Saturday, July 28, 2007
Made ItI got here a day late, but I am finally in Portland. Once I get my bearings I will start blogging again. Probably on Sunday sometime.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
God’s InboxHe probably gets more spam than I do.
Ban the Beeb
The BBC has become a news media laughing stock over its relentless propaganda and spin efforts. Fausta’s Blog has a roundup of recent outrages.
It seems all the major dinosaur news outlets are racing toward extinction because they can’t stop being the monsters that they’ve become over the years. At some point, as more and more people tun away in disgust, they will collapse under the weight of their own hubris.
The BBC stands as a classic example of why you should never trust the government with your news. People in Britain are forced to pay a tax to support a so called news service that lies to them on a regular basis. And their spin on the facts is having a toxic effect n their society. The BBC has been a major pusher of deranged PC lunacy. They are a prime GW howler as well.
If every a new organization needed an overhaul, there you go. The problem is, if such a thing happened it would be the usual bureaucratic creeps making the decision. Monopolies lead to this kind of a mess. Hence, we should resist the socialist urge.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Media Myth BustersA new site has been created to deal with the problem of media myths. Kind of a Snopes for the newsmedia.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
The Press Be DamnedMost PC story of the week. Give me a break.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Where Was Middle EarthA map that suggests where Middle Earth was in relation to our world.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Chase on the Sopranos Finale“I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there,” he says of the final scene.
“No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God,” he adds. “We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people’s minds, or thinking, ‘Wow, this’ll (tick) them off.’ People get the impression that you’re trying to (mess) with them and it’s not true. You’re trying to entertain them.”
It seems a bunch of my writer friends are convinced Tony got killed. Maybe. But I think Chase could have done a better job cluing us in.
It got people talking, so I suppose in that respect it wa a success.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Things Change. Sometimes for the BetterPungent smoke floats through the chandeliers of the tribal chief’s reception room. At his home in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province and a onetime Iraqi insurgent stronghold, Sheik Shakir Saoud Aasi is enjoying after-dinner cigars with his guest of honor, battalion commander Lt. Col. Craig Kozeniesky of the 2/5 Marines. Around the room, Marines and Iraqi tribesmen and police are sitting together, swapping jokes and stories. Some of these Iraqis were probably shooting at Americans less than a year ago. Now they and the Marines are fighting side by side against Al Qaeda. “We are not just friends but also brothers,” the sheik tells Kozeniesky. “This is a new beginning for both of us.” Kozeniesky can only agree: “Things have changed dramatically.” A 5-year-old Iraqi boy in traditional robes and headdress is racing around the room and vaulting into U.S. troops’ laps. What does he want to be when he grows up? He proudly announces: “American general named Steve!”
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Disney TunnelsGuide to the tunnel network under Disneyland.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Democrats vs Free SpeechIt seems like many on left only belief in free speech that supports their agenda. Everything else they want shut down. Some think the Don Imus firing was a trial run to getting talk radio hosts shut down. The other method is through legislation.
What unifies the two schools of leftist media criticism, beneath their apparent opposition, is pure elitism. Media abundance (which the scarcity critics must implausibly wave away as a mirage) has meant more room for right-of-center viewpoints that, while popular with many Americans, the critics find completely unacceptable. The fact that Bill O’Reilly gets better ratings than Bill Moyers perturbs them to no end. It’s just not fair!
Both liberal groups would love to put their thumbs on the scale and tilt the media in their preferred direction. Scarcity-obsessed Dennis Kucinich has recently introduced plans in Congress to revive the Fairness Doctrine, which once let government regulators police the airwaves to ensure a balancing of viewpoints, however that’s defined. A new Fairness Doctrine would affect most directly opinion-based talk radio, a medium that just happens to be dominated by conservatives. If a station wanted to run William Bennett’s show under such a regime, they might now have to broadcast a left-wing alternative, too, even if it had poor ratings, which generally has been the case with liberal talk. Sunstein also proposes a kind of speech redistributionism. For the Internet, he suggests that regulators could impose “electronic sidewalks” on partisan websites (the National Rifle Association’s, say), forcing them to link to opposing views. The practical problems of implementing this program would be forbidding, even if it somehow proved constitutional. How many links to opposing views would secure the government’s approval? The FCC would need an army of media regulators (much as China has today) to monitor the millions of webpages, blogs, and social-networking sites and keep them in line.
Whenever I read left wing blogs and see how they talk about Fox news, their derision masks an obvious fear that its some kind of threat, when it’s only one of many news networks. None of the others share its leanings. They hated and attacked it from the start. But he fact that it became the #1 cable news channel should speak more of how out of touch the other channels are with the public.
Of course, the solution lefties seem to have when people don’t want to listen to them is shut down all opposing views. This is why the left is not liberal. And free speech needs to thrive. Any politicians who want to shut down debate are enemies of free speech, and by extent, the constitution and should be viewed as such. The public really needs to vote this people out of office and never let them back.
