An early G’Morning…How comforting that McCain is looking out for us and willing to talk about “whatever” in ways we will never understand. Maybe he has been consulting with Sarah….Book Salon looks interesting and timely…Thanks for the headlines….

Good morning, pups. This morning we have The Pasty Little Putz, Dowd, Kristof and Bruni. The Moustache of Wisdom is off today, so The Pasty Little Putz has tried to fill his shoes. In “Libya’s Unintended Consequences” he gurgles that what was feared after Qaddafi’s fall is well on its way to happening in Mali. What are the odds he could even find Mali on a map? But now he’s gonna punditize about it, and without even talking to a cab driver. MoDo has spent a few days curled up with Netflix and some popcorn. In “Cowboys and Colleens” she fizzes about embracing the prickly John Ford, the storyteller who helped define the image of America and Ireland. Mr. Kristof (who is still in Lesotho, and I’m pretty sure has actually been to Mali) sends us “The Coffin-Maker Benchmark.” Worried foreign aid is wasted? These miserable coffin makers in southern Africa may change your mind. Mr. Bruni, in “The Thrill of Bill & Hill,” says The Clintons are riveting political animals. That’s one reason we can’t let go.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got chocolate croissants with fresh raspberries. I’ve also got some home-made lemon sorbet and blackberry ice cream in the freezer. My experiment today is going to be avocado ice cream. We’re huge avocado lovers, and that just sounded like a grand idea! Have a great day.

Not having cable, the most ‘thrilling’ thing on that list is that Bill Moyers is going to discuss the dirty little secret of our country “Is labor a lost cause?”. Yes, it is about labor unions, but the question applies period. When an elected representative’s response to a constituent’s question about voting to raise the minimum wage to a level that actually begins to support someone is to scream at that person. When they yell to get a job and repeat when that person says they have one, it is obvious that actually having to be employed in this country is now being lower then dirt. It deserves no consideration or respect. We are truly a third world country as far as our elected officials are concerned.

How about we begin to get some firepups on Sunday morning? Since Jane is busy, I’m thinking DDay.

Perhaps when the next financial story hits (presumably this week, since there’s something new every week), we all call one of the MSM stations? I don’t know which one, but I get the feeling that DDay isn’t particularly comfortable with self-promotion. So we’d need to make it happen and remind people in every post that we need to call one particular station for one week and ask for his presence… explaining why his insight is relevant to the story.

Anyone have any thoughts on trying to get an FDL front-pager among the Sunday talking heads?

Maybe we should start by nominating DDay for a Pulitzer? I think he would qualify under several categories:

•For a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation, using any available journalistic tool.
•For distinguished commentary, using any available journalistic tool.
•For distinguished criticism, using any available journalistic tool.

Thoughts? Having won a Pulitzer, it’d probably be easier to get the talking heads to acknowledge he knows his $hi+.

Thanks, Elliott, and Marion, spending a day actually online at home today is a treat, and having Up! at hand another one of those. The scenery will stay the same for a day, then off again. Makes our bleak prospects more bearable, but distant for the moment.

The talking heads are never worth watching. They just vomit up a spun script, never say anything surprising or revealing. Bon bons for the true believers, nothing more.

Instead enjoy the cool morning weeding your garden, or read a book.

Up! talks about the obvious fact that all time high temps are being ignored by the right wing media

Chris Hayes is talking seriously about climate change. What a breath of fresh air. Meanwhile, the rest of the msm has the usual suspects I see. For profit news always becomes for profit narrative. I hope “Up” lasts in the corporate controlled media.

Thank you, Elliot.

Both Scarecrow and Marcy Wheeler have laid out the truth.

The purpose of the media, in the United States of America, is simply to further the “deception”.

Wikipedia has this to say about “deception”:

“Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth (as in half-truth or omission). Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight of hand. It employs distraction, camouflage, or concealment. There is also self-deception as in bad-faith.

Deception is a major relational transgression that often leads to feelings of betrayal and distrust between relational partners. Deception violates rational rules and is considered to be a negative violation of expectations.”

The entry is well-worth reading in its entirety.

The function and purpose of the media IS deception, that being the purpose and “function” of the political class, of which the media is a part.

DW

The best thing that could happen to Meet the Press is for it to be bumped by a sport event. I never thought I’d say this but I miss Timmeh. Gregory is the worst anchor possible imaginable.

I am, however, pleased to see that Chris has Mann & Ornstein on his show again (for the second time, I think) when they were otherwise being totally blacked out by the media after their book was published.

The weather has turned reasonable after 10 days of unbearable, so I’m going bike riding. No teevee for me.

I don’t have cable, so I will watch later when it’s Up! online.

Good morning all.

WRT labor, it is a core value of neolibrul (supply-side) economics to destroy any power labor accumulated over years of hard work.

They succeeded.

First the French Open pre-empts Meet the Press and now the Tour de France does the same. That the U.S. viewing audience is not subjected to Karl Rove’s dance partner is truly a blessing. All I can say is Vive la France.

Right wingers could be bursting into flames from rising temperatures and the corporate media would ignore the fact.

“Up!” will last. I just watched his clip explaining the libor scandal. The “headline” and “lead-in” were linking Romney to Barclays’ Diamond.

IMO, Romney has little to do with the scandal… and certainly no more than Obama ignoring Corzine. They’re both beholden to the MOTU.

I’m hoping that headline was not Hayes’ decision. I hope he wasn’t trying to link Barclays to Romney (I’m hoping it was a decision by the editorial / video staff). It’s a distraction that is tangential at best. But it also makes obvious that — as Cenk illustrated — MSNBC is owned by the same corporatists who own our elected officials.

S’Already happening.

Well except for FAUX who would tout it as a new form of energy that their people just discovered.

MSNBC is owned by the same corporatists who own our elected officials.

I’m only marginally stupid. I know who owns MSNBC.

If labor is going to be reborn it will have to occur from the bottom up. The current leadership is corrupt and complicit.

I think Diamond is a “bundler” for the Romney campaign.

Romney bundler resigns as CEO of Barclay’s

Sorry. Didn’t mean to come across that way.

My hope is that as technology improves and proliferates, the world moves away from TV and toward online content. It would offer an opportunity for non-MOTU to fight back as we may not need the big bucks to compete.

BTW, attempting to portray Romney as this poor, misunderstood outsider who is entirely innocent of everything is just silly. I’m not going to vote for him ever. Period.

But it also makes obvious that — as Cenk illustrated — MSNBC is owned by the same corporatists who

I’m not sure how the linking of Diamond to Romney has anything to do with the ownership of MSNBC. Maybe I’m just slow this morning after 10 days of hot weather.

Oh, interesting. That makes it more relevant. But still tangential to the libor issue IMO (definitely s/n/h/b in the headline). And I didn’t hear Hayes mention the bundler relationship either, but I could’ve missed it.

I think he did…*think* being the operative word, since I’m not positive either. Perhaps one of his guests did.

Romney is not an outsider. I view Romney in much the same way I view Obama. They’re both there doing the work of the MOTU.

I’m just saying that Hayes is doing his part for MSNBCs bottom line. And frankly, I don’t take much issue with it. MSNBC and Fox are both, unfortunately, biased and partisan. And I think the on air talent for both networks are required to participate in the dog’n'pony show to some extent. So as long as Hayes allows stuff like the Romney & Barclays headline to fly, MSNBC execs will allow his show to continue.

One of my friends is a labor lawyer. Our conversations have been about bees & gardening. I’m working up to how to engage him in a productive conversation about the labor movement.

I still don’t get it, Tim. Linking Diamond to Romney is hardly flattering to MSNBC/GE. I’d think the corporatists would NOT want that to be emphasized, because it makes both of them look bad. Am I still missing something?

Hayes now talking about Rmoney tax avoidance. “it’s all legal, my frends.”

They aren’t tax havens, they are tax hideouts , says I.

And Steve Moore is a jerk.

What is the MSNBC business model?

It uses Democratic talking points to invigorate Dems and Dem-leaning Unaffiliateds. To link Romney to a “bad guy” is to perpetuate the narrative and remind their viewers why they should vote in November.

I feel Cenk made it clear that all discussion must be geared toward improving the Dem image while hurting the GOP image. That’s because that’s how MSNBC earns their keep. Their big dollar ad buyers are from, presumably, Dem-leaning budgets.

The same applies to Fox. And as long as the Corporatists own both sides, they’re comfortable playing the game (talking out both sides of their mouths) and pretending as though there is a difference between the two parties. The Corporatists feel that the make-believe choice best suits their purpose.

And I don’t believe any major corporation cares much if Obama or Romney win. And they don’t mind taking some public criticism, as long as the game-rigging continues.

Does that make sense? I could try to explain differently.

You’re also assuming that many MSNBC viewers would see the Romney / Diamond link and then take that one step further to link MSNBC to the scandal.

I’m guessing that won’t happen and most people will go no further in their own analysis than the Romney / Diamond link.

And we’re talking a numbers game here. If Hayes has 100,000 viewers, how many will stop where I believe they’ll stop? And how many will continue to your conclusion? I suspect some will address your point. But I also suspect that will be a fairly small number of viewers.

you should know that, to the best of my knowledge, neither UP nor MHP are re-aired in their entirety on msnbc. They should be.

You’re also assuming that many MSNBC viewers would see the Romney / Diamond link and then take that one step further to link MSNBC to the scandal.

I’m actually not doing that. I don’t think there is a link, and I don’t think there are a lot of people who will interpret that way. The bundler story has been in the news for several days. If you Google “diamond romney bundler” there are half dozen hits before you get to one by Mediaite that mentions Chris Hayes, and the piece focuses on the discussion of LIBOR.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes a headline is just something a flunky wrote.

Sorry for putting words in your mouth. I apologize.

But back to my underlying point… why the Romney / Diamond headline?

I still think that’s only tangential. And I’m *doubting* that MSNBC had any headlines linking Obama to Dimon during the Whale Fail Congressional hearing.

I think the Romney / Diamond headline demonstrates the partisanship of the MSNBC / Fox.

Of the few headlines I saw in the British press, I don’t recall any Romney / Diamond headlines. The issue was libor-fixing.

Google Obama Dimon MSNBC.

Interesting discussion, TimWhite. Much better than what usually pops up on this thread.

Now I’m off to ride my bicycle. Have a good Sunday!

Will do. I had googled “Obama Dimon Whale site:msnbc.com” and found nothing. But the whale may very well not be included in normal reporting. I need to find the trader’s name since an “Obama Dimon” google brings back kudos for Dimon’s banking prowess.

Good bike ride to you too Molly. I just bought a bike. Will be doing the 12 miles (x2) rails-to-trails commute starting next week. I’m looking forward to it.

No John McCain today? Must be a very slow news week.

Bill Moyers is the only Sunday show worth my time – the rest are just spinners that get softball questions which leads to the talking points for the day – how sad the loss of real journalism – the US is listed at 27th regarding freedom of the press :(

In an effort to improve journalism, my wish is to change federal student loans policy.

I figure if we can reduce the total number of journalism / writing college grads, it would be more difficult for newspapers to require a tertiary education and even grad school.

In turn, newspapers could be encouraged to hire high school grads from their local school district. And that could assist in real investigative reporting as the local kids would have both contacts and the trust / confidence of the people they cover. So you’d have low-level gov’t employees doing some anonymous whistleblowing / storytelling.

Unfortunately, too many people look at college as the only way to advance oneself. And I think that in the context of journalism, America really needs to reconsider the formal-education-is-required philosophy.

Unfortunately, too many people look at college as the only way to advance oneself.

Really. Which people are those? Did some college kid hurt your feelings so you need to attack higher education? So you endorse the Romney austerity for Education.

“Not everybody is going to go to college, of course. And people have different courses in their life they want to pursue. College is not right for everybody. Some folks have other ambitions and want to go in different directions. So, we want people to have freedom in this country and opportunity to pursue their happiness and the way they think.”

Incidentally newspapers are obsolete.

Can you say “apples and oranges”? I do believe you missed a very important point. And, the death of newspapers claim is certainly premature.

See Face the Nation, above…;)

I guess I was unclear.

It’s common for newspapers to require a Bachelor’s — and sometimes a Master’s — Degree. And what’s a common path for a student to take to get there?

Kid grows up in a town. Moves somewhere to go to college. Moves somewhere else to work.

When the newly minted reporter begins work, if it’s a new town, then s/he has no contacts — and no trust / confidence — in that town.

Strong investigative journalism is based much more on contacts — and their trust — than it is on the skills learned in a journalism program.

IMO, education is incredibly important. But in the case of journalism, I do believe that higher education (some of which I’m sure has great value for journalism) has had a negative impact to some extent. And to the extent that it has had a negative impact, I think federal student loan policy should be reviewed.