Attacking Howard Kurtz

Breitbart's John Nolte went after Howard Kurtz's reasoning in the article: Top Five False Statements in Howard Kurtz's Christopher Dorner Column. Here are his 5 points on Kurtz:

1.  Kurtz Invents Straw Man that Right Is 'Blaming' the Media for Murder Spree
2.  Kurtz's Only Example of a Media 'Blamer' Didn't Blame the Media
3.  Kurtz Pretends Dorner Is 'All Over the Map' Politically
4.  Kurtz Is Reduced to Citing Anonymous Tweets
5.  Kurtz Pretends Only the 'Left' Attempted to Link Palin to Tucson

In Kurtz's article he finds the "explosion of conservative comments on Twitter trying to tie his alleged rampage to ... liberals." and goes on to say:

That's right, even with three people dead, one wounded and a manhunt under way, the ugly game of ideological finger-pointing was under way.

Is this not exactly what Kurtz is doing in this very article? He is quick to defend the media against the right whom he characterizes as "nuts." Sounds like a finger point to me. Kurtz moves on to describe the comments of Brent Bozell, the president of the conservative Media Research Center, to Fox's Sean Hannity which is what Nolte cites as his 2nd point. This is what Kurtz writes:

"This is very telling that you've got a direct association of liberal luminaries with this killer," Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, told Fox's Sean Hannity.

Actually, it's not telling at all. At least Bozell added that the luminaries should not be held responsible for Dorner's actions just because his screed invoked their names.

Nolte is right in saying that Kurtz makes a very lukewarm argument by immediately acknowledging that the media should not be held responsible for the actions of one of their murderous viewers. Kurtz us right that this is not telling since what one individual feels about a massive industry doesn't lead to a very direct association at all. I watch Democracy Now regualrly and hold personal views about Amy Goodman but I wouldn't say that I have any direct association with her.

So far I would have to say that Nolte's first two points hold water if you take into account what Kurtz said in his article. That doesn't mean that the right didn't blame the media, it is possible but without a doubt Kurtz never bothered to piece together any information to support his point. The guy makes $600K a year so I would think he would at least back up his assertions.

In his 3rd point Nolte states:

Only in Kurtz's sheltered, provincial media-bubble does being an admirer of Democrats and media-approved Republicans mean you’re "all over the map" politically.

 Here I would have to say Kurtz proved enough of his point to warrant his "all over the map" insight. In addition to the "media approved" people on the left Dorner's manifesto also mentioned a soft spot for Chris Christie, George H W Bush, and Colin Powell. Dorner may limit himself to the "media approved" personalities across the spectrum but he does stretch across the map enough to give Kurtz his point here.

The 4th Nolte point is how Kurtz uses anonymous tweets as the reasoning behind his right blames the media for the Dorner rampage. Nolte jumps to the 4th tweet cited and dubs Kurtz's reaction as more than pathetic. Since we are tossing around insults I guess it is safe to say that it is more than pathetic that Nolte deems it unimportant to even mention the other tweets used by Kurtz. Here are all 4 of the tweets as presented by Kurtz:

"Would you care if he loved Fox News, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh?" one Twitter user asked. "My guess is you would, hypocrite."

"Entire MSM would feed on this if it were linked to any right-wing cause."

Oh, and someone said I was "a sick, twisted freak and a liar" for saying that Scarborough, the former Republican congressman turned MSNBC host, is a conservative.

Some blatantly promoted the notion of payback: "You guys smeared Palin over Tucson. Now it's your turn to be linked to a murderous madman. Only this time the link's legit."

Nolte is right that these tweets don't prove Kurtz's Conservatives are blaming the Left media for Dorner's killing spree. He very conveniently though jumps right to the one that leads him into his next point about Palin being attacked by the entire mainstream media after the Tuscon Giffords shooting. As if we have been running in place we now end up once again where we revolved the whole time which is at the mudslinging end of the spectrum only this time with an event of 2 years ago thanks to both Nolte and Kurtz. I guess it is safe to say that this Dorner killing spree truly is opening old wounds.

In terms of points I'd say Nolte made a little more sense than Kurtz but when viewed as a whole that isn't really saying much.

Eyes On Steubenville Case

By now if you haven't heard about the Steubenville High School rape case then you are living under a rock. Partially due to the work of hackvist group Anonymous the lid is blown off the proceedings centered around this event which happened back in August.

The Nation Blog is running a liveblog of the ongoing events:


Tuesday January 8, 2013 Updates
Monday January 7, 2013 Updates
Sunday January 6, 2013 Updates


Earlier today the former legal guardians of Ma'lik Richmond appeared on the Today show defending the 16 year old defendant claiming he is not capable of the crime and that he needs to be tried in court not by social media.



Via the Dayton Daily: The out of town Judge allowed one of the Steubenville rape suspects to attend the Rose Bowl with his former legal guardians earlier this month while supposedly on house arrest.

Contained in this link is also the uncut raw version of an interview between Anonymous member @KYAnonymous and reporter Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) 

Anonymous helping to bring this case to a wider audience:



Links:

Goddard's Blog: Original Blogger On This Case
Local Leaks Description of the Event

This is the horrific 12 minute plus video that Michael Nodiano made hours after the alleged incident. (Note: this material is disturbing in a callous and heartless manner)


Michael Colin Nodianos Admitting To Rape from Commander X on Vimeo.

Newspeak in Usage

The vlogger FeverIAm suggested in his very first video back in 2008 on his YouTube account that viewers needed to do 2 things.

1. Think for themselves
2. Get a Copy of George Orwell's 1984 and read the Appendix entry on "Newspeak"

He provided this info by way of 2 videos on his channel which I've embedded for you here:

Newspeak Video #1



Newspeak Video #2



Now that you have an idea of what Newspeak is as opposed to conventional English which would be considered Oldspeak I wanted to give a few examples of Newspeak in everyday usage.

• Politburo: this a Russian committee that represents multiple Communist political parties and is arrived at by contracting the 2 words: Political Bureau. Also in use in Russia at one time or another is: Orgburo (Organizational Bureau) & Comintern (The Communist International)
• Torture becomes Enhanced Interrogation thus eliminating the unsavory aspects of the original word. You can see this also with the term Collateral Damage which is a remod (threw a little Newspeak of my own in to give you some extra flavor) of Civilian Casualties. The revised version now eliminates the murderous connotations from the expression. Friendly Fire reeks of Newspeak as the sudden terrible instance of being killed by your own peers is suddenly an exchange between friends.
• In the Tobacco Industry teens are referred to as starters in the language used internally
• Some have claimed Political Correctness is a form of Newspeak but this is debated since others say PC is just a way of speaking politely.
• You see Newspeak techniques in terms like: estate tax as opposed to death tax, pro-life and pro-choice which paints the opposition as being anti-life or anti-choice
• Excessive use of Abbreviations in the form of Acronyms is seen as another Newspeak technique
• The current usage of Communism is seen as a form of Newspeak in that is stripped of its origins to become synonymous with "evil" & bad" when taken in a Cold War context.

Please leave in the comments any words or techniques you know of in real life that could fall under the classification of Newspeak.

Who is Fever I Am?

FeverIAm aka Mike Radmann is a vlogger with an eye on world events. Two months ago he put his videos back to public on YouTube which resulted in them flooding his subscribers as if they were all new material. Didn't know that happened when You Tube restrictions changed. Fever is a great resource for keeping an abreast on the unfolding of our world's politics and economies. In the past year he has been relatively dormant as other things have taken his attention away.

In his very first video from 2008 he encourages his viewers to find their own truth. He is referring not only to what you will find on the internet but age old truths in the arena of free thought and free will. Fever warns that we have to increase our ability to think for ourselves and be wary of so-called authorities force feeding us what they want us to think. Another suggestion is to get yourself a copy of 1984 by George Orwell and begin by reading the Appendix focusing particular attention on learning about Newspeak and what it means. 

Here embedded below is the aforementioned video:

 

NRA Press Conference Generates Much Talk

Decided to run through some of the comments on the National Rifle Association's Facebook page post where they announced their press conference after a week of very little response subsequent to the horrific Sandy Hook massacre. Many of the early comments ranged from "hold the line" to "stay strong." Before the press conference several members threatened to revoke their memberships if they didn't hear what they wanted. As the speech from Wayne LaPierre got into full swing many commenters claimed they joined the NRA for life, including signing up family members for the holidays. 

I found the following comment interesting because it appears the commenter either forgot to add "don't" to his comment or doesn't know what condone means:

Support the NRA and your rights as a Gun Owner, the NRA has always condoned violence and they are horrified by the actions of a few. They support Gun Owners, not disturbed individuals that channel their aggression in a violent manner.

One mother demanded answers from the NRA, and she was treated to a steady stream of questioning what type of answers she was looking for. One commenter said that the NRA bears no responsibility for what people with guns do with their guns. This makes me wonder how can you ignore the fact that their policies allow these guns to get in the hands of these "irresponsible" individuals.

This comment made minutes before the start of the press conference wants examples of where "guns have saved lives" Interesting use of double speak here. Guns saving lives, as if the gun isn't what is actually taking the lives.

You better kick ass... detail where guns have SAVED lives. These sheep need it spelled out for them. Mass media has fed them sensationalist stories for so long, they wouldn't know reality if it rose up & bit them in the ... well, you know.

As the conference begins a protester interrupts the proceedings, and one commenter hopes he "gets his ass kicked." Another comment advises us he is:

I would say with 90% accuracy that he was a governmental implant.

Not sure I have ever heard the word "plant" shifted to "implant", but perhaps I am not hip to this new speak. Another commenter suggested they "hang" the protester. At least we have made it to the actual conference in comment land…

Another commenter marveled at the "composer" of the speaker:

Wow what composer the speaker showed! let the nut job show true liberal hatred towards those of us who remain calm.

I'm assuming they are trying to say composure and it is a predictive text thing, let us hope, because otherwise I would be looking for the conductor and orchestra.

Here we have an org by the name of Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners commenting:

Note that everything Wayne is saying is SPOT ON. Those who disagree will simply say he's "wrong" without articulating their beliefs. We cannot come to the table with unreasonable people who lack critical thinking skills.

This is an interesting POV because it is blaming their opposition preemptively for lacking critical thinking and the ability to hold reasonable positions.

As the violent video game position came out it seemed to rub some of the NRA's own supporters the wrong way. This appeared to be fracturing their own base. I wonder if this is a universal thing or just localized to today's FB commenters. One commenter supports self-deportation for the anti-gun commenters:

For those anti gun idiots posting on here.. Feel free to move to Mexico where guns are illegal and enjoy the safety I am sure you will feel there

In other comments I saw suggestions to head to China or Canada if one doesn't like the situation here in America. 

Here we have the support of placing blame on the media:

Watching right now. THANK YOU WAYNE FOR YOUR TRUE WORDS. BLAME THE MEDIA AND THIS SOCIETY NOT INANIMATE OBJECTS.

I find this comment interesting because it almost gives a myriad of corporations and institutions the sense that they are somehow a being. I wonder if the people that disagree with the NRA do this as well, begin seeing the organization in a personified manner. Here we find gun owner responsibility and keeping the guns away from children in fear they may be mentally ill as a possible solution:

and i also think all weapons should be in a locked box all time. and anyone with teen agers they can have no weapon within the home but belong to a gun club untill these teenagers are 25 yrs old. and can show there just not mental cases and or stupid

This surely doesn't come across as a very popular opinion when taking into account what we hear from the other commenters. As I go through this exercise I begin to see how the membership base of the NRA is very clear in their expectations and must make any semblance of a moderate response from their own hierarchy to this current Sandy Hook crisis difficult. Here is another comment from previously referenced org:

Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners: This is why you can't have a real discussion about this issue with liberal extremists; they are incapable of much more than the thoughtless, emotional response of "ban things", and holding signs.

Check this comment:

Video game bans are stupid. Either objects cause crime, (Guns, tv shows, video games), or people do.

There is this common expression that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." And now we are seeing this "video games (influence) people to kill people" subtext. This to me seems to fracture the argument coming from the pro-gun side of things. I think this is why it is rubbing so many of the NRA's own members. It puts them in a cake and eating it too position which weakens them. I'm interested in hearing what people think of this idea.

Once again we get what is clearly becoming a major talking point from them the following comment:

Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners: Note that nearly every detractor who is posting here is not explaining why they think "we're crazy" or the "NRA is wrong". They certainly have opinions...but getting them to articulate those opinions is impossible. They should stick to what they excel at in life...holding signs.

Agree or disagree you must give them credit for consistency as they punctuate the same point every 20 minutes or so. I realize this is a typo but I find the way they distort people's assertion quite entertaining, for instance:

the head of th IRA should run for president..ohh rahhh sir..I stand behind you.

Or this one:

And it is not all liberals that ate the enemy.

The comments go on endlessly and I have gleaned enough for now from this exercise.In summation I find people are going to believe what they believe and it is a long road to changing their minds. People also like to see things in a black and white landscape because gray areas are frightening to people. We as a species are most comfortable with certainty, and holding staunch positions becomes comforting to the great unknown. Name calling is a common technique when faced with people that disagree with you. The NRA is in a tough spot between satisfying their powerful interests and not completely pissing off a hurt American populous. 

This whole liberal media thing is particularly interesting to me because how can the media maintain such a liberal bias if it is run by conservative corporations? I always wonder how this could be possible. It seems like once something becomes a catch-phrase talking point it becomes much easier to throw it around like hand grenades rather than taking the time to build your own opinions devoid of sound bytes and parroting.

I'm very curious how others feel about what I am finding and asserting here in this post and welcome ALL of your comments.

London Riots

What a mess, so the riots that flared through Tottenham were caused by the shooting of Markc Duggan a 29 year old with 4 children. There is a report out that police shot and killed him without them ever being fired upon, now with the gun found at the scene apparently not fired by Mark Duggan tensions could once again boil over into the streets.

Look at one man's take on the riots and what could have caused such civil unrest.



Here is a link to the story

Characters of the James Ray Trial: Amayra Hamilton Edition

Let us leave Michael Hamilton, and turn our attention to his wife Amayra Hamilton, who is originally from Holland. She advised Defense Attorney Luis Li that she ran a business for 10 years importing and exporting essential oils when he inquired about her previous business experience.

From the Angel Valley website here are some highlights:
• moved from Holland to Sedona in 1997 <<< Met Michael in Holland
• …in the early 1980’s…she began her study of spiritual psychotherapy. She learned color therapy and chakra balancing. She expanded…to the use of essential oils, massage and body/energy work and included sound healing…, using a variety of instruments…
• works with crystal skulls <<< Here is a link to a crystal skull essay featuring Amayra
• Mayan Calendar and Mayan Signatures…
• The death of her 28-year old son in 1999 was a life altering experience…She added grief guidance to the assistance she provides.
• a non-denominational ordained minister and performs weddings and commitment ceremonies.
• focus is to create and encourage heart connections, honoring the Divine feminine.

Additonal Modalities (also from the Angel Valley Website)
• Healing through Art
• Holistic Energy Work & Reiki
• Intuitive Coaching
• Tai Ji
• Vortex & Angel Walks

A February 16th NPR report (which Li harped on as the start of the trial but had been conducted earlier) yields this from Amayra regarding the decline in visitors to Sedona since the 2009 James Ray lodge.

"I think most of it all has to do with people being unsure what exactly happened," says Amayra Hamilton, who runs Angel Valley with her husband. "So there's uncertainty."

And here is some more Crystal Skull Discussion on New Age Fraud: