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What to do about the media

Robert Parry writes that Republican control of much of the media is the result of a sustained campaign over a long period of time -- during which the Democrats did nothing. 

Over the past quarter century, the conservatives/Republicans have built a huge, permanent media machine – a vertically integrated structure that puts out the conservative message on TV, with newspapers, through magazines, over radio stations, in books and via the Internet.

What should the Democrats do to turn this around?

Update:  Want to know how bad control of the media has gotten?  Read this.

Elections 2000 and 2004: hard truths all together in one place

Don't miss this.

A complicated, messy, morally gray place

I'm antiwar, but I recognize that the world is a complicated, messy, morally gray place, where it's not always clear what the best course of action is going to be if you want to save the largest number of lives.  So I don't know if the withdrawal option is right. Iraq might plunge into worse chaos -- something withdrawal advocates should think about before being too judgmental of the motives of the military intervention types.  But if Kristof favors the US going around using the military in an alleged effort to do good, the very least he can do is to insist that when war crimes are committed as a result of policy decisions, then high-ranking American officials (not just sergeants and lieutenants) should face long prison terms. That would provide strong incentives for political and military leaders to plan carefully and really think things through before they start dropping bombs on cities  and favoring torture. It would also firmly impress on the world that we really mean what we say.

As it happens, I don't think we mean what we say and don't expect to see anything of the sort done and don't for one second think that the Bush Administration really cares about humanitarian issues in any serious way, but Kristof is probably serious and if so, then he ought to point it out when we commit war crimes.

That's from Donald Johnson, guest-posting at Body and Soul, with some thoughts about Nicholas Kristof's pieces in the NYTimes.  Kristof has been  defending our current role in Iraq. 

Johnson's suggestions that we should punish war crimes much more zealously are right on target. 

An email arrived today from the Center for Constitutional Rights with the news that they are organizing a campaign to support the investigation of the incidents at Abu Ghraib by a German prosecutor.  Here's the petition which you can sign at the CCR's website. 

   I am writing to express my support for the criminal complaint filed against U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, et al., by the Center for Constitutional Rights, represented by Wolfgang Kaleck of Berlin, on November 30, 2004. I kindly request that you begin the investigations regarding the incidents at Abu Ghraib and others, unless the United States itself begins an independent investigation of the high-ranking officials and members of the military responsible for these war crimes.  Because the U.S. is failing to fully investigate, and because the U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court, there is no other forum to turn to in seeking justice and accountability.

Bush is Clinton's fault

If this statement, and the whole article in the Atlantic, isn't perverse in itself -- if Jack Beatty isn't blaming the victim, I'll vote Republican.*

The perversity of Clinton's legacy raises the suspicion that the Clinton presidency itself was the "vast right-wing conspiracy."

*Not.

Another Bushite departs

Tom Ridge is out.

How to find out everything you need to know to survive -- and more

Kate Storm, over at All Spin Zone, give us an invaluable link to an article posted yesterday at WIRED.  Here's an excerpt:

Given the government keeps tabs on the world using armies of agents, algorithms and wiretaps, how can a citizen compete? Try a browser.

Governments at every level these days are providing less information about their inner workings, sometimes using fear of terrorism as an excuse. But it's precisely times like these that mandate citizens' rights to check the efficiency of their government and hold those who fail accountable, open government advocates say.

The government itself won't make it easy, so an increasing number of websites and data crunchers are stepping in to provide information about the inner workings of government.

For starters, there's Google's little-known government specific search engine. Those proficient with crafting search terms can find Attorney General John Ashcroft's office number, gee-whiz nanotechnology movies and NASA's Microgravity Man comic strip. One can even find homeland security alerts about truck bombs (PDF) and the intelligence needs of the FBI. Another trove of information is George Washington University's National Security Archive, which contains thousands of documents acquired through patient Freedom of Information Act requests.