Tag: Media Coverage

Remembering

Before I start bitching…I want to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving……enjoy family, food and fun…..

Yesterday, I was watching MSNBC at an ungodly early hour and they had the dude from Time previewing the next issue…..about the things over the last decade, 2000-2010, and the military came up and the war in Vietnam was used as a comparison….this is when Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street journal made a statement that I had to devote a post to….she said that “Americans for the most part were supportive of the soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War…..”  She was waxing arrogantly poetic….

As a vet from that war I tell her she is dead WRONG!  When I returned I was NOT treated with respect nor support….I was seen as some leper to be ignored and pushed into the shadows….People in the “heartland” did NOT support the soldiers, they did support the military….NOT the same thing!  They supported the government in its endless battles with Godless Communism….but as far as the poor bastards, like me, that actually did the fighting….NO one gave a shit!  Communism must be defeated at any cost! And we WERE that price!

The media made the soldier, especially the ones protesting for the end of the war, as the enemy from within……and since most people got their information from the 6 o’clock news…..we, the vets of Vietnam, especially those of us that fought for an end of the war, became the enemy…..

Ms, Noonan shows the same lack of memory on what actually was happening in those days…they prefer to pretend it was all different some how and try to re-write the history of those days and make it like Americans are ALWAYS appreciative of their soldiers…..that is NOT the case!

The truth is that the American people owe the vets of Vietnam more than they could ever repay….and this lame attempt to do so is nothing but a slap in the face to all those people that were treated like sh*t by their country and that includes the national media……

When I hear these self-adsorbed, arrogant people who should be searching for the truth, tell out right lies…I feel compelled to say….BULLSH*T!

It’s Green Week! (Again)…. (And Again)

A Daily Irritant

“Green Is Universal”……..a catchy little phrase from NBC/Universal when they want to appear to be trying to solve our energy problem…..it appears once or twice a year….like any other of the major failures the US has and they want to talk about it……

This week their promo is…”let the conversation begin”

Is that not the most putrid piece of garbage you have ever heard?

Let the conversation begin……here is a news flash for you guys……NO ONE is listening…NO policy maker gives a sh*t…..we have been having this “conversation” for 30+ years…..now what has that accomplished?  I know!  I know (he said raising his hand)………cars have been made more efficient by 3-5 mpg!

Now there is something your can tell your grand kids about…..

PAY ATTENTION!   NO ONE IS LISTENING!  Money talks and bullsh*t walks!  Talk is cheap! Do you now get the idea!  Can you grasp the concept of reality?

You can talk about every solution you can think of….but until we are willing to act on this then shut the Hell UP!  Cowards one and all…..they willing to talk but not to act……30 years of talking and you still sound like cheating husband trying to figure out what to say……you guys are pathetic!

Here is a sterling idea……FIND SOLUTIONS OR SHUT THE F*CK UP!

Knock Me Over With A Feather

There are times when the obvious does needed to be stated and this is one of those times….for years “Lefties” have been bitching about the political shenanigans of FOX News and now the WSJ has validated that concern….

A November 9 Wall Street Journalarticle sheds more light on the ongoing ethics problem involving Fox News personalities, who have relentlessly endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or organizations.

The Journal reports that Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity — along with Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin — “are being paid to use their voices and faces to promote politically motivated groups.” The Journal also reported Fox News’ response to Beck’s actions:

“Because Glenn Beck’s Mercury Radio Arts agreement predates his agreement with Fox News, Glenn has certain radio obligations with which he needs to comply,” said Dianne Brandi, Fox News executive vice president for legal and business affairs.

Mr. Beck, whose radio program averages 10 million weekly listeners, has given paid endorsements on the show since May for FreedomWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based libertarian advocacy group that worked closely with tea party groups to support dozens of conservative candidates in last Tuesday’s election. As part of what are called “live-read” advertisements, Mr. Beck has urged listeners to join FreedomWorks–a group he also had expressed support for prior to the commercial advertising arrangement.

What to do…what to do?  Does anyone really think that they, FOX News, really are “fair and balanced”?  I just cannot believe my eyes!  (BTW, that is sarcasm)  Truthfully, I am waiting for the “witch” O’Donnell to get a gig at FOX……I mean every whacky out there has a voice there…Bachmann, et al…….so she needs to be offered a gig….you know they are whacky when Palin and Huckabee are the only sane voices on air…..

How To Make A Million (Actually 2)

By now we have all heard the story of the firing of the NPR commentator, Juan Williams….just in case you have been in a coma for a couple of days……well a whole magilla has rose up over some comments that the normally liberal pundit had to say on an appearance on FOX News:

NPR is facing sharp criticism for terminating the contract of news analyst Juan Williams.

Williams was fired Wednesday for violating NPR’s ethics policy over comments he made on Fox News about Muslims.

But those comments — and NPR’s response — have prompted questions about where the boundaries are drawn for journalists these days.

Williams appeared Thursday night on The O’Reilly Factor, the same Fox program where he made the initial comments that seeing fellow airline passengers dressed in Muslim garb makes him nervous.

When the news broke…my first impression was……when will he get his FOX contract now that he has found a way to get out of the one he was serving with NPR….the media has been all over NPR for his firing….it has made good fodder for the normally boring news programs…..was it racism?  Was it fear mongering?  Was it…..on and on…..well my first impression was the most accurate…..and in two days I had my answer….

Williams is now enjoying the full embrace of Fox News, which has given him a new three-year, $2 million contract and a guest slot, Friday night, as host of The O’Reilly Factor.

All this crap is just too damn predictable!  Williams is trying to capitalize on the mad money that flies around the people on FOX….he has done and will keep doing whatever it takes to get his slice of that pie…….

UpDate:  God I love being right…..it feels semi-orgasmic…….told you so about Willimas

Former NPR new analyst Juan Williams joined the call in a Fox News appearance today to defund NPR in the wake of his firing, saying “if they want to compete in the marketplace, they should compete in the marketplace. They don’t need public funds.”

Williams continued that NPR tries “to make it out like, ‘you know what? We are a public jewel and we need the protection of the federal government,'” but that’s “nonsense. They are on the federal dole is what it is. And they better admit it and step up. If they want to compete.”

This guy is quickly becoming a media whore like the rest of the pundits on the tube……it is NOT about integrity….but rather chasing the God of the media….the dollar bill….

Winning Through Intimidation

Do you remember back in the day, about 2 years ago, when some members of the new Black Panther Party was said to be intimidating voters during the voting process and FOX News was all over it…..explaining just how violent these members were talking….the new Black Panter Party has a membership of about 5 people….a real force to be feared…or maube it was because they were African-American and we know how FOX feels about anyone with brown skin, huh?

Well it seems that the Black Panthers are not the only ones trying to intimidate voters….this happened in Houston during early voting for the mid-terms:

A Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots has been accused of “1960s style” voter intimidation in primarily minority precincts on the first day of early voting in Texas. The group is being sued by the Texas Democratic Party, following the filing of 14 voter intimidation complaints with the county clerk, and another two dozen with the Texas Democratic Party chairman.

The complaints, he said, came from Kashmere Gardens, Moody Park, Sunnyside and other predominantly minority neighborhoods. The complaints included poll watchers “hovering over” voters, “getting into election workers’ faces” and blocking or disrupting lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots.

“Keep in mind these are allegations of voter intimidation,” O’Rourke said. “It’s sometimes in the eye of the beholder.”

I watched FOX News as often as I could yesterday and today and so far I have heard NOTHING about this incident……nothing like the outrage they felt when the Panthers were accused of the same tactics…..

Argumentum ad populum–Revisited

College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

Subject: Political Theory/Elections/Campaigns

Paper #31

Do you watch the news? You know all those Medicare recipients that are bitching about a government take over of Health care….or all those macho little pricks with their guns worn in public…or maybe elected officials that are spouting fears of socialism or out right lying to stir up the people in opposition to any Dem health care agenda coming out of Washington.

I know….I know all that is old hat….so what is new?

Since most schools have eliminated the teaching of Latin and I do not want my reader to have a brain aneurysm trying to decipher the title of this post….let me help out….”argumentum ad populum”…..In Logic, a proposition to be true because many or all people believe it; it alleges, “If many believe so, it is so.”

Just where am I going with this? Right? Good question and hopefully you will get your answer.

The idea has many names: appeal to the masses, strong appeal to belief, strong appeal to the majority, strong appeal to the people, strong argument by consensus, strong authority of the many, and strong bandwagon fallacy.

See what I am saying? The GOP is plying this tactic in the health care debate. That is to use every tactic available to sway a mass amount of people that will make the case for them. It is a fallacious argument at best…but it is effective if one figures in the rational ignorance effect. (for definition, go to my page with the same name).

How about a little clarification?

The argumentum ad populum is a “Red herring (fallacy)”. It appeals on probabilistic terms; given that 75% of a population answer A to a question where the answer is unknown, the argument states that it is reasonable to assume that the answer is indeed A. In cases where the answer can be known but is not known by a questioned entity, the appeal to majority provides a possible answer with a relatively high probability of correctness.

It is logically fallacious because the mere fact that a belief is widely held is not necessarily a guarantee that the belief is correct; if the belief of any individual can be wrong, then the belief held by multiple persons can also be wrong. The argument that because 75% of people polled think the answer is A implies that the answer is A fails, for if opinion did determine truth, there be no way to deal with the discrepancy between the 75% of the sample population that believe the answer is A and 25% who are of the opinion that the answer is not A. However small the percentage of those polled is distributed among any remaining answers, this discrepancy by definition disproves any guarantee of the correctness of the majority. In addition, this would be true even if the answer given by those polled were unanimous, as the sample size may be insufficient, or some fact may be unknown to those polled that, if known, would result in a different distribution of answers.

Thanx to wiki for the above definition.

Polls are used in this way….i.e. if the prez has 51% approval down from 56% then the people are losing confidence…..,good work, but that is not necessarily the case. The idea is to make it look as if more people believe in a thing and in doing so, that it is correct and true. Once again , not necessarily so.

People need to check everything they are told…most times it is either misinformation, taken out of context or an outright LIE!  Just look at the polls that are out now….31% on the responders think Pres. Obama is a Muslim…..so what was all the finger pointing about back during the election when HIS pastor made some inappropriate statements….all the crap about how could he attend a church where thew pastor was so radical…a Muslim would NOT attend a Christian church…so what is this whole Muslim thing all about?

The only thing that it shows me is that Americans are gullible and have NO memory at all when it comes to politics……they are subject to the “argumentum ad populum” ….saying so makes it so!  A STUPID way to approach the important issues in our society.

It’s August Madness!

Daily Agitator

You have heard of “March Madness”…you know when b/ball nuts go ape shit?  Well….welcome to August Madness!

This is the time of year when morons and imbeciles go crazy.  The time of year when Congress is on one of their many breaks and the Prez is on vacation and the political news is a bit thin.

So the internet conspiracists, whackos, hate merchants and total goof balls hit the air ways knowing that they can get some much coveted media attention.  Whereas, if the politicians were actually working at their jobs then these idiots would be mostly ignored or ridiculed for the morons they really are.

This silliness will end when the overpaid and under worked representatives return to Washington to actually pretend that they are doing the business of the country.  This unfortunate happening occurs every year and as each year comes about the silliness gets more and more pathetic.  The really sad part is that some of the Congress actually buy into the craziness and then return to Washington like all is well and that they were just supporting the people.  HA!

I HAD To Know!

From the VOMITORIUM

After watching FOX News…listening to the pundits spout their brand of “journalism” and after years of shaking my head at every story told on the outlet……I had to know just who watches FOX and why…..in my research I found NOTHING that surprised me……but there is a reason they are popular…..and I break down the demographics for you…..

Only dinosaurs listen to radio these days, and it’s doubtful many people under 50 even know AM radio exists, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the average age of right-wing radio listeners is 67. It’s also truly not shocking that this demographic is also predominantly male. According to a Pew study in February, 72 percent of Limbaugh’s elderly listeners are men.

I knew it!  It seems that most of the people I talk with at watch FOX are old farts who still harbor images of communist, segregation and other issue that were in the news back in the day…..and most I have talked with are white and male…..the perfect audience for FOX and Limbaugh.

So since he spends an inordinate amount of time making sh*t up I also checked on Glenn Beck and the demographics are……….

61% are male…..46% are 50+……94% are white…….35% make over $100,000…

So with Beck’s demographics…he is in the best place for his brand of commentary….those that are easily influenced.  Those that remember the days of the “Red Scare” and the days of busing and “forced” integration.

As I have said…ALL people look for the views that will reinforce their world view….right or wrong……

“Fair And Balanced”?

Daily Agitator

We on the Left and yes I consider myself “on the Left” have been bitching about the doings at FOX News…that it in essence is a outlet for the GOP to get the day’s talking points out to the public….while FOX has said that it is a news outlet and that it is “fair and balanced” reporting……well that has come to a halt and I would like to see how the talking heads on FOX report this…if at all….

From the WaPo……(I know the WaPo is one of those “lame stream media” outlets)

Murdoch’s News Corp. has made a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association, triggering swift criticism from Democrats that a contribution of that magnitude casts a shadow on his media properties, particularly Fox News.

Asked whether such donations raise questions about other networks’ coverage, Daschle said: “The Fox contribution is in a completely different league. Other media firms’ donations are generally small and about equal to the many committees that receive money.” His group spent Tuesday trying to drum up interest in the issue, unsuccessfully pitching a dozen Fox producers and hosts to get Daschle booked on the channel.

And the group rushed out a fundraising letter assailing what it called Murdoch’s effort to help “put wild-eyed Tea Party candidates in charge of our states and Congressional redistricting” and asking potential donors to “make News Corp. regret this decision.”

Before I get the inevitable bashing for talking badly about FOX and I will get a couple of shots…..I will say that other corporations that own media outlets make contributions also….however most of them have NOT given a million to one specific outlet and they donations are spread between the two major parties….not one or the other exclusively….but FOX has and that, IMO, makes the “fair and balanced” reporting just a slogan with NO foot in the truth…..and what of the possible candidates that are on the payroll of FOX, Palin, Huckabee, Newt?

So the question is….if FOX has decided to be the propaganda arm of the GOP, can they still be considered a “news” organization?

Don’t Speak Ill Of The Dead

Daily Agitator

A couple of days ago, Sen. Stevens of Alaska was killed in a plane crash in western Alaska, along with a couple of other people….and immediately the media got people who knew him on the phone and pumped them full of question…none of which were relevant but questions and more questions…..

This got me to thinking about death and thought about the lies people tell when remembering the dead…..it seems NO one wants to call an a/hole an a/hole….so we send the dead to meet their maker on the back of a lie…not everyone is a sterling individual…trust me on this……I would not lie to you.

So answer me this…why do we lie about the dead?  Oh I kn0w…it is bad manners to speak ill of the dead….is that it?…..well that is just plain BS……..to me an a/hole will always be an a/hole….this could be why I am NEVER asked to give eulogies……it seems I call it as I smell it…..no amount of money can make me say good things about a person that would not know a good deed if it bit them in the ass…enough said?