It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
Watch For It! New Republican Astroturf is on the Way

Over at the Republican National Committee's website, they're firing up the astroturf engines again.

The RNC, headed by Marc Raciot, has over and over again encouraged its rank and file to take RNC-written statements, sign their names to them, pretend they wrote them and submit them as original letters to the editor. Shamefully, a number of newspapers have published this dreck -- and when they've been told about the problem, they have refused to let their readers know about the problem.

Here's the text of the Republican National Committee's latest canned letter:

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"Because of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, our schools are already receiving additional resources and historic levels of federal funding to ensure that students succeed, and more positive changes are on the way. Recently, the President announced that every state had put in a place an accountability plan to ensure that all schools makes progress.

As part of these plans and the No Child Left Behind Act's strong accountability provisions, school districts will be required to test students and give parents annual report cards. Schools that don't make progress will offer their students additional services, such as free tutoring, and parents will be given new options.

Through these new reforms, we have a real chance to ensure that every child receives a quality education, and President Bush deserves enormous credit for focusing our nation's attention on this challenge."

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This message, and the Republican Party's request that people plagiarize it in letters to the editor, has just been posted. That means, dear friends, that there is still time for those of us who are sickened by Republican Astroturf to combat the plagiarism. Because some newspapers and magazines won't take the steps to stop this abusive Republican practice themselves, we need to hold their hands and help them. Here's what you can do:

1. Register at GOP Team Leader, the aforementioned Republican National Committee website.
   
   
2. Log in, and click on the "Look Up/Write" link right after "My Newspapers" in the lower right-hand corner.
   
   
3. Now look on the left-hand side of the screen. There should be a drop-down menu under the words "Action Center" entitled "Choose...". Select "Print and TV."
   
   
4. Enter your Zip Code and press "Go."
   
   
5. A menu appears on which you can select newspaper, TV and Internet news sources. Select up to five, as the handy instructions say. Then click the "Compose Message" button at the bottom.
   
   
6. Choose the letter option that ISN'T "Compose Your Own Message." This month, that means you should select "I Support The President's Education Act." Then click "Next Step."
   
   
7. Well, looky! There's that plagiarized text, ready to send to five media outlets with YOUR name on it! The Republican National Committee wants you to plagiarize. But you can use the tools of evil for the forces of good, my friend. Take that text, and insert right above it a big notice (occasional uppercase words help so the editor doesn't miss what you're doing) that politely lets the editor know the letter is plagiarized astroturf, and warning the editor not to publish it or other copies of it that are coming the editor's way.
   
   

And that's it! Now you've done your part to shut the Republican Astroturf machine down and restore integrity to the journalistic enterprise in your neck of the woods. Doesn't that make you feel good?

If we can catch these messages early in the process, we won't have to see them in print. If everyone does their part, together we can stop the Republican Party's campaign of dirty tricks.

Posted by Theodiclus Lock at 9:57 AM. # (permalink)  




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