Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Fear and Loathing in 2012, Another Report from the Digital Frontline: Words of Power Interviews Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars


Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans. -- Robert F. Kennedy, Speech, University of Kansas at Lawrence, March 18, 1968

Fear and Loathing in 2012, Another Report from the Digital Frontline: Words of Power Interviews Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars

By Richard Power


How many of you remember that speech? How many of you (who don't listen to the Thom Hartmann Show) have been reminded of this speech, even once, at any time over the last forty-plus years? And perhaps more importantly, how many of you who were not alive in 1968 (or not old enough to be cognizant its meaning) have ever heard it, or read it, or had it referenced to you in any way? A man died because he embodied the message he delivered in that speech. In this era in which the political establishment and the corporatist media want you to forget everything that happened before Ronald Reagan, there is nothing more important than that you be provided with context and continuity, i.e., a narrative that accurately reflects the most tragic and transcendent elements of our political history, as well as the maddening unreality of what is and is not happening now. After all, the Power of Nightmares has been unleashed upon us.

That is why I do what I do, and why many others like me stay awake late at night -- to keep the beacons lit.

This issue of Words of Power is the second in a series of brief Words of Power interviews with some prominent individuals in progressive media, The first was with Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash, the second is with Nicole Belle, Editor of Crooks and Liars, another of the great bastions of reality-based news and analysis, since it was founded by John Amato in 2004.

Words of Power: How do you see 2012? What do you see as the role of our progressive, alternative media in general and Crooks and Liars in particular? What is your sense of the consensus among many true progressives that you are in communication with?

Nicole Belle, Crooks and Liars: Do you mean vis-à-vis the general election or more sociologically? Let me answer it from the latter that leads to the former. I see the US as being in a cyclical transition. If you read the writings of Strauss and Howe, we are still in the midst of a generation of chaos. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation that people have to weed through to make sense of where we are. We’re slowly finding our way out of it, but we’ve quite a ways to go. So that’s why I think you see a lot of Fear of the Other in our society. That translates to a difficult re-election for President Obama, because he is continually being painted as ‘the Other’ by the conservative noise machine (an indisputable fact when you consider that in the Bible Belt, almost half of voters polled continue to think that Obama is a Muslim), although ultimately, I think he will win re-election. I see alternative media like the progressive blogosphere and internet radio networks as outlets for progressives to hear and contribute voices that counter the conservative establishment that dominate our airwaves. Certainly, in the dark days following 9/11 and the Iraq invasion, just being a reader of Crooksandliars.com (before I started contributing) helped me stay sane when I heard and read news reports that I knew were not true. I’d like to think that C&L does its own small part in shaping the national dialogue by virtue of the fact that our whole raison d’etre was to show the inconsistencies by using video of politicians and pundits contradicting themselves from day to day. We’ve been able to both create and amplify progressive memes that are finally breaking through to the mainstream media. Before the Occupy protests, how often did you hear news shows or pundits mention income inequality? Never. That’s due to the success of the progressive blogosphere of demanding accountability. Seriously. Think about the number of anti-war protests that occurred over the last ten years that didn’t register a bleep in news coverage. I actually remember CNN covering the 200 tea party counter-protesters over the estimated 75,000 or more protesters in Washington advocating immigration reform. But here you had these organic, authentically grassroots protests being reinforced and advocated by the progressive blogosphere and suddenly “income inequality” is a phrase being used by Wolf Blitzer.
As to your last question, I don’t see consensus with my fellow progressives, sadly. Like herding cats, you see a lot of special interests within the progressive community, all clamoring for as big a piece of the pie as they can get. Generally, I think progressives see a lot of wasted opportunity with President Obama in terms of championing progressive ideals of equality, peace, justice and ecological conservation, but I haven’t really figured out how much of that was our own projection of what Obama stood for and a lack of realism of the politically divisive environment.

Words of Power: What do you see as the future of Occupy Wall Street movement? Do you see it evolving? What should its relationship be with the progressive movement as a whole?

Belle: The Occupy movement must evolve to survive. But I think it already has and will continue to. Occupy Wall Street is fine and necessary, but now we have Occupy Our Homes fighting unfair and possibly illegal foreclosures, we have ‘mic checks’ at political townhalls, Occupy the Media demanding accountability of our news media, etc. I’d like to see the Occupy movement to empower people to actually run for office as the tea party has done. But other than participating in it, I don’t think that the progressive ‘movement’ should officially do anything with the Occupy protests. Folding it into existing power structures will not help the Occupy movement. It goes beyond the binary equation of Democratic vs. Republican Parties. It’s about fundamental equality in society.

Words of Power: Tell us a little bit about the history and background of Crooks and Liars, and the challenges involved in keeping such a resource going? What has been the hardest aspect of the struggle? What has been the most surprising?

Belle: Crooksandliars was created and founded by John Amato in 2004. At the time, John was a touring musician who was recovering from an injury and watching a lot of television news. He realized that there was a niche not being explored in the fairly young progressive blogosphere of hoisting politicians and journalists by their petard simply by showing video of them saying something one day and then something else another day. So John became the ‘vlogfather’ of the progressive blogosphere. I joined up in 2006 initially to do copy-editing, but John realized that I was opinionated enough to do my own posts. I was Managing Editor from 2006 to 2008, and then stayed on as Senior Editor. Today, we have about 30 people on staff, but it all started from one guy with a TiVo and a computer in 2004. Our challenge remains monitoring the sheer number of outlets.
Our focus has spread as well to developing sister sites (VideoCafe, Newstalgia, OccupyAmerica) and our PAC, Blue America. We also have some other new developments coming down the line, but we’re still laying the groundwork backstage before we unveil them. However, I’m especially proud of Blue America. We have raised significant amounts of money for real progressive candidates and campaigns. I think that our success in fundraising has been the biggest surprise to me. This has been a really tough economy for most Americans. I see comments at C&L daily of regulars who have lost jobs, had to relocate for lower-paying jobs, struggling to make ends meet, yet they still dig deep and give to push Congress towards more progressive solutions. They understand that the way out of this morass is to get more strong and unapologetic progressives in Congress.

Words of Power: What do you see as the future for alternative, progressive media in the USA? What are the greatest threats we face? What are most glaring weaknesses? What are our hidden strengths? What impact has social media, like Twitter and Facebook, had on alternative, progressive media? What about progressive talk radio? What about Current TV's new progressive cable news lineup, and of course the few hours a day of programming on MSBC? Where are we headed?

Belle: I love the fact that despite the continual drumming of the “liberal media bias” by all these conservatives that have multiple hours of public airwaves, there are progressives not hearing voices like theirs and creating their own media. I listen obsessively to progressive radio and podcasts: in the car, while I work out, while I’m taking the dog for a walk. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we no longer have a progressive radio station, so everything I listen to I have to stream through my smartphone and iPad. So I am eternally grateful to WeActRadio, Sam Seder, Nicole Sandler, Thom Hartmann, Amy Goodman and the like. It is often a necessary antidote to the amount of conservative media I monitor for C&L. I think the greatest threat and most glaring weakness are one and the same: lack of corporate ownership. You can’t tell me that there wasn’t a market for progressive talk here in San Francisco. But apparently, the ability to monetize progressive talk was not yet there. However, it’s more than that. Many of these radio stations that used to run Air America shows and hosts switched formats that are simply bewildering if you believe this is all about ratings. There was an Air America station in Central California that switched formats to HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS coverage. That’s not a ratings call. That’s silencing a point of view. But our strength is in our resourcefulness. Our voices are there, and we find ways to have them heard. I’ve met some amazing progressives through social media who find ways to get their point of view out there. And the other benefit to social media is that it’s a conversation. On Twitter, I’ve followed and been followed by mainstream media types. And I’ve had interactions with them. I’ve heard them frame questions to their subjects similar to the framing of our conversations. I won’t name names, but I’ve actually watched a prominent news reporter repeat almost verbatim posts I’ve written and then tweeted or tagged on Facebook to him/her. That’s a direct effect on the dialogue in this country and I think that Twitter and Facebook have greatly democratized the dissemination of information. That’s threatening to mainstream journalists, who want to pretend that there’s so special skill or ethos to what they do, but you know what? I’d line up something I’ve written up against any David Broder or David Brooks column ever written. Because I don’t make assertions without showing you my proof via a hyperlink to another article, paper, .pdf, video, etc. You can evaluate the truth of what I’ve written by looking at what I’ve sourced. Broder used to come up with some mythical guy in a mythical coffee shop that posed a mythical question that conveniently confirmed Broder’s preconceived notions, all with nary a source. (For the record, I consider myself more of an op-ed writer than a journalist. I strive to be fair and get my facts correct, but I never, ever call myself a journalist. I fully admit to a bias. I look at issues and the coverage of said issues and give my opinion on it.)
As to Current, I don’t know what to say about that. I don’t get Current through my cable system, but what clips I do see via our video team, I do think Olbermann had a point on the low rent look of the production. I’d love to have an opportunity to class up the joint, so to speak. It’s hard to gain viewership and credibility when you have so many technical problems. There’s a huge potential with Current; I just hope that they find a way towards it. And no matter what anyone says, MSNBC is hardly a liberal bastion. As much as I love Rachel Maddow (and I do) and the other hosts, MSNBC is still the outlet that gives Joe Scarborough a three hour daily platform and up until just recently had Pat Buchanan as the go-to guest. Unfortunately, I do see the continuing bifurcation of our media into partisan outlets in our future—and the consequential erosion of trust in the media. I’m not sure how that stops, though. People are demanding not to be informed, but to have their biases confirmed. They self-select those partisan divides, even when it actively misinforms them. My only hope is that as we find our way out of this generation of chaos towards a generation of rebuilding and then prosperity (as I wind my way back to Strauss and Howe in the first question), that we learn that not all ideas should be considered equal. That there are some inherent truths which demand that the opposite not be given equal weight. So at some future point, we’ll accept that evolution is a given and those candidates who are unwilling to acknowledge that cannot be considered legitimate candidates. That those who deny global climate change don’t get a seat at the table of ideas because the science overwhelmingly disproves their beliefs. Unfortunately, I just don’t see that happening for a very, very long time, if at all. There’s far too much money on the other side. And until that time, I think we’re doomed to creating our own alternative media and having very binary understandings of the world.

I urge you to support and contribute to Crooks and Liars, Buzzflash, Truthout and the other bastions of progressive media. (Yes, even Words of Power.)

There are wild rapids ahead of us all.

See Also

Reflections on My Twitter Spat with Keith Olbermann, the Future of Current TV, and "A Responsibility to Something Greater than Ourselves."

Fear and Loathing in 2012, A Report from the Digital Barricades: Words of Power Interviews Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash at Truthout

SDS Founder, Veteran Activist Tom Hayden on Participatory Democracy from Port Huron to Occupy Wall Street


Thom Hartmann: Does this Generation have a Rendezvous w/ Destiny?


Thom Hartmann: Atlas Shrugged - Bizarre Philosophy at Work


Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of seven books, including Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. He writes and speaks on security, risk, human rights and sustainability, and has delivered executive briefings and led training in over 40 countries. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com

Friday, April 13, 2012

Reflections on My Twitter Spat with Keith Olbermann, the Future of Current TV, and "A Responsibility to Something Greater than Ourselves."

George Clooney as Fred Friendly, Robert Downey Jr. as Joe Wershba, David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck

Reflections on My Twitter Spat with Keith Olbermann, the Future of Current TV, and "A Responsibility to Something Greater than Ourselves."

By Richard Power


After the news broke that Current had fired Keith Olbermann, I was just sad. Because I am fond of both Al Gore and Keith Olbermann and grateful to them for all that they have done over these grim years since 2000, AND because the success of an alternative, progressive news media is vital to the survival of what is worthwhile in this nation. But then CNN's Howard Kurtz started *covering* poor K.O.'s frustrations with the amatuerishness of Current TV. (It's not like Kurtz spends much time on alternative media.) Why Kurtz even ended up with the texts of e-mails between Current and K.O. Now how could that have happened? Understand, Kurtz is not an investigative journalist, nor is he a serious analyst of the news media, he is a smarmy apologist for the corporatist media. The straw that broke this camel's back, though, was Olbermann's appearance on Letterman, in which with faux humility he feigned accepting responsibility for what happened at Current, likening his show to a "$10 million chandelier" that Current just couldn't accommodate properly.

So a brief Twitter spat ensured between me and K.O. (NOTE: I have arranged the tweets here in their logical sequence, not as they appeared on the timeline, you can reference that from our twitter feeds.)

@KeithOlbermann, chandelier metaphor came off like Mitt Romney ad-lib. sorry it didn't work w/ @current but @algore deserves better from u

@wordsofpower I didn't lie to him. He lied to me.

@KeithOlbermann I didn't say u lied 2 anyone.

@KeithOlbermann, @HowardKurtz is a corporatist toadie, using him as your mouthpiece 2 attack @current should b beneath u.

@wordsofpower and I haven't spoken to Howard Kurtz or dealt with him in more than a year. Your ability to assume I accurately is astounding

@KeithOlbermann either way, a corporatist toadie is using u 2 attack a progressive news source

@KeithOlbermann I have been a great admirer of your courageous work throughout these dark years, but not in this pettiness.

@wordsofpower Let me know when the "spirituality" kicks in

@KeithOlbermann maybe something about the greater good being crushed by a chandelier?


I soon found some corroboration for my position from a most worthy source.

On the April 7th, 2012 edition of Ring of Fire (THE weekly news magazine of the progressive media), in a passionate discussion with co-host Sam Seder (who offered a generous defense of K.O.), Mike Papantonio spoke out:

Mike Papantonio: "He got fired because he was acting like a damn prima donna ... You remember the Al Franken days back at Air America. We went through it. The guy was a damn prima donna. He had to have the right kind of cookies, the right kind of everything, but you know what, at the end of the day, he realized he had a responsibility, because there are only a few of us out there that are talking progressive talk, that are telling the other part of the story. Where are you going to get this? ABC going to deliver this? CBS? ... So with the few of us that are out there, we have to do everything we can if we really believe that what we are doing is something we should be doing. And that's why I am pissed off at Olbermann ... Think back to the Air America days, hell the electricity was turned off, but you still had Randi Rhodes showing up to do her job, you still had Thom Hartmann showing up to do his job, you still had people who understood there is more at stake ... some of them didn't even get paid, Sam ... We have a responsibility to something greater than ourselves."

Some years ago, at a particularly grim juncture in the abomination of the Bush-Cheney regime, something heroic, something rare, something beautiful, something noble appeared on our TV screens. It was K.O. mano o mano with the Dark Lords. K.O. was fierce, and clear-minded, and spot-on; he spoke for history and for the future, he spoke for our heritage and our legacy. And it was magnificent. And K.O.'s brave stand, led to the formation of a cluster of progressive news shows, including Rachel Maddow (she has taken TV journalism to a high level is has not reached in many years) and Ed Schultz (whose hard-hat, lunch-pail "leftie" populism is unique on the air waves). K.O, didn't do good, he did great. Search through the archives of Words of Power, both here on Blogspot and on Twitter, you will come across MANY references to K.O. work and MUCH praise for what he said and how he said it.

But this is a different time, grimmer in some ways; 2012 starts another cycle of life and death challenges for the USA. (Let us work to ensure that it is not the final cycle.) And again, something heroic, something rare, something beautiful, something noble has appeared on our TV screens.

Yes, it's production values lag behind MSNBC, etc. Yes, I get frustrated with Jennifer Granholm occasionally, e.g., the night some weeks ago when she chided Robert Reich for his righteous critique of POTUS' politics and policy choices, and boasted about POTUS' poll numbers. And yes, Elliot Spitz is a tragic figure, and such sorrowful stories are not shaken off easily. But these two big state former governors have street cred, and they have chosen to take a stand. Bravo. Together with the audacious Cenk Ugyar and his Young Turks (who is the bright light of Current TV), Granhold and Spitzer are putting out a three hour block of real news and progressive analysis every week day evening. And meanwhile, for six hours every morning on Current, a new synergy between progressive talk radio and progressive TV is being forged with the simulcasts of the Bill Press and the Stephanie Miller shows.

That's NINE HOURS a day. (And when Exxon ads start to impact its content, as it has on even the best of the MSNBC shows, I will be the first to sound the alarm.) Seriously, people, we are in an information war, and we are the resistance. If Current fails, we will be in worse position.

Too bad K.O. couldn't junk the chandelier attitude. Maybe he's just burned out.

Who could blame him. He did move mountains.

I urge you to support Current TV (demand it from your cable provider), and to contribute to Ring of Fire Radio, Buzzflash and the other bastions of progressive media. (Yes, even Words of Power!)

There are wild rapids ahead of us all.

Cenk with Thomas Frank: Ayn Rand is a sociopath, Glenn Beck a prostitute & Scalia regurgitates Fox News and Rush Limbaugh


Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of seven books, including Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. He writes and speaks on security, risk, human rights and sustainability, and has delivered executive briefings and led training in over 40 countries. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Fear and Loathing in 2012, A Report from the Digital Barricades: Words of Power Interviews Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash at Truthout


Fear and Loathing in 2012, A Report from the Digital Barricades: Words of Power Interviews Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash at Truthoutt

By Richard Power

For progressives, 2012 is perhaps the most challenging year since 1968, although very different.

There is the Presidential election, which will offer a choice between a 1960s-1970s Republican moderate (i.e., POTUS) and a post-Reagan era Death Eater (presumably Romney). A no-brainer, but not at all encouraging in terms of making meaningful progress on issues of economic and environmental justice. There is the struggle for the Speaker's gavel, and for a true majority in the Senate. There is the struggle for the future of SCOTUS. Furthermore, the rise of ALEC state legislatures and Zombie governors have made us painfully aware of a grotesque new meaning for the old adage "all politics is local." Elections have consequences, dire consequences.

There is also the open question of what will become of the Occupy movement. We desperately need an outside force, strictly NON-VIOLENT, but unwilling to compromise, unwilling to gloss over Democratic Party complicity on economic justice or human rights issues. But will Occupy or whatever evolve out of it find the balance to maintain militancy, and at the same time cultivate strategic alliances, e.g., with Van Jones' Rebuild the Dream, or will it be marginalized and thereby play into the hands of the political establishment and mainstream media.

But perhaps of all the challenges and opportunities opening up in 2012, none is more critical to success than a strong, aggressive progressive media, on the Web, on the radio, and on TV. (And the tragic falling out between Keith Olbermann and Current TV is a painful reminder of the fragility of it all.) I always point to Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, and say look at how much they do with so little, as opposed to how little CNN does with so much. But there are many other examples across a broad spectrum of attitudes and styles, as well as a mix of mediums, e.g., from Thom Hartmann and Ring of Fire to Melissa Perry Harris and The Young Turks, from Common Dreams and Rachel Maddow to The Nation and Mother Jones, from Cornel West and Tavis Smiley to Stephanie Miller and Think Progress, from Jason Leopold and Shannyn Moore to Rude Pundit and Digsby at Hullaballoo, and numerous others.

Over the next few weeks, I will be doing a series of brief Words of Power interviews with some prominent individuals in the progressive media. And we start in this post with Mark Karlin, Editor of Buzzflash, one of the great bastions of reality-based news and analysis since it was forged in the white heat of 2000.

Words of Power: How do you see 2012? What do you see as the role of our progressive, alternative media in general and Buzzflash in particular? What is your sense of the consensus among many true progressives that you are in communication with?

Mark Karlin First of all, BuzzFlash is now part of Truthout.org, a dominating progressive site that accepts no corporate funds or advertising. Its readers take an interest in substantive articles and analysis that can lead to the flourishing of democracy. This is a threat to many whites who saw the American revolution as the creation of a white Christian state; democracy, which evolves and absorbs people of different backgrounds, is anathema to this group's desire to hold on to power. President Obama is a visual symbol that whites – as a tribal group -- no longer can rely on directing the government. This accounts for the venomous hatred that is spewed at Obama. The Internet has been a powerful force in the last 12 years, offering an alternative "frame" to the status quo news of the mainstream corporate media. Sites like Truthout/Buzzflash are essential in providing an outlet for public policy and news whose goal is not to deliver a wealth demographic to advertisers, but rather to obligate its mission to the truth.

Words of Power: What do you see as the future of Occupy Wall Street movement? Do you see it evolving? What should its relationship be with the progressive movement as a whole?

Karlin: I am not an expert on the direction of activism. I am an editor and journalist at BuzzFlash and Truthout. From my perspective as a news analyst, the activism of Occupy Wall Street, was part of a continuum of populist progressivism that has been part of our democracy for decades. Think of the Civil Rights movement; think of the women's emancipation movement; think of the gay rights movement. Most recently, last year the revolt against Scott Walker in Wisconsin, which saw tens of thousands of protesters unite from different factions of the progressive movement, showed that a simmering public protest movement had come to a full boil. More than 100,000 people showed up to demonstrate for collective bargaining in a small capital city in a state with a relatively small population. That was an amazing and energizing development. Historically, most legislative change is proceeded by protest movements demanding justice. Occupy Wall Street may morph into another form of that hopeful tide.

Words of Power: Tell us a little bit about the history and background of Buzzflash. I remember when it first appeared in one of our darkest hours. It has remained a vital portal in the long years since then. Give us some insight into how Buzzflash started, and how it has sustained itself, survived all these years as one of the bulwarks of the patriotic resistance, a bastion of the USA's true free press. What has been the hardest aspect of the struggle? What has been the most surprising?

Karlin: BuzzFlash started in May of 2000. At that time, other than a site called BartCop.com (which still exists), BuzzFlash was the only progressive site that came out swinging. We were and are edgy, sardonic, impassioned – and have a sense of humor. But when I started the site while doing other work for a living, I was committed to not accepting advertising, because advertising ultimately corrupts journalism. Advertising tacitly or directly dictates a certain style of acceptance of the status quo – and once you accept it, it's hard to go back. Many progressive publications started out only accepting "cause" ads; then they compromised a little and accepted national brand name ads; then they accepted bank ads; then they accepted oil company "grenwashing" ads. It becomes an addiction to a money stream, and the ads do influence readers and content, whatever publishers want to claim to the contrary. The Internet is becoming much more of a commercial vehicle, now that it has crossed a threshold that has allowed for models that are profitable. But anyone who has seen sites like Daily Beast and Huffington Post recently have seen how much advertising, delivering a certain audience, has steered them toward sensationalism and entertainment, even if they have some good political reporting. This is becoming true of some more credible progressive publications also, to a lesser degree, but Truthout/BuzzFlash have withstood the temptation to rake in the bucks. We are a delivery vehicle for the truth and uncensored opinion, not a conveyor belt of mush for money.

Words of Power: What do you see as the future for alternative, progressive media in the USA? What are the greatest threats we face? What are most glaring weaknesses? What are our hidden strengths? What impact has social media, like Twitter and Facebook, had on alternative, progressive media? What about progressive talk radio? What about Current TV's new progressive cable news lineup, and of course the few hours a day of programming on MSBC? Where are we headed?

Karlin: These are all interesting questions. And with the emergence of some progressive alternatives on television, there has been a definite change. Most of it is for the good, but there is a downside. The downside is that television is a mass media and all the programs – except for Democracy Now, Free Speech TV, and Link TV, and my good friend Thom Hartmann – are basically, again, vehicles for advertising. If you look at the Internet clips for MSNBC, often you will find oil company "greenwashing" ads that you must watch to see the clip. One for Rachel Maddow that appears over and over again promotes fracking, although that term is not used. Furthermore, although I want to be clear that I am delighted at the growth of progressive television (although disappointed with the relative lack of growth in progressive on-air radio), much of progressive television still deals with the "horse race" of politics or with gaffes. It's theater to a great degree, and theater is often entertaining but not illuminating. But it does offer an important counterpoint to FOX, CNN (which is right center status quo), and the right wing radio shills. So progressive television is very important. In addition, a lot of progressive hosts rely on the Internet for a lot of their guests and breaking progressive news, so I think that part of it is great. As far as the Internet, as long as further consolidation is prevented, and the government and the FCC keep their hands off it, it will continue to be a powerful engine of information, diversity of viewpoints, and vehicles for change through social networking.Basically, since about 2000, the Internet has been an open bulletin board for democracy. We can only work to make sure that doesn't change. Truthout will be working to help ensure "we the people" continue to be represented on the Net.

I urge you to contribute regularly, as I do, to Buzzflash, Truthout and the other bastions of progressive media.

There are wild rapids ahead of us all.

Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.

Richard Power is the author of seven books, including Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. He writes and speaks on security, risk, human rights and sustainability, and has delivered executive briefings and led training in over 40 countries. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Seven Open Secrets About This Journey

Frida Kahlo, Roots (1943)

Seven Open Secrets About This Journey

1. The root system of the universe is incomprehensibly intricate.

2. Life, truth and beauty all share the same root with their opposites. You cannot experience any of them without experiencing their opposites. Cut off one stem of the root and you stunt the other

3. All is transitory. Without this utter transitoriness, life would not cherish itself. Without this utter transitoriness, beauty could not achieve the exquisite, nor truth arrive at the unspeakable.

4. At every twist and turn, you are given a choice between the pairs of opposites.

5. But it is not really a choice. Because you cannot choose until you have felt life, truth and beauty for yourself; and once you have felt them, you cannot choose their opposites. (Even if from within a twisted psyche you think you might choose the opposite, you are really only choosing what you imagine to be a nobler life, a deeper truth or a greater beauty.)

6. You cannot fully experience life, beauty or truth from within the polarity of the opposites; you can only fully experience them from the root, from the source itself.

7. The pairs of opposites are cooked away in the brew made from the great root at the source of all. When you sip that brew, the doors of perception are opened wide, and you experience life, truth and beauty from the indivisible point at which the transitory and the eternal are resolved into a timeless circle.

-- Richard Power

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Thimble



Each life, two-legged, four-legged, winged, slithering, swimming, every life; no more than a thimble of salt water from a undulating, infinite sea of being.

The Unnamable Goddess holds up each of thimble-full; gazing into its contents, She sees countless infinite oceans of being, undulating within every molecule.

Each thimble-full has a unique vibration, and that unique vibration tells her a story.

When the story is finished, She pours the water back into the ocean from which She drew it; but just as the ocean had not been diminished by the drawing forth of the thimble-full, the story of the thimble's contents is not lost when it is returned to the ocean.

Furthermore, the Unnamable Goddess Herself is only a shimmering vision formed by the shape-shifting waves of that infinite ocean of being, She does not exist in separateness.

Indeed, there is only this infinite ocean of being (Sat), and the infinite sky of consciousness (Chit) that stretches over it, like a sleeping lover. And if you follow the horizon beyond where the infinite ocean and the infinite sky seem to meet, you will realize that they both disappear into a reality of bliss (Ananda) beyond any conceivability.

At this moment, in this place, you are nothing less than all of this.

Madrone

Off the grid, half an hour up a dirt road, deep in the forest. (Sonoma, February 2012)


Grateful for another day and night.

Grateful for the sanctuary of the forest.

Grateful for the hard, deep wood of wisdom (called "Oak" in the human tongue).

Grateful for the blood-red wood of mercy (called "Madrone" in the human tongue).

Grateful for the sourceless thunder (called "silence" in the human tongue); grateful for the invisible lightening (called "solitude" in the human tongue).

Grateful for the powerful magic of this redwood sauna.

Grateful for the passionate kiss of fire and water; because within their love-play, stone turns into motionless flame, and the air itself erupts into waves of penetrating heat.

Grateful that the Sun still sets in the West; that means there is still time.

Grateful to be one of the skins into which this soma is poured, so that it can borne off to be shared among the circles of the humans.