On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 2:55 PM, Barrett Brown <
barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
> Howdy-
>
> This is Barrett Brown; we spoke last year about having me contribute to the
> Brooklyn Bugle and your other blogs at some point. Let me know if you'd
> still be interested in giving me some assignments at some point.
>
> On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 2:30 PM, Barrett Brown <
barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Sounds good; get in touch when you'd like to discuss it further.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Barrett Brown
>> Brooklyn, NY
>> 512-560-2302
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 3:05 PM, brooklynheightsblog
>> <
brooklynheightsblog@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Let's talk this week. Would love for you to have a diary (fka blog)
>>> about bushwick which would be unpaid but a good platform -- but I'd also
>>> want to give you paid assignments... all this is a erik in progress so I'd
>>> want to create a situation where both of us are happy in the collaboration
>>> jl
>>>
>>> Typos courtesy of my iPhone.
>>>
>>> On Mar 7, 2009, at 1:17 PM, Barrett Brown <
barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi-
>>>
>>> Glad you liked the article. I live in Bushwick near Flushing and
>>> Broadway, sort of on the edge of Williamsburg. I'd be up for covering pretty
>>> much anything at all; I've done everything from restaurant reviews to public
>>> policy pieces, although I think the local subject I'd probably be best
>>> equipped to write about is Bushwick's fast-changing cultural scene in
>>> general. For instance, I could do pieces somewhat akin to the New Yorker's
>>> shortish front-of-the-book pieces that profile some quirky or otherwise
>>> interesting slice of local color. Let me know what you think.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Barrett Brown
>>> Brooklyn, NY
>>> 512-560-2302
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:20 PM, The Brooklyn Bugle
>>> <
info@thebrooklynbugle.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> that's a great piece!
>>>>
>>>> we'll be launching the bugle soon - if you need a soapbox we'll have an
>>>> area for diarists to set up (ie huffington post)... will totally keep you in
>>>> mind for paid assignments... what interests you re: Brooklyn news/happenings
>>>> etc?
>>>>
>>>> What neighborhood are you in?
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:12 PM, Barrett Brown <
barriticus@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi, John-
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for your reply. As for what I've been doing, I just did my first
>>>>> piece for Vanity Fair this week; it can be seen here:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/03/friedmans-follies.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Barrett Brown
>>>>> Brooklyn, NY
>>>>> 512-560-2302
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 4:29 PM, The Brooklyn Bugle
>>>>> <
info@thebrooklynbugle.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for your interest.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We currently publish two neighborhood blogs - Brooklyn Heights Blog
>>>>>> and Cobble Hill Blog.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Later this year, we'll be launching The Brooklyn Bugle - a community
>>>>>> news site for the 21st Century.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We'll keep your info on file and we'll be contacting finalists closer
>>>>>> to our official launch.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In the meantime, feel free to keep us up to date with what you're
>>>>>> doing.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John Loscalzo
>>>>>> Publisher
>>>>>> BHB/CHB
>>>>>> Brooklyn Bugle Media LLC
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 3:06 PM, Barrett Brown <
barriticus@gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi-
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I understand that you're looking for writers for your news site, and
>>>>>>> I'd like to be considered. I've written for a variety of print and online
>>>>>>> news outlets and other publications, including Skeptic,
PoliticalBase.com,
>>>>>>> National Lampoon, The Onion A.V. Club, Austin Monthly, Dining Out, and The
>>>>>>> Fortean Times, and my first book, Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism,
>>>>>>> Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny was released in 2007 to praise from
>>>>>>> Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School, Rolling Stone, and other sources.
>>>>>>> I've also contributed to reference books by publisher Thomas Riggs and
>>>>>>> Company.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I generally work for around twenty cents a word, although this is
>>>>>>> negotiable.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Along with my attached resume, I've pasted a couple of samples below.
>>>>>>> The first is a simple news summary of the sort I used to write for Political
>>>>>>> Base, and the second is an article on new Texas prison regulations which
>>>>>>> effectively prevent inmates from freely communicating with journalists; it
>>>>>>> was cited by Sonoma State University's Project Censored as one of the most
>>>>>>> important underreported stories of 2004.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please take a look and get back to me if you're interested in
>>>>>>> discussing the position further.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Barrett Bown
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Brooklyn, NY
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 512-560-2302
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> White House Legal Trouble Update
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 1. The CIA's covert service head who some believe to have presided
>>>>>>> over the destruction of tapes which may depict the use of torture against
>>>>>>> al-Qaeda operatives is requesting immunity ahead of an expected appearance
>>>>>>> before Congress next week in which he'll be providing testimony on exactly
>>>>>>> what went down and why. Attorneys for the White House, meanwhile, are still
>>>>>>> urging a federal court to hold off its own investigation into the incident,
>>>>>>> claiming that it would interfere with ongoing investigations by Congress and
>>>>>>> the Justice Department. At any rate, they've been successful in their
>>>>>>> efforts to convince Judge Edward Kennedy that a judicial inquiry is
>>>>>>> unnecessary; Kennedy announced yesterday that he agrees, citing the
>>>>>>> inability of lawyers for a group of detainees to come up with evidence that
>>>>>>> a specific law pertaining to Guantamo captives was broken in light of
>>>>>>> revelations that the detainees in question were actually being held in
>>>>>>> secret prisons elsewhere at the time of the alleged abuse.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2. Allegations by the National Security Archive that the Bush
>>>>>>> Administration is hiding millions of e-mails that it had previously claimed
>>>>>>> were accidentally deleted has prompted a federal judge to order the White
>>>>>>> House to make a formal response to the charges within five business days of
>>>>>>> last Tuesday. White House spokesman Tony Fratto has thus far declined to
>>>>>>> comment.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Texas Prisons: Silencing Inmates
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> by Barrett Brown
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> (Toward Freedom, June 2004)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In March of 2004, a jailer at an Arlington, Texas, prison confessed
>>>>>>> that he had helped another jailer rape a female inmate the previous evening.
>>>>>>> Israel Mouton, a prison employee since 2002, told police that he watched his
>>>>>>> colleague commit the assault from the jail control room in order that he
>>>>>>> might alert his colleague if anyone were to approach. According to both
>>>>>>> Mouton and the inmate, who was questioned later by investigators, Mouton
>>>>>>> afterward told the victim via the cell's intercom, "Don't say nothing. You
>>>>>>> don't know nothing."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A few hours after the inmate confirmed the detailed confession,
>>>>>>> Mouton and his colleague were arrested. But unlike the inmate whom they had
>>>>>>> violated, both jailers were able to make bail, and in fact were released the
>>>>>>> same evening. And despite the fact that one perpetrator had voluntarily
>>>>>>> confessed to a second-degree felony, neither man was immediately fired;
>>>>>>> instead, they were placed on paid administrative leave.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Later in the week, the wire services picked up the story, which ran
>>>>>>> in every major newspaper in Texas. The timing was moderately ironic; the
>>>>>>> Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) was set to meet in Austin a few days
>>>>>>> later to vote on several proposed prison policies. Given that the
>>>>>>> corrections system had just been hit with a rather disturbing scandal, one
>>>>>>> might have expected the TBCJ to adopt some new regulation ensuring inmates a
>>>>>>> reliable means of reporting staff abuse to a third party – assuming that one
>>>>>>> was ignorant of Texas in general, its cultural climate in particular, and
>>>>>>> the increasingly disturbing manner in which the nation's largest state
>>>>>>> prison system is being administered.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Censoring the Mail
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> During a two-day meeting at Austin's Hyatt Regency, rather than pass
>>>>>>> any new reporting policies to help prevent cover-ups, the TBCJ instead did
>>>>>>> the opposite. On April 2, members passed Board Policy 03.91, by all accounts
>>>>>>> the most drastic restriction on Texas inmate correspondence rights in more
>>>>>>> than two decades.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Actually, the board passed two major policy changes during their
>>>>>>> meeting. One was a ban on incoming mail containing "sexually explicit"
>>>>>>> images, "material that shows the frontal nudity of either gender, including
>>>>>>> the exposed female breast(s) with nipple(s) or areola(s), or the genitalia
>>>>>>> or anus of either gender." Explaining the new policy, Texas Department of
>>>>>>> Criminal Justice Executive Director Gary Johnson pointed out that his office
>>>>>>> strives for "a more positive and safer environment for both staff and
>>>>>>> offenders," adding that "the elimination of sexually explicit material helps
>>>>>>> us move in that direction."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Because it dealt with such an attention-grabbing issue as
>>>>>>> pornography, the new "Playboy Policy" received nearly all of the media
>>>>>>> coverage; one Associated Press piece devoted all but two sentences to the
>>>>>>> porn ban. The remainder consisted of a verbatim reading of the second
>>>>>>> measure passed at the April meeting, Board Policy 03.91:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Outgoing special or media correspondence will be opened in cases
>>>>>>> where there have been known problems ('special correspondence' is defined as
>>>>>>> any official of any federal, state or local law enforcement agency,
>>>>>>> including offices of inspector general). The intent is to prohibit offenders
>>>>>>> from sending correspondence that seeks to threaten, harass or intimidate in
>>>>>>> any way (including anthrax hoaxes)."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In other words, Texas prison officials are now permitted to read mail
>>>>>>> written by inmates to journalists, but only "in cases where there have been
>>>>>>> known problems."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Unfortunately, the term "known problems" isn't defined, which may
>>>>>>> seem odd in light of the great extent to which the board went in defining
>>>>>>> the female breast, which, as the reader may recall, includes both nipple(s)
>>>>>>> and areola(s). In contrast, the criteria by which media correspondence may
>>>>>>> be read by low-level officials are left to the imagination of prison staff.
>>>>>>> "Known problems," then, might very well include instances in which prisoners
>>>>>>> have spoken to the press about prison conditions or other issues of
>>>>>>> legitimate public interest.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In fact, this has already proven to be the case. In one of the few
>>>>>>> articles that actually focused on the board's new outgoing mail censorship
>>>>>>> provision, Houston Chronicle staffer Polly Ross Hughes described the case of
>>>>>>> William Bryan Sorens, a convicted rapist whose sentence was extended by one
>>>>>>> year after it was discovered he had sold Penthouse an article detailing his
>>>>>>> prison experiences. (Texas prisoners must get permission before accepting
>>>>>>> any payment for work they undertake while incarcerated.) In the course of
>>>>>>> researching her article, Hughes asked TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons about
>>>>>>> this incident; Lyons confirmed that Sorens' mail would most likely be tagged
>>>>>>> for automatic inspection under the new policy.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But aside from deterring the extremely small percentage of Texas
>>>>>>> inmates who run freelance writing businesses from their cells, the other
>>>>>>> major purpose of the policy, according to Lyons, is to protect media
>>>>>>> personnel from inmate threats and harassment. And how do journalists feel
>>>>>>> about being thus protected? Not surprisingly, they're almost unanimously
>>>>>>> against it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Each of the Texas newspaper staffers I contacted regarding the case
>>>>>>> said they would prefer that inmate correspondence to journalists be
>>>>>>> privileged, in the same way that legal correspondence is, or rather used to
>>>>>>> be; another provision passed by the board during its April meeting dictates
>>>>>>> that "incoming special, legal and media correspondence will be searched for
>>>>>>> contraband and only in the presence of the offender." This includes letters
>>>>>>> from lawyers.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Speaking on condition of anonymity, one staffer with a major Texas
>>>>>>> daily pointed out that, among journalists who cover the prison system, mail
>>>>>>> is used as something of a barometer. Although reporters rarely reply to
>>>>>>> individual inmate letters or even take their assertions at face value, a
>>>>>>> large volume of mail detailing a specific problem often serves as the only
>>>>>>> indication that something might be awry in the state's prisons. After all,
>>>>>>> Texas inmates were already among the most elaborately muffled prisoners in
>>>>>>> the US; in mostly every other state, inmates are permitted to make phone
>>>>>>> calls whenever they please and at their own expense, whereas Texas inmates
>>>>>>> get only one five-minute call every 60 days. And Policy 03.91 comes just a
>>>>>>> few months after another new policy which prevents journalists from speaking
>>>>>>> to inmates unless the journalist in question is working on a specific
>>>>>>> deadline, thus preventing many writers from gaining in-person access to the
>>>>>>> prisoners they may be writing about.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Lack of Concern
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The "no deadline, no meetings" policy is part of the reason why few
>>>>>>> of the journalists I contacted were surprised by the passage of 03.91. Among
>>>>>>> Texas crime reporters, it's common knowledge that institutional procedure
>>>>>>> has undergone major changes in the last few years. Retiring corrections
>>>>>>> officials, they say, are often being replaced with a younger crowd possessed
>>>>>>> of a somewhat more Draconian view of prisoner rights and public access, and
>>>>>>> the overriding philosophy of this new breed is that the best way to deal
>>>>>>> with a crack in the wall is to apply a fresh coat of paint.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Indeed, 03.91 and similar new policies would hardly seem as
>>>>>>> threatening were it not for the fact that the Texas prison system is
>>>>>>> notorious for its cracks. Nationwide, the state is perhaps most famous for
>>>>>>> the often haphazard manner in which people are tried and executed; perhaps
>>>>>>> the most damning account in recent years involved a man found guilty of
>>>>>>> murder and sentenced to death during a trial in which his court-appointed
>>>>>>> attorney fell asleep several times.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Much of the criticism has come from progressive watchdog
>>>>>>> organizations of the sort one would expect to raise questions about such
>>>>>>> things. But some of the most serious warnings have come from the federal
>>>>>>> government itself. In 1998, the US House of Representatives asked the
>>>>>>> General Accounting Office (GAO) for a report on staff-on-inmate sexual
>>>>>>> misconduct in four of the nation's female prison jurisdictions, including
>>>>>>> Texas. When the investigation ended in 1999, the resulting document didn't
>>>>>>> do much to help the state's already-tarnished image.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If Texas prison officials really strived for "a more positive and
>>>>>>> safer environment for both staff and offenders," as asserted by Johnson in
>>>>>>> his statement to the press, they would most likely strive to compile data on
>>>>>>> the subject to inform recommendations for further action. But this hasn't
>>>>>>> happened. In fact, while conducting research for its 1999 report, the GAO
>>>>>>> found that Texas, like the other three jurisdictions deemed worthy of
>>>>>>> investigation, didn't have "readily available, comprehensive data or reports
>>>>>>> on the number, nature, and outcomes of staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Additionally, if Texas prison officials were actually concerned with
>>>>>>> preventing inmate abuse, they might consider cracking down harder on prison
>>>>>>> guards who have "known problems" with sexual misconduct in the same manner
>>>>>>> in which they crack down on prisoners with "known problems" selling articles
>>>>>>> to national magazines. But that hasn't happened, either. Many staff members
>>>>>>> who sexually abused inmates during the four-year GAO survey were simply
>>>>>>> suspended. In other words, they were forced to take a leave of absence, but
>>>>>>> returned to work in the same capacity at a later date — and often supervised
>>>>>>> the same inmates they abused in the first place.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Today, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice supervises about
>>>>>>> 150,000 prisoners. Of these, nearly half have been incarcerated for
>>>>>>> non-violent offenses ranging from possession of marijuana to writing bad
>>>>>>> checks. Their safety and well being depends upon the good will and
>>>>>>> competence of prison guards, some of whom have proven to be criminals
>>>>>>> themselves. And those who run the Texas prison system, although obviously
>>>>>>> aware of such facts, have done nearly everything possible to ensure that our
>>>>>>> fellow citizens are unable to protect themselves in the only manner in which
>>>>>>> a prisoner is able - to communicate with the world beyond the walls.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Barrett Brown
>>>>>>> Brooklyn, NY
>>>>>>> 512-560-2302
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> in which a prisoner is able - to communicate with the world beyond the
>>> walls.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Barrett Brown
>>> Brooklyn, NY
>>> 512-560-2302
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> /div>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Barrett Brown
> Brooklyn, NY
> 512-560-2302
>