Re: Charles Carreon, The Arizona Kid
Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 6:47 am
FREE SPEECH WEATHERVANE, by Charles Carreon
Speech on Fire, by Tara Carreon
Just Gimme Some Truth
Dow Jones, the company that monitors the financial markets like an aging relative’s blood pressure, owns The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ was once the best place to get all the news the elites allowed themselves to learn about, without fear that it would be learned by the rest of the world. But those days are over -- the truth is too hot for any major news agency to handle. Just look at this Mark Foley scandal. A brace of young boys had been accusing ex-Congressman Foley of pervy behavior for over a year, and telling the press about it. Sure, you wouldn’t expect the FBI to investigate -- if it’s not terrorism or a bank robbery, they don’t have time. You wouldn’t expect Congress to investigate -- they’re busy trying to bankrupt the nation by selling their vote to the carousel of lobbyists who alternately terrorize and seduce them. But we cherish a hope that the newspapers will move on this stuff. What a pain to learn they are as crooked as the cops and the Congress.
Crime, What Crime?
The WSJ covered the Clinton scandal very thoroughly, as I recall, because that involved the unforgiveable crime of having sex in a special room where, apparently, only symbolic acts of fellatio are permitted. The current Oval Office occupant has committed many crimes, but the WSJ never bothers to report on law-breaking by the President, because the Attorney General persuades Congress to alter the laws retroactively to eliminate any taint of illegality that might have attached to the initial misdeed. Of course, then it’s not news anymore, so there’s no point in reporting on it at all. Let’s face it. There’s no point in reporting on a crime if it’s just going to be made legal as soon as it’s discovered. That’s just a waste of ink.
Truth is, the WSJ stopped reporting anything controversial once the War on Terror became the number one concern of every news-person. You may recall that Hollywood also froze up, and hasn’t really made a good movie since the three towers collapsed. The first casualty of war, as they say, is the truth. Since this war on terror is scheduled to last forever, that must mean that the truth has been permanently banished from our nation.
www.DailyCensorship.com
The Internet is going to save us, right? There will be robust debate on bulletin boards. The Ashland Daily Tidings, for example, allows readers to post comments on its articles. They have to be short comments, because the Tidings only lets people post about five lines. This is as at best as stupid as Dilbert’s boss thinking his company would save computer memory if everyone word-processed using smaller fonts. Now I realize that short posts are better because none would be best of all.
On August 25, 2006, the Tidings ran Bob Plain’s article on Michael Ruppert, “Wilderness Relocates to Venezuela.” The article provoked many comments, and a poster we’ll call Teesee was doing her best in the restricted space format to post some serious information about Ruppert and his CIA connections. The Tidings actually employs a censor to review posts before they appear online, though, and Teese was uploading faster than the censor was reading. The censor then jumbled her posts so they didn’t make sense. Soon she started to harvest a stream of nasty comments from some online bullies. Then the Tidings censor refused to post her replies to the bullies. The Tidings censor added decisive strength to one side of a debate, allowing Teese to be pelted with verbal abuse, and depriving her of the means to respond. Somewhere, a corporate halfwit was working hard damping down digital conflict. The Tidings’ fluffy reporting accentuates the positive, while the censor eradicates the offensive. Under the guise of protecting itself from liability, or readers from offensive speech, the Tidings is abusing its media power, distorting the image of our community. The censor doesn’t protect the Tidings from liability, either. Comment boards have an absolute exemption from libel and other forms of “publisher liability” for third party statements under 47 USC Sec. 230(c)(1). See Zeran v. AOL, 129 F.3d at 331. The Tidings enjoys free speech rights under the First Amendment. It should accord some to its readers.
Oh, That Community Forum...
For a couple of days in August, The Tidings opened a “Community Forum” that allowed posters to post comments about any topic, of any length, with image-upload capabilities. Neat! Teesee started posting. After two days, the Community Forum went offline, and stayed off. The AFP sent an email to Tidings Editor Scott Bolsinger asking what had happened to the Community Forum. He replied that the Forum was still up. What? Is everyone on the Bush plan? Just saying whatever’s convenient? It’s gone! Why is the Community Forum gone, Scott? Did the censor fear impending unemployment? Did it keep you up at night thinking what someone might post?
Ashland, New York
The Tidings, like 23 other newspapers, is owned by Dow Jones subsidiary Ottaway Community Newspapers. The company website says that Ottaway’s CEO John Wilcox, “has residences in Washingtonville, New York and on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.” You need those on the east coast. He has the advanced degrees, the management training, the pedigree. Perhaps he’s been to Oregon. The website quotes former CEO Jim Ottoway, Jr.: “We’re constantly walking a tightrope to avoid benign neglect of papers or, on the other hand, too much management.” Benign neglect, huh? I’ll go for the “neglect” part.
Speech on Fire, by Tara Carreon
Just Gimme Some Truth
Dow Jones, the company that monitors the financial markets like an aging relative’s blood pressure, owns The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ was once the best place to get all the news the elites allowed themselves to learn about, without fear that it would be learned by the rest of the world. But those days are over -- the truth is too hot for any major news agency to handle. Just look at this Mark Foley scandal. A brace of young boys had been accusing ex-Congressman Foley of pervy behavior for over a year, and telling the press about it. Sure, you wouldn’t expect the FBI to investigate -- if it’s not terrorism or a bank robbery, they don’t have time. You wouldn’t expect Congress to investigate -- they’re busy trying to bankrupt the nation by selling their vote to the carousel of lobbyists who alternately terrorize and seduce them. But we cherish a hope that the newspapers will move on this stuff. What a pain to learn they are as crooked as the cops and the Congress.
Crime, What Crime?
The WSJ covered the Clinton scandal very thoroughly, as I recall, because that involved the unforgiveable crime of having sex in a special room where, apparently, only symbolic acts of fellatio are permitted. The current Oval Office occupant has committed many crimes, but the WSJ never bothers to report on law-breaking by the President, because the Attorney General persuades Congress to alter the laws retroactively to eliminate any taint of illegality that might have attached to the initial misdeed. Of course, then it’s not news anymore, so there’s no point in reporting on it at all. Let’s face it. There’s no point in reporting on a crime if it’s just going to be made legal as soon as it’s discovered. That’s just a waste of ink.
Truth is, the WSJ stopped reporting anything controversial once the War on Terror became the number one concern of every news-person. You may recall that Hollywood also froze up, and hasn’t really made a good movie since the three towers collapsed. The first casualty of war, as they say, is the truth. Since this war on terror is scheduled to last forever, that must mean that the truth has been permanently banished from our nation.
www.DailyCensorship.com
The Internet is going to save us, right? There will be robust debate on bulletin boards. The Ashland Daily Tidings, for example, allows readers to post comments on its articles. They have to be short comments, because the Tidings only lets people post about five lines. This is as at best as stupid as Dilbert’s boss thinking his company would save computer memory if everyone word-processed using smaller fonts. Now I realize that short posts are better because none would be best of all.
On August 25, 2006, the Tidings ran Bob Plain’s article on Michael Ruppert, “Wilderness Relocates to Venezuela.” The article provoked many comments, and a poster we’ll call Teesee was doing her best in the restricted space format to post some serious information about Ruppert and his CIA connections. The Tidings actually employs a censor to review posts before they appear online, though, and Teese was uploading faster than the censor was reading. The censor then jumbled her posts so they didn’t make sense. Soon she started to harvest a stream of nasty comments from some online bullies. Then the Tidings censor refused to post her replies to the bullies. The Tidings censor added decisive strength to one side of a debate, allowing Teese to be pelted with verbal abuse, and depriving her of the means to respond. Somewhere, a corporate halfwit was working hard damping down digital conflict. The Tidings’ fluffy reporting accentuates the positive, while the censor eradicates the offensive. Under the guise of protecting itself from liability, or readers from offensive speech, the Tidings is abusing its media power, distorting the image of our community. The censor doesn’t protect the Tidings from liability, either. Comment boards have an absolute exemption from libel and other forms of “publisher liability” for third party statements under 47 USC Sec. 230(c)(1). See Zeran v. AOL, 129 F.3d at 331. The Tidings enjoys free speech rights under the First Amendment. It should accord some to its readers.
Oh, That Community Forum...
For a couple of days in August, The Tidings opened a “Community Forum” that allowed posters to post comments about any topic, of any length, with image-upload capabilities. Neat! Teesee started posting. After two days, the Community Forum went offline, and stayed off. The AFP sent an email to Tidings Editor Scott Bolsinger asking what had happened to the Community Forum. He replied that the Forum was still up. What? Is everyone on the Bush plan? Just saying whatever’s convenient? It’s gone! Why is the Community Forum gone, Scott? Did the censor fear impending unemployment? Did it keep you up at night thinking what someone might post?
Ashland, New York
The Tidings, like 23 other newspapers, is owned by Dow Jones subsidiary Ottaway Community Newspapers. The company website says that Ottaway’s CEO John Wilcox, “has residences in Washingtonville, New York and on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.” You need those on the east coast. He has the advanced degrees, the management training, the pedigree. Perhaps he’s been to Oregon. The website quotes former CEO Jim Ottoway, Jr.: “We’re constantly walking a tightrope to avoid benign neglect of papers or, on the other hand, too much management.” Benign neglect, huh? I’ll go for the “neglect” part.