News in the News

From Free Press:

At the same time that the U.S. military is harassing Al Jazeera reporters, other parts of the U.S. government, including the State Department, are attempting to answer Al Jazeera in its own language and format. On February 14 the United States launched a nominally independent, U.S.-funded Arabic-language satellite channel called Al Hurra, which means "the free one." The purpose of this effort is to address the lack of popular support for the U.S. occupation in Iraq, as well as the deepening crisis of American legitimacy throughout the Arab world; polls from the region indicate that more and more people hate the United States every day.

And there's nothing new about a new study about further disintegration of the US media that made last week's news. I don't know about you, but I am certainly not surprised that more people are turning to alternative sources like late night comedy shows and the Internet for their facts. Turns out, "infotainment" is overtaking serious news in traditional outlets, and the bottom line has replaced old-time American journalistic values in modern newsrooms.

It's all one big yawn, as a bunch of folks (me too) have been screaming for years about the commercialization of the news and the corporatization of the news business.

Subject: Fwd: THE ROBIN WILLIAMS PEACE PLAN

>Note: forwarded message attached.

Dear Fellow Netizens,

You forwarded an email from one to another that ended up with me. Robin Williams is one of my favorite comedians, so I opened the email post-haste. It expressed an opinion that I feel every time I hear the US "dissed" by some fella whose country was yanked from political, economic, or real disaster by our soldiers, technology, businesses, money, or other purely American resource.

But it wasn't funny. I didn't laugh once, not even a faint snicker or a soft snort.

I don't know about you, but I expect Robin Williams to be funny, even when he's playing a poor English teacher!

So I "Googled" the subject line of the email, which itself apparently had been forwarded to the first person in this e-Pass the Secret game.

In a fairly short time, I found this: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/williams.asp .... (Snopes is a reputable site with a Good Veracity Rating(TM).)

So, one of my favorite comedians did not write an un-funny "Peace Plan".....

Have a great day!

"B"

PS - The (TM) after Good Veracity Rating is sarcastic, but I do generally believe what I read on Snopes as it's been around for almost ten years and I haven't caught it in a deliberate fabrication yet.
PSS - Try a Google search the next time something tickles *your* caution toggle.... Search for a phrase rather than individual words by putting quotes around the phrase and typing it into the Google text box, for example:
"THE ROBIN WILLIAMS PEACE PLAN"

The Bookshelf

I want to add two books....

Remember when Karen Hughes quit working for the administration in order "to go home to be with family"? The next time I heard about her, she was quite actively reporting news and speaking at functions all over; generally not hanging out by hearth and home. I tend to believe that, in human groups, the whole reflects the passions of the parts. So, the powerful women so prominently pictured in W's administration intrigue me. On the one hand, they could be wonderful role models for girls who don't want to trod the traditional path of homemaker. On the other hand, they use their power in service to a group whose strongest supporters would return them and their sisters to the backseat of life.

Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species by Laura Flanders might shed some light on the subject. From her interview with buzzflash, I surmise that the book contains unremarked-upon oddities and ocean-sized cognitive disconnects practiced by the Bush women.

For example, did you know that Lynn Cheney is the author of a poorly received blue pulp romance that featured a lesbian sex scene? Phew! Who would want the battle going on in her subconscious? ("You have a Vice President and his wife running on a blatantly homophobic platform while their campaign is run by their openly lesbian daughter," Flanders says succinctly.)

(I like buzzflash; with pitiless pith, this editorial points out "the essence of the Bush Administration political strategy: 'If you tell a lie five times, it becomes the truth.'")

Read the interview yourself to discover why I'd refuse to play bridge against W if Laura is his partner....

As for W, the man himself, I just saw two authors on Charlie Rose who were not impressed. Eric Alterman and Mark J. Green (of the New Democracy Project) just released The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America.

Green told Rose that the Bush strategy is to define the election year battle on the "Gays, Guns, and God" nexus that has hypnotized the slightly less than one-half of the electorate that put them into the White House.

On the show, they pointed out that John Kerry is openly concerned with the economic well being of the country, but "Bush changes the subject" whenever pressed. In the brief time they were on the air, Alterman discussed how the Bush political machine "created false impressions" of both John McCain and Al Gore, but that was before he got a record of his own to examine. During the upcoming electioneering time, it may not matter that the Bush tenure hasn't been particularly good for most of us, especially with stuff like job creation, the national budget, and the administration's reasons for invading Iraq, the authors said.

W, Green explained, makes "willful misstatements" that lead to radical policies. Then, when those policies don't work, he repeats the statements, "changing the facts."

It could be a good book.