For the first time since I arrived on the west coast Saturday it is not raining. Tomorrow's adventure will be keeping Andrew company for 5 hours while he's plugged into some bizarre machines for chemotherapy, that should be entertaining.

The open tabs in firefox today seem to have a legal theme.

Judge Orders Wisconsin Capitol Re-Opened
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/judge-orders-wisconsin-capito...

Democrats Call for Probe Into Chamber's Shady Plot to Sabotage Progressive Organizations
http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150084/democrats_call_for_probe_into_ch...

Louisiana’s Anti-sodomy Laws Charge Sex Workers as Sex Offenders
http://shogarth.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/eight-years-after-lawrence-sodo...

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Today's photos:

 
 

Between the hotel I'm staying at and Terry's place (Andrew's base in Portland these days) is an amazing sight. Just the giant Paul Bunyan statue would be surreal enough, but the fact that he's staring off across the road at a strip club (the Dancin' Bear Bare) just seems to say "America." (two more shots of Paul can be found by clicking Read More below)

Another day of hanging with Andrew, having fun and trying our best to ignore the heavy reality of his diagnosis. We figured it would be fun to go see the King's Speech, which apparently some influential people decided was the best movie of the year. It did not suck, but come on folks -- the world is about to fall apart, fascism was on the rise and we're supposed to ignore all that and feel happy that the inbred bastard managed to get through a sentence? blah!

Here in Oregon, not much to say. Today's photos are of the smoking area in front of JFK terminal 7 and random crap in Portland.

I probably won't have time to post anything if I don't do it now, before heading to the airport.

If I was not headed out of town, I'd be at the protest in support of Planned Parenthood.

so, here's a link and a photo. see you soon from the west coast.

The G.O.P.’s Abandoned Babies
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/opinion/26blow.html
Republicans need to figure out where they stand on children’s welfare. They can’t be “pro-life” when the “child” is in the womb but indifferent when it’s in the world.
Of the 33 countries that the International Monetary Fund describes as “advanced economies,” the United States now has the highest infant mortality rate according to data from the World Bank. It took us decades to arrive at this dubious distinction. In 1960, we were 15th. In 1980, we were 13th. And, in 2000, we were 2nd.

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Dear Fox, Advocacy Journalism is about having a position and being up-front about it, not about intentionally pushing misinformation.

Seriously, I'm of the opinion that no publication or news source is actually objective. All editors select stories and their placement based on their world-view. Editorial viewpoint is not a bad thing. What you decide to report on or print and how you present the relationship between stories provides larger context. Who you decide to quote and even in what order will always give insight into which side of a political issue the reporter, editor or publication supports.

I've worked for advocacy publications, they have all been very clear that they had an opinion; they have all strived to report their opinion and ground that in fact. Lying is not an option for journalists. That is as long as you're not Fox News.

Fox went to court essentially to protect its "right" to pressure reporters to report information they knew was not accurate in order to bolster their political agenda. That is not journalism.

The latest news today is that Fox intentionally reported misinformation in order to protect Rudolf Giuliani's political aspirations.

That reminded me of how Giuliani forced Time Warner to carry Fox news to begin with.

The Giuliani administration stepped up the pressure yesterday in its effort to persuade Time Warner to carry Rupert Murdoch's new 24-hour cable news channel in New York City, suggesting that a refusal by Time Warner could influence a city panel that will be reviewing the company's lucrative cable franchises next week.

The veiled warning came after Time Warner on Thursday rebuffed a request by the administration to put Mr. Murdoch's Fox News Channel temporarily on one of the five public-access cable stations controlled by the city. ...

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that he was trying to help Mr. Murdoch because if the new 24-hour news channel, which is based in Manhattan, was not shown in much of the city, it might fail, threatening hundreds of jobs. ''This is the only cable network like this that is actually headquartered in New York City, so that is important to us,'' he said.

I had a point in mind when I started writing this, but it's late and I have to finish packing. I'll pick this up another time.

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today's photo