Tag: News

Our Cracker Jack Media

I know I have railed on and on about the media and how it handles different stories….some of us think the media has a liberal bias and then there are others that think it is some sort of mind control by the government……belief what you will….but the facts seem to support that their main function is to protect those of us that are most worthy…..the corporations.  There is very little independent news anymore, it all has a bias.

Would you like an example of why I make such a claim?

Gladly.

This past weekend an airliner from Malaysia was on route to Beijing when it disappeared off radar and all contact was gone…..I am a news geek so I was looking at breaking news that might be worthy of a post on IST…..and I got the news of the missing plane….I immediately went to the different news channels fr more info…..every channel I visited had the same early report……”the plane is a Boeing 777 which has a sterling safety record….and then it would go on about the flight plan and people and such……the media made damn sure to inject the safety record into its early reports.

The media was giving Boeing some cover knowing that their will most likely be a run on lawsuits soon.  They want to blame terrorists or pilot error….it may well be the case but at the time NO one knew for sure …..but the 777 has a sterling safety record.

I have been suspicious of the media since corporations were allowed to own them…..I saw the news as a entertainment weapon not a informative weapon.

I agree with Nate silver….for those who are not political wonks and do not know who Silver is let me help…..Silver was the most accurate predicter of the 2010 election…not just prez but he chose almost all the races that were being run across the country….but now that you know Silver here is what he has to say about op-ed writers……

The graph consists of qualitative and quantitative evaluations of prospective candidates. “The bottom two quadrants belong to the dregs of American journalism: on the left, sportswriters who cherry-pick statistics without thinking through them, and on the right, op-ed columnists,” TIME revealed.

“That’s the crap quadrant,” Silver said. “Two-thirds of the op-ed columnists at America’s major newspapers are worthless.”

I would expand it to a lot of the on-air personalities as well…..looks like some saw this coming before it arrived….I believe it was Antonio Gramsci that said….”media will drive the hegemony of the wealthy”….sorry that is a paraphrase….his analysis was spot on and it is getting worse by the year….

Spring Forward

It is the weekend and NOT just any weekend……..it is the weekend where we Americans participate in a damn silly ritual…..Daylight Savings…..personally I think it is a waste of time that does nothing that it is portrayed to do…….

(Newser) – Daylight Saving Time starts Sunday, but no one benefits from it, writes Bora Zivkovic in Scientific American. It will take days for our bodies to adjust to the lost hour—we’re essentially “jet-lagged for a few days”—and even cows will suffer when they’re milked an hour earlier than they’re used to. And for what purpose? DST was established back when lighting was the biggest energy need, so changing the clocks to maximize daylight hours saved electricity. Nowadays, that’s no longer true.

With factories, nuclear plants, airports, computers, and other “time-independent” things using up the bulk of our energy, energy companies have actually done studies concluding DST no longer saves energy. Other studies have shown that in the days following DST, traffic accidents, workplace injuries, heart attacks, and depression increase. Common sense seems to dictate we stop the practice—but since “it’s a bit unclear who exactly” is in charge of the whole idea (Congress? Individual states? Counties?), it will probably never be abolished. Click for Zivkovic’s full column.

Is there anyone else that thinks this is a complete waste of time ( pun intended)?

Is It All Just Silliness?

WikiLeaks!…….now here is the subject of the week……everyone has an opinion on what is to be done with this Assange dude that has leaked these quarter million documents…I have heard that he is guilty of treason or something just as strong…..as I think back to the release of the “Pentagon Papers” by Daniel Ellsberg (yes I am that old!) I recall hearing a bunch of the same criticism….that Ellsberg was killing American soldiers or that it would harm our diplomatic mission for years to come…..on and on and on……

To begin with…this latest release of previously secret documents is mostly gossip, NOT intel of any kind….I mean when you have emails or the like that calls Sarkozy a “naked emperor”…..that is NOT something that is classified……yes there has been some released that could be seen as some sort of secret….. but treason?

I heard Mike Huckabee say that the person releasing these was guilty of treason and should be executed…..made me think back…..some little toad named Scooter outed an active CIA agent named Plame…..did anyone on the Right call for him to be executed?  Do not hurt yourself….NO THEY DID NOT!  Even though it is a massive crime to do so…..this is just a political football….it is a use of news to make points back home and reinforce the idea of “American Exceptionalism”……..

But the airwaves are full of people, some well intentioned, calling for someone’s head….mostly the head of Assange….but ask yourself this…..

How did a lowly PFC get access to all this info if we have such a good security system in place for our computer system that is so basic to our national security?  And now the US has changed the way info is accessed…kinda like closing the proverbial barn door after the cows have made their escape……and is NO one looking at the higher ups that allowed this type of thing to happen?  I mean the Minister of Defense in S. Korea resigned after the N. Korea attack last week….why is the US placing the blame solely on the shoulders of this lowly analyst….apparently it was not that hard to retrieve the info….someone at the top was asleep at the wheel….and they are the REAL criminals in this continuing saga……I am sure this is FAR from over!

Another point…..this is being used to avoid talking about the real issues that face Americans….lack of jobs, a struggling economy……it is all smoke and mirrors….hoping that the American people will feel betrayed by someone other than their elected officials…..nice try….but it does not work…..well maybe on idiots!

McCain On Judges

Today Jihn McCain went to North Carolina so that he could be in the news with the Dems after the primary.  His main reason was to go to Wake Forest University and talk about the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.  How nice.

He made sure early in the speech to tell everyone what the founding fathers had in mind by setting up the three branches of government.  Ok, it was a bit like a 7th grade Civics class.  The 3 were there for the purpose of checks and balances–to be sure that no one branch would have more influence over the people than the other.

Again how nice?  But think about what was just said.  But every president wants to appoint Supreme Court judges that reflect the tone of the in power administration…right?

If that is, then would not that make two of the branches that were banded together against the third?  If true then where would the checks and balances be?  Does not the president appointing his favorite judges tend to flying in the face of separate branches of government?  Would not then the president would have a more powerful base from which to work?  Now, does that not fly into the face of the founding fathers?

Questions…..small answers.

Is There A Real McCain Story?

OK, I know that this will sound like a piece from a conspiracy theorist, but I have been thinking about the John McCain story of last week.  You know the one, where he may have had an impure relationship with a female lobbyist.  First, I do not care about his personal life.  I do not care about his kids.  I do not care that he may keep his socks on during sex.  I just do not care, period.  If there was something about the relationship that he help them win a bill or more profits, then that is the story, not some fling that may or may not have happened.

When thinking of this story I asked myself, did the NY Times endorse McCain?  Then why would they want to destroy him?  Good questions, but first a a little background.  McCain is lagging in the polls, funds were trickling in, little support among true conservatives and there was some in-fighting on the radio.  McCain was NOT looking like a serious candidate against the Democrats in November.

Here is my what if.  What if the NY Times deliberately released a story that they could not verify?  Which is what happened.  Now look at what the story without legs has done for McCain.  Money is flying into his campaign, Repubs are closing ranks around him, he looks like a victim of smear tactics, he gains sympathy which sometimes can be translated into votes.

The story has done more to energize McCain’s campaign than anything the candidate has said up to this point.  So was there a plan here?  Only the NY Times knows for sure, but to me it smells like do-do.  The paper has had its pee-pee spanked by its ombudsman for running a story with no legs.  So now the paper has been chastised and McCain is flying pretty high.  You decide if this was a ploy to help McCain in the upcoming election.

Is There A Media Free Ride?

This has been accused of the MSM by the Clinton camp, that Obama is getting a free ride and that they are hard on Clinton. It is not fair, according to Wolfson. I feel everybody tearing up! Please people do not by this bovine fecal matter!

The accusation must have done something. Ever since the statement was made, Obama has been hammered in the media. The MSM is getting tougher on Obama. I guess it does do some good to bitch and whine.

Recently, the MSM has been running lots of stories on Obama’s substance, most are negative stories or those to help sway voters away from him and his positions. For instance, after he swept the Potomac primaries by double digits, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews when interviewing a Obama support, did not talk about the election but rather wanted to know what successes Obama has had in the Congress. He did not want to talk about the wins in the elections, he wanted to attack and embarrass the guest. Have never seen this tactic used on Clinton.

Then Joe Scarborough, of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, attacks Michelle Obama for her comment that she was “really proud of her country”. Joe made it a direct point with emphasis, that he was appalled that she had never been proud of the US until now. It was a matter of preception on her comment, but he had to attack. It seems to be a trend in the MSM.

But wait! It is not over yet! Then there was the accusation of plagiarism by Obama of a speech that the MA governor had used. But not much was said that the man is a co-chair of Obama’s campaign and told him to use it in a speech. But yet, little was said in the media about Clinton’s warm fuzzy at the end of the last debate, which was words used by her hubby and Edwards in past speeches.

All this has been in the last 7 to 10 days, so why is the media kowtowing to the Clintons? Are the Clintons controlling what the media reports? Or could it be that they were told that they would no longer have access to the candidate if things did not change? Whatever it was has worked. The media has zeroed in on Obama and the hatchet job is in play.

Personally, I feel that both candidates have gotten a free ride. They are allowed to present political rhetoric as answers to specific questions. Just watch debates, the candidates are NEVER made to answer a specific question but rather allowed to spout campaign fecal matter. The voter does not get a realistic answer to help them decidewho to vote for in the next primary.

The voter deserves proper answers to the questions. A stump speech is not a proper answer. From where I sit, the media is not working in the best interest of the TRUTH. And it appears that they are doing their part to assist the Clintons at every turn.