Friday, October 11, 2013
Alternate Realities Roundup 10/11
Posted By Eric S. Peterson on October 11, 2013, 12:40 PM
A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists details how the Obama administration curbs press freedoms and how government surveillance hurts reporters' ability to investigate and report on the administration.---
Top of the Alty World
“The Obama Administration and the Press”--Committee to Protect Journalists
Nearly 70 percent of climate pundits on Fox News deny climate change.--Mother Jones
British magazine The Economist looks at how time is running out to avert a debt-ceiling disaster.--The Economist
A senior examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was fired for taking on Goldman Sachs.--ProPublica
Top of Alty Utah
While Utahns are hurt by the impact of the shutdown, Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, cranks up the anti-Obamacare rhetoric.--Utah Political Capitol
Nonprofit group The Legacy Initiative patrols Salt Lake City's homeless hangouts at night, offering assistance and building support for an affordable housing “dignity village.”--Salt Lake City Weekly
Brigham Young University made history by accidentally offering caffeinated soda on campus.--Provo Buzz
With critics calling President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act a socialist scheme, KRCL decided to ask an actual socialist how socialist “Obamacare” really is.--RadioActive!
Rantosphere
Bryan Schott questions supporters of Utah's caucus/convention system who point out that Utah switched to direct primaries in 1937 before abandoning the system 10 years later.
“There are plenty of things that have changed in the U.S. since 1937. How about the civil rights movement? There are many in the South who would love to go back to the days of Jim Crow because they are “disillusioned” with the current system. I’m sure those people think things worked just fine before the 1960s. Thank goodness we didn’t listen to them. The point being, it’s ridiculous to point to events that happened nearly eight decades ago as a justification for keeping things as they are. It’s not an “apples to apples” comparison. It’s more of an “apples to something that’s been composting for 70+ years” comparison.”--Schott Happens
The Long View
Rolling Stone takes a look at the government shutdown, not as a battle between Democrats versus Republicans, but between the GOP's tea-party insurgents and its old guard.
“The fight has little to do with policy, or even ideology. It pits the party's conservative establishment against an extremist insurgency in a battle over strategy, tactics and, ultimately, control of the party. Each side surveys the other with distrust, even contempt. The establishment believes the insurgents' tactics are suicidal; the insurgents believe the establishment lacks the courage of its alleged convictions – while its own members are so convinced of their righteousness that they compare themselves to civil-rights heroes like Rosa Parks. The establishment is backed by powerful business concerns with a vested interest in a functioning government. The insurgents are championed by wealthy ideologues who simply seek to tear down government. Both sides are steeled by millions in unregulated, untraceable "dark money."”--Rolling Stone
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