Main Stream Media

Today was noneventful in my life -- rubber stamp of the last two days. So, I'll comment on what's bugging me today, which is lousy news reporting. Our country is going through probably historical times - putting it kindly and mildly - and we can't seem to get any news reporters to do it justice.

As an example, a little surfing found this story on Huffington Post - bottom line is Tucker Carlton is sympathetic to Scooter Libby because his pappa is part of the Libby Defense team. Ah-ha! Read the article.

Then there's this silly little story -- now, this doesn't have anything to do with our national defense, but it was definitely a buried story at the time. It seems when Bush fell on his bicycle at the G8 Summit, he not only injured himself but he crashed into a policeman to the point it put the poor guy on crutches. Bush had taken his hand off the handlebar to wave at policemen -- and lost control of his bike! Had this been an "normal" person, he would have been fined as a reckless driver. But his handlers managed to keep it very quiet. Now, all Howard Dean needed was a microphone that amplified his voice a little too much and he was crucified. They did give Cheney a little bit of a hard time about shooting somebody, but nobody mentioned our president's running down people with his stupid bicycle! And it's not like it was quiet from all media. Apparently, unless I misread something, it was published in the Sottish papers. But our brave media didn't touch it. Why?

Olbermann seems to be selling out, I'm sorry to say, and I really hope I'm wrong. On Olbermann Watch, there's an email - supposedly from Olbermann - saying that his producers called him down on calling Bush "Mister" Bush instead of "President" Bush. His show is getting so generic that it really makes me wonder. He'll give a little coverage to these huge stories, seem to be in the mind-set of "This is a story going on" -- sure seems like a cooling down on his part in my estimation. He's playing up the comic aspects of his show and the O'Reilly feud is funny - but we need some meat in his reporting. But apparently he's leaving the controversial stories pretty much alone. So, it sure makes me wonder what's going on behind the scenes. Even his blog has pretty much died except for some token posts that are sports related.

Judging from how most of the senators who were so adamant about the port situation are calming down, it makes you wonder. I like what somebody termed the phenomenon of Frist's backing down as he had been "taken to the woodshed."

Lou Dobbs so far seems to be the only loud voice out there, and he's a Republican I think. Surprisingly, Jack Cafferty is getting fed up with the Administration and government in general and managing to say so - finally - pretty much leaving Wolf Blitzer sputtering sometimes. Chris Matthews seems "defensive" of the Administration. He says he's never had a problem with this president and doesn't understand why people don't like him anymore. Geez!

Maybe I should get brave and tune into Fox News just to see what they're saying. With Bush's ratings in the tank like they are, you would think these reporters would alter their allegiances for their own popularity - makes you wonder what is in their own benefit, doesn't it?

There's so much more. This doesn't even scratch the proverbial surface. I guess I don't have any room to complain. I've never once ever done anything activist or gone to a meeting or rally or demonstration. I'm even sometimes reluctant to take these little polls on the Internet - "What do you think about...." But these guys are in positions of telling people like me what's going on, declaring that as their professions, and they're not doing it very well. So, I feel very cheated and misled. I'm angry and worry about our country when it's so obvious that the voices who have a voice can be silenced maybe a little too easily.

Last night, fighting insomnia, I turned on C-Span. They were airing the Covenant with Black America that Tavis Smiley is heading up, and when I tuned in, Louis Farrakhan was speaking -- I know, I know -- but he did use a phrase that is sooo "useful" that he does deserve credit for it. He said that our powers that be needed to develop some "testicular fortitude"! Amen to that!