'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Blogs = Underground Newspapers
By Baron Dave Romm
Back in the 1960s, a president from Texas lied about the reasons to go to war, and the mainstream news media did a lousy job of covering issues that mattered to people. Underground Newspapers were born. Scatological, rude and often amateurish, they were also scathingly ironic, hysterically funny and sometimes covered local news better than the newspapers of record. They were born not of frustration with Vietnam, but of frustration with the news media.
My mother wrote a book about the underground press, The Open Conspiracy: What America's Angry Generation Is Saying (non-work safe cover), and I spent large chunks of my youth with stacks and stacks of these things piled up on the dining room table. I didn't read many of them, but dipped into quite a few, and helped my mother with the index of the book. (I have a box of new ones, if collectors are interested.) I also visited several of the underground newspaper offices, over the years. Aside from the smell of ink vs. the actinic smell of computers and the grimy grit of newsprint dust vs. electrical cabling, the offices of the average underground newspaper are not too different than the home office of a one-person web log. Both have the feel of a work in progress, the flotsam and jetsam of a magpie mind willing to share. Perhaps I'm romanticizing a bit; we all need heroes.
The tone of Underground Newspapers, before they became tourist attractions in the 70s, was decidedly nastier than blogs. This is a function of distance and anonymity, and a reaction to the nastiness of the McCarthy Era. You could publish a bunch of editorials and cartoons, put it on the stands in select areas, and stand back. If anyone had a complaint (and they did), they had to find the publishers to tell them. Most often the publishers were above-board and listed their office address, but it was still a hassle to write and/or visit. If an article was published under a pseudonym and the publisher didn't want to say who it was, you didn't know. After the anti-commies went after anyone their sphincter said were not so good, the Underground Press seemed like a breath of fresh air: They told the truth, as they saw it, and weren't afraid of a four-letter word or twelve.
The anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s was actually the confluence of several important movements. As the country waded deeper into the quagmire of Vietnam, more and more mainstream people came under the "Anti-War" umbrella, but the disparate elements still had their own agendas. One of the earliest and most important groups under the anti-war umbrella was the Free Speech Movement. It's easy to forget how repressive America was in the 50s and early 60s. Local postmasters would refuse to deliver mail that they didn't like, such as Playboy. Anti-porn ordinances were a hodgepodge and selectively enforced. One of my favorite Underground Newspaper stories is not on the net (that I could find), but I saw the cover in question. One newspaper (in California, iirc) published a cartoon (a cartoon!) of a man giving a woman cunnilingus, and the artist or publisher was promptly arrested. The next issue featured the same cartoon, but in connect-the-dots format. The paper urged readers to complete the drawing and send it in to the police so they, too, could get arrested. I don't know how many drawings the police got -- hundreds, apparently -- but they couldn't arrest everybody and had to let the artist go. Now that's a protest!The US has always been a bit anti-establishment from the anti-King George days preceding the Revolutionary War. The end of the Vietnam War signaled the end of the anti-war umbrella and hence the end of political power for groups that had little in common with each other except an abiding distrust of government. The groups didn't go away, and much of the anti-establishment talk of the 60s associated with liberals is now entrenched in the anti-establishment talk associated with conservatives. That's a different essay.
What we would now call political blogging arose in the late 1990s because the World Wide Web made it possible for almost anyone with a minimum of equipment and training to have as great a presence as billion dollar corporations. The first ones were on the hard right: Matt Drudge gave up trying to sling mud at Hollywood so he could sling mud at Bill Clinton. Freepers lowered the standards of message boards everywhere. Right wingers felt that the news media wasn't covering the stories that mattered to them. As it turned out, they were tools of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove and the stories that the conservatives claimed were important turned out to be lies. Starting in the early 90s (if not earlier) the mainstream media's hard shift to the right destroyed the credibility of tv news and newspapers. Bloggers, of any political persuasion, came in to fill the credibility gap. Just like Underground Newspapers, political blogs came about because the mainstream media is not doing its job.
The conservative news media doesn't practice "journalism" in any meaningful sense of the word. Most bloggers don't either, but then few claim journalistic standards, being happy to be accurate and tenacious.
I don't read many blogs outside the War Room and Bartcop-E. There's too many, and I prefer the raw links from sites such as www.democraticunderground.com (and the essential Top Ten Conservative Idiots of the week), www.smirkingchimp.com. I have my own radio program, Shockwave Radio Theater, science fiction humor at its best, on a non-profit radio station. The disadvantage: I don't get paid. The advantage: They'll let me do almost anything within FCC guidelines. I get my political licks in, but mainly I poke fun at everything. But I come from a journalism background, and know good reporting when I see it. I don't see it... and would rather get my news from reliable sources like The Daily Show and from places that link to primary source material. Sometimes, I even read the right-leaning blogs, but they manage to be scatological, rude and amateurish without being funny or accurate. At least the left-leaning blogs are funny, strive for accuracy, tenaciously report a story where the mainstream is afraid to and are, for the most part, polite.
I was flipping through the cable tv channels, and happened to come across C-SPAN2, which was broadcasting live from the YearlyKos Convention in Las Vegas. This is the first YearlyKos, which had about 1000 attendees. The media covered YearlyKoss, poorly, but at least the direct feeds were raw source material. The C-SPAN2 coverage was of the panel about Plamegate, and the first speaker was "Mr. Valerie Plame", Joe Wilson. He was great as he re-told his story; funny and informative. The panelists were smart and literate. I was very pleased to hear that people who type all day can also speak well. The camera would occasionally pan to the packed auditorium, and the convention attendees looked a lot like science fiction convention attendees; probably a lot of overlap. Indeed, if anyone out there in dailykos-land is reading this, you should really get Bruce Schneier to speak. He really wants to, and you really want him (trust me).
Like the early 60s, the 00s feature a lot of different groups who don't like what's going on who are finally assembling under an anti-war umbrella. I hope the loose coalition is enough to counter the massive slime machine of the Republicans and money-raising machine of the hate-mongering right-wingers. The net has changed politics, but not a lot. Let's hope the bloggers serve the public as well or better than the counter-culture movement over the last quagmire. Blogs have several advantages over the underground press: It's widely available to anyone with access to a computer, and all issues and links are still at hand. I predict that there will always be a place for professional journalists, if they ever reappear. Using the net to start, the tools of journalism are available to almost anyone with the time. What we now call "blogs" will change more than journalism. But they have to go through some growing pains first, as does the country.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts being reworked. Recent radio programs can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Bruce Reed: Conservatives look on the bright side of life (slate.com)
Zinsmeister's most embarrassing statement is that "the poverty level of black Americans poverty among black Americans has fallen 25 percent over the last ten years." A more accurate statement would be that African-American poverty went down every year under Clinton - falling by one-third to an all-time low - and has gone up every year under Bush. Perhaps Zinsmeister's book might have been more convincing if it hadn't come out the same week Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
David Podvin: COMPREHENSIVE MORAL SQUALOR (makethemaccountable.com)
There exists a solution to illegal immigration. Employers must be required to verify the Social Security numbers of their workers, and any employer who hires someone lacking valid identification must be imprisoned. This approach places the burden where it belongs-on the person doing the hiring. As soon as a few chairmen of high profile companies begin doing hard time other employers will be intimidated into compliance. Unable to secure employment, undocumented workers will lose their reason for being here and return home voluntarily.
Heather Findlay: Joan Jett: Don't Hate the Sinner (afterellen.com)
Truth is, Joan Jett gives a big damn about her bad reputation. That's why, since her late-seventies stint with history's first all-girl rock band the Runaways, she has always pulled a thick black curtain between her public and private realities--even if those realities seem oddly to mirror one another.
ROGER EBERT: Sir! No Sir! (3 Stars)
Quick question: When Jane Fonda was on her "FTA" concert tour during the Vietnam era, who was in her audience? The quick answer from most people would probably be, "anti-war hippies, left-wingers and draft-dodgers." The correct answer would be: American troops on active duty, many of them in uniform.
Roger Ebert: Answer Man
What I fail to understand is why global warming should be a liberal or conservative issue. It is either happening or is not, and we can either take action to try to slow it, or we cannot. That is why a great many conservatives have agreed with Gore on this.
Robert Urban: Strangers with Candy Not Entirely Sweet 9 afterelton.com)
Strangers with Candy stars Amy Sedaris as Jerri Blank, a 47-year-old loser junky whore high school freshman with lesbian tendencies. Got that? As one might guess, the movie plays off the temptation, as well as the prohibition, implied in its name. It is a brand of comedy that invites one's sense of humor to venture where it has not dared go before.
Michael Agger: The pleasure of Pixar's Cars (slate.com)
The new Pixar movie is called Cars (Disney). It's hard to think of a title that would more instantly light up the hearts of men and boys, except, perhaps, Nachos.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Late sun, again.
Here's a Complete List Of Tony Award Winners
No new flags.
International TV Misses Launch
Al-Jazeera
The English-language Al-Jazeera International TV network faces enough hurdles to make Olympic champion Edwin Moses tremble.
It has missed its target launch date and won't set another, has no public commitments by anyone to show it in the United States, saw its closest competitor beat it to the market and is the target of a pressure campaign by a group hoping it never airs here.
Al-Jazeera International's operators are nonetheless pressing forward with plans to create a worldwide news operation, despite a name that immediately raises hackles in the West.
Its most prominent U.S. hire, former ABC newsman Dave Marash, said AJI wants to do the kind of reporting that he did on "Nightline" with Ted Koppel. Well-known British broadcaster David Frost has also signed on.
Al-Jazeera
Tops Survey
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh has been voted the nation's favorite animal character in a new survey, heading a list dominated by iconic bears like Paddington and Rupert.
Pooh, created by A.A. Milne, won 51 percent of the vote in the survey, against Paddington's 41 percent.
The Jungle Book's Baloo the bear was third with 32 percent, just one point ahead of Black Beauty and two ahead of Rupert in fifth.
Conducted among 1,191 adults, it gave Ashlan the lion from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" 30 percent along with Rupert, Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit 28 percent and Toad from "The Wind in the Willows" 27 percent.
Winnie the Pooh
Renews Touchstone Deal
John Gray
"Ghost Whisperer" creator John Gray has inked a new two-year deal with Touchstone Television to continue as executive producer and showrunner on the CBS series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
He also will continue to write and direct episodes of the supernatural drama from Touchstone TV and CBS Paramount Network TV, which is returning for a second season in the fall.
Gray wrote and directed the pilot as well as the two-part first-season finale. He also will write and direct the two-hour second-season opener as well as two or three more episodes next season.
John Gray
33rd Annual
Student Academy Awards
Receiving medals instead of statuettes, 13 young filmmakers were honored Saturday for their short films at the 33rd annual Student Academy Awards.
Director Kevin Smith and actress Nia Vardalos were among the presenters at the ceremony at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The awards were presented in four categories to students from nine colleges and universities by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars every year.
Student Academy Awards
Altered Version Set For China
'M:I-3'
"Mission: Impossible III" has been cleared for a July 18 opening in China after negotiations ended with agreements to make some cuts to the movie, some of which are understood to involve scenes of violence.
"M:I-3," which has grossed about $192 million outside the United States since its May 5 release, was submitted in mid-April for approval in Beijing, as is standard procedure in China. It promptly met with complaints from communist censors about scenes of violence and shots depicting parts of Shanghai as a slum.
Yuan Wenqiang, deputy manager of the import-export arm of state-run industry giant China Film Group Corp., confirmed here that "M:I-3" would be released in mid-July, after a seasonal summer blackout of foreign films ends. This blackout runs through July 11.
'M:I-3'
Singer Beaten In NYC
Kevin Aviance
A singer whose songs have topped the Billboard dance chart was attacked by a group yelling anti-gay slurs, and four people were arrested on hate-crime charges, police and his publicist said.
Kevin Aviance, 38, underwent surgery for a broken jaw after the attack Saturday, said his publicist, Len Evans. Police said the singer, whose song "Alive" hit the top of the chart in 2002, was in stable condition.
A group of six or seven men attacked Aviance early Saturday, and passers-by did not stop to help as they threw objects at him, Evans said.
Kevin Aviance
3rd Annual Ciclonudista
Nude Cyclists
Hundreds of nude cyclists pedalled around Spanish cities on Saturday to protest against car-clogged streets and demand greater respect for pollution-free transport.
With slogans like "one car less" and "bio methanol" painted on their backs, the naked cyclists staged Spain's third annual Ciclonudista or "Nudecycle" in Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona.
The protest was part of world-wide naked bike riding events on Saturday across Europe, North America and South America.
Nude Cyclists
Blasts Feds
Anthony Pellicano
An imprisoned private investigator accused of eavesdropping on Hollywood celebrities called the federal wiretapping case against him bogus and reiterated a promise that he would not testify against his former clients.
Anthony Pellicano spoke via telephone to the Los Angeles Times in his first interview since he was indicted by a grand jury in February. He has pleaded not guilty to more than 100 counts and is awaiting trial on charges of wiretapping such stars as Sylvester Stallone and paying two police officers to run names, including comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, through a government database.
Fourteen people, including Pellicano, have been charged with various counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy. Six people have pleaded guilty, including "Die Hard" director John McTiernan, for making false statements to an FBI agent, and former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, who admitted hiring Pellicano to wiretap the phone of his former girlfriend.
Anthony Pellicano
Sun Valley Cashing In
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway arrived at the recently opened Sun Valley Lodge in 1939 as one of a string of celebrities invited there in hope of attracting more tourists.
Nearly 70 years later - and 45 years after the Nobel Prize winner's death in this central Idaho mountain town - the resort area is still cashing in.
Everyone from merchandisers to hoteliers have found a way to make money from him: signed first editions of his novels are being sold for five figures; a dinner at his former home costs $1,000 a plate; and the town where he killed himself holds a Hemingway festival during the traditionally slow fall season, transforming one of the country's most recognizable writers into Papa the Pitchman.
Ernest Hemingway
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