Daily Archives: December 19, 2006

A Response to Odum’s When Traditional Media Define the Left and the “Ultra-Left”

For starters, I believe Odum does a great job of picking up immediately on the most interesting, noteworthy and objectionable elements from Darren Allen’s piece.  There is no doubt that the continual rightward stretch of the spectrum of political discourse in this country is horrific at best.  From comparing the Swift Boat Veterans to MoveOn and labeling Clinton as “liberal” Odum is right on the mark about the audacious re-defining of political terms that the media enables and endorses, if it doesn’t outright produce.

And, whereas I would disagree that most of the media is actually politically left (as we shall see bellow), I do agree entirely that most of them are relatively liberal, which Odum seems right in his conclusions on, including how it creates for a very curious and complicated political-media environment.

But towards those same ends, lets take a look at where this piece starts to look like it’s replicating Allen’s tactics rather than taking a stance against such things:

For starters, I believe Odum does a great job of picking up immediately on the most interesting, noteworthy and objectionable elements from Darren Allen’s piece.  There is no doubt that the continual rightward stretch of the spectrum of political discourse in this country is horrific at best.  From comparing the Swift Boat Veterans to MoveOn and labeling Clinton as “liberal” Odum is right on the mark about the audacious re-defining of political terms that the media enables and endorses, if it doesn’t outright produce.

And, whereas I would disagree that most of the media is actually politically left (as we shall see bellow), I do agree entirely that most of them are relatively liberal, which Odum seems right in his conclusions on, including how it creates for a very curious and complicated political-media environment.

But towards those same ends, lets take a look at where this piece starts to look like it’s replicating Allen’s tactics rather than taking a stance against such things:

In the very beginning, it’s pointed out that “‘ultra-left’ is clearly beyond simply `left'” which is true enough, except that neither is actually defined.  While some things can easily be assumed to be (near) universally understood by the reader, these terms don’t seem to lend themselves to that trait- especially given that this confusion of what “left” entails is essentially the premise of Odum’s article.  In other words, I know my grandfather considers unemployment checks from the government a “crazy scheme of the left” whereas I do not consider any action taken by a capitalist State to be outside of the far right, other than what is occasionally leaning towards the left.  A French journalist recently covering Bernie Sander’s election to the Senate said something to the effect of “in France, his politics would be considered very mainstream; certainly not on the right but by no means on the far left” (I’m sorry that my internet search skills keep me from actually finding a direct quote or a link; I assume anyone who doubts me will be quick to fact check on their own).  Where Odum’s piece really confuses me is where he really seems to agree with the self-serving statements that brush aside those whom this piece finds politically distasteful, i.e., “radicals” who are “not to be trusted and have little or nothing to do with everyday political dialogue.”  It would seem that the actuality of this “left” that we’re talking about is being defined in the same manner by both Allen and Odum, with only the slightest of differences.  Perhaps both should take a quick trip to Europe, where they might get a slightly broader understanding of “left” that is far more international and historical in scope than anything spoken in either the traditional U.S. media or this website.

I take part in this forum precisely because I have a very real interest in the everyday political dialogue of Vermont, and I assure you, I fall in your (and many other’s) definition of “ultra-left”; so much so that there are those that call my views “post-left” (so far left I’m right! ;-}).

And while I know that Odum was only listing examples that came from a google search, I do have to point out that “Marxism” and “anarchism” could, with little debate, find themselves being called “far-left”.  However, for those few who actually study the politic that carries that dubious distinction, Lenin is about as deserving of the title as Clinton.  Lenin orchestrated horrific slaughters of literally millions of people, often by wretched means such as cutting off the food supply to vast regions where he had little support, which hardly seems populist and “left” to me.  Regardless of the incredibly successful efforts by both capitalist and Marxist interests to paint the Soviet Union as such, neither Lenin, nor the Soviet Union, came anywhere near being a communist state for the Russians.  Lenin and the USSR were unquestionably nothing more than a State-run capitalist dictatorship, as with North Korea, China, and Cuba today.

Perhaps these points could be ignored by Odum’s search for the “real spectrum of American discourse”- it’s irrelevant what France calls left or right, only the major pockets of political opinion here, non?  But how could this be? The whole point of the piece is that Odum objects to the narrowing definitions of the political spectrum.  If so, then aren’t we better served with the broadest of spectrums, so that every idea for how best to interact as a social species can be discussed and debated based on merit?  Should we demand the spectrum be broadened so as to place our own opinions somewhere other than on the undesirable fringes, but use those same fringes as proof itself that those we disagree with are wrong, in fact “crazy”?

Which isn’t meant to be some sort of proof that I’m not crazy, but there’s no way to deduce from that that my ideas are as well.

And while Odum seems to champion some sort of idea of “progressive” values, I wonder if he recognizes the history of such demands.  There was, after all, an incredibly fruitful and successful Progressive Era in this country several generations ago.  Back then, when they fought for such crazy ideas as public education for every child, child labor laws, health care, decent wages, a minimum wage, worker’s comp, safety standards on the job, etc, guess who were the social heroes, the leaders who played no small part in helping to organize the working class so that we were capable of accomplishing such victories? Those “radical, crazy, not to be trusted and have little or nothing to do with everyday political dialogue” “ultra-leftists” such as Emma Goldman, “Big Bill” Haywood, and Mother Jones.  A visit to Karen and her husband (who’s name I always forget) at the Aldrich Library in Barre will also provide some great stories about the not-so-small part that Vermonter’s, particularly those from Barre, played during the Progressive Era.  The “conservatives” of those progressive movements were often “merely” Marxists, to say nothing of the anarchists and communists, who despite not being worth our trust, managed to get child slavery, I mean labor, outlawed and established the 40 hour work week.  In fact, with the 40 hour work week increasingly abused by our present-day economic realities, perhaps we should start bringing some of those untrustable, “outside-the-acceptable-range-of-debate” ultra-leftists back into the conversation so that we can re-establish our human right to not labor-away our lives with no time to enjoy the fruits of our toils. 

Finally, my least favorite liberal myth, that of the “objective” media.  There never has and never will be such a thing, and thankfully so.  We’re probably all aware of the continual consolidation of the media, but lets not forget that this consolidation began long before Bush or even Nixon.  A hundred years ago there were often dozens of different newspapers in any given city; New York City alone had something like 30 at one point.  And each and every one was very clear about the politic that it espoused and the political slant of the reporting that was being done.  In this, a very broad spectrum was covered and you consumed the media knowing what the angle was, free to pick and choose as you saw fit.  It is a rare and in fact very sterile story that reads entirely factual, like a lab report, with no human inference.  And yes, sometimes a story is objective and better for it, but seldom in political matters.  Hunter S. Thompson would remind us that the journalist is in fact a character in the story he or she is reporting, and therefore the only honest thing to do would be to let that be known explicitly to the reader.  I have countless friends who may scoff at my continual consumption of sometimes dubious media (from Fox News, CNN, NPR, NY Times, that really obnoxious True North Radio on WDEV that makes me NUTS but for some reason I listen to almost every day, the Burlington Free Press, etc) but I have a very good understanding of where each of them are coming from, who their target is, and what their agenda may or may not be, so I can understand so much more than if I were to simply accept that some (or all) of these media sources were reporting in an objective, “fair and balanced” way.  The same holds true for when I listen to Democracy Now! or read the magazine Northeastern Anarchist; I understand that these media are providing me with an opinion that is shaped by their politic, and I can take what I may from them because I know and understand their slant, not because they’re promising me that they are objective and neutral, like the form my doctor fills out when I get a check-up.

One last note, which is that, OK, this diary clearly cements me as the token “ultra-left” pinko-commie on this site.  I’m fine with that.  I am here because I find the opinions and stories interesting, informative, and valuable.  I do not mean to be attacking Odum as a person here in this diary and I hope no one takes it as such; I don’t even know Odum, but from what he posts on GMD I know that I sometimes agree and sometimes don’t, BUT, and more importantly, Odum is clearly a thoughtful, well-meaning, rational person, which seems to me far more important than political agreement.  Cheers.

In Memoriam: Rep. Clint Martin

( – promoted by odum)

If you haven’t yet heard, Representative Clint Martin (D-Springfield) passed away. This is from PoliticsVT’s post on his passing:

Martin was the director of the parks & recreation department in Springfield, and was dedicated to fitness, healthy living and children’s issues.

Speaker of the House Gaye Symington (D-Jericho) said that his death was a “loss for Springfield, a loss for Vermont and a loss for the House.”

Martin was most noted for being a thoughtful legislator and a dry sense of humor that put people at ease when it came down to tough negotiations. He was well liked on both sides of the aisle, in this regard.

Our thoughts go out to Rep. Martin’s family and friends.

An Open Letter To My Friends At The Vermont Press Corps

I like you guys (and gals). Most of you are hard working, decent and fair reporters. And those of you that are not, well, you print outrageous things that make me laugh and so I consider us even.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the 2006 election is behind us. There were winners. There were losers. And there were casualties who are just now trying to get back into the game. God bless all of them.

I think that we can all agree that the Iraq War was the deciding topic of the Vermont U.S. House Race. The candidate that won the election, Peter Welch, promised to take America in a “new direction in Iraq” and “hold President Bush accountable”.

Not surprisingly, you and your brethren seemed to like writing about the Iraq War. No question was too small and no candidate answer too complete to remove the topic from your queue.

My personal favorite were questions that dealt in hypothetical hypotheticals. Such as: “Candidate X, if you knew what you know today and if you were a Member of Congress when the vote to authorize the President to go to war was taken, how would you have voted?”

No doubt valuable questions from the valued Fourth Estate.

My purpose with this tongue-in-cheek open letter is not to pick a fight with you. You buy your ink by the barrel, have teams of corporate lawyers just waiting to pounce and I have more than enough skeletons in my closet that I would like to see stay there thank you very much.

My purpose of this letter is to ask a simple question of you. Three days ago it became public that President Bush is planning on sending between twenty and thirty thousand more American troops into Iraq and I want to know what does our Vermont delegation think about this?

What does the anti-war candidate Peter Welch, a man who just today had two large news articles and one large editorial discussing the freshman’s take on the DC housing market, have to say about this?

Twenty to thirty thousand more troops? Not only is this a radical development in the Iraq War as a whole, but is this the “new direction” that Peter promised the voters?

We won’t know until you ask him and write about it.

Look, its hard for me to. Its hard for me to believe that one of our Senators is Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. One of our Senators was labeled by USA Today as “one of the most important members of the Senate”. And our freshman Congressman is on the Rules Committee, which is as inside-the-beltway as you can get.

All three are “shot callers”. Our delegation has the power to raise a big stink over the current troop increase the President is calling for if they so choose.

Help our delegation stay honest. You don’t have to go back to the hypothetical hypotheticals. But less comment on the real estate market and more comment on how our elected officials are keeping their campaign promises would be appreciated.

Many thanks and merry Christmas!

LGF Cowards attack Rosemarie…and ME!

Also available at Daily Kos
The chickenshits at Lowlife Gutless Fascists have crossed a line with me.
They have attacked a dear friend of mine.
Guess what: They have angered this kestrel.
My talons are out, and I am on the wing.

Live Game Feeding below the fold.

UPDATE: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Rosemarie Jackowski is an advocacy journalist living in Vermont. On March 20, 2003, her 66th birthday, she was arrested for participating in a peaceful protest against the war.

Again, I want to thank the Daily Kos community for the AWESOME response to this diary. Rosemarie is getting a lot of press right now.

I’ll be very direct: I would take a bullet for this lady. I love her to death. She is a doll.

I remember once, she and I were having a semi-heated discussion in email about He Who Must Not Be Named.

Suddenly in my email, I found a picture done in MS Paint of a small cottage on the seashore with gulls wheeling in a cloud-laced sky overhead.

The note accompanying it said, “While debating you, I did this to calm you down.”

It worked.

Maybe she oughta send me another painting now, because I am wicked pissed.
A hat tip to Karmafish for alerting me to this situation.

AP is now covering Rosemarie’s story, and among the attention the coverage has attracted are bloggers who claim fealty to the party of family values and civility, of high-handed morality and civil discourse.

Hypocritical bastards.

I wll make no pretenses here. I have no interest whatsoever in being civil to these dirtbags.

Fuck them.

NOTE:The LGF comments reproduced below are VILE. I have been occasionally peeking in on the right-wing blogs for a while now, but some of this stuff is as bad as I’ve seen it get. Some of it is on an outrage level on par with what you’d find on the WN sites. There are also some Iraq war photos in here that some may not wish to view. If this is something you don’t want to deal with, scroll rapidly down to the picture of the sunrise, or use your browser’s text finder and search out the phrase, “very big yawn” and it will carry you past this material.

 

Let us begin.

#3  MandyManners  12/18/2006 09:44AM PST

Where’s a reindeer? Maybe we can get her run over by one.

Ar ar ar. So funny I forgot to laugh.

#10  rcris5  12/18/2006 09:48AM PST

Vermont, great white bastion…no blacks, browns and certainly no Jooos allowed.

(here I redacted my narration from last night….)

12  republic  12/18/2006 09:48AM PST

Thank goodness she is a “former school teacher”, although there are plenty of moonbats still to go around.

What the leftist kook moonbats are trying to teach my daughters, in their school, with absolutely no luck, I might add, is beyond me.

This comment speaks for itself.

#14  goodbye_natalie  12/18/2006 09:48AM PST

Nothing that a good Peterbilt couldn’t overcome…treat the loony tune like Wily Coyote and watch the moonbats howl.

#25  troonbop  12/18/2006 09:51AM PST

I wish that retired navy guy could figure out a moe dignified way to “get some”. Sure she’s a younger woman, but she’ll probably just get him to spring for bail and then she’ll break his heart.
Yes, I am a lonely man with issues.

I see why.

#18  blutonazi98  12/18/2006 09:49AM PST

i think the 73 year old captain is trying to get into a pair of 69 year old pants

Andrew Schoerke. Military veteran and a married man. His wife’s name is Nancy.
I guess this asshole is doing his best to live up to his screen name – a bully and a fascist.

#24  FrogMarch  12/18/2006 09:50AM PST

Leftists like to hide behind Grandma and small children.

Cindy is just middle-aged. Bye cindy.

I’m not hiding behind anyone.

#35  locutus  12/18/2006 09:56AM PST

 

She’s not a loony toon by any means, said Andrew Schoerke, 73, a retired U.S. Navy captain who was arrested with her.

Of course, they have to stand her up against a retired Navy captain so they can imply “see, even this hard-boiled old guy who still wears a crew-cut and salutes the American flag every morning agrees with the Peace Grandma.” It gives her instant “street-cred” with every veteran, past, present or future.

Rosemarie Jackowski is a retired Air Force officer. I’m so sorry if that fact that indicates she has all the cred she needs on her own shoots down your line of “reasoning”.

If you and your ilk are capable of anything resembling “reasoning.” Which I doubt.

#36  Colorado Mike  12/18/2006 09:58AM PST

Shows the difference between my home town in Colo and Vermont. We had a moon bat protest here at a local park (near a major throughfare on the east side of town) They were told by the cops to not even step into the street (or think about blocking traffic) One of them did and the cops teargassed the whole lot… Heh, heh, heh.

I’m going to stop interjecting comments of my own here. I might say something I’ll regret later.

(Note from morning pre-posting review: And I wasn’t kidding. I read some of my own stuff and I was scared of me.)

“These people are fucking sick…” – Lady Kestrel

#50  Terp Mole  12/18/2006 10:11AM PST

Lex-Nex search

  Associated Press State & Local Wire
  April 13, 1999
  Bennington women complaining about child support system

  Several Bennington County women are complaining the state child support office has turned itself into a “deadbeat dad protection agency” that is ignoring their needs.
  —–
  The agency has “morphed itself into a deadbeat dad protection agency,” said Rosemarie Jackowski who said she was owed nearly $250,000 in back child support for her now 30-year-old daughter.

Shakedown granny.

#54  goodbye_natalie  12/18/2006 10:17AM PST

Where does the left dreg up these fossils? So what, we’ve got crazy Aunt Rosemarie out dancing the waltz in the middle of the street holding a sign? Probably looks like a scene out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Call out the psychiatric clinic and get the old woman off the streets before she hurts herself.

I know I said I wasn’t gonna interject anymore, but:

#58  TotallySirius  12/18/2006 10:20AM PST

Well,one problem is that there isn’t jack shit to do in Vermont….ever hear any stories about the Burlington nightlife?

The boredom causes dain bramage.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You don’t get out much yourself, do you? hehehehehehehehe

74  shortboard surfer  12/18/2006 11:26AM PST

Will she toss a fully-loaded Depends over the White House fence?

Okay. I have to stop. I cannot read this shit anymore:

99  Terp Mole  12/18/2006 12:25PM PST

 

Mandy(lacks)Manners @ #80: WTF? Do you actually think a father should just get to walk away no matter how long after the CS is owed?

Since when did Vermont taxpayers become liable for $250K (nice round number that) for this peacenik spreading her hippie legs in 1969?

Maybe she should find the trucker or carney who knocked her up and take him to court.

Let me digress for a second and share with you something Mudcat Saunders told me, and he also told me I could quote him on this:

I hate doing the fucking internet. Once in a while I’ll get a good idea from some blog that somebody sends me, but I despise the fact that a (coward) can go on line, say some shit about you, use some bullshit name, and you can’t find him to kick his ass. MUDCAT


That said, some of these people seem to think Rosemarie has a problem.

They are correct. Rosemarie indeed has a problem.
Let me show you what Rosemarie’s problem is.

Rosemarie’s problem is this:

And this:

Come to think of it, I myself have a problem with this:

And this:

Did my government do this?

And what of this?

At this point, the anger is getting the better of me. It is now 9:27 pm Eastern, Monday, 18 December 2006.
I am going to stop writing now. I will finish this diary when I get up in the morning, and will post it after I get my kids on the school bus. But before I close for the night, I want to share with you the third of three emails I sent to the LGF admins today:

Hey, what’s wrong with you cowardly little punks? Why haven’t you responded to me?
(REDACTED)
Cowards (REDACTED) Every one of you.
And you’ll prove that by not responding to this.
Pshaw.
Hey, how’d the election work out for you?
Asswipes.

Good night. (and good luck…)

(very big yawn)

Okay, I’m back.
First thing I’m going to do is some heavy review and redactions on what I wrote, in beer-fueled anger, last night. Then, I’m going to ask for your help.
Rosemarie has not, as of this writing, found an attorney.
Some additional background and commentary on this matter can be found here. (hat tip: vtpeace)
A legal defense fund has been established, and is being jointly administered in Bennington by Nancy Schoerke and kossack vtpeace. Details are here, in the comment thread.
A blog for discussion of this issue and updates relevant to the situation has been created, and can be found here.
Another thing we’d like to do is hand-deliver a big old stack of letters to Governor Douglas’ office in Montpelier, asking him to pardon or grant clemency to Rosemarie.
He will probably refuse, but we can ask. The boots are on the ground to get this done. Please, write a letter, enclose a check if you can, and send it to the address in the comment thread linked above. vtpeace is working on getting paypal going, but she’s having trouple with it and I can’t help her. If anyone’s conversant with that, she could use some assistance.
If you’d like to post your letter in the comment thread, please do so. That would be a great thing.
All forms of assistance – from financial to moral support to prayers – are appreciated, and thank you.

Randy Brock to Head BISCHA?

Was just “tipped” that Randy Brock, Vermont’s current (until the recount against Tom Salmon is official) State Auditor, is being looked at to head BISCHA.

I don’t know Brock personally but he has a sterling reputation as a hardworking and able public servant. I think we would all be glad to see him stay in public service if he were to lose to Salmon.

Speaking of Salmon, I like Salmon. I’ve liked him ever since I saw him standing by himself on a Burlington street corner waving a “Salmon for Auditor” sign as the 5pm September traffic rolled by. The guy wanted to win. Bad. Now it looks like he has.

Good for him.