A little late, isn’t it? Besides an hour-long lecture is hardly going to undo an entire system of deceit and cronyism.

The White House on Tuesday began mandatory, hourlong briefings for an estimated 3,000 staffers on ethics and the handling of classified information in response to the indictment of a top official in the CIA leak investigation.

Among those who attended the first ethics briefing were some assistants to the president with top security clearances, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not among the first group, although he was expected to attend an ethics class later this week.
–Bush aides sent to ethics classes – Yahoo! News

From Edward R. Murrow’s October 15, 1958 Speech to the Radio-Television News Directors Association:

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.

Stonewall Jackson, who knew something about the use of weapons, is reported to have said, ‘When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.’ The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival.

Go see Good Night, and Good Luck, which tells the tale of Murrow’s battle against McCarthyism with elegance and beauty.

I’m not blogging much here right now – all the action is over at OrangePolitics.

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow!

Much as I’d like to, it’s difficult to gloat over the latest poll showing that Bush’s popularity with Americans in plummeting in every way. It really just makes me ill.

This decline is only hapenning because people are finally waking up to the corruption and totalitarianism that have ruled this White House from day one. Why couldn’t people see this a year before Bush’s re-election instead of a year after? And for that matter, why are they still only paying attention to the very tip of the iceberg?

Continue reading “Sick” →

Look out world, the bloggers are coming! The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently found that one-fifth of American teenagers have blogs, more than half have created online content, and “those who get music files online believe it is unrealistic to expect people to self-regulate and avoid free downloading and file-sharing altogether.”

Continue reading “The Next Generation” →

Wow. The CommonCensus Map Projectis building an experimental map of districts of the country based on “spheres of influence” instead of traditional political boundaries. It’s very much focused on how people feel connected to cities and regions

You can go fill in their survey to add your own prefences to the map.

…do you think it will be until Scott McClellan resigns? The White House press corps are staring at their watches.

Continue reading “How long” →