March 12, 2008
Sex and Prostitution
So what is it about the MSM that thinks politicians have some unusual sex drive that sends many of them to prostitutes? Are politicians really that much different than all the rest of us? I would think the huge flurry of interest is because these are public figures who will help either sell airtime or magazines. One should remember that prostitutes live off the needs of the larger society, not just celebrities and politicians. We are only aware of the media magnets, not the general population. All these articles are factually ridiculous.
However, the issue of why the question appears is much more interesting. Again we need to explore the motivation behind the headlines, like why bring up the issue? How does it play out in the media? Does it help sell papers or attract more viewers? The issue of truth is completely different. I would even say that all those "expert" opinions are rather suspect. I have not heard one of them try to differentiate between politicians and the rest of us.
Posted by Chip Spear at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2008
The Issue is No Longer Bush's Failed Play
We all know what a disaster Bush has been in far too many ways to bother itemizing. The issue now is with the response by the MSM to him and the Republican candidates. Given the disaster in Afghanistan, what is the Main Stream Media doing to adequately confront the President and the guys on the right running for his position? (AP)
Afghanistan risks sliding into a failed state and becoming the "forgotten war" because of deteriorating international support and a growing violent insurgency, according to an independent study.
The assessment, co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, serves as a warning to the Bush administration at a time military and congressional officials are debating how best to juggle stretched warfighting resources.
What is their strategy? What are they gaining by not seriously questioning them? Why do they continue to defer to the O.I.L.? Why do they still believe what he says? Are they gaining something here?
Posted by Chip Spear at 6:24 PM
June 8, 2007
Paris/OJ....How we love you
I just walked by a TV and saw a live feed from CNN. I was unfortunately watching a helicopter camera shot of the police car driving Paris Hilton to the court house. With all the problems and serious issues in the world, we are being bombarded with news stories about a spoiled, self-obsessed, rich brat who is going to jail because of her arrogance. Wow, what does that say about our culture and the media?
Posted by Chip Spear at 12:42 PM
June 6, 2007
Wacky Media
Have you had a feeling lately that something is screwy with the media? I am having a very hard time watching a lot of the political news shows these days. How can you really be interested in watching talking heads pontificate about the intricacies of the latest Presidential debate when we are more than 7 months away from the first caucus. The day after the 2006 November election, various cable shows grabbed the Presidential campaign like a pit bull on steroids and refuses to let go. I suppose it makes sense. How else are they going to fill there time? What would they talk about? More war? North Korea? No one cares about that. Education? Boring. Katrina? Too old.The contemptuous attitude of the Bushies? I think that one is too dangerous for the media's own self interest. Darfur? American's are more interested in American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.
We do live in a rather strange media driven world. Perhaps we, as a group, are too blame. The media only serves up what people will watch...I think. Of course, if we didn't watch the junk they would change the content until they found something else that was connecting with the viewers. I think this is all part of the reason I haven't been writing too much lately. I go through these periods of disgust with the whole thing, like we are just running around in circles saying the same thing over and over and over again. How often can you say that the Bushies are arrogant, paranoid, disrespectful leaders. Really. I don't know. Send me your thoughts.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:21 PM
May 24, 2007
Dems Slammed by Olbermann
Keith lays into the Dems for backing down on the Iraq troop withdrawal. (MSNBC) I won't bother putting in a little excerpt. You should read the whole thing.
It seems about right to me. They are cowards.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:07 AM
May 16, 2007
The Huge Falwell Legacy
I listened to David Gregory interview Chris Matthews yesterday morning while driving into work. Chris described Falwell's political impact on national politics. Matthews said that Falwell was responsible for bringing a huge group of fundamentalists into the political arena by appealing to their concerns that liberal attitudes were destroying the country. Matthews said that almost 30 million of the 127 million who voted in the last election were right wing fundamentalists somehow related to the Falwell movement. Matthews suggested that most of these people would not have voted if it had not been for Falwell. Think about that, almost 25% of the last election. That is an astounding number. 25% of voters were followers of a guy who said that the reason the terrorists flew those planes into the World Trade Center was because of our liberal values. He blamed the gays, liberals and anyone who believed in a woman's right to choose. They were the ones to blame. Hmmmmm.
Posted by Chip Spear at 7:21 AM
April 29, 2007
George Stephanopolis this morning
I watched part of George's show this morning on ABC. One of the guest of his roundtable discussion mentioned that the one thing he found most interesting about George Tenet's new book "At the Center of the Storm" was Tenet's strong conviction regarding the incompetence and arrogance of the White House. Oh my god, what a surprise.
The other topic of discussion related to the book was Tenet's view that the White House planned to invade Iraq before 9/11. This is not news either. I have mentioned in previous posts, though not for some time, that my friend Mike and I used to talk about the inevitability of invading Iraq long before 9/11. During on weekend roller-blading workouts we discussed the arrogance of the White House and how it seemed very clear to both of us that O.I.L. (Our Illustrious Leader) and Dick had detailed plans in the works to invade Iraq. If we knew that while sitting in the suburbs of Connecticut from just watching the tube, reading the NY Times, Wall St. Journal and a few on-line news sources, how in the world could this be a surprise to the Main Stream Media. This seems more like a media sucker punch to create something out of nothing.
Posted by Chip Spear at 5:02 PM
April 12, 2007
Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword
Don Imus was fired today from CBS radio. This follows his firing from MSNBC yesterday. If you happen to be reading this, I am not telling you news. You should already know this. So why mention it, you may ask.....well, I am an Imus listener. I turn him on at those moments when he has guests who discuss books, politics, sports, culture, etc, then I change stations. He is a complex man; nasty, funny, creative, smart, generous, mean. He lays it all on the table. That said I think that he is also racist. Even though he helps blacks, Hispanics, Jews and all races with his charities. And he supports black politicians like Harold Ford. I cannot believe that he is unaware of the plight of so many blacks in this country. He seldom has blacks on his show. He doesn't employee a black as his sidekicks, his sports person, his intern, his aide. He continually allows Bernard to tell racist jokes. He indulges a certain humor that repeatedly leans in the racist direction. He has done this for years. It is not a simple situation.
I think it is much easier to become famous by being negative. Be mean, nasty, rude, crude and people pay attention. Be nice, generous, considerate and most folks seldom give you the time of day, and that is too bad. It is not the media's fault, it is ours. It we were not so consumed by this sort of trash, then the media empires would not pander to it. Imus would be nothing and this would be no big deal But that is not want happens in our world.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:10 PM
April 3, 2007
McCain Swings and Misses
John McCain traveled to Baghdad, walked around a market, and attempted to convince America that the media was wrong, the city was actually much safer than reported. "See," he seemed to say as he walked around the marketplace, "it is safe, no one is shooting at me, I am not getting blown to bits."
Do you think it worked? Were you convinced? Did the fact that over 100 soldiers accompanied him alter your thinking? What about helicopter gunship hovering overhead? I bet everyone travels that way everyday in Baghdad. (NYT)
The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees - the equivalent of an entire company - and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.
McCain is in a tough spot. He has been in the forefront of the push for more troops to regain the offensive in Iraq. Unfortunately for him, and his Presidential bid, the facts speak a different story. Despite the influx of troops, days are not safer for Iraqis. The plan is not working. McCain has hooked his wagon to a shaky strategy. If it fails, as it appears to be doing now, his candidacy is in serious trouble.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:03 AM
March 21, 2007
Showdown Looms in Attorney Firings
Ha, ha, ha. I have to laugh. This is sooooo ridiculous. What did you expect, really? For the past 6 years the President has treated the entire country, and especially the Democrats with comtempt. The Democrats have taken it on the chin. Now the Dems have some power. They are not about to back down to the Pres on this one. To expect otherwise is silly. (AP)
On the flip side, the President is not going to suddenly roll over to the Democratic leadership in Congress. He is going to continue with the gameplan...Attack! Put the Dems on the defensive anyway he can. He proposes a compromise solution. Of course it is his rules and conditions; no press, no oath, behind closed doors, no record, no nothing. My own guess is no truth either, but who knows.
How do you beat this?
Posted by Chip Spear at 8:32 PM
May 18, 2006
McIntyre Apologizes for Supporting Bush
Doug McIntyre, conservative radio talk show host from KABC, apologizes for supporting and voting for G.W. Bush. (KABC) He says, among many things about Iraq, WMD, etc.:
Katrina, Harriet Myers, The Dubai Port Deal, skyrocketing gas prices, shrinking wages for working people, staggering debt, astronomical foreign debt, outsourcing, open borders, contempt for the opinion of the American people, the war on science, media manipulation, faith based initives, a cavalier attitude toward fundamental freedoms-- this President has run the most arrogant and out-of-touch administration in my lifetime, perhaps, in any American's lifetime.
Read it and let me know your thoughts.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:35 PM | Comments (1)
May 17, 2006
NSA, Phone Records and Fox Press Secretaries
Crooks and Liars has a hilarious clip of Jon Stewart commenting on the NSA phone mining controversy. It is worth a listen. (C&L)
I read that the NSA is actually tapping only land lines, no cell phones. That means that they are missing almost all calls of folks under 60, except for businesses. Gee, I wonder how smart that is? Al Qaeda never would use cell phones, would they?
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)
Catching Tom Friedman
F.A.I.R. has a rather amusing timeline on Tom Friedman and his continually slipping 6 month timelines for Iraq. (FAIR)
Friedman's appeal seems to rest on his ability to discuss complex issues in the simplest possible terms. On a recent episode of MSNBC's Hardball (5/11/06), for example, Friedman boiled down the intricacies of the Iraq situation into a make-or-break deadline: "Well, I think that we're going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months - probably sooner - whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we're going to have to just let this play out."
That confident prediction would seem a lot more insightful, however, if Friedman hadn't been making essentially the same forecast almost since the beginning of the Iraq War. A review of Friedman's punditry reveals a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer.
The citations are numerous and funny in context, check them out.
Posted by Chip Spear at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2006
MSM Suffers Big Loss in "Lapdogs"
Eric Boehlert's new book "Lapdogs" annihilates the Main Stream Media for completely rolling over for Bush in the Swift Boat affair preceding the 2004 election. (Huff).
for instance, the Washington Post published 13 page-one Swift Boat stories in 12 days, most of which failed to address the key fact that the Swift boat allegations -- that Kerry lied about his Vietnam War record -- were riddled with errors and compounded by the veterans' fanciful, ever-changing stories. Despite the lack of evidence to substantiate their claims, which were floated 35 years after the fact and bankrolled by partisan Republicans, the press refused, in real time, to call out the Swift Boat allegations as a dirty trick.
"Lapdogs," in bookstores next week, charges that the press, spooked by allegations of liberal bias, has been "afraid of the facts and the consequences of reporting them" during the Bush years.....
As Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting suggested in 2004, what if the situation had been reversed and the shoddy Vietnam-ear attacks targeted Bush's war service? What if all the available documents showed that George Bush had fully completed his obligation in the Air National Guard with flying colors? What if virtually every member of his unit said he had been there the whole time, and had done a great job? And then suppose a group of fiercely partisan Democrats who never actually served in Bush's Guard unit came forward to claim for the first time--and 35 years after the fact--that Guard documents and the first-hand accounts were wrong, and that Bush really hadn't been present for his Guard service. Would the MSM really have had a hard time figuring out who was telling the truth, and would the MSM really have showered the accusers with weeks worth of free media coverage?
The press was mored concerned about access to power than actually reporting the truth.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2006
The Today Show and the Duke Lacrosse Scandal
I watched a segment on The Today Show this morning. Matt Lauer interviewed the President of Duke and the President of North Carolina Central University. He repeated tried to provoke the two gentlemen by questioning the scandal, their reactions and the process that Duke implemented to find the truth to the tragic events of the lacrosse party and alleged rape. I have followed the case fairly closely and the thing that strikes me is that there are many unanswered questions on both sides of the issue. Nothing seems too clear about either the guilt or innocence of the two guys accused of the rape. Neither does the woman have a clean bill of health. In addition, her friend gave two different versions of what transpired at the house. I have read way too much conflicting information to know what actually occurred. For anyone to accuse anyone with certainty at this point seems grossly irresponsible.
Matt tried to make much of the fact that the lacrosse team was known for problematic behavior, drinking, lewdness and general rowdy actions. I would contend that that sounds like almost any group of college athletes. All the ones I know hold rowdy parties, with lots of alcohol and as much lewd behavior as they can get away with. What is new about this? Not much. Mr. Lauer seemed more intent on fanning the flames of controversy instead of bringing new insights into this horrid affair.
I suppose we should keep in mind that the intent of his show is to get high ratings, not necessarily find the truth. He can act like he is seeking accuracy, but the end goal is drawing viewers, which mean more money. We should never lose sight of his motives.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:12 AM | Comments (1)
March 22, 2006
Paranoia Hits the Church
The Catholic Church is obviously feeling a little more paranoid than usual recently. Dan Brown's novel, "The Da Vinci Code," is about to be released as a movie and the church is worried about its influence. The Church feels threatened by this piece of fiction, using history as a starting point for a fast-paced conspiracy theory thriller. Web sites, articles, books and spokesmen are all on the offensive to counteract the books claims. (CSM) The Church must be concerned that people will be influenced by the book's claims and come to believe it more than the Church. (Amazon) You might also find this 40 minute interview on NPR's Fresh Air extremely interesting.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2006
Molly Hits it Long and Straight
Molly Ivins hit the Democrats good and hard, as she loves to do, here She is not hesitant to call them spineless, money-grubbing snakes, little better than the Republicans.
I can't see a damn soul in D.C. except Russ Feingold who is even worth considering for President. The rest of them seem to me so poisonously in hock to this system of legalized bribery they can't even see straight.
Look at their reaction to this Abramoff scandal. They're talking about "a lobby reform package." We don't need a lobby reform package, you dimwits, we need full public financing of campaigns, and every single one of you who spends half your time whoring after special interest contributions knows it. The Abramoff scandal is a once in a lifetime gift - a perfect lesson on what's wrong with the system being laid out for people to see. Run with it, don't mess around with little patches, and fix the system.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2006
Politics and Money
U.S. Internet companies are relucant to participate in Congressional briefings about their business dealings with the Chinese government. The issue is restriction of Internet searches and the tracking of data.
The firms were asked to attend the February 1 briefing by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus following uproar caused by search giant Google's decision last week to censor websites and content banned by China's propaganda chiefs.
"We have heard from Microsoft that no representative from the company will attend the briefing. So, with Cisco Systems, this makes two companies that have confirmed they're opting out," Lynne Weil, spokeswoman for caucus co-chairman Democratic Representative Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), told AFP.
As the briefing date gets closer, "others are still unfortunately keeping us in suspense," she said. "It is mystifying why these companies would not want to take part after all this is an opportunity to clear their names," Weil said.
Google agreed to censor websites and content in its search service launched Wednesday in China.
The move followed similar actions by rivals Microsoft and Yahoo in cooperating with Chinese censorship.
From a business strategy, this is a losing proposition for the Internet companies. Why is it in their financial interests to comply? I am sure that they might get some negative feedback from various human rights groups and maybe some politicians, but the longer term impact by backing out of China is far more consequencial. It is a huge market, which they could easily lose if they leave. In addition, there is the hypocritical position of many critics in that they currently support hundreds of companies who are doing business in China. Thousands if not millions of Americans buy products made in China, a place that does not pay proper wages or necessarily comply with acceptable safety and environmental standards. Where is the protest about this? I am sure the same Internet companies see this hypocrisy and think it better to keep their mouths shut. The strategy is financial not necessarily ethical. The way they score is by making money. They all seem to view the current strategy as being more benefial to their own game than that played by the politicians. In addition, I have never seen a business plan that indicated Google is required to provide every single person in the world access to every piece of information they desire.
Posted by Chip Spear at 8:15 PM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2006
Chris, And Here I Thought You Were A Closet Democrat
Chris Matthews said that Osama bin Laden (remember who he is?) reminded him of an over the top Michael Moore. This is starting to get a lot of media attention, especially on the blogs. You can get more info here. It certainly is worth considering what would happen if Chris said the same thing about Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh or any of a number of other Republican advocates. His statement is certainly a tactic used by the Republican right. Has Chris joined them and become "Foxified"? Has he lost objectivity? What would be his motivation? Has he succumbed to corporate pressure to support the administration? If we assume he has become a right wing advocate he has quickly stooped very low. Perhaps he is just trying to generate some controversy. I am sure that many folks will tune in tonight to see if he issues some type of apology.
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:15 PM | Comments (3)
January 19, 2006
Her Kiss Would Pucker a Lemon
She sits in the stands watching the game and all I hear are complaints. They aren't doing this, they aren't doing that. They suck. The QB is bad, the line is bad, the coaches are bad, the receivers can't catch, the halfback always drops the ball. Eloquent, funny at times but oh so sour. Life is not all bad and the team does not always suck, not even most of the time.
Poor Maureen Dowd, the Op-Ed writer for the NY Times. I didn't get around to reading her Times Select piece until last night. I usually read the Times early in the day. I was once again struck by the complete negativity of her writing. I swear that she could make a lemon pucker if she kissed it. I don't think there is much need to quote her, other than to say she once again accused the Dems of being "girlie" (who is being sexist here?) and the Republicans of being "tough". It seems that no matter what any Democrat says, it is disingenuous, weak, or a contradiction of some previous position. I seriously doubt that every Democrat falls into that category. I wonder if she is even capable of writing a positive piece.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:28 AM | Comments (5)