Sunday, March 13th, 2005
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
“Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.,” a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of “another success” in the Bush administration’s “drive to strengthen aviation security”; the reporter called it “one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history.” A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration’s determination to open markets for American farmers.
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The “reporter” covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department’s office of communications.
Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged Television News – By David Barstow and Robin Stein – The New York Times
Filed under: Politics- , Big Brother, Media - by gamma
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Sunday, March 13th, 2005
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| Leprecon “Like Santacon but green.” Leprecons O’Becky and O’Harris were the first to show up. I showed up at the starting point with my camera, not wearing any green nor intending to join the throng. |
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| I stood outside Puck Fair on Lafayette Street until about 12:30 and I think a total of about a dozen Leprecons showed up. Some of them were tricky and brought their costumes in a bag. |
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This first time conner, came expecting a more organized affair.
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| I chided this leprecon on his minimal visible costume, the shamrock on his hat, but he shut me up with his hidden pot of gold. |
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Now that’s a leprechaun.
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The lonely walk in a silly costume to the gathering place is a Con tradition.
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| The after party location at Rubulad was announced on the e-mail list. I suspect many leprecons only went to that, and they probably never obtained the critical mass of hundreds of costumed freaks like Santacon for their daytime carousing. |
Update: GammaBlaBlog informant Payaso tells me that he saw only a few flashes of green at Rubulad.
Filed under: Photos, Soho, Street Art- , People - by gamma
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Sunday, March 13th, 2005
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The Hotel on Rivington – A few weeks ago the ever on-top-of-it
Cityrag posted a bunch of links to fellow bloggers’ posts about THOR the Overlooking. This is a three-photo mosaic. |
Filed under: Architecture, Lower East Side, Photos- , Construction - by gamma
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Sunday, March 13th, 2005
Social Security: On With the Show – President’s ‘Conversations’ on Issue Are Carefully Orchestrated, Rehearsed – By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
“The night before the event, the chosen participants gathered for a rehearsal in the hall in which the president would appear the next day. An official dispatched by the White House played the president and asked questions. “We ran through it five times before the president got there,” Darr said. ”
Bugmenot logins
“Imagine a “conversation” where one person does all the talking, except for a few laudatory comments from well-wishers, while those who speak up in disagreement are forcibly removed from sight before anyone can hear what they say.
That is what the White House is calling “A Conversation on Strengthening Social Security” — when the president appears in middle America, as he did here on March 10, to promote his ideas for changing the nation’s 70-year-old retirement system.” By Craig Crawford, Congressional Quarterly Columnist
Via Buzzflash
Filed under: Politics- , Big Brother, Fearless Leaders - by gamma
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