How I got hooked on a soap and how it relates to FCC media consolidation plans

Confessions of a serial Soap Opera Addict

I lived in South Africa (RSA) at the end of the Apartheid era (88 to 91). In fact, when I first moved to RSA, only 11 hours of TV was available for the entire week. And, all of the TV network programming was handled by the government controlled media company called SABC.

I was rather skeptical of any news I read in RSA as it was all controlled by an Apartheid-led government. I was as an American leaving in a society that had no "freedom of the press". Later around 1990 - 1991, SABC did allow the live broadcasting of CNN one hour a day. I used to tape this hour of news to watch. It was during one of the Soweto uprisings and CNN was a doing a live report with photos of military abuses. SABC immediately cut that feed and put in a still photo of an SABC journalist saying "and now live from Soweto SABC is reporting yada yada".

With this FCC Media Consolidation act - this will become our reality in America. P.W. Botha - the last "apartheid dictator" of RSA would come on TV drunk. I thought those "Presidential" speeches were a joke - because the man was so obviously a "wet brain". Fast forward 15 years in USA and the food for fodder Bush offers Jon Stewart for the Daily Show. RSA also had something called "Information Freedom act". I was preparing a presentation as a keynote speaker at a SAPICS conference, I needed to get back copies of the Economist. I had to put in a formal request to Pretoria to get a six month old copy of the Economist to be mailed to me in RSA! When I received the copy of the Economist - pages had been removed at the discretion of the South African government censorship.

Final connection of the B&B and being in a "media blackout" country. With a government controlled media and still living in a relative healthy democracy called America in the late 80's, I was hungry for any type of non biased programming that was available. SABC chose the Bold and the Beautiful soap opera to take up 1.5 hours of the 11 available TV hours programming weekly. Talk about the dumbing down of your citizens!

It was not until I returned to the states that I realized that the B&B shown in RSA was 5 years behind. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had missed five years of libido teasing story lines! How did I fill myself in on those years? I moved to Italia for a year contract & viola - in Italia the B&B programming was only year year behind. So I got to fill myself in on 4 years of missed story lines and practice Italian at the same time. If you are passing judgment on me right now - may I remind you in the last couple of years our media has been obsessed with OJ Simpson, Chandra Levy, Monica Lewinsky, Anna Nicole Smith, etc.

One additional point I might add to Mr. Moyers' great program at the end, is that the LOCAL newspaper market (along with the Hispanic market) is the largest ad growth market in the industry.

PBS two relevant blogs by Rick Karr on Media Consolidation:

Media Consolidation: A primer on making your opinion heard blog: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2007/11/media_consolidation_a_primer_o_1.html#more

The Net @ Risk update Blog http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2007/11/the_net_risk_update_1.html

Media Ownership Act of 2007 U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) have introduced legislation to halt the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) "fast march" toward easing media ownership rules.

S.2332 : A bill to promote transparency in the adoption of new media ownership rules by the Federal Communications Commission, and to establish an independent panel to make recommendations on how to increase the representation of women and minorities in broadcast media ownership.

Committees: Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Cosponsors (11) Sen Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [DE] - 11/8/2007 Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] - 11/8/2007 Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] - 11/8/2007 Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 11/13/2007 Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] - 11/8/2007 Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 11/8/2007 Sen Lott, Trent [MS] - 11/8/2007 Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] - 11/8/2007 Sen Obama, Barack [IL] - 11/8/2007 Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] - 11/8/2007 Sen Tester, Jon [MT] - 11/14/2007
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:41:./temp/~bdLIrN:@@@P|/bss/d110query.html|

Bill Moyers: Media Consolidation Program Nov 16th

What does it look like through the eyes of Mercenaries to shoot at innocent Iraqis?

Aegis Defense Services shooting at innocent people for sport in Iraq

This is the BRITISH private firm. Go to the end of the vid and you will see a car coming up behind the Aegis evil-mobile that stops in the highway when they realize what is happening.

Department of Defense security contractors are coordinated through a single, DoD entity, the US Regional Coordination Offices. Being a military government agency in the Bush Administrataion, the DOD promptly outsourced "the coordination" responsibilities through a recently renewed $475 million contract to the British firm Aegis which is run by the infamous mercenary, Tim Spicer (no relation to the Spice Girls). It also includes intelligence services and security services for the Army Corps of Engineers.

What does it look like through the eyes of Mercenaries to shoot at innocent Iraqis?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3wh2HF03qYs

Great article just posted on the turf wars between Pentagon & CIA on who owns the mercenaries in Iraq!

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/pentagon-vs-cia.html

Blackwater - Too much bang for the buck

I wish I could claim to be the author of that great quote. But I am not. I just saw it on an incredible vid - linked below.

Protestors at Blackwater Worldwide had the guts on October 20th to gather at the gates of Blackwater Worldwide in Moyock, NC to protest the Massacre at Nisour Square that took place in September.

Who were these brave Americans to go to the gates of evil and SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER! Members of the JustFaith group (Catholic Church).

What happened to these people? Seven people were arrested for civil disobedience at that protest by the County Sheriff. I am sure there is a story there. Greasing of palms between the County Sheriff in NC & the Erik Prince Boys Club.

The others were held in the Currituck County Detention Center for five days before a judge released them on unsecured bonds. I could NOT get an exact count out of the article (linked below) - but I believe there were five non NC residents present. They have a Dec. 5 court date.

Vid of the re-enactment of Nisour Squar slaughter is moving:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNTLaJe_JCI

Article Link: http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2007d/111607/111607k.htm

Aegis Defense Services shooting at innocent people for sport in Iraq

This is the BRITISH private firm. Go to the end of the vid and you see a car coming up behind Aegis that stops in the highway when they realize what is happening.

Department of Defense security contractors are coordinated through a single, DoD entity, the US Regional Coordination Offices which it outsourced these responsibilities through a recently renewed $475 million contract to the British firm Aegis which is run by the infamous mercenary, Tim Spicer (no relation to the Spice Girls). It also includes intelligence services and security services for the Army Corps of Engineers.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3wh2HF03qYs

Great article just posted on the Turf wars between Pentagon & CIA on who owns the mercenaries in Iraq!

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/pentagon-vs-cia.html

Just when I thought it was safe ....

To leave my iMac.

Just got this in a Blackwater email from Judy Hess (leader PDA Metro SD Chapter).

This is in regards to the Potrero Planning Committee recall vote (see below excerpts from Ms. Hess).

Our new Registrar of Voters is Deborah Seiler - formerly a sales executive for Diebold (manufacturer of our voting machines - more on that in an article below).

Assistant Registrar is Michael Vu (in Potrero now - sls)- required to resign as the Cuyahoga County Ohio Board Of Elections Executive Director - where his employees were charged with fourth degree felonies and pled no contest to lesser charges (and sentenced to prison terms) in the recount of the presidential ballots in 2004 - on Vu’s watch.

It’s very important to understand that our San Diego County machines - (Diebold) the optical scanners which count the votes - can be hacked almost effortlessly in 60 seconds.

Background information on the Potrero Planning Committee recount vote (San Diego Union Tribune July Article)

Anger over the proposed Blackwater USA training facility in Potrero has led to the county's first recall election targeting planning group members.

Voters in the back country community will decide whether to remove five Potrero Community Planning Group members who voted last December in favor of Blackwater's plans to build a center to train law enforcement and military personnel.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070731/news_1m31potrero.html

Today BradBlog calls for the San Diego County's Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas to resign due to questionable voting machine irregularities.

http://www.bradblog.com

JMCO

This is not the first time that an ex-Diebold employee has landed a job in the trenches as a Registrar of voting! So maybe Diebold should really come out of the closet and announce to the world what they really are! Diebold is an EMPLOYMENT AGENCY!

Footsteps to Martial Law

Signing Statement by Signing Statement
Bill by Bill
Footsteps to Martial Law

May 9th
Executive Order: Establishment of Temporary Organization to Facilitate United States Government Assistance for Transition in Iraq. Brief and loose interruption, gives the President the capability to define any event in the world as reason to start Martial Law.

July 17th
Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

July 20th
Executive Order: Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency

August: Congress passes FISA

September - Madame_CEO_Pelosi decides NOT to have the full house vote on Criminal Contempt charges issued by the HJC for Miers & Bolton. Get out of jail card - thank you Nancy.

September - Senator Leahy who had made continued sound bites stating he would not allow the Attorney General confirmation hearings to go forward unless his committee received information from the resigned AG Gonzo. Well that promise went by the wind.

October 23rd - Congress passes HR 1955 (Introduced by Jane Harman - Approved by Congress 404 Ayes & 6 Nays). Radicalization of HomeGrown Terrorism. (I proudly count myself in this category).

October 10th - Senate passes HR 1585

Prediction - JMCO

May_08
All or majority of the Blackwater contractors under contract with the State Department will be re-deployed back to the USA. As is speculated by many, Blackwater will lose the renewal of this contract in May_08.

Bet you this bill never sees the light of debate
Next Wednesday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) will introduce legislation to phase out the use of tens of thousands of private security contractors deployed on battlefields where American troops are present. The Stop Outsourcing Security Act intends to effectively put Blackwater and their ilk out of business.

Question: Is there legislation anywhere that PROHIBITS the use of Private Contractors to be used by our government against American Citizens on American soil? I don't think so.

WAF = A Little Reality with your Sunday a.m. java

WAF = A Little Reality with your Sunday a.m. java
WAF = We Are Fucked
DETERMINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CIVIL SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS

Dennis Kucinich reported during an interview with Nicole Sandler (Miami Talk Radio) Friday morning, he was reading through HR 1585 and for the first time Thursday (Nov 8th), he noticed this language that has been inserted into the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill. He said that this language jumped off the page at him and that he was very concerned that people learn about this provision that would authorize domestic operations for the US military. (Please glance below - Section 1615).

JMCO at this point. I like Dennis - I met him in a kitchen and if you know me - you know it is very RARE for me to (one) be in a kitchen and even more rare for me (two) be with a man in a kitchen these days. On to my point. Kucinich voted against HR 1585 on May 17th - thank you. But if he is admitting that he himself did not even notice this section until Nov 8th and he is running for President - WAF.

H.R.1585 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
TITLE XVI, NATIONAL GUARD ENHANCEMENT
Section 1615
DETERMINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CIVIL SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS

(a) DETERMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS---- The Secretary of Defense shall determine the military-unique capabilities needed to be provided by the Department of Defense to support civil authorities in an incident of national significance or a catastrophic incident.

(b) PLAN FOR FUNDING CAPABILITIES---

(1) PLAN----The Secretary of Defense shall develop and implement a plan, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for providing the funds and resources necessary to develop and maintain the following:

(A) The military-unique capabilities determined under subsection (a).

(B) Any additional capabilities determined by the Secretary to be necessary to support the use of the active components and the reserve components of the armed forces for homeland defense missions, domestic emergency responses, and providing military support to civil authorities.

(2) TERM OF PLAN---- The plan required under paragraph (1) shall cover at least five years.

Other Nice to Knows about HR 1585

• Ike Skelton [D-MO] Sponsor
• Section 1615 was part of the text "reported to the house". I cannot find where it was either revised in the House nor the Senate.
• (42) S.Amendment 2022 by Sen. Specter [R-PA]
  To restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States.
  Proposed: Jul 9, 2007. Withdrawn: Sep 19, 2007 (another WAF)
  
• Passed House 05.17.07 (397 Ayes, 27 Nays)
• Passed Senate 10.01.07 (92 Ayes, 3 Nays)
• Senate NV (No Votes) - were none other than our 5 current Senate Presidential Candidates. Yes sir, and it was these same yutzes whom voted NV for the confirmation of Mukasey.