Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Snow Days

The new Bush administration appointment of Tony Snow as Press Secretary has some striking consequences for the blending of popular news networks and state officials. Is it any surprise that a Fox News pundit is now “hosting” the federal government show?

While I don’t expect to see objectivity from any presidential candidate or administration, the overlap of a giant news agency and the government is a new type of influence. While some are highlighting that Snow has had some critical remarks of the Bush administration, I’m not sure that is the dangerous part of this new relationship. Instead, I think the conversation should be about the type of information that will be released in the future. This administration has been increasingly secretive and the ability of the public to make judgments about its inner workings, and effectively vote, are dependent upon the transparency of its responses to public inquiry. The Press Secretary should be a voice that speaks to inform the people, not continuously “duck and cover” from the questioning media.

Getting back to Snow, if he has already been a voicebox for the conservative party in other types of public, will he continue the policy of secrecy in the Bush administration? To what expense?

In the end, I see this as fake news watchdog (Fox News media pundits) continuing to serve the needs of a failing administration.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Okay Sopranos fans…

I’ve been an avid fan of the Sopranos for quite a long time. On the whole, it’s an excellent program.

What’s interesting to me now is less about the show itself and more about the media storm reflecting what’s going on in the show. I’ve seen quite a few articles commenting about the newly discovered gay character Vito. Here’s an example of one of the stories.

Why do you think that the media is picking up on this story more than other instances of the show? I mean, for those who have seen the show, there are plenty of other events in the show that are worth discussing. (I won’t name any of those here because of spoilers, even for previous seasons. I can’t stand it when people talk about shows that I haven’t seen yet!) Is homosexuality a subject that the television world wouldn’t expect to see in the Sopranos world? Murder, theft, and adultery…those ideas are old hat. Is homosexuality the “in” topic for television?

Also, if anyone has any thoughts about the episodes or otherwise, feel free to post!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Follow up to the protest posts

Unfortunately, I was unable to witness firsthand the protests on April 10 down here in Phoenix. I read a couple reports in the news that somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 protesters showed up. Impressive!

Is this what it takes to create change? Is this the only way to send the government a message? Looking at France and the labor protests that are going on there, I wonder if we are facing a time where this sort of action is the best way to be heard.

If anyone was able to go to the protests here in Phoenix, anywhere else (given that they were all over the country), I’d love to hear some of the first-hand accounts of that experience.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Black White

I caught up with the show Black White yesterday and had some thoughts. Interesting show. If you haven’t seen it, the premise is that a black family of three and a white family of three are going to “switch races.” Each race is going to lead the other race through the “project” to hopefully illustrate the experiences of either side.

For those of you that have seen it, you have some feelings about either family. I, for one, think the daughter is probably the most reflexive about the experience. But I wonder if the show is promoting an understanding of race that only focuses on the binary of black and white. It seems that a bunch of the middle ground is lost when the issue becomes polarized. Also, the experience seems primarily framed within the opposition of the two. In the beginning, the father of the black family commented that he experienced oppression from both whites, because he is black, but also blacks because he is lighter skinned. After that opening comment, the issue has been dropped.

Do you think this show highlights race in a way that frames the debate in a binary of black/white? What are the consequences of this? Also, if anyone has comments about the different reactions from the family members, I’m interested. As I said before, I’m most intrigued by the daughter, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: I saw the last episode of the show last night. Interestingly enough, it seemed that the producers where trying to find some reconciliation between the characters. They had group hugs and tried to make nice, but I wonder if it is even possible in this scenario. I thought that Bruno was racist. If so, why would Brian, Renee, or Nick want to be friendly with him? The other thought I had was about Nick. They took Nick to the “Hall of Tolerance” (funny South Park reference comes to mind here) where he witnessed the mediated racism of this country’s history. The parents believed that he got something out of that experience, but I had my doubts. Nick was an interesting character. I don’t think I could really figure him out.

Anyone else have thoughts about the last episode?

Friday, April 07, 2006

Leaky Houses

Admittedly, it has been a while since I’ve posted (as comments have indicated) and it seems time to return.

I’ve been noting the news lately, and it seems that things are heating up for the President. Poll numbers today indicate that the GOP and the White House are at their lowest in quite some time. Notably, the newspaper article that I read compares much of the poll numbers to the 2004 election poll numbers. Ultimately, I’m interested to see what happens in the next elections.

More importantly, though, it seems as though the Bush Administration has been able to get away with quite a bit of “stuff.” The recent revelation in the Scooter Libby trial that it could have been Bush himself that authorized the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity seems rather damning. However, looking back on the last few years, it seems that this presidency has been able to get away with a lot of “stuff.” It’s well known that Iraq did not have WMD’s or pose a threat. This blunder alone seems large enough to call for a serious questioning of our leadership.

This is where I get stuck…one would think that in our system, that we, as a people, should be able to have checks upon the actions of our elected leaders. Instead, it seems as if the people have become powerless. My question to the world, then, is: In what ways can actual change be made? Bush’s expansion of power through the executive office has allowed him to enact all sorts of nasties, including the use of indefinite detention in GITMO and in the secret CIA prisons overseas. How can the citizens of the United States fight against this use of power?