2008 June

Damn You Harry Shearer!

June 23, 2008 by Queen of Spain 10 Comments

It seems they were undergoing maintenance over at Huffington Post when I wrote this, so I’m re-posting here in order to give people a chance to comment-ekv

It’s funny how inspiration works.

I am on a flight from Denver to Los Angeles and I HAVE to bust out my HUGE laptop. Before I was even allowed to turn on this very hot pink Dell, I was scribbling notes in the margins of a book.

As many of you know I contribute to the Huffington Post and MOMOcrats. Arianna Huffington was gracious enough to send all of us MOMo’s a copy of her new book “Right Is Wrong. How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, And Made Us All Less Safe (And What You Need To Know To End the Madness)“. While my mind is racing reading this fantastic book, it was not Arianna that had me fumbling for pen and paper in Seat 19F.

There is an ongoing joke in my house that fellow Huffington Post contributor Harry Shearer is out to get me. Of course Shearer has no idea who I am and is most likely not out to get me, but it just so happens that nearly every time I post over at HuffPo, Shearer posts just a short while after me, knocking me off the front page.

Thus I tend to mutter around the house saying things like “Damn That Harry Shearer!” and my husband laughs and says, “well you know he’s got it in for you…”

We are silly like that.

Here I am barreling through Arianna’s new book and I am muttering “Damn That Harry Shearer!” at 39,000 feet.

Page 54, second paragraph:

“But as Harry Shearer has pointed out in multiple posts on the Huffington Post, the media had given up on the search for accountability.”

…the media had given up on the search for accountability.

Angels sang, light bulbs glowed, bells, whistles, red flags, and even those little cartoon-dizzy-birds-that-fly-drunkenly-around-your-bonked-head tweeted.

I have never heard a truer statement in my life. And of course I had missed Shearer’s many references to this point because I was too busy cursing him for bumping me off the front page.

That one line by the guy who does the voice for Ned Flanders sums up my entire experience going from main-stream-media reporter to citizen journalist.

That’s it.

Right there.

One. Line.

…the media had given up on the search for accountability.

Ever determined to be “fair” and give “sides” as a main-stream reporter, I did NOTHING but offer you useless PR spin. I did NOTHING but make sure time and time again you heard from each party involved and you were given the tools to make up your own mind. On the surface that seems justifiable and makes total sense.

However, I always had suspicions about those “parties” I was quoting. Rarely was I able to dig any further, as the news cycle was short, the attention span of listeners shorter, and I had an average of 30 seconds to tell you everything you needed to know.

That is not journalism, that is marketing packaged as fast-food news and information.

On the few occasions I approached news directors and asked them for the time or leeway to dig a bit further, I found myself in that real journalism world where you are looking and striving to hold someone or something accountable. To find out what really happened, and make it public.

Sadly, I only had a few occasions in my entire main-stream-media career where I was let loose. Where I really and truly DID my job. Where government leaders were held accountable as I stood at an unlocked, hole-ridden gate supposedly keeping the bad guys out of LA’s largest water supply. Where city leaders vowed money and resources as I camped out next to cargo ship after cargo ship, main bridge supports, and highly flammable and toxic tankers just waiting and waiting and waiting for someone, anyone, to stop me- all while the national guard trucks rolled above, and around me and even right past me at one of the nation’s busiest ports. Where law enforcement policy and culture was challenged as I submitted my official account detailing the bruise left on my back by an LAPD baton as I screamed “PRESS! PRESS!” and attempted in vain to hold up my media badge during protests outside the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

That is journalism. I am sickened that in my 10-year long, main-stream-media career I can count on ONE hand the number of times I practiced my trade.

So why the discussion NOW, you say?

Because I’m in the middle of a media revolution and I am seeing signs of life. A media revolution with mothers, fathers, people with day jobs, union workers, ceo’s, advocates, teachers, whistle-blowers, and people just like you.

I just left Denver, where in a few weeks tens of thousands of media outlets and entities will converge to attempt to tell you a story, give you information, and some will attempt to sway your beliefs.

As I plan my trip back to Denver in August, for work in my “new-media” role as Political Director for BlogHer.com, I am pondering how to plan coverage for the Democratic National Convention that:

a) serves my community

b) informs my community

c) searches for accountability

I just added “c” back into my playbook, with an “*” to remind me of its importance.

I look forward to seeing my fellow MOMocrats in the Mile High City. I look forward to watching the blogosphere cover an event with a take the main-stream media will not broadcast.

I look forward to the search for accountability, the less covered information, and getting back to doing what makes a difference -be it for the nation, the world, or the largest online network of women bloggers.

I am sure I will also be muttering “Damn You Harry Shearer”…just a little.

Erin Kotecki Vest’s own site Queen of Spain blog would be more like a Lisa than a Marge, with a dash of Selma and pinch of Mrs. Krabappel. Ok maybe a little Otto too. Over there she is well aware of Mr. Shearer’s amazing resume, not just his voice-over talent.

Filed Under: #suckit

Politics As Usual in the ‘Change’ Campaign?

June 20, 2008 by Queen of Spain 8 Comments

Cross-posted at BlogHer.com

Image control is nothing new in politics. Campaigns try and make candidates look more down to earth, more athletic, more like someone you’d have a beer with. They try and make them look less old, less harsh, even less intelligent.

This has been the way of political campaigns for as long as I’ve been voting and it’s been the way of the media to eat up each photo op and event and regurgitate it for the world to see.

Then came Senator Barack Obama and his constant theme of ‘change’ and ‘hope’ and the promise to do things differently.

I believe that message. I respect that message. I even buy that message coming from a politician. NOT an easy task for this former new reporter who’s instinct is to trust no one and question everything.

So maybe I am just buying into the spin. Maybe I am being used as a pawn in this image-conscience media game. Maybe I am naive and a sucker for blogging this…but my eyebrow raised once a few days ago and again this morning as some ‘image’ issues hit the news.

From Politico:

Two Muslim women at Barack Obama’s rally in Detroit on Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

From ABC News:

“Michelle Obama makes her debut appearance on ABC’s “The View” Wednesday as her husband, presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, fights for key women voters. Her appearance on a popular women’s daytime television program coincides with subtle attempts by the Obama campaign to soften her image and combat efforts by some conservatives and critics to paint her as an unpatriotic, angry, black woman.”

Two ‘image’ issues that would seem to directly conflict with the messages we hear from the Obama campaign, and arriving at my attention on the day the Senator announces he will forgo public financing for the the general election.

Taken one by one these issues come with explanations, as a voter, I totally understand. However put together, it made me raise my eyebrows and wonder if the image spins were occurring behind the scenes. If this was the scripted misstep and then inevitable backpeddling of politics as usual, with campaign strategists plotting how to get rid of the persistent rumors that the Senator is Muslim and the Fox News host discussing the image of ‘angry black women’ on television in relation to Michelle Obama.

On the ‘women wearing headscarves’ issue Sepia Mutiny writes, “I have no doubt that Obama is disappointed in his staffers over this but the buck has to stop at the top of the ticket. By forcefully refuting rumors that he is a ‘secret Muslim,’ I think he is beginning to overreact and hurt his reputation among the very people who believe in him to bring a change. I mean, how in the world do you expect to campaign in Detroit and NOT be associated with Muslim supporters?”

This discussion constantly drives me crazy for many reasons, not the least of which is “What the HECK is wrong with being MUSLIM???!” Of course we all know there is anti-Muslim sentiment in this country, particularly since 9-11. However most thinking people understand the difference between terrorism and organized religion of any faith.

Every time the Obama campaign has to denounce the rumor the Senator is secretly a Muslim, I always feel a twinge of sympathy pain for Muslim-Americans.

Rochelle Riley at the Detroit Free Press blog writes, “That his campaign apologized, as it should have, for the badly mishandled incident by campaign volunteers was not the bigger story.

The bigger story is that hateful extremists who used to exist on the fringe of society are now taking over and too much is being done to appease them instead of ignore them.

The Obama volunteers who didn’t want the women to provide fuel for rumors that Obama is a secret Muslim chose to let hate-mongers dictate their actions and hurt the women’s feelings. They made a mistake, as far as we know. (Of course, the Web would have you believe that they did it on purpose because they KNEW that these women were actually plants by Sen. John McCain’s campaign, an unlikely but possible scenario that seems all the more impossible when you read about their wonderful attitudes.)”

And in the broader picture, when putting all the incidents together, Shakespeare’s Sister writes, “To be quite honest, I don’t really have anything in particular to say about either of these items. They both strike me as completely predictable from a middle-of-the-road, mainstream, establishment Democrat, which is what Obama is (and always has been) and are therefore predictably sigh-inducing, at least from this non-partisan progressive.”

Again, even my eyebrow was raised seeing all these headlines at once-however just a *tiny* bit of reading into each made me quickly realize they were not the lack of change we expect. Moreover, they seemed to be the expectation of perfection, and the need to push a headline.

Should we expect the Obama campaign to be cautious about all things ‘image’ related whether it is legitimately a policy issue, like the public financing for the general election, or a trumped up spousal media circus? Of course.

As Michelle Obama said on the View, “You have to be really careful in what you say because everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued.”

Filed Under: War in Iraq Sucks It

Seems To Go With My Mood

June 16, 2008 by Queen of Spain 5 Comments

Filed Under: Feeling YaYa

Canary in the Social Media Coal Mine

June 16, 2008 by Queen of Spain 26 Comments

Something very important in the online world took place recently- and this guy, and this guy, and this guy, and this guy, and even this guy all missed it.

It had nothing to do with the election (half of you just sighed and said ‘thank gawd’) and it had nothing to do with my kids (the other half just sighed and said ‘thank gawd’). It also had nothing to do with Google or Yahoo or anyone who may even come close to ever landing on ValleyWag.

So what is this all important event that should have the web world buzzing?

Sarah started plurking.

I know, doesn’t seem like a big deal at all-does it?

Let me explain- Sarah started plurking and *I* was not the one who showed her Plurk. More importantly, Sarah saw a bit of buzz and checked it out on her own.

If you are still confused, let me break it down for you:

Sarah is a mommyblogger who once said to me ‘What the hell is Twitter and what the Fuck is an Utterz?’

Sarah is a friend, a fellow community member, who got into this whole ball of social media and tech as a hobby.

A hobby.

As in- starting writing about her kids for fun and to meet other moms.

Sarah does not code, Sarah does not care about scalability. Sarah could give a shit who any of you tech people are-unless you also have twins or want to talk about football or beer.

Sarah blogs to talk with her friends and make a few extra dollars here and there. Sarah is also going to probably kill me for using her as an example, but I shall buy her many drinks at BlogHer and it will all be ok.

Sarah is now an early adopter.

Sarah is out-plurking me.

Sarah and I are officially geeks who know very little geek stuff.

I couldn’t even install a wordpress plugin today, and Sarah needed my help locating where the graphic for her header is housed (after much searching we found it on an old Photobucket account, in case you were wondering).

Sarah now says things like: “What did I ever do before iPhones and Twitter? Oh right. I used to read.” And: “@trollbaby I’m still waiting for someone to pitch me a Kindle.”

Please note how she said ‘pitch.’

Cough.

Over 36.2 million women are writing and reading blogs on a weekly basis. The latest spin is some “believe blogging is now officially mainstream among women.”

Which leads me back to Sarah, and the idea that if blogging is mainstream for her…what is off-the-beaten path? Women have already upped their video site usage. Isn’t video where everyone is wetting their pants currently?

Keep in mind Sarah is one of my ‘dragging-her-kicking-and-screaming-to-Twitter’ late-adopter community members.

I don’t know how else to say this but, batten down the hatches boys.

If the nontechy Mommybloggers and other women bloggers are early adopting the latest betas and talking Friend Feed over playdates, you might want to make room at the lunch tables.

You might also want to think twice about the booth babes for next year.

Oh, and just one more word of advice…and I know some of you have already gotten a taste from me…but please consider leaving the usual BS back in Silicon Valley as we join the party.

I might mix it up with you for fun in a nice twitter or blog fight- but these women won’t. They are much more stealth and a lot less ego-driven.

They will just organize and hit you where it hurts…no, not your nuts (that’s my job)…they go straight for the wallet. All those advertisers you love and court and get all monetize-erect over? Uh-huh, as I said batten down the hatches boys.

“Today, women make 83 percent of all consumer purchases – everything from breakfast cereal to big-ticket items like cars and personal computers – for themselves and for their families.”

Sarah is the canary in the coal mine.

Filed Under: #suckit, Feeling YaYa, Men and their duckcamps, Stepford Crazies

Happy Father’s Day

June 15, 2008 by Queen of Spain 5 Comments

I have a wonderful father. I know many wonderful fathers.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads.

…and some pics for you…

He is my baby daddy, after all. 😉

Filed Under: Kaiser

Go Big or Go Home

June 14, 2008 by Queen of Spain 15 Comments

I baked scones and happily sang away with my iTunes while a child was abused.

I watched suburban children sing, uncomfortably, in their hand-picked outfits and combed hair and give their teachers end-of-the-school year gifts while a child was abused.

I ran around the park with my own children, and their friends, and their parents, and we ate homemade treats and laughed about the cost of gas while a child was abused.

There is a story on my local news tonight that may become one of those things that haunts me until I die.

If you are at all feeling weak or unable to cope with an unspeakable abuse story, please do not click this link.

Just know that a boy my son’s age was tortured only a few dozen miles from my own home.

Things were done to him that no adult should ever withstand. He survives, and has been taken to a safe place.

For all my insanity. For all my talk. For all my endless threats… this is something that makes me want to say ‘screw it’ to all the reasons why I shouldn’t help, why I shouldn’t be adopting, why I shouldn’t be attempting to give. Why I am too busy or too broke or too ….whatever.

because that child is no more or less deserving than my own.

because as much as I wanted to turn off the tv and change the channel, I knew I was just turning a blind eye.

because this story is not rare enough.

because I spent the day watching my very own 5-year old get that ‘head start’ as he ‘graduated’ pre-school.

because for every reason, every excuse, and every story we do…or we don’t.

because somewhere in there, a decision is made.

Do.

Filed Under: Count Waffles, Feeling YaYa

Cindy McCain is No Baby Mama

June 12, 2008 by Queen of Spain 25 Comments

Or Laura Bush. Or Barbara Bush. Or Hillary Clinton. Or myself.

Why?

We’re white.

As discussion swirls around ‘fist-bumps’ and so-called ‘news stations’ labeling the next potential First Lady as ‘Obama’s Baby Mama’ let us all be very clear: racism is not ok just because it’s on Fox.

It is not ok because it’s in West Virginia or Kentucky. It’s not ok because it’s part of the culture or the heritage or the geography.It is certainly not ok as the caption on a major cable news network, regardless of their ‘right’ leanings.I may be as white and suburban as Cindy…strike that…maybe McCain’s first wife is a better example, either way I KNOW ‘baby mama’ is certainly not meant as a term of endearment.I’m sure Mr. ProducerMan at Fox News thought maybe tagging it under ‘Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama’s Baby Mama!’ would blame this on Democrats or maybe just ‘progressives.’

Nice try asshat.

What part of ‘we are not stupid’ do you fail to get?

Let’s also be clear, the ‘blogger’ you see in the clip, Michelle Malkin, would be branded a ‘baby mama’ far quicker than I ever would. I wonder how she feels about this racism and sexism going on as she sits and spins for the GOP that uses her skin color to gain credibility with minorities? (yes, GOP, we see what you are doing)

Oh wait, apparently she thinks it’s ok because Michelle Obama has been treated with kid gloves and allegedly used the term ‘baby daddy.’

She’s kidding, right?

Sadly, she is not kidding.

Here is what that half of America is missing:

This has nothing to do with feeling the next first lady is ‘off limits.’

I expect everyone within an inch of Senator Obama be scrutinized.

I also fully expect Michelle Obama can take care of herself, and do not for one second worry the media is too hard on her or the right-wing bloggers too nasty. I get the distinct feeling Michelle Obama would and will handle herself as I would expect any strong, American woman.

Any strong, American woman who’s not a Republican, anyway.

What I will not do, however, is sit by and watch sexism and racism on national news. THIS woman might moan and groan over feminism and Clinton, over which supporters are voting McCain and which are too angry to kiss and make up with the Democratic party, but just as we called-out sexism with the Senator from New York, we are calling it out with the rhetoric surrounding Michelle Obama.

Let’s ask that producer if he would put the caption ‘Bush’s Baby Mama’ under First Lady Laura Bush. Of course not, because Laura Bush is white.

Maybe Fox News would consider ‘Trailer Trash Mama‘ under their next First Lady caption?

Or would THAT be offensive? Playing into stereotypes?

Of course it would.

How about a ‘McCain’s Stepford Wife’ under the next Cindy McCain story?

Of course not, Fox would never dream of anything so crass and offensive while labeling the woman who could be the next First Lady.

Yet Fox is fine with ‘Baby Mama’ as the words describing Michelle Obama.

Why?

It’s called racism, sexism, and it is as clear as Rupert Murdoch’s bias.

Yes, Stefania at MOMocrats has it right:

“Just who do you think your audience is, Fox News? A bunch of 11-year-olds? Didn’t you forget to call her Obama’s ‘boo’ as well as his ‘shorty?’ /eyeroll It would be so easy to get outraged by this, but instead these tactics make me howl with laughter, because it shows that the right is scared out of their minds. Yesterday’s ‘terrorist fist jab’ is today’s Obama baby mama. Tomorrow will bring something worse, but it ain’t gonna make their cause look any better. The Republicans are are going to get handled come November. This I know…

In the immortal words of Kimora Lee Simmons, MOMocrats co-founder Stefania Pomponi Butler ‘will beat a bitch’s ass’ for messing with our country’s next First Lady.”

Updated: Liza at Culture Kitchen gives us a background reminder on Malkin.

Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain blog, BlogHer.com, and MOMocrats.com. She thinks Fox News can suck it.

Filed Under: #suckit, BlogHer, Queen MOMocrat, Stepford Crazies, War in Iraq Sucks It

I Am Voting Republican

June 11, 2008 by Queen of Spain 16 Comments

via my friend Baratunde–

Filed Under: #suckit, Stepford Crazies, War in Iraq Sucks It