That's right....what a joke.
The left has dominated the media for forty years. It has only been a short time that the right has had any representation. From what I've read about Fox News......I've never seen it......it seems as if they at least get some representation from both sides. You can't say the same thing about Alternet!
The major networks have been going for Bush's jugular for six years. The New York Times.....Wahington Post....LA Times..........major papers thru out this country....my own local paper.......have been throwing everything they can at this current administration, deserved or not.........and you people think the media is run by the right.

Here's a helpful hint. Before you complain about HOW to get your message out........you have to have a message in the first place.

Of course......I will give nothing to Alternet.
I spent it all on Katrina aid.

Poe

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I'll make a contribution. I get so much information/news from this site and it's like an old friend to me. I happen to be in the upper lower class, so I don't have much to give, but give I will. I want Alternet to always be there for me and keep me (and everyone) informed in a TRUTHFUL manner.
Thanks Alternet!

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So Poe, what has the administration really done for you anyway that you can be proud of? I'll bet you couldn't even come close to answering that question without blabbering about having fun watching Bush PERSECUTE the working class and children.

Go ahead Poe and stay the rightwing lunatic course and keeping dumping in your pants in excitement when the Bush/Limbaugh folks launch yet another assault against America.

Sure, Alternet may not be perfect. But it's not as overblown leftist as you claim. Like Huffingtonpost, they have a right to bring out the real news and expose the rightwing lunatics for all their crimes which the corporate media goes to great lengths to defend.

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Alternet doesn't ask a lot unlike the rightwing sites. It doesn't cost as much money to tell the truth as it does to tell a lie and keep it alive and since Alternet puts the truth first and foremost, I'll happily give a little to Alternet to keep fighting for a worthwhile cause.

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Dear Mr. Hazen,

That's a good fundraising letter. Unfortunately it rings a little hollow for this long term activist reader.

If the staff of Alternet indeed recognize the dire nature of these times, then your editors will use more critical analysis to determine what information you print.

For instance, there has been a noticeable increase in what appear to be fluff pieces. Sure, we all need a break from the endless string of atrocities, but dumbing down your audience isn't the answer.

Expand your coverage of radical protest and radical points of view. Why don't we see more analysis from anarchists, anti-authoritarians, and other radicals beyond a few popular academics? What about the dedicated activist organizers on the street who are the real formenters of a radical response to the current situation?

Why don't we see more articles about 'how to create change' and less articles about 'how bad things are?'

Why not special sections about Empowerment, or Non-Violent Direct Action Tactics? There is no denying we are going to have to engage in mass civil disobedience in order to forment change. Help provide people the emotional and practical tools they need to take this kind of action and connect them to groups who are organizing these actions.

How about greater diversity of viewpoints and authors? I'm sure I'm not the only person tired of seeing the same (mostly white) authors over and over again with the same mainstream-left perspectives.

While Alternet provides greater diversity of voices than many other 'progressive' news sources, rarely do I see anti-establishment writers get much ink compared to the small group of lefty writers/pundits who make a living off of your readers.

The most dynamic change occurs on the edge where 'creative tension' is most profound. Articles by and about the people and the tactics which stir this 'creative tension' is essential.

If the editors of Alternet really want to use Alternet as a tool for radical change, then strategic planning on how to use your media tools to empower action through education and inspiration is essential.

Expand your coverage of radical voices from the edge including youth, people of color (including indigenous peoples), LGBTQ and other marginalized communities.

Don't enable the small hand full of syndicated 'progressive' writers to dominate the discussion.

Provide articles that empower courage and share tools that facilitate action.

Otherwise, we'll be reading the same blah blah blah analysis when the jackboots start knocking at our doors. Too late, they are already here.

Sincerely,
Naomi Archer
Asheville, NC
arche@riseup.net
Save Our Civil Liberties Campaign
Global Justice Activist, Organizer

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ALTER NET is my main source of REAL news. I am a physician, highly educated and world travelled. All main media outlets - TV, radio, papers - are owned by a handful of the same people. Congress sold us out by allowing this. The only source of REAL NEWS - the other side - is the web.
AlterNet is one of the best. I wish I could donate more.

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As soon as I have the money, I'll send some.

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"Recently the South Dakota legislature voted to outlaw abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. Bush's Roberts-Alito Supreme Court will hear this case when it comes up."

Maybe liberals and progressives will, at last, begin to get an inkling of the outrage gays and lesbians feel over laws and constitutional amendments attacking us through banning gay marriage, partnerships, adoption, etc. They came for us first, but many on the left didn't display much sympathy for us or outrage - or even pay much attention. Some - often including a majority of black voters who should know better - have even supported such bans. Now the radical right is coming to destroy the rest of the left and everything you value.

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Trolls I can write off, but other progressives harshing on Alternet is just more proof that progressive thought is doomed to be responsive, not active. Other writers suggest Alternet should offer methods of change. Fine, but which methods? Anything offered is bound to be attacked by various contingents of progressive readers for being too radical or not radical enough, too vegan or not vegan enough, overly feminist or not feminist enough, environmentally irresponsible or pointless utopian nature worship, etc., ad infinitum. And while we continue to squabble, we've lost the Whitehouse, both houses of congress, and the supreme court.

Here's an idea, support Alternet for at least getting people to think about the problems. Let them run the occasional fluff piece if that's what it takes to capture readership. We can all agree on one thing - this country is going to hell. Alternet can quantify that; I read it daily to help frame the issues. How we choose to act once we have the knowledge is really up to each individual. This fine alternative news service is not actually about recruiting for ALF, ELF, Vegans against strippers or Christian mothers against the war on drugs. It’s about showing Americans what is wrong with America, and challenging them to do something about it.

Please, Alternet, keep up the great work. Your intrepid chronicling of the decline of a once great nation, if not always able to distill action points from impossibly complex challenges, is at least spurring us to figure out solutions on a local - and national - level.

Count on my support.

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Hmmm, at first I laughed out loud.

Then, I realized Alternet had gifted me with my Thursday Morning Guffaw. Additionally, I do read the stories that interest me, and Alternet--in a fairly egalitarian fashion--lets me participate in the discussion, even though I'm often critical. I find many of the articles to be informative (reporting from the WTO meeting in Hong Kong, some of the articles from Scott Ritter, Newitz's tech-oriented contributions), although a great number are simply flights of fancy deifying some utopian engineered society that defies human nature. Written correctly, however, even many of these fairy tales sprung from tinfoil hats are at least marginally entertaining.

Further, I respect that Alternet is honest about it's mission and doesn't claim to be an unbiased source of propaganda. "The mix is in the message" most definitely, and I find "the mix" an enjoyable break from the grind of rote facts and rigid objectivity.

I do get a little miffed at the sometimes schoolgirlish crush Alternet has for (among others) extremists who are deadly serious about killing me, destroying our way of life, and blowing up our nation's sons and daughters in the military, but fatal attractions precede and are certainly not unique to Alternet.

Taken together, the market compels me to reward that which I enjoy and would like to endure. Thus, I'll donate a smidge from my little smidge to help you get by.

Best of luck and stay interesting!

Freedom-->Productivity-->Charity

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I love AlterNet, let's make that clear. I wish I felt like donating would help. I guess it's a start. Someone has to do it. I'm glad AlterNet is here. It's the best of the "real story" sites.

But what are we really doing here? Complaining about corporate control? Getting ourselves worked up over Bush? That dottering fool is a patsy. A red herring. He doesn't run this country, and the people who do aren't worried about us!

I'm as guilty as anyone. I don't know what to do either. I read the stories each day and wonder when I should buy a rifle and take my family deep into the Rocky Mountains. I stand around the water cooler and listen to inane leftist Bush-bashing. But there's a bigger problem.

Our votes aren't counted. I'll bet they haven't been for decades. We talk and cry and wring our hands while our representatives pimp themselves out to AT&T and Halliburton. The middle class is vanishing. The rich get stoopid rich and the poor are interest-slaves, work 50 hours a week at jobs that annihilate their spirit. This is not a Republican/Democrat problem. Our government is controlled by money, and the American people don't have enough to buy them back. They're all whores. All of them.

Time to burn your phone bill. Cancel your cable TV. Stop voting. Stop buying. Stop listening. Buy a guitar. Quit your job, take a pay cut and do something you enjoy.

It's difficult to organize anything because we are being watched closely. The only thing allowed is useless banter. The only reason AlterNet still operates is because They don't perceive it as a threat! And the really scary thing is, if we did find a way to threaten Them, we'd find ourselves with an expense-paid vacation in Cuba.

I'm as scared as anyone to really take action. I don't have the answers. But if someone came forward with a sound plan, I'd follow them to the end. The whole world is depending on us, and we're failing them miserably.

I'm sure I'll have an FBI agent in my office by this time next week, now that I've said this...

What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? The Weathermen have left and gone away. Hey hey hey. Hey hey hey...

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Did you really say, "Frankly, soon it may be too late to put on the brakes. It is time to sound the alarm now."? Soon? It's too late NOW. This runaway train started back during the Ford administration where (surprise!) Cheney and Rumsfeld were hanging around the White House. There is a gang of ruthless and power-hungry egomaniacs who have turned our government into a giant corporation that is only interested in making money for the shareholders (aka wealthiest 3 percent of the nation) while ignoring the best interests of its employees (aka you and me). My friends, the signs you hear and see all around are the final throes of the Empire collapsing in on itself. We, our children, our grandchildren, and their children will feel the repercussions of everything wrong America has done for the last 50 years. Perhaps we'll get it right the next time around. For now, it's time to bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye. The party is over, folks. Would the last one to exit please turn off the lights.

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Some excellent discussion going on in here.
Now.. I'm from Canada so I can't really take any action, even if it were organized nicely here for one and all to take. But I concur with many of the other posters who have alluded to the fact that all we all seem to be doing is complaining and agreeing with each other that America is in dire straits.

Things need to get DONE.

The problem as I see it is that the actual problems are HUGE, far-reaching, and smack of foil-hat conspiracy. Most of what is discussed on ALTERNET are symptoms of the larger problem.

Election rigging really happened. Exposing and Changing THIS should be one of the main thrusts of any action that might be organized. There are people out there doing excellent work - BlackBox Voting, for example - but I've never seen any coverage on here. (I'm not saying there never has been any.. but I've never noticed it, which must say something about the priority that's put on it.)

When law-makers refuse to honour citizens' right to vote and in fact go against the citizens' wishes and best interests in that regard, that's big news. That's a call to action.

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Were they?

Or is it just a perception?

Just curious where your heads really are, when it comes to this whole gloomy outlook.

Just wanted to know if progressives are truly this miserable...or just pretending to be this miserable.


Poe

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During Clinton's term:

The levies would have breached had Katrina hit back then.

800,000 in Rwanda died and his administration and the UN did nothing and wouldn't even acknowledge a genacide.(Shamefully it's happening today in Western Sudan)

Heat wave,Chicago, 1995. 1000 people parish as the local and Federal government fail to help the poor and elderly.

Unemployment rates are pretty much equal under both administrations, dipping below or above 5%.

Cutting and running after the Battle of Mogadishu........fueling the fire under Osama.

US Embassy bombings in Salaam and Nairobi in 98........World Trade Center bombing in 93......the Khobar Towers in 96.....USS Cole in 2000........shaking Kim Jong's hand with a "deal".

Yup.....before Bush........we were so "loved and respected" and everything was "perfect" in the world.....and leave it to Alternet to point that out.

Poe

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this is my favorite site just because i find the comment section so interesting...havn't found another site like it

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Yes I'll give! Information is a source of power thanks for making me powerful.

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Oh mY God. Martin Luther King wouldn't have been the icon he is if he'd have said:

"I have an inkling. I have an inkling that white folks might possibly be treating us like we're not really equal to them, and I believe that someday, if enoguh studies are done, we can fight this perception that maybe, even though it only seems like it right now, that maybe we'll be sorta equal to them."

No no no no. That's not a DREAM!! And if you aitn' even got the balls to verbalize the highest of your hopes, then you ain' t gonna win any elections, or any moral battles, either.
Grab a pair. Seriously. No great change ever came from compromised beginnings.

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I greatly appreciate the work that all the alternet writers are doing, and it's time I dig a little deeper into my pockets to support the courageous voices that make themselves heard on Alternet. I'm so grateful that there are people exposing the lies and atrocities that are taking place. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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perhaps before you erase peoples posts, threaten them, and then erase their ID's from your site, would have been a better time to ask for a donation.

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It's hard to find a point in its very short history where America's behavior has been commendable. The ideals we were founded on are wonderful, but even at the time of the Revolution, they were being compromised - women couldn't vote, slavery was legal, and those in power demonstrated a deep skepticism as to the capability of 'the People' to rule themselves.

Today, we lag behind other nations in key indicators of civilization: literacy and infant mortality. Our behavior as a superpower is reprehensible - we abuse our power for profit at the expense of the world's citizens EVERY day. Almost 1/5th of our population is either in prison or on probation. We're falling behind in education all the time, losing competency in math and science at horrifying rates.

What are we #1 at? Military spending. Woo HOO! We could kill the whole planet. ROCK ON, AMERICA!!

All that said, America is awesome, man. We're one of the most diverse nations on the planet. The ideals we strive for are some of the most progressive ever proposed. Most of us, even if we don't know how, really want to be good, moral and compassionate. We want our country to do well. We care about each other. We fall short of the mark quite a bit, but we just keep trying. If we're going to succeed, we need the truth (Thanks, Alternet) and we need strong, enlightened leaders- where ARE they!?!

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Sorry, if you had asked me to help a little earlier I might have been able to -- but I've been living the in Bush economy for 5 years now and I'm broke.

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WE MUST CHANGE


We’re all connected

Your pain is my pain

Your joy is my joy

So should life be

Often we get consumed with ourselves, our individual lives

While forgetting about others, their lives, their concerns

Often the focus is too much on you or me

Too much individuality

And one may become a bit overzealous

Until someone tells us, reminds us

It’s not about me or you

The picture is much bigger

There shouldn’t be a business, economy or first class

But only one section

For we’re all the same and should be treated as such

Enough with the levels of division

that divides us in many ways

Enough with putting one person on a pedestal

Build a bigger stage

Highlight the masses, not the few

Give credit to the deserving not the undeserving

The simple gesture of showing concern for others

is seldom seen

Let’s change that

Let’s re-prioritize our values and focus on those in need

Forget about greed

Forget about the color of one’s face

Let’s come together as the human race

The picture is much bigger

Many minds are poisoned by the mass media, misguided values and distorted beliefs

But that can change, we all can change, we must change.





Written by: David J. Hudson

© 2005


More inspiring poems are located at www.thinkverybig.com

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Life Isn't Suppose To Be This Way


Life isn't suppose to be this way

No one should have to struggle

No one should have to stress over healthcare, dental

or basic living necessities

No one should have to work 160 hours a month to live

And seventy-five percent of money earned going to pay bills

Yet executives of corporations earning up to a thousand times more

It shouldn’t be this way

And creates an atmosphere of greed and selfishness

Millions are held hostage by low wage paying jobs

Trying to maintain a decent standard of living

Trapped in a system of poverty and disenchantment

Made to feel less than another by material possessions

And looked down upon by those with judgmental views and beliefs

Judged by the color of one’s skin or the amount of accumulated money or wealth

Life isn't suppose to be this way

Life is more than a credit score

More than a job title or description

More than a fancy car or big dream house

Love should prevail over greed and ego at all times

But we continue to be blind and not see

We continue to ignore poverty

We continue to build walls of separation

Instead of bridges of love and compassion

We are all one and life isn't suppose to be this way.


Written by: David J. Hudson

© 2006


For more inspiring poetry please visit www.thinkverybig.com

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Sadly, all of you have made some salient points. Taken collectively, it reflects the dire straits of American politics.
I just returned from the bookstore a few minutes ago with a booki titled: "Left To Tell", by Immaculée Ilibagiza, a surviour of Rwanda.
Bill Clinton allowed that genocide to happen on his watch, while Hillary waited with open arms for Kosovo refugees to arrive.
A wreath and a Mea Culpa last year ,doesn't quite cut it for me.
I agree, he's is by far the greatest public orator since Adolf Hitler.
The "drug war" in Latin America has always been a sham. It's about posturing to control the vast resources - Colombia, run for decades by the Uribe family, has oil reserves equal to Venezuela's (from the mouth of the Colombian oil minister himself).
In short, both parties are polluted.

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