There's something happening here

...but what it is ain't exactly clear.

Yesterday's gathering in Zinn Park was much smaller than Anniston's first General Assembly, and people may get disheartened by that fact. However it is sort of exciting for me personally since the faces I saw yesterday were not at the first General Assembly. During the past two weeks, 20 people from a slew of different backgrounds cut the TV/internet lifeline and physically gathered in hopes of seeing something change in Anniston.

Over the past month or so, I've probably talked to around 50+ people in the greater Anniston/Oxford area that, when asked about their personal feelings of the rapid growth of the Occupy movements, say the same thing: "I want to see something happen in Anniston." The desire for drastic change thrives in the Model City and surrounding areas, but the road paved with good intentions won't get us anywhere different.

If you're reading this, it's safe to say you also want to see something happen in Anniston. What is that something everyone talks about?

• Full-time occupation?  

• General Assembly working with city leaders? 

• Support for regional occupations like Birmingham or Atlanta? 

• Support for veteran Anniston occupiers (the homeless that occupy against their will)? 

• Demonstrations against banks, Monsanto/Solutia, or other parasitic "for-profit" entities? 

• Employees in the countless low-wage service jobs staging a mass strike?

It's probably time the conversation replaces that something everybody wants with an actual goal.

-MDS

A Neighborly Call to Action

I did some outreach today and there is plenty of skepticism about the Occupy Calhoun County Facebook group. Instead of critiquing every little point, however, I'm simply going to ask which individuals are ready to take OccupyCalhoun from a mere Facebook group to an actual coordinated movement in Calhoun County?

Being in Anniston will make this movement unlike most throughout the country. Local political views are a stark contrast to those in NYC, Oakland, and elsewhere, but we all share the same outlook: nothing will get better based on our country's current course. Many of our neighbors are waiting for either a politician or a group to come onto the scene with all of the answers to the barrage of questions. During their wait, the fact that Anniston is OUR town and OUR movement has been lost in the mix. The city council will not help coordinate direct action in the area. The county commission will not help coordinate direct action in the area. Training kits don't exist. We have to figure this out on our own.

I've seen only 2 mentions about gatherings: A General Assembly at 10am on November 4 and a march on the following day. This information is difficult to locate and incomplete. I plan on spending this evening trying to find resources to help with coordinating, but there is one major problem for me on a personal level: I can't really verify any information posted anonymously on a FB group. I'm happy being obnoxiously loud about this movement, and we'll definitely need others to be just as loud. We can only hide behind a Guy Fawkes mask for so long.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

That is the First amendment to the Constitution for a reason. So whaddaya say we "peaceably assemble" and "petition the Government for a redress of grievances?" Seems more proactive than watching cable news...

-MDS

The Bulldogs' star player unstoppable by Cleburne County

HEFLIN - Early in this 4A region game, the Anniston Bulldogs and Cleburne County Tigers were two strong and evenly matched teams. Despite an early touchdown by the Tigers’ Christopher Ervin, the Bulldogs took advantage of their strong running back Troymaine Pope to overwhelm the Tigers with a 49-35 final score.

“He’s just outrunning us” said Tiger head coach Michael Shortt. The 5’9” 137-pound Pope racked up 174 yards in the first half alone, including an 81-yard touchdown run and a subsequent 2-point conversion halfway through the second quarter to give Anniston an 8-point lead.

The Tigers quickly answered back with a 39-yard rush by Rocky Hayes to set up a drive that slowly wore down the Bulldog defense. With 13 seconds left in the second quarter, Hayes made a dramatic dive into the end-zone to put Cleburne County within 2 points of Anniston. After a successful 2-point conversion, the Tigers had tied the game 14-14 by the half.

The second half was a much different story as both offenses, defenses, and even special teams pulled out all the stops. Pope again stole the show for the Bulldogs in a mere 47 seconds with 65 yards in 2 plays to put Anniston up by 7.

The Tigers then took the ball at their own 20-yard line, but after an unsuccessful drive deep in their own territory were forced to punt. The 6’4” 261-pound Anniston senior Jeremy Thomas got his arms up and blocked the punt to put Anniston at the Tigers’ 1-yard line. The Bulldogs easily capitalized on this field position to gain a healthy 14-point lead. 14 seconds later, Cleburne County returned a long kickoff for a touchdown, reducing the Anniston lead by 7.

The Tigers continued to gain yards and points against the Bulldog defense both on the ground and in the air, including a 35-yard pass to Alexander Lee and rushes by Christopher Ervin, Antonine Phillips, and sophomore Christian Henson which set up a 2-yard touchdown rush by quarterback Matthew Norton. The Cleburne County offense managed 7 first-downs in the second half (compared to 2 by Anniston) but their defense was only able to shut down the Troymaine Pope running game on a single drive early in the 3rd quarter.

When asked how the Tiger defense could stop Pope, Coach Shortt simply replied by saying “we’ve got to tackle better. That’s what it comes down to; blocking and tackling.”

Progress instead of politics

As a Community Blogger for the local newspaper, I first try to decide which direction to go. As the Dr. once said: We can't stop here. This is bat country.

As I begin my blogging project with The Anniston Star, I feel the need to first address the disconnect many in my generation feel with the general concept of news outlets. We've grown up for the past three decades having most everything prepackaged with bells, whistles, and eye-catching artwork—a technique that has proven successful for industries profiting from goods like cell phones, video games, music, and movies.



However, an industry that hasn't been able to catch our attention for more than a few days is one I personally refer to as the “news-media” industry: and international group of corporate-owned television and radio networks that commonly report news through an entertainment business model. While more often than not the companies within this industry seem to put quality journalism a close second to their bottom line, there are stand-out factions that continue to damage an otherwise respectable and necessary profession.



A recent example of the more extreme side of the news-media industry is the Fox News Sunday interview with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. From the start of the interview, Stewart defended his description of Fox News as an “...agenda-driven, 24 hour news-opinion, propaganda delivery system.” Chris Wallace asked if Stewart thought “mainstream” news organizations like ABC, NBC, The New York Times, and others were “promoting a liberal agenda” and Stewart blamed their media bias on “sensationalism, conflict, and laziness” rather than political agendas.



In an attempt to prove a mainstream agenda, Chris Wallace showed a clip of ABC's Diane Sawyer exhibiting a “liberal bias” in her report of Arizona immigration laws. Stewart was quick to admit that her description of the new law could easily misinform viewers, but her description was not necessarily promoting the liberal slant that Wallace claimed Fox News tries to counteract. Stewart went on to give an example of the news-media's bias across an entire industry when he reminded Wallace of a news story from the previous day—when 24-hour news outlets abruptly ended live coverage of a press conference once a story was no longer a story:

“3 networks—Fox, CNN, msnbc—are going live to the Nancy Pelosi news conference because they are sure, coming on the heels of Anthony Weiner resigning, that she is going to make some sort of incredible statement about 'I am disappointed in Anthony Weiner.' So they are all locked on it, and the whole time there is hand-wringing: 'Aww, I can't believe we have got to go and do this. The American people don't care about this. They care about jobs. They care about the economy. That is what the American people care about. We are about to go live to Speaker Pelosi.' She is about to do that. She steps up to the podium and says what? 'I am not going to comment about Anthony Weiner. I am going to talk about jobs and I am going to talk about the economy,' and what did everybody do? So what is you're proof again about the partisan agenda and what I do? That is the embarrassment. The embarrassment is that I am given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has for what the news-media does.” (Jon Stewart on Fox News Sunday - 19 June, 2011)

Pundits, talking heads, and average citizens dissected the interview for days. The left snapped at Fox for editing a short (yet poignant) portion of the interview during their replays—technically the unedited version is available on their website. The right paraded a remark made by Stewart that was blatantly false—his point was later reiterated and verified on The Daily Show.



Chris Wallace offered his own final opinion of the conversation when he told Don Imus "...if you were a liberal, you thought that [Stewart] just wiped the floor with me. And if you were a conservative, you thought I just wiped the floor with him." This statement perhaps speaks louder than the entire 24-minutes Stewart and Wallace shared; the very sensationalism, conflict, and laziness described by Stewart can be seen in both the producers and consumers of the news-media industry.



However, The Anniston Star's Community Blogging Project will hopefully prove to become and new way to finally blur the lines between news-media “producers” and “consumers.” A younger and more tech-savvy generation is becoming more involved in the economy and government—and in a time where television, radio, and newspapers are losing ground to the internet as the main news source for the public, the distribution of information concerning government and economic issues becomes that much more important. Instead of dwelling on the failure of mediums like cable news networks to inform 'We the People,' I'm excited to instead do my part in a network of citizens who want to see progress, not politics.

-MDS

Wildly misguided pursuits of a dream may have gotten easier

In the first months of 2011, the growing political unrest throughout the Middle East became the headlines here in the United States. The revolution in Egypt captivated many Americans while the atrocities in Libya horrified even more. As an aspiring journalist in the first few years of a college education, I tediously gathered resources from across the internet to better understand these events—among others—and to pass information along to my peers. Much of my newfound knowledge was posted to my personal blog, In the Field. For years I have always enjoyed informing portions of my highly sought-after demographic that almost completely ignores mainstream news outlets thanks to the old-journalism practices of political partisanship, capitalistic goals, and a long history of outright lies delivered to the consumers of media.


March 22 didn't change a thing. On that sleepless Tuesday night, I saw some of the first Twitter posts coming from the Syrian front of the Arab Spring:


“Urgent: Security forces are storming #Omari mosque now in #Daraa #Syria” (@Mohammad_Syria)


Research ensued for hours as I discovered that finding a number of legitimate sources to confirm these reports from protesters wasn't too difficult; finding legitimate sources defending Syrian government forces was futile; finding English news articles about the events at al-Omari was near impossible. Perhaps the most difficult aspect for me was to accept—as truth—the videos, pictures and stories that depicted heartless violence against unarmed men. Over the course of six hours I compiled all of the information I had into 400 of the most objective words I could muster. Shortly after I posted my rendition of Daraa, stories began to surface on the internet from the BBC, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and the LA Times—all of which verified the 400 words posted to In the Field.


Then the news slowly returned to it's regularly scheduled instigation of civil war between the “left” and “right.”


Over the course of the past semester, this test of my skills as a writer seemed much more challenging and productive than college assignments of critiquing F. Scott Fitzgerald stories, producing a summary of Herbert Spencer's synthetic philosophy, or just struggling to stay awake during psychology lectures. The challenge of writing about Daraa, Syria was immediate due to language barriers, lack of confirmed reports from mainstream news outlets, and my sheer inexperience in the field. The productivity took some time to show results, but eventually did in the form of in-depth discussions with local people who were first informed of Syrian dissent from In the Field blogs—people with curiosity about the world but contempt for the media.


Further premature and mistake riddled attempts at becoming a working journalist have quickly taken a backseat to pesky things like yard work and a day job, but the fascination with mass media along with a naive curiosity of current events continues to drive the desire to get the hell out of school. After losing sight of the forest for the trees, I was beyond elated to see an article by Bob Davis in the June 19th edition of The Anniston Star. Davis, editor for The Star, announced “an effort we hope will harness this desire to share community news in the digital age. We are introducing a Community Bloggers project.”


I think this summer just got a little more interesting.


-MDS

Calming the Facebook/DIRECTV rumors

3 June 2011 - Rumors have started floating around social networking sites like Facebook claiming DIRECTV customers who suffered damage from the 2011 tornadoes are "...being told to send in a box or remote control or pay a fine of $500+ to cancel service." 

Jade L. Eksdedt, Senior Manager of Public Relations for DirecTV, expressed sympathy to those who suffered losses as a result of the storms and assured that DIRECTV is "...currently working with customers affected by the tragedy to determine a solution that best fits their needs."

In a statement sent to In The Field, Eksdedt said "if service cannot be restored at the customer’s home due to the damage from the storm, DIRECTV will cancel the account and waive any fees associated with the inability to return equipment, along with any remaining agreement on the account."

Eksdedt went on to say that customers without electricity for an extended period of time have the option to temporarily suspend accounts until proper services have been restored. DIRECTV is also offering "no-cost service calls" to properly fix any technical issues resulting from the storms.

For customers that suffered damage but did wish to retain their service, Eksdedt said DIRECTV will "...offer to waive equipment replacement costs if they continue services."

Eksdedt concluded the statement by saying "customers who have been affected by the tornado should call 1-800-531-5000 so we [DIRECTV] can remedy their situation immediately."

-MDS

Taxes, jobs, and the American Economy according to Speaker of the House John Boehner

While legislators on all sides of Congress scramble to solve the country's financial problems, John Boehner explains the GOP vision of a new economic path to prosperity.

The Economic Club of New York, a self-described “nonpolitical, nonpartisan and nonprofit” club of about 700 individuals from organizations like Koch Industries, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman­Sachs, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, welcomed Speaker of the House John Boehner on Monday to the Hilton Hotel in New York City. Boehner delivered a speech about the condition of the American economy which revolved around “job creators,” “real economic solutions,” and America's inability to “tax, borrow, and spend our way to prosperity.”

Speaker Boehner's speech constantly reiterated his stance concerning taxes and the infamous GOP-backed Ryan Budget. He reminisced about his early days in Congress and the balanced budget during the late 1990s. He readily admitted the federal surplus from the Clinton era was a result of a 1990 bipartisan deal which included higher taxes. However, Boehner's stance was made clear: “I would note that my colleagues and I are not calling for tax cuts in this budget. Rather, we are calling for the end to the threat of tax hikes and a fundamental reform of our tax code so that we can provide more certainty for our job creators.”

The various stimulus packages enacted from DC were also described as obstacles for private sector growth. Boehner empathized with small­ business owners and understood why “instead of hiring new employees, they make the logical decision to sit on their hands.” He later went on to remind the guests “if we're serious about balancing the budget and getting our economy back to creating jobs, tax hikes should be off the table.”

Along the lines of energy concerns as Americans face near­ record-high gas prices, Speaker Boehner questioned why Washington DC has kept American energy reserves “under lock and key for decades over the clear objections of the American people.” He suggested by opening these untapped energy resources the economy stands to gain over 1 million jobs.

Towards the end of the event, some members of the Economic Club asked Speaker Boehner questions. Jane Hartley, who worked as an advisor under the Carter administration, asked about prospects of the House passing corporate tax reform. Boehner believed the issue would be addressed in both sides of Congress within the next 2 years. “We are not going to use tax reform, though, as a way of increasing taxes on the American people or American enterprises.”

Peter Peterson, the former president and CEO of Lehman Brothers during the 1970s, referenced Admiral Mike Mullen in describing “the biggest single threat to our national security is our debt.” Peterson then asked about a review of defense spending priorities “...based on today's—not yesterday's—threat, and today's—not yesterday's—budget outlook.” Boehner responded that “everything is on the table—except raising taxes.” “It has to be an important part of the debate, and I will guarantee you it will be.”

Here's looking at you, John..

-MDS