Fighting the fight

Warning: Don't look for the joke today, bitches, coz there ain't one.

World-famous gay blogger and friend of Damnation, Joe.My.God, turned up the volume on his anti-Bush campaign this week. This was a timely and admirable decision, especially given today's damning Bush news and the squillion jillion people who visit Joe's site on a daily basis. He's got plenty of eyes and ears turned his way, and he's using his forum to educate and incite people to action. Joe's a righteous dude.

We bloggerati, the much-maligned bastard children of a three-way between news media, free speech, and increasingly inexpensive internet access, have been responsible for breaking and spreading much of the news that more traditional outlets doesn't see fit to print. There are many reasons for this, but the top three, in my view, are the facts that a) we're obviously not held to established journalistic standards which purportedly require extensive corroboration and fact-checking, b) the blogosphere provides at least a semblance of anonymity, which frees us to run our mouths a bit more than "real" journalists, and most importantly, c) these more traditional outlets are owned by big, evil corporate conglomerates who profit from reporting what the government tells them to, thereby serving both their interests and those of the douchebag regime du jour. America's mainstream media has been virtually monopolized by the man.

There are, however, alternative news sources, far over and above what the blogosphere (or tardosphere, as I affectionately refer to it) has to offer. Which brings me, at last, to my point.

Here's a great opportunity for you to support independent media and throw a big "fuck you!" in Dubya's direction, all at once...

Volunteers are organizing a benefit concert and educational event to show New York City’s support for Independent Media.

The money raised will go to Democracy Now!, an award-winning independent national daily news program airing on over 350 stations in North America.

The event will begin at 7:30pm at The Delancey, 168 Delancey Street, on Sunday, March 5th, 2006.

Five bands (Mental Notes, The Attorneys, The 76 Trombones, Zozo Afrobeat, and Ism) will perform, representing all different genres of music, and three speakers will address the issues facing independent media today.

Organizations and media outlets are invited to bring promotional and education material in order to set up an information booth on the third floor of the Delancey, where a dozen tables will be set up for participants.

There will be a $10 cover to see the bands in the downstairs area, but the rest of the event is open to the public, including the bar on the ground floor and the enclosed roof deck upstairs.

If your organization, or an organization you are affiliated with in some way, would like to set up a table upstairs, please contact sjcouture@hotmail.com.

I strongly encourage y'all to check out some great music, support independent media, and drink the pain away. It's what Jesus would do. And maybe (Joe My) God, too.