amanda

National Conference for Media Reform

2008-05-31T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Check out this great event happening June 6-8. Wish I could be there this year, but i don't think I can swing it.

I went in January 2007, and it was wonderful, a great way to hook up with others interested in media reform.

So I haven;t been posting much lately

2007-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't had/made the time to post lately. Although soon I will be posting much information about how the US mass media has portrayed Japan issues from the 1940s - late 1970s, so please check back. Also, soon I will have more time to post about other issues important to me.

March on Washington D.C. Sept 14-16

2007-08-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

This is an email notice I'm passing on to you.

Dear Friends,

We are only 10 days from the deadline to submit payment to the bus company for the trip to Washington, D.C. to march on the Capitol on the weekend of Sept. 14-16. If you have any interest at all in going, please respond to this e-mail. It would be a fantastic step in service of peace for Iowa to be represented at this protest which the Justice Department and the city of Washington, D.C. are trying to repress by threatening ANSWER with thousands of dollars in fines for simply putting posters up throughout the city. Whether FOX news believes it or not, this is an affront to the right to express dissent and petition our government for a redress of grievances. If you want more information on this attempt to stifle the anti-war movement, check out this link on ANSWER's website: http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage

If I may say one other thing, it is that this trip will be a great opportunity to support veterans and GIs who are standing up to the intimidation of the White House, the Pentagon, and the Congress by taking part in the die-in on the Capitol steps. We can stand in solidarity with them to resist the war-mongers as they reassure the public with happy talk and spin about how progress is being made, and that the military is on the verge of securing Baghdad, while in the mean time planning to continue this occupation long enough to get control of Iraqi oil and bomb Iran. Now is the time for us to work all the harder to show the powerful that the people will not be silenced.

Admittedly, it is a tough decision to pay money and rearrange your lives in order to go, but nevertheless we encourage you to do it, to do your part to end this criminal and corrupt policy. If you are unable to make it, please consider supporting the trip with a small donation.

Below this message is more detailed information about the trip. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them. Thank you for considering this, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Susan Junis and Tim Gauger
319-541-1684 319-936-2307
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The basic details of the trip are the following:

1) Cost = $100; Checks should be mailed to: Brian Shearer, 603 South Dubuque Street, Apt. 110, Iowa City, IA 52240. Please include "D.C. Bus Trip" on the memo line. If you know someone who would be willing to donate money to the trip, please encourage them to do so. Any donations can also be sent to Brian Shearer at the above address. Deadline for payment is AUGUST 31.
2) Departure from Iowa City = Friday, Sept. 14, 11am from the Wal-Mart parking lot on HWY 1 in Iowa City.
3) Arrival in Washington, D.C. = Saturday, Sept. 15 in the morning for the march and rally.
4) Departure from D.C. = Saturday evening, probably around 9pm.
5) Arrival back in Iowa City = Sunday afternoon, Sept. 16.

The most important thing to do now is this: spread the word. Forward this e-mail. Talk to family, friends, acquaintances, veterans, active-duty military servicemembers, high school or college student groups, social justice organizations, peace-friendly businesses, church groups, media outlets--anyone at all who would be even remotely interested in helping us. Write letters to your newspapers, or call in to radio shows to get the word out.

Check out our pages on MySpace and Facebook and invite all of your friends to them.
To find the event on MySpace, go to "Events" and do a keyword search by "Protest" with the category set as "Politics and Action" and the zip code set as "52240".
The Facebook event is "I.C. to D.C. Bus Trip".

Update on AT&T's "mistake" in muting anti-bush Pearl Jam lyrics

2007-08-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier I posted about AT&T leaving out anti-bush lyrics from a live webcast of Pearl Jam's performance at Lollapalooza. AT&T has said that is was a mistake made by an employee of a company they had contracted to run the webcast. So, I wanted to share this story I came across...

Crew Member Asserts Previous AT&T Show Had ‘No Politics’ Policy
by Eliot Van Buskirk
found on freepress.net website

Debbie Almontaser resigns

2007-08-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

Debbie Almontaser was going to be the principal of the new Khalil Gibran International Academy. This public school's focus is Arab language and culture.

Debbie Almontaser was criticized for her explanation of the meaning of 'intifada'. She was asked about this meaning from a student referring to a shirt reading "Intifada NYC".

To read/watch/listen to an overview of what happened and interviews with Paula Hajar and Mona Eldahry by DemocracyNow!, please click here.

Mona Eldahry is a co-founder of AWAAM, the group that distributed the controversial T-shirts.

How much energy are you getting from the gas you are buying?

2007-08-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

An article titled, "When Consumers feel the Heat, Big Oil makes Cold Cash" by Brian Beutler explains how America's oil consumers are getting ripped-off.

This article starts,

"It's probably intuitive to most people that the gasoline in their fuel tank expands in the heat—just like doorframes and cookware and everything else on the planet. What's probably less intuitive is that, in the United States, this physical phenomenon pumps a nearly $2 billion annual windfall out of consumers' pockets and into oil company coffers, according to numerous calculations, including a recent House of Representatives study... (more) "

Public Opinion of News Media

2007-08-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Click here to read a short article titled, "Poll — Public Sees News Media as Biased, Inaccurate, Uncaring".

To view the Pew Research Center's Summary of findings from this survey, click here.

Sign the petition to reinstate Ward Churchill

2007-08-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:
"Reinstate Ward Churchill"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reinstatewardchurchill?e

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time.

Thanks!

Unsure who Ward Churchill is... check out

*Ward Churchill Solidarity Network (This site deals with the lead-up to him being fired)

*Listen/Watch/Read an interview with Ward on Democracy Now!

*Also, Ward Churchill has written many books, including

On the Justice of Roosting Chickens : reflections on the consequences of U.S. imperial arrogance and criminality
Acts of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader
Perversions of Justice : Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law
The COINTELPRO papers : documents from the FBI’s secret wars against dissent in the United States
Agents of Repression : the FBI’s secret wars against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian movement
A little matter of genocide : holocaust and denial in the Americas, 1492 to the present

These are just a few... check it out!

National Conference for Media Reform 2008!!!!

2007-08-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

National Conference for Media Reform 2008 will be held in Minneapolis from June 6-8.

To sign up for NCMR '08 updates, click here.

Media consolidation and changes in media laws affect the quality of information consumers get everyday. A great way to get informed and get ideas on how to make change in the media environment is to view the archives for the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, Tennessee. I attended the conference and it was very informative!! A lot of the workshops and speeches are available online.

Some of my favorite workshops:

*Inside Corporate Media: Can it Tell the Truth?
Moderator: Phil Donahue
Jeff Cohen, TV host, author, Cable News Confidential
Juan Gonzalez, NY Daily News
Flavia Colgan, MSNBC and Philadelphia Daily News
Laura Washington, Chicago Sun-Times and In These Times

*Media Scholars' Policy Research Review
Moderator: Bob McChesney, Free Press, Univ. of Illinois
Michael Delli Carpini, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Susan Douglas, Univ. of Michigan
Larry Gross, Univ. of Southern California
Allen Hammond, Santa Clara Univ.
Marty Kaplan, Univ. of Southern California

*Media Policy is a Civil Rights Issue
Moderator: Mark Lloyd, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News and Democracy Now!
Kim Gandy, National Organization for Women
Karen Peltz Strauss, American Association of People with Disabilities
Rev. Timothy McDonald, African American Ministers Leadership Council

AT&T omits some lyrics from Pearl Jam "live" webcast

2007-08-09T13:11:00.001-07:00

With media consolidation happening everyday, what kind of content will be fed to the consumer? Will we get what we think we are getting? What will dictate what information or performances are accessible? Will we be given information and be allowed to come to our own conclustions, or will the way that we are "supposed" to process the news be told to us? Not all of these questions directly come out of what this post is about, but I think they are all relevant questions in a world of private/corporate media domination.

Over the weekend many people attended the Lollapalooza music festival. For those unable to make it, AT&T sponsered a webcast of some performances. Pearl Jam's performance was included, but not all of their performance was heard.

Read a statement by Pearl Jam about what happened.

Read a Chicago Tribune article here.

AT&T has made a statement on their website about the "omission". I hate to send you to AT&T's site because then they are getting more users on their site, but it is important to read the statement for yourself.

To read more articles about this incident and get more information about "Big media", click here. This link also includes another article about AT&T that is very interesting. Check it out!

U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki 62 years ago today

2007-08-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

I am not writing a piece that does this tragedy justice, but instead posting to remember this horrific event.

Please refer to the link in the last post for important information on what lead up to the bombings and information on tests that were done right here in the U.S. The testing was done on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.

To view a website with some of Truman and Stimson's diaries, click here.

George Weller was a journalist who snuck into Nagasaki after the bombing to report on the devastation. At the time, General Douglas MacArthur had declared the area "off-limits".
His account of what was going on was censored by the US government. After his death, carbon copies of his writings were discovered. They are now featured in the book, First Into Nagasaki. Check it out from your local library, and if they don't have it, tell them to order it.

To read/listen/watch a Democracy Now segment with Anthony Weller, son of George Weller, click here.

To listen to NPR's Talk of the Nation program with guest Anthony Weller, son of George Weller, click here.

To view the Nagasaki Peace declaration made by Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki, click here. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima 62 years ago today

2007-08-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

On August 6, 1942 the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the U.S. dropped another on Nagasaki, Japan. The devastation caused is too tremendous to put into words. Especially for someone like me who can only read as much as possible and use my imagination to understand everything that happened.

To read documents about the decision to use the bombs:
http://www.dannen.com/decision/

Iowa City Indymedia site

2007-07-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this great story on the temporary iowa city indymedia blog. This story is about a new Executive Order issued on July 17, 2007.

Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007

2007-07-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

After President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the right of habeas corpus was suspended by the following:

“No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination"

The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185 or S.A. 2022) is coming to the Senate soon.

The co-sponsors by date are:

Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] - 1/4/2007
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] - 2/26/2007
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] - 2/26/2007
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] - 2/26/2007
Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] - 2/28/2007
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] - 2/28/2007
Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] - 2/28/2007
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] - 3/7/2007
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 3/14/2007
Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV] - 3/29/2007
Sen Levin, Carl [MI] - 4/17/2007
Sen Obama, Barack [IL] - 4/20/2007
Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] - 5/7/2007
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] - 5/9/2007
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 5/15/2007
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 5/22/2007
Sen Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [DE] - 5/24/2007
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA] - 6/5/2007
Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] - 6/6/2007
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] - 6/11/2007
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] - 6/12/2007
Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] - 6/13/2007
Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI] - 6/22/2007
Sen Byrd, Robert C. [WV] - 6/26/2007
Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] - 6/27/2007
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 7/9/2007
Sen Carper, Thomas R. [DE] - 7/9/2007
Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] - 7/11/2007
Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] - 7/12/2007

If you would like to urge your Senator to sponser this bill, act now. The ACLU has a page to help find your Senator. Just enter the info, and make the call today!

All night debate on Iraq

2007-07-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

So, the US Senate voted last night on a Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Levin Amdt. No. 2087. The motion was rejected, if you want to see how everyone voted, click here.

One thing I found interesting is that Senator Tim Johnson(Dem) of South Dakota did not vote. I was especially surprised at this after I read his comments on the all night debate. You can click here to get to his newsroom page and then click on the links titled, Johnson Comments on All Night Session on Iraq.

One of his comments includes, "It is time to enact the diplomacy portion of the report." He is referring to the Iraqi Study Group report which outlined 79 different suggestions on how to handle the situation. This comment and others throughout his statements seem to suggest that he may have voted "yea", if he had voted.

I wrote an email to this Senator and will post any response I may receive. I wonder if his constituents reading his statements realize that he did not even vote, maybe he has a good excuse. However, the urgency he expresses in his statements is not reflected at all by his lack of urgency to vote on the motion.

Indymedia Update!!!

2007-07-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

So, we are still working on getting the indymedia site. In the meantime, we are posting stories and other news at www.iowacityindymedia.blogspot.com. If you would like to submit a story, send it to iowacityindymedia@hotmail.com.

The Jena 6

2007-07-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

So, many know that racism is still alive and well in the US. So, here is another case of blatant injustice in the US.

Please read this important account (by Bill Quigley writing for the Black Commentator) of 6 black youth in Louisiana charged with second degree attempted murder after hitting and kicking a white kid. These students had already been victim to hate crimes that had gone unpunished.

An excerpt from Bill Quigley's article is pasted below:

"Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the “white tree” at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.

The white District Attorney then came to Jena High with law enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black-protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank… I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was put on lockdown for the rest of the week.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.

On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.

On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested, no charges were filed against the white man.

On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student – who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African American students “niggers” while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party – was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.

Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder. All six were expelled from school.

The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones – bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis – bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor."

Again, to read the complete story by Bill Quigley, click here

Mychal Bell, the first to go to trial had his charges reduced to agrravated battery and conspiracy and was convicted. He will be sentenced on July 31 and could get up to 22 years in prison.

Democracy Now talks to the mother of Robert Bailey, the mother of Bryant Purvis, and Mychal Bell's father. To read/watch/listen to this story from Democracy Now, click here.

Active Maine students help themselves

2007-07-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Read about how students in Maine helped themselves with tuition debt and in turn is helping the state economy by clicking here

War Made Easy

2007-07-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

Check this movie out!

To watch an excerpt from the film and an interview with Norman Solomon on alternet.org, click here

Read the movie transcript here

I am getting things together to host a movie showing. If anyone is interested in helping out, please comment below.

Or if you want to host your own screening, click here for more information

House passes bill to lower interest rates on school loans

2007-07-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

For more info, click here

Iraqi Oil Law -- or shall I say U.S. imposed Iraqi Oil Law?

2007-07-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

You can read more about this here.

Also, read a statement made by Nobel Peace Laureates opposing the law.

Iowa City Independent Media Collective

2007-07-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Come to the Iowa City Public Library for the Iowa City Independent Media meeting from 6-8pm (we never go 'til 8) in meeting room E.

peace

US lobbyists and dictators

2007-06-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Are you a dictator loooking for a positive spin to sell yourself in the global arena? Just turn to companies like APCO Worldwide or Cassidy & Associates... for a small fee (somewhere around a million dollars in some cases) your dictatorship can become well respected internationally. They can manipulate the media, set up psuedo-events, and use U.S. elite contacts to get whatever you need...

Do you want to find out more about these companies? Just check out their websites...

APCO Worldwide
Cassidy & Associates

Yesterday, Democracy Now aired a segment with Harper's Magazine's Ken Silverstein. Mr. Silverstein's expose on this issue will appear in July's issue of Harper's Magazine. To check out the interview with him, click on the link below.

Ken Silverstein on Democracy Now

Read a little of what Mr. Silverstein had written on the Harper's Magazine website
click here

excerpt from the article in July's issue

Also, check out Mr. Silverstein on Bill Moyer's Journal

Prison

2007-06-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

After taking a class last semester called Insurgency and Globalization of Discontent, I became very interested in the prison system in the U.S. I have been looking around on prisonsucks.com quite a bit. I have been reading about the people involved in decision-making aspects pertaining to the prisons. Most interesting(or shocking) is the American Correctional Association (ACA) for its involvement in prison expansion and its accreditation program. I plan on posting as much as I can about the ACA and the individuals involved in the business of prisons. To start I have put a link below about Ronald J Angelone, director of Virginia's Department of Corrections and a chairman of the ACA. It is unbelievable the people that are approving the standards in prisons...

Ronald J Angelone

Another story that is very important was covered on Democracy Now. This is the story of a man, his wife, and his son traveling from Guyana to Canada. The plane had to make an emergency landing in the U.S. and this man and his family were detained for not having a United States visa. They were or are still being held, I'm unclear on this, at the T Don Hutto Residential Center in Texas. I was interested in this story and did more research on the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The CCA is a private business, with interests in profit generation, that runs many facilities all over the U.S.

Read/Watch the Democracy Now segment on this family

Corrections Corporation of America website
(I am not including a link to this site as a promotion of their services. I am posting it as a research reference and so you can see for yourself the info this site provides)

Click to read a report by Philip Mattera and Mafruza Khan titled, Corrections Corporation of America: A Critical Look at its First Twenty Years

U.S. Social Forum

2007-06-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Social Forum is June 27-July 1 in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information on what it is, how to register, and other important stuff, please click on the links below.
The first World Social Forum was held in 2001. The creators of this event have put out some info about what they believe and a World Social Forum charter of principles.

San Francisco 8

2007-06-21T12:19:00.001-07:00

The bail hearing for the San Francisco 8 started at 10am today. If you haven't already heard about this case, click here to get some background info on what's been going on.

OR

Watch a movie about this titled, "Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement". This movie is only 30 minutes long, so if you have the time, please watch.

Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Study (ROCS)

2007-06-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have pasted part of an email that I received about the study below. This email sums up the study and gives additional resources. If you wish to opt-out of this study you can use the resources in the email or click on one of the links provided below. Other links below include more information than what is given in the email posted below, including the risks and benefits of the study.

Opt-out information

Background on the ROC

Infomation including risks and benefits

Subject Line: Notice of your potential involvement in emergency research study.

A team of University of Iowa investigators will be assessing the effectiveness of research treatments for people who experience severe trauma in out-of-hospital, emergency situations. The research will allow a comparison of the present standard intravenous fluid (a salt solution) with more concentrated fluids. The research does not involve blood or blood products.

You are a potential subject for this study if you suffer a serious, life-threatening injury. The nature of the research is such that unless you opt-out, you will be a potential subject for this study. If you have previously requested to opt out of ROC and have received the opt out materials, you do not need to request opt out materials again.

The investigators are part of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC), which is a multi-site research study funded by the U. S. National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the American Heart Association.

By law and ethical standards, medical research requires that anyone who participates in a study knows what the study involves and risks and benefits, if any. This is known as "prior informed consent." However, severely injured individuals are likely to be unconscious, in shock, or otherwise unable to provide informed consent.

If a spouse or legally authorized representative is present, they will be asked to give consent to proceed with a research treatment. If they refuse, the research treatment will not be given. However standard treatment will still be given.

If no spouse or legally authorized representative is present, ROC research will be conducted under federal regulations that allow for a special "Exception From Informed Consent For Emergency Research" in life-threatening situations. Consent for follow-up will be obtained after treatment, when the person is no longer in the emergency situation or when a legally authorized representative of the injured person is available. You may choose to pre-exclude yourself or "opt-out" from this research in advance. To do so, contact the study investigators as indicated below.

Nationwide, ROC involves public safety agencies, regional hospitals, community health care institutions, and medical centers and is expected to include as many as 15,000 patients over a three-year period. Approximately 288 individuals will be included through the UI arm of the study. All of the interventions to be tested in the program have been shown in smaller, single center studies to be safe and potentially life-saving.

UI Hospitals and Clinics is one of 10 medical centers in the U.S. and Canada selected to conduct the collaborative clinical trials. The Principal Investigator for the UI site is Richard Kerber, MD, professor of internal medical and emergency medicine at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and a cardiologist with UI Hospitals and Clinics. The Co-Principal investigator is Dr. J. Steven Hata, Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of the UIHC SICU. Dr. Dianne Atkins, Professor of Pediatrics is an investigator. Linda G. Moss, RN is the study coordinator and Alex Drum, NREMT-P is the paramedic liaison. Melanie Kenney, RN is the data guardian.

If you have questions, concerns or complaints about your rights as a research subject or about research-related injury, please contact Martha Jones or Suzanne Bentler in the Human Subjects Office, 340 CMAB, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, 319.335.6564 or e-mail at irb@uiowa.edu.

For more information about this research study, or to learn how to opt-out, contact the study coordinator at 319-384-8484 or 866-309-0838 (toll-free) or email iowarocs@uiowa.edu or visit the Web site: www.iowarocs.org.

Iowa City indymedia site

2007-06-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

A collective in Iowa City is putting together an application for an indymedia.org site in Iowa. The application will actually go in today as long as everyone consents. If you want to get involved, our meetings are...

Mondays
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Iowa City Public Library, meeting room E

So what is indymedia?
Check it out at www.indymedia.org