Help Wake Up the American Media

Our media has failed to serve the interests of the public and the nation.

In the past several years, news outlets and media coverage has been steadily feeding the American people a diet of "Shock and Awe", flash and glitter, and "believe it or not". What we have not been served is hard core news and information - the kind that helps ensure that a free and Democratic society is functioning. The type of information that helps citizens know not only the current events of the nation that impact the nation as a whole, but also the information which pertains to and affects cities, towns, states, and our nation's interaction with the world.

Events of the day - big and small - that have meaning are falling by the wayside or suffering from a dearth of reporting in favor of "pablum"-like filler stories, the type of thing which might make a good gossip column or brainless entertainment show.

And our nation has suffered for it, both in domestic and foreign affairs.

Right now, a serious breach of the public trust appears to have occurred with regard to the role of Bush Administration in the approach to the war in Iraq. Yet, news of this serious breach - an impeachable offense for the crime of misleading the public and failure to execute and uphold the oath of office, and also a likely act of treason for undermining national security and the public trust - has only been reported outside of the United States.

Why?

Don't let this go unreported. It is the duty of all American citizens - all who call themselves Patriots, who pride themselves in the founding tenets of the Declaration of Independence and outlined within the Constitution - to insist on the highest quality of information available in a democracy. If you are an American, and a Patriotic American, then let this be your opportunity to remind the media of its duty to report the news, to keep the nation informed, and to help us ensure that the "news of the day" goes neither unreported nor unnoticed.

Clicking the link "Email the media and demand real information" will open a new email message for you to send to the following media outlets:

The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Oklahoman, The Dallas Morning News, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian (UK), The Seattle Times, News 9 in Oklahoma, The Miami Herald, USA Today, The Washington Post, CNN, C-SPAN, Justice Talking (NPR), and yes, even Faux (FOX) News.

Send the following message to the media outlets listed above by copying the message below, then clicking here. Paste the letter below into the new message, and click send. :)

Email the media and demand real information

To the editors and news managers:

In the past several years, news outlets and media coverage has been steadily feeding the American people a diet of "Shock and Awe", flash and glitter, and "believe it or not". What we have not been served is hard core news and information - the kind that helps ensure that a free and Democratic society is functioning. The type of information that helps citizens know not only the current events of the nation that impact the nation as a whole, but also the information which pertains to and affects cities, towns, states, and our nation's interaction with the world.

Events of the day - big and small - that have meaning are falling by the wayside or suffering from a dearth of reporting in favor of "pablum"-like filler stories, the type of thing which might make a good gossip column or brainless entertainment show.

And our nation has suffered for it, both in domestic and foreign affairs.

Right now, a serious breach of the public trust appears to have occurred with regard to the role of Bush Administration in the approach to the war in Iraq. Yet, news of this serious breach - an impeachable offense for the crime of misleading the public and failure to execute and uphold the oath of office, and also a likely act of treason for undermining national security and the public trust - is apparently only being reported outside of the United States.

We, the people of the United States, need the American media to begin reporting real news - all the news. We, the people for whom you report the news, are depending upon you to keep us informed.

We need to see more information about the recent revelations concerning this Administration, in order to be informed and to assist us in our role as American citizens. We have relied upon your reporting in the past, and now we find ourselves turning to other countries for news of our own.

Please stop this shameful trend.

Provide us with the information we require, particularly during this time when several important issues face our nation.

Thank you.

Update: Michigan High School Responds to Pro-Harrassment Parents By Adding More Anti-Harrassment Posters

Earlier in May MailToBlog posted an action item regarding a Troy, Michigan high under attack from parents objecting to a poster promoting tolerance. (See Michigan Parents Attack High School Non-Harrassment Policy.)

The May 30,2005 Detroit News is reporting,

Gay poster multiplies in Troy High

School hangs four more; move further angers some who have fought to ban them.

"A poster at Troy High School that reads "Gay People are Everyday People" appears to be multiplying instead of coming down.

Some parents have been fighting the Troy School District for more than a year to have the poster removed from an English classroom, claiming it promotes sexuality and a homosexual lifestyle.

But the maker of the poster said the school's English department has decided to go the other direction, ordering 25 more copies.

[...]

District spokesman Tim McAvoy confirmed that at least four new posters went up recently.

The poster originally went up in 2003 at the request of the student group Human Equal Rights Organization, which was doing a project on tolerance. It portrays five teenagers surrounded by photos of professionals such as caterers, mail carriers, musicians and teachers.

"The students requested the poster to show all people deserve respect and tolerance, and should not be harassed for any reason," McAvoy said. "The poster ensures student safety through a message of tolerance and respect."

The sanctimonious parents who promote faith-based harrassment of gay students are claiming that the poster stating, "Gay People are Everyday People" is not only a sexual message, but one that magically turns students from straight to gay.

One of the pro-harrassment parents, Tony Cruz, said

"the posters promote a sexual lifestyle that is against Judeo-Christian beliefs. It should not even be acknowledged to youth, much less promoted. ... I am here to censor their attempts to promote that lifestyle on my children. We do not want them to try and change our children."

Leslie Thompson, executive director of Ferndale-based Affirmations Gay/Lesbian Community Center, which distributes the posters responds,

"We don't consider the word 'gay' any more sexual than the word 'marriage."

And, of course, she's absolutely right.

Let's send them more letters of support. Click here to send an e-mail of support to the Troy School Board, the administration of Troy High School, and Affirmations Gay/Lesbian Community Center.

Fight religious discrimination in Indiana

A judge in Indiana inserted an offensive paragraph into a couple's divorce decree. The ruling prohibits the couple from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." The Republican judge, the "Honorable" Cale J. Bradford, is the presiding judge for the Marion Superior Courts. The offending verbiage claims that, as the child attends a local Catholic school, the divergent beliefs could cause confusion for the child.

The order was based upon a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau. The confidential report states "There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones' lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages," according to an article in the online site for the Indianapolis Staran article in the online site for the Indianapolis Star, written by Kevin Corcoran.

This blatantly unconstitutional provision is being fiercely contested by both parents, as it should be.

Do your part to help.

Ask Mark Lee, the Executive Assistant of the Indiana Democratic Party to urge his party members to help support the ICLU and the Jones family in their efforts to fight this "activist judge" and his flagrant violation of the Constitutional rights of parents to determine the religious indoctrination of their children.

A direct email address for the Marion County Courts is not available on the web, but you can also make your voice heard by filling out the contact form for the Marion County website here.

Senate Scrubs Galloway's Testimony from Site!

Protest the Whitewashing of Galloway's Testimony from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation's website

Don't let the shenanigans of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations go unchallenged. Read the excerpt below, check out the story, download a copy of the transcript and the video for posterity (in case it suddenly becomes 'unavailable'), and - most importantly - write, fax, and email the committee members. Demand that Galloway's testimony be added back to the site.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is failing to maintain consistency and integrity in their investigation of the Oil-for-food scandal. In their haste to implicate MP George Galloway, they bit off more than they could chew. Galloway unloaded both barrels in a verbal dressing-down the likes of which we have yet to see from our own media in response to the repeated lies and distortions of the Bush Administration.

Oddly enough, Galloway's testimony has been 'scrubbed' from the Senate website. Reported from BradBlog, with links to the original story and links to the testimony, below:

Galloway's Senate Testimony Scrubbed from Official Subcommittee Website!

Chairman Coleman's Office Passes Buck for Explanation!

The stunning testimony given by British MP George Galloway before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Investigations is apparently so hot that it seems to have "gone AWOL" from the subcommittee's...

The stunning testimony given by British MP George Galloway before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Investigations is apparently so hot that it seems to have "gone AWOL" from the subcommittee's website according to the British newsite VNU Network.

The BRAD BLOG can confirm that all witness testimony -- except that of Galloway's -- from last Tuesday's extraordinary hearings is available in PDF format on the subcommittee's webpage on the hearings.

At those hearings, Galloway blasted subcommittee Chairman Sen Norm Coleman's (R-MN) investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food "scandal" which Galloway referred to as "the mother of all smokescreens".

That testimony can be read and/or viewed here.

We have been unable to receive a statement from Senate spokesmen as yet as to why Galloway's testimony is now unavailable on the website.

A staffer in Coleman's office referred us to the subcommittee staff when we asked for the reasons for "the removal of the testimony". Her reply: "That's a question for the subcommittee. Senator Coleman is the chairman, but the committee makes their own decisions about what goes on the website."

We were forwarded to the subcommittee's voice mail where we left a message. If we receive a call back, we will let you know.

[...]

Here at MailToBlog, we're going to do you one better. Here's a direct link to the testimony, and a link to the video below it.

Transcript of Galloway's testimony to the Senate

Download a copy of the video portion of the testimony here, for posterity -

Galloway - download the Quicktime excerpt
http://homepage.mac.com/onegoodmove/movies/galloway.mov

It is a good idea to keep track of this stuff while it's still accessible. And it's an even better idea to take action, and share the contents of the transcript and the video far and wide. Play it often, and everywhere. Download it to PDAs, if your PDA plays QT, and play it for others...or convert it to WMV and import it to PDAs to play via Media Player. Question why it isn't being addressed.

Most importantly, write / call / fax / email the members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Demand that Galloway's testimony be added back to the site.

The member names and contact information is below.

To send an email to Senators Coleman, Carper, Chafee, Akaka, and Lautenberg, click here.

Web-based contact forms are available for the other congressfolk. Here are the other members, and their contact information. Remember to copy the text of the message you send so that you can paste it into the forms for the others.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) [Ranking Minority Member]
http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Sen. John W. Warner (R-VA)
http://warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.htm

Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN)
http://dayton.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)
http://www.conservativeusa.org/it_wmail_828@pryor-it01.senate.gov

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
http://domenici.senate.gov/contact/contactform.cfm

Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/email_form.html

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
http://stevens.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)
http://coburn.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

The committee phone number is 202-224-3721 for the Republicans, and 202-224-9175 for the Democrats, if you'd rather call direct.

Faith-Based Anti-Gay Hate Groups Attack PTA

PTA Rejects Faith-Based Pseudoscience: Christians Attack

PFOX and other faith-based anti-gay groups have organized a hate-mail campaign against the PTA in retaliation for the national Parent-Teacher association's decision to reject the request of the faith-based, pseudoscience-based group PFOX to place to present their propaganda at the PTA's national convention. The group promotes the fraudulent 'ex-gay' reparative therapists and religious groups. Groups joining PFOX in the hate-mail campaign include Concerned Women of America, American Family Association, Reclaim America, and the usual fraudulent 'therapist' such as Warrent Throckmorton have joined in as well. The PFOX request to distribute their propaganda arose from the PTA's request that Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) be in attendance at the convention.

Calculated Compassion: "The growing prominence of the ex-gay movement is the result of a strategic shift within the Christian Right: the new packaging of an old message. The claim that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people can be "cured" has more to do with the Right's political objectives and its bitter opposition to equal rights than with genuine caring. This report examines how the Christian Right has adopted the ex-gay movement in response to increasing pressure to soften its homophobic rhetoric."
--- Political Research Associates

The Ex-Gay Fraud: "No Bible basis exists for the so called "Ex-Gay" movement that has sprung up in the past 15 years in many denominations and independent religious groups. No scientific basis exists for the 'reparative therapy' to "cure" homosexuals or "deliver" people from their homosexuality. Claims of such cures and deliverance do not hold up under close examination."
--- Dr. Rembert S. Truluck, Author of Steps to Recovery From Bible Abuse

Write a letter of support to the national PTA. Congratulate them for rejecting the fradulent 'ex-gay' progaganda and supporting the work of P-FLAG. Encourage them to continue supporting all children rather than subjecting some of the to the fradulent 'ex-gay' movement and its message of shame and guilt.

Rick Santorum, You're A Big Fat Hypocrite!

In early March of 2005, Senator Robert Byrd addressed Congress with a bit of a history lesson.

"We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men," Byrd said. "But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends."

Byrd then quoted historian Alan Bullock, saying Hitler "turned the law inside out and made illegality legal."

And then Rick Santorum took the opportunity to launch into an outrageous hissy fit.

"Senator Byrd's inappropriate remarks comparing his Republican colleagues with Nazis are inexcusable," Santorum said in a statement yesterday. "These comments lessen the credibility of the senator and the decorum of the Senate. He should retract his statement and ask for pardon."

But then on May 19,2005 Rick Santorum had another hissy fit.

"And the audacity of some members to stand up and say, 'How dare you break this rule." It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942, "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine.' This is no more the rule of the Senate than it was the rule of the Senate
before not to filibuster.

Oops! Looks like Rick blew it.

And then he realized what he'd done. But did he retract his statement and ask for pardon like he advised Senator Byrd to do? After all, that would be the honest and honorable thing to do.

Oops! He blew it again. Here's the way he 'retracts' his statement and 'asks for pardon'.

"Referencing Hitler was meant to dramatize the principle of an argument, not to characterize my Democratic colleagues." He says he "meant no offense".

Write to Rick Santorum. Tell him he's a shining example of Republican hypocrisy.

Here's his direct e-mail.

Here's his web form.

Michigan Parents Attack High School Non-Harrassment Policy

Detroit Free Press of May 11, 2005 reports

"a Troy High School classroom poster with a message that "gay people are everyday people," has ignited protests from some parents at the suburban Detroit school.

One of the parents, Anthony Cruz, 49, said he expects about 80 people to join the protest at the next Troy School Board meeting, on May 17. He said the problem with the poster is that the school is supposed to concentrate on academics and leave other matters for after-school time and activities.

Instead, the classroom poster has a "a captive audience," in students, Cruz told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak. He has two daughters at the school.

Troy School District spokesman Tim McAvoy said Superintendent Janet H. Jopke has met with some parents over the poster and will continue to talk to them about it. He said the poster promotes safety and tolerance.

"We do not allow our students to be harassed for any reason. It is an issue of tolerance," McAvoy said."

Click here to send an e-mail of support to the Troy School Board and the administration of Troy High School.

Congratulate them on the policy stated on the home page of the Troy High School website, "Respect Everyone, Everything, Every Day."

Tell them they've been doing the right thing all along and that you encourage them to continue doing the right thing in the face of a few parents who want to encourage children to harrass gay and lesbian students.