Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer

Insult My Intelligence, Please

One day before the fifth anniversary of “Mission Accomplished” the Dean of White House reporters Helen Thomas and White House Spokesperson Dana Perino last Wednesday at a press conference:

MS. THOMAS: How does the President intend to commemorate "Mission Accomplished" after five years of death and destruction?

MS. PERINO: What you're referring to is the banner that ran -- that was aboard the ship five years ago. President Bush –

MS. THOMAS: I'm talking about the anniversary tomorrow.

MS. PERINO: Yes, I get -- no, I understand. That's the anniversary of when that banner flew on that ship. President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said "mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission." And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.

That’s right. The president thought the banner was going to say:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

(for the guys on this ship)

(pay no attention to my big airplane entrance)

(never mind the cameras and the media)

(this sign isn’t about the War in Iraq)

(it’s about a few hundred guys on this ship)

How was he to know that someone goofed and left out the fine print?

Seriously, I get lied to by clients on occasion, and frankly sometimes I expect it. It might take a few times before they feel like telling me what’s really going on in their case. Or for them to trust that I will work hard on their case no matter what the facts are.

But, I also get told outrageous lies at times. And it’s a little insulting. It’s not the “not being truthful with me” part that I mind; it’s the storyteller thinking I’m dumb enough to believe this particular load of garbage. How dumb do you think I am?

By the same token, I’m used to politicians – and their spokespeople - being shall we say less than truthful. But can anyone tell me why Perino was allowed by the press to tell this ridiculous whopper totally unreported and unchallenged?

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Posted on March 19, 2008 by Jamie Spencer

War on Drugs <=> War in Iraq

For the Iraq War Blogstorm project, some quick thoughts on how the War on Drugs is like the War in Iraq:

Both Wars

  • Are costing the American taxpayer billions and billions of dollars. Trillions if the full economic costs are calculated.
  • Have huge ‘cottage’ industries supporting them, and someone is getting rich off of them.
  • Cost American lives. And foreign lives, of course – for those who care.
  • Are premised on lies.
  • Depend on ignorance. The more people educate themselves about the truth, and find out what’s really going on, the less they support both wars.
  • Allow most politicians to spout sound bites and platitudes (full of sound and fury, and signifying, well…)
  • Are the only 2 things Ron Paul is 100% right about. But, he’s 100% correct on 2 major issues where most pols are only running approximately 0-25%.
  • Have blogs devoted to them. Most of these blogs are anti-War blogs (or is it just that those are the ones I read?)

That was off the top of my head and took about two minutes. Only five minutes until the anniversary is over, so this post is done. Depressing how similar they really are. Feel free to add more suggestions in the comments section. I’ve probably covered only 10% of the available ideas on the subject.

And, by the way, the major difference? Only one of them is a real war. The ‘War on Drugs’ is not a war – at least it’s not a war on drugs.

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Posted on March 18, 2008 by Jamie Spencer

March 19th Iraq War Blogswarm

Warning: Somewhere between 95-99% off topic post coming up.

I get emails from various folks asking for backlinks to their blogs on a semi-regular basis – not that I mind them, if you are pointing me to something with good content, I may subscribe by way of RSS, and if you have good content relevant to mine, I will probably point to your posts in an upcoming post of mine.

By the same token, if you have no real original content – and the people I’m talking about know who they don’t – please refrain from spamming me.

In the meantime, and definitely off topic, or at least not very criminal defense related comes the March 19th Iraq War Blogswarm project. Those looking for backlinks to their blogs need merely write a post this Wednesday and they will get that oh-so-coveted backlink. (The page is fairly new, and thus shows no Google PR for now, for those who care about such things, but I think the fact that it’s been up one month and already shows 863 backlinks means it’ll have some Google juice.)

The blog authors even give folks ideas about what to write:

Here are some things you might want to consider if you are having difficulty making up your mind (on what to post about):

  • Attend an anti-war event and report on it.
  • Interview military families and veterans.
  • NEW IDEA: Blog reactions to Pacifica's Live Radio Coverage of the Winter Soldier testimony by Iraq Vets would be of great interest. Coverage from the event in Washington, DC would be great too. This event deserves all the coverage it can possibly get.
  • Examine current plans and the rather shadowy oil laws as well as long term military bases.
  • Compare and contrast candidates stated intentions on what they claim they will do with their records.
  • Publicize online action alerts by pro-peace organizations.
  • Discuss the economic impacts of the war on people in Iraq and/or western countries.
  • Discuss the casualties on both sides.
  • Explore issues and impacts often ignored by most media outlets.
  • Analyze war propaganda.

I’ve got my own ideas on how to make my post relevant to my ‘niche’ – but I’m going to keep that to myself, for now.

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