Tom Hall: The mainstream media has had little to say about Obama’s accomplishments. Why would they? The mainstream media is owned by, and serves, a handful of huge corporations in New York.
Bad “Bitches”, True Women
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Sikivu Hutchinson: As Middle America shuffles out of its hangover from the Casey Anthony trial and into the debt ceiling morass, the war on women has been fueled by an insidious 21st century cult of true womanhood.
American Family Values, Invisible Lives
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Sikivu Hutchinson: The numbers of LGBT families of color are increasing, especially in traditionally conservative regions like the South, which has seen a new black “re-migration” due to the massive ripple effect of job losses, foreclosures and gentrification in northern urban black communities.
LAUSD, Charters, and Insanity
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Leonard Isenberg: Ex-LA Mayor Richard Riordan, who is now chairman of the board of cash-strapped ICEF Public Schools, is now in the process of trying to get his board to vote control of the charter’s 15 schools over to Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, another large, local charter-school group.
What Will It Take to Bring Obama Home? Civics 101
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Sharon Kyle: Progressives are asking what it will take to get the President to support the issues he ran on. My answer, the country needs to take Civics 101.
California Teacher Credentialing Corruption Ignored
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Leonard Isenberg: The preconceived “dominant narrative” that mainstream media is programmed to spew out all over this country that vilifies and lays all blame for bad public education on teachers is allowed to trump reality of corruption and fraud from LAUSD.
Why LAUSD Does Not Work?
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Leonard isenberg: By what standard do people who continually fail to fix public education remain the leaders of public education reform
Mainstream Media Can’t Tell the Truth about LAUSD
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Leonard Isenberg: With a present ratio of four public relations people to every reporter in the U.S., I don’t think I will hold my breath for Connie Llanos of the Daily News to contact me any time soon about a real piece of old fashion investigative journalism
The Duke Cases Continues
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Wendy McElroy: Lawsuits have surrounded the Duke lacrosse rape case since 2007. Three of them, taken collectively, constitute one of the most significant political and legal battles of our time. What have you heard of them? Next to nothing.
The LA Progressive Attacked!!
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Sharon Kyle: This morning the LA Progressive was attacked. We were down for several hours. BeyondChron and Truthout were also attacked this week. As a result, both of these sites experienced considerable down time as well. Read more to find out who is doing this and what we can do.
Defending ‘Our Mother’s Gardens’
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Sikivu Hutchinson: Whenever a rape case becomes high profile, the inevitable questions about the victim’s reputation, race, whereabouts, and alleged complicity in the assault are trotted out.
LA Media Reform Summit 2011
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Are you tired of the grip the right has on talk radio and Fox? Are you interested in being a part of the growing movement to take away the rightwing’s dominance of the airwaves? Common Cause was one of several progressive organizations that organized the successful Koch brothers Palm Springs rally. This month, The LA [...]
Just Media: the 4th Annual LA Media Reform Summit
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Are you concerned about hate speech on cable news? Do you have an issue you are passionate about that doesn’t get air time in the mainstream media? Do you want to learn how to create and disseminate your own media?
Brisenia Flores: The Little Girl That You Don’t Know
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Jessie Daniels: Brisenia Flores was a 9-year-old girl murdered in Arizona by anti-immigrant vigilantes, yet her death – unlike that of the 9-year old killed last week in Arizona – is getting almost no attention in the U.S. mainstream media.
White Power, White Terrorism, White Mainstream
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Jessie Daniels: The white mainstream is already framing this shooting as the act of a crazed, lone gunman, rather than part of a consistent pattern of right-wing violence perpetrated almost exclusively by white men who are responding to a political climate that is increasingly stoked by vitriolic rhetoric.
Author Spotlight: Georgianne Nienaber
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To kick off what we hope will be a year-long series to highlight the work our many fine writers contribute to the LA Progressive, we’d like to give you a fuller view of Georgianne Nienaber’s life and work.
Ask Not for Whom the Drug Tolls
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Wendy McElroy: A new slate of drugs now addresses a wide range of so-called disorders, or dysfunctions, that former generations considered environmental problems or lifestyle choices: from obesity to attention deficit, from erectile dysfunction to social anxiety (shyness), from menopause to alcoholism.
The Mainstream Media Is a Myth
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Tina Dupuy: If you can complain about the mainstream media from a national platform, it’s akin to being a ventriloquist act without the dummy: you’re bantering with your own voice.
Why Liberals Don’t Stand a Chance in the Corporate Media
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Joseph Palermo: Our political spectrum, as refracted through the lens of corporate media, runs from center-right to far-right. No wonder the conventional wisdom in Washington holds, without evidence, that the United States is a “center-right” country. Those making that argument might not be real, informed commentators — but they play them on TV.
Rand Paul Heads for the Hills
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Berry Craig: Of course, not all Republicans are bigots. But Paul and his pals are more proof — as if proof were needed — that the GOP is mainly what the Southern Democrats were in slavery and Jim Crow days: the white folks’ party.
Michael Kinsley’s Dumb Idea: The “Greatest Generation” & What Boomers Should Do!
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Gary Corseri: The real challenge has always been to be informed, to be aware, to be decent guardians and protectors of the commonweal. The real challenge is to know ourselves… and to become our best selves.
Why Won’t the FCC Treat Hate Speech the Same As Foul Language?
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Sylvia Moore: It seems to be far easier to punish a broadcaster for one f-bomb dropped on the air, than it is if the same on-air personality unleashed a tirade of bigoted garbage.
Where’s the Oil? Here, There, and Everywhere
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Georgianne Nienaber: The world faces the difficult challenge of understanding exactly what has happened to the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico in the uncertainty of the aftermath of the April 20 explosion of the BP Macondo wellhead.
Angels and Innocents
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Sikivu Hutchinson: Since God sees and “forgives” everything that is petitioned, the moral universe of children is a tiny, confining funhouse of mirrors. In communities where death at an early age is considered unremarkable by mainstream media and policymakers, the deferment demanded by faith is an insurance policy against social oblivion.
Labor Fights Back for Living Wages, Jobs For All
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Shamus Cooke: Employers are exploiting fears of joblessness by demanding workers take wage cuts and reductions or eliminations in benefits. The millions of unemployed are giving corporations an excuse to slash wages, since desperate workers will work for almost anything.
Jan Brewer, the Sarah Palin of the Desert
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Mario Solis-Marich: Jan Brewer is a lousy Governor. Any objective view of her performance to date indicates that Jan Brewer is the Sarah Palin of the Desert.
Should Journalists Cozy Up to Power or Uncover the Truth?
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Sylvia Moore: Hastings, a freelance reporter, is being criticized for exposing the insults and embarrassing behavior. Lara Logan, a foreign correspondent for CBS, blasted Hastings on CNN for what she felt was a breach of trust on his part that could possibly damage journalists’ relations with the military.
Not Enough Drama from Obama?
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Tom Degan: It’s bad enough that the requirement of this media age is that all of our presidents be “telegenic.” It is now apparently mandated that they comport themselves like drama queens. Not only do they need to look like the model in an Esquire ad, they now have to behave like Greta Garbo: “I vant to be alone!”
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What’s Next for Obama and Democrats?
Tom Hayden: Launch a campaign progressive to the core, with no compromises on ending tax cuts for the rich and trillion-dollar wars.