News and Opinion: Fox News Spins The Top

Long may she wave

     It’s nice to see that the people over at Fox News haven’t lost their touch for spin. Like other news outlets, they have a knack for wording the title of an article to place a person in a certain frame of mind, ready to form an opinion even before reading the entire article, parsing and analysing the details and making an informed judgement.

     Earlier this evening, one of the headlines on the Fox News website read, “Maryland State Workers Say U.S. Flag Violates Law.” Clicking on the link takes the reader to a Fox News and Commentary article by Todd Starnes, entitled “State Says American Flag Violates Law.” The story details the removal of a U.S. flag by state highway workers, that was placed in the middle of a traffic circle by Woodbine, MD resident Rhonda Winkler and her family. As Winkler states in the article, the flag was placed there to honor the brave men and women that are safeguarding our liberties at home and overseas, in particular her nephew, a servicemember being deployed to Afghanistan at the time of the flag’s installation three years ago. In the intervening time between then and now, a vehicle ran over the original flag, and another one was raised in its place by Mr. Winkler, accompanied by World War II veteran Jack Baker.

     According to the article, Winkler received a call informing her that state highway workers had taken down the flag and flagople, and thrown them both into the back of a dump truck. When contacted for comment on the matter, state highway department spokesperson David Buck said that the flag should not have been placed in that location due to safety concerns, stating to a local newspaper that “They don’t have traffic control out there, and they don’t have (road work) vests on.” Likewise, when the Winklers inquired as to the reason for the flag’s removal, Rhonda Winkler relates that “They told us it was against the law to erect a flag on the traffic circle…they told my husband that whoever put up the flag could be arrested for trespassing.”⁽¹⁾

     The “spin” in this instance was in Fox News erroneously stating that the highway department was claiming that the flag itself was a violation of the law. That my fine young readers, is a flat-out lie. It was the unauthorised placement of the flag on state property that was in fact against the law, and I wholeheartedly agree with the state highway department in that respect.

     What I don’t agree with, and actually find unconscionable are the way in which Old Glory was handled by the highway workers, (being simply tossed into the back of a dump truck, like so much trash on collection day) and the fact that they refuse to return the flag to the Winklers. These are public employees, whose wages are paid with our tax dollars. (Actually, the tax dollars of the good people of Maryland.) It is by means of the government that they get paid. In essence, by treating our nation’s flag so disrespectfully, and as a result angering the very people who they serve, they’re biting the hands that are feeding them!

     I would urge everyone who cares about this issue to e-mail, write and / or call the Maryland State Highway Administration, and tell Mr. David Buck to respectfully return the Winklers’ flag to them. (I don’t usually do this, but I am including the contact info below, as it is a public entity and the information is a matter of public record.) While we’re at it, we might also want to tell Fox News to stop lying to us. (Or at least, try putting less spin on article titles, so they more accurately reflect the facts!)

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Maryland State Highway Administration
707 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD  21202
(410) 545-0300

Threat To The Internet: Sientate Mijos y Mijas, and Eat Your SOPA

THIS is what eating SOPA will get you!

     Evidently, U.S. House Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) speaks Spanish, because that’s the message that he’s sending to American “netizens.” (Internet citizens.) The “Stop Online Piracy Act,” (H.R. 3261) widely known by its acronym “SOPA,” is a bill submitted to the house by Rep. Smith that, according to its detractors, threatens to undermine the internet that you and I have become familiar with. If the bill passes both houses of Congress and gets signed by the President, the government would have the power to effectively shut down sites such as YouTube, Facebook or even this very blog, even if only temporarily, just because someone alleges that the site in question contains copyrighted material from somewhere else.

     Make no mistake about it, my fine young readers. This is a dangerous piece of legislation, and if it becomes law you might see the deaths of the afore-mentioned companies, along with a plethora of others. The funny thing about all of the rukus around SOPA, is that almost every broadband cable company is supporting it. Even funnier still is that until quite recently, internet domain registrar GoDaddy also supported it!

     Now, we know that the entertainment industry supports this bill, that’s a given. What you may not know is that the newly-minted CEO of GoDaddy, one Warren Adelman, has ties to Hollywood that include divisions of NBCUniversal, (USA Networks) Viacom (MTV) and Warner Bros. (New Line Cinema) that date back to the late nineties, while he was serving as CEO of NeoPlanet.⁽¹⁾ (Funny that, eh?) To this suspicious eye, it’s no small wonder that Mr. Adelman would support his old entertainment industry buddies in this endeavour. The only problem with that, is that he now helms a company whose majority of users are on the opposing side of the debate! Shortly after announcing their support of SOPA, a boycott effort against GoDaddy was mounted, and all of a sudden things did not look like they were “Go”ing so well for GoDaddy, threatening instead to become more SLOW-Daddy. So last week, Adelman and GoDaddy backpedaled, withdrawing (at least outwardly) their support of the bill.⁽²⁾ Other companies that support this bill have also become boycott targets.⁽³⁾

     Meanwhile, Rep. Lamar Smith (a graduate of T.M.I. Episcopal School of Texas…TMI…too much information…infinitely fitting!) and his band of co-sponsors are scheduled to take up the discussion on SOPA again when the House reconvenes after the holiday break. My fine young readers, now is the time to make your voices heard and your words read. I would encourage each and every one of you reading this to write and call your U.S. Representative and Senator, and tell them you will NOT “sit for this bowl of SOPA.” In addition, please discuss this with your friends and acquaintances, and urge them all to do the same. Spread the word people, we don’t need to hand the Justice Department (keep in mind that this is the same Justice Department responsible for Fast and Furious!) a free reign to shut down and censor the internet!

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If you want to see where support and opposition of this bill lies, please follow this link: H.R. 3261: Stop Online Piracy Act