Citizen Journalism

BRUTAL QUESTIONS addresses the fifth incident of the Eugene Police using the department's newly-adopted Taser gun. Was it police brutality as at least ten witnesses stated? Or is it the police giving the more truthful accounting in claiming the multiple shocks were required to force compliance from a dangerous protestor? Now that the case has caused public outcry and formally filed charges of police brutality, a deputy auditor has been assigned. And many people are waiting for her findings.

Consider this a necessary follow-up to Tazing Eugene, which was my video on the very first use of Tasers by police in this same city. In that case, wherein a homeless man was shocked, there was hardly a ripple and the local papers did not report on any witnesses who contradicted the police's report (as this trumpet-blower did). This time, however, it's a student who was left writhing in pain, and this time everyone is watching.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

GASOLINE RISING is the newest video I've put together, on the prices of gas here in Oregon. Weighing in less than two minutes, it is short, sweet, and safe even for bike-riding vegans.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General, and OpEdNews.

VOTING IN OREGON: The 2008 Democratic Primary gives you a peek into the mail-in elections that Oregon employs, as well as the inside of the Lane County Convention Center where the results came in the evening of the 20th.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 3) concludes our trilogy featuring Obama's rousing event that energized the town of Eugene, Oregon as well as the University of Oregon, and packed McArthur Court to overflowing on March 21, 2008.

• Part One here.
• Part Two
• The Making Of narrative

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

HILLARY CLINTON IN EUGENE [3] continues our HRC four-part series, which features the Senator's appearance at Oregon's South Eugene High School Gymnasium. You've read the comments of Tapper and Suarez and myself and probably many others, regarding this very appearance. If you're one of the chosen ones, you've even seen Parts 1 and 2.

In Part 3, an unscripted Town Hall Question and Answer session leads to one of the room's younger political participants confronting the Presidential candidate on her campaign's negative slant. Watch as Senator Clinton is (respectfully) called "self-serving" to her face. And then come back next week for Part 4 (the conclusion to the series), in which we will see Clinton answer the charge.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General, and OpEdNews.

I have spent the last 72 hours scouring videos online, looking for citizen journalism from Iraq. I've found scores of video blogs and bits by US soldiers. I cannot find any videos created by Iraqis from inside Iraq. It may be because, I do not speak Arabic. Yet I doubt that's the case --there are quite a number of propaganda videos from the different insurgencies fighting in Iraq.

What I speak of is of videos coming from Iraqi cellular phones or digital cameras. I speak of videos where Iraqis may have filmed their surroundings, their day to day and put out on the web for any and all to witness and never forget.

Iraq by Iraqis in Iraq are nowhere to be found.

The measure of a brutal imperialistic force is in it's effective silencing of the people they've set out to conquer, submit, silence and colonize.

We The People Of The United States have been complicit in the silencing of Iraqis, in the wiping away of their culture and history, in the destruction of their freedom of speech and freedom to be by destroying their homes, destroying their country's infrastructure, destroying their economy.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 2) continues our trilogy of Obama-in-Oregonity as promised last week! Peep through the Lens O' Nez and once again, enter "The Pit" in Eugene, Oregon—which is really not as gruesome as the name might sound, but instead a rather invigorating and some might even venture, rousing venue.

Part One here. Part 3 soon to come. Watch this page or subscribe to this feed for announcements.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

COVERED THE HILLARY CLINTON campaign stop in Eugene yesterday, at the South Eugene High School. While there was a smattering across a few demographics (there were young people, too), it seemed to my eye to be mostly white women, and older people. (You can't judge by who is behind HRC in the monitor; these people are picked purposely, and often for the very traits I discuss now: sex, age, skin color, and "ethnic" appearance.) However, I did no formal tally, and when the video is made, you can make a judgment for yourself on that aspect.

The truth is, Clinton did her best (even pushing through a tired and "froggy" sounding voice), and her supporters cheered their loudest, and I appreciate her (and their) spirit and ambition and Clinton's manner of laying out her platform. But it was inarguably not a good day for Clinton. She was late, she made everyone wait in the rain longer than we were supposed to, and then inside we waited longer than scheduled. She was heckled about her vote authorizing the Iraq invasion and No Child Left Behind, and about two out of five (I have to check my tape to be sure) questions came to her from Obama supporters. Not to mention the press pass was a cheap xerox instead of a printed and designed document (campaign budget), the gymnasium could have fit, along with nine others the same size (rough guess, probably on the low side, actually) in the venue Obama spoke in when he was here March 21 of this year. I can't help but compare, and I guess in a race like this, that's the point.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 1) is the name of the new video shot and edited by yours truly, Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, and just as the title foreshadows, there will be two more parts to this tryptych of political goodness. Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page. Playing the video will bring you a little closer to the excitement that hit the city of Eugene when Obama came to town.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General and OpEdNews.

ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the Iraq Invasion, MoveOn held vigils all over the country at the same time. This video commemorates and captures the public vigil held in Eugene, Oregon to call for an end to the Iraq Occupation.

The latest video for my MTV Citizen Journalist gig.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.