public is addicted to carbon products for its energy needs and, despite overwhelming evidence that man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) is a credible threat to everyone, we lack the will to act. We tend to be quick to place blame for this situation, but perhaps it is time to look in the mirror.

There is finger pointing enough for everyone, from conflicting media reports, paralysis of our political system and corporate greed from the carbon industry. But is it really about them or is it about us, immobilized by a simple lack of effort to check out the facts?   [Read more…]

Odd Man Out? Newly Minted Congressional Candidate DeMaio Left Off San Diego GOP Endorsement List

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By Doug Porter

After getting trounced in the 2012 elections, San Diego Republicans, led by Tony Krvaric, vowed to get into the next election cycle early and often with support and endorsements.

Just this week they’ve announced a list of official party candidate endorsements for the 2014 elections.  The roll call for the already blessed includes mostly incumbent Congressional, State Senate and Assembly members, County and Local officials, along with contenders for ‘key seats’. Chris Cate, candidate for the open seat in San Diego’s officially non-partisan City Council District 6 race is among those receiving the party’s backing.

Noticeably absent from that list is Carl DeMaio, who’s bounced back from his fall defeat in the Mayoral contest with an aggressive campaign aimed at unseating Congressman Scott Peters in the 52nd District.   [Read more…]

Sex In San Diego: The Drought is Affecting More than the Water Table

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By Judi Curry

The well has run dry! There is nothing to be had anywhere. Life is a sad, lonely spiral, as the tap only trickles its remaining rust and dirt from the spigot. What the hell is she talking about, you ask? On line dating, of course!

I’ve tapped into Zoosk. I turned the spigot off on eHarmony. I cleaned out the faucet on Mingle. I prayed for a good catch at JD. I fished at Plenty of Fish. I didn’t care if I was overweight at Big and Beautiful People Meet. I didn’t lie about my age at Senior People Meet. It wasn’t my time at OurTime.com. There were no rich men at RichMen.com. There were no matches at Match.com and several other sites that I don’t remember for I was with them a very short time.   [Read more…]

Congressman Issa Weasels on IRS Transcripts After His Case Falls Apart

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By Doug Porter

Facing an increasingly skeptical press after being called out for using selectively edited interview transcripts to make his case against the IRS, Congressman Darrell Issa has decided to double down.

Issa, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee now says releasing the full transcripts would be “reckless” and “irresponsible.”

Two weekends ago the North County Congressman provided CNN with excerpts of interviews with IRS agents, assuring reporter Candy Crowley that “the whole transcript will be put out.” Issa’s excerpts supposedly had an IRS official conceding that “directions” for to treat Tea Party groups “emanated from Washington.”   [Read more…]

Volunteers Celebrate Black Music Month With Soulful Fundraiser for Malcolm X Library

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By Annie Lane

Longtime library clerk Jimmy Lovett celebrated his June birthday early and the same way he has for more than a decade–paying tribute to underappreciated African American singers in honor of Black Music Month.

Hosted by the Say It Loud Committee, Lovett and crew presented Unsung and Off the Chain, a performance best described as a lip-syncing version of Soul Train.

“It’s like karaoke without the singing,” said Lovett, a Normal Heights resident who will be 45 this year. “We literally become the artist.” ……

In addition to Mayor Bob Filner, roughly 50 people were in attendance.   [Read more…]

The Reader! It Climbs Up Golden Hill!!

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By Bob Dorn

Cover Story – If it reads well who cares what it says?

Ironic, I thought, walking toward the old Carpenter’ Union Hall building, a sniff of jasmine in the air above the cracked and fig-tree-uplifted sidewalks that were causing me to stagger as if I’d just spent my 70th birthday with my bichon frise, The Ramone, at my feet waiting for me to finish my 12-pack of Rolling Rock so I could take him on his fourth or fifth walk of the damn day.

A fresh new paint job had transformed the building into something like a deco neighborhood movie palace, just intrusive enough to say, “In your face, you phonies” without (or maybe, with) some understated malice.

It had been years since I’d written anything for The Reader, but here I was, invited to the office-warming at its new home, 2323 Broadway, in Golden Hill. I had to wonder if I would, or should, know anybody who’d be there. Who was left?   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Museum of Man Tackles the Role of Torture in Post 9/11 America

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The Balboa Park museum presents “Taking a Stand Against Torture,” a discussion of America’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques deployed in the aftermath of 9/11.

By Andy Cohen

Torture has been a part of human behavior since the beginning of time. It is a tool to exert control, dominance over another human being. In the modern era its primary use has been as an interrogation technique—extracting information from enemies.

It is almost universally recognized that torture is a savage practice, the results of which are questionable at best. Psychological experts have determined that there comes a point in a person’s suffering that they will say anything; admit to anything to make the infliction of pain stop. Information extracted under these circumstances, therefore, becomes useless. But that hasn’t stopped the practice.

  [Read more…]

Grassroots Organizing Succeeds, City Attorney Fails As Filner Budget Approved

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Bus Passes, Library Funding and Arts Programs All Get Funded

By Doug Porter

It’s a new day in San Diego as the priorities of the Filner administration are becoming reality with the passage of the City budget for 2013-2014.

Yesterday the San Diego City Council approved a $2.75 billion budget including a $1.2 billion general fund, which pays for basic services like public safety and recreation centers. Virtually all of Mayor Filner’s proposals were endorsed.

The vote on the overall budget was 7-2, with Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and Scott Sherman opposing.  Faulconer complained about a ‘missed opportunity’ with the budget, objecting to an overall increase of $30 million with no cuts in ‘waste’.  Sherman’s negative vote was prompted, according to news accounts, by his objections to ‘expansion of government’.   [Read more…]

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