I think that the US Gubmunt should get out of the public broadcasting biz. There’s just too much corruption potential in action to make it work any more. If we still had the Fairness Doctrine, there’d be hope, but we’re now seeing the full flower of its abolition, and the product (NPR) is rotten and toxic. Sorry Member Stations, a new architecture will have to emerge, and through this reinvention, new opportunities will develop.
As usual, ignorant hacks like the CPB-hating Republicans (and most everybody else in Congress) are barking up the wrong tree. It’s two failed wars and a morbidly obese Defense Dept. that should be hacked at FIRST. Uh, duh!
The Brits may have been able to pull off the BBC for over 80 years, but they’re laying off people right and left. The Beeb is being cut past the bone. I was in BBC’s Bush House in London recently and there was a hard-to-explain but palpable feeling of impending doom there. Americans may not know that citizens in the UK pay hefty fees to support their BBC. I remember paying 17 pounds for a black and white TV license in the early 80s. Colour TV cost about 45 pounds – a huge sum back then. That was just to HAVE a TV. (Those damn Brit socialists! Never mind that fees were an incentive for the BBC to conscientiously provide high quality news and entertainment to a fee-paying public.)
No, I think that the US is just stuck in their ongoing adolescent behavior as far as public funding for broadcasting is concerned. And here’s the wringer: if the Congress has allowed NPR to become what it is today, they are complicit in propaganda production, the whole of which needs to exposed. (But probably never will be.)
AND
Indeed, Inskreep was at his majestic-powerful best today, trying to (subtly) rip the Wisc. Dem senator a new one. He makes sure that his rapier verbiage takes pride of place, especially when talking to a cowardly runaway pinko with his diminished cell-phone voice and all. And then the I-kreep trademark: leave ‘em twisting in the wind at the end by the little pause and the fake cordiality at the end. And the interviewee, wondering if he/she’s just been screwed (via creative editing), is nevertheless obliged to offer up the now standard parting: ‘My pleasure’. The pleasure was all I-kreep’s. You can imagine his smile as he wipes his sword off with a satin sheet. Oh, but he’s way too suave to be a ‘gotcha’ dude. He’s more like ‘I believe I just sautéed the nuts off that, that, conceited (fill name in blank)’. That’s maybe giving him too much credit for any sophistication, but standard NPR smugness can cover it on all occasions.
‘My pleasure’ they say, even after covering a drone party in Pak. Everybody’s high on ‘pleasure’ at NPR. Of course, the difference between pain and pleasure has always been a bit of a blur.
These are among the tools that help keep NPR on the winning side (they think).
I actually wonder how big people at NPR (e.g. Viv et al) actually, truly, privately, regard Inskreep: insolent prick or genius hip journalisto? Amphetamine-popping goldmine or potential quick burnout, entirely dispensable? Sexy boytoy or closet perv?
Who could have foretold that US media would have ever sunk so low in the sewer?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Now That NPR's Under Fire, Some TOUGH TALK
If commies, hippies, Jews and Islamofashionistas can wage a War on Christmas, then by golly (as Rummy would say) the Republicans can wage jihad on NPR (and PBS - but that's not our concern here; I simply never watch it no more...)
War, war, war, that's all we ever hear about anymore. If I hear 'war' cried once more, I'll just scream!
But there is a sound of war in the camp. Holy war, righteous war. And woe unto NPR for ever, EVER having fired Juan the Yawn Williams.
Now just hold on a minute.
Here's a LINK! to a particularly handy summary that brings us up to date on the NPR that's supposedly a hotbed of anti-Fox liberalism that the GOP is so rabid about.
Mytwords (of NPR Check), thanks for the helpful digest that illustrates NPR's true identity. I'll refer others to it. I particularly needed it yesterday when I was discussing NPR with friends I trust, and sadly, they gave me that 'he's over the top' look regarding NPR. As has happened many times before, they got very quiet. No debate resulted because they didn't want to hear that 'their' NPR wasn't what they thought it was. I've never wanted to evangelize anybody on this matter, but just provide food for thought.
The American public is more vulnerable to propaganda than ever before. NPR, which appears so trustworthy, enjoys high standing, especially among those whom Hedges rightfully quotes as 'progressives' and 'liberals'. (Quotes implying a dubiousness...)
I include a timely Chomsky quote from Truthout:
"To understand why independent journalism is vital to regaining our self-governance and breathing life into our democracy, we turn to renowned philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky. Speaking recently about the way politicians fear the wave of democratic revolution in the Middle East, Chomsky said:
"We should remember there’s an analog here. I mean, it's not the same, of course, but the population in the United States is angry, frustrated, full of fear and irrational hatreds. And the folks not far from you on Wall Street are just doing fine. They’re the ones who created the current crisis. They're the ones who were called upon to deal with it. They’re coming out stronger and richer than ever. But everything's fine, as long as the population is passive."
(End quote)
Indeed, I've long held that NPR as it is now should be dissolved. It's developed past its useful purpose, and it behaves like the commercial enterprise it is but denies being. And other reasons regularly show up on this blog.
Of course, like GM, I don't expect NPR to disappear. However, if its budget was drastically cut back, perhaps there's a chance that it could be reinvented. As illustrated in the helpful comments above, if their cost-heavy trophy personalities were fired en masse, funding would not be so acute an issue, and NPR could evolve into a leaner, meaner, and even exciting info source. But not under the current personnel roster. No way.
This is a 'scorched earth' approach, but I agree that most of the current staff are hopeless as a result of their ambition, indoctrination, and their perverse, narcissistic versions of journalism are concerned.
Sorry to get 'Old Testament-like' here, but the children of Israel couldn't get to the promised land until all the 'golden calf' generation WAS CONSUMED. (I love that line towards the end of DeMille's 'Ten Commandments'!)
I mean, if CBS wants to blow 30 million on Katie Couric because she's 'good', so be it. They're a wholly commercial enterprise, and ratings are all that matters. When NPR aspired to get into that league, they became an instant failure.
Another problem is that NPR, in all their puffery and Neocon connectivity, aspires to do too much. They think they can do it all, and do it well. They want the gravitas, the comedy, the show biz and the concern, to be packaged in a 'creatively-written' and easy to pop pill - for the 'thinking masses' as I like to call them. Then they can posture as being above everybody else, whether it’s NBC or 'The Daily Show'. (They've never taken on Fox because they're so much alike - just a different wardrobe.)
But look at Al Jazeera. They don't want to do it all. They've basically kept their coverage pretty specific. They touch on 'magazine' issues when they have time, but they're obviously lower priority. I get the feeling that NPR is not only jealous of Al Jaz, some within NPR might think, 'that's what WE used to be like...'
NPR also adopted the classic commercial tactic of 'you can't live without us - you need us on every day, all the time.' And of course they're being so noble and all by providing such a 'service'.
Ultimately though, there really isn't much point in revamping NPR, as their monopoly is becoming rapidly meaningless. In the 90s it could have been done, before the raw corruption of the Bush Era fully set in. But NPR was too ripe a plum to be plucked by the Corporatists, and NPR, in its vanity, solicited the plucking most willingly.
But now it doesn't really matter. Viv might do her darndest to keep the vitality going, but as the baby boomer-plus generation (who still rely on the services a structured radio apparatus provides) age and disappear, there just won't be much point for an NPR anymore, and no one will want to pay for it, even as a propaganda tool, unless it goes wholly commercial. And Fox already exists, so why bother?
NPR is famous for being late on the scene for the story, and in the wider sense, it's too late for NPR to be saved from itself.
If doofus Republicans in a doofus Congress wanna get tough on NPR, fine. They don't know anything about it anyway. True alternatives have already emerged.
War, war, war, that's all we ever hear about anymore. If I hear 'war' cried once more, I'll just scream!
But there is a sound of war in the camp. Holy war, righteous war. And woe unto NPR for ever, EVER having fired Juan the Yawn Williams.
Now just hold on a minute.
Here's a LINK! to a particularly handy summary that brings us up to date on the NPR that's supposedly a hotbed of anti-Fox liberalism that the GOP is so rabid about.
Mytwords (of NPR Check), thanks for the helpful digest that illustrates NPR's true identity. I'll refer others to it. I particularly needed it yesterday when I was discussing NPR with friends I trust, and sadly, they gave me that 'he's over the top' look regarding NPR. As has happened many times before, they got very quiet. No debate resulted because they didn't want to hear that 'their' NPR wasn't what they thought it was. I've never wanted to evangelize anybody on this matter, but just provide food for thought.
The American public is more vulnerable to propaganda than ever before. NPR, which appears so trustworthy, enjoys high standing, especially among those whom Hedges rightfully quotes as 'progressives' and 'liberals'. (Quotes implying a dubiousness...)
I include a timely Chomsky quote from Truthout:
"To understand why independent journalism is vital to regaining our self-governance and breathing life into our democracy, we turn to renowned philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky. Speaking recently about the way politicians fear the wave of democratic revolution in the Middle East, Chomsky said:
"We should remember there’s an analog here. I mean, it's not the same, of course, but the population in the United States is angry, frustrated, full of fear and irrational hatreds. And the folks not far from you on Wall Street are just doing fine. They’re the ones who created the current crisis. They're the ones who were called upon to deal with it. They’re coming out stronger and richer than ever. But everything's fine, as long as the population is passive."
(End quote)
Indeed, I've long held that NPR as it is now should be dissolved. It's developed past its useful purpose, and it behaves like the commercial enterprise it is but denies being. And other reasons regularly show up on this blog.
Of course, like GM, I don't expect NPR to disappear. However, if its budget was drastically cut back, perhaps there's a chance that it could be reinvented. As illustrated in the helpful comments above, if their cost-heavy trophy personalities were fired en masse, funding would not be so acute an issue, and NPR could evolve into a leaner, meaner, and even exciting info source. But not under the current personnel roster. No way.
This is a 'scorched earth' approach, but I agree that most of the current staff are hopeless as a result of their ambition, indoctrination, and their perverse, narcissistic versions of journalism are concerned.
Sorry to get 'Old Testament-like' here, but the children of Israel couldn't get to the promised land until all the 'golden calf' generation WAS CONSUMED. (I love that line towards the end of DeMille's 'Ten Commandments'!)
I mean, if CBS wants to blow 30 million on Katie Couric because she's 'good', so be it. They're a wholly commercial enterprise, and ratings are all that matters. When NPR aspired to get into that league, they became an instant failure.
Another problem is that NPR, in all their puffery and Neocon connectivity, aspires to do too much. They think they can do it all, and do it well. They want the gravitas, the comedy, the show biz and the concern, to be packaged in a 'creatively-written' and easy to pop pill - for the 'thinking masses' as I like to call them. Then they can posture as being above everybody else, whether it’s NBC or 'The Daily Show'. (They've never taken on Fox because they're so much alike - just a different wardrobe.)
But look at Al Jazeera. They don't want to do it all. They've basically kept their coverage pretty specific. They touch on 'magazine' issues when they have time, but they're obviously lower priority. I get the feeling that NPR is not only jealous of Al Jaz, some within NPR might think, 'that's what WE used to be like...'
NPR also adopted the classic commercial tactic of 'you can't live without us - you need us on every day, all the time.' And of course they're being so noble and all by providing such a 'service'.
Ultimately though, there really isn't much point in revamping NPR, as their monopoly is becoming rapidly meaningless. In the 90s it could have been done, before the raw corruption of the Bush Era fully set in. But NPR was too ripe a plum to be plucked by the Corporatists, and NPR, in its vanity, solicited the plucking most willingly.
But now it doesn't really matter. Viv might do her darndest to keep the vitality going, but as the baby boomer-plus generation (who still rely on the services a structured radio apparatus provides) age and disappear, there just won't be much point for an NPR anymore, and no one will want to pay for it, even as a propaganda tool, unless it goes wholly commercial. And Fox already exists, so why bother?
NPR is famous for being late on the scene for the story, and in the wider sense, it's too late for NPR to be saved from itself.
If doofus Republicans in a doofus Congress wanna get tough on NPR, fine. They don't know anything about it anyway. True alternatives have already emerged.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Another, Grander Kind Of Donald
Fig. 1 His favorite jammies
Ages after his confessional was published, NPR finally got access to The Donald Rumsfeld's dance card.
What resulted was a dueling of the egomaniacs. Inskreep was determined to 'do a McNamara' on Rummy, and Rummy used his incredible charm to imply that Inskreep was somehow 'strange'. His trademark feistiness, which only made his voice sound reedy once, was kept in check, though he seemed to regard Steven as a pesky insect.
It made for gigantic radio.
Inskreep's big innovative, bottom-line question: was it worth all the mess just to bump off Saddam? Well of course Rummy's gonna say yes.
My big bottom-line question: how many book sales resulted in this NPR interview? I ask Rummy: was it worth it?
PS on Rummy’s addition to the Bush/Blair/Feith Library of True Neocon History: in gangland etiquette, it is always acceptable to bump off your pals if they double cross you or get uppity or don’t stay bought. Former pal Saddam had it coming after he refused offers he couldn’t refuse. The Don was in the thick of all that, as we very well know.
It’s also good gangland manners to let your supposed enemies escape. Rummy accidently revealed to Inskreep that he’s on a first name basis with Bin Laden. The Don to Osama: ‘We’ll bomb the shit out of Tora Bora, which’ll cover your getaway… Then I’ll dump the blame on Tommy Franks, who always follows orders.’
Osama needed The Don as much as The Don needed (and still needs) Osama.
PPS: In the Inskreep interview, I'm surprised Rummy didn't take credit for the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, having paved the way for the heathen after 'liberating' Iraq and all. (Assange in comparison is a punk nobody.)
But, being the good honest Neocon that he is, and as a leading soldier against democracy, he couldn't possibly do so.
However, he may have wished that he had taken credit, as the domino effect in the region opens up all sorts of Neocon dreams. The advent of Greater Israel might be at hand, what with the Prophet Glennbeck's forecast of The Caliphate's certain return!
Rummy may have to reinvent himself for a 4th Act.
Stay tuned for the big new movie version, starring Arnie Schwartzenegger in his triumphant return to acting as the Evil Caliph, and Chuck Norris as the Avenging Angel.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
In This, The Post-Pharaoh Hosni The Last Era . . .
I did a few minutes of the Simonizer this morn, and he's really been discombobulated with post-Mubarak Egypt. Usually swaggeringly confident, the SS, like the rest of NPR, acts like they've just lost their patriarch.
What to do? Before Israel kicks in with their persecution trip, best to be a little condescending to all the euphoric Egyptians, but then get down to work on the negative. Like, stay tuned for the Brotherhood and all that.
Then it was with much relief that the SS could turn to mocking streetcars in American cities with an Eleanor Beardsley-style snottiness (she's a great influence, doncha know).
These are obvious times to trash most American media as not only worthless, but more harmful than ever.
One question though: it took 30 years for the long-suffering Egyptians to dump their patriarch. How long will Americans put up with their crappy media?
A dear friend of mine, a passionately progressive-thinking person through and through, thinks that the media are all-powerful and that they have the American public permanently under their thumbs. I disagree. I certainly agree about their power, but I just don't think it's what it was. Like the US itself, their power has peaked. Egypt has proven that things will go in different directions now. That's what's so exciting about the here and now.
I was also elated when Al Jazeera had that awful, awful Nicholas Burns on to comment on the Egyptian situation. The interviewer just didn't buy Burns' lullaby-voiced 'gentle' words, and made him look like the worthless 'kindler, gentler' imperialist that he is.
On the other hand, on the recent Al Jaz 'Empire' show with Sy Hersh, Thomas Pickering, old-school American imperialist that he is, was nevertheless hip to fact that change is in the wind, so get on board. At least he was posing as more progressive.
As for NPR, despite Viv's futile attempts to make them the hippest cats on the block, NPR's dinosaur fate is really showing. She's gonna have to sack all the old farts and go commercial if she wants to save that mess.
I mean, if you're mocking streetcars, which work astoundingly well in cities from Calcutta to Riga to Zurich to Portland (all of which I have personally used with great satisfaction), you're not only a bozo, you're not long for your position of 'influence'. Sorta like Pharaoh Hosni The Last.
What to do? Before Israel kicks in with their persecution trip, best to be a little condescending to all the euphoric Egyptians, but then get down to work on the negative. Like, stay tuned for the Brotherhood and all that.
Then it was with much relief that the SS could turn to mocking streetcars in American cities with an Eleanor Beardsley-style snottiness (she's a great influence, doncha know).
These are obvious times to trash most American media as not only worthless, but more harmful than ever.
One question though: it took 30 years for the long-suffering Egyptians to dump their patriarch. How long will Americans put up with their crappy media?
A dear friend of mine, a passionately progressive-thinking person through and through, thinks that the media are all-powerful and that they have the American public permanently under their thumbs. I disagree. I certainly agree about their power, but I just don't think it's what it was. Like the US itself, their power has peaked. Egypt has proven that things will go in different directions now. That's what's so exciting about the here and now.
I was also elated when Al Jazeera had that awful, awful Nicholas Burns on to comment on the Egyptian situation. The interviewer just didn't buy Burns' lullaby-voiced 'gentle' words, and made him look like the worthless 'kindler, gentler' imperialist that he is.
On the other hand, on the recent Al Jaz 'Empire' show with Sy Hersh, Thomas Pickering, old-school American imperialist that he is, was nevertheless hip to fact that change is in the wind, so get on board. At least he was posing as more progressive.
As for NPR, despite Viv's futile attempts to make them the hippest cats on the block, NPR's dinosaur fate is really showing. She's gonna have to sack all the old farts and go commercial if she wants to save that mess.
I mean, if you're mocking streetcars, which work astoundingly well in cities from Calcutta to Riga to Zurich to Portland (all of which I have personally used with great satisfaction), you're not only a bozo, you're not long for your position of 'influence'. Sorta like Pharaoh Hosni The Last.
Monday, February 07, 2011
WELL . . .
Fig 1. He Was Ahead Of His Time (image courtesy of The Stranger - Seattle's Only Newspaper™)
My favorite Reagan anecdote:
RR happened to be on the Royal Yacht and he was being served coffee by members of HM The Queen's staff. Presented with steaming java served in a tankard that Henry VIII had quaffed out of and spit up in, the Gypper asked QE2, 'Is that decaf?'
Well . . . (as RR himself was wont to say!) I guess that after Tom Gjelten definitively proclaimed Ronald Reagan to be a genius (present tense, now and forever), all I need add is the following link to cap things off:
GENIUS - SHEER GENIUS
Also:
Thought I'd make a couple contributions to the Reagan Legend:
I heard a rumor that there's a team of 'experts' currently embalming the Gypper for installation in a mausoleum to be built in the Mall that'll make the US capitol look like a gopher hole. Eat yer hearts out, Comrades Lenin & Ho & Kim Il Sung, and Chairman Mao, too!
After Warner Bros. dumped his contract, RR amazingly succeeded in getting selected for the US presidency thing. To show Hollywood a thing or two, he also succeeded in getting an allowance for a Cult of Personality to be authorized by the US Gub'munt on the occasion of his 100th birthday, and to celebrate 30 years in the Oval Office.
Happy First Century to Our Permanent Leader And Teacher!
And finally, for your LOL pleasure, one of the most famous secrets in the Reagan Legend:
Fig. 2. I always bust a gut with this one! NOTE: This sequence was filmed before they knew how to properly synchronize sound and pictures; 'The Jazz Singer' had just been released, and the Vitaphone hadn't been perfected yet; your patience is appreciated
BONUS: A Few Non-Reagan Cult of Personality Notes, Comin' At Ya!
Yup, and on 'All Thinktanks Considered', Blob Siegel seemed far more interested in 'considering' euphemisms for excrement than anything else today. Very telling.
He was at his double-dipping, unsavory best, posing as the bemused professorial type, daintily curlicu-ing his icky curiosity around his guest's (scholarly?) book on euphemisms, poking about in a sticky box of dainty words with naughty meanings, as if he were salivating over second hand lingerie or something.
Of course, wasn't it all very amusing and droll, and all that rot. Another fine NPR smugfest, with the host as the winner in every respect.
Oh, and he prefaced this encounter by giving us an almost Simonized sermonette about how he learned that the term 'retarded' really wasn't very acceptable, (apparently that process took many years!) despite poring over his dad's books that gave proper definitions for 'moron' and other feeble-minded conditions.
I tell ya, it's getting harder and harder to lampoon NPR, mainly because they're doing most of the lampoonable work themselves. I long ago overcame the Blobert Siegel Projectile Vomiting Reflex, but I imagine I'm in constant danger of it returning full force. All this is is BAD BROACASTING, BAD BROACASTING, BAD BROACASTING.
Oh, and Missy M'lissa Blockhead was especially squirty-cute today. She got positively juicy and squishy with all her scrumptious inflections and nuances, and yes, it's enough to make you puke stomach lining chunks.
I know, it's because everybody's 'fed up' (a la Hosni) of yucky old Egypt, with all their screaming Muzlumanians, bitching, bitching, bitching, spitting on stability and expecting big gub'munt to bail their sorry asses out. And everybody’s always YELLING, just like all those other Islamidextrous places – you know? They’re always yelling and pushing and busting up stuff. Because I heard it all on NPR!
I mean, don't they know they've got a perfectly Reaganesque leader to take care of them?
NPR sets an example to live by. All we need do is listen and obey.
AND
At Dina's Temple of Doom, the buzz is that when you get down to it, Al Qaeda's an EGYPTIAN thingie, and that, hint-hint, if we dump Mubarak, they'll BE BACK. Uh, no mention of Saudi Arabia at all. A Gjeltenian conclusion if there ever was one.
But we all know that NPR-niks don't wanna hear about gravitas shit. Their bubbly comfort zone will forever be populated by Gyppers with sunny personalities, strong Pharaohs, dysfunctional hosts 'n guests, and cheerily peppered with fun euphemisms, word & soundbyte porno, and Barbie fantasies.
Friday, February 04, 2011
Where Is Egypt? Show Me The Way!
Fig. 1. This is NOT Hosni, but the most excellent Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the role of Pharaoh Sethi in Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor production of 'The Ten Commandments', in VistaVision
I join in solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Egypt, as any right-thinking person would or should. Surely they can come up with a better government than we have here in the USA. Egypt deserves the chance to reinvent itself, which they haven't been allowed to do in this modern world.
Mubarak said of Obama (paraphrase), 'He is a good man, but he doesn't understand Egyptian society. If I leave, chaos would result.' I add: 'Yes, an Egyptian society that YOU created, influenced, coerced. It stands to reason that you doth protest.' A dictator may address a 'weak' president in terms both condescending and haughty.
His is the classic failure of a dictator whose time has run out. His slaughter of the innocents shall not be forgotten.
The imminent departure of Pharaoh Hosni The First and Last must and shall be - imminent.
To quote Yul Brynner in 'The Ten Commandments', 'The royal eagle has flown unto the sun' (e.g. Saudi Arabia). No Moses awaits at the Red Sea to provide an avenue, but any number of US-supplied aircraft can be scrambled at a moment's notice. Beverages served.
So shall it be written, so shall it be DONE.
I've found Al Jazeera, Democracy Now! and Link TV to be valuable sources throughout this intense situation. BBC wasn't too bad, either, for more mainstream audiences.
On a more banal plane, I haven't been wasting time with NPR, but here's a little news item of interest:
Tom Ashbrook had a classic Neocon approach to Egypt on 'On Point' this Fri.
That is, David Sanger and - get ready - Tom Gjelten. Uh-huh. And yesterday he had Nick Burns on, whose lullaby-voiced BS has caused a lot of trouble in the world. (One caller-in astutely labeled Burns 'part of the problem' of Mubarakism (my term).)
Anyway, just an observation about Gjelten (who deserves sustained criticism for the foreseeable future): on this show, he said absolutely NOTHING. Not only nothing of value (naturally), but nothing but filler words parroting what's already known. And he got paid for it.
My point: when he's got a CIA-approved script in front of him, he's Mr. Gravitas, but when he's semi-off the cuff (he couldn't survive without a 'cuff' of some kind), he's as vacuous as Sarah Palin.
Thus, as we know, Gjelten is the perfect vessel to fill by others then pour out onto Neocon Public's airwaves.
Prediction: these overpaid blab-heads in their comfort zones will really start to lose their audiences, because their audiences have already figured out this stuff and have advanced past it. They will get their info from other sources, making things like NPR irrelevant, unnecessary, and prohibitively costly.
Gjelten's most profound statement in the show: 'Ronald Reagan's genius was his sense of timing. He sensed that the Berlin Wall was about to fall...' etc. Spoken by a true believer.
And not bad for an Alzheimers' dude! They can have epiphanies we can't even guess at - I guess. Viz: Ron Reagan's insights on his dad's illness; Gjelten & Co. will no doubt deny Ron's 'skewed' outlook. Conversely, it's like The Don (Rumsfeld) blaming the rush into Iraq on his son's drug abuse. If you were The Don's son, you'd do drugs, too. And there’s no one better to blame a war on than a druggie.
Or, what I meant to say was: believing that Reagan 'sensed' that the Berlin Wall was coming down is like Rumsfeld going along with BushCo's Iraq war desires because he was 'distracted' at the moment by his son's drug problems.
Psychotic reasoning is always a criminal's best defense.
Job opportunities for otherwise disenfranchised sociopaths are always available in top leadership positions in this world.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
From The Maw of Mara: Marring Politicized Non-Greek Tragedy
Fig. 1 Serenity - Wisdom - Leadership. And she doesn't really NEED to wear a turtleneck, either! (image courtesy of my friends at Fox)
Fig. 2 And this is how she got that way (image courtesy of Mytwords at NPR Check)
When you’re a National Correspondent (whatever that is) at NPR, just think of the power you have, and the power trip you can go on.
Mara Liarsson weighed in on the Tucson tragedy this morn, politicizing it to an offensive degree, and then having the audacity to imply that others are doing the politicizing, but of course, she isn’t.
Well, that’s unkind of me. She was just commenting on how presidents respond to great tragedies. Uh-huh.
Predictably, she invoked the Greatly Exaggerated Communicator. I was a bit shocked though, when she said that Reagan’s Warner Bros.-scripted tribute to the Challenger astronauts was ‘beautiful’, while to me it sounded more like a Ding Dong School/Sunday School competition than a eulogy.
And then Mara picks the new millennium’s defining moment: Dubya on the national altar of rubble, the ‘America Hears You’ funeral oration. Mara as publicist doesn’t even have to say much, as we all fervently believe that speech to be our young nation’s finest moment. Yeah well, I think it was the weakest, limpest performance by a national figure ever. Sophocles, had he been there, might’ve asked, ‘Who’s the comedian with the mega-horn? Get me someone who can SPEAK!’ Alas, Olivier was no longer with us. Elia Kazan wasn’t there to direct, either.
Then Mara, supreme Clintonian critic that she is, mentions Bill’s hopelessly inadequate attempts to restore his political capital after Timmy McVeigh’s patriotic gesture in Oklahoma City. She spent quite a bit of time on that analysis. She now awaits Obama’s upcoming (andcertain) failure in that department in Tucson, as well.
The life of a National Correspondent! The awesome and majestic duty of dispensing power and influence, and doing it wisely! As Mara looks down from her Olympic heights, she grows wiser and more powerful every day. She and Gjelten are the visionaries, who reside above the fray, who descend unto the rest of us because we need help and guidance. They also get to choose their own stories and don’t have to do fill-in host duties and other peasant jobs.
And Mara, comfy both at NPR and Fox, would never, ever be stupid enough to ‘do a Juan’, though no doubt she has considered a cleaner angle in order to score that juicy Fox contract money she so covets.
PS: I used to waste considerable irreplaceable time by catching some ‘Fox & Friends’ clips over at Crooks & Liars, just to see how bad things were. I never, EVER heard Mara say ANYTHING of value, even Foxified value. She was so utterly worthless that her contributions made even Bill ‘The Bloody’ Kristol look like a quarter-wit instead of the eighth-wit he is. At least Kristol’s a-hole beliefs are unabashed, while Mara works the ‘dark side’ of power, influence and profit. And when you’re a media egomaniac, you’re in it for yourself, and yourself only.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Guess What, What, What?
Aren't you getting sick of me bitching about NPR? Well, I am!
As for myself, the perniciousness of NPR has once again fried my (critical) tolerance of that outfit.
Again I have to jettison its wearisome infiltration of my relative well-being.
The Neocon (to use a generic term) agenda continues unabated at NPR, but it is particularly the increasing vapidness, banality, and downright insulting hodge-podge of sick-making ingredients that's causing me to eject their noise this time. What with the little 2-3 second sound bytes of, say, a snowblower in action (stock library sounds, or actual on-the-scene recordings in snow-struck NYC??), or some frikkin' 'report' about a part of the brain that makes it possible to talk with Awful Uncle Ed at Xmas, I've once again HAD IT with Nauseating Public Reaction. (The 'Awful Uncle Ed' epithet is an actual term employed by a particular second-string NPR smartass. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And the problem remains: what if you love your old Uncle Ed? People with beloved Uncle Eds should bombast NPR with mockery.)
NPR tries to be breezy, blithe and savvy, with a touch of the swagger, so as to appeal to the hipster quality that less discerning listeners respond to as they might the latest Mall trend.
And then there's the quality of the 'ho-ho' in the ho-ho news. I'm not the only one who thinks it's abysmal.
NPR's just trying to be funny, ya know. What are they trying to be FUNNY for? Audiences love comedy, but why the hell would you ever go to NPR's news people for comedy? Oh, I know, it softens all the otherwise depressing news. But for anyone who's depressed by the news, try to DO something about it, even in your own tiny way, or don't complain. One of the best tiny ways is shutting off NPR. With the Net, there are many, many other more reliable sources to get one's (depressing) news than depressingly-bad NPR.
(The most obscure Groucho Marx joke is infinitely more hilarious and memorable than ANY attempt our NPR lifers have made to make me crack a smile.)
Anyway, this is all nothing new of course. But the new, dumber-ed down NPR is not-so-mute evidence that Viv & Co. are wasting no time in new audience capturement, so they're radically ramping up the 'ho-ho news' as they used to call it in the post-Spiro Agnew Speech era.
This is of course a blatant misuse of the public trust, as any amount of vapid, shallow and silly radio can be found elsewhere just by twisting the dial. In fact, commercial radio, which found its place long ago, is basically less sickening than NPR, because at least it’s not subverting our expectations.
NPR's continued decline into audience pandering is blatant evidence enough of NPR's commercial/corporate mandate: increase ratings for corporate sponsorship, otherwise, what corporation in their right mind would want to waste the money? I suppose there are enough austerely Neocon organizations who would continue to hone NPR's propaganda potential, but if listeners decline, you can't propagandize them as widely.
Anyway, I'll continue to peruse here, but NPRadiation Exposure is restricted to the occasional newsreading - at my peril.
As for myself, the perniciousness of NPR has once again fried my (critical) tolerance of that outfit.
Again I have to jettison its wearisome infiltration of my relative well-being.
The Neocon (to use a generic term) agenda continues unabated at NPR, but it is particularly the increasing vapidness, banality, and downright insulting hodge-podge of sick-making ingredients that's causing me to eject their noise this time. What with the little 2-3 second sound bytes of, say, a snowblower in action (stock library sounds, or actual on-the-scene recordings in snow-struck NYC??), or some frikkin' 'report' about a part of the brain that makes it possible to talk with Awful Uncle Ed at Xmas, I've once again HAD IT with Nauseating Public Reaction. (The 'Awful Uncle Ed' epithet is an actual term employed by a particular second-string NPR smartass. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And the problem remains: what if you love your old Uncle Ed? People with beloved Uncle Eds should bombast NPR with mockery.)
NPR tries to be breezy, blithe and savvy, with a touch of the swagger, so as to appeal to the hipster quality that less discerning listeners respond to as they might the latest Mall trend.
And then there's the quality of the 'ho-ho' in the ho-ho news. I'm not the only one who thinks it's abysmal.
NPR's just trying to be funny, ya know. What are they trying to be FUNNY for? Audiences love comedy, but why the hell would you ever go to NPR's news people for comedy? Oh, I know, it softens all the otherwise depressing news. But for anyone who's depressed by the news, try to DO something about it, even in your own tiny way, or don't complain. One of the best tiny ways is shutting off NPR. With the Net, there are many, many other more reliable sources to get one's (depressing) news than depressingly-bad NPR.
(The most obscure Groucho Marx joke is infinitely more hilarious and memorable than ANY attempt our NPR lifers have made to make me crack a smile.)
Anyway, this is all nothing new of course. But the new, dumber-ed down NPR is not-so-mute evidence that Viv & Co. are wasting no time in new audience capturement, so they're radically ramping up the 'ho-ho news' as they used to call it in the post-Spiro Agnew Speech era.
This is of course a blatant misuse of the public trust, as any amount of vapid, shallow and silly radio can be found elsewhere just by twisting the dial. In fact, commercial radio, which found its place long ago, is basically less sickening than NPR, because at least it’s not subverting our expectations.
NPR's continued decline into audience pandering is blatant evidence enough of NPR's commercial/corporate mandate: increase ratings for corporate sponsorship, otherwise, what corporation in their right mind would want to waste the money? I suppose there are enough austerely Neocon organizations who would continue to hone NPR's propaganda potential, but if listeners decline, you can't propagandize them as widely.
Anyway, I'll continue to peruse here, but NPRadiation Exposure is restricted to the occasional newsreading - at my peril.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
It's A Brilliant Season
(Image courtesy of Mytwords @ NPR Check)
On DN!, Chris Hedges unreservedly declared Obama 'a disaster'. Wow.
It's still difficult for me to accept our fate, our Great American Curse: Ye Shall Be Ruled By The Skilled In Corruption.
Merry Christmas all, IN JAIL!
Monday, December 20, 2010
It's Winter. Cold Duck Time - I Mean, Cold War Time
Yes indeed, eNdtimes Public Radiation seems to be getting more whacked out than ever lately. Even Frank Browning (in Paris) sounds like he's been commanded to drink NPR's Happy Kool-Aid, so as to get more 'expression' into his delivery, so as to keep the young people from texting distractions. I really think they're getting that desperate.
Some of the druggy reactions don't seem to be going that well, though. Auntie Liane sounds depressed, Beardsley sounds like it's a real hassle just to say 'in Paaaris', and Jack Speer recites his last name as if it's the most boring thing on earth (he may have a point).
I know, these are tinkertoy details, but to my mind, very telling as far as what's going on behind the scenes. I would imagine that there's a certain terror about losing corporate funding, and the looming doom from Juangate that awaits in the next Congress.
Whatever...
Q: When you have a hole in a regular old axis of evil, how do you fill it? (One word answer, please.)
A: Belarus!
OK, I'll try to keep it brief, but it's been pretty hilarious (pathetic, is more like it) to hear NPR's limp attempts to paint Belarus as a citadel of neo-Soviet satanism. Never mind that the US is in tight with Uzbek and Turkmen 'leaders', there's a Stalin wannabe in Minsk, and he's bound to go viral before too long.
David Greene, perhaps the greatest master of smug-smile talking at NPR, wasn't smiling so much during his 'coverage' of the election there though. Seems somebody on his crew had a Prince Charles moment amongst some protesters, and I'll bet that really pissed him off.
Anyway, Greene's been doing yeoman work in the former USSR, what with the hubbub in Kyrgyzstan, which he just happened to turn up in time for, and who knows what else. He probably can't get access to Putin, so he's working on 'containment' from the fringes. Sort of takes me back to the good old Brezhnev days.
Auntie Liane, her quirky voice sounding more world-weary than ever, tried to rev up a little Cold War zing, but Greene didn't have much to give, though Linda Wiesenheimer got a bit of action out of him today.
Here's a possible future scoop from NPR: David Greene discovers that all the dictators/tyrants of the world (you know, Chavez, the Kims of N. Korea, Morales, Castro, and that guy in Minsk) all share Facebook pages. That'll knock that smartypants Assange guy out of the headlines all right.
Some of the druggy reactions don't seem to be going that well, though. Auntie Liane sounds depressed, Beardsley sounds like it's a real hassle just to say 'in Paaaris', and Jack Speer recites his last name as if it's the most boring thing on earth (he may have a point).
I know, these are tinkertoy details, but to my mind, very telling as far as what's going on behind the scenes. I would imagine that there's a certain terror about losing corporate funding, and the looming doom from Juangate that awaits in the next Congress.
Whatever...
Q: When you have a hole in a regular old axis of evil, how do you fill it? (One word answer, please.)
A: Belarus!
OK, I'll try to keep it brief, but it's been pretty hilarious (pathetic, is more like it) to hear NPR's limp attempts to paint Belarus as a citadel of neo-Soviet satanism. Never mind that the US is in tight with Uzbek and Turkmen 'leaders', there's a Stalin wannabe in Minsk, and he's bound to go viral before too long.
David Greene, perhaps the greatest master of smug-smile talking at NPR, wasn't smiling so much during his 'coverage' of the election there though. Seems somebody on his crew had a Prince Charles moment amongst some protesters, and I'll bet that really pissed him off.
Anyway, Greene's been doing yeoman work in the former USSR, what with the hubbub in Kyrgyzstan, which he just happened to turn up in time for, and who knows what else. He probably can't get access to Putin, so he's working on 'containment' from the fringes. Sort of takes me back to the good old Brezhnev days.
Auntie Liane, her quirky voice sounding more world-weary than ever, tried to rev up a little Cold War zing, but Greene didn't have much to give, though Linda Wiesenheimer got a bit of action out of him today.
Here's a possible future scoop from NPR: David Greene discovers that all the dictators/tyrants of the world (you know, Chavez, the Kims of N. Korea, Morales, Castro, and that guy in Minsk) all share Facebook pages. That'll knock that smartypants Assange guy out of the headlines all right.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
NPR Thoughts That You Don't Even Have To Have Heard On NPR To Know What I'm Talking About
In a recent report, some NPR reporter explained how you can add phosphates to your dishwasher in case they've been banned by the state in which you reside.
Unbelievable. Typically unbelievable. More proof that NPR will stop at nothing to establish itself as Definitive Explainer for the alleged Thinking Masses.
Ever since it was determined that there was money in that there Journalism (remember all the Ron Baillie schools?), becoming an American Storyteller was doomed to corporate capturement. It's obvious that nearly every NPR-oid is an ambitious egotist, whether in the faux-intellectual showoff department or the blatant moneygrubbing department (lots of overlap there).
And speaking of Alicia's Shepherding of we the listeners, did anyone happen to catch her on On Point a few weeks ago? It was at the height of Juangate (remember that?), and it was the first time I'd actually heard her voice. She was just another snot-nosed narcissist that fit perfectly into the haughty halls of Beltway broadcasting. More than 'nuff said on that miserable subject.
Just a thought on NPR's witty commentary and supremacist humor (I get kind of tired of using quotation marks for what is already over-obvious). That is, whenever Inskreep & Co. crack a little levity before daintily diving into Ivory Coast or choleric Haiti, the implication is that the humor usually describes some stupid act by stupid people, and that everybody stupid is OUT THERE someplace. You know, that such stupidity could never apply to the lofty hosts & literate readers of NPR. And you the listener can join in and parrot these stories of stupidity to your co-workers, so as to prove that you yourself aren't stupid at all, and you never will be because you're smart and listen to smart people. And then you can crown your moment by saying, 'I HEARD IT ON NPR'. 'Nuff said again.
Of course, this is part of the success story of NPR creating its own elitist flock. Like the GOP: you're welcome to support us, but you will never really become one of us.
Egads! I'm guilty of 'doing an NPR': WORDINESS!!! AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! Help me!!! Somebody help meeeeee!!!
Unbelievable. Typically unbelievable. More proof that NPR will stop at nothing to establish itself as Definitive Explainer for the alleged Thinking Masses.
Ever since it was determined that there was money in that there Journalism (remember all the Ron Baillie schools?), becoming an American Storyteller was doomed to corporate capturement. It's obvious that nearly every NPR-oid is an ambitious egotist, whether in the faux-intellectual showoff department or the blatant moneygrubbing department (lots of overlap there).
And speaking of Alicia's Shepherding of we the listeners, did anyone happen to catch her on On Point a few weeks ago? It was at the height of Juangate (remember that?), and it was the first time I'd actually heard her voice. She was just another snot-nosed narcissist that fit perfectly into the haughty halls of Beltway broadcasting. More than 'nuff said on that miserable subject.
Just a thought on NPR's witty commentary and supremacist humor (I get kind of tired of using quotation marks for what is already over-obvious). That is, whenever Inskreep & Co. crack a little levity before daintily diving into Ivory Coast or choleric Haiti, the implication is that the humor usually describes some stupid act by stupid people, and that everybody stupid is OUT THERE someplace. You know, that such stupidity could never apply to the lofty hosts & literate readers of NPR. And you the listener can join in and parrot these stories of stupidity to your co-workers, so as to prove that you yourself aren't stupid at all, and you never will be because you're smart and listen to smart people. And then you can crown your moment by saying, 'I HEARD IT ON NPR'. 'Nuff said again.
Of course, this is part of the success story of NPR creating its own elitist flock. Like the GOP: you're welcome to support us, but you will never really become one of us.
Egads! I'm guilty of 'doing an NPR': WORDINESS!!! AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! Help me!!! Somebody help meeeeee!!!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
National Public Responsibility: To Be Perfect So As To Be Trustworthy
Despite all mine criticism, doesn't NPR seem like it would be just the gee-whiz-iest FUNNEST place to work in the universe??
Why, everyone's so polite, civil and merry with one another, I'll bet they don't have a single soap opera amongst themselves to gossip about, especially now that Adenoid Andie C-brook's married up.
They're all so damn supportive of one another! How possible is that? Perhaps it's all due to the free allowances of Ambien, Xanex, Angadrene, certain selected anti-psychotic medications, and other prescription nightmares, generously (and quietly) supplied by Big Pharma. That’s gotta be it.
Steve, Happy 'Kreep that he is, just plain gets along with EVERYBODY. Donny Gonny, the 8th Dwarf, seems to be having a ball, what with all the 'witty commentary' and taking the opportunity to grandstand his illustrious service to the nation as Certified Dubya Sycophant, and all.
Because, when you're part of the In Crowd of Smugly-Smile-When-You're-Talking-At-The-Great-Unwashed NPR All Stars, you have ARRIVED, baby!
Hell, I'd rather witness Sen. Mitch McConman hawking up his collective viscosity than having to suffer one minute of NPR cuteness as one of the gang.
Mitch, who of course should be ditched, always reminds me of some fussbudget nobody who's playing an elderly maiden aunt in drag in a high school play. Prim, priggish, and pole-up-the-ass. And sitting in the audience, I have plenty of rotten tomatoes at hand.
PS: In order to con us and keep conning us, NPR must come off as strong, united, resolute, and most importantly, NON-DYSFUNCTIONAL. And don't forget DOWNRIGHT HAPPY as a requirement.
Only then can the powers of propaganda, persuasion, and snake oil dispensation be properly applied, and in perpetuity.
Rove-ism in action. The Neocons knew the Bush Administration might not last. But a propagandistic news organization - now THERE's a plan!
Why, everyone's so polite, civil and merry with one another, I'll bet they don't have a single soap opera amongst themselves to gossip about, especially now that Adenoid Andie C-brook's married up.
They're all so damn supportive of one another! How possible is that? Perhaps it's all due to the free allowances of Ambien, Xanex, Angadrene, certain selected anti-psychotic medications, and other prescription nightmares, generously (and quietly) supplied by Big Pharma. That’s gotta be it.
Steve, Happy 'Kreep that he is, just plain gets along with EVERYBODY. Donny Gonny, the 8th Dwarf, seems to be having a ball, what with all the 'witty commentary' and taking the opportunity to grandstand his illustrious service to the nation as Certified Dubya Sycophant, and all.
Because, when you're part of the In Crowd of Smugly-Smile-When-You're-Talking-At-The-Great-Unwashed NPR All Stars, you have ARRIVED, baby!
Hell, I'd rather witness Sen. Mitch McConman hawking up his collective viscosity than having to suffer one minute of NPR cuteness as one of the gang.
Mitch, who of course should be ditched, always reminds me of some fussbudget nobody who's playing an elderly maiden aunt in drag in a high school play. Prim, priggish, and pole-up-the-ass. And sitting in the audience, I have plenty of rotten tomatoes at hand.
PS: In order to con us and keep conning us, NPR must come off as strong, united, resolute, and most importantly, NON-DYSFUNCTIONAL. And don't forget DOWNRIGHT HAPPY as a requirement.
Only then can the powers of propaganda, persuasion, and snake oil dispensation be properly applied, and in perpetuity.
Rove-ism in action. The Neocons knew the Bush Administration might not last. But a propagandistic news organization - now THERE's a plan!
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
A Neocon Wetdream Named Julian
Tom Gjelten just LOVES Julian Assange. To him, Assange is heaven-sent. There, in the form of one person, is proof positive that a New, Colder War ™ is not only necessary, it’s already started, and Gjelten has been there from the start, warning us and warning us again, his patience wearing thin. And now, there’s triumph in his warning us yet again – this time with conclusive proof. He’s going into turbo Bruce Willis mode now. And today, he doesn’t even sound all that constipated either. Julian’s given him a whole new lease on life. Cyberwar is what he pants for, and now that he’s got it, he’s going to be there more than ever for us, leading the charge. Like Wolfowitz, Gjelten’s a True Believer, just what the shadowy Neocons want for their publicity campaign.
Conversely, Philip Reeves’ report on Assange’s current legal situation was well measured and indeed, cautious. But that’s typical of Reeves, who has never fallen for NPR’s ‘Creative Writing’ BS. Strategically, NPR editors placed Reeves’ story BEFORE Gjelten’s so that the awesome horror of looming cyberwar, in which the evil menace of Assangism will be utterly annihilated, can be dangled before the good honest folks that tuned into NPR this morning.
NPR seems to be ‘trying out’ Reeves on the London beat, perhaps because they can keep a closer eye on him. He and Quist-Arcton are about the only international ones I trust at NPR. Times are tough. Reporters need gigs. I don’t look down my nose at them for that.
I mean, when you’ve got Juan Forerro, who always sounds like he’s been sampling the choicest Columbian, or maybe even the best crystal meth from the back alleys of Sao Paulo, or the Condescension Story Time from Gwen Thompkins, or the anger-management mutterings of Michael Sullivan (wow, haven’t heard from the last two for some time; still on NPR payroll?), what’s the point of trusting America’s Storytellers to deliver the goods?
Speaking of bizarro spew from our American Storytellers, wonder-boy Guy Raz took time out from his cooking class on ATC yesterday to ask a guest about a particular vet who had his legs blown off in Afghanistan. Seems the vet is kind of mad at the Fred Phelps church psychos who plague the funerals of slain soldiers. (Kind of understandable, huh?)
So Raz gets to the point in the interview when he gingerly asks if the vet MIGHT BE SUFFERING FROM PTSD or something. Not even an inkling of insight that maybe it's the Fred Phelps zombies who are the ones who are utterly and horribly insane.
It was a brilliant thematic link to Auntie Liane's 'gotcha' psychoanalysis of Julian Assange. You see, it’s really these lone Oswaldian weirdos that we must fear. And you WILL fear them, because that’s what the media commands you to feel. Because they’re entirely reasonable and objective about their duty to warn you of the imminent threats we face. (Never mind their falling down in light of all the pre-9/11 warnings that were so freely available…)
Conversely, Philip Reeves’ report on Assange’s current legal situation was well measured and indeed, cautious. But that’s typical of Reeves, who has never fallen for NPR’s ‘Creative Writing’ BS. Strategically, NPR editors placed Reeves’ story BEFORE Gjelten’s so that the awesome horror of looming cyberwar, in which the evil menace of Assangism will be utterly annihilated, can be dangled before the good honest folks that tuned into NPR this morning.
NPR seems to be ‘trying out’ Reeves on the London beat, perhaps because they can keep a closer eye on him. He and Quist-Arcton are about the only international ones I trust at NPR. Times are tough. Reporters need gigs. I don’t look down my nose at them for that.
I mean, when you’ve got Juan Forerro, who always sounds like he’s been sampling the choicest Columbian, or maybe even the best crystal meth from the back alleys of Sao Paulo, or the Condescension Story Time from Gwen Thompkins, or the anger-management mutterings of Michael Sullivan (wow, haven’t heard from the last two for some time; still on NPR payroll?), what’s the point of trusting America’s Storytellers to deliver the goods?
Speaking of bizarro spew from our American Storytellers, wonder-boy Guy Raz took time out from his cooking class on ATC yesterday to ask a guest about a particular vet who had his legs blown off in Afghanistan. Seems the vet is kind of mad at the Fred Phelps church psychos who plague the funerals of slain soldiers. (Kind of understandable, huh?)
So Raz gets to the point in the interview when he gingerly asks if the vet MIGHT BE SUFFERING FROM PTSD or something. Not even an inkling of insight that maybe it's the Fred Phelps zombies who are the ones who are utterly and horribly insane.
It was a brilliant thematic link to Auntie Liane's 'gotcha' psychoanalysis of Julian Assange. You see, it’s really these lone Oswaldian weirdos that we must fear. And you WILL fear them, because that’s what the media commands you to feel. Because they’re entirely reasonable and objective about their duty to warn you of the imminent threats we face. (Never mind their falling down in light of all the pre-9/11 warnings that were so freely available…)
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
NPR's Inevitable Progression Towards Irrelevant Entropy
One of the reasons I carp about NPR on this blog is because of what NPR SHOULD be: a truly open forum to examine current events and their effects with as much care as possible, and with the best minds available.
But because it isn't anything close to that, it's important to be aware of what 'thinking' people are being led into.
More and more I resent NPR News for their assertive role in dominating the notion of what listeners think is the only 'sane' option out there. That is, by coming across as the ONLY alternative to so-called commercial news organizations. They have the luxury of utilizing an already-existing network of stations that they have co-opted (why not say hijacked?) for their own purposes. In my book, that's a case of gross misuse of public opportunity under the guise of a Murrow-like integrity.
(No, that's not parroting Gingrich or Palin or O'Reilly-speak. Their NPR critiques were nothing more than bozo blather of the moment, a limp display of ersatz rage that was about as effective as Jesse Helms' tantrum about public broadcasting. We've seen just how sincere Tea Bagger whining turns out to be...)
Meanwhile, the true alternatives, like Democracy Now!, GritTV, LinkTV, the News Dissector, and other excellent sources are on the upswing. They haven't achieved NPR's accessibility yet, but if they can sustain their independence (with further success, they risk hostile corporate coercion), they will increasingly make NPR News irrelevant.
That's not only my hope, it's my expectation.
AND - BONUS ENTERTAINMENT SECTION FOLLOWS:
Boy, it's becoming increasingly apparent that NPR's really going for the laughs these days. It could be in order to foster a bit of seasonal cheer, but I detect that it's part of Viv Schill's circling of the wagons.
This morn Inskreep was about as chucklesome as he could get. Oh, he was careful to sidestep any Assange humor, but at just about every break, he was there with what Blob Siegel calls 'witty commentary' for us to brighten our existential day with.
After NPR's notre dame de Paris, Eleanor (d'Aquitaine) Beardsley gave a little postcard sketch of Paris's bookstalls along the Seine (perfectly accurate, but fitting as filler for Fresh Air or whatever), Inskreep made a barrel of monkeys quip about 'books, a famous river, and dogmeat', and that NPR was the only place where you might hear such a combination.
Aye, the Schill-er Era is a desperate one, tis true.
You know, some listeners may find Mme. Eleanor's spoiled (ugly) duckling quacking to be sort of charming, but... but... I've said it before, and sorry to be tiresome, but it's so STUPID sounding! So utterly distracting!
I mean, they've got the very nondescript Frank Browning covering the Paris beat, but obviously someone in DC has the hots for cutesy deBeardsley. How can NPR afford to have all this overlap coverage? I know they're both contractors, but where's the moneysworth in such a rinkydink setup?
I'm not a Paris snob, but I do harbor lots of pleasant Parisian memories, and I can't stand how this Beardsley person portrays things Parisian or French via her show-offy teenage snot tones, as if French stuff is essentially really stupid or something. She's a Freedom Fries relic, a perfect example of Narcissist Personality Radio in action: SO distracting, SO worthless.
But because it isn't anything close to that, it's important to be aware of what 'thinking' people are being led into.
More and more I resent NPR News for their assertive role in dominating the notion of what listeners think is the only 'sane' option out there. That is, by coming across as the ONLY alternative to so-called commercial news organizations. They have the luxury of utilizing an already-existing network of stations that they have co-opted (why not say hijacked?) for their own purposes. In my book, that's a case of gross misuse of public opportunity under the guise of a Murrow-like integrity.
(No, that's not parroting Gingrich or Palin or O'Reilly-speak. Their NPR critiques were nothing more than bozo blather of the moment, a limp display of ersatz rage that was about as effective as Jesse Helms' tantrum about public broadcasting. We've seen just how sincere Tea Bagger whining turns out to be...)
Meanwhile, the true alternatives, like Democracy Now!, GritTV, LinkTV, the News Dissector, and other excellent sources are on the upswing. They haven't achieved NPR's accessibility yet, but if they can sustain their independence (with further success, they risk hostile corporate coercion), they will increasingly make NPR News irrelevant.
That's not only my hope, it's my expectation.
AND - BONUS ENTERTAINMENT SECTION FOLLOWS:
Boy, it's becoming increasingly apparent that NPR's really going for the laughs these days. It could be in order to foster a bit of seasonal cheer, but I detect that it's part of Viv Schill's circling of the wagons.
This morn Inskreep was about as chucklesome as he could get. Oh, he was careful to sidestep any Assange humor, but at just about every break, he was there with what Blob Siegel calls 'witty commentary' for us to brighten our existential day with.
After NPR's notre dame de Paris, Eleanor (d'Aquitaine) Beardsley gave a little postcard sketch of Paris's bookstalls along the Seine (perfectly accurate, but fitting as filler for Fresh Air or whatever), Inskreep made a barrel of monkeys quip about 'books, a famous river, and dogmeat', and that NPR was the only place where you might hear such a combination.
Aye, the Schill-er Era is a desperate one, tis true.
You know, some listeners may find Mme. Eleanor's spoiled (ugly) duckling quacking to be sort of charming, but... but... I've said it before, and sorry to be tiresome, but it's so STUPID sounding! So utterly distracting!
I mean, they've got the very nondescript Frank Browning covering the Paris beat, but obviously someone in DC has the hots for cutesy deBeardsley. How can NPR afford to have all this overlap coverage? I know they're both contractors, but where's the moneysworth in such a rinkydink setup?
I'm not a Paris snob, but I do harbor lots of pleasant Parisian memories, and I can't stand how this Beardsley person portrays things Parisian or French via her show-offy teenage snot tones, as if French stuff is essentially really stupid or something. She's a Freedom Fries relic, a perfect example of Narcissist Personality Radio in action: SO distracting, SO worthless.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Does Anyone Else Find Julie McCarthy's Pronunciation of 'Pakistan' Sort Of, Well, You Know, DISTRACTING???
This morning on Morning Edition, Renaay Mundane played a dainty game of softball with 20-star Field Marshal Richard Mills, our Viceroy of Particularly Troubled River Valleys in Afghanistan. Their helpful dialogue was one of the most preposterous field reports yet heaved onto the rubbish heap of Af-Pak propaganda yet. Giving Mills some benefit of the doubt, I can imagine that he exploded in laughter after hanging up on Renaay. 'Well, that's another bucket 'o BS I just dumped on NPR...' he might have said... 'They always buy it and sell it without us even trying.' Or whatever.
And it's as if every NPR-oid in the region is nervous. They've even brought heaviest of weights Corey Phlintoff to fabled Kabul to help out! His singular methods of expressive news-reading should be most helpful in keeping Talibanians and other assorted Insurgentioids at bay.
Our Miss Julie McCarthyism even seems to rush through her unique trademark pronunciation of the nation she's a guest in - say 'POKK-ee-STAWN' as fast as you can!
Sorry for the ongoing ditzy name-twisting. Now that I am a more 'serene' occasional monitor of NPR, such trivialities help get me through the torture sessions.
(Suggestion to Cheney & Associates: for a dandy NEW torture technique at Gitmo, just play a medley of the best sermons from the Simonizer to all the terrorists in residence. At top volume, especially during tears and guffaws. Repeat as needed. Satisfaction guaranteed!)
PS: That reporter who suffered through kidnapping at the hands of insurgents in Af-Pak is making the marketing rounds. He's on Diane Rehm today, but that's one torture that others will have to endure without me.
And it's as if every NPR-oid in the region is nervous. They've even brought heaviest of weights Corey Phlintoff to fabled Kabul to help out! His singular methods of expressive news-reading should be most helpful in keeping Talibanians and other assorted Insurgentioids at bay.
Our Miss Julie McCarthyism even seems to rush through her unique trademark pronunciation of the nation she's a guest in - say 'POKK-ee-STAWN' as fast as you can!
Sorry for the ongoing ditzy name-twisting. Now that I am a more 'serene' occasional monitor of NPR, such trivialities help get me through the torture sessions.
(Suggestion to Cheney & Associates: for a dandy NEW torture technique at Gitmo, just play a medley of the best sermons from the Simonizer to all the terrorists in residence. At top volume, especially during tears and guffaws. Repeat as needed. Satisfaction guaranteed!)
PS: That reporter who suffered through kidnapping at the hands of insurgents in Af-Pak is making the marketing rounds. He's on Diane Rehm today, but that's one torture that others will have to endure without me.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A Follow-up To Blob Siegel’s Prize-Getting
Didn’t Siegel get some prize or whatever, a while back? Or am I thinking of somebody else?
Yesterday he was ‘considering’ a new film that deals with the speech problems of King George VI, and Colin Firth, the lead actor in the picture, was there to explain. He did so quite well, despite the fact that Siegel was more interested in the king being some sort of out-of-date figure, or whatever.
Faced with yet another Brit accent on his hands (Firth, an excellent actor, full of integrity and depth), the always too-cool Siegel elects to come across as a street-smart American. He is more comfortable dumbing down the subject – not because of any (possible) mandate from Viv Schill-er, but because that’s what he’s capable of. That’s what he DOES. So much for coming off as an intellectual, so as to create trust and maintaining the ‘quiet elitism’ that is so vital to NPR’s reputation!
I’ve lived for some time in the UK and believe me, the media and pop culture there put upper-class-ism/elitism in its place MUCH more than in the US.
In his discourse, Firth was simply displaying the sort of standard intelligence that a grown-up in public life needs in order to be credible, while Siegel, with his limited pursed-lipped tools, is used to lording-it over his interviewees, whether it be thinly-disguised condescension when dealing with a ‘commoner’, or a ‘you don’t intimidate me one bit’ ego-confidence when dealing with some head of state.
The term ‘middlebrow' used to be widely employed to pigeonhole poseurs like Siegel, where mere iron-assed longevity can pass as implied quality and trustworthiness. Well, I’d say he and his kind (i.e. Gjelten and other ‘heavyweights’ at NPR News), are, shall we say, ‘lower middlebrow’. And there’s the all-important shill-factor. As Voltaire and company proved that the Enlightenment needed publicists, so Siegel & Corp. are vital to publicizing whatever it is that NPR ‘stands’ for... (Fill in the blank, mostly under ‘Propaganda’.)
If H.L. Mencken were around, he’d hound such phenomena as ‘Siegelism’ for the disgraceful thing that it is, until they fired Siegel’s inflated ass – and not because of any bozo issues like those involved in Juangate, either. Mencken hung out at the foundation of things, not at some fashionable sushi bar.
When delivering his prize-win speech, I would guess that, like Paul Wolfowitz, Siegel probably punched it up with genial anecdotes and crackerbarrel wisdom, so as to display his ‘real’ talents as a multi-purpose media guy of the people (besides being a ‘really neat guy’, and all that), but also like Paul, any smugness passing as humor always betrays a gloat factor.
Radio being the instantly-disposable medium that it is, despite archiving on the net, Siegel’s type of ersatz intellectualism thankfully becomes disposable and quickly forgotten (I shall continue to TRY and forget, anyway…). Thus, he fits in perfectly with NPR’s increasing flakiness and irrelevance.
(I noticed that just this morning, NPR got up the courage to finally tell America about Bradley Manning and the ‘Lady Gaga CD’…)
I keep coming back to Mike Wallace’s famous putdown of NPR, in which he had no intention of getting lost in the wilderness of National Public Radio. (Also a veiled putdown of former colleague Dan Schorr, I should think. Dan who…?) In spite of NPR News’ new standing (for nothing), the wilderness is more intact and denser than ever.
PS: I heard that, when sending cash to WBUR Boston, you can specify that no funds will go to ‘NPR’. I assume that means NPR News (?). Thanks Sarah the P, Newt ‘n Bill-O!
Yesterday he was ‘considering’ a new film that deals with the speech problems of King George VI, and Colin Firth, the lead actor in the picture, was there to explain. He did so quite well, despite the fact that Siegel was more interested in the king being some sort of out-of-date figure, or whatever.
Faced with yet another Brit accent on his hands (Firth, an excellent actor, full of integrity and depth), the always too-cool Siegel elects to come across as a street-smart American. He is more comfortable dumbing down the subject – not because of any (possible) mandate from Viv Schill-er, but because that’s what he’s capable of. That’s what he DOES. So much for coming off as an intellectual, so as to create trust and maintaining the ‘quiet elitism’ that is so vital to NPR’s reputation!
I’ve lived for some time in the UK and believe me, the media and pop culture there put upper-class-ism/elitism in its place MUCH more than in the US.
In his discourse, Firth was simply displaying the sort of standard intelligence that a grown-up in public life needs in order to be credible, while Siegel, with his limited pursed-lipped tools, is used to lording-it over his interviewees, whether it be thinly-disguised condescension when dealing with a ‘commoner’, or a ‘you don’t intimidate me one bit’ ego-confidence when dealing with some head of state.
The term ‘middlebrow' used to be widely employed to pigeonhole poseurs like Siegel, where mere iron-assed longevity can pass as implied quality and trustworthiness. Well, I’d say he and his kind (i.e. Gjelten and other ‘heavyweights’ at NPR News), are, shall we say, ‘lower middlebrow’. And there’s the all-important shill-factor. As Voltaire and company proved that the Enlightenment needed publicists, so Siegel & Corp. are vital to publicizing whatever it is that NPR ‘stands’ for... (Fill in the blank, mostly under ‘Propaganda’.)
If H.L. Mencken were around, he’d hound such phenomena as ‘Siegelism’ for the disgraceful thing that it is, until they fired Siegel’s inflated ass – and not because of any bozo issues like those involved in Juangate, either. Mencken hung out at the foundation of things, not at some fashionable sushi bar.
When delivering his prize-win speech, I would guess that, like Paul Wolfowitz, Siegel probably punched it up with genial anecdotes and crackerbarrel wisdom, so as to display his ‘real’ talents as a multi-purpose media guy of the people (besides being a ‘really neat guy’, and all that), but also like Paul, any smugness passing as humor always betrays a gloat factor.
Radio being the instantly-disposable medium that it is, despite archiving on the net, Siegel’s type of ersatz intellectualism thankfully becomes disposable and quickly forgotten (I shall continue to TRY and forget, anyway…). Thus, he fits in perfectly with NPR’s increasing flakiness and irrelevance.
(I noticed that just this morning, NPR got up the courage to finally tell America about Bradley Manning and the ‘Lady Gaga CD’…)
I keep coming back to Mike Wallace’s famous putdown of NPR, in which he had no intention of getting lost in the wilderness of National Public Radio. (Also a veiled putdown of former colleague Dan Schorr, I should think. Dan who…?) In spite of NPR News’ new standing (for nothing), the wilderness is more intact and denser than ever.
PS: I heard that, when sending cash to WBUR Boston, you can specify that no funds will go to ‘NPR’. I assume that means NPR News (?). Thanks Sarah the P, Newt ‘n Bill-O!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
This Just In: There's Quite A Bit of Bullshit To Be Found In Political Advertising. Source: NPR
Part One: Helpful Insights
Well, I’m relieved to know that NPR has just discovered the extent of the BS factor in political advertising. If Overby & Seabrook hadn’t pointed this out in their recent ‘series’, in which they exposed all the legal hankypanky going on in the poli-advertising industry, I would have continued to believe everything I heard and saw in paid political advertising.
I think DN! knew that Crossroads GPS & Co. were Karl Rove creations about an hour after they were indeed created. NPR follows up at a ‘dignified’ distance, when the coast is clear, of course, and when the facts are so glaringly obvious. Even the MSM, guided by Murdoch-ian boilerplate of declaring facts at the last possible moment (e.g. when they are irrefutable) is usually way ahead of NPR’s slug-slime-slow outreach. NPR’s excuse is probably that they’re doing a story more ‘carefully’ or something, no doubt with an ‘intellectual’ approach.
Plus, since turbo-wonk Peter Overby and Gen-X-Appeal 'Adenoid' Andie Seabrook are on the case (with smarts to rival that oh-so-clever Adumb Davidson and crew), we can take anything they say as gospel. It’s all so clear to me now. What a brilliant decision to partner Overby (bald & slinky, possibly gay, and with a lisp that assures his validity, because if they put someone with lousy delivery on the air, they MUST be good), and Seabrook (with built in tools such as a Monsterfat Cowbelly body and a voice of a smarty-pants 'Star Wars' fan, designed to simultaneously soothe and intimidate interviewees, thus 'fleshing out' a dandy story) on this pregnant and timely subject, surely bound for a crypt in the Peabody Awards columbarium.
Part Two: Unquestioned Majesty
And yes, one more comment on He Whom I Cannot Think Of Without Fuming: Tom Gjelten. Like Cheney, Gjelten gets – nay, COMMANDS the entitlement to be the lord of gravitas at NPR. That is, any pronouncement he makes must and shall be taken as an ultimate. We can’t get any higher than Gjelten, can we? I doubt Gjelten knows who Eric Sevareid was, but even if he does, and even if he tries to emulate him, he ain’t no Sevareid. While Eric could have a twinkle in his eye when the BS meter red-lined, Gjelten’s stony voice soldiers on in the service of propaganda, his opportunism taken over by his own self-delusion. Head puffed up by Pentagon fawning and favoring, his pontifications indicate a combo of egotism and monomania, which he is by right entitled to inflict on the public. He may even be more worthless than that other mighty Tom: the Friedman variety.
I find it interesting that Juan Williams was fired over voicing his opinions (on another network), but Gjelten, doing the same thing regarding Wikileaks, and on NPR itself, wasn’t. How now, Viv Schiller? Well, that’s an easy one: Juan’s a mere cabin boy on the good ship Fox, while Gjelten, Lord of Gravitas, shall not be questioned.
Part Three: Postscript
Regarding that other, hipper Juan at NPR, Forero, I think NPR retains him not only because he speaks their kind of propaganda lingo, but because they think he's good at sexing up a given story. No doubt the white breads at NPR think his schmaltzy delivery brings a bit of 'Latin rhythm' to their pathetic lineup. Much better than Julie McCarthy's blue-blooded drawl used to.
AS for the late Nestor Kirchner of the Argentine, may he RIP. Murdoch-ian media can never forgive him for telling Oliver Stone about Dubya's 'war is good for an economy' statement, told to him by Dubya himself.
Well, I’m relieved to know that NPR has just discovered the extent of the BS factor in political advertising. If Overby & Seabrook hadn’t pointed this out in their recent ‘series’, in which they exposed all the legal hankypanky going on in the poli-advertising industry, I would have continued to believe everything I heard and saw in paid political advertising.
I think DN! knew that Crossroads GPS & Co. were Karl Rove creations about an hour after they were indeed created. NPR follows up at a ‘dignified’ distance, when the coast is clear, of course, and when the facts are so glaringly obvious. Even the MSM, guided by Murdoch-ian boilerplate of declaring facts at the last possible moment (e.g. when they are irrefutable) is usually way ahead of NPR’s slug-slime-slow outreach. NPR’s excuse is probably that they’re doing a story more ‘carefully’ or something, no doubt with an ‘intellectual’ approach.
Plus, since turbo-wonk Peter Overby and Gen-X-Appeal 'Adenoid' Andie Seabrook are on the case (with smarts to rival that oh-so-clever Adumb Davidson and crew), we can take anything they say as gospel. It’s all so clear to me now. What a brilliant decision to partner Overby (bald & slinky, possibly gay, and with a lisp that assures his validity, because if they put someone with lousy delivery on the air, they MUST be good), and Seabrook (with built in tools such as a Monsterfat Cowbelly body and a voice of a smarty-pants 'Star Wars' fan, designed to simultaneously soothe and intimidate interviewees, thus 'fleshing out' a dandy story) on this pregnant and timely subject, surely bound for a crypt in the Peabody Awards columbarium.
Part Two: Unquestioned Majesty
And yes, one more comment on He Whom I Cannot Think Of Without Fuming: Tom Gjelten. Like Cheney, Gjelten gets – nay, COMMANDS the entitlement to be the lord of gravitas at NPR. That is, any pronouncement he makes must and shall be taken as an ultimate. We can’t get any higher than Gjelten, can we? I doubt Gjelten knows who Eric Sevareid was, but even if he does, and even if he tries to emulate him, he ain’t no Sevareid. While Eric could have a twinkle in his eye when the BS meter red-lined, Gjelten’s stony voice soldiers on in the service of propaganda, his opportunism taken over by his own self-delusion. Head puffed up by Pentagon fawning and favoring, his pontifications indicate a combo of egotism and monomania, which he is by right entitled to inflict on the public. He may even be more worthless than that other mighty Tom: the Friedman variety.
I find it interesting that Juan Williams was fired over voicing his opinions (on another network), but Gjelten, doing the same thing regarding Wikileaks, and on NPR itself, wasn’t. How now, Viv Schiller? Well, that’s an easy one: Juan’s a mere cabin boy on the good ship Fox, while Gjelten, Lord of Gravitas, shall not be questioned.
Part Three: Postscript
Regarding that other, hipper Juan at NPR, Forero, I think NPR retains him not only because he speaks their kind of propaganda lingo, but because they think he's good at sexing up a given story. No doubt the white breads at NPR think his schmaltzy delivery brings a bit of 'Latin rhythm' to their pathetic lineup. Much better than Julie McCarthy's blue-blooded drawl used to.
AS for the late Nestor Kirchner of the Argentine, may he RIP. Murdoch-ian media can never forgive him for telling Oliver Stone about Dubya's 'war is good for an economy' statement, told to him by Dubya himself.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Now That The Really Not Very Interesting Case of Juan Williams Has Wigged Everyone Who Matters Out...
Bill-o finally got to steal a ratings boost away from his rival Frankenmonster, the Beck-oid. The rest is nothing but the MSM Silly Circus in action.
Nonfiction entertainment ratings will continue to tank. Tweeters 'n Texters and other Future Demographic Participants don't give a rat's sphincter about yawns like Juan (who?).
I thought Alec Baldwin's mission to destroy NPR, supposedly a bit of satire for Pledge Week, says much more about eNdingPR than any other professional reactor voice.
In the meantime, choleric discharge is clogging the sewers in Haiti, and I imagine they've lost count of how many empty coffin funerals there are in Af-Pak, due to bodily atomization from the droning that goes on and on...
Nonfiction entertainment ratings will continue to tank. Tweeters 'n Texters and other Future Demographic Participants don't give a rat's sphincter about yawns like Juan (who?).
I thought Alec Baldwin's mission to destroy NPR, supposedly a bit of satire for Pledge Week, says much more about eNdingPR than any other professional reactor voice.
In the meantime, choleric discharge is clogging the sewers in Haiti, and I imagine they've lost count of how many empty coffin funerals there are in Af-Pak, due to bodily atomization from the droning that goes on and on...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Ever-Surprising Evolution of N.othin' P.ublic R.elations
Pentagon-Approved Soriyasahaddinelson gave an 'Entertainment Tonight' style chitchat coverage of Ahmadinejad's visit to Beirut this morn. Always suave Linda Wertenheimermuller asked her, with just the right touch of annoyance in her voice, 'What's he 'doing' there?' The report was a classic hangover from the old Cold War days, when it was Khrushchev who was the all-purpose bad boy.
Condi Roundup: in today's Publish or Perish mania, big news: CONDI HAS A BOOK COMING OUT. Like MeeShill, who beat her to it, Condi's cashing in on the Birmingham ferment, revealing that she did indeed have a bad-ass dad of her own. Problem is, at least MeeShill has a faux-sexy voice, while Condi is nothing but shallow dreariness. She still uses the very same condi-scension she used in a 60 Minutes interview years ago when she referred to the 'little girls' who were blown up in the church bombing, a detachment that served her well in being in on pulling off two indescribably horrible wars. Betcha though, that Condi's bad-ass book outperforms pipsqueak MeeShill's.
A blatant sign that NPR is severely anxious about declining ratings: the local stations are being FLOODED with promos from even the more obscure NPR superstars. Even superstar Jean Cochrane is stepping up (Jean who?) by doing the tedious work of customized promos. We salute her!
Also a bad sign for NPR. The other day NPR tied into an 'enemy' resource: an AL JAZEERA reporter!! Horrors! Weren't they working for Bin Laden and in on 9/11, or what? When Murdoch seizes control of a dying NPR, such practices will STOP, ya hear?
In spite of all this worthless rubbish, Philip Reeves gave what I thought was a wonderful profile of Billingsgate fish market in London. It's not hard to distinguish the rare gems in the NPR gutter. I think NPR maintains Reeves as an 'exotic'. You know, a sort of old fashioned guy like Andy Rooney who appeals to the geezers, So the management can say that yes, indeed, we are diverse, and we allow Reeves to do his thing unimpeded. Or whatever. Talk about condi-scension.
Condi Roundup: in today's Publish or Perish mania, big news: CONDI HAS A BOOK COMING OUT. Like MeeShill, who beat her to it, Condi's cashing in on the Birmingham ferment, revealing that she did indeed have a bad-ass dad of her own. Problem is, at least MeeShill has a faux-sexy voice, while Condi is nothing but shallow dreariness. She still uses the very same condi-scension she used in a 60 Minutes interview years ago when she referred to the 'little girls' who were blown up in the church bombing, a detachment that served her well in being in on pulling off two indescribably horrible wars. Betcha though, that Condi's bad-ass book outperforms pipsqueak MeeShill's.
A blatant sign that NPR is severely anxious about declining ratings: the local stations are being FLOODED with promos from even the more obscure NPR superstars. Even superstar Jean Cochrane is stepping up (Jean who?) by doing the tedious work of customized promos. We salute her!
Also a bad sign for NPR. The other day NPR tied into an 'enemy' resource: an AL JAZEERA reporter!! Horrors! Weren't they working for Bin Laden and in on 9/11, or what? When Murdoch seizes control of a dying NPR, such practices will STOP, ya hear?
In spite of all this worthless rubbish, Philip Reeves gave what I thought was a wonderful profile of Billingsgate fish market in London. It's not hard to distinguish the rare gems in the NPR gutter. I think NPR maintains Reeves as an 'exotic'. You know, a sort of old fashioned guy like Andy Rooney who appeals to the geezers, So the management can say that yes, indeed, we are diverse, and we allow Reeves to do his thing unimpeded. Or whatever. Talk about condi-scension.
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