On losing habeas corpus posted 9-29-2006

 
The end of habeas corpus.

With the capitulation of the Senate, the dotard George W. Bush has undone 200 years of legal protection for all Americans, and the public has said nothing. It may not even be aware of the loss, despite the news coverage.

This is so deeply disturbing that one doesn't even know where to begin. If one needed more evidence of the aggressively witless bombast of the chief executive or what depraved, power-crazed jackals he has for counselors in Cheney and Rumsfeld, this would be it.

Snark Bytes
USAVoice.org: Add another thud
8-15-2006

 
Now you just knew all the fake hype wasn't going to end with the last e-mail from USAVoice, now didn't you? (See previous two posts here and here for the background on this scam.) Sure enough, I got another e-mail, this one inviting me to sign up for a one-hour conference call, which sounded like maybe it would finally be an interview of sorts with real people participating (besides me, that is; but as it turns out, I wasn't by any means the only one 'invited' — see the comment at the end of the first post).

No such luck: when I went to the sign-up page, it was headlined Training Call. Now there's a dead giveaway if ever I saw one. It's the kind of thing one expects when one is being considered for a job at a call center, not for an editing or reporting position. Not only have they not interviewed me yet, let alone made a job offer, but they reveal that 1) the call will actually be 90 minutes long, 2) that participating in the call doesn't yet constitute a job offer, 3) that there will be several other 'candidates' on the line with us but 4) that we won't be able to talk or be heard while the 'lecture' is going on, 5) that I have to be able to talk on the phone during the conference call while being online (I guess those of us 'candidates' who are forced to use dial-up Internet were out of luck, eh?), and 5) that I should take careful notes. Oh, and this was going to be a long-distance call, with no mention of it being toll free.

Snark Bytes
USAVoice.org: Just another dud on the media landscape
8-3-2006

 
Well, it’s official: USAVoice is just another irritating, hype-laden non-starter out there in the ether, a marketing tool masquerading as new journalism. Having billed itself as the Internet’s answer to CNN (as if that wasn’t a dead giveaway right there), it missed its debut deadline — twice in one month — and hasn’t uttered a peep. As of Wednesday, August 2nd, its home page was still promising a start date of July 31st, and nothing new had been added to the site that this writer could find. All of which tempts one to say: Get lost, you bloody posers — and quit jerking around my colleagues!

Even if they eventually made an appearance and start doing business as a news outlet, at this point they’ve already lost what little credibility any such start-up might have. And that’s the kiss of death.

Meanwhile, they got an awful lot of e-mail addresses and other information out of freelance or unemployed journalists who applied looking for real jobs in online journalism. Poor saps. I was almost one of them, and I understand the temptation.

Tales of the New Media: Is USAVoice.org Real?

 
There’s a new wanna-be news organization supposedly ready to burst onto the scene that claims it will be to the Internet what CNN was 20 years ago to broadcasting. In fact, it intends to displace CNN and other major news organizations in the hearts and minds of average readers and viewers. Or so it says.

Well, maybe … that is, if the organization in question really exists and if news gathering, rather than marketing or something else more nefarious in media clothing, is its real motive. There seems to be considerable room for doubt. But one thing is certain: you don’t advertise for 1,200 positions in online job sites like Careerbuilder or Yahoo! HotJobs without having some big bucks to throw around.

The enterprise calls itself USAVoice, and it’s had a lot of journalists wondering just what’s going on. The new (fake?) news venue was supposed to start business on July 4th but put that off until month’s end. It’s been advertising since late June for editors and writers en masse in the states, possibly internationally — but it isn’t really interested in applicants with legitimate journalism backgrounds or experience. Moreover, nobody seems to know who’s behind this effort or where they came from, let alone where they’re really located, and they appear to be connected to at least one possible con artist.

On literature and first glances
posted 4-21-2006

 
Now that spring has shown and the saps are flowing (who, me — slam lovesick swains? Na-a-a-ahh.), it’s time to reconsider dating. Having recovered from Seasonal Affective Disorder and crawled out from under my overburdened life like a chipmunk emerging from hibernation, I’ve been scouting out flirty little flouncy dresses and pastel pumps with which to bewitch, replenishing my make-up, and trying new scents with abandon, like a good little girl answering Nature’s call.

But my brain, as usual, has taken a step back from both this and reading the newspapers, trolling for something succulent to write about, and rethought what it really means to be dating. Or, for that matter, writing while dating (it is an unseemly fact that writers, being well able to pen glorious love letters themselves, vainly hope to receive same from the various targets of their affections; and this almost never happens, disgustingly).

When of all things, the movie channels on cable intervened, drawing me to an inescapable conclusion: I am jealous — of both people who have someone appreciative to whom they can write magnificent love letters, and those who receive such. The cool, perfect, sunlit day today merely intensifies this.

Damn the French! They know how to write belles lettres when it suits them.

Snark Bytes
Snarking back at the snarkmeisters
3-16-2006

 
Consider:

What's Better? His Empty Suit or Her Baggage?
By MAUREEN DOWD
The Democrats should not dismiss a politically less experienced but personally more charismatic presidential prospect.
Q.: His Empty Suit or Her Baggage?
A.: Maybe neither. But that doesn't mean Hillary shouldn't run. And anybody else willing to take some risk by taking on Dubya.

So: MoDo basically thinks Barack Obama’s charisma may yet be a saving grace, along with his sense of humor, despite his presence in the Senate being nearly devoid of meaningful content or action. The problem here is that Obama has kept his profile so low, his nose so clean, and he’s taken so few (any??) risks that we have no idea what he really stands for or what he could do (see cover story in this month's Chicago mag for a revealing slice of Not Much about Obama). And Hillary's not taking any risks, either, just when somebody should.

Civil unions: Just do it, and move on

Now that gay couples can legally marry in Massachusetts and various pro and con measures on gay unions are wending their way through other states’ courts and legislatures, minority opposition will stridently increase. Even though there are many more important things to discuss, the ultra-vocal ultra-conservatives will hang their hats on this issue and on abortion. The ill-advised blathering and grandstanding of Alan Keyes is merely one example. This shrill minority will insist to others that recognizing civil unions is somehow grossly, intrinsically wrong and that the concept would be irrelevant if not for those pesky gay activists who get so much play in the media. They’re wrong. This conversation has been coming for a long time.

From the moment American women first gained widespread access to reliable birth control, a discussion about gay marriage was inevitable. Don’t see the connection? Let me back up a bit.