The 6th Estate

This post originally was published on the usenet on Feb 4, 2005, just days ahead of Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday," a celebration of New Orleans and the world over. Not much introduction is necessary:

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The most famous place in Louisiana to buy a Mardi Gras King Cake is Gambino's. Anyone who has lived in New Orleans will tell you that Gambino's is the Betty Crocker of King Cakes. There are competitors of course, Meche's, and more recently WalMart, but Gambino's is the recognized king of King Cake bakers. I would guess that each year thousands of King Cakes are air expressed from Gambino's to homesick Louisianans all over the world.

Each of those King Cakes that are sent, and each of those King Cakes that are bought directly from the store, are encased in a plastic bag upon which are printed Gambino's logo and advertising, including the addresses and telephone numbers of their locations around the state.

I live in Baton Rouge. I haven't had a King Cake all season (dental problems and an expanding waistline), I was craving one (same waistline problem, weaker will but now with a shiny new set of store bought teeth) so I stopped in Metairie today to pick one up. After I complete the purchase and I'm on the interstate home to Baton Rouge, I get a call from a co-worker in Phoenix, Arizona who had never heard of a King Cake (or so he claimed). I described it for him, he starts salivating over the phone and then, as an after thought, I said, "Why don't I just send you one?" He's all excited, I'm no longer in Metairie so I grab the cake I bought and start calling numbers. It's the Friday before Mardi Gras, and I ignorantly made a promise to get a King Cake expressed to the co-worker and his associates.

The first Gambino's I call is Baton Rouge and the telephone is busy. I then call the Metairie location I just visited. "Sorry, last day to order a King Cake for shipment was Thursday. We're all booked up." I then call another New Orleans location. No answer. There's one last location in New Orleans, on Elysian Fields, not far from the French Quarter itself. I dial the number -- 504-xxx-xxxX -- and the phone is answered on the third ring,

"Hello?" came the greeting of an elderly woman.

I ask, "Is this Gambino's?"

"No," she said. I apologized to her, "I'm sorry. I must have misdialed."

"No, you didn't misdial. My telephone number is printed on the Gambino's bags," she said. "The number you want is one digit off. 504-xxx-xxxY," she said. "I get these calls all the time. I've asked Gambino's to change their bags but they won't."

I inquire further. I explain that I'm a former news reporter and I'm naturally nosey. She tells me she's had her telephone number for about 10 years and the calls for the Gambino's location on Elysian Fields started about two years ago. But she tells me she isn't sure if it was longer than that.

I'm an idiot, I think to myself, I'm having this conversation and I didn't even introduce myself.

"I'm Mac McBride, I'm from Baton Rouge. What's your name ma'am?"

"Gabriel," she says.

"Like the angel?"

"Yes," she laughs, "like the angel."

We talk a little more. "I get calls at all hours of the day, late at night, 6-7 o'clock Sunday morning. It's kind of disturbing and it wakes Mr. Gabriel up," she says. "And those poor people who call are so frustrated. I'm frustrated too but there's nothing can be done about it I guess."

Eureka! I think. I've got the solution. "Mrs. Gabriel, if you really want to solve the problem, I mean if you really, really want to solve the problem, I can help you."

"Oh, please, what is it?"

"Call the Times-Picayune," I tell her. "The editor there will eat the story up!" I tell her (not realizing the pun then). "I'll bet this story goes national," I tell her, "International! It's a great story. You'll be famous! All those people from all over the world who've been calling you to order King Cakes will finally know who you are!"

She very gracious and thanks me. I tell her I'll call some friends and see what they say. "I know you're frustrated Mrs. Gabriel, but this is a funny story!" I tell her. "I don't mean to laugh at your predicament but this is a great story!"

Fifteen minutes later I'm on the telephone to Mrs. Gabriel to tell her a former classmate of mine in the MBA program at LSU made the suggestion that she take orders for the King Cakes and start her own business. She passes on that idea and tells me she called the Times-Picayune and "They said they can't do anything to help me. I told them we're subscribers and all. But they said they can't make Gambino's do anything they don't want to do."

I think to myself that Gambino's is undoubtedly a big advertiser, but there is that Chinese Wall between advertising and editorial and that thought quickly slips from my mind.

There's a law in physics that says the obvious answer is probably the right answer ... and the obvious reason is that she called some lazy sonovabitch reporter who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, and if the editor knew he'd blown a story like this, that bum would be out on his ass in the street in a second, with molar marks on his backside and pieces of torn flesh missing. At least, that's what my former editors would've done to him -- but that's old school apparently. If no media outlet picks up this story, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. It doesn't say "Press Release" at the top.

Calls to Gambino's were answered at press time by Mrs. Gabriel, so I can't get their side of the story.

It used to be the job of the newspaper reporter to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, at least that's what Henry Louis Mencken and Carl Kolchak believed. But then reporters put on pinstriped suits and wingtips, moved to the suburbs and boughts SUVs -- in other words, they became comfortable themselves.

I just checked in today with Mrs. Gabriel. No one from Gambino's or any media outlet has contacted her since Mardi Gras but no one's called late at night or early Sunday morning to order a King Cake either. "It's mostly around Mardi Gras. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens next year," she sighed. There are several Gambino's sites around New Orleans and the Elysian Fields site is just one. Luckily the toll-free order line doesn't ring into Mrs. Gabriel's telephone either, so most of her callers are probably local.

But I hope Mrs. Gabriel doesn't hold her breath expecting beneficence and decency from Gambino's. The artwork on the Gambino's plastic that includes her telephone number is Copyright (c) 2000. And if you do the math, that was five years ago ... five long years ago for Mrs. Gabriel.

As you might have guessed, I think it's important that folk who seek to lead have at least a sense of humor, if not a sense of the ironic. Some things definitely are not funny but you've got to be able to laugh off the minor problems of day-to-day life just to keep sane.

Maybe it wasn't in the Bible or the Koran that Jesus or Mohammed had a sense of humor, but I can just about guarantee they did. I see the humor and antics of the creatures in this world. Has anyone every seen a platypus, Zebra or javelina? Camels actually spit at you ... that's funny as all get out, I guess at least if you're not on the receiving end!

Last year and this year I have sent requests to Mark McBride, mayor of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and a Republican candidate last year for the senate, for a couple "McBride for U.S. Senate" bumperstickers. I wrote him that if I ever ran for president of the United States, I would reciprocate and send him some of my bumperstickers. He responded to my e-mail. But when I sent him my address at his request, I never received the bumperstickers.

Now maybe he didn't send them because I live in Louisiana and he lives in South Carolina and it would have personally cost him a dollar or so to send them along and I would be ineligible to vote for him. If so, he should have said that. I'd have been more than willing to cover his costs.

Or maybe he's been deluged with so many requests from Mark McBrides from all over the country wanting bumper stickers that he's run out. I'd like to believe that. It would mean that Mark McBride is more than a name, it's an entire movement of humorous people. But I've volunteered on political campaigns before and there are boxes of bumperstickers and signs left over when the campaign ends. (You ever know a politician who didn't overspend?)

What I suspect however is that Mayor McBride just has a stick up his butt and, long ago, someone performed a humorectomy on him. I'd ask that anyone reading this to please send him an electronic get well card/e-greeting in hopes that he soon recovers from this humorectomy surgery ... but he probably wouldn't find that funny at all.

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy. H. L. Mencken.

When I was writing that last post, I was pretty excited to see that the "Drudge Report" was being published by Voice of America. I thought, "How far the 6th Estate -- internet news gathering and reporting -- has come in the last few years if the notorious Mr. Drudge has found mainstream acceptability enough to grace the pages and airwaves of the quasi-official voice of the U.S. State Department!" It was more evidence of the fulfillment of my prognostications for the new medium and I was on a momentary endorphin high.

Then I did a quick double take. It wasn't Matt Drudge but Michael Drudge.

I guess "Drudge Report" has been repeated often enough with fear and trepidation in the halls of the state department that it's now become as generic a name as aspirin. Talk about being taken for granted! Hope nothing like that ever happens to The 6th Estate.

Well, maybe it's a good thing that Matt isn't a VOA columnist. President Bush is having enough trouble trying to smooth wrinkled NATO feathers. We wouldn't want Matt adding tar to those wrinkled feathers and covering Jacques Chirac, would we?

Colonial instructions on how to tar and feather a Tory, as quoted by Violet Mary-Ann Showers:

"The following is the Receipe for an effectual operation. First strip a Person naked, then heat the Tar until it is thin, and pour it upon the naked Flesh, or rub it over with a Tar Brush, quantum sufficit. After which, sprinkle decently upon the Tar, whilst it is yet warm, as many Feathers as will stick to it. Then hold a lighted Candle to the Feathers, and try to set it all on Fire; if it will burn, so much the better. But as the Experiment is often made in cold weather; it will not then succeed -- take also an Halter and put it round the Person's Neck, and then cart him the Rounds.^"5

-30-

2/25/2005 UPDATE -- Thanks! And a tip of the old press pass festooned-fedora once again to James Taranto and Carol Muller of The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal "Best of the Web Today" for selecting contributions from yours truly. Today's issue included the substance of this post for inclusion in their daily report to subscribers. "Best of the Web Today" is a witty, well-researched and well-written net-newsletter and the subscription is free. It's one of the best newsletters out there IMNSHO and I'm truly honored to have had one of my news tips selected again.

I have read that the monarchy kingdom of Saudi Arabia just summoned its ambassador home from Hungary. The reason?

According to the report by ArabicNews.com,

The Hungarian mass media quoted the Hungarian prime minister as praising in a special celebration the Hungarian team in bravely fighting "against Arab terrorists" after the end of a friendly competition game between the two teams ended in negative equality on February 2nd.

I have also read that the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, in a show that it is moving toward the 20th Century, may allow women in the kingdom the right to vote.

I'll never believe that Saudi Arabia is moving toward democracy until that country's leaders obtain a sense of humor. We know the monarchy has a sense of pride, but hubris is inevitably and inexorably followed by nemesis. What it needs is to be able to laugh. Too many wars have been started and too many innocent people have been killed because some monarchist's nose got out of joint by a perceived slight.

Admittedly, the prime minister of Hungary's comments were a bit insensitive, especially nowadays with all the psychotic jihadis and hardline Islamists running around. It's obvious he got wrapped up in the moment. He apologized for his remarks. That should've been the end of the incident.

After I quit smoking I put on more than 100 pounds and now I'm forever getting "fat boy" comments from my friends and co-workers. What can I say? It's true. I like starches, don't exercise much, and my metabolism is so slow now I'm not burning the pounds away like I did when I had nicotine flowing through my system and the dieting process was automatic. But when they come out with the "fat boy" remarks (or their children do and the parents don't correct them), I just laugh it off. It's either that or punch them out, and I've made the decision not to go through life beating the crap out of folk because my nose is out of joint over their insensitive or thoughtless remarks.

If King Fahd or Crown Prince Abdullah want to get back at the Hungarian prime minister for the slight, they should demand the Hungarian prime minister deliver at least three seasons of "Green Acres" on DVD for each member of the Saudi football team. Season 2 is scheduled for release March 8.

---

UPDATE -- As-Salamu `alaykum. Here are a few hyperlinks I have found on the web:

This is a rant. If you don't want to read a rant, don't read this.

Office Depot has one of the worst computer systems of any of the major e-tailers. Someone there should have their ass kicked. And I'll give you my reasons after I give you a little background on this situation.

I have a watch that is also a pager and I love it! It's called a Timex Internet Messenger. It was made and marketed jointly by Timex, Motorola and SkyTel with pager service provided by SkyTel. Well, as you might guess, the pager market is going the way of the dodo bird because of the cell phone. As a result, this watch isn't being manufactured anymore. I work with a fellow who is hearing-impaired and wears a Cochlear implant. This implant doesn't work well with today's cellphones so the watch is our primary means of keeping in touch with each other and arranging meeting times and places. Both our watches are two years old and they are showing the wear and tear of time.

If you call SkyTel, customer representatives there will tell you that this particular pager is still available in limited quantities from Office Depot and Staples. Staples does not show the watch in their inventory but Office Depot does.

If you try to order the watch from Office Depot online, the system apparently checks the warehouse that serves your particular geographic area based on your telephone number. If the local warehouse doesn't have the item, the ordering system says the watch isn't available in your area.

BUT YOU CAN'T CHECK NATIONALLY TO SEE IF ANY OTHER WAREHOUSE HAS THE ITEM!!!

I e-mailed Office Depot about this problem and they told me to call 888-Go-Depot. I did as they suggested. Guess what? Yep, that's right. The order takers on the voice line use THE SAME COMPUTER SYSTEM!

"You can't check any other warehouses?" I asked the rep. "No," said the rep.

So Office Depot's online ordering system may claim it has a bunch of products in inventory, just don't expect to buy them. It's apparently just window dressing to scare its competitors -- a puffer fish in the office supplier ocean.

I'm not deterred in my quest for a replacement for this watch but I doubt it will come from Office Depot. I figured out the problem there, or at least I think I have. The same folk that designed Office Depot's computer system also designed the FBI's.

Just a quick thought here ...

I understand that ABC -- fearful of an FCC fine -- is going to have a 60 second delay when comedian Chris Rock hosts the Academy Awards.

I bet Chris Rock can cuss for more than 60 seconds in a row. I know I can, and I'm just an amateur. All I have to do is stub my toe or bang my thumb with a hammer or have some lame brain on the highway cut in front of me with no turn signal and it's five minutes of blue expletives deleted out of my mouth. I have no children but my dogs head to parts unknown when this happens at home. The neighbors pray for me.

Again, an older post from the usenet. But the information it contains is nonetheless still valid. No explanation required. E-mail this to the whiney liberal who knows nothing but what Donald Graham (Washington Post) and Pinch Sulzberger (New York Times) and the other owners of the VLWM (Vast Left Wing Media) tell them. I've got nothing against liberal thinkers. [I do have something against those who try to cloud the minds of men and women for reasons of personal gain, be it power, pride or profit.]

Anyone with half a brain must know that some of Saddam Hussein's funds have been funnelled into a public relations warchest supporting his regime, then and now. A lot of cash has changed hands and many people got rich while the status quo of Saddam Hussein's regime never changed. Now that he's out of power, a lot of people obviously are being paid to continue the insurgence. Why is it we never see stories about the wholesale purchase of the western free press by Saddam's paid flacks?

Google Groups hyperlink

From: Mark McBride
Newsgroups: alt.journalism.newspapers,alt.journalism.print,alt.politics.org.cia
Subject: It's really not about the oil, not really ...
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The primary problem with most liberals is they fail to understand business. It's not their fault. Most were raised to think: Business bad!! Social workers and bureaucrats good!! And, since business turns the wheels of progress, the liberals are forever failing to grasp the reasons certain things happen the way they do. So it's hardly surprising that they've got every uneducated third world idiot believing it's about oil. And it's not about oil, not really.

We don't want the Iraqi oil. We want the Iraqis to have Nikes not nukes. We want to sell them Fords. And Timken ball bearings. And Curad band-aids. And Trojan condoms. And Boeing jets.

Iraq has the second largest proven oil reserves in the world. To this point, all that wealth has been controlled and kept by one person, Saddam Hussein. He hasn't spent it, he's hoarded it. And hoarding is the great sin of capitalism. A dollar hoarded isn't spent and if it's not spent, nothing is produced to earn the exchange of that dollar.

Saddam Hussein could've spent it on schools. On hospitals. On roads. On libraries. He could have used it to develop industry, which would have bought machine tools from the U.S. He could've been the Iraqi's benevolent benfactor and earned that sainthood he wanted. But he didn't. He bought gold-plated AK-47s. (He had to buy them because Iraq didn't have the industry to make them.)

The U.S. and its coalition partners couldn't bomb Iraq back to the stone age because Iraq is already there. Only 45 per cent of the women aged 15 and older can read and write! If the oil is controlled again to benefit a few, and not used to educate Iraqis, grow their country and make them rich, then everything is back to square one.

The great sin is that the average income of the average Iraqi is $2,500. And the U.S. wants avg GDP to be at least 10 times that. We want the Iraqis to sell that oil and upgrade their lifestyle, their culture, their living standard and get with the future. Because we know for a fact that no educated sane person will blindly follow some psycho religious nut. Moreover, if the Iraqis upgrade their lifestyle, chances are they're going to be buying western goods, which makes the economies in the west hum like ... well, hum like well oiled machines.

Before saying it's about the oil, look at the statistics on this page:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html

A country of 25 million people:

1.75 million tv sets
12,500 with access to the internet
4.85 million radios
675,000 telephones
4.4 million labor force

Unlike some poor backwater African nation, Iraq has resources to exploit. It doesn't have to be in the stone age. And an unexploited resource is an abomination to a capitalist.

Remember, entrepreneurs aren't infidels, they just believe in a different ecclesiastical text: Penny begat nickel, nickel begat dime, dime begat quarter, quarter begat dollar and dollars begat freedom.

So, I hope that helps explain it.

Yeah, it's an old post, as much of a has been as Britney Spears, but the commentary is good. As you might have guessed, this is my commentary on the HYPErbowl halftime incident during the Superbowl football game, 2004.

Whiney liberals claim that anyone who found the show to be not in good taste is a prig or a prude. Trust me, I'm far from that pigeon-hole. I'm ex-Navy and I swear like a sailor. My commentary will explain my position:

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From: Mark McBride
Newsgroups: alt.tv.mtv,alt.radio,alt.radio.broadcasting,alt.radio.networks
Subject: Breast and Worst of MTV marketing
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Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 23:51:17 -0800

I've heard Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake attempt to sing. They can't. MTV knows it. That's why when these two are on stage the dance numbers are elaborate, the outfits are weird, the staging is large and there are lots of special effects.

The dance numbers, the outfits and the effects can't hide the fact that Jackson/Timberlake have no talent. Never had it. Never gonna get it. So the only way to stir up some buzz and maybe sell out a few more shows is to show a little skin.

Well ... MTV got the buzz. The stunt worked. I've got no problem with nipples. Some of my best friends have nipples. I enjoy viewing them. But what is disgusting about the whole Hyperbowl Halftime incident is: Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake have no talent. They're products who've gone past their ability to sell. And no amount of skin or live sex action on stage is going to change that.

Maybe a 24 hour wedding in Vegas would help ... naaahhhh. Another talentless has-been's already tried that.

The Recording Industry Association of America has been blaming the kids downloading songs via Kazaa for causing a slump in record sales. Nope. The fact of the matter is that the RIAA, just like MTV, has no taste in music. They promote talentless hacks and wonder why CDs don't sell.

Downloading doesn't explain why 1 in 3 radio stations have a classic rock format. And it doesn't explain how 60 year old rockers can continue to tour, selling out shows with 40 year old hits. It only explains that if the talent is there in the hearts of today's youth, MTV and RIAA can't find it. And it's far easier to show nipple than take a risk on a band of fat, ugly people who can't dance but who sound great.

The RIAA and MTV have tried to push CD sales by pushing the edge of the envelope. Read this as: Let's see how low we can go. The "N" word was soon replaced by the "F" word. And, now, since all the bands seem to be using the term "Mother F******" as the chorus for every street song, the next logical move is to show a little skin on the music video. Then show a little skin on the cover of the magazine. Then showa little skin during primetime.

It can't be long before the Grammy for the year's top female breakout vocalist goes to Mary Carey, fresh from the California governor's race and your local adult film parlor.

At the rate and consistency MTV and the RIAA promotes talentless hacks, I'm expecting a donkey show next year.

Word.
--------------------
[Follow-ups in the days after the original post:]

2/7

There _are_ good young artists out there. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, for instance. It's just that the record producers are lazy and don't want to look around. They'll grab some no-talent from a Disneyland or SixFlags event, throw on a lot of glitz and sell the package.

Think of all the groups that were great but who wouldn't have made it today because they're too ugly or too fat to sell products -- Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Meatloaf, Jethro Tull ... just on and on.

2/7

U.S. isn't anti-nipple. We're anti-no talent hack. MTV and the networks don't get it. It's not about the nipple; it's about the crap they pass off as entertainment.

Religion is the last refuge for a scoundrel. Skin is the last refuge for the untalented has-been. Keep reading the wires. The nipple is backfiring ... Janet and Justin will soon find religion, as will execs from MTV.

2/20

The problem is that there's only so much Jethro Tull, Steppenwolf, etc. to go around. These groups *aren't* making new albums. So, if you have a decent market where three of the stations are classic rock, two are making money and one is under-selling their signal because it gets repetitious. (I know. I used to cobble together Fair Market Valuations and Appraisals of radio stations.)

But what alternatives do the station's have ... rap? hip-hop? soft rock? Era specific like 80s? There is a market for an urban format (certainly NOT as large as the stations think) but it historically undersells its signal. Soft rock? I live in Baton Rouge and I can turn the dial and hear Delilah on three freaking stations at night!

Gakkk!

Not everyone is lucky enough to have those aircheck CDs.

The music industry isn't taking chances on new groups and new sounds (and I blame MTV and the RIAA for that) and it's hurting the ENTIRE music related spectrum ... cd sales, musical instrument sales, music instruction, audio sales, and commercial radio.

The only growth area is satellite radio like XM and Sirius because they may have repetititious bands but they've got a lot of them which offers variety. Listeners sick of hearing about Israelis and Palestinians blow each other up and who don't want to listen to Hip Hop can always switch to Fibber Magee & Molly. It's repetitious but it's at least variety and it's not N' Sync or Janet.

[I also followed up the post with two articles I found on the news wires in the days following the post. The headlines of the two articles were: "Kids are listening to their parents ... Their parents' music, that is " and "Aging Rockers Pose as Teenagers to Hit Charts ." Q.E.D.]

[There is a graduate level post and it has a pre-requisite. If you haven't read my comment "First you have to admit you're a wingnut," do so. Then come back and read this.]

This post is on how the intelligence agencies, under President William Jefferson Clinton (DArk), were redirected away from following terrorists and threats to the U.S. and toward commercial espionage. I've been working on this conspiracy theory since the "Rosetta Stone" to the whole conspiracy by Scott Shane was published in The Baltimore Sun/The Sun of Baltimore County.

Remember my comment about insider trading? This is the ultimate insider trading scheme.

This particular compilation was posted to the Conspiracy-net archives in early December, 2004, quickly becoming one of the most read theories there. Within a few weeks, the Conspiracy-net archives went dark. Was it because they couldn't afford the funds, got threatened. I don't know. But it'd make a good conspiracy theory in and of itself don't you think?

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From: Mark McBride
Newsgroups: alt.politics.org.cia,alt.journalism.print,alt.journalism.newspapers,alt.news-media,alt.politics.media,alt.journalism.students
Subject: What the 9/11 widows never knew ...
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[Most of the following information was part of the Conspiracy-Net site, but that site has not been up and active for several weeks and may have been shuttered.]

What the 9/11 widows never knew ...

During President Clinton's administration, the primary goal of the intelligence agencies was diverted toward ECONOMIC intelligence, spying on behalf of the president's campaign contributors. This is not conspiracy theory but reported fact. It's what John Kerry and the DNC neglected to tell the 9/11 widows who supported them.

When the cold war ended, there was a significant push by both parties to get the intelligence agencies to pay for themselves by "helping" U.S. corporations compete. Searching for terrorists was not revenue generating. The key to promotion at the agencies became how much economic intelligence they could provide to President Clinton's campaign contributors. It wasn't just to counter the threat of MITI (Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, a thinly disguised economic spy factory), or French or German intelligence. It was proactive, let's steal _their_ contracts. In retaliation, the French and Germans began looking the other way when companies in those countries started selling banned goods to countries the U.S. wanted blockaded. And you wonder why the French and Germans don't want to help in Iraq?

(Surprisingly enough, former DCI James Woolsey who has managed to finagle his way in with the so-called "neocons" was a significant player in all this, and fell over himself getting CIA to supply economic intelligence to President Clinton and his campaign contributors! Helping President Clinton's friends with economic intelligence was a way for Mr. Woolsey to ingratiate himself with an administration he claims had no interest in intelligence. It went far beyond ferreting out who was bribing who.)

You might have read about it as Project Echelon but it comprised much more than that. Developed under President Clinton's administration was the Daily Economic Intelligence Briefing, a classified, controlled circulation digest of economic opportunities discovered by DIA, NSA, CIA, et al they gleaned from eavesdropping on cellular and satellite calls and from electronic interception of faxes and data transfers. Briefers from CIA would brief President Clinton's insiders at Dept of Commerce who then passed particular information to President Clinton's campaign contributors. (The mysterious crash that killed Ron Brown also killed a number of corporate honchos behind helped by President Clinton to secure post war contracts in Kosovo.)

This intelligence collection was not limited to foreign owned companies operating on foreign shores but also foreign owned corporations operating in the U.S., employing U.S. workers. Many of those companies no longer are in business, including software companies that competed with Microsoft which now provides software to the world market filled with crackable holes. If you can't get a "clipper chip" get "clipper software."

While President Clinton was looking for the dollars for his contributors, bin Laden was killing Americans, destroying our embassies and planning 9/11.

******

The "Rosetta Stone" was published in The (Baltimore) Sun on Nov. 1, 1996:

Mixing business with spying
Secret information is passed routinely to U.S. companies
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Shane
SUN STAFF
Originally Published on 11/01/96
Copyright 1996 The Baltimore Sun

At least once a day, a CIA courier stops by the Department of Commerce in downtown Washington with a packet of top-secret information, gathered around the globe by satellites picking up phone calls, agents inside foreign governments and American spies posing as businessmen abroad.

The Central Intelligence Agency packets have gotten fatter in recent years, as U.S. spies have shifted their focus from Soviet missiles to international trade. And the nuggets of information inside can be used not only to make policy but to make a buck.

In the case of John Huang, the international businessman turned Commerce Department official turned Democratic Party fund-raiser, there is no evidence or allegation that he misused secret intelligence he was given on the job.

But the scrutiny of Huang's position at Commerce has opened a rare window on the department's growing role as a link between the intelligence agencies and the business world.

"There's greater potential for conflict of interest when the information can be used for direct economic benefit," said Jeffrey T. Richelson, author of several books on U.S intelligence. "You have prohibitions on insider trading on the stock market. This is just a different kind of insider information."

Security laws prohibit passing secret intelligence directly to outsiders who lack the proper clearance. But former intelligence officials and other experts say tips based on spying nonetheless regularly flow from the Commerce Department to U.S. companies to help them win contracts overseas. And there are few specific guidelines governing the practice.

"I think the government has got a major weakness there," said Loch K. Johnson, a historian and author who served on the staff of the Brown Commission, which recommended intelligence reforms last March. "At Commerce, there's no code or book to consult to say when and what information can be passed to a U.S. company."

Huang served from 1994 until early this year as the principal deputy assistant secretary of commerce for international economic policy. In a deposition this week, Huang denied that while at the Commerce Department he had "any commercial dealing, any involvement" with his former employer, the Indonesia-based Lippo Group, which paid him nearly $900,000 in the year before he took his government job.

But Huang, like other top political appointees at the Commerce Department, came from and returned to a private sector where a morsel of information can be turned into a feast of profit. Documents released by the department this week underscore how routine the mingling of Commerce officials and CIA analysts has become.

One such document consists of minutes from an August 1994 Commerce Department meeting attended by Huang to identify major contracts open for bid in Indonesia in order to help U.S. companies win the work. A CIA employee, Bob Beamer, spoke at the meeting; five of the 16 people on the routine distribution list for the minutes were from the CIA.

Commerce officials say Huang had a top-secret security clearance and received weekly intelligence briefings. The briefings were conducted by the department's Office of Executive Support -- a new name for the office previously known as Intelligence Liaison -- which receives information from the CIA and distributes it to officials with the proper clearances.

Since Huang was the principal deputy to the assistant secretary of commerce for international economic policy, his interests "covered the world" but had an East Asia focus, the Commerce Department statement said. Huang "was provided copies of relevant intelligence material," it added.

"The specter it raises is that Mr. Huang, after getting his intelligence briefing, could have picked up the phone and called his old colleagues at Lippo and said: `Why don't you sell this, or buy that, based on what I heard?' " said Matthew M. Aid, a Washington researcher writing a book on the National Security Agency, whose eavesdropping provides much of the most important commercial intelligence.

For most Asian and European governments, such sharing of intelligence with corporations "is a very common practice," Aid said. "If you're in the Suharto government, you see increasing the wealth of Lippo as increasing the wealth of Indonesia."

Johnson, the staff member of the intelligence reform commission chaired by former Defense Secretary Harold Brown, said providing intelligence-based information to a foreign company would always be inappropriate, if not illegal. But officials at the departments of Commerce, Treasury and State sometimes pass information to U.S. companies without revealing the intelligence source, he said.

If, for instance, a government official learned that a foreign competitor was about to win a contract sought by a U.S. company, "someone in Commerce might call a U.S. executive and say, `Look, you might have a better shot at that contract if you sweetened your bid a little,' " Johnson said. "They pass on the information. But they usually do it in a very veiled fashion."

Former CIA Director Robert M. Gates said the decision to share with a company information derived from spying should never be made by an official on his own.

"The decision to assist a U.S. company should be made openly, on a policy level," Gates said. "Among other things, you have to find a way to sanitize the material to protect sources and methods."

William E. Odom, a former NSA director who is now at the Hudson Institute in Washington, said the intelligence agencies and the Commerce Department collaborated throughout the Cold War to prevent U.S. companies from exporting products with military applications to the East Bloc.

"You could use that information to catch the bad guys," Odom said. "But you don't make money off that kind of information."

Now, with Commerce officials trying to turn the billions spent on intelligence to the benefit of U.S. business, "it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see the potential for abuse," Odom said. "You finally just have to have honest officials."

*****

From a post I made on the usenet in alt.politics.org.cia in 1999 predicting the inevitable result of not standing guard:

Did you hear the news? On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 16:04:58 -0000, in
, our ether buddy "Holmes"
spaketh thusly:

:)Both the US and UK overseas Intelligence services (and other nations', no
:)doubt) regularly brief the multinationals as to opportunities,
:)competitor/client strengths and weaknesses, and other commercially useful
:)info. Trusted senior executives of major British companies receive briefings
:)from the SIS; and US executives from the CIA. This is because commercial
:)strength is part and parcel of a nation's economic health, and that is seen
:)as a legitimate Intelligence interest.
:)
:)We read of the East German spies looting the West of its technical and
:)economic secrets; *we* in the West are past masters of it.
:):)It may also interest to note that there are no allies in this game. Members
:)of Nato all try and steal from each other.

There's a point that apparently is forgotten by the intelligence community and the state commerce departments, both in your country and mine. Public funds are being used to gather that intelligence that is then provided to _SPECIFIC_ companies. Any information provided them strengthens those companies, empowering them over their smaller competition, at no cost to them.

Would Netscape's Jim Barksdale be happy to know that his taxes, and the taxes of his employees, are being used to aid the market dominance and increase the warchest of Microsoft, potentially at the cost down the road of his company's existence and his paycheck? I certainly doubt it. Justice would dictate that if the spooks help Microsoft garner a $100 million overseas contract, it must also help every other software developer in the U.S. each garner a $100 million contract.

Moreover, there is a high probability that product refinements - garnered by the intelligence agencies as passed to commercial contractors - will then be patented by the receiving company, which then profits from those patents for decades to come, as well as controlling what's developed based on those patents and who develops it. I can only assume that such things as GPS and nightvision technology has benefited from intelligence acquisitions, but does the public receive royalties from the commercialization and sale of this technology? No.

These companies receiving this information have large coffers from which to draw -- if they want it, let them hire and pay retired spooks to obtain and supply information they seek out of their own pockets and not the public trough.

Bottomline: If the spooks for your country or my country are concentrating on acting as marketing and new product development managers for company X, how can they then concentrate on obtaining real intelligence ... like locating Osama bin Laden, nuclear weapon suitcases from the stockpile of the former Soviet Union, et al. Perhaps the continued claims that the intelligence agencies are useless from a defense standpoint is a result of their diversion into commercial pursuits rather than concentrating on the job they were chartered to do

******

The following is Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet's denial on April 12, 2000 to Congress that the CIA was not currently being used for commercial espionage except to "level the playing field" -- Clintonese justification for cheating. (Note that this date is 11 days after April Fool's Day, I don't know if this is just serendipity or if it's just the way things were scheduled.):

http://www.odci.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/2000/dci_speech_041200.html

Pertinent paragraphs listed:

There also have been allegations that the Intelligence Community is conducting industrial espionage to provide unfair advantages to US companies. I recognize that it is standard practice for some countries to use their intelligence services to conduct economic espionage, but that is not the policy or practice of the United States. If we lose the confidence of the American people because they think we are violating their privacy rights, or if we were to violate the trust of our allies and steal their business secrets to help US companies increase their profits, we would put your support for our SIGINT programs in jeopardy, and risk losing our eyes and earsas well as US influencearound the world. I cannot afford to let that happen.

For this reason, I welcome the opportunity, in the face of provocative allegations about NSA that have attracted national and international attention, as well as legitimate congressional interest, to allay concerns that have arisen in recent months about the conduct of SIGINT activities. I will say a few words, then turn to NSA Director General Hayden so that he can address more specifically the system under which NSA operates and some of the specific questions that have been raised.

As you know, signals intelligence is one of the pillars of US intelligence. Along with our other intelligence collection activities, we rely on SIGINT to collect information about the capabilities and intentions of foreign powers, organizations, and persons to support the foreign policy and other national interests of the United States. SIGINT is critical to monitoring terrorist activities, arms control compliance, narcotics trafficking, and the development of chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction. We could not monitor regional conflicts affecting US interests or assess foreign capabilities and protect our military forces and civilian personnel overseas as effectively without SIGINT.

As DCI, I am responsible for ensuring that requirements for intelligence collection are clearly established and assigned to appropriate Intelligence Community elements for action. I look to my Assistant Directors of Central Intelligence for Collection and for Analysis and Production to help ensure that SIGINT collection is addressing and satisfying high priority intelligence needs. NSA and an interagency process under my overall cognizance specifically address intelligence needs identified by the policy community, military commands, and the Intelligence Community. This long-standing process and the regular review of proposed activities help ensure that SIGINT collection and reporting is consistent both with approved needs and with US laws and policies to protect personal privacy and the rights of US persons.

We conduct SIGINT to protect US national security and the lives of Americans. Our targets are foreign. There are, as you know, some special circumstances recognized in the law in which collection on Americans is permitted. US persons, both individuals and companies, who engage in activities on behalf of foreign powers, terrorist groups, and others working against the US are of great concern to us. General Hayden will explain in more detail how NSA can lawfully obtain such information.

I can assure this Committee that the Intelligence Community adheres to a strict legal regime for approval, implementation, conduct, minimization and use, which involves the General Counsels Offices of each of the Agencies involved as well as the Attorney General herself. We protect the rights of Americans and their privacy; we do not violate it.

With respect to allegations of industrial espionage, the notion that we collect intelligence to promote American business interests is simply wrong. We do not to target foreign companies to support American business interests.

* First, our business is to gather information vital to the national defense and foreign policy of the US. Other departments and agencies in the US have the responsibility to assist US business interests. Our valuable resources are directed elsewhere.

* Second, if we are to maintain good relations with our allies, they have to know they can trust us not to become involved in missions that are not directly related to national security. That is important for us, and it is important to them as they justify their cooperation with us to their own people.

* Third, if we did this, where would we draw the line? Which companies would we help? Corporate giants? The little guy? All of them? I think we quickly would get into a mess and would raise questions of whether we are being unfair to one or more of our own businesses.

Of course, SIGINT does provide economic information that is useful to the United States Government. It can provide insight into global economic conditions and trends and assist policymakers in dealing with economic crises. On many occasions, it has provided information about the intentions of foreign businesses, some operated by governments, to violate US laws or sanctions or to deny US businesses a level playing field. When such information arises, it is provided to the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, or other government agencies responsible for enforcing US laws. The Intelligence Community is just not in the business of conducting industrial espionage, and is not working on behalf of US companies to provide them unfair advantage.

**********

-----

26 December 2008 -- For some reason, several editors on Wikipedia don't want the information contained in this blog readily available to the viewing public, deleting all references to it.

Okay, I'm a wingnut. I admit it. I'm also a conspiracy theorist. If you want to laugh, get it over with now. But open your mind to the possibility that conspiracies do, in fact, exist. That cover-ups are engaged upon on a daily basis. Sometimes it's a reason of pride and sometimes it's a reason of power/money.

Some conspiracies just aren't theories.

Still in denial? Consider this: Most of your parents concealed the fact that Santa Claus did not exist. And in fact, society conspired to help them ensure you believed that Santa Claus did/does exist. If you believe in Santa Claus, there's a Christmas. And if there's a Christmas, purchases are made at stores. So, it's a charming tale, it keeps the economy rolling but it's nonetheless a conspiracy. And the reason, "It's the economy stupid!" (Thx to James Carville, who saddled this country with a tinhorn southern governor who kept us all busy pondering conspiracy theories and whose only really smart move was tying the knot with Mary Matalin. If you decide to dump the bum, I'm here for you Mary darlin'.)

Or ... consider that Washington conspired to ensure the world never knew President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was suffering from polio. They feared the world would view the leader of the free world as weak, something they didn't want to chance while the world was at war.

Nearly everyone's afraid of being called a conspiracy theorist or wingnut. They're worried about being classified, categorized and not taken seriously. I'm afraid to admit it as well, but I've realized that a great strength of those hatching the conspiracies is to ensure that folk fear the "wingnut/Conspiracy theorist label." The sooner you can get over your fears of public humiliation and admit that you're a wingnut and conspiracy theorist, the sooner you'll arrive at the truth. And truth leads to freedom.

When you admit it, all you're saying is, "Sorry Jack, I CAN handle the truth!"

Just a few examples. But you get my drift. And perhaps that has opened some of the closed minds out there. That being said, no self-respecting journalist or educated person in their independently thinking mind -- right, left or MOR/undecided -- can deny they harbor gut feelings of conspiracies.

As I wrote to one fellow on the usenet following the alleged suicide of the late Navy Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Jeremy "Mike" Boorda:

Google Groups hyperlink
:)Not seeing a conspiracy or black helos, but there is something fishy here.
:)What is the questions.

:)Roger
:)AIRBORNE!

My greatest fear is that one day one of the conspiracy
theorists will be right.

But, alas, I've already realized that fear:

-POWs alive in Korea;
-LSD tests and atomic tests on unknowing Airborne Division soldiers;
-yellow rain, the chemical warfare against the H'mong in Laos;
-Agent Orange;
-the Scorpion Ops commandoes written off as dead to save a budget buck;
-the chemical testing deaths of many Korean War POWs;
-the cover-up on the U.S.S. Iowa;
-Filegate;
-My Lai;
-Gulf War Syndrome;
-FBI wiretapping of the press phones during the '60s;
-Nixon's Dirty Tricks Campaign; etc.

So, I've set the stage, cleansed your mental palate with some clarifying sherbet. You know what's coming next.

Correctamundo! My conspiracy theories.

Well ... don't be a pest, but do consider the following grassroots action. Remember, the good Lord helps those who help themselves. What I do when I think about it and have a few extra moments is browse through the local Sunday "Help Wanted" section, searching for companies large enough to have received federal contracts but who don't place the M/F/D/V in their recruitment advertising and who do include an e-mail or website address for resumes. I then send the following (Actually I send the whole page from that hyperlink, but I don't want to republish it here.) along under the Subject heading: Human Resources -- VEVRAA of 1974 -- A Reminder. Of those who respond, most recruiters are happy to receive the information, or at least say they are happy to receive the information. There are a few who are unhappy about receiving the information. C'est la guerre. It's the law.

M/F/D??? M/F/D/V!!!

Male/Female/Disabled/VETERAN

Pardon the interruption, but I need a few minutes of your time. Is your human resource department actively recruiting veterans? Does your business receive more than $25,000 annually from the federal government, including for example advertising placed by military recruiter, any invoices paid by government check, insurance payments or purchases made by government credit card?

Because of the youth and inexperience of many of the human resource personnel today, many have forgotten their obligations under the Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998. Any entity which receives more than $25,000 annually in federal funds must affirmatively reach out to recruit, interview, hire, train and promote all Vietnam-era veterans and other veterans covered by the act, and be able to show documented proof of those efforts (VETS-100) when required.

Please review your internal policies and employment recruitment advertisements to ensure they conform to the requirements of this law.

I, personally, am not interested in a position with your institution as this time, but I am a Vietnam-era veteran who has noticed that many employers are forgetting those who served when asked, answered when called. Your company may or may not be one of those institutions. The following information is provided as a reminder of the law. Thank you for your time and assistance!

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/cfr/41cfr/toc_Chapt60/60_250.htm

60-250.6 - Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
Standard Number: 60-250.6
Standard Title: Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
SubPart Number: A
SubPart Title: Preliminary Matters, Affirmative Action Clause,
Compliance

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) General requirements. Under the affirmative action obligation imposed by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, contractors are required to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam era at all levels of employment, including the executive level. Such action shall apply to all employment practices, including, but not limited to, the following: hiring, upgrading, demotion or transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs under 38 U.S.C. 1787.

[UPDATE: 3/16/2005 -- Dropped by my local labor office yesterday. While they still have no postings of the VEVRAA of 1974 or the VEOA of 1998 there were some brochures available specifically for veterans. And, the best news, the state labor department is holding a veteran's only employment job fair at the end of the month. A preliminary list of businesses recruiting at that job fair include businesses that I e-mailed the above information to. I'm not going to claim success here but it's nice to see that these efforts may have paid off!]

Some two years or so ago I was in trouble. Again. I was fired from a job for refusing to work overtime and perform tasks I considered unsafe because of fatigue. I was denied unemployment (Thanks to the good ole boy network at Louisiana Labor Dept. and the employee leasing company I was working through, I'm sure. A lawyer took my case pro bono, the case is still in the system but the state won't pay on the claim or let it come to trial.). I was 47 years old and had virtually no savings, and in that regard, was like any unemployed John Q. Public in at least half of America who lives paycheck to paycheck.

I went searching for work and found none. I'll let these posts from the Usenet and from the now-defunct Swift Vets and POWs for Truth website comment forum explain the rest. I'll post my comments to the Swift Vets here, but I won't post the usenet comments as there are a number of them. Use the hyperlink to get there. For background information, you should know that I'm a Vietnam-era veteran of the U.S. Navy with an honorable discharge. I did not serve in-country but I served my country nonetheless when others wouldn't, President William Jefferson Clinton included among that number.

This is very personal and more than just a little embarrassing to me, but the greater good requires that this be told. ["The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one." First Officer Spock, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."] I ask that if you know a veteran who is unemployed and seeking work, if you can't hire them, even for a day or a temporary consulting position, please, please, please forward the DOL hyperlink to them, or print out that particular section of my comment:

http://www2.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16711

Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 7:38 am Post subject: Happy Veterans Day?

Will Nov. 11 be a happy Veterans Day for our brothers and sisters who are unemployed and seeking work?

I don't know the answer to that but my guess is no. Perhaps it was because of the election of William Clinton, or maybe it's because of the youth and inexperience of many of the human resource personnel today.

But the fact of the matter is that many have forgotten their obligations under the Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998. Any entity which receives more than $25,000 annually in federal funds must affirmatively reach out to recruit, interview, hire, train and promote all Vietnam-era veterans and other veterans covered by the act (Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq I & II, Afghanistan, etc.) , and be able to show documented proof of those efforts (VETS-100) when required.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/cfr/41cfr/toc_Chapt60/60_250.htm

60-250.6 - Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
Standard Number: 60-250.6
Standard Title: Affirmative action policy, practices and procedures.
SubPart Number: A
SubPart Title: Preliminary Matters, Affirmative Action Clause,
Compliance

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) General requirements. Under the affirmative action obligation imposed by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, contractors are required to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam era at all levels of employment, including the executive level. Such action shall apply to all employment practices, including, but not limited to, the following: hiring, upgrading, demotion or transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs under 38 U.S.C. 1787.

I turn 50 shortly. I have a job now. It's not the best job but it pays the bills and I'm satisfied with it. While I have no health benefits, I'm not missing any meals. But about 18 months ago I didn't have a job. I was 48, with no savings and scared to death I was going to end up in a Kelvinator box under the interstate despite the fact that I have two masters degrees and a bachelors degree.

The company I had worked for went out of business. And my own efforts at entrepreneurship had failed before that emptying what funds I had and destroying my credit.

While I was looking for work, I remembered that a particular law existed and that I, as a Vietnam-era veteran, was supposed to have some kind of assistance finding work. I couldn't find information on the law. (I have now and it's posted above.) I contacted my local VFW and my local labor office. They knew nothing about the law. My local VFW suggested I call the main VFW office in Washington, D.C. My call was returned by one fellow who told me the law is no longer valid, that it was subjected to sunset provisions.

Well, I'm telling you that's false. But it's what people believe that matters. And if you look in the help wanted advertisements, you might see Help Wanted M/F/D ... but what you won't find is Help Wanted M/F/D/V.

This particular law says that any organization receiving funds has to actively recruit and promote vets and provide veteran information on a VETS 100 form for anyone asking. I had applied for a job at Louisiana State University, a job that I will tell you I was very qualified for, and I wasn't even interviewed. I noted on my resume that I was a Vietnam-era veteran. It doesn't matter with those currently making the decisions at Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's "Olde War Skule" because the ones making the hiring decisions now are, in a great many cases, the ones who went to Canada or to Oxford, England instead of joining the service, or were born after Vietnam and never were told these laws exist. Maybe they extracted it from the Society of Human Resources Managers handbook. Maybe that's the Sunset. I don't know.

But I'll tell you that an organization can't legitimately provide a VETS 100 form if it doesn't collect the information, and none of the entities I applied to collected this information although I know they receive federal funds and are the recipient of federal contracts. I received a form from LSU asking my race, sex, and whether I was disabled. But nowhere on that form was there any question regarding military service.

One particular company I applied to, The Blood Center, used a form application put together by some lawyers out of Florida that specifically stated not to include ANY information on veteran status, because they didn't want to discriminate against non-veteran status. I kid you not. As it was a form application I have no doubt that application is in use all over the country. I no longer donate blood there.

Now President Clinton may have expanded this law to include our brothers and sisters who served honorably in Haiti, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, etc., but the law has no teeth and is not being honored. The people receiving the billions in federal contracts are burning veterans, and they know it.

So, I've said my peace. The Swift Vets and POWs for Truth have done an excellent job. They've done their duty and it's probably unfair for me to ask them to take up another cause. But this is a just and honorable cause, not just for the aging veterans of Vietnam and the Vietnam-era, but also the veterans of other conflicts and the men and women serving today. This law is needed now more than ever. There should NEVER be an unemployed veteran who wants to work. But there is. And it's time for action.

Thank you for reading this.

I e-mailed the above information as well as the paragraph below to a news reporter for a local broadcast outlet who had recently done a story on the rising number of homeless unemployed veterans. I've yet to hear back from him.

Google Groups hyperlink

The liberals are going to try to blame Pres. Bush for this but Pres. Bush doesn't work for LSU or The Blood Center or the other thousands of companies out there with federal contracts who ignore their duties to veterans.

The reason America's veterans are homeless and unemployed is not necessarily drug or alchohol addiction or because they are suffering some kind of psychological problem -- it's because people who failed to serve their country then are failing to serve its veterans now. It's like being spit in the face ... again. And it hurts.

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to levy but the levy was dry. Them good ole boys were drinkin' whisky and rye, singin' "This'll be the day that I die." -- Don McLean, American Pie, 197-somethin'

God bless you veterans, thank you and welcome home. You're in my prayers at least.

Veterans don't need a hand out or a hand up. They deserve justice and equitable treatment. Veterans don't need a new law; they need the existing laws enforced and followed. And that may mean the process begins with YOU.

'Nuff said. Thank you.

Information is power. Not knowledge, information. If you obtain information, THEN you have knowledge.

Some folk keep information from reaching others because it gives them power over them. On Wall Street they call this "insider information," but insider information applies to all walks of life. Who knew that instead of buying aspirin you could chew on a piece of willow bark, which contains acetyl salicylic acid, the chemical name for aspirin? The pharmaceutical company that first sold aspirin knew. They took a folk remedy, put it in pill form and kept the information about its freely-available origin a secret so they could sell the aspirin and make a profit.

[A quick aside: I did my graduate work at Louisiana State University here in Baton Rouge. Some of the sorority girls on the LSU campus, late for class and hung over, would snag bark from the willows on the quad and chew it, followed by a Coca-Cola. In short order they were pert, prim and proper and ready to continue their search for the genetically perfect, family-connected breeding partner.]

This is just an example. Other ways folk keep information from you is by editing or deleting the work of another -- religious leaders destroying volumes of works on the life of Jesus Christ to give you a Bible authored only by four fallible men is just one historical example. Book burners are intent on one thing -- ensuring that others never discover the truths they've learned. Because why? That's right, because information is power.

If I write an opinion and someone extracts my comments from that opinion, that opinion no longer is mine. It is controlled by the editor and it becomes his/her view and not mine. He/she has extracted views I espouse because he/she doesn't share those same views. Yet my name is still attached to it! This is a method of camouflaging and influencing. People see generally the same opinion espoused by a number of editorialists and opinion writers and they believe that that consensus opinion was arrived at independently. This, as you see, is not necessarily so. The mainstream press loved Clinton and hates Bush. You would think. But it's the owners of the mainstream press who loved Clinton and hate Bush, and what you read is their paid-for opinion. They buy wordsmiths like myself -- or better -- to influence you. Now some of those writers may claim it's their opinion, and in some cases that may very well be true. But not all. And they may have written the owner's opinion so many times, they have influenced themselves!

I'm not always as clear a writer as I should be. I know that. I'm imperfect. I want my writing to be clear, grammatically correct and without errors in spelling. I'm a slob in person but my writing is the public part of me and I want it to be natty. But editing for clarity, spelling and grammar is one thing -- editing for content is quite another. And it pisses me off to no end that someone would attempt to change the full context of what I write to suit themselves, especially when they hide themselves in the shadows. What does the Bible say, something like, "If thine eye does offend thee, pluck it out." Meaning, if you don't like what you see, don't look.

In recent weeks, this has happened to me twice, once on the Ultimate Subaru Message Board and then again on the consumer comment forums of Woot. They didn't like what I wrote, deleted it or edited the content to change the context. And in both cases, the editing/deleting was done in the shadows. None of the sneaky bums would admit who it was who was editing and deleting my posts. Cockroaches, you see, hide when the lights are on. Their power exists only in secrecy, in the non-disclosure of the truth. They fear that someone will find out that the Wizard of Oz is a fat man from Kansas with a small mind filled with paranoia and fears. As a result, I've been banned from posting to the Woot.com consumer comment forums -- they'll receive no more of my money -- and I make the personal decision to no longer financially support usmb.net. Tinpot dictators will always fall -- sic semper tyrannis.

The power of the press belongs to those who own the press, and this one's mine. That click you hear is the sound of a light switch being flipped. Scatter roaches, scatter!

I never got to review movies when I was a reporter ... but I love them! Movies are a true narcotic to me. I remember when a friend in graduate school was going somewhere for the entire weekend and he said I could borrow his Sony Betamax player to watch movies. I went to the local video store, rented 12 movies -- (none of them adult btw, in case you're wondering) -- and watched them back to back until I was catatonic! I was drained, hung over, bleary-eyed and wasted. None of it was alcohol or drug induced: I'd gone on a Hollywood bender mainlining Bogie and Bacall et al. I loved it!

Some movies made for the small screen never made it to video. Such is the case of "The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space." I caught this on cable, loved it, they re-ran the movie and I taped it on VHS. Good thing, because you can't find this movie on VHS much less DVD. This isn't the best movie made, but it's better than some I've seen on video "Anita: Dances of Vice" being one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112292/usercomments

A fine, funny movie, 14 July 2004
10 Stars out of 10
Author: NEWS4A2 from Baton Rouge, LA

This was a fine, funny, tongue-in-cheek spoof of early television space shows. Its only drawback is that this movie never made it to serialization or video/DVD to be enjoyed by others.

This movie pilot debuted before "Galaxy Quest" but is the same premise. A distant planet is in trouble. A young scientist picks up TV video signals from Earth and sees stage-managed heroic exploits of Captain Zoom on a children's TV show. He believes the heroics to be real. The young scientist snags the egotistical actor with some kind of space transport tractor beam, and beams the actor who was playing Captain Zoom to the besieged planet to aid its inhabitants.

This movie is light-hearted and features some good performances by the sexy and funny Gia Carides as Vesper, Dan Riordan in the title role, Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura of Star Trek fame)as Sagan and Ron Perlman as Lord Vox aka "The Bad Guy."

I'm sorry MCA didn't put more money into promoting this film. It had an unpolished gem on its hands. But perhaps, with thinking like that, it's the reason MCA is now owned by Universal, and not the other way around.

My second prognostication on what the internet could become, hopefully will become was posted in 1999 in reply to a post by a usenet friend in a journalism-oriented newsgroup. He was having a pity party over the demise of the economy and wondering about his future:

Google Groups hyperlink

From: Publis...@6th.Estate.com (Mark W. McBride, President/CEO)
Subject: Re: Between Economises - A tale Most Micawber
Date: 1999/02/09
Message-ID: <36c08d43.173608203@news.atl.bellsouth.net>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 442534138
References: <36bc611b.155567735@news.skypoint.com>
Organization: SPCS, Inc./Technology Bridge Publishing
Reply-To: Publis...@6th.Estate.com Remove the dot after 6th to reply directly.
NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 15:32:33 EST
Newsgroups: alt.journalism.print,alt.journalism.newspapers,alt.journalism.freelance

Did you hear the news? On Sat, 06 Feb 1999 15:35:11 GMT, in <36bc611b.155567...@news.skypoint.com>, our ether buddy mfinleyO...@skypoint.com (Michael Finley) spaketh thusly:

:)Micawber was a symptom of one of Victorian England's great problems -
:)the emptying of the British countrysides, and the ensuing inability of
:)the city to accommodate the influx.
:)
:)A similar dynamic has overtaken writers. Only, instead of a transition
:)from agrarian to industrial living, we are experiencing a transition
:)from industrial to post-industrial living.
:)
:)And like Micawber, we are caught between one economy that only has gas
:)enough for the entrenched establishment, and a new economy whose shape
:)is not yet clear to us - and whose opportunities are not easy to
:)grasp.
:)
:)I'm 47, and I spent most of my career in print journalism, as a
:)newspaper editor and writer. When I saw the first signs of the new
:)economy in 1983, I began to specialize in computers and business.
:)
:)By the time the Internet blossomed, print publishing was already in
:)deep trouble from broadcast competitors able to get info to people
:)faster and flashier. When online competitors came along who were able
:)to get info out even faster, even flashier, and at a fraction of the
:)cost, print publishers knew the jig was up.
:)
:)Print is slowly dying. But its alternative, the world of online
:)publishing, is still in the gelatinous stage. Big print syndicates and
:)online entities like MSNBC and Nando Times rely on reprints from their
:)print staff, wire services, or affiliates.

I have two words of precious wisdom to impart to you: "Media Fusion."

I'll repeat myself just to ensure it sinks in: "Media Fusion."

I should charge for that. What you are witnessing is the move to that fusion, what I see as the painful birth of the 6th Estate. And because that fusion is occuring, there will be more jobs for freelancers and fulltimers than ever. And not just writers ... but ENG operators, editors, producers, designers, video production personnel, etc.

The availability of more and more bandwidth creates opportunities. Something has to be created to fill that void. The advent of the internet and the increasing transmission speeds will allow newspapers to offer streaming video and audio to compete with their broadcast competition. In like fashion, the internet allows broadcasters to offer the in-depth and wider coverage newspapers offer that time schedules previously would not allow for a broadcast station. Broadcasters will have to hire print people and newspapers will have to hire ENG operators. Moreover, e-book standards will allow everyone to have a library of all this information on CD.

Newspapers and broadcasters no longer will be able to rely on rip and read from one to three wire services, or rewrites of press releases if they want to stay viable. Every other newspaper carries those wire services, and they all get PR Newswire and Business Wire. If the AP rewrite of the press release contains less information than the press release, why should I read the AP version when I can access the press release online? Even more pertinent, why should I read some newspaper's/broadcaster's trimmed version of the AP press release rewrite?

These online newspapers and broadcasters will have to differentiate themselves - and that means more local coverage, more specialized coverage and less reliance on wire or press release copy.

This is still a bit away. Keep track of Internet2 and the companies developing methods and technologies to increase transmission speed. If you want to fill your ricebowl immediately, supplement your columns with web page design. Writers are word crafters. And well crafted words can sell product ... and put food on the table while you're waiting for the blast-off. If you believe in the product enough to buy it, why not use your talents to help the company promote it? Had I the talent then that I have now, Quake, Almond Delight and Quaker Shredded Wheat cereals would still be on store shelves. ;)

If you don't want to write copy for a local business' web site, consider a newsletter. Back in 1987, while in graduate school, I developed a business plan for a newsletter. The cost of printing, list rental and mailing made this plan prohibitive without a backer (I was a destitute grad student). I didn't find a backer, so the plan never made it off the ground. But these costs now are minimal because of the internet and because of SIC/NAIC coded address list CDs like ProPhone (not sure what the name is now -- the company sold off to DeLorme). Newsletters contain highly specialized information for a highly specialized audience - 100 to 5,000 subscribers - who pay higher subscription rates. Check the books in the library by Hudson on newsletter development.

Just some hints. Good luck! And enjoy the future. It hasn't been this good for writers or video types since the advent of moveable type or the cathode ray tube.

Best, Mac

---

2/24/2005 -- UPDATE -- The New York Times writes about how bloggers are adding video to their sites. Nice to see the NYT on top of things.

I think that the best way to get this blog rolling is to grab some stuff I've previously published in various parts of the net and republish them here so the reader can see a foundation of my interests. Where possible, I'll include a link back to the original site.

Faith Popcorn is a futurist, a highly respected prognosticator of trends with a great and memorable name! John Naisbitt also is a futurist and highly respected prognosticator of trends ... but Ms. Popcorn has him beat by a longshot in the moniker department.

[On the otherhand John Naisbitt mentioned "Corporate Voice," my old software company's DOS writing product, in his "Trend Letter" and I'll be forever grateful for that plug.]

I kind of like to think of myself as a trend prognosticator as well, certainly not as accomplished as these two fine folk but certainly not too shabby in my own right IMNSHO. In 1997 I foresaw the development of the internet as the great communications equalizer for the common man or woman. I thought the news groups on the usenet would be the conduit; turns out it's blogs. And I posted those thoughts on the usenet in various news groups. It was a stream of consciousness thing and it surprised me, so much so that it's one of the few times I tossed a copyright notice on a usenet post.

Google Groups hyperlink

From: Publis...@SIXthEstate.com (Mark W. McBride, President/CEO)

Subject: Re: Interviewing Newsgroup Participants

Date: 1997/08/24

Message-ID: <340090aa.5952496@news.atl.bellsouth.net>

X-Deja-AN: 268387420

References: <01bcad7c$d1445e80$041baace@dana>
<19970820191301.paa22975@ladder01.news.aol.com>

Reply-To: Publis...@SIXthEstate.com

Organization: SPCS, Inc./Technology Bridge Publishing

Newsgroups: alt.journalism.freelance

Did you hear the news? On 20 Aug 1997 19:13:15 GMT, our ether buddy lauras...@aol.com (Lauraspin) spaketh thusly:

:)Dear Dana: What is the proper etiquette for interviewing people on news groups?

:)When you are searching for ideas, information and anecdotes, do you let the

:)people know right off the bat that you are a writer seeking information,

:)I really, really think it best that you note right off that you're

:)soliciting comments for an article. If I responded to what I thought was a

:)run-of-the-mill post, and later found that my words were used in an

:)article, I'd be quite concerned.

:)Best,

:)Laura

Why? Anyone who wants to can see any comments you make anyway. And the comments are logged in archives like Deja News. I can look up everything posted by lauras...@aol.com if I wished.

What's news anyway? In a nutshell, it's a Christmas song: Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear?

The beginning of this message notes _exactly_ what it is:

"Did you hear the news? On 20 Aug 1997 19:13:15 GMT, our ether buddy lauras...@aol.com (Lauraspin) spaketh thusly:"

And the comments you made and I'm now making are in a _NEWS_ group ...alt.journalism freelance.

Something you write now anyone can read 100 years from now, as with archives of newspapers, magazines and tv. What's the difference? Do you fear oil/soy based inks and newsprint or the network airwaves has more reach than the internet?

If you don't want to see yourself quoted ... in either the mainstream press, in a marketing document, in a White House innuendo file: write nothing, say nothing, take no positions on any subject whatsoever at any time, have no thoughts.

What if the comments are picked up -- not by the media -- but for an innuendo file by Livingstone or Marceca under orders from Slick Willie and the Clintonistas? Would you have a problem not knowing your comments were archived by paranoid federal bureaucrats? Or even a marketing firm?

I would hazard a guess that the traditional (i.e. mainstream, spoonfed, molly-coddled and soul-sold) media would _NOT_ be berating the ngs like alt.conspiracy, etc., (porno-net stories, right-wingnut stories) if the readership of those ngs was not 1000 times that of the New York Times.

The traditional media are pulling the same tricks newspapers pulled on broadcasting when it began getting a serious audience, e.g. "You can't trust the internet. It's full of wingnuts, flakes and wackos. They see black helicopters everywhere. They're unprofessional and uncredentialed. Pierre Salinger is an old fool taken to partaking of too much Vin Francoise for reading the internet. Matt Drudge is unprofessional and corroborates nothing." (Kind of like columns like "Washington Merry Go Round?," and the yellow journalism of Hearst's papers? If all you know is what you read in the newspapers, as near I can tell, no black person ever died or was born in the United States before 1950. The African-American press wasn't distributed or available in my neighborhood ... but the Newhouse papers were and I helped deliver them.)

The AP doesn't take risks anymore ... they're slow as hell at breaking stories of international import. And when they do run them, they CYA something fierce, afraid to alienate Slick Willie. "We're just reporting what _they_ said Mr. Clinton sir, it's not _our_ fault!" CNN is the same way nowadays. They've become their own slouch potatoes. It's the problem with news monopolies.

Newspaper editors and publishers laughed themselves silly when such things as radio and tv were developed. Toys and gizmos they thought. Back then there was towns with 10 plus newspapers. Guess what happened? Who's laughing now. The Detroit News has 200 staffers working the print side and 3-4 operating their website. Will someone please send the editor and publisher of the paper buggy whips?

The 4th and 5th Estate has become too sedate, too spoonfed, too molly-coddled ... by business, by politicians regardless of label. True story: The Chief of Bureau of an AP bureau told me two years ago that the AP's top computer guru felt the Year 2000 computer problem was a non-story and therefore they didn't need to run anything on it. This at the same time the Air Force was holding a worldwide summit of all USAF IS personnel on how to deal with the crisis and the USDA was soliciting bids for correcting the massive problems they are going to experience!! What fools these mortals be ... and we trust them implicitly as gods to report the news and the truth? Their arrogance is only exceeded by an inflated sense of their own self-worth on the planet.

There is a significant need for news risktaking. That gap is being filled by the Usenet newsgroups. News reporting has returned to those who should report it ... the sources. Facts and opinions straight from those who care one way or another to spout off about it. If you bullshit, there is going to be someone to call you on it. Sometimes they will actually call you on it with facts in their hands. Sometimes they'll act like bulls in a china shop and curse you because they have no opinion, creative thoughts, no new questions or even facts.

Is Vince Foster a non-story? Questions remain ... citizens of the U.S. want to know the truth. Was he whacked under orders from Hillary or Slick Willie? Why did he commit suicide if he was innocent? But the traditional spoonfed media hasn't answered them for us. What about the suicide of Adm Jeremy Mike Boorda. That man held every top strategic secret the Navy had and he supposedly shot himself over a ribbon device? Give me a break!!! Barry Seal flew cocaine flights out of Arkansas airfields, and innuendo loving Slick Willie never knew or heard about it? It's become VERY unhealthy to work as a Clintonista. Why?

Any source who has answers or any person who has a different view can give them to millions of Usenet readers ... without filtration, slant, bias or even cover-up by the spoonfed traditional media.

And to me, that's a _good_ thing. The people FINALLY have the power to vent their spleen and ask questions, and not just an assigned and filtered 20 column inches on an op-ed page.

Copyright (C) 1997 Mark W. McBride

My motto:

"Penny begat nickel. Nickel begat dime. Dime begat quarter. Quarter begat dollar. Dollar begat truth. Truth begat FREEDOM!"

I coined this phrase back in the mid-90s to say that there is nothing wrong with capitalism and profit. Money equals power and power gives one the ability to say "No!" to something that goes against their nature. If the poor have money, they can say no to exploitation by the greedy. Put simply, pursue profit to achieve freedom. Money and power are not the "be all and end all" of our existence, freedom is.

When I was a news reporter, I was told what to write and how to write it. They paid me. I did it. No editorializing. Just the facts; no opinion. Now I'm using the experience I've gained and the talent I've been given to post what I really believe. Ever heard the expression, "The power of the press belongs to those who own a press." It's my press now. True pamphleteering. Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be proud of the bloggers, what they have accomplished and what they can accomplish. I've been posting my opinions on the usenet since 1995. It's about time I started a blog.

[Assume that everything here that isn't copyrighted by someone else is copyrighted by me. Unless I inform you otherwise, if it's for non-commercial use, feel free to copy, republish and mirror, all I ask is that you just be ethical, moral and just, and give credit where credit is due. Failure to give credit where credit is due, or your use of my material commercially, negates any permissions, explicit or implicit, granted by me. That being said, "Thank you St. Scott and Green County Internet for all the help through the years. You da man!" They are some of the finest folk I have ever met, and I meet a lot of great people.]

The 6th Estate

El 6to Estado - En Espanol

Saturday, February 26, 2005

A Great Mardi Gras Story ... Still

Friday, February 25, 2005

I wouldn't vote for him

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Can the world handle another "Drudge Report?"

No democracy can ever exist or thrive without a national sense of humor

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

I know why, their information system was designed by the FBI!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

60 seconds? That's nothing in the span of time.

It's not about the oil, not really ...

Monday, February 21, 2005

Breast and Worst of MTV Marketing

What the 9/11 widows never knew ...

First you have to admit you're a wingnut

Love the vets? Do your part. Be a pest.

Don't forget, hire a vet! It's right, it's just and it's the law.

Want to see me spit fire? Scatter roaches, scatter!

My IMDB review of Captain Zoom in Outer Space

Faith Popcorn, eat your heart out! Pg. 2

Faith Popcorn, eat your heart out!

Sunday, February 20, 2005

My motto, aka "In the beginning, Mac created this blog"

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