As someone who tries to be fair, even when the other party isn't, I can only say that I hope Jerry Falwell's god shows his immortal soul more mercy than Falwell ever showed to to his fellow man.

But in as far as the earthly realm goes, I can only think, "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

[Note: Links to the The Carpet Bagger Report detailing Falwell's greatest hits of hatred.]

I remember when NOW with Bill Moyers was a staple on PBS.

And now, it's b-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck! And Moyers once again proves why he's the God of Journalism on earth.

I missed the Friday broadcast of NOW, so I had to catch it on repeats on the Rhode Island PBS affiliate last night.

Of course, my blood pressure went right through the roof.

Buying the War, about the follow-the-heard mentality of the press that greased the skids into the U.S. invading and occupying Iraq, made me shake with rage.

Wanna know what's really sick? None of the information is new, nor is it a surprise at this point. Or, it shouldn't be if you've been paying even the smallest bit of attention.

It's seeing it laid out from one end to the other. It's seeing all the whining from the journalists about how "no one called them." (Fuck you, dude! You're supposed to call them, you idiots! — It's called Journalism 101! I had to do it back in the day. Do reporters not pick up the phones any more?) It's seeing the truth being reported in other countries, while pure propaganda was being spoon fed to the populace in ours. It's seeing those self-satisfied smirky talking heads not fucking getting it. They as "journalists" dropped the ball, and we managed to kill an entire country. Fantastic. Good job guys. I won't be forgiving you assholes any time soon.

I have herewith decided to pretend that my Journalism degree is a degree in Mid-19th Century American Literature. I don't want people to assume that I'm incompetent.

How is it possible that the last real reporters in the United States work for Knight Ridder/McClatchy Newspapers? As it turns out, this is the news organization that got it right all along and was calling shenanigans from the start.

But guess who's still got the big television contracts, still on the weenie cocktail circuit, and still making oodles of money for being wrong?

Here's a hint: It's not the ink-stained wretches at Knight Ridder/McClatchy who actually did their fucking jobs.

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In other news, Riverbend of Baghdad Burning has finally thrown in the towel. She announced that she and her family were fleeing Baghdad for either Jordan or Syria (the only countries where Iraqis don't need passports to cross the border). From there, they're going to try to find a country that will take them in.

As conditions have deteriorated in Iraq, Riverbend's posting schedule has gotten increasingly erratic, with sometimes months going by between posts.

Another bright light goes out in Iraq, but at least Riverbend will live on.

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I admit that I thought the Congressional hearings on the lies told around the fratricide death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan was over-the-top and conducted only because Tillman was famous. However, the House Hearing on Accuracy of Battlefield Information turned out to yield lots and lots of interesting information.

Like how U.S. troops were being used as propaganda parts by the Bush Administration to keep public opinion in line the Iraqi invasion and occupation. To be honest, again, this is not at all news, considering how King George so does love prancing in front of uniformed officers for political purposes. ("Mission Accomplished" anyone?)

By the way, this hearing included testimony from Jessica Lynch, in which she also accused the administration of lying about her situation. For the record, Lynch is accusing the administration of turning her into a hero for propaganda purposes — she denies that she's any kind of hero at all. IMHO, however, anyone who fights to set the record straight — as Lynch has tried to do for years — despite the pressure to keep her mouth shut and accept the hero accolade really is a hero. I'm just sayin'.

In either case, if you want to break your heart, this article on Pat Tillman from Sports Illustrated shows why so many people are fighting to get the truth out about Tillman, and to draw attention to the propaganda games around the Iraqi invasion and occupation.

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More bits and pieces of flotsam:

George Tenet, who's not exactly one of the "good guys" when it comes to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, has released his tell-all book in which he's confirmed that the Iraqi invasion was based on a hill of lies. Again, not new news here at all, but notable for the "who" that's saying it.

Knight Ridder/McClatchy continue to prove how invaluable they are to journalism by reporting that in order to "prove" that violence in Iraq is decreasing, the administration has stopped counting car bombs as acts of violence. So next time your wingnut relatives tell you that Iraq is getting better, you might want to point out that the numbers are improving only because the Bush administration is congenitally incapable of telling the truth...or realizing that the American people actually have brains.

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Anyway, I'll be posting some Bad Art Appreciation Day links up tonight. I got hung up doing a bunch of stuff yesterday and never got to my computer.

Via Crooks and Liars:

For those of you who haven't been paying attention...or for those of you who have but needed a nice little primer to help you keep track of what's what, Mother Jones has put up a well-researched and well-sourced primer called Iraq 101.

While not a lot of the information in there is news to me, I tend to get the political parties and who represents whom mixed up. For example, I tend to assign Sunnis to Shiite political parties and Shiites to Sunni political parties, which...yeah...very, very stupid and very, very bad. At least I tend to correctly match the Kurds to their correct political parties.

Even if you think you know all the Playas and all the facts, guaranteed that you'll be learnin' something new in this handy online primer.

The sources section is an especially nice collection of links.

Fellow U.S. citizens, it's been 4 years since we launched an illegal war on Iraq — a country that we not only armed back in the day, but never attacked us and also posed zero threat to our national security.

If you haven't educated yourself on the key facts, it's time to start.

Not writing, but classical music.

Awesome!

This one has it all: The recordings of a little-known but critical darling classical pianist were actually recordings of even lesser known classical pianists. Although it's unclear whether the late Joyce Hatto was in on it, her husband finally confessed yesterday that he did steal other people's performances and put them under his wife's name. To cover his tracks, he'd either speed up or slow down the recording during the transfer process.

He was finally busted by, of all things, by the meta data displayed on iTunes.

Neil Gaiman has more details here. (Funny how writers seem to be very interested in this case.) Here's the detailed article he links to. Here's the husband's confession.

Classics Today has the whole story, too. (Scroll down to "Editorials" to get the scoop.)

All articles have links to other Web sites where dedicated audiophiles and classical music fen are building the evidence against the late Mrs. Hatto and tracking down the original artists. Here's the main page detailing the investigation at Pristine Classical.

It's...it's...the real life version of stop_plagiarism.

I'm so verklempt. *sniff*



Now Playing:

It appears that one thing that has been overlooked in yesterday's great Lite Brite Chaos.

As it turns out, there were actually two legitimate bomb threats in two separate incidents yesterday.

While the pipe bombs were themselves fake, they apparently looked real enough. The reason why the Longfellow Bridge was shut down wasn't because of Lite Brites, but because of one of the fake pipe bombs. Same thing with the evacuation of a medical office for Tufts-New England Medical Center on Harrison Ave.

The police already have the a suspect for the Tufts case, but not for the Longfellow Bridge case.

When were the simulated pipe bombs found? Right around 1 p.m., shortly before city and state officials realized the Lite Brites didn't pose a danger.

Suddenly, the late-afternoon hysteria — not to mention the pissed off reactions — on the part of city and state officials makes a hell of a lot more sense.

While the city's safety people are scattered all over the city looking for Lite Brites, they had two simulated pipe bombs in two different locations in apparently unconnected incidents.

What's interesting is that there have been some commenters over on b0st0n claiming a connection to the Boston Police Department stating that there were legitimate bomb scares in the city yesterday, legitimate scares that got buried underneath the load of crap about the Lite Brites. These people have been pretty much either ignored or made fun of.

It took one Google minute to find this information out. Note that it's a very short article.

ETA: Information about the two legitimate bomb scares are starting to show up in round-ups about the Great Lite Brite Hunt of 2007. However, the information about the legitimate threats are buried almost at the end of the article.

Fox12 in Providence has a mention, but you'll have to read almost to the end.

NBC11 in San Francisco makes note of the pipe bomb that was found in the medical office basement, again buried in the middle of the story.

Just pointing out that there's more than one source for it besides some commenters on b0st0n and The Boston Herald.

ETA2: The BPDNews, which is kind of an electronic feed that anyone can check into, makes note of the 1:02 p.m. simulated pipe bomb that was found in a desk draw at the New England Medical Center.

Once you read that piece of information, read more. It turns out there was a flurry of bomb threat calls into the Boston Police Department all right around that time. Some pointing to Lite Brites, but one pointing to the simulated pipe bomb found on the Longfellow Bridge.

VERY IMPORTANT ETA: The BPDNews, which is kind of an electronic feed that anyone can check into, makes note of the 1:02 p.m. simulated pipe bomb that was found in a desk draw at the New England Medical Center that occurred at the height of yesterday's chaos.

The simulated pipe bomb, while not a real pipe bomb, was a legitimate emergency situation, given that public safety people were spread out all over the city.

Once you read and absorb that piece of information, read the next few parts after that. It turns out there was a flurry of bomb threat calls into the Boston Police Department all right around that time. Some pointing to Lite Brites, but one pointing to the simulated pipe bomb found on the Longfellow Bridge.

More information in this post.

*****




The Lite Brite That Menaced Boston. Photo from Boston.com



The Head-Slapping: Turner Broadcasting
It appears that both Turner Broadcasting and Interference Inc., the New York City marketing firm they hired, failed to get permits or permission to place magnetized Lite Brites around the city. This is in sharp contrast to two other cities — Seattle and Philadelphia — where apparently they (or someone else) did go through the permitting process.

In my mind, if C&C Convenience Store on the corner needs a permit to put out a stationary sign in front of their store advertising a 2-for1 beer sale, then Turner and its subcontractors sure as hell have to do it, too.

Turner and the Cartoon Network have owned up, apologized, and (reading between the lines) there may be restitution for yesterday's massive fuck-up. Good for them.


The Annoying: Local Officials
In the middle of yesterday's War of the Worlds-style Wellesian freak-out, a lowly police analyst was the first to call shenanigans. Nice to know that someone in the city government watches Adult Swim. In any case, the police analyst, upon seeing the Lite Brites that had menaced the city, spoke up.

This was about 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Even before that, the police figured out they were Lite Brites when they noticed the things they removed lit up when they were taken out of the sun and into a darkened space.

Somewhere this time, the artist who placed the Lite Brites around the city came forward, copped to what he did, and told the cops where to find them all.

Now, considering that the local officials appear to have known hours before Turner Broadcasting called to let the police department know the Lite Brites were not bombs and released a public apology — Why the hell were they feeding hysteria?

No. Seriously. Between (let's be generous here) 2:30 p.m. and when the city of Boston officially called off the hunt for dangerous Lite Brites, city officials were issuing vaguely ominous statements, complete with dog-whistle phrases, instead of saying, "Whoa! Let's step back a little bit here."

The chest-thumping you heard last night? That was the dance of, "You made us look stupid. You gotta pay!"


The Infuriating and the Hopeful: Charging the Artist

The folks at b0st0n staged a rally for Arlington artist Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens of Charlestown, pointing out that the guys were hired to do a job, and that they aren't responsible for the chaos that erupted in Boston (that was due to Turner Broadcasting and the local pols). If Turner or its marketing company failed to get the permits or win permission from the city, put the blame where it belongs. Don't put it on the artist, Ktnxbi.

Also something that I think should be taken into consideration, Berdovsky stepped forward and copped to it without any prompting from police. He has cooperated and done everything the police asked him to do. Dude! So much for being honest. If the state or city has any balls whatsoever, they'll drop all charges against Berdovski and Stevens because, of everyone in this mess, they're the only ones who are truly innocent here.

Good on b0st0n for staging the protest this morning at the arraignment. Hope people are smart enough to listen.

For anyone who's interested in the whole sordid tale, check out the Boston Globe's online collection of the 2007 Boston Lite Brite Scare.




Sean Stevens (left), 28, and Peter Berdovsky, 27, today pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device that caused panic. Photo from Boston.com


ETA: It appears that Berdovsky and Stevens are being held on $2,500 bail each, and both expect to post bail later today. The good news? The judge thinks the state's case sucks, especially since the artists were only doing the job they were hired to do.

Don't forget to download Alice's Restaurant (link up above in this post). If you feel like it, pass the link on to others on your FList. I only ask that you explain that it's to show virtual support for Berdovsky and Stevens if you do. Okay. Yeah. Not much of a protest on my part. I just think it would interesting to see how far this goes.


ETA2: As it turns out, city and state officials may have had legitimate reasons for their over-reaction.

I would be just a little bit remiss if I didn't make note of the City-Wide Boston Chaos of 2007.

Pop quiz:
What happens when you take one viral marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force on the Cartoon Network, dress them up in blinky lights and magnets, and attach them to bridges, underneath a highway overpass, and near a hospital?


Answer:
A bomb scare, city-wide panic, traffic snarls, and city and state police turning the entire city upside-down in an effort to find out what those blinky things are, where they are, and how to remove them without getting blown up.


Am I glad that I don't have to go into Boston proper for work? You betchya. My sympathies for my local peeps who do, though.

Nice of Turner Broadcasting to call the city at around 4:15 p.m. to let the locals know. I even love how the New England News Network phrased the mea culpa: "Turner Broadcasting has taken responsibility..."

Making Light has the best summary of what happened.

The hilarious/really sad thing about all of this? These blinky things have been up for 2 to 3 weeks and no one seems to have noticed. Worse, they've been up in ten cities, including Boston, and no one seems to have noticed.

There's a pretty good round up now up on Boston.com (Note: Link will expire.)



A State Police Bomb Squad officer removed a "Mooninite," the culprit of today's confusion, from a support in Somerville. Picture from Boston.com

Yup. That's one marketing campaign that won't be forgotten any time soon. Round of applause for the geniuses at Turner Broadcasting!

ETA: As it turns out, the person who planted the Mooninites around the city had a Web page showing them doing the planting. Before you ask, yup, the guy's been arrested.

ETA2 There's some confusion on whether Turner Broadcasting bothered to get the proper permits to put up the blinky things. If they did, well it's a bad on the city of Boston since apparently the proper authorities were notified. If they didn't, I can't blame the city and state for freaking the hell out. People not familiar with the city might not realize that the blinky things were put on two of the major bridges into and out of the city that span the Charles River.

So while the whole thing is funny (it's good to laugh), on the other, if the city was never notified, the freak-out is understandable given the location of the blinking ads.

ETA3: The peeps over at b0st0n are already on the case and have voted "hilarious." Check out the awesome icons that have taken over the community!

I have finally read the transcript of His Lordship's Speech to the Nation. I know I should've watched it, but I was busy being amused by a discussion about dirty words.

I definitely got the better end of the deal, from all accounts.

I also read the fact sheet on the 'new way forward' in Iraq (If I had a vote, I'd vote, "Go back in time and not invade Iraq in the first place.") as well as the PDF of the Iraq Strategy Review PowerPoint for Dummies (Again, I vote: "Not go in the first place, nitwit.").

In reading over the speech, I started wondering if he had just declared war on Iran and Syria. Now, to be fair, news organizations on both the left and right picked up on this before I settled down to read it for myself this ayem, but I thought they were overstating the case. Even in reading the speech, I still wasn't entirely sure if it was pure rhetoric from His Lordship or if the commentators were right on the money.



Update: It appears that the Senate may also be gearing up for a Constitutional Crisis as Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee threatened a Constitutional confrontation between Congress and the White House if Bush attempts to push a war on Iran without the consent of the legislative branch. (via No Quarter, as this was just aired on CSPAN-3 and a transcript isn't available yet nor has the comment hit the wires.)

via audiography: CDs may be going the way of the Dodo, some whining about the future of the music industry as people more and more go to electronic formats.

However, there appear to be some some bright spots on the horizon, including "subscription" music services like Rhapsody and Emusic that allow unlimited access to songs for a monthly fee, as opposed to Apple's "per track" business model. There also appears to be a growing resurgence in the beauty that is the vinyl record among true audiophiles seeking sound quality.

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via twistedchick and jebbypal: Getty images is tracking down people who have infringed on their copyright and aggressively going after them.

If you've raided Getty for icons or for your fansite and haven't ponied up a penny, you might want to start yanking down those pictures...as in yesterday.

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Finally, Will Wheaton has his latest ST: TNG DVD commentary up at TV Squad. C'mon, people. It's for Part II of 'Encounter at Farpoint.' As always, expect a good time reading it.

*blinks*

Y HALLO THAR NU UPD473 1N73RF4C3!

I actually don't have strong feelings about the change one way or the other, which puts me in the quiet non-majority. My one big problem is that it looks just a leeeeeetle too much like the Vox update interface.

Dear 6Apart: This makes me unhappy and suspicious. At least on LJ we can do our own HTML, unlike Vox, which keeps us in rich text mode for everything.

[Note: I signed up for Vox mostly to make sure I got the liz_marcs name, and as an "archive" for my music reviews. You can upload MP3s and stream them through the site, which is a nice feature. Other than that, Vox has zero ability to customize, even in individual posts. Haaaaaate.]

( Anyone else nervous about these DHS raids? )

In any case, the DHS raids pretty much had my attention yesterday, in large part because the way they were conducted was...worrisome on more than one level, especially given the legal and political atmosphere in the U.S. these days. There is, I think, an undercurrent of paranoia among people of all political stripes (although the cause of it is for different reasons). Usually, the more you know, the less likely you are to be paranoid. For the first time in my memory, this has been reversed. The more you know, the more paranoid you become.

I need a new layer for my tinfoil hat, I think.

In the course of my DHS raid-watching, I, of course, stumbled across the hilarious story of Michael Crichton fictionalizing a political reporter as a pencil-dicked child rapist. Apparently one Michael Crowley pissed off Crichton when Crowley wrote a less-than-complimentary article on Crichton's global warming denialism in The New Republic.

Even so, imagine my joy when entrenous88 posted a wonderful overview of the wank that has resulted from Crichton's act of asshole. Heeeee!

As a result of the wank, I now have an awesome icon (you have to read the wank to get the joke). More icons here.

MSNBC's Olbermann has even gotten in on the act, by naming Crichton Worst Person in the World.

Man, I needed that laugh, especially after reading about the DHS raids.

So, glasses up to entrenous88! Thanks for the laugh!