Inept Vs. Insane: Are We There Yet?

These are times of plenty for political satirists. The air is filled with gaffes, zingers, distortions and outright lies ready to be plucked from the ether and reassembled into witticisms for the suffering masses, who need something to laugh about. Sometimes, the laughter is involuntary, burped up as people try to digest the tripe that’s being fed to us.

The polls are swinging widely from left to right to left with both sides prematurely touting the numbers that favor their candidates, proving that no one has a clue where this election will end up. In their panic, campaigns and their allies in the press are grasping at any misplaced word or phrase and running it into the ground. Fox and MSNBC are trying to top each other as the most pandering, sorry excuse for journalism ever to spit at you from the TV screen. One right wing dingbat blog (not local) suggested that CNN’s Candy Crowley was too fat and ugly to moderate the debate, and ran pictures of the blond bombshells of Fox for comparison.

And why not? If you think Mitt Romney was distracted by Candy’s interruptions, just think how Obama will react when Megyn Kelly does a Sharon Stone shot in the middle of a discussion about reproductive rights. Ever notice how the female Foxes tend to sit on high stools in short dresses rather than behind a desk like most news shows? Am I sexist for noticing?

Not so over at MSDNC MSNBC. From noon until they are replaced by cops and robbers reruns, the programming is non-stop Republican bashing. Any hint of objectivity is roundly rejected, and most of the women wear pants. Last night I watched Lawrence O’Donnell smack down one of the Romney boys for joking about giving the president a knuckle sandwich for dissing his dad. Oh! The outrage! A few years ago he did the same number on one of my colleagues for satirizing Michelle Obama’s healthy foods campaign. Free speech? Only if you’re on my side. O’Donnell is an embarrassment, although I think he would be a natural for the role of the bad guy in the next James Bond flick.

The candidates have been very obliging, be it Obama’s stumbling on foreign policy, Romney’s lady binder, Ryan’s dishwashing episode, or Chuckling Joe Biden. You have to cut them a little slack, though. They’ve been on the road non-stop for months, and trying to remember which city you’re in is as difficult as where you stand on energy policy. You can bet they’ve been hitting the Red Bull heavily, except for Romney who drinks only distilled water from the Sacred Salt Lake.

With all of these gems to work with, you’d think I’d be happier than a pig in…well, you know. Unfortunately, the closer I look at the race, the more I realize how much trouble we’re in. One of these guys will actually win.

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48 Responses to Inept Vs. Insane: Are We There Yet?

  1. Ryan Mount says:

    Excellent piece RL.

    TV news is unbearable to watch as the “anchors” have no substance to talk about, so they revert to TMZ-like discourse and disguise it as information. And when they’re feeling generous, they’ll call it “opinion.”

    I figure we have about 14 minutes (that might be too much) of real news each day. So inquiring minds want to know what the TV News networks are filling the 23 hour, 44 minute balance up with?

  2. Judith Lowry says:

    Amy Goodman was at the Foundry last night and spoke with energetic passion about the media.
    Watch Democracy Now! if you want the real news. C-Span and RT are not bad either.

    • Greg Goodknight says:

      “Democracy Now!” is the real news? Amy Goodman is a “Progressivc” ideologue with an axe to grind. Worse than Limbaugh.

      • Judith Lowry says:

        Greg,
        How would you like to meet her?
        I would be happy to fly you to NY to meet with her at her studio.
        I am serious, KVMR has a promotion and you could be the one that gets to go meet with her and have a talk.
        That would be so much better than sending a “member of the choir”.
        If you have not met her, then you should.
        Don’t be afraid, she is the tiniest little thing.
        As you stand there next to her, imagine the thugs of Timor beating her and her camera man as she was trying to report the mass murder of more than 270 innocent people happening right before her.
        You have probably never done any of the things that Mrs. Goodman has done in her life.
        If she were to be measured by her courage alone, she would tower over us all.

        • Greg Goodknight says:

          What a non sequiter. “You have probably never done any of the things that Mrs. Goodman has done in her life.” … like taking 14 years after graduating from high school to get a degree in Anthro?

          She’s not done many of the things I’ve done in my life, and neither have you. And while it would be nice to get a free round trip to NY so I could get down to Cambridge to visit my son, I’ve better things to do than chat with AG.

          Really, Judith, if you want news that gives you warm fuzzies about what you believe, go for it. But, Democracy Now!, like Pacifica, is about fealty to their point of view. For years I woke up to KPFK, Pacifica in SoCal, and it never failed to show the one true point of view, and no, I didn’t believe it then, either.

          George McGovern died today; I was barely old enough to vote when I cast my ballot for him, choosing benign incompetence over competent authoritarianism, with the VP choices being the tipper, mostly because at least the well vetted old Kennedy family pol Sargent Shriver (once Volt for Eagleton! didn’t fly as a slogan) was a nicer guy than Spiro Agnew.

          • Greg Goodknight says:

            Correction… that was 9 years.

          • Tom Odachi says:

            RIP Mr. McGovern. Actually, the more I learned about him, the more I liked him.

            I remember that election, as it was also my first time eligible. I cast my vote for Spock. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

          • Bjorn V says:

            Talk about non-sequiturs, what does Mr. McGoverns passing have to do with Amy Goodman? Also, I think that if you are not willing or able to meet with the subject of your dislike, then the very least you could do is to shut up. It’s really easy to snipe at your perceived enemies but when you refuse to face them one-on-one, that shows that your attacks lack credibility.

          • Steve Frisch says:

            Typical, Greg is gone for a few weeks and his re-entry into the lovely world of blogging is to immediately pick a fight. Welcome back!

          • Greg Goodknight says:

            Steven Frisch, the rent seeking CEO of the wretchedly misnamed Sierra Business Council, I’ve no idea what you’ve been smoking since I’ve not gone anywhere and I’m sure if someone had written something like “The only reliable news is on Fox” you’d have been on it like stink on cowflops, the difference being that Fox is closer to the center than Amy Goodman has ever been.

            “Bjorn V”, since my marking of *Senator* McGovern’s passing was my first post anywhere since learning of his passing, it was perfectly in sequence. In other words, stuff it where the sun don’t shine.

          • Steve Frisch says:

            I would expect no less of you Greg! The more you post the more you illuminate.

          • Michael Anderson says:

            Beautiful poetry.

          • Ben Emery says:

            Greg,
            You’re a real a$$hole. I used to respect what you had to say. Rarely did I agree but I respected it, not anymore. You took what seemed to be a sincere offer and crapped all over it and then threw it back in Judith’s face. Amy Goodman gives voice to those who stand up to the powerful whether it is corporate or government power. It seems that progressives have taken that role is an ever increasingly corporate controlled global economy.

            Rush Limbaugh is silver spoon privileged bigoted entertainer and Amy Goodman is a journalist, not even in the same library let alone in the same book.

          • Todd Juvinall says:

            Amy Goodman is a joke. She spews leftwing hate.

          • Ben Emery says:

            Todd,
            I wouldn’t surprise me at all if you got your “news” and opinions from Limbaugh. A guy who signed his last contract for $400 million and lives on his own compound telling ordinary people what is going on in the world. Now that is a joke.

          • Greg Goodknight says:

            It does appear the inept *and* insane are out in force. Sorry, Ben, but if you aren’t firmly in the Pacifica target audience, Amy Goodman is likely to seem as much a monochrome propagandist as Limbaugh is.

            Another obit to read… Russell Means died today. My late first wife and I spent an evening with him a long time ago (’87 or ’88) at a small SoCal Libertarian Party meeting; he was campaigning for the LP presidential nomination. An interesting character and a passionate defender of individual liberty, but Ron Paul was the better choice. Means mostly kept his libertarian positions over the years and endorsed Paul in his presidential bid this year.

          • Todd Juvinall says:

            BenE, you have no idea who I listen to. We all know who you listen to. Amy Goodman is a leftwingnut and her “Democracy Now” is a leftwing “news” show, totally biased.

            Limbaugh and other folks like Beck and Lars Larson are free enterprise people while NPR and Big Bird seem to be paid for by the taxpayers. Big difference. Oh, 400 million bucks by Limbaugh for talking is pretty amazing and is a great example of American opportunity.

          • Greg Goodknight says:

            Todd, you may not remember this gem from McGovern… he opened a bed and breakfast after retiring from Congress, and went belly up a year later, saying,
            “In retrospect, I wish I had known more about the hazards and difficulties of such a business. … I wish that during the years I was in public office I had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better senator and a more understanding presidential contender. … To create job opportunities, we need entrepreneurs who will risk their capital against an expected payoff. Too often, however, public policy does not consider whether we are choking off those opportunities.”

            We get too soon old and too late smart.

          • Ben Emery says:

            Todd,
            “It wouldn’t surprise me” was the key phrase in my comment.

            As for Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, she is a journalist and the show is one of the few true news programs left in America that covers news outside the corporate lens. We have less than ten major news/media outlets in America whose loyalty is to their advertisers over the truth. Is Amy Goodman a liberal/ progressive, you better believe and that is why I like her so much. Just because it might have a liberal/ progressive tilt doesn’t mean it is not true.

            By the way, DM funding doesn’t include government, corporate underwriting, or advertising allowing them to have objective coverage of the events around the world.

            Here is a list of awards based in journalism not political commentary.

            Izzy Award, Honoring Independent Media, 2012
            to DN! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous for his coverage of the Egyptian Uprising

            Gandhi Peace Award, 2012
            for Promoting Enduring Peace

            Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival Award, 2012
            for coverage of Arab Spring

            Right Livelihood Award, 2008
            for developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media

            Park Center for Independent Media Izzy Award, 2009
            for special achievement in independent media

            Communication for Peace Award from the World Association for Christian Communication, 2008

            Project Censored Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

            – APA Complicit in CIA Torture

            ACLU-NCA Henry W. Edgerton Civil Liberties Award, 2008
            for a distinguished career as an active defender and supporter of civil liberties

            The Paley Center for Media She Made It Award, 2007
            to honor women creating radio and television

            Gracie Award for American Women in Radio and Television Public Broadcasting, 2007
            Individual Achievement for Outstanding Program Host

            James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, 2007
            Career Achievement

            Webby Award Honoree, 2007
            Podcasts and Politics

            Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship, 2006
            Groundbreaking Reporting

            Ruben Salazar Journalism Award
            Outstanding Commitment to Preserving the Integrity of Journalism

            George Polk Award
            Radio Reporting

            Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Prize
            First Place, International Radio Documentary

            Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award
            Excellence in Broadcast Journalism

            Edwin H. Major Armstrong Award
            Best Radio Documentary

            National Federation of Community Broadcasters
            Golden Reels (several, including Best National News Story 2003)

            Project Censored Award
            Most Censored Story

            Society of Professional Journalists
            Best Investigative Reporting
            Award for Excellence Series/Investigative Reporting

            United Press International
            Best Radio Feature

            Associated Press
            Best Enterprise Reporting

            Electronic Frontier Foundation
            Pioneer Award

            American Women in Radio & Television
            Pinnacle Award for Radio Programming

            National Catholic Association of Broadcasters
            Best Documentary
            Best Religious Documentary

            Radio/Television News Directors Association
            Regional News Series/Documentary Award

            Alliance for Community Media
            Best Nationally Distributed Program

            Other Awards Democracy Now! and it’s hosts have received include:

            ACME (Action Coalition for Media Education)
            National Media Literacy Activist Award

            Amigos Del Sur Del Bronx (Friends of the South Bronx)
            Evelina Antonetty Community Pulitzer Award

            Boulder International Humanist Institute
            Second Annual Symposium Award

            Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture
            Peace Site Award

            California Defenders Association
            Gideon Award

            City of Santa Cruz
            Mayor’s Proclamation: Amy Goodman Day, September 17, 2006

            Consortium on Peace Research, Education, & Development (COPRED)
            Social Courage Award

            The Deadline Club New York Chapter Award
            Best Investigative Reporting in Radio

            Disarmament and Economic Conversion Committee
            Sadako Peace Citation

            Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association
            Humanist Heroine “Exception to the Ruler”

            Hometown Video Festival
            National Distribution–Professional Award

            Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
            Kairos Award, Journalism and Human Rights Work

            Media & Democracy Congress
            Media Hero Award

            National Editors Association
            Golden Razor Award
            Editor of the Decade

            National Federation of Community Broadcasters
            Golden Reel
            National Special Event Coverage

            National Women’s Political Caucus
            Exceptional Merit Media Award
            Radio Talk Show

            New Jersey Peace Action Award
            Political Courage Award

            New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association
            First Place Award
            Best Enterprise Reporting Class 1 Radio

            The Newswomen’s Club of New York
            Front Page Award for Distinguished Journalism

            NFCB (National Federation of Community Broadcasters)
            Community Radio Awards
            National Entertainment /Music Program–Silver Reel
            Local News & Information

            Office of the Americas
            Peace and Justice Award

            Pacifica Radio, Washington Bureau
            The Unvarnished Truth Award

            Prisoners Breaking the Chains Committee
            Lois Lane Award
            Journalist

            RTNDA (Radio-Television News Directors Association)
            Regional News Series/Documentary Award

            Ruben Salazar Journalism Award
            Outstanding Commitment to Preserving the Integrity of Journalism

            Samori Marksman Memorial Award
            Journalism

            Twelfth Annual Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage
            Journalism Activism Broadcasting

            Unitarian Universalist Association
            The Wilton Peace Prize 2004

            United Press International
            Best Radio Feature

          • Todd Juvinall says:

            Greg, great quote from McGovern. I actually never disliked him but I voted for others in my first election in 1972.

            BenE, you post with the awards is why no one reads you. You could have said she got all those liberal awards and used a number but you couldn’t. I could care less that liberals give each other awards. Just like the Oscars. Now if RL was given some awards from say, George Rebane, then I would say it had some meaning. It is my understanding that a Pulitzer has never been awarded to a conservative journalist. BenE, you go prove that wrong and then we can talk journalism and respect.

          • Steve Frisch says:

            Yeah Ben, Charles Krauthammer, William Safire, George Will, all liberals…I could actually go on with dozens more, going back 100 years, but I don’t expect Todd to actually read who won the Pulitzer before spouting off ….because he gets his news from…..George!

          • Judith Lowry says:

            Gentlemen please,remember yourselves.
            I saw the Russell Means story this morning. My dad introduced me to him and Richard Oakes during the occupation of Pit River lands at our Four Corners.
            They were very handsome and intelligent, but Richard had been beaten by some paid thugs because of his activism and he had suffered brain damage that affected his motor skills and speaking ability. Yet he read from a scrap of paper with his now ruined penmanship reduced to scrawls.
            Before he spoke, he asked my dad, who he respected, and me to read it, and asked if it sounded right. That was very respectful, because that is the correct protocol when speaking for another tribe, plus he was unsure if his writing was legible.
            Richard Oakes was shot and killed later on by a “security” person near a place he was protesting.
            That incident did not pass the smell test with NDNs. No one was held accountable.
            In spite of his injuries, Mr. Oakes never stopped speaking to people, inspiring people and sticking up for people. Too bad not too many folks remember him. Hey, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, here’s someone worth making a movie about. No one has captured the AIM days on film yet. Imagine all the handsome Indian actors they would have to hire.
            I would just like to add that Amy Goodman is the caliber of journalist who, without regard to personal safety, goes where these kind of stories happen and reports them with honesty.
            Guys, she is one tough little reporter. You have to give her that. Aho!

          • Ben Emery says:

            Todd,
            I know you could care less but this might shock you, are you sitting down? You are not the center of the universe and the only person on the planet.

            The list shows a lifetime of journalistic excellence while Limbaugh might be a multimillionaire possibly even a billionaire but he is an entertainer who profits off of bigotry and hate.

          • Todd Juvinall says:

            BenE, of course I am the center of my universe, just as everyone is. You are the typical liberal though, you never answer any questions we on the right ask. So, we blow you off just as you do us. You talk past us as if we don’t count, so why expect a discussion? Regarding Limbaugh, if he is just an entertainer why do you libs always toss him into the mix on the news and influence side? Also, you say he is a bigot and hate monger in your last post, please supply the readers here with some proof.

          • Ben Emery says:

            Todd,
            You seem to fall back to the same complaint about not answering questions, what question was asked? You gave some ridiculous example of George giving RL an award. If George gave Bob an award for Grass Valley excellence in physics maybe it would have some validity but if George gave him an award for wood carving it would make no sense.

            As for the hate monger racist bigot entertainer Limbaugh, we point to him as many on the right news source because many of the false talking points come from his show. I can cut and paste tons of quotes from him if you would like. But I will limit to one cut and paste of a couple paragraphs from a op ed piece on him. He is an entertainer that unfortunately influences listeners in the worst ways.
            Excerpt

            “I guess saying things like “have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” or “the NAACP should have riot rehearsal…they should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” or “they’re 12 percent of the population. who the hell cares?” referring to African Americans was quite alright and not consequential enough.

            How about calling President Obama an “angry black guy“, “halfrican American“, an “affirmative action candidate” to disqualify his stature and playing a song on his radio show — ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ and then calling for a “segregated buses” because to Rush and company, “this is Obama’s America” whose “entire economic program is reparations” to blacks. Yep, not consequential enough again.

            As if that is not enough, his homophobic bigotry toward the LBGT community is just as bad but I guess that is just normal to businesses advertising on Rush Limbaugh’s show as they embrace his racist and homophobic attacks on people who are just seeking the same kind of rights Rush himself has. He has made it to The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) annual list of the worst anti-LGBT voices, his long list of homophobic slurs are a mile long and well documented where he had called Rep. Barney Frank a “Banking Queen” in an effort to belittle him and had said Democrats will “bend over, grab the ankles, and say, ‘have your way with me” to African American and gay voters. During the Mark Foley scandal, he said about Democrats, “in their hearts and minds and their crotches, they don’t have any problem with what Foley did. They’ve defended it over the — over the years.” Mocking openly gay people, he went on saying, “when a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it’s an invitation”

          • Steve Frisch says:

            But Ben, as our host would attest, there is no “dog whistle racism” coming from our local blogerati. It is all an innocent play on words…a twist that only a politically correst liberal would hear..it is not intended to stir up race hatred and portray African-Americans as outsiders, dangerous people, people who do not share our upright, Eurocentric Christian values….and if you point out the veiled racism inherent in many peoples posts you are attacking free speech, a core American value….and we all know free speech is sacred but equal protection is bullshit.

  3. Tom Odachi says:

    As I get older, I find myself growing more and more cynical about politics and politicians, causing me to become nearly anti-political — or at the very least, apathetic. As long as their mouths are moving, you can’t believe ’em.

    Your cartoons and commentaries provide a much needed reality check for all the political partisanship going around, in addition to just being a way to have a good healthy laugh at stuff.

    How many more days?

  4. TD Pittsford says:

    Good piece, R.L. As a born cynic, I’m convinced that a) there can be no such thing as an “informed voter” simply because the sheer volume of data is entirely too much to digest and relying on one or two “information” sources is equally futile because objectivity has gone out the window. EVERYONE (or at least a disturbing majority) in just about any medium feels that they just HAVE to express their opinions, right or wrong. b) in order to be truly informed, one would have to wade through hundreds of publications and then winnow out the B.S. from the lies. For the average voter it’s far easier to find a “news” source that agrees with their personal convictions which often is nothing more than information (or mis-information) absorbed from network, cable and print sources is of questionable veracity at best, and amounts to nothing better than blatant propaganda. The bottom line however is that the American voters no longer elect people to higher office. That honor is left to big money interests, unions, foreign influences and the Electoral College which is just as corruptible as the rest of them. Until we can begin to think outside the failed two-party system, nothing will change and America will continue it’s downward slide into third world status or at best, a population under the domination of the above-mentioned entities…who, by the way, are considered individuals by the Supreme Court.

  5. Todd Juvinall says:

    As an A,American male and a lover of beautiful women, FOX has my vote. The news is so much easier to take when a hot babe is speaking it and she has great legs. There, now that comment should get the feminists PO’d.

    Yes, all my life I yelled at the TV News casts, even the locals, because my views were unavailable. Now we have one news organization, FOX, that at least discusses most sides and has a, GASP, right side bent, and the world of the left will have none of it. They have all the rest so why in the heck can’t we have at least ONE?

    NBC is just as bad as MSNBC and they have the FREE airspace. At least I have to pay for FOX on my cable bill. So, there you have it, FOX 5 million a night, MSNBC 500,000. I wonder why the difference? LOL!

    • rlcrabb says:

      I remember when I heard about a new news network being added to cable. “WTF do we need another bunch of talking heads telling us the same thing?” I said. I also remember how shocked I was when I actually tuned in and heard them bashing Democrats. No one had ever done that before, unless you counted the subdued outrage voiced by George Will when he wasn’t waxing poetic on baseball, or William F. Buckley on PBS. With Buckley, you had to have a dictionary, thesaurus, and a pile of history books to follow what he was yapping about.
      After I got over my natural revulsion to anything coming out of the mouths of conservatives, I found it a useful counterpoint to what I was seeing on NBCCBSABCCNN. Are they brash, insulting, biased and many times flat-out wrong? Of course. But sometimes they are spot-on, and a welcome change from the hoards of pandering liberal journalists who claim to be objective. (What? FDR was in a wheelchair? Who’da guessed? Nobody ever reported that in the newspapers or radio. JFK had mistresses? And everyone knew, but thought it unimportant to tell anyone until years after he was dead? Now there’s a scoop!)
      Sometimes you need someone to step up and point out the emperor’s lack of attire. I just wish they were more thoughtful, rather than aping the mainstream with sound bites and innuendo.

    • TD Pittsford says:

      But my point about the availability of information still holds true. We cannot rely on one or two sources and expect to have it presented objectively, especially when the main source is television. All the stations, network and cable alike, are subject to the whims of their owners, corporate or private and they have an agenda involving making a return on their investments. In order to do this many resort to the old William R. Hearst model of sensationalism in order to attract viewer who will then buy the crap advertisers present. TV and radio are first and foremost a medium for advertising which in many if not most cases taints the quality of information. The first rule is to attract an audience regardless of programming content, senseless drivel or not and Americans eat it all up with gusto. People will believe what they want to believe and there is no swaying them from their comfort zone. If they want to believe in Obama’s Hope and Change or in Romney’s unspecific plans for the future of our country, then there is no chance to change their collective minds. Critical thinking the the key here. We can’t believe but 10% of anything we hear and less than that of what we see. Unfortunately as Judge Andrew P. Napolitano wrote in his book, “A Nation of Sheep”, “There are two kinds of people who stand out in the United States today: sheep and wolves. Sheep stay in their herd and follow their shepherd without questioning where he is leading them. Sheep trust that the shepherd looks out for their safety… Wolves, on the other hand, do not aimlessly follow a shepherd… Wolves question the shepherd and act in a way that forces the shepherd also to question his decisions. Wolves challenge government regulations, reject government assistance, and demand that the government recognize and protect their natural rights. They are rugged individualists (p. 10).” We need to have more wolves and less sheep.

  6. Jesus Betterman says:

    Seven, Greg, and not in Anthropolgy alone, and with several years out as a Certified Ski Bum, pretty much every area west of Denver, except those south of China Peak, having fun, which seems to have been sorely lacking in your six sided cell existence. At least you didn’t die after you reproduced. Sorry about that, reference deliberately vague. Glad you are back to your normal self. We need stability these days, and we sure can depend on you.

    • Greg Goodknight says:

      Keach, “She graduated from Bay Shore High School in 1975, and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1984 with a degree in anthropology.” That’s nine years for a virtually worthless degree, unless you get a Ph.D. and teach anthropology.

      S’ok. Dad was an ophthalmologist and could afford a few misspent years at Radcliffe (Harvard, actually; Radcliffe wasn’t in the business of educating undergraduates by then).

      She’s found a niche in being a muckraker for the Pacifica bunch. That’s fine, they have money to spend, too. Even little Nevada City managed to sell a bunch of $45 tickets to be in her presence for an hour or two in the Miners Foundry, with KVMR getting some of it, I’m sure. But I have no more need to spend time receiving her wisdom directly than I do that of Limbaugh or Beck. I occasionally throw a few minutes away reading an op-ed of hers, and that will have to do.

      It’s impossible to do a fair job of reporting current events when one is so thoroughly and completely an ideologue first. She’s there to make the point she wants to make, and chooses the stories to cover based on that.

      • Ben Emery says:

        Greg,
        The understanding of cultures and human beings is a useless degree. There are things that don’t make money that aren’t useless. Maybe you should give her a call let her know your disappointment in her choice of studies and her useless career. Sounds like you know best.

        Democracy Now covers stories other news media do not other than 30 second blurb. I don’t remember DM covering the Natalee Holloway story in Aruba. I also don’t remember other major news outlets covering the Aristide return to Haiti in depth.
        http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/21/democracy_now_exclusive_interview_with_jean

      • Todd Juvinall says:

        Greg is spot on about the woman. She is really a leftwing shill and spews here propaganda for her ilk, noting more. If she was anything else she would be a Katie Couric. I recall Astride being reported on breathlessly by the lamestream media when he took over Haiti. I do not recall much said when it became clear he was a crook. Amy protected him as did the left. If he had turned out to be a righty, Amy and the lames would have been all over him.

      • Jesus Betterman says:

        She has the best smirk-smirk-in-the-voice in the business. I can’t stand listening to her for that reason. Like Savage, but working for the left.

        And whenever you bring up anthro, and diss it, please keep in mind that what you know of prehistory comes from physical anthropologists working in hot dry dusty climates. Lucy wasn’t in the sky with diamonds, she was in the dirt. Other than edutaiment and the quest for knowledge, I guess anthro has no interest for you, just like the communities you fly over on your way to your Bay Area hive.

        • Greg Goodknight says:

          Keach, it’s good to hear you have limits, and I’ve nothing but respect for what we know thanks to the top of the anthropology pyramid, but there aren’t many positions open for diggers at Olduvai.

          I’m sure it’s an enjoyable subject to study.

          • Greg Goodknight says:

            Enjoyable and useless, unlike basketweaving which at least leaves you with baskets. Just the thing for someone who just needs a degree and doesn’t care much what it’s in.

            In fact, before the state tightened up the requirements, you even could major in basketweaving or anthro and then teach computer science in California’s public high schools, but that career path has been shut down.

          • Jesus Betterman says:

            That shows how little you know about the credentialing process.

        • Jesus Betterman says:

          Posted first at Rebane’s

          Greg for his part is such an authority on credentialing that he claimed over at RLCrabb’s that you could no longer teach computer science with my background. Tell me again, Greg, where is the computer science credential? Where is the test? Try here for starters, and it is not under math and it is not under Career & Technical Education: http://www.cset.nesinc.com/CS_SMR_opener.asp

  7. The real issue here is simple: Do you want to make your personal decisions based on news and factual information, or do you want to default to somebody else’s opinion and spin?

    The Pew Research Center for People and the Media has been conducting an annual survey for almost 20 years to determine how well informed people are. They ask general knowledge questions (Who’s your congressman? True or false: the U.S. has a foreign trade deficit?) and close the survey by asking people to name their main source of news and information.

    The people who perform best on the survey cite newspapers as their main source for news and information. Those who do the worst rely on television; worst of all are those who rely on the morning talk shows. Newspapers may be old and out of step, but they are still the best source for the information you need to make informed decisions.

    By its nature, network television news is a headline service–it cannot provide the depth and context you need to understand what the headlines really mean. Since the success of Fox News, the cable news networks have abandoned hard news in a race to see who can provide the least substance and most fluff.

    I was on the treadmill the other day when I cam across something called “The Five” on Fox. They were pounding away at Obama for a statement he made, a statement they had taken out of context. (I knew it was out of context because I read another Murdock property, The Wall Street Journal, that carefully described the context of the quote.)

    Maybe this is why another Pew survey found that people who cite Fox as their main source of news were more likely to believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attack, that he had weapons of mass destruction, and that he was a supporter of Al Qaeda. As we know now, none of this was true.

    I’m sure I could come up with similar examples if I watched MSNBC enough. I choose to ignore all of them because they are simply a waste of time.

    • rlcrabb says:

      Yes, George, I agree that cable news is a lousy place to get information. You can’t make decisions based on a two-minute sound bite that only tells half the story. (and that includes all the network news, except for maybe 60 Minutes and a few other news magazine type programs.) C-span is a good place to take the measure of the folks who represent us, because usually they are on for an hour or so. As for the cable stations, I watch them because lots of people do get their information there. And I find it highly amusing to watch these “journalists” make fools of themselves. You only need to watch Larry, Moe and Girlie on Fox & Friends to see how pitiful the misinformation game has become. I do enjoy the banter on Morning Joe where they occasionally have intelligent conversations, but most of the rest of MSNBC is a joke. Oh, and I still include newspapers in my daily grind, although most of the articles I find are online.

  8. Judith Lowry says:

    Bob,

    Can I fix my spelling?
    I proof read my comments and still had typos.
    “Screen glare” and my trifocals are surely the culprits.
    (Lame Boomer excuse)

  9. Judith Lowry says:

    Tornado Alert!

  10. Sebestyen says:

    fantastic write-up, many thanks

  11. douglas keachie says:

    not much has changed

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