Victor Navasky Spoke at the Westport Library
“Victor Navasky, editor of The Nation since 1978, Director of the George Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism at Columbia University and a regular commentator on the public radio program Marketplace will speak about freedom of the press and its role in democracy.” From a press release the Website of the Westport Library.
Paul Newman introduced Mr Navasky who spoke at the Westport Library for about an hour and twenty minutes on the subject of freedom of the press and the state of the media.
His words wouldn’t have been favorable to those at the helm in Washington. Mr Navasky peppered his lively discussion with dry with commentary.
“Lying”, Mr Navasky said, ” has been a practice of this administration” noting comparisons between the current administration and that of Nixon, who believed he was above the law, having Executive Privlege
The McManus room was more than full to capacity with people standing in and beyond the room’s door way.
Mr Navasky seemed troubled by the state of the inept press and the willingness of the People to blindly accept it, adding there were “300 rollbacks of open-record legislation”.
Mr Navasky took questions from the audience after he spoke. This man asked about the press being simply “stenographers to power” and protections for journalists and their important anonymous sources. Mr Navasky said the reoprters were only as good as their sources and that protections vary. If an anonymous source misleads the reporter (he cited the GOP mouthpiece, Judith Miller here) then the source is of no use and jeopardizes the reliability of both the reporter and the greater institution for which the reporter was representing.
3000 + Counts of Criminally Negligent Homocide
I may have my facts wrong, but if the Bush Administration had prior knowledge of the 9/11 Attacks, as the data and evidence strongly suggests, then they are responsible for the deaths of 3000 innocent, hard-working, tax-paying Americans. Ellen Mariani says something like this in her RICO Act case against the Bush Administration.
If they knew and did nothing, or worse, if they impeded reactionary and defensive measures like they did with the proceeding investigations then … I see no difference between the Administration and the hijackers.
If the Bush Administration invaded Iraq with intentions other than the stated mission to remove WMD, which later became Plan B to remove Sadam (an American installation) from power, then the Administration is responsible again for Crimes Against Humanity in the deaths of 2000+ soldiers and many, many more Iraqis.
The list goes on … Corruption, Conspiracy, Murder, War Crimes.
And people love the Bush Boys.
It Was a Good Year in the Funeral Business
Brian McGloin
These days have been slow but moving at a decent clip at the same time.
The freelance job with CoStar ended as well as my one day a week part time job at the photo place.
My contingency plans fell through one at a time, leaving one possibility still pending. I don’t have much faith in this pending possibility.
This leaves me in a tight position with few options. Few paying options.
I was seriously considering a profession of doding traffic, road debris and pot holes … yes, a bike messenger.
There are no messengers here in Bridgeport or even Fairfield or Westport … nothing from Stamford on up to, well, at least New London if they have any at all.
Hartford has some and I hear they’re pretty hardcore.
There is one caveat. Are there no messengers because there is no need or are there no messengers because no one thought of it yet.
Tomorrow I’m heading to the library and maybe City Hall to look into what I need to have a business – tax stuff, bonding … then I’ll need to look into advertising like flyers and so forth.
As a fall back, I need to have a part time job – at least at first.
For this week, I plan to not drive. Even today I made a Dunkin Donuts run at top speed from here to Fairfield … I even passed a guy on a very slick IRO fixed gear bike. I blew past him (he was just cruising along and I was riding like a maniac). That was a strange sight given that IRO makes a fraction of what the big companies make.
I need a change.
I’ve lost my confidence in securing paying journalism or photo work, at least in Connecticut.
I can get from downtown Bridgeport to Downtown Fairfield in 10 minutes. I can get through the traffic and all over in no time … no hassles with parking.
No walls, no offices, no flourescent lights or neckties.
Freedom.
And danger – mainly from the drivers of the big SUVs that choke the streets and from the truck drivers and bus drivers.
Still, it doesn’t matter.
Maybe I can team up with other people and cover a good chunk of the Gold Coast from Stamford to New Haven. I know the business is there but I’m not sure if the business is close and continous enough to warrant bike messengers.
Park City Courier or Hurricane Messenger Service.
