Eugene Duran writes:

”Danny, Doesn’t it seem that the Bird Flu seems to be spreading faster than migratory patterns would dictate. It seems to be moving latitudinal rather than longitudinal. Or have birds in the region changed their migratory patterns? Just a thought.

“JOLLY GOOD”

Stuart Fischoff comments on the attacks on my investigative report on Jack Abramoff’s role in South Africa.

“A jolly good narrative, Danny. Well written to boot. Jack Abramoff was seemingly everywhere, doing everything with a ends justify the means philosophy. I wonder how he judges himself and his various missions. Surely akin to something like “Confessions of A Dangerous Mind.” Moreover, the Hollywood-D.C. nexus is alive and unwell as always, with strands reaching half-way around the world. Life is always a theoretical movie script and surely someone is already scribing Abramoff’s. Abramoff is no benign Chuck Barris, but he is one colorful character. And if he ends up bringing down much of the D.C. insiders who have made the concept of abuse a life style, maybe he will have served a valuable purpose, albeit quite unintentionally.

“MAD AS HELL”

Steve Zuckerman writes:

The motion picture “Network” inspired most of my work. I’m glad that this story has appeared on CNN’s website. Thank you to Ken Michaels for making me aware of it.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/28/lumet.network.ap/index.html

My comment: Watching “Network” today is watching a documentary.

BACK AT MY ALMA MATER

Yesterday on Ho Plaza at a rally protesting “violence and institutional racism at Cornell,” Interim President Hunter Rawlings III stepped through the crowd of over 200 to receive a “statement of demands” signed by 20 student organizations.

“The demands were made in the wake of the alleged recent stabbing of a visiting African-American Union College student by a white Cornell student on West Campus. They include the incorporation of Student Assembly resolution number 11 - which calls for a zero-tolerance policy towards bias-related violent crimes and sexual assault - into the Campus Code of Conduct, an improvement in the University’s communications and emergency response procedure following violent crimes and the addition of a new required course on issues”

http://www.cornellsun.com/media/paper866/news/2006/02/28/News/20.Student.Groups.Issue.Joint.statement.Of.Demands.To.Interim.Pres.Hunter.Rawli-1640644.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.cornellsun.com

THOSE CARTOONS “BEYOND THE BOUNDS”

An anonymous letter to Mediachannel comes from someone who has not noticed the range of views on this issue expressed on the site:

”Its nice to know that you respect free press and wants the world to see facts and truth. I am a Muslim woman and I strongly believe in the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. But these abusive and grotesque cartoons of Prophet Muhammad are beyond the bounds of these freedoms as they propogate Islamophobia and racial hatred. These cartoons antagonize and humiliate more than 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide. Just as Jews would not want the Holocaust, the Africa American hero Martin Luther King or Jesus Christ of Christians to be humiliated so do Muslims feel very insulted and humiliated. Rose fleming (Fleming Rose, the Danish editor) knew what he was doing when he commissioned these cartoons. Having said that I agree that protests should be peaceful and without damage to property and persons.

“I kindly request you to refrain from making a mockery of how we Muslims feel about these cartoons. Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings of God be upon him is loved and revered by Muslims worldwide. I love him more than anything in the world. This is not an ordinary matter. Portraying the Prophet of Islam as a terrorist is blasphemous.”

HOWARD STERN CHARGES “BULLYING”

Da’ud Mohammed asks:

”What’s your take on the $500 million breach of contract lawsuit against Howard Stern, for his “failing to disclose details” of the Sirrius deal before leaving?

“I’ll never forgive CBS for leaving Rather and Mapes standing there with their dicks in their hand, or whatever she was holding onto for dear life, and CBS is now going after Stern?

“Never mind that according to NewsMax Dog, “Ratings are in free fall at Howard Stern’s old station…” At radioink.com they say, when Stern moved to Sirrius, his listenership average was 277,000… Stern’s replacement, David Lee Roth (of “Just A Gigolo” and “I Ain’t Got Nobody” fame, was able to keep only 63,000 of them. Waitaminute! I thought Louis Prima sang them tunes…

“Anyhow, Forbes says, “Stern said the lawsuit was meritless, and said CBS was trying to ‘bully’ him. He called the lawsuit a ‘personal vendetta’ against him by CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, whom Stern said held a grudge against him.

“The lawsuit, which also names Sirius and Stern’s agent as defendants, claims Stern improperly used CBS radio’s air time to promote his new show with Sirius…”

“I guess the piss off in the deal is that they never liked him when they had him but now they just won’t let him go…

I saw an interview with Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, the big uber boss of CBS, last night on the Iconoclast program on the Sundance Channel. It turns out that he collects very expensive tropical fish. He says that some keep dying, but he replaces them. Money, apparently, is no problem.

BEYOND DUBAI ON THE PORTS ISSUE

Sandy Pliskin writes from Dorchester, MA.

Some time this weekend I was listening to an NPR news report on the controversy regarding the proposal to sell American ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. The reporter noted that out of approximately 100 U.S. ports, only about 8 were currently serviced by U.S. companies, with 12 run by state or local governmental authorities, and the rest by foreign interests. The reporter went on to interview American private companies and ascertain that they were not prepared to expand their current roles. The implication of the report was that The U.S. had no choice but to outsource the port authorities to foreigners.

“Yet nowhere in the report was there any further discussion of the governmental authorities running ports, their track records, or the possibility that public ownership and management of the ports might be a viable option. Why was this the case? It seems to me that a false choice was set up between two possibilities, while a third option was simply ignored! That doesnt strike me as exhaustive consideration of the issue!”

SUPPORT KATRINA VICTIMS

Sangita Nayak writes:

”This week brings us to the 6-month anniversary of Katrina. In the last alert, we said the fight for a just recovery is a deep struggle that speaks to the housing, jobs, and health crisis that many of our communities face.

“KIN’s web portal, www.KatrinaAction.org continues to highlight grassroots organizing efforts to counter the injustices faced by survivors from NYC to New Orleans. Through weekly actions, thousands of KIN folk are playing a vital role for a just recovery. KIN also continues to post media releases and list experts at www.KatrinaInfoNet.Net for reporters.”

OOPS DEPARTMENT. M Monfredo corrects me re the Hudson River. I wrote: “It is named after the Dutchman Hendrik Hudson”

No, he advises, Henry Hudson was English, sailing for the Dutch East India consortium.”

HUMOR

Jackie Newberry writes:

“I watched the clips of Bush today talking about the Iraqis needing to choose peace instead of chaos, something about evil people killing innocents. Other than my usual gag reflex when I hear his ignorant hypocrisy, the incongruence between what his words and the grin on his face as he spoke of chaos and killing innocents was so appalling, it was really chilling. Jimmie Kimmel ran the same clip tonight commenting on the same thing….”Doesn’t he ever stop smiling?”

Congratulations to Deep Dish TV for getting its documentary series “Shocked and Awful: Grass Roots Responses to the Iraq War” into the Whitney Museum Biennial which opens in New York tonight. I was there on Sunday as an artists collective put up their show to showcase the series in a basement alcove adjacent to the bathrooms. At least that will assure a lot of traffic. Go see it if you can.

For info on WMD: www.wmdtheflm.com

To comment or take part in the Dissector blog: dissector@mediachannel.org