I'm being Interviewed by NBC New Raw for my Blog. Topics???

[The HL]

Hi,
I am being interviewed by NBC News Raw later today about my blog
http://www.thehollywoodliberal.com

They want to know what we are all about, and what the important topics of the day
that we are blogging about. I plan to talk about

1. How Bush is ruining this country.
2. How the Iraq war is a travesty that need to end now
3. Election Fraud, and How Bush stole both elections.
4. The 9/11 Truth movement

If anyone has any other topics that I should bring up, please let me know.
I may also if I have time talk about who the Democrats should nominate for President
in '08. Please let me know any thoughts you have on this
Thank you.

[waiting for hope]

1. If you have the time....

1-4 should take up a bit of air space....but, how about a Gore/Edwards ticket?

[SeveneightyWhoa]

2. Um, I'd NOT talk about topic 4.

That may prove embarassing to the, ahem, liberal segment of America.

[RethugAssKicker]

3. The evangelical movement and how this mind-set has

taken over the white house...Scary shit!... but these people are very very serious about end-days... They want this to happen.. and happen NOW!

[waiting for hope]

6. Good One!

It's all over everywhere about WWIII and the Second Coming...and it is scary shit on how hell bent (pardon pun) they are about this.

[gratuitous]

4. Suggest writing down the points you want to cover

Three or four should be ample. The interviewer will probably try to steer the conversation. Be sure you hit the points you want to hit, too.

I'd also suggest, because I'll bet the question comes up, about why you're doing what you're doing. Don't be shy about saying it's because of your perception that the popular media have been overlooking some very important stories, as your list shows. You're not necessarily angry or hot-headed, but put the hat on NBC a little bit to justify their own failures to cover important topics like the Iraq disaster, and their failure to air responsible opposing viewpoints to the administration line out of Washington.

But write down what you want to be sure to cover. And if you have a chance, repeat them over while looking in a mirror.

[stellanoir]

5. I would put major emphasis on #3

as the exposure and corruption of massive fraud is the only way we can re-establish our lost democracy and our constitutional rights.

I might also suggest the media's complicity with #'s 1-4 and how the criminality of this misadministration represents a pre Magna Carta mentality.

Yikes how are you gonna do this in a sound bite. . .? How's this. . .?

"One Nation Under Fraud"

Good Luck and do let us know how it goes.

[pooja]

7. Stay away from the 9/11 stuff... go for the non-support for a

ceasefire and the handing of bombs to Israel to destroy civillians... the upcoming elections (those are big). The real costs of living in America.. how the poor become poorer, the middle become poor, and the rich reign... How many times do we post "just got back from the store, can you believe the price of...."

[mntleo2]

8. Gap Between Rich and Poor

...when the DLC this week tried to recharge "the American Dream" myth, my response was, "American Dream. WHAT American Dream?" It was almost insulting for them to even TRY to use something like that because most of us do not live their dream, ours is more of a nightmare which is getting scarier by the minute. And saying that the problem was that we needed more education, like we are "too dumb" was just insulting. There are millions of unemployed Mastered degreed people (mostly older women who have raised their children and who have no safety net) in transitional housing right this minute and millions more working McJobs with little hope of advancement. I hope you can try to talk about the myriad of attempts to communicate this stuff with blogs like yours, that have millions of people discusssing the issues. Blogs discusing issues important to us AND suggesting solutions where both Dems and Republicans in power could plainly see what the American pulse is, but they just pretend our needs and ideas don't exist, and then they just make up their own issues which have little to do with us.

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle

[Peace Patriot]

9. I would just re-order the topics, and put election fraud first. It is

the key to everything else.

Also, it is a subject that has been particularly developed in the blogs, especially here at DU. It's fair to say we just about created the election fraud/election reform movement. Other Left blogs banned it (DailyKos, for instance.) (That's when I moved over to DU.) The Democratic leadership banned it. They couldn't even bring themselves to object to the outrages in Ohio--let alone the installation of riggable voting machines all over the country--run on TRADE, SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by Republican-friendly corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls. The corporate news monopolies banned it. We had an IRON CURTAIN over this issue. We were BANNED. We were censored. We were called conspiracy nuts. But DUers kept the candle burning, did boffo analysis of election numbers right here at DU in the Election forum, where people from around the country "met," created groups, conducted expert statistical analysis, wrote whole books about election fraud, organized pressure campaigns, and would not shut up about it!--and now look, RFK Jr. is on the case with a big lawsuit and a Rolling Stone article, and even the NYT is covering "security holes" in these new riggable electronic voting systems.

I would keep the issue SIMPLE. Bear in mind most people don't know much about it. I would describe it as an issue of TRANSPARENCY. Open, honest, verifiable vote counting.

I would be tempted to attack the corporate news monopolies on this issue--because THEY rigged their exit polls to MATCH the results of Diebold/ES&S's non-transparent, secretly coded, rigged vote tabulation. But, strategically, it probably wouldn't be wise. If one the riggers, NBC, wants to leak a little of this story out (probably to try to suppress the vote)--as long as it doesn't attack THEM, then let 'em. But think hard about your AUDIENCE. What will motivate them to NOT GIVE UP?

Maybe you could throw in that there is an Absentee Ballot protest brewing. And there is. AB voting is up to 50% already in Los Angeles. People DON'T TRUST these machines. They are looking for a way to get their vote COUNTED. Many are voting by AB for that purpose. What they really want is an old-fashioned PAPER BALLOT, HAND-COUNTED. AB voting is not safe either. Many don't realized this. (Often the AB votes are just scanned right into the electronic system--separating the vote from the evidence of the vote--as with optiscans.) But it IS a PROTEST--an indigenous, citizen rebellion--and one that could bring down this rigged system, if it gets big enough. Imagine if NO ONE WILL VOTE ON their expensive, shiny, new, election theft machines!

Tell people to join the protest. Vote by Absentee Ballot! Give them hope, something they can do.

The point of the AB voting protest is to NOT COOPERATE with the riggable electronic voting system. We don't expect accurate vote counts in November. This is a protest against it. DO NOT VOTE ON ANY OF THESE MACHINES. If enough people do it, it will create crisis and panic in the election theft industry, and open the way to reform.

Even people who have given up on voting, may get motivated by an effort to UN-rig the system. It will help turnout. It will change voting into an active, positive protest, rather than a passive act of hope against hope for a better outcome (and never getting it).

Bust the machines--Vote Absentee!

---------

As for the other issues, we wouldn't HAVE an unjust war, and all the lying and massive thieving, and lack of accountability in Washington DC, if we had TRANSPARENT vote counting. Look at the polls! 65% to 70% of the American people disapprove of the Bush junta. EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT oppose U.S. participation in a widened Mideast war--a major goal of the Bushites. 40 out of every 60 of the many new voters in 2004 registered Democratic (one of the pieces of inferential evidence supporting a stolen 2004 election). Poll after poll shows huge disagreement between people and government, on almost every major issue, foreign and domestic. How could they have gotten away with the lack of NORAD/AF protection of our nation's capitol--and of the Pentagon, for godssakes!--with such a paltry investigation (a coverup) and no heads rolling--without rigged elections? How can they be ignoring the people this way? How could they be so oblivious to accountability?

Anyway, that would be my rap. Election fraud is the key. NBC may not want to hear it. But the American people sure need to. How can these jerks be in office? We know how. But we also have an obligation to offer suggestions on EFFECTIVE ACTION. We don't want MORE demoralization and disempowerment than we already have. I think the Absentee Ballot protest is the answer. It's easy. Everybody can do it! Dump MOUNTAINS of paper ballots on these corrupt election officials, and make them deal with it. Vote--but monkey-wrench the rigged system at the same time. Create a crisis! Panic them! MAKE them listen! We want TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE paper ballots, hand-counted NOW!

[tiptoe]

13. K & R !! n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. On Election Fraud, this point is critical to a main stream audience:

To them it shouldn't matter whether we are right that elections were actually stolen or not in terms of doing the right thing now. There are so many serious holes in the current system that there is no way to prove that a close election was NOT stolen. That is unacceptable for the world's leading Democracy. Respect for the results of an election depends on respect for how the results of that election are determined. Once the point is reached that people lose faith that their votes are registered and counted accurately, Democracy itself is in danger, regardless of whatever results are announced, period. Though some may dispute whether the evidence is adequate to say whether the elections of 2000 and/or 2002 and/or 2004 were stone cold stolen, no one with any scientific knowledge at all can dispute that those elections, and future ones, could have and may yet be stolen. That is unacceptable in America. Those who stand in the way of air tight reforms to protect the integrity of all of our votes do a significant disservice to our nation.

[Peace Patriot]

11. On the matter of simplicity and rehearsing your points (and writing

them down)--all suggested upthread--I totally agree. Especially if you have no media experience. You WILL get stage fright. Count on it! You can use that energy--that wild adrenalin that happens--in a positive way. And how to do that is to be prepared--nay, OVER-prepared. It may seem silly to rehearse your points out loud, and in front of a mirror. It is NOT silly. Believe me. Get it DOWN. Get by rote! THEN you can be creative, and extemporize. But get your main points down SOLID--in your head and on your lips.

Also, you will NOT sound as nervous as you THINK you are sounding. Trust your speaking voice--even if it waivers. Waivering is sometimes good, anyway. People sympathize with it--as long as you keep speaking and get your points out. It's okay to say, "I'm nervous!" But say it to the CAMERA--and smile!

SEVENTY-PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE *want* to hear your points. Remember that! THEY are your audience--not the interviewer.

Watch out for this trap: You make some general point (say, about rigged elections). And the interviewer asks you a question you can't answer--or can't answer quickly. Say: Why hasn't the Democratic Party objected--if the elections are really rigged for the Republicans?). WAY OUT OF THE TRAP: These electronic voting corporations lied about the security of their machines. They sold election officials and legislators a bill of goods. (--this nicely avoids the issue of Dem Party corruption--and keeps it focused on your point. Try to answer questions like that by giving more information.)

There are smarter-ass ways to answer trick questions, that ARE usable: Like, why are the Dem leaders silent about this? Answer: That's for THEM to answer, not me. I'm just a peon--a BLOGGER! I know what I know. I can lay it out for you. (Or, I have laid it out for you.) I find the evidence very convincing. And if the Democratic leaders don't do anything about it, that's THEIR problem--they'll remain a "minority" party. 65% to 70% of the American people disapprove of the Bush regime. Why aren't the Democrats doing better? You tell me. I think it's the rigged machines. They're wide open to fraud. That's been proven. I'm telling people not to vote on any of these electronic voting machines. Vote by Absentee Ballot--as a protest!

---------------------------

MOST LIKELY, the interview will be SIMPLISTIC and kind of dumb. That's how these things usually go. Corporate news monopoly reporters--especially TV reporters--often don't know crap about anything. THEY have been rehearsed in simplistic points that aim at disempowering people. But they might be out to trap you, ridicule you, whatever. Bear all this in mind. And be somewhat simplistic yourself. If you get into a tangle with the interviewer, COME BACK to TRANSPARENT vote counting. (Write it on your hand: "Transparent," "Verifiable." Why no paper trail? Why the secret code? None of this is necessary. TRANSPARENT election are NOT difficult. Everybody votes and you count the votes in public view.

Simple. Simple. Simple.

--------------------------

On 9/11. Keep that simple, too. I'd stick with NORAD. Everybody can understand that. No protection for our nation's capitol, or the Pentagon, with about 50 minutes of warning. Huh? None of the standard procedures were implemented, and that was never sufficiently investigated (tapes were shredded, etc.), and responsibility was never assigned. DO NOT GET INTO THE TRAP of saying it was an inside job. Just ask questions. As a taxpaying citizen, you want to know WHY procedures that worked perfectly well on every other air crisis occasion, DID NOT WORK on that day, and only on that day.

-------------------------

You may not have time for much discussion on four topics. You might want to boil it down to four questions, one on each topic--that bother the hell out of bloggers.

Bloggers are ordinary citizens WITH QUESTIONS. Questions the "news" media don't seem to have time for. Maybe because they've become entertainment. Maybe because of corporate ties. But they rarely explore things in good detail, with fairness to all views.

So ordinary citizens pursue these topics on the internet themselves. And they've become so popular because people want this information--they want detailed investigation and answers. Here are four topics, and four related questions that are being pursued:

1. How Bush is ruining this country. (Why so many tax cuts for the super-rich, when we have a $10 TRILLION deficit, and a lot of people can't pay their medical and energy bills?)
2. How the Iraq war is a travesty that needs to end now (The Iraq war was trumped up; Iraq was no threat to us--so why are we still there?)
3. Election Fraud, and How Bush stole both elections. (Our votes are now counted by private corporations with trade secret code and virtually no audit/recount controls. Isn't that awfully similar to how they counted votes in Stalinist Russia? Nobody gets to watch.)
4. The 9/11 Truth movement (Why was our nation's capitol--and the Pentagon--without protection on 9/11? Bush had better things to do on his ranch?)

------------------------

One more thought: I just want to emphasize my point about sticking to the TRANSPARENCY issue on election fraud. As you no doubt know, whole books have been written about Ohio. And it takes whole books to describe what happened there. It is not a simple story. And when someone starts going off on the details, it can sound like whining--or just too much for a viewer to take in. You won't have much time. You need at least an hour for Ohio--whereas the transparency issue is quite simple. We can't have private corporations counting all our votes under a veil of secrecy! Period. End of story.

The Ohio election fraud (especially the repression of black, poor and other Democratic votes) was dramatic and outrageous. But the question is, why has there been no accountability for it? And the answer is: Trade secret electronic code, with virtually no audit/recount controls, throughout the election system. This is a NEW and SECRET fraud capability, installed during the 2002-2004 period, nationwide. You don't put a fraudulent, NON-TRANSPARENT election system in place if you don't intend to USE it to throw elections. Such a capability emboldens people to steal elections, and to go one further, and commit egregious violations of the Voting Rights Act, because they know that no one can hold them accountable. Ohio happened BECAUSE of the electronic fraud capability, not the other way around.

It may be they needed Ohio vote suppression in addition to nationwide electronic vote stealing--to overcome Kerry's win, which I'm pretty sure was a landslide. But they couldn't have GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT, without electronic vote stealing on a widespread basis that kept Bush and his "pod people" in Congress in office. So Ohio is something of a side road. It's serious. If they get away with more of the same, it's even more serious. But the SOLUTION is law enforcement--enforcement of EXISTING law--which we are not going to get from Diebold/ES&S (s)elected officeholders.

You might frame the Ohio issue as an accountability issue. If officeholders are guaranteed election, by an invisible "thumb on the scales" from voting machine corporations with close ties to the Republican Party, there is no accountability any more. They can freely break the law--which they did in Ohio.

[ray of light]

12. cool. how did this happen?

[Guaranteed]

14. I'd replace the "9/11 Truth Movement" with alternative energy,

or media conglomeration (which ties in nicely with the blog movement).

[alvarezadams]

15. The root cause and reform

Your 4 points are based on a root cause - the virtual corruption of the system. Corporations and other special interests pay over $1 billion/year to thinktanks and PR firms that have basically one objective, a conservative agenda and the destruction of what remains of the New Deal... not to mention anything progressive.

Corporations have the RIGHTS but not the OBLIGATIONS of citizens and exercize a disproportionate influence not only on government policy but in political discourse due to the preponderance of their dollars. Dollars, I might add, that are spent with a tax write-off incentive.