DeLay: Could we change the subject?

America's Most Wanted Pest Exterminator, floating toward the career equivalent of Niagara Falls, has spent the last few weeks thrashing about for something, anything to distract the American Idol electorate from his numerous ethical dilemmas. Sadly, a woman in a vegetative state came to his rescue, and La Cucaracha Grande latched on to her as if she was a life ring. Of course it took about thirty seconds for his hypocrisy to bubble up again:

ABC News obtained GOP talking points explaining why they should intervene in the Schiavo case. Among them, that the "pro-life base will be excited", and that it is a 'great political issue .'

-- ABC News

"I don't know where those talking points come from, and I think they're disgusting."

-- Tom DeLay, asked about the talking points.

I know where they come from, Tom. Outta your ass.

Now would be a great time for Howard Dean to remind everyone that the Party of Intrusion has discovered a new portal into your private life.

Death of a thousand cuts

As a result of reading this article and learning that my local energy provider had contributed to La Cucaracha Grande's legal defense fund, I wrote the following e-mail to the directors of investor relations at Reliant Energy, Inc., this morning and thought I'd share it with all of you:

Dear Ms. Slavin and Mr. Barber:

I cancelled my Reliant Energy consumer electric service this morning, and on its quarterly anniversary at the end of this month, I will be trading out of my mutual fund that holds Reliant stock, and I thought it would be important to let you know why I made those decisions.

I learned yesterday that Reliant had made a contribution to Tom DeLay’s legal defense fund. As a customer and stockholder (albeit one of the smallest), and despite your spokesperson Pat Hammond’s comments that new Reliant executive management will be “conducting its business with integrity and putting some of the matters from the past behind”, I find that decision to be untenable as regards continuing my business with your company.

It’s not important that you respond, as my choices have and will be finalised, but you might consider giving my concerns a wider audience with those who will be responsible for making political contributions on behalf of Reliant Energy, Inc. in the future.

Regards,

(me)

And just now I found this:

"If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred, and it's getting up there," said a Republican political consultant close to key lawmakers. "The situation is negatively fluid right now for the guy. You start hitting arteries, it only takes a couple." The consultant, who at times has been a DeLay ally, spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he could not be candid otherwise.

That drip, drip, drip you're hearing?

It's blood.

Shine the light

Better late than never to acknowledge today's efforts to advance open government.

Though Texas has some of the toughest open records laws in the nation, there are still those who would prefer to conduct the government's business in the shadows. And though the US is a model for the rest of the world, it bears repeating that the Bush administration and their lickspittles operating the Mighty Wurlitzer would rather have us moving in the wrong direction.

And from a purely bloggist's viewpoint, as long as there are incoherent ramblings, it's a good thing we can bear left to the nearest oasis.

And perhaps sometime in the not-so-distant future, if we're persistent and vigilant, a new day will dawn and Robert Novakula will be caught scrambling too late back into his coffin and spontaneously combust.

Blogging vs. Journalism

Bloggers vs. journalists is over, says Jay Rosen:

And so we know they're journalism-- sometimes. They're even capable, at times, and perhaps only in special circumstances, of beating Big Journalism at its own game. ... The question now isn't whether blogs can be journalism. They can be, sometimes. It isn't whether bloggers "are" journalists. They apparently are, sometimes. We have to ask different questions now because events have moved the story forward. By "events" I mean things on the surface we can see ... and things underneath that we have yet to discern.

I have been an observer and critic of the American press for 19 years. In that stretch there has never been a time so unsettled. More is up for grabs than has ever been up for grabs since I started my watch. ... For this is an exciting time in journalism. Part of the reason is the extension of "the press" to the people we have traditionally called the public.

By the press I mean the public service franchise in journalism, where the writers and do-ers of it actually are. That press has shifted social location. Much of it is still based in The Media (a business) and will be for some time, but some is in nonprofits, and some of the franchise ("the press") is now in public hands because of the Web, the weblog and other forms of citizen media. Naturally our ideas about it are going to change. The franchise is being enlarged.

I was invited to participate in a local discussion of this very topic next week; unfortunately I'll be out of town. But the conversation has been going on, in various contexts, for quite awhile.

About twenty years ago the CEO of a large media company I worked for referred to it as "bypass". He used the word to refer to the ability of advertisers to reach their consumers without going through the middleman; that being the magazines and newspapers his company published and the television stations and media production companies who also relied on advertising for their livelihood. He was -- is -- a prescient man, but he never foresaw the impact of the Web on his newsrooms.

And so as the definition of media transmogrifies -- I selected that word specifically as a tip of the hat to Jeff Gannon and Talon News -- some still have questions about our official uniforms.

That judge needs to be reminded that pajamas are actually the latest in courtroom attire.

Is it still impolite to call it fascism?

The New York Times has a lengthy expose' on the Bush administration's extensive use of taxpayer-financed propaganda to advance its agenda.

As if FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Robert Novak, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Neil Boortz, NewsMax, Townhall, the Weekly Standard, the Washington Times, and the legions of local talk radio bloviators across the country weren't getting the job done.

Lots to talk about

This is the first of a handful of posts today on the sea changes buffeting our media. The Online Coaliton has written a letter to the Federal Election Commission over possible regulation of blogs and websites. You should read the letter and add your name.

http://www.onlinecoalition.com