WaPo enabling the anti-journalism team, now why would they do that?? Oh, right, $$. And covering news would take qualified staff.
Without the audience of Faux news and enablers, I do believe the right wing would have to try telling something related to facts instead of their present All Lie talking points.

Better Megyn Kelly than Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, or Campbell Brown.

A-man:

George Will is going to go so global cooling on your midwest nut sack.

You’ll be able to pound bananas into nails with it.

Do not cross the wapo.

[cue song, "macho man" by village people]

I’m not a thrall to the WaPo or Fox. Free yourselves, folks. My digestion is much better for it.

I saw Beck for the first time the other day on the clip with Massa. I turned it off after two minutes so never saw Massa. He is a farce, a caricature, a bearded lady, a carnival sideshow. He is, in fact, a sad character. He should either be kept at home for his own safety or should maybe join the likes of Leno and whatshisname on late night tv.

He is perfect for fox news

Occasionally I see Beck on a clip on some other show, I believe it was Countdown with Massa yesterday. The appalling side of his vile persona is that he evidently has some huge following. or else occupies a desirable time slot and folks put up with the idiocy because they have nothing else to do??

From the New York Times on down, the corporate media is best regarded as enemy propaganda. I advise a virtual fast from all of it.

Everyone knows the corporate news is crap, but everyone watches it anyway, in the mistaken belief they can filter out the crap.

But I’m sure one can’t filter out the crap. It’s just basic neurology that if you hear something repeated enough times, it affects your thinking to some degree. This is my theory, offered for your amusement.

Who the Hell’s a Moderate?, in which Mr. Logan gives the independents a much-needed bashing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbyKBevTjVY

Fortunately, we have BBC news on during the evening news slot, so nice to know what’s going on in the world.

There is a lot of “stuff” happening in the world most of which the American Gummint does not want the ‘mercuns to see so, I assume, they fill the air time with bufoonery which seems to placate the dumbed down ‘mercuns.

But Tiger’s therapy Matters. Somalia is over there somewhere.

Good morning all.

I’m happy to report that I haven’t a clue as to what you’re all talking about.

And speaking of news Americans are not allowed to see. Palestinians should now declare their independence

Could the Israeli government make it any more obvious they have no intention of sharing the Over-Promised Land with its other inhabitants?

Until 1948, the Palestinians were living in their own homes, on their own land – until they were suddenly driven out in a war to make way for a new state for people fleeing a monstrous European genocide. They lived huddled and dazed in the 20 per cent of their land they were allowed to keep. They hardly fought back: they wept and dreamed of return. Then in the 1967 war, even these small strips were conquered with tanks and platoons.

They watched while Israeli Prime Ministers said they didn’t exist – “there are no Palestinians”, announced Golda Meir – or described them as animals: Menachem Begin called them “beasts walking on two legs”, while Yitzhak Shamir said they should be “crushed like grasshoppers… heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” They tried peacefully resisting, launching a programme of sit-downs and civil disobedience. Yitzhak Rabin responded by ordering the occupying Israeli army to “break their bones.” After decades of this treatment, they fought back with violence – some of it targeted horribly and unacceptably at Israeli civilians.

However if the Americans were allowed the truth about the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians there would be what…..outrage?…….a demand to stop financing the genocide?……a boycott of Israeli goods?……A snicker?……a “tut tut”?……..a too effin’ bad?.

Good morning, pups. It’s Brooks, Cohen and Krugman today. Bobo has been busy “Getting Obama Right.” He loftily opines that Barack Obama never has been what political partisans make him out to be. He starts out with a question, to which he then proceeds to supply two spectacularly wrong answers. Maybe he should ask someone at Applebee’s salad bar… Mr. Cohen is in Florence and discusses “Florentine Choices.” He says Italy idles in the belief that life is circular and objectives an illusory distraction from pleasure. Prof. Krugman addresses “Health Reform Myths” and says well-informed people are buying into three big myths about Obamacare. The plan may not be perfect, but it is reasonable and responsible.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got toasted Thomas’ English muffins with your favorite jam. I’m headed off to let the cats out. They’ve been climbing the walls since they were cooped up inside yesterday due to rain which, of course, is our fault. It may rain this afternoon again, but right now nothing is falling from the sky. Have a great day.

Thank heaven for them. It’s the only news programming I watch.

Thanks, Marion, that explains gelato, doesn’t it> now I crave some.

Just caught a bit of a report on cnbc when coming back with my coffee. Apparently Lehman had been bust for weeks before they declared. Accounting fraud. Lawsuits, including potentially their auditor or accountant, Ernst & Young. Who coulda anticipated.

And the regulators didn’t know there was a problem.

Yep.

Accounting fraud from firm that was paid to produce reports the co. liked, seems like those high ratings resulted from the same set of causes. Begging for regulations that come with penalties for misfeasance on the part of the hirees.

Regulations that the wingers are screeching are gov’t takeover.

And Dodd is doing his utter best to ensure a lifetime sinecure from “too big to fail”.

Who needs those payday loansters to be regulated anyhow.

So now there’s something called the Wiffster. It’s a spray with either chocolate or coffee scent. Calory free. Satisfies some of the craving for the real thing. Googled it but didn’t find anything. Heard it on cnbc.

How about this

A clue. Search for what it is not what it is called. i.e. “spray with either chocolate or coffee scent.”

I can definitely see the nice aspects of coffee with just a hint of chocolate instead of the godawful mocha shake stuff.

Those chocolate scented body products: the imagination runs wild.

Oy, politics now on cnbc. Gonna go read.

Calm down now. It is early yet and the day is long. Who knows you may meet some broccoli or carrot during the day.

Here is a list for you http://stores.ebay.com/Prim-Hearts-Hollow/Room-Spray-Scent-Descriptions.html

Who could have anticipated? Not that anything will be done, of course…

Happily, there is a local farm supply store here that sells seed grown locally. Not a great variety but solid stuff. I got chard last week out of an old jar labelled with the farmer’s name.

Yeah I sent the article to an organic farmer friend who has been woking with a group sending “real” seeds to India. Strictly illegal by laws written during the ClintonAMD years. Those effin’ clintons!

Pups,

Remember this, Carter “makes” little liver pills, Nestle “makes” chocolate and Faux “makes” news. They don’t report it.

So The Independent is still in business. That’s good to hear, though not sure what to expect from the Russian KGB agent who’s taken over and saved it from bankruptcy. Hope it’s not like the Moonies running the Washington Times. Talk about fair and balanced news outlets. Not much better than Fox.

The Washington Post wants to be the new Washington Times, the paper of record for wingnuts. Too bad their business plan doesn’t take into account the fact that wingnuts either can’t or don’t bother to read.

Krugman couldn’t have made a better case for private insurers with that plea…without really even mentioning private insurers. And he’s getting scary close to numbers fudge speak. What’s up Paul. Why are you conflating Medicare for All with Plato. Brooks doesn’t mention the poor, the hungry, the jobless, the struggling even once in his high-minded tribute to Obama. And Cohen is stoned in Florence. What a group.

Thought George Will had friends…or have all those guys converted to the new Progressivism.

Mr. and Mrs. Some get home delivery of the Washington Post, but they do have parakeets.

He has a huge following.

Fox News reminds me of pro wrestling up until about 15-20 yrs ago. They keep insisting they are legit, and there are a frightening number of rubes who believe them, but anyone with a lick of sense knows they are 100% fake.

Howell “Jayson Blair” Raines has been in the tank – for the Democrat Party – for so long that he has no clue what honest journalism is. He’s not alone in that tank, as 2008 showed. I can understand why he is jealous of FOX through, as he watches the NYT’s, WP, BG, LAT, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc all fall behind FOX in ratings and advertising revenue. Heck, MSM/Old Media (whatever…) would’ve ignored the racist Rev. Wright, except for the fact that he was invited to speak before the National Press Club. They quickly buried that story, along with the host of others.

The fundamental mistake is conceiving of Fox as a news organization. That may sound trite, but it is at the heart of the problem. Fox is in the ratings business, the “killing boredom” business for entertainment and profit.

I highly recommend the Columbia Journalism Review article: Dumb Like a Fox – http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/dumb_like_a_fox.php?page=all

Fox like all cable news, is not a broadcaster but a narrow-caster. At peak times they attract 2 million viewers in a nation of 320 million. They exist to entertain a small but dependable audience, and make $500 million a year for their efforts.

They often claim that they are unfairly targeted due to their opinion programing. Then they point out that every paper in the country has an editorial page. So what’s the problem?

The difference is that no one would think a newspaper that had 60 pages of inflammatory editorial comment and one or two pages of “news” is a legitimate news outlet. So why on earth does any sentient being think Fox is?

While it is useful to confront inaccuracy, falsehood and bias in the news media, almost all of Fox’s “legitimacy” and most certainly its influence is garnered by the attention it gets from those who confront it as a bad news outlet, or benefit from it’s purported slant. Remember it has a tiny, rather monolithic audience.

There is no point hollering about Fox as a bad news operation. They love that. It reaffirms their self-portrayal as a news organization. It’s the ultimate inside joke, almost negating the Colbert Report – they are already a parody, but somehow the real news guys haven’t worked that out yet. They get adulation from their gormless audience, but better still, they get to giggle all the way to the bank while actual news operations continue to help perpetuate the staggering fiction that they are a news medium. We don’t need to fight Fox, just ignore it.

If “real” journalists, politicians and others in the public sphere paid no attention to Fox. And I mean ignore it completely (no references, no corrections no breathless outrage), within a year their influence would evaporate. Their small audience would remain entertained and active, but would be restored to their real status as fringe outsiders in the public discourse.

Of course that will not happen. There are simply too few “real” journalists left. The remainder of the media are too close, both in methods and purpose to the Fox model. Pissing contests with Fox are fun, easy and reliable ratings grabbers, with no difficult journalism required.

Until this changes, “serious” journalists can carp all they want about Fox, but rest assured Roger Ailes will love every minute of it.

Weren’t the WaPo and NYT once great papers? Or did they bring down Nixon just because he wasn’t conservative enough?

I arrived in Washington in 1969. Apart from a detour to law school on the West Coast, was there until 2008.

During its heyday, the Post was great — as was the Times. Pentagon Papers [NYT], Watergate, countless scandals covered and investigations launched. A whole generation inspired to go into “investigative journalism.”

To my mind, the fall began with Katherine Graham’s death. Her son & daughter [and I think grandkids ?] just don’t have a love or respect for journalism; they evaluate it solely based on its ability to make money.

Ditto for the broadcast networks, which used to “fund” their news operations as a public service. Then GE acquired NBC [and MSNBC], Cap Cities bought ABC, and someone owns CBS. [My ownership trail may be a bit out of date; I apologize.] The point is “news” is now evaluated by its “ratings,” and God knows, we the Dumb Public don’t want to see any troublesome stories.

Somewhere some things — failing public schools, Reagan — eliminated the idea of an educated electorate necessary for democracy.

And here we are.

PS – I wish Warren Buffett, who owns a big stake in the WaPoo, is on their board, and was a mentor to Katherine Graham, would dump his stake in that loser organization — merely on business grounds.

Actually, the NYTimes did not do all that much to assist in the actual reporting on Watergate. WaPo did that one.

People responsible must be long gone.

I wish Warren Buffett were the head of the Fed, but, unfortunately, wishing won’t make it so. I also wish he could take a stronger hand at the Wapoo, or had editorial input. Sigh!

Yeah, I know. I was just trying to give an example of each [NYT = Pentagon Papers; WaPoo = Watergate].

They ultimately don’t want to acknowledge Fox “News” for what it is because then they would be opening themselves up to their lesser more subtle forms of propaganda.John Stossel was on 20/20 for years before moving to Fox, and I remember so clearly his trashing of the trial lawyers in the summer of 2004 when Edwards was veep to be. That’s just one small example. But imagine if there was an hour long piece on ABC about why George Bush didn’t deserve to be president. Ah yes.. that never happened.

Judith Miller and the vaunted NY Times anyone? The entire Iraq war was a product sold to the American media by every source available. And there has still been zero accountability for that.

Really is “I’m sorry” for a needless war and hundreds of thousands of deaths enough? But there is also zero outrage from the American people. They really don’t want to know. Because that forces accountability from them.

And as some very astute critics have pointed out, the very idea of propaganda can’t be acknowledged. Because in the end that means all of television and mass media is a product selling something for someone’s benefit. The American people are not allowed to openly know this. Just like the idea that someone like Wendell Potter might be a double agent now working for the insurance companies again and pushing the HCR. Americans seem to have endless faith in words spoken on a TV.