I Speak of Dreams

Two Part Criticism of Sharyl Attkisson's Lack of Journalistic Ethics:

I am not an investigative reporter, and don't even think of myself as a "citizen journalist".  But maybe I could give lessons in investigation.

Sharyl Attkisson has been a reporter at CBS for 15 years; her current title is "investigative reporter" and her area  is "government spending and taxpayer issues".   However, she has also aired some stories on the disproven hypothesis that there is a connection between vaccination and autism.  Ms. Attkisson's pieces tend to perpetuate the mistaken idea that there is a connection (here and here, for example)--sufficiently biased to label Ms. Attkisson as a vaccine rejectionist.

Recently, Attkisson's journalistic objectivity,  diligence in investigation, and use of sources have been called into question.

The Society for Professional Journalism's Code of Ethics reads in part:

• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
• Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
• Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
• Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

Part One of Attkisson's questionable journalistic ethics: the content and tone of the July 25, 2008 piece,  "How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?"

Part Two of Attkisson's questionable journalistic ethics: the almost simultaneous transmission of a letter of protest from the director of Voices for Vaccines to CBS and the publication of the contents of said letter on a militantly anti-vaccination website, Age of Autism. (You can download V4V_to_CBS_retraction_demand.pdf by clicking on the link.)

My question is: how much of Attkisson's "investigating" consists of rewriting and rewording statements from principals at the advocacy--even propaganda--organization,  Age of Autism? 

Skeptics' Circle #92 is Up--Team Skeptic Vs. ...Well, Go Read

The crowded press-room at the rear of Team Skeptic's state-of-the-art Olympic training facility hustles and bustles with the shifting movements of almost three journalists literally climbing over each other to get the clearest view of the buffet table. Nervously I shuffle my papers. This is it. This is what I've been training for.

It is hosted by Mike (oops!) Martin, who writes The Lay Scientist.

Terry Karney: Those Who Are Fomenting Domestic Terrorism

Terry Karney (who has more than a bit of credibility), writes:

What really matters (and is going to be glossed) is hinted at in the headline for that piece I linked to.

Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity on accused shooter's reading list

The letter this guy (who appears, to have been planning suicide by cop, as well as the political statement) wrote make it, at the very least a hate crime. But as Orcinus has been pointing out for years, this is really terrorism, and of the sort we ought to be expecting; and trying to stop, because it is the most common sort.

The letter found in this guy's car said he hated liberals, because of how they were ruining the country, and that he couldn't get at the people they elected, so he was going after the ones who voted.

People like Medved, Micheal Reagan, O'Reilly, Coulter, Limbaugh, etc. have been saying this sort of thing for years. They get glossed with the nasty little rubric that it's humor, comedy, social commentary. All the while they spout that any liberal who says the least little thing they dislike is corrupting the youth/nation/world with terrible efficiency. 

I'd put Michael Savage on that list, too. 

Ed Brayton's commenter cites Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter et al.--

these are the folks who put the bug in this guy's brain that everything that was wrong in his life was due to "the liberals". They need to take responsibility for what they're doing and cut it out, or there's going to be more blood on their hands.

 

More House Blathering #3

Today was moving day for my horse, who is going to live at a friend's farm.  He can be a pain to load in a 2-horse trailer.  Being raised in Germany, I suspect he didn't see one until I imported him.

But he loaded like a champ, didn't step on me (that'd happened a couple of times) and didn't try to crawl out the hatch.

Whew.  Back to packing.

Too Busy to Post, Resorting to Cut and Paste: On Comment Moderation

I have two post replying to the infectious-disease advocates* here each half-written.  They aren't getting fully written today, either, most likely.

We're actually planning to move on Wednesday.  The minions and their truck(s) are coming in 24 hours. To keep you entertained: From Making Light:

The solution to the problem isn’t given in the article, or even suggested. The solution is strong moderation. If the Slog had had a moderator (Yog and his minions, for example), the Stranger lady wouldn’t have been driven out. Here’s what moderators need to know:

a) Sure, there’s freedom of speech. Anyone who wants it can go start their own blog. On Yog’s board, Yog’s whim is law.

b) Yog is an ancient ghod of chaos and evil. And he doesn’t like people very much.

c) Moderation is a subjective art, and the moderator is always right.

d) The moderator may have minions. They need to have a private area where they keep the buckets of Thorazine and the cold-frosty bottles of cow snot.

e) The minions speak with the voice of Yog. Yog backs his minions up.

f) There is always someone awake, and in charge, when Yog isn’t around in person. The minions know who the Duty Yog is.

g) If someone starts off as a spammer, troll, or flamer, he is a spammer, troll, or flamer forever and is liable to instant deletion/banning with no recourse and no appeal.

h) If the moderator ever needs inspiration, he can re-read Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and recall that the posters are sinners and he is Ghod.

i) Rules? In a knife fight? Yog and his minions have standards, but they don’t need to tell the posters, lest some of them attempt to game the system. Attempting to game the system is, all on its own, a deletable offense.

j) ALL CAPS posts are deleted on sight, unread. Mostly ALL CAPS POSTS are ALL CAPS.

k) Anyone who doesn’t space after punctuation marks is insane, and can be deleted/banned on sight.

l) Personal attacks against Yog and his minions are ignored. Personal attacks against anyone else are deletable on sight.

=======

Kellie Bishof claims she isn't "anti-vaccination".  So she must be pro-infectious disease.

More House Blathering #2

New house:

Spent the day cleaning up drywall dust and waiting on various installation folk. 

Report:

Drywall dust is 80-90% eliminated everywhere but kitchen.
Installation folk were about 75% on time, 80% prepared, and 90% efficient. The AT&T guy was great (100% on all counts plus some extra points for personality) and very pleasant.  The Atherton Appliance folks were later than they had predicted (erm, I was the last call of the day)  But all were competent and pleasant.
The kitchen is a pit, but at least there's a refrigerator in place.

Observation:

For a 55+ woman, I'm in pretty good shape .... until it comes to hands & knees scraping, vacuuming,  and mopping.  I are whupped.

Final Pacific Grove Update: Radiant

Jumper Girl competed in the 3' 3" Showjumping Derby (a biggish step up, since she didn't ride from September-May), and came in 5th out a field of about 40.  Twenty-one jumping efforts, including a triple combination of a one-stride to a two-stride. 

When JG was still riding ponies, we would discuss less-than-perfect results with the question: "Pilot error or pony error?".

No un-corrected pilot errors.  One brilliant pilot course-correction.  No pony errors, and in fact, one or two pony-saves-the-bacon moments.

Oh!  Ponies are a maximum of 58 inches tall, measured (more or less) at the base of the mane (the withers).  Claudius is at least 67 inches tall, and quite long.  So speaking of Claudius as a "pony" is a bit of an in-joke.

There's a lovely photo of Claudius and JG from the derby, with Claudius jumping in excellent form and a big grin from JG, that I'll post in a couple of weeks.

Previous JG-Claudius photos are packed away--I don't have any on the harddrive, for some reason.

What pleasure is greater than seeing your child's pride in achievement?

Brief Report from Pacific Grove

I've tried to post something long--Typepad times out, I think because of slow uploading speeds.

Jumper Girl's competition is going well--she moved up a division and Claudius is jumping better.  Steering needs work.

It was warm & sunny today -- welcome after the fog and mist.

We'll see if this works.

Evan David Kamida (July 30, 2000 – July 24, 2008)

Last Saturday I was listening to Vicki Forman speak about life with her son Evan, and advocating for children with disabilities.

Evan passed away suddenly Thursday from complications of previous treatments.

Vicki's friends and colleagues at Literary Mama wrote:

Most of us never met Evan, but we loved learning about his strength and spirit through Vicki's gorgeous writing.

If you would like to make a contribution memorializing Evan's life, there are two opportunities:

The Pediatric Epilepsy Fund at UCLA
Division of Pediatric Neurology
Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
22-474 MDCC
10833 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1752

Friends have created a memorial fund for Evan, to which you may contribute directly via Paypal:

Update: the previous link had malfunctions.  The link below will take you to Vicki Forman's blog; scroll down until you see the Paypal donate button and click on that for donations.

Click on this lind to make a donation in memory of Evan:  http://www.vickiforman.com/?p=1011

Vicki and her family will use the funds to purchase something Evan would have enjoyed in his life, for instance, a tree to shade the playground swings

My heart goes out to Vicki and the rest of Evan's family.

Beautiful Pacific Grove & Horse Show Success

Back down in Pacific Grove at the Beachcomber, our home-away-from-home.

Jumper Girl rode two lovely rounds and came in maybe second in her 3-foot class (we left before ribbons were awarded).

A lovely afternoon at the beach with bonfire, toasted bratwurst, and good company.