Citizens and Journalism

Just a tidbit or two for those of you who appreciate excellence in journalism, and for those of you who are looking for a forum for participation.

The first is The Mugging of the American Dream, a speech given by Bill Moyers at the Take Back America conference this past weekend. This version of the talk from www.Alternet.org is well referenced, and Bill Moyers is as eloquent as ever in speaking truth to power:

Believe it or not, the United States now ranks the highest among the highly developed countries in each of the seven measures of inequality tracked by the index. While we enjoy the second highest GDP in the world (excluding tiny Luxembourg), we rank dead last among the 20 most developed countries in fighting poverty and we’re off the chart in terms of the number of Americans living on half the median income or less.

And this:

Once again [Washington DC] is a divided city. Not between North and South as in Lincoln’s time, but between those who pay to play - those who can buy the government they want — and those who can’t even afford even a seat in the bleachers.

So it is that huge financial institutions like MBNA - the credit card giant that is the biggest contributor to the President’s two campaigns for the White House - prevail in getting Congress and George W. Bush to curtail personal bankruptcies, making it harder for those families in Milwaukee to get a fresh start and a second chance.

So it is that Wal-mart, with the third largest corporate political action committee in the country, and pharmaceutical giants with more lobbyists in town than there are Members of Congress, join with gun manufacturers and asbestos makers and the White House to restrict the right of aggrieved citizens to take corporations to court for malfeasance.

So it is that as Exxon Mobil accumulates more than $l billion a month from escalating oil prices — more than $l billion a month even after allocating for dividends, share repurchases, and capital spending - the oil and gas industry wrings huge tax breaks from a public already squeezed hard by high prices at the gas pumps.

Whew! It’s good stuff, and I encourage everyone to read it through. Think hard about it.

Then if you decide you need some help in refining your thoughts on these issues, drop by The TPM Cafe. TPM stands for “Talking Points Memo” and is a favorite blog for those of us who favor a liberal, progressive approach to government, economics, social policy… well, almost everything. From the site itself:

TPMCafe was launched as a companion site to TPM on May 31st, 2005 to provide a forum for commentary, discussion, collaborative journalism and activism.

As you can see from the date, it’s new. It’s also already featured former senator and VP candidate John Edwards as guest blogger, and in daily fare offers opportunities to discuss politics in a forum that’s intelligent, erudite, and with so far very high “signal to noise” ratio.

You can find me participating there as Meta4Life. Hope to see you there soon.

Quote of the Day: The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. –William James
Metaphors For Life’s website