Tannishblog

Where sits the Media, really?

I can’t count the many times the MSM gets bashed by all concerned parties. The Right has innumerable knee-jerk allusions of how far left the media is. Lately, the progressives – we dare not associate with the term “liberal” – are singing in counterpoint how the same media is in the pockets of the Repulsives… the Repugnants… the… Oh, you get the idea.

Does this mean the media is actually functioning properly? If both sides are whining, then both sides must own sufficient representation. One caveat is the tendency of a news outlet to pander to the dollar, meaning the whole paper (for example) will lean the same way, in order to maximize its readership. An understandable response when viewed as an item of commerce. An unfortunate byproduct of such homogenization is the ease in which we all can avoid hearing both sides of an argument; too easily can we ignore what we don’t want to hear.

That is precisely how our dipolar political standoff has occurred. Back in the day In my grandfathers time, newspapers were obliged by a common code of honor to represent both sides of a difficult conundrums; acting as their own police, they understood that honesty was tantamount to capitalistic gain. Not so, anymore: Money is the walk, the talk, and the entire meaningful universe to corporate news outlets. Money decides what is printed, pandered, and propagated. So much for the good-old-days.

So if media is getting a bad rap from progressives and congressives alike, where do they stand?

Someday I hope to be half as eloquent as Frank Rich of the NY Times. In today’s editorial he bombasts the government with one of the strongest arguments I’ve recently heard for bringing the troops home.

Enumerating our failed war policy is easy. To do so with as few words as possible is the trick. Frank delivers. Regarding the false claim of “Standing down,” he counters with:

So let’s do the math. According to our own government, more Iraqis are standing up — some 263,000 at latest count. But we are not standing down. We are, instead, sending in more American troops. Where have we seen this shell game before

More great writing is evident, but the most poignant paragraph refers to the latest round of gay bashing legislation making the rounds in congress:

The marriage-amendment campaign will be kicked off tomorrow with a Rose Garden benediction by the president. Though the amendment has no chance of passing, Mr. Bush apparently still thinks, as he did in 2004, that gay-baiting remains just the diversion to distract from a war gone south.

When is enough more than enough? I can’t ask this rhetorically anymore. We must pull out. NOW!

I’m just now catching up on the latest fiasco in Washington (here, here, and here among others). No doubt you’ve heard by now how Federal agents absconded with documents from the House of Representative office complex and declared them classified, to whisk them off to the inter-dimensional vortex to which only the FBI has the keys.

For once – at least for now – I’m speechless. I can only shake my head as I take in three days of reports on such a blatant infraction of protocol. Is this a crime? I don’t know, but it surely lends me to ask, “What are they hiding?” Rep. Jefferson was a Democrat!

If and when these documents are released, I’m betting that some key pages will be missing. What other reason for the grabbing of them? By the time it’s sorted out, surely some few weeks from now and ample time for tampering of evidence, who would know? It’s damn hard to discern what is not there if one is unaware of its existence initially.

My second reaction, now that my mind is rebooting, is that Bushie doesn’t have to worry about re-election, so the kid gloves are off. Expect his minions to get bolder as the last thousand days of his dictatorship tick away (or is that tick off). Anything goes! It seems that anything will indeed go…

Are you scared yet?

Now we can start counting the deaths in the War on Immigrants… ONE… Remember the War on Drugs? That one is still going on, I think. Meawhile designer drugs have emerged, the CIA has bee accused of drug trafficking, and still there are drug gangs, and the rest of the symptoms in the inner cities. That war is not going well.

And then there’s the War on Terror. “Nuff said.

Iran seems to be political suicide in these days of declining poll numbers and nervous incumbents, so let’s start a NEW war! (Strains of Randy Newman drift through my mind: “Let’s drop the big one and see what happens…”)

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As the flood waters recede in Blue Country, I haven’t heard a peep from the MSM about a federal declaration of emergency relief.. Maybe I missed something. Or maybe the blue-staters don’t want FEMA’s help.

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Jimmy Hoffa is making a comeback – and it’s not even Halloween yet. I ask you: does anyone really care? Maybe the President can nominate him for some committee…

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Dell computer bought out tres chic computer boutique venor Alienware a while back, which gives it an end run around its Faustian deal with Intel to not sell AMD Processors. Most PC hardware nuts like myself have preferred AMD for years in their boxes, and the gaming aficionados whom Alienware built its business around helped propel the chip makers market share into the mainstream, thus catching the eyes of Dell.

Just as HP can sell AMD in its Compaq line of computers without outwardly flaunting its own deal with Intel, so is Dell making the same moves. Today, Dell announces plans for using the underdog processors (which are arguable a better value) in their server line.

Okay. So I’m a chiphead. My motto? Achieve Total Geekosity! AMD is the best; I won’t build with anything else. Go Dell!

The Blogocube is buzzing about the NSA and phone call data mining. WaPo is conflicting itself with two articles: Most American support NSA, which Maven Malkin has run away with; and a tirade about our Favorite Shrubbery doing what he does best – Lying. ABC News confirms WaPo’s findings, whil USAToday tries to play on our fears of Big Brother.

So what else is new?

The Dems are chasing another Red Herring ostensibly acting in the best interests of POTUS but really stoking the few bonfires of extremism which already burn uncontrollably. And the news maching grinds on doing what it does best: sensationalizing. My take: This is yet another non-issue

If you’re rooting for a Democratic sweep this autumn, don’t hold your breath or put money down on it. That kind of upset only happens in fiction, or in a just and beneficent world; ours is neither. But there is hope…

What will take out the Republican majority is the Republican majority. In a word – hubris - will be their downfall. It’s already begun. The damage has been noted, and the tally will be counted nest November. Anything between now and then is posturing, therefore nothing to be concerned with. The lines are drawn, the cards dealt, ad nausea, and time will indeed tell.