Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Media'

Video of the Week

September 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Video of the Week · Culture, Foreign Policy, History, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video

In case you missed it, Keith Olbermann was on fire this week. His special comment was possibly the most powerful I’ve seen him deliver. And his ultimate point about the sacred dividing line between the civilian leadership and the military is one that needs to be heard more often — too many people don’t seem […]

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Roundup: Swiftly Tilting Planet Edition

September 17th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Swiftly Tilting Planet Edition · Activism, Books, Chicago, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Fantasy, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, History, HIV/AIDS, Infrastructure, Journalism, LGBT, Lit, Media, Nature, News, Peace, Politics, Public Transportation, Roundup, Science, Science Fiction, Tech

Eric Alterman has an outstanding column in The Nation on how the media’s mean girls (of all genders) develop the narratives they use to bring down the presidential candidates they take a dislike to. With examples of what they did to Gore in 2000, and what they’re doing to Obama and Edwards right now. Two […]

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Colbert on the Klingon-Republican Alliance

September 12th, 2007 · Comments Off on Colbert on the Klingon-Republican Alliance · Comedy, Culture, Foreign Policy, Media, Peace, Politics, TV, Video

Stephen notices the Republicans’ rhetorical reliance on the word honor, and points out who else tends to use that word a lot.  

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Roundup: Pink Elephant Edition

September 10th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Books, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Energy, Film, Foreign Policy, Health, History, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Internet, Journalism, Language, LGBT, Media, Music, Nature, News, Peace, Performance, Politics, Racism, Roundup, Science, Tech, Theater

General Petraeus says that “victory” in Iraq will require 9-10 more years. I’m trying to imagine how ten more years of bloody occupation can possibly work out to a victory. More on that subject here. A bill has been introduced in Venezuela to restrict baby names to a list of 100 approved choices. “The bill’s […]

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Trailer for Rendition, with Meryl Streep, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Reese Witherspoon

September 10th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Comics, Culture, Film, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, Torture, Video

Via Towleroad, the trailer for the new movie Rendition, scheduled for release October 19 in the US.   I’m not usually one for movies that get the “thriller” label, but the political dimension to this one — and the quality of the cast — make it look like an early standout among fall releases. There’s […]

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Good Morning, Day 51

September 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on Good Morning, Day 51 · Activism, Culture, Film, HCC-DDT, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid

1,850 U.S. citizens were recently killed in an entirely preventable disaster. It’s been a while since I’ve updated this record — 37 days, to be exact. On July 18 I started keeping count of the 50 U.S. citizens who die every day because they can’t afford health care, according to this statistic. So in a […]

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Senator Larry Craig vs. Avenue Q, and Butch Otter Goes Shopping

August 31st, 2007 · 4 Comments · Comedy, Culture, Journalism, Media, Performance, Politics, Theater, Video

Proving that the Republican Party truly is just one big puppet show:   … I can’t find it now, but I swear that at some point in the 24 hours after the Craig story broke, there was a headline referring to him as “Toilet Sex Senator.” And of course my first thought was that The […]

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Roundup: Dinosaur Corsage Edition

August 31st, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Dinosaur Corsage Edition · Activism, Advertising, Comics, Culture, Doctor Who, Energy, Film, Foreign Policy, Health, Healthcare Crisis, History, Human Rights, Law, LGBT, Media, Nature, News, Peace, Pets, Politics, Roundup, Science, TV

Scary stuff: There’s a lot of buzz and speculation that starting just after Labor Day, the Bush administration is going to be rolling out a major PR campaign to pave the way for war with Iran. See here and here for starters. Grand Moff Texan at DKos says the Bushies will be using the same […]

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Video: Fox’s War Drums, Colbert’s Water Fight, and Stewart on Bush’s Magical History Tour

August 26th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Culture, Foreign Policy, History, Journalism, Media, News, Peace, Pets, Politics, TV, Video

A few video clips from the past week: First up, here’s a scary video compiled by documentarian Robert Greenwald showing how Fox “News” is beating the drum for war with Iran … watch them repeatedly engaging in the same kind of propaganda and scaremongering they used during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in […]

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Roundup: Fantasy History Edition

August 23rd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Books, Business, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Energy, Food, Foreign Policy, Health, History, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Peace, Pets, Politics, Racism, Roundup, Science, Tech, TV

Bush has suddenly decided that the Iraq occupation is kinda like Vietnam after all, but of course he’s careful to draw the wrong conclusions from the comparison. The article quotes American University historian Allan Lichtman as saying that Bush’s spin on the situation “is not revisionist history. It is fantasy history.” On a related note, […]

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Jerome a Paris on the Politics of the Market Crash

August 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Blogs, Fair Trade, Infrastructure, Media, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid, Trade

I’ve been meaning to point out this excellent diary Jerome a Paris posted on Daily Kos last Friday, entitled “Politics of the Market Crash.” Jerome is one of my favorite posters at DKos (and at the European Tribune), and when he’s on, he’s really on. So even though I’m nearly a week late mentioning this, […]

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Uganda Burning: Anti-Gay Bigots Rally to Keep Hatred Alive

August 21st, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Human Rights, Journalism, LGBT, Media, News, Politics, Religion

Anti-gay bigots in Uganda rallied today in support of the country’s draconic anti-gay laws (which punish “sodomy” with life imprisonment), carrying signs saying charming things like “Arrest all homos.” They also howled for the firing of a reporter who dared to write an objective story about the experiences of gay people in Uganda, calling her […]

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Olbermann on O’Reilly, Colbert on Huckabee, and Stewart on Kristol

August 17th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Comedy, Culture, Foreign Policy, Journalism, Media, Politics, TV, Video

Keith Olbermann explains why Bill O’Reilly is no less than two of the three worst people in the world. (Hint: It includes defaming someone as being anti-semitic … who was actually attacking anti-semitism!)   I Stomach Huckabee: Colbert on the Iowa straw poll. Oh, and watch for the moment when the Governor threatens to break […]

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Roundup: Skydiving Baby Giraffe Edition

August 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Skydiving Baby Giraffe Edition · Activism, Apple, Books, Chicago, Comics, Culture, Death Penalty, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Food, Health, Human Rights, Internet, iTunes, Journalism, Lit, Media, Meta, Nature, News, Politics, Roundup, TV, Ursula K. Le Guin

Out, damned spot! Fox News caught red-handed, laundering entries on Wikipedia. Keep on scrubbing, Lady MacFox, but those stains belong to you always. The GOP’s California strategy: winning the 2008 election by undoing California’s winner-take-all electoral system. Once the state goes piecemeal, the Repubs gain at least 20 electoral votes from safe GOP districts. Arianna […]

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