Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Technological Revolutions vs. The Control of Information
As I read Nomadic Joe’s interesting post on the hacker vs. the corporation, I realized that there is a lot of satisfaction in having “the little guy” win a round; it doesn’t happen often enough! Joe’s post presents a fascinating analogy between this modern case about corporate control of information technology and the revolution in the dissemination of information and ideas that occurred following invention of the printing press. The powerful interests of the time initially tried to suppress and control the content of mass-printed materials, but were eventually unsuccessful in controlling the flow of information as the Renaissance blossomed in
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
All of us at PoliticalGates are feeling the excitement building! After 2½ years the code of silence is finally cracking, as more and more journalists are writing and speaking about Sarah Palin’s faked pregnancy. We can expect that there will be some steps forward and some steps back, as occurred this week with some great coverage and some that was really poor. In the big picture, Sarah, honey, although I don’t think this is what you had in mind for the End Times, I gotta break it to you: THE END IS NEAR.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Business Insider Publishes Article about Babygate!
Henry Blodget of Business Insider is covering Babygate – oh happy day! This is a widely read publication, and Blodget presents a thorough review of Professor Scharlott’s paper on how the media’s “spiral of silence” squelched any reasonable investigation of the many discrepancies in Sarah Palin’s story. Blodget lays out the key points very clearly: Babygate is likely true and Sarah Palin is probably Trig’s grandmother; and the media’s failure to investigate this story is a massive failure. His story has gotten 338,565 hits as I write this, with some excellent comments (and some “Bot-ulism” as well). Let’s take a moment to congratulate P&K and the whole team of readers, writers and researchers, and to thank Brad Scharlott again for being willing to take this subject to a new level.
Friday, April 15, 2011
(Some of) the Media is (Finally) on the Case
Like the Berlin Wall was for 28 years, the “wall of silence” around Babygate has seemed impenetrable for the last 3 years. But now, like that other infamous wall (and maybe a Biblical wall as well), it won’t be long ‘til the wall comes tumbling down. This week represents a watershed moment, as more and more media outlets are running stories about Brad Scharlott’s paper and the evidence that Sarah Palin perpetrated a major hoax on the American people. The list is getting longer! Business Insider also published VERY interesting followup interviews between Laura Novak and Brad Scharlott. Leadfoot, who is a real pro in this field, sounds a cautionary note to be ready for the PR blitz pushback – including Palin flooding the media with other stories to drown this one out. Time to keep the pressure on and make the story as clear as possible. (Of course, Sarah’s MO is to make it as convoluted as possible to confuse people and obscure the obvious truth.)
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Nomadic Joe’s new tongue-in-cheek post points out a serious truth: that shoddy journalism is harmful to our health as a nation and a global community. So, he brought to our attention a post which claimed that "warning labels” should be added to so-called journalism that is really nothing more than spin, PR and propaganda. He highlighted some great labels, and our readers had some excellent suggestions as well. Julia O’Malley of the Anchorage Daily News has earned several of these warning labels for her most recent “Babygate” article, as we’ll see below.
h/t Dusty17
What an amazing week! PoliticalGates live-streamed Palin’s screech in
Sunday, April 17, 2011
On Anniversary of the “Wild Ride” Hoax, Patrick Refutes Julia O’Malley Bunk
Sunday was the 3rd anniversary of Palin’s reported “wild ride.” Patick observes the auspicious day with a great post that thoroughly debunks Julia O’Malley’s article "Make.It.Stop." Ironically, her own boss, Pat Dougherty, tried to refute the fake pregnancy story in 2008 and could not do so; yet now O’Malley smears those who have done the same thing over the past several years. In fact, Dougherty predicted that the questions about Palin’s pregnancy would NOT stop unless she released contemporaneous documentation supporting her story; so the doubts about her implausible tale remain as he predicted, O’Malley’s attempts to obscure the truth notwithstanding. Patrick refutes O’Malley’s claims that the photographic evidence was photoshopped – a lie – and includes some of the most telling photos and videos. He also shows the Michael Carey interview revealing that the pregnancy hoax was openly discussed in the ADN newsroom prior to her nomination in 2008. Apparently O'Malley missed those conversations? Unfortunately, it is now clear that ADN has lost any sense of journalistic integrity and is a willing partner in the hoax. O’Malley’s self-righteous, scolding and condescending tone in the article is nothing more than a feeble attempt to reenforce the spiral of silence.
I want to make a few more comments, so apologies for the length of this "summary." I find O’Malley’s statement “Why would the doctor lie for her. That’s right; she wouldn’t.” to be especially interesting in light of CBJ’s refusal to answer Lisa Demer’s questions and the fact that she attended the Demer interview with her lawyer, who advised her to remain silent. C’mon, O’Malley, please tell the whole truth behind that statement -- your shading of the truth seems deliberately deceptive. I'm quite certain that if I am aware of this, then O'Malley is too, which makes her article all the more disingenuous.
Patrick’s post is a great summary of the evidence about Babygate, including links to a lot of the additional material that he, Kathleen and others have compiled. I want to emphasize that the photographic evidence is very compelling, but it is not the only evidence (as O’Malley and others suggest). The most powerful evidence, in my own view, is the remarkable number of things that “don’t add up” – this is the hallmark of a hoax. The photos and videos are very strong evidence of the hoax – you can fake looking pregnant, but you cannot fake looking not pregnant when you are 7-8 months (especially with Palin’s slight build). Add to that the inconsistent, changing stories, even about where and when Trig was born. The implausible “wild ride” and its shifting details. Failing to be checked out by any medical professional in
Happy Third Presentation Day, Trig!
Some Comments and Links:
Nomadic Joe: You know when something has gone terribly wrong with a system when it tries to throws its best and brightest in jails.
HopeforAmerica: And something has gone terribly wrong with a nation when it promotes its wackiest carnival politicians to the level of presidential hopefuls.
MrsTarquinBiscuitBarrel came up with this (to the tune of Edelweiss):
Schadenfreude, Schadenfreude
We're so happy to Tweet you
Told your lies to all those guys
Now it's time to retreat, you
Your fake "wild ride" has been belied
Fake "tight abs," fake birthday
Schadenfreude, Schadenfreude
Put that square cushion on eBay
SCmommy found this “campaign slogan” on Malia’s Palin Birthers FB: Trump / Palin 2012: You're Fired! I Quit!
HIG/Cheeriogirl elicited lots of support for this tweet from Rep. Weiner: @RepWeiner: why im not president. my version: "the gop plan is a disaster and ill chew my arm off before i sign it"
Toccaro: Those experiences and many others (I could write a book about it) could have made me bitter. But I chose instead to rise above the fray. I can certainly identify with our President, but the stuff hurled towards him is on a much larger level than I ever experienced. And it comes at a time when one would have thought
Cheeriogirl: Justin Elliott is a repeater, NOT a reporter. And definitely NOT a journalist!
Linda1961: It's depressing that the Fourth Estate fails to do it's job, that one major political party lacks a moral compass and the other lacks a backbone.
NomadicJoe: The carelessness of the media amounts to a conspiracy against the voter of the nation, in my opinion.
Marieke02 (responding to Patrick asking “Where on earth do they get these people”?):
Sarah Palin's racist rhetoric during the campaign lifted up the rock under which they were hiding.
BellPeppery posted the link to FactCheck.org on their rebuttal of claims about President Obama’s birth certificate. Might be a good one to continuously link to in response to birther claims. OTOH, of course we know that Sarah Palin NEVER produced Trig’s birth certificate. Like BellPeppery, I’d like to see FactCheck use the same level of scrutiny on that birth certificate question.
Alwaysthink linked to an interesting article on the psychology of conservatives as compared to progressives.
Azure Ghost: Her latest crying wolf prompted me to send out this tweet earlier: Cry Wolf - Then Shoot 'Em! #PalinCampaignSlogans #p2 https://twitter.com/#!/AzureGh...
HIG and others linked/tweeted to this outstanding article by Sarah Jones on politicususa.
Older_Wiser2 (and later jcinco) found this, with H/T to IM. Enjoy!
O_W also pointed out this important article on politicususa – the
Cheeriogirl linked to Andrew Sullivan’s post refuting Julia O’Malley and found this on Twitter: RT @existentialfish: As a reminder, Sarah Palin is just an anagram for Sharia Plan. #CALIPHATE #p2
Redwood Palinizer gave us the link to an interview with Brad Scharlott on KSLG radio.
Paradigm Shift found this on Forbes blog warning of Scott Walker’s latest attempt to solidify his fascist regime in
Marionetta posted several videos of Sarah being booed in WI; here is one. And here is a link from Marionetta to an article on Palin's frosty reception.
