In the 1970s Daniel Ellsberg became known as "the most dangerous man in America." Ellsberg is known for publishing the Pentagon Papers. Some people believe that he is a revolutionist and are grateful for what he exposed, others believe that he is a traitor to America. For those who aren't aware of Ellsberg trial read up on it here.
Currently the most talked about topic (especially amongst New England School of Communications [NESCOM] students and professors) has been WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has become the "leak resource."
During Ed Rice's Writing & Reporting at NESCom he discussed and compared how the WikiLeaks and Pentagon Papers are related. How should journalists respond to this? Should the journalists that are given these classified documents feel obligated to publish them?
During Ellsberg's trial the two questions that were posed in order to decide whether or not what he did was illegal were: could the American people understand the documents as they were (meaning without having to look up terms or have the documents explained) and is this a threat to our national security? The answer to both of those questions was no.
Today, journalists are put on the spot as to whether or not it's okay to be posting these documents. Rice believes that if the two aforementioned questions are answered with a no, then the American people should be informed and these documents should be shared.
Have there been documents posted that answer yes to either of those questions, and should Americans be worrying about documents that could potentially harm the security of other nations?
In Thursday, December 2, 2010's class with Rice students will be bringing in examples that they believe should not have been published (if there are any). This post is a prelude to the post that will be made on Thursday and more in-depth information will be shared.
How will this impact the future of journalism? Wait and see.
Once again, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who says she's considering running for President of The United States (POTUS) in 2012 and thinks she can beat President Barack Obama, is showing why she's not ready to run the United States. Her lack of understanding of foreign policy details and facts is matched only by her willingness to talk openly and publicly and show it.
First, on Glen Beck's Show last week, Sarah Palin said that North Korea, long an enemy of the United States, is our ally; Beck corrected her, to witch she said "We're bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes." Stop for a moment to consider that error. If one's as politically aware and ready to be leader of the Free World, as Palin wants us to consider her to be, how can she think that a leader of the non-Free World would be America's ally.
Even more disturbing is that we, you and I, get a good part of our information from the World around us, including our peers. Palin's error says two things: first, that she wasn't paying attention to what was on the TV news, and second, that her peers weren't either. On top of all that, Palin's angry the media pointed to her error!
The reason people in the media, and in social networks, have done so is because anyone who dreams of being President, and has the reach to express it to millions, should expect that we're going to hang on her every word. Sarah Palin's pedestrian view of America in the World - in other words, she's only paying attention a quarter of the time - is not the stuff of a good presidential candidate, let alone a good congressional elected official. (Remember, Palin wanted to be a U.S. Senator.)
But that doesn't stop Palin from talking almost every day, or from her supporters pushing her. Palin now blames the Obama Administration for Wikileaks' latest cables, and says on her Facebook page that Obama should have "done more," or words to that effect, to prevent their release.
She writes: "We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications of leaked classified U.S. documents through the shady organization called Wikileaks raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco."
That statement shows Palin has no clue of the limits of Presidential Power (appropriate to cap here) or understanding of the spread of information in a democracy. Moreover, that statement, combined with the North Korea view, which, while reported to be a "gaffe," I think was a sincere misunderstanding of foreign political geography, prove that the real incompetent is Sarah Palin.
But hubris fuels people to do stupid things, which is why Sarah Palin just may run for President, ready or not.
What's so dangerous about Palin is her lack of willingness to admit when she's wrong. That's going to come back to bite her in the rear come 2011.
Brittany Powell is a breath-of-fresh air, who's also an actress who blew in to my view from her nearby Comic Con 2010 Autograph Area booth to see what was happening at the booth for the stars of the movie Hatchet II.
Noticing that this blogger was toting two camcorders, and remembering that her own program was filmed in 3D, Ms. Powell lined up both devices to create the clips for a 3D video. Meanwhile, she explained that she's a friend (good friend? girlfriend?) of Rick McCallum, a stuntman who plays one of the hunters in the movie (and who gets hacked by the balls with the World's Largest Chainsaw by The Monster / AKA Victor Crowley.) She also talked about the program she was at Comic Con to promote: Safety Geeks SVI
Safety Geeks SVI is what you get when you combine Benny Hill, Monte Python, and Rocketboom. An online production, it features the video antics of Dave and Tom, who explain that what they do is this...
The P.O.S.H. (Professional Occupational Safety Hazard) team investigates safety violations and accidents, ineptly causing more damage as a result. P.O.S.H. provides an obscure, well-meaning service. Unfortunately, they are a bunch of idiots. The world of P.O.S.H. is very unsafe, largely due to them.
Safety Geeks SVI gained a bunch of awards in 2009, including rated the best of Internet Television by Clicker, and the 2010 LA Web Series Festival. Here's the video players presenting the episodes from their silly yet highly sexy and entertaining series:
For 2010, SafetyGeeks SVI has gone 3D, making it, as Brittany Powell explained, the first online video series to be created entirely in 3D. You can check that out here: SafetyGeeks 3D.
Who's Brittany Powell
But who's Brittany Powell? Ms. Powell - for some reason I want to say Ms. Peel - hails from Germany, but has an extensive American acting background. She's starred in Girlfriends, NCIS, Phil of The Future, Xena: Warrior Princess, Beverly Hills 90210, Weird Science, Titans, General Hospital, and in films like That Thing You Do, Fled, Airborne, and Dragonworld.
On top of all that Brittany Powell's a devoted mother who invests a lot of her time doing charity work in Los Angeles. That is, when she's not teaching video-bloggers how to make 3D videos!
Just over one week ago, this blogger purchased an Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch computer from the Apple Store at Lenox Mall in Atlanta (where I spend about half my time of late when I'm not in Oakland, and here helping my mother).
The computer buy was of need, as the motherboard of my three-year old Black MacBook was compromised by a rain of two teaspoons of orange juice from a distance, that hit it just right.
At any rate, one software offering I used on my "old" Mac was iMovie 6 HD. Yes, an old version of the video editing system that comes with each Apple Mac purchase - and for good reason. iMovie 6 just plain works.
A number of bloggers (most famously the NY Times' David Pogue), users, and techies have complained about Apple's still unexplained switch from the old version of iMovie, which stopped at iMovie 6, and featured the large presentation screen at the left, a multi-function page at the right, and a video clip timeline below. The new-style iMovie is more like that of the Final Cut video editing software, that Apple also produces. But the similarities stop there, because Final Cut reportedly works...properly.
To cut to the chase, The new Apple iMovie series, from iMovie 9 to the present iMovie 11, has one really massively annoying bug that the company ran by CEO Steve Jobs should have fixed long ago. The audio portion of videos uploaded to YouTube just plain cuts out after six minutes of play after a video is uploaded.
For the last day or so, I've worked to upload a 12 minute video of my experience at my first football game at The Georgia Dome since the 2000 Super Bowl. Then, that was a "fam" trip as I was working to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland. The NFL provided four tickets to the game pitting the St. Louis Rams against the Tennessee Titans, and in all, it was a fantastic experience. I was jazzed to go to the Atlanta Falcons vs. Green Bay Packers game, and give my viewers a 12 minute taste of what it's like there. (Pretty awesome.)
The Apple iMovie 11 software worked fine for short videos of up to 4 minutes in length; there was no reason to think it would fail in uploading a 12 minute video. The final file played well in iMovie 11 and in Quicktime, but three different YouTube uploads all had one problem: the audio stopped after six minutes.
Back action research revealed no problem to cause this. Even with that, sound settings were adjusted before each reload. Still, the same problem. So, a little research was in order, and that's where the news that this wasn't a new problem came up.
In many cases, others have suggested workarounds, but it's really terrible that Apple first insists on pushing a type of iMovie on it's fans that few really want, and then working to eliminate us from using the popular iMovie 6 HD.
Moreover, it's really, really upsetting to have to make an unplanned expenditure of $1,200 during the holidays, when dollars are tight already, only to have the product, or a key part of it, and of importance to this video-blogger, not work properly.
iMovie 6 is a sweet product. Again, it just plain works. Apple really should go back to it, or let its fans upload it, and fix iMovie 11. Some of the audio bugs identified in the discussion forums have been apparently passed on from iMovie 9 to iMovie 11. Why?
Want to show your support for new ballpark for the Oakland A's? Show up at the meeting of the City of Oakland Planning Commission tomorrow, December 1st, at 6 PM PST at Hearing Room 1, Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA.
If you want to speak in favor of the new ballpark proposal and talk about the creation of an Environmental Impact Report for the proposed new A's ballpark at Jack London Square - of course you do - just get there at 5:30 PM, fill out a speaker card, and give it to the Oakland Planning Commission's secretary.
Congress extending the UI deadlines this or any week will not help the millions of 99ers in America. Let’s be clear here: No bill under consideration in the Senate (Including Max Maucus’ proposed 1 year extension S3981) will help the 99ers unless it adds extra weeks of benefits - not simply extends filing dates.
It will be a blue Christmas for millions more Americans, if Congress does not pass legislation to extend current unemployment insurance provisions, which are set to expire today.
Nationwide, 800,000 more unemployed Americans will exhaust their benefits this week and 2 million additional unemployed in the U.S. will exhaust their benefits in December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That will bring the total of unemployed in America without UI benefits to about 8 MILLION. Of those, at least 5.4 million are people who are “99ers,” which are individuals who have received the maximum 99 weeks of benefits and are not eligible for benefits even if the emergency unemployment legislation is extended.
Most UI “exhaustees” are already experiencing hunger, eviction, depression and suicidal ideation. Many of us just keep on fighting until there is nothing left to fight with at all.
I am facing just this situation myself. Unable to find any job (including all the fast food places in my area) and exhausting my 99 weeks in March this year - I will be cut off from the fight by losing my phone and internet very shortly. If my articles suddenly stop, you will know what happened.
Many are considering giving up their children to prevent them from living in the streets. One such brave soul is Rhonda Taylor of Rhode Island.
Rhonda appeared on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room yesterday and tells the 99er saga like no other before her. [view video below - bring a tissue]
Unless Congress gets off it’s over paid dead ass and helps the 99ers survive, then Washington will be guilty of the largest preventable social holocaust in history - because: Extending UI Deadlines WILL NOT HELP the 99ers. Only a Tier 5 will!
[The donation button below is for me, Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) reports via press release that 2010 Oscar Screen Credits and Music Entry Forms are due December 1. That's tomorrow, and at 5 PM, PST. (The great news is that if you're on the East Coast, the docs are actually due at 8 PM EST.)
This is very important to get it, because if AMPAS doesn't receive the Official Screen Credits (OSC) by tomorrow, a feature film like Iron Man 2 will not be eligible for an Academy Award for Best Picture. (Of course, Marvel Entertainment's on top of this, and has been; just using Iron Man 2 as an example.)
AMPAS says:
For a feature film to be considered for the 2010 Awards, the film’s distributor or producer must file an OSC form with the Academy by 5 p.m. PT on December 1. If a feature film is released in Los Angeles County in 2010 and the completed OSC form is not submitted by the deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year.
OSC forms may be submitted online only, at http://aiwosc.oscars.org/aiwosc/. Information about submission and feature film eligibility can be obtained by contacting Credits Coordinator Howard Loberfeld at (310) 247-3000, ext. 113, or via e-mail at hloberfeld@oscars.org.
For an achievement to be considered in the Original Score or Original Song category, the principal music writer(s) for a feature film must submit an official music submission form by 5 p.m. PT on December 1.
To request music submission materials, contact Dave Hanson at (310) 247-3000, ext. 151, or via e-mail at dhanson@oscars.org.
While the credits submission deadline is December 1, feature films have until midnight, December 31, to open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days to be eligible for 2010 Oscar® consideration.
Entries in the foreign language, animated feature, documentary, and short film categories are subject to special rules and must meet other qualifying criteria. The entry deadlines in these categories have already passed.
Complete 83rd Academy Awards rules are available at http://www.oscars.org/rules/. The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011 at the Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network.
Spiderman is easily my favorite super hero of all time. It was a regular staple in my cartoons diet as a kid and I was stoked when the movies came out and despite the fact that they turned out to be a little disappointing I am still a fan of Spiderman.
The Broadway play "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" made its debut performance yesterday at 6:30. The project was a collaboration between Bono and The Edge and has proven to be an expensive endeavor. The play cost 60 million too produce and is costing another million per show. Which means the play is going to have to be a huge success to make a profit. Unfortunately it's debut had a few hiccups with the flying stunts that stopped the show twice in the first act. Hopefully they work out the kinks and the play won't be as disappointing as the movies.
Leslie Nielson passed away yesterday due to complications from pneumonia at the age of 84. Leslie Nielson was best known for his roles in "Airplane" and the "Naked Gun" series. The actor/comedian passed in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale surrounded by his wife and friends.
Cyber Monday and Black Friday are usually joyous signs the holidays are approaching. In truth, Cyber Monday/Black Friday are painful reminders that there will be no Christmas for the 99ers and many will be lucky if they ring in the New Year still breathing.
New research suggests the nation's unemployed are committing suicide at an alarmingly high rate.
Sois the recession fueling a suicide epidemic?
Unemployed people are two to three times more likely to commit suicide, researchers estimate, and the risk rises the longer someone remains jobless. That is potentially a very large problem as the recession continues, with 8.6 million Americans out of work for six months or more.
Counties with high unemployment are reporting a dramatic rise in suicides. Macomb County, Michigan, for example, has a 13.7 percent unemployment rate and reported almost 40 percent more suicides in 2009 than in an average year. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) has reported a startling increase in the number of calls, from 13,423 calls in January 2007 to a high of 57,625 calls in August 2009. The toll-free helpline has since been awarded a $1 million federal grant to ramp up its program in high-unemployment regions.
The NSPL estimates that the 2010/2011 suicide rates when finally made public, will show a rise as high as 75%. As a point of fact reference: The suicide rate in the U.S. rose by only 20 percent during the Great Depression.
If you think your friend or family member is showing signs of the "trauma, isolation, and hopelessness" that can push a person "past the breaking point," I urge you seek professional advice on their behalf immediately. I myself receive countless emails of 99ers who cannot take it anymore and want to end their suffering. Over the Thanksgiving holiday week, there was at least one very publicized person named Mark. (Click here to read more)
Over this past weekend, there were massive, frantic searches and attempts to reach 3 more long time 99ers who fell out of communication after leaving cryptic text on social media sites, indicating self destruction was at hand.
Today the members of 99er Facebook groups and PalTalk chat room “Tier 5 to Survive” are clamoring to track down yet two others. Why is it the only ones who even care about these 99ers, so beaten down by Government enforced poverty and Congressional neglect that they choose suicide, are 99ers themselves? Where is the action from our President to attempt to thwart this domestic Social Holocaust? Answer: Conspicuously silent and that silence speaks volumes to millions in the 99er Nation.
NOTE TO OBAMA: When suicide is considered by 99ers, it is often not that these people want to die - it is more that they just cannot take living as they have for so long. Without money and void of all hope. Remember Hope & Change Mr. President? That was your promise when you wanted our votes and it is the failure of Hope that anything will Change which immediately precedes the final act of those who take their own lives.
The White House in their continuing use of social media to reach the masses and appear concerned over poverty in America, recently formed a partnership with Monster.com - collecting questions about employment for the Obama administration on its Facebook page.
The page was open to questions through November 14 after which a selection of questions were presented to the Obama administration for answering. One of the questions selected for the White House to answer involved the 99ers, however the answer only showed how little Austan Goolsbee, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors understands the situation facing the 99ers.
The video can be viewed below. This guy may have said the term '99ers' but even HE does NOT get it. We have been denied the ability to participate in the US economy for going on 9 months now and the extension of UI being considered by the White House DOES NOT include the 99ers!
I say we and everyone in our respective groups bombard Austan Goolsbee, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors to educate him on this issue and/or let him know his double talk does NOT fool us at all!
The Hire Act discussed by Goolsbee in the video expires by year’s end and he does not even mention the TANF which has helped hundreds of thousands return to work that also expired at the end of September. On a personal note, I waited 18 months for my name to come up on the TANF list and 2 weeks before the program expired I received a call from the California EDD office. They congratulated me on making it into the program and apologized that since the funding would expire in a few weeks - they could not assist me at all. Isn’t our Government great? NOT!
1-888-245-0215 - you can get connected to Biden's office - call and ask why the Goolsbee video about extending benefits for the long-term unemployed does not address whether or not the 99ers are being included in Obama's calls for extending UI.
President Obama: as you meet with the Republicans during your fancy dinner tomorrow and cave in on extending those Bush Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, PLEASE try to show strong leadership and do not negotiate away these unnecessary perks for the WEALTHY without at least getting UI extended for exactly as long as you agree to extend tax cuts for the rich - INCLUDING our desperately needed Tier 5. If you do not see to it the 99er Nation gets help now - you know it will never happen in time to save hundreds even thousands of lives, unless more dead poor in America has been the goal all along.....
[The donation button below is for me, Paladinette. Unless someone uses it soon - I will be unable to publish as I will lose my internet connection. I thank you!]
According to AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Anne Hathaway and James Franco have been selected as hosts of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards in 2011, by Oscar producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer.
According to the Academy's press release, Cohen and Mischer said "James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icons— fresh, exciting and multi-talented. We hope to create an Oscar broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27. We are completely thrilled that James and Anne will be joining forces with our brilliant creative team to do just that."
Anne Hathaway is probably best known for her role as the first clumsy, then professional assistant to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. In 2008, Anne was was nominated for an Oscar for her lead role in Rachel Getting Married.
James Franco
James Franco's role as Harry Osborn in Marvel Entertainment's Spider-Man Trilogy gave him instant name recognition. Additionally, Franco is in Eat, Pray, Love, with Julia Roberts, as well as Date Night.
Anne and James represent a major turn for an Oscar program looking to connect with younger audiences, but without mortgaging the luster that the event has developed over its 83 years.
Both have (or in the case of Franco, had) active Twitter pages: Anne appears to have two, one at @hathaway_anne and the other at @AnneJqHathaway , (Anne needs to have one of these marked "official," while James Franco's not currently on Twitter, but reportedly was.
But you can share your greetings and ideas with them on Twitter using the hashtag #OscarsHosts.
Oscars In February
AMPAS reports, The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Haiti has been through a lot within the past few months, and The Associated Press has reported that the entire Haiti election became chaotic. Sunday was election day and protestors were ripping ballot boxes into pieces; they took the streets carrying tree branches and campaign posters.
Some of the polling places were "ransacked by thugs."
The Associated Press includes:
The chaos in Sunday's voting united most of the top presidential candidates against the president's heir apparent — Jude Celestin, head of the state-run construction company and beneficiary of a well-financed campaign.
Allegations ranging from outright fraud to polling-place disorganization that disenfranchised many Haitians nearly brought the election to a halt. Polling places opened late, voters could not find their names on lists, and some polling places were ransacked by thugs.
The United Nations cited "numerous incidents that marred the elections." Observers from the Organization of American States canceled an afternoon news conference, releasing a statement hours later that they were "in the process of evaluating and analyzing the information gathered."
The Dallas News goes into further detail with all the violence and the scary chaos that arose. The preliminary results are not expected until December 7.
During Ellsberg's trial the two questions that were posed in order to decide whether or not what he did was illegal were: could the American people understand the documents as they were (meaning without having to look up terms or have the documents explained) and is this a threat to our national security? The answer to both of those questions was no.
Today, journalists are put on the spot as to whether or not it's okay to be posting these documents. Rice believes that if the two aforementioned questions are answered with a no, then the American people should be informed and these documents should be shared. 
