Goldfish and Clowns. Where God's not dead and neither are we. » Mainstream Media

Reading The Headlines So You Don’t Have To

Jerry Wilson — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:14:50 +0000

The things you find at Yahoo…

Headline: Planned Sarah Palin CSU speech stirs California protest (CSU stands for California State University, of which there are several; this particular one being Stanislaus). Were the speech being given by Michelle Obama, think any of the mortally offended parties would raise so much as a peep? Although they do have marshmallow minds…

Headline, in the News section: Some right-wingers ignore facts as they rewrite U.S. history Mind you, this is in the News section, not Op/Ed. Nope, no bias here, no sirree…

Back to Sarah Palin for a moment. I am not fathoming how some right wing bloggers (*coughdanriehlcough*) are getting off on criticizing her for insisting her name not be associated with a GOP fundraiser running concurrent to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, at which she’ll be speaking. She isn’t participating in the fundraiser. Of course she doesn’t want her name being used as a means of getting people involved in something with which she isn’t involved. It’s the same thing as a concert promoter at some local club listing U2 on the bill when they’re actually playing that night at the football stadium across town. You don’t do that. So why is she being criticized?

You’re Not Representin’ Me

Jerry Wilson — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:19:31 +0000

For close to a year now I’ve been annoying, tormenting, pestering, plaguing, worrying, badgering, harrying, persecuting, irking, bullyraging, vexing, disquieting, grating, besetting, bothering, teasing, nettling, tantalizing and ruffling Duane Patterson, producer of the Hugh Hewitt radio show, about making an appearance on said program to talk about the book. To date the answer has been variations on “not at this time.” Well, that and occasional barbs tossed back and forth. Especially when the A’s and Angels cross swords… er, bats.

Anyway, yesterday Hewitt had as one of his guests Dan Riehl, mention of whom has previously appeared in this quiet little place. The cause for Riehl’s presence was a blog post he had written the previous day roundly criticizing Hewitt for raising a ruckus about how the GOP has been spending money on (ahem) “lobbying” efforts at business establishments where the hard stuff isn’t exactly defined as whole milk instead of low fat accompanied by double chocolate chip cookies rather than regular prior to a quiet evening of Bible study and prayer. As Riehl wrote, Hewitt was being a Puritan prude. Pinched in. A prig, even. In short, Riehl played the provocateur. Positively perturbing!

Leaving the letter P aside for a moment, along with Planet P Project unless you’re a diehard Tony Carey fan, based on his blog Riehl lives to push buttons. He treats Twitter in a similar fashion. Witness this tweet from earlier today:

Running? Haste makes waste! RT @huffingtonpost: Man takes running leap off Empire State Building (UPDATES) http://tinyurl.com/yffzw4z

Because, you know, nothing screams funny like suicide.

Snark aside, what is the point of such exercises on Riehl’s part? Other than the obvious one of drawing attention to himself as he plays the Beltway wannabe game. This furthers the debate? This makes a case for conservative politics? Right. And my pet unicorn is in the backyard dancing with bejeweled butterflies.

This isn’t about “so what does it take to get on Hewitt’s show.” If taking potshots at people was the sole requirement for traditional media inclusion I’d have more air time than President Obama.

It’s about the people with whom one chooses to associate and be associated.

I’m not preaching isolationism or insisting that everyone you work with pass some kind of holiness litmus test. What is being said comes straight from Scripture: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ ‘Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’”

If we call ourselves followers of Christ, and we believe our political views are shaped by our faith and His teachings, shouldn’t the company we keep in pursuit of winning over hearts and minds, establishing policies and installing policies along with practices thereof, honor our primary commitment to Jesus? If He is Who He says He is, and He is not Savior alone but also Lord, how then can we promulgate the deliberate sinner or boastful unbeliever? To do so is saying, in deeds if not words, the ends justify the means. Good luck finding Biblical affirmation for that notion.

We live in troubling, troubled times. Acting like the world in order to combat the world isn’t going to cut it. We need to stand firm in love, not compromising our beliefs for the sake of political expediency. Politics come and go. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.

Choose your associates carefully.

P.S. The list of fifty or so ways to say “don’t bother the…” in the first paragraph comes from a sign at the San Diego Zoo imploring visitors to leave the animals alone.

P.P.S. Speaking of Tony Carey…

Media Bias? In San Francisco? Really?

Jerry Wilson — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:26:39 +0000

Back to back stories on the local all, uh, news station:

1. A report on the state GOP gathering in San Jose, focusing on the Senate primary. First words out of the reporter: “Front runner Tom Campbell…” Really? I mean, really? The reporter then proceeded to say Campbell’s speech sucked, Carly Fiorina’s rocked, and as to Chuck Devore… not a word save for how he ripped Fiorina’s latest ad. Oh, and making sure the word “conservative” was prominently featured before his name.

Because, you know, conservatives are evil.

2. The next story was ostensibly about the unraveling of the bogus runaway Prius story of a few days ago. Which of course explains why the second half of the report did nothing but dwell on Toyota’s recent troubles, starting with (quote) “the story appeared to have added to Toyota’s recent problems…”

Next on-air item?

A Toyota ad.

Way to make those advertisers feel wanted, kiddos.

A Regrettably Almost Totally Non-Imaginary Conversation Last Night On Twitter

Jerry Wilson — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:27:41 +0000

“So are you going to donate?”

“Donate to what?”

“Not what. Who. To my favorite writer. He wants to cover the championship game between Alabama and Texas.”

“Him and nine million other sportswriters… but why is he asking for donations?”

“So he can afford to go.”

“I see. Well then, looks like he’ll have to settle for watching it on television like the rest of us.”

“But he can’t report on it that way.”

“Funny. I usually manage some pretty decent write-ups on NASCAR without going to each race.”

“But I want to read his take on things while at the game.”

“And I want a mint condition Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Guess what? Can’t afford it. So I live without. Unfortunate that your favorite reporter will have to do the same. Ain’t life a bust? And asking for donations to go to a football game that just ‘happens’ to have his favorite team playing for the championship? Come on. This isn’t about ‘reporting.’ It’s about wanting to go to the game and using reporting on it as an excuse.”

“So you’re accusing him of lying.”

“About what?”

“About why he wants to go to the game.”

“I don’t see him with a honkering to go to the Poinsettia Bowl between Cal and Utah. Don’t tell me his reasons are entirely journalistic. Or primarily. He wants to go to the game. Period.”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Come again?”

“Whether his favorite team is involved is beside the point. He wants to go as a journalist.”

“Why?”

“To offer his unique perspective on the game.”

“Oh, thank the lucky stars for that. Poor game wouldn’t get a whisper of coverage otherwise.”

“You don’t think he’s a great reporter?”

“To quote you, that’s beside the point. The point is his primary reason for begging is so he can see his favorite team in the championship game for free. It has nothing to do with reporting.”

“So you’re accusing him of lying.”

“What are you, a walking tape loop? Fine, I’m calling BS on the whole thing.”

“You don’t believe he’ll do reporting while he’s there?”

“How many times do you want me to answer the same question? I’m sure he will. He has to, since that’s why he says he’s going. But do I believe that’s the primary reason he’s going? No.”

“Do you think every other reporter who’s going wants the assignment for journalistic purposes only?”

“Yeah, and if everyone else was jumping off a bridge… same logic. What difference does the motivation of others make? We’re not talking about them. We’re talking about one individual begging for money so he can go watch a football game.”

“Well, all those other reporters are begging for money too. It’s called ‘advertising.’”

“And you’re called thick as a brick. The people and businesses who buy ads in newspapers or magazines, or on television or radio aren’t doing it for the sole purpose of seeing Joe or Jane Sportswriter’s byline. They’re doing so to reach potential customers. The only concerns they have about the medium’s content is having no controversy brought on them via association with a particular channel and how many people will it reach.”

“By your logic, you should never buy books or music.”

“The connection, oh pray tell?”

“You don’t believe in paying people for their art.”

“Let’s try this again. The connection?”

“You think people should provide their services for free.”

“There is nothing in common between paying an artist for their work and a journalist begging for funds so they can go watch a football game under the excuse of reporting on it!”

“Don’t you agree there’s an art to reporting? That it’s a craft?”

“There is a huge difference between that and creating a work of art. Unless you somehow equate a new U2 album with some joker in Rolling Stone talking about it. Slight difference, don’t you think? Assuming you ever do.”

“Well, he wants to report on the game and that’s all that matters.”

“So let him get a job and pay his own way.”

“But I want to read his reporting from the game!”

“Did I mention the guitar I want? Don’t see me begging for funds to buy it so I can ‘report’ on how it sounds.”

“You’re not nice.”

“Possibly. I also paid my own way every step along the way for the book. Which is a tad more important in the grand scheme of things than a football game. Now, run along fanboy. I’m busy. Some of us have work to do. That has nothing to do with pretending to work so we can root root root for the home team in person while asking others to pay for it.”

No, Not Surprising At All

Jerry Wilson — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:16:37 +0000

New post for the Examiner about the media’s decidedly unsurprisingly biased coverage of Rifqa Bary.

No surprise in media coverage of Rifqa Bary

Rifqa Bary

Reading the assorted media accounts of the Rifqa Bary case, the words of Christ to His disciples come to mind: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you (Jn. 15:18-19).”

Although the words of Christ referenced the religious rulers of His time on this earth, there is direct application to not only Ms. Bary’s situation where she ran away from home earlier this summer, fearing for her life from her Muslim parents as she had become a Christian, but life as believers know it today. (More background on Ms. Bary’s case available here.)

It should never come as a surprise when the world acts like, well, the world. The apostle John wrote, “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you (1 Jn. 3:13).” Christ Himself warned his followers, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets (Lk. 6:26).”

Just as it should not come as a surprise when the world hates us if we are genuinely following Christ by living our lives according to His example, it should not come as a surprise when the media treats believers as lepers. Traditional media is saturated with non-believers. Christians are scarce; respect for them and Christ even more scarce. How else could they treat us but with contempt and a condescending attitude?

Refer back to Rifqa Bary’s case. CNN’s most recent article maintains a veneer of even-handedness, yet quotes no one on Rifqa’s side of the case while quoting her father. Meanwhile, it links to an article in Time magazine that drips with derision toward Rifqa, labeling her a liar while viciously slandering all who support her in her quest to worship Christ without fearing for her life.

It is a seeming paradox that in today’s environment where traditional media is facing increased pressure from both charges of bias and an ever-shrinking revenue base as subscriptions and advertising both dwindle away that it would stubbornly cling to the kind of coverage referenced above. Yet it does. It is more addicted to its sin than any sense of what is necessary to survive.

With this as our reality, how then should we respond?

While isolation from the world is not only impractical but in direct violation of Christ’s commandment to those of us who know and love Him to be His witness to the world, it is vital for believers to come together, drawing strength and encouragement from each other.

Also important is for Christians whenever possible to promote each other. The world does enough to lift up its own. We don’t need to help. Many were offended when in this space Michelle Malkin was called out for employing an aggressive atheist as one of her main writers. Why? The world already wallows in its hatred of us. What justification is there for one who states they follow Jesus to inflict further hatred on fellow believers?

Finally, it is up to all believers to spread the truth. The world lies. Don’t suffer its lies in silence. Use the tools at hand to counter lies with the truth. Speak accurately. Know the facts. Spread the word.

And pray for Rifqa Bary. Unfailingly.

No, Really, This Is Being Passed Off As Reporting The News

Jerry Wilson — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:21:31 +0000

I do have better things to do than bash the media. After all, in a fashion I am a member of said profession. That said, sometimes things come down the MSM chute that simply can’t be ignored.

Like really, really bad reporting.

One would think in this era of newspapers being on the endangered species list all parties involved would be more than proactive in the realm of quality journalism. If you’re going to attempt a case for being something worth purchasing, it makes a fair amount of sense to put the highest quality product out there for consideration. Apparently this notion has yet to permeate the rarefied atmosphere of the Orlando Sentinel.

Or they’re simply anti-Christian bigots and don’t care if everyone knows it.

Submitted as an example of same is this story from yesterday on the case of Rifqa Bary. The story is presented as written and posted on the Sentinel’s website as of this morning. It has since been rewritten. How convenient for the newspaper and its reporters. How inconvenient I caught it before it was scrubbed.

Fathima Rifqa Bary,

First off, Ms. Bary goes by Rifqa and does not use her first name. I was unaware of this when I wrote my first two columns on her for the Examiner. Given how the media indulges most everyone with whatever they want to call themselves this week, not respecting Ms. Bary’s wishes in this regard is… well, typical.

the Ohio teenager who has become a cause célèbre among evangelical Christians for running away from her Muslim family,

I’ll say this for Rene Stutzman and Amy L. Edwards, who wrote the story: they let you know early where they stand. Namely, on the contempt for Christians side of things.

Whether Ms. Bary’s case is hailed or wholly ignored by Christians — carefully note the insertion of “evangelical” into the mix, for we are of course the root of all evil and super bigots to boot — is utterly immaterial to the court case. The issue is between Ms. Bary and her parents.

She asserts should she be returned to them she will be killed for having converted to Christianity against the beliefs of her devout Muslim parents. Evidence states she has a case.

There have been repeated allegations of Ms. Bary being physically abused by her family. There have been documented cases of “honor killings” in families given over to the radical branch of Islam. There is evidence the mosque attended by Bary’s parents has clear associations with this branch.

It is beyond immaterial what anyone not directly involved with the case believes or says. So why mention it in the story’s lead sentence? This is not an attempt to put things in “context.” This is a deliberate effort to manipulate the reader against Ms. Bary and her case by portraying it as something upheld by those (ugh!) evangelical Christians.

returns to an Orlando courtroom today.

Actually, this is a lie. The story is dated yesterday. The court case is today. I wrote a couple of posts for the Examiner about how it went, located here and here.

A judge must decide whether her father — or anyone else in Ohio — poses a threat to her.

Which of course can’t be true. When have Muslims ever practiced violence against others? Oh wait…

Meanwhile, Ohio child welfare officials have already concluded it’s safe for Rifqa to return. They want to place the girl in therapy and reunite her with her family.

There! See? It’s all better now! A member of the Crisis Counselors SWAT team which descends like hungry locusts on the site of any and every human tragedy these days will sit down and have a nice chat with everyone. That’ll solve everything! Because a follower of radical Islam always follows the pop psychology platitudes of a non-believer, i.e. infidel? Right? I mean… right?

That, however, may not be the conclusion of Florida officials who have had to deal with a flood of e-mail and reaction from thousands of people,

They care, I’m sure.

many of them including anti-Muslim sentiments,

You mean people mentioning radical Islam, honor killings and all that? The nerve of those biased cretins! How dare they bring up the inconvenient truth!

who say the runaway is a hero.

No, we say the young woman has a right to practice her faith without fear of being murdered for it.

Gov. Charlie Crist has received more than 9,000 e-mails about the runaway, his office said.

That’s nice. Immaterial to the case sidebar nice. But still nice.

For the past two weeks, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been investigating whether there are any credible threats to Rifqa, 17, a native of Sri Lanka. Agents will present their findings today, something that could signal what happens next.

Or not, since the judge presiding over the case sealed the report. It’s worth noting there was an exchange in court today where one of the lawyers for the parents (amazing how people who earlier pleaded poverty now have a battalion of legal beagles at their disposal) claimed the report favored his clients… immediately after being handed the report. He had BS called on him by a child protection worker, stating not only had he just violated the judge’s gag order along with commenting on the contents of a court sealed document but that Rifqa was more than a little distraught over questioning for the report. Something tells me the report is going to be challenged hard by Rifqa’s defenders.

If they conclude no threats exist, Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson could send the girl back to Columbus, Ohio, where her parents have agreed to place her in foster care for at least a month.

And you believe that, of course. Got proof? Further, got proof she’ll be safe and protected?

If agents conclude Rifqa is in danger, the judge could leave her here in foster care, her status since Aug. 10 when another judge ordered her temporarily into the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The judge now presiding over the case has told both sides to work this out via mediation as he doe not want it decided in court. Somehow I doubt he’ll get his wish. In the meanwhile, Rifqa is still with her foster family in Florida and will remain there until at least the end of the month, when the next court hearing is scheduled.

No matter what FDLE says, Rifqa will fight to stay here until next August, when she turns 18, said her attorney, John Stemberger, a conservative Christian activist.

See? Conservative and Christian! EVIL!!!

He said Rifqa is in a stable home with a Christian foster family and is happy.

So have her case workers. Funny how that went unmentioned.

If she is returned to Ohio, he has said, it’s just a matter of time until she disappears or is killed.

Which if it happens will be to the soundtrack of crickets from the Sentinel.

Rifqa says her father became enraged, confronted her about becoming a Christian and threatened to kill her earlier this summer.

Later, on July 17, Rifqa says her mother discovered a Christian book in the house, challenged her “and told me I was going to have to be sent back to Sri Lanka to be dealt with.”

And to think the poor deluded child thought they might mean it. Check out the report (link is inside the story) filed by Stemberger about the mosque Rifqa’s parents attend.

Two days later Rifqa ran away.

Guess she prefers living. Silly girl.

Her father, Mohamed Bary, 47, a jeweler and Amway distributor,

Oh, well, that proves the man is above reproach! He sells Amway!

says he never threatened Rifqa, loves her, wants her back and will allow her to practice whatever religion she chooses.

Back in my retail days, we sold multiple sacks of that in the outdoor nursery department. It’s called steer manure. Or to be more precise…

Eric Fenner, executive director of Franklin County Child Services in Columbus, Ohio, said Wednesday that his agency has investigated the girl’s complaints and believe she can safely return home.

R-i-g-h-t. Care to produce your report? Can we see who you did and did not talk to about it?

“We think by getting the family with a therapist … hopefully, we can salvage this family,” he said.

Refer to the aforementioned Crisis Counselor SWAT Team comment.

Rifqa is expected at today’s hearing. Her parents are not.

Nice of them to show their concern, what say?

Stemberger filed paperwork on Monday, alleging that the mosque attended by Rifqa’s family is home to terrorists and Muslim extremists. He is expected to make the same argument today.

He didn’t, since apparently he believes the judge can read. No wonder the parent’s new attorney wants Stemberger barred from the case. The chump dislikes being trumped.

The mosque, Noor Islamic Cultural Center, issued a statement Wednesday to say those allegations are lies and that hate groups are using Rifqa’s case to attack Muslims.

It then declared jihad on anyone who disagreed with it.

Rifqa boarded a bus to Orlando and sought refuge with husband-and-wife pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz of Global Revolution Church. She met Beverly Lorenz through a prayer book page on the Internet social network site Facebook.

How dare Rifqa talk to fellow believers!

Although Rifqa’s family was searching for her and had filed a missing persons report with Columbus police, the Lorenzes kept her for two weeks without notifying authorities.

My turn to call BS. Rifqa’s parents didn’t bother filing a missing persons report on their daughter until she had been gone for ten days. The Lorenzes did not hide Rifqa from everyone and are under no investigation by Florida law enforcement for their actions. Had they broken any law, think there’d be a moment of hesitation by the state to pounce?

FDLE will not say whether the Lorenzes are under investigation.

They’re not.

It is a crime in Florida to shelter an unmarried juvenile for more than 24 hours without the consent of her parents or notifying authorities.

Need I mention again if there was the slightest bruising of the law by the Lorenzes, let alone breaking of same, law enforcement would be on them like flies on steer manure? Although considering how much of same is containing in this article, the Sentinel must be wall to wall with winged insects.

The Lorenzes say they were trying to protect a frightened teenager who was convinced her life was in jeopardy.

The gall of it all!

Actually, the only gall displayed here is that of the Orlando Sentinel passing off this biased, bigoted garbage as news reporting.

You Didn’t Learn That From Mickey Mouse, Now Did You

Jerry Wilson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:10:21 +0000

Earlier today, I was taking a breather from the day job by spending a moment on Facebook.

One of the people on my friends list there is Ron Lemaster Jr. He’s a sportswriter focusing on NASCAR for assorted publications.

As people are wont to do on Facebook, Mr. Lemaster had taken some online polls, the results of which were posted on his page at the site. And on the page of everyone on his friends list. The poll in question was whether he’d vote for Sarah Palin should she run for President in 2012. His answer was in the affirmative.

This is a screen shot of part of the comments that followed:

John Oreovicz is a writer for ESPN.COM. He covers open wheel racing.

Note I said this is a screen shot of part of the comments. Mr. Oreovicz made addition comments which he subsequently deleted. Below is the full data from the e-mail Facebook automatically sends one of its users when someone leaves a comment subsequent to one of theirs on a post:

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John Oreovicz also commented on Ron Lemasters Jr.’s post:

“F*&% Jerry Wilson and Sarah Palin.”

To see the comment thread, follow the link below:

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=3D5002737428676&mid=3Dceda7cG2447b6dfG21c450cG37

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The Facebook Team

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In case you missed it, this was Mr. Oreovicz’s posted comment:

F*&% Jerry Wilson and Sarah Palin.

Somehow, I doubt that’s the way Disney, which owns ESPN, wants its employees to carry themselves in public.

I’ve gone to both ESPN and Disney’s Web sites to register my complaint. I seriously, seriously doubt I’ll get anything above a form letter in reply, if that much.

Just thought I’d share this special moment of MSM love with y’all.

Fair Vs. Fair Use

Jerry Wilson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:31:18 +0000

Judge Richard Posner, who sits on the seventh circuit court of appeals in Chicago, is (so I’m told — like what, I collect judicial trading cards?) a heavy hitter in legal land, one whose word carries genuine heft. He and Nobel Prize winner (economics; 1992) Gary Becker share a blog in which they opine on assorted legal and economic matters. Go figure, huh?

Late last month, Judge Posner weighed in with his thoughts on the state of newspapers today. After running through the standard talking points whenever said subject comes up, in his conclusion he drops this bombshell:

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion.

You can imagine how that’s gone over in the blogosphere. (Hint: none too well.)

It’s not like Posner has never expressed similar sentiments before. As Dan Kennedy in the Guardian points out, Posner wrote this in 2005 – somewhat ironically, for the New York Times:

The bloggers are parasitical on the conventional media. They copy the news and opinion generated by the conventional media, often at considerable expense, without picking up any of the tab. The degree of parasitism is striking in the case of those blogs that provide their readers with links to newspaper articles. The links enable the audience to read the articles without buying the newspaper. The legitimate gripe of the conventional media is not that bloggers undermine the overall accuracy of news reporting, but that they are free riders who may in the long run undermine the ability of the conventional media to finance the very reporting on which bloggers depend.

However, in the same article Posner digs deep at the root of much of traditional media’s current struggle:

Thus the increase in competition in the news market that has been brought about by lower costs of communication (in the broadest sense) has resulted in more variety, more polarization, more sensationalism, more healthy skepticism and, in sum, a better matching of supply to demand. But increased competition has not produced a public more oriented toward public issues, more motivated and competent to engage in genuine self-government, because these are not the goods that most people are seeking from the news media. They are seeking entertainment, confirmation, reinforcement, emotional satisfaction; and what consumers want, a competitive market supplies, no more, no less. Journalists express dismay that bottom-line pressures are reducing the quality of news coverage. What this actually means is that when competition is intense, providers of a service are forced to give the consumer what he or she wants, not what they, as proud professionals, think the consumer should want, or more bluntly, what they want.

In short, Pogo was right: we have met the enemy and he is us.

Back to Posner’s more recent suggestion that owners of copyrighted material should be allowed to prohibit linkage to said material without their express permission. For the record, the Associated Press has already gone on record that it is most provincial in allowing its material to be used, linked to or quoted. Posner’s opinion is that this should be mandated by law.

Would that really be such a bad thing?

An embarrassingly large amount of blogging today, especially in the political realm, is to journalism what Guitar Hero is to creating music. Namely, a look-alike and if you hit the right buttons sound-alike, yet void of a single shred of genuine originality and/or creativity. It’s follow the dots drek. Find a story, and depending on your leanings tag select the appropriate checkbox, one for Me Too or two for F U. Nothing is added. Nothing is illuminated. It’s Hee Haw hermeneutics minus the folksy wisdom and insight. It’s Oakland reporting. There’s no there there.

What we need is more genuine reporting and intelligent commentators who don’t have to hide behind the work of someone else, lobbing their two cents worth over its shoulder while proclaiming it to be pieces of eight. What we also need is acknowledgment of how disingenuous it is to with one hand write today’s snarkfest ripping on traditional media for bias or whatever while the other ruffles through its body of work looking for something to talk about.

So much of the stuff from which traditional media draws its content is present in raw form. You can read bills before Congress; you can read statements from the White House. You can look at police reports. Research and source materials are readily available. In this era of social media, many newsmakers are directly accessible and willing to directly communicate. Nothing is stopping anyone from doing the work and doing it themselves. So why aren’t we?

Instead of churning out your third fan fodder post this hour about the evil/inept/biased media, how about writing your own news article? Look things up, talk to people, put it together, present it in unvarnished honesty. Set aside your preferences and report both sides of contentious issues in a straightforward manner. Yes, it’s a lot of work. Yes, it means you won’t have all day to do nothing aside from sit on your happy self and surf the Net looking for something to riff on. If the media is as bad as you say it is, why are you doing that anyway?

Whether Judge Posner’s suggestion violates fair use laws is a matter for his fellow judiciary to decide. That said, there is nothing in his suggestion precluding fairness in reporting. If that means doing it ourselves, then let’s do so.

No, Seriously, This Is A News Article

Jerry Wilson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:21:24 +0000

The phrase “media bias” is flung about so freely we’ve become almost inured to its usage. It’s easy, far too easy, to slap it on every story we don’t like as a convenient means of dismissing its contents, be they pro or con. Sometimes, though, you run across something so egregious, so blatant in its willful ignorance of the truth, one has to speak out. Such is the case with today’s headline article from the San Francisco Chronicle, written by Carolyn Lochhead from the paper’s Washington bureau, about the triumph of that plucky local girl made good… er, Nancy Pelosi ramrodding through her cap and trade bill. Contemplate her deathless, sweeping prose as she begins:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke time and again of preserving “God’s beautiful creation”

There! See? If you oppose soaring energy prices with corresponding price increases on everything else, jobs being shipped overseas en masse, “reliance” on alternative energy sources that don’t work, and Pelosi making a killing on her natural gas investments you’re against God! Take that, you bigoted Christianists!

as she mustered all the skills she learned at her father’s knee in Baltimore

Don’t forget to bring in dear old Dad!

and in San Francisco’s liberal salons,

The beauty salons where she recuperates after each facelift?

to muscle sweeping climate change legislation to narrow passage Friday.

Thanks to some brainless Republicans… oh, wait, they’re the root of all evil. Best leave them out of it. Hail the hometown girl!

Pushing for the vote while uncertain she would win it was the highest-stakes decision of the San Francisco Democrat’s career.

High stakes? Like what, given the whipped status of Democrats if the bill hadn’t passed something more than maybe her next Botox injection being delayed might happen?

President Obama, joined by former vice president and greenhouse guru Al Gore, worked the phones to woo the backing of reluctant Democrats from coal states, farm states, manufacturing states and poor states.

Too cowardly to be there in person should their precious have gone down to defeat, eh?

Even

“Even?” What is this, a news article or a melodrama?

German chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in from the hallway off the Speaker’s balcony,

Where she clutched the money to pay the mortgage on the orphanage to her heaving bosom.

thanking “dear Nancy”

For fending off Sinister Snidley (who looks suspiciously like Dick Cheney) from foreclosing the orphanage’s mortgage. Or mortgaging America’s future. Or for turning her on to a good plastic surgeon. Or something.

for overseeing what Merkel called a sea change in U.S. policy on climate change.

“Sea change?” Sure. See your household budget destroyed, see the economy demolished, see your job sail across the bonny sea…

For all its muddy compromises,

“What – you mean you actually want to know what’s in the bill? And you want a complete copy of it? You want a complete bill period? God’s creation-hater!” But seriously… WHAT compromises?

and those to come in the more conservative Senate,

For as we all know, conservatives are the root of all evil. And drown puppies in their spare time.

the climate legislation would begin to tilt the equation of energy policy in the United States,

In favor of… so how much moolah you figure to get out of this, dear Nancy?

capping for the first time greenhouse gas emissions,

Shall we all call BS on this together? Laws regarding same have been on the books in California since 2006.

boosting production of renewable electricity,

Also BS.

investing in clean-energy technology

Yeah, never done that before either.

and attempting to loosen the vise grip that foreign oil producers hold on the nation’s economic and foreign policy.

Um… sure. Placing massive restrictions on the development and usage of domestic energy sources will cut oil imports. Explain how that one works, please.

The 219-212 vote was so close that Walnut Creek Democrat Ellen Tauscher, confirmed by the Senate the night before as the nation’s top arms control official,

As an aside, Tauscher’s job is with the State Department as Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, a position for which she is eminently qualified… so we’re told. Her job entails negotiating arms reduction agreements. Let me know when North Korea returns your calls, okay Ellen?

delayed her resignation until after passage. Tauscher spent much of the day presiding over the historic vote, fending off GOP delay tactics

Such as asking to actually see the bill.

and taking an emotional moment to bid farewell to her colleagues and announce her wedding today.

Aww…

Tauscher was late to her pre-nuptial dinner after Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio staged what looked like an old-fashioned Senate filibuster, using his privileges as a leader to spend more than an hour ridiculing page after page of the bill and delaying the final vote until well into the evening.

The brute! How dare he actually READ THE BILL! Which in Ms. Lochhead’s world constitutes ridicule. So she’s saying the bill is ridiculous? As to Ms. Tauscher’s delayed dinner, considering the wedding was held at her house in Washington I somehow doubt it was much of an inconvenience. Anyway, congratulations to the bride. Hope this marriage goes better than your first two, both ending in divorce.

When he relinquished the floor, Pelosi gave a fist pump.

Hope it didn’t over-stretch her last facelift.

“No matter how long Congress wants to talk about it,” she said, “we cannot put off the future.”

Starting with your unemployment should this bill become law and the economy collapse. And it’ll all be on you.

Still, her decision to seize a brief window before the July 4 recess to push through the contentious legislation could leave Democrats at risk in next year’s midterm elections.

One can only hope so.

The legislation arrives as gasoline prices and unemployment are rising along with sea levels.

Well, two out of three aren’t bad. The sea level isn’t rising.

With the economy stuck in deep recession, the promise of fresh taxes on energy, the economy’s most basic input, is a big risk for Democrats and a potential opportunity for Republicans.

What, your girl Nancy can’t sell the “sure, you’re broke, but it’s good for you” meme?

Nor is there any guarantee the legislation will clear the Senate, where failure would leave vulnerable House Democrats hanging with nothing to show for a risky vote.

Please, pass me the violin.

Such a course would parallel the infamous BTU energy tax proposed by President Bill Clinton nearly two decades ago. That tax cleared the House by a single vote cast by a hapless Pennsylvania first-term Democrat who promptly lost her seat after the Senate buried the bill.

This time through it’ll be eight “Republicans.”

Senate passage will be in the hands of California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an ardent proponent of cap-and-trade limits on greenhouse gases who often clashes with conservatives.

They’re already planning their strategy. Every time they address her they’ll call her ma’am. She’ll lose it on the spot.

Boxer plans action in her Environment and Public Works Committee by the end of July and believes she laid a path through the minefield of regional interests in a trial run on a similar bill last year that secured 54 votes, before Democrats added to their Senate majority in November’s election.

Apples and oranges. The stakes are far higher this time, and the damage to the economy would be far greater if this bill passed.

Pelosi framed the legislation as a national security issue, a health issue and above all “a moral issue for us to pass on God’s beautiful creation to the next generation in a responsible way.”

Funny how someone who sees no problem with murdering unborn children, defying her church in the process, keeps bleating about God’s creation. Guess human beings don’t qualify for that definition.

Her opponents, including nearly every Republican and 44 Democrats, warned that the legislation is economic suicide, and the “most colossal mistake ever in the history of the United States Congress.” They warned that imposing caps on carbon dioxide will raise energy prices and force more manufacturing to China and other nations that do not limit greenhouse gases while doing little to limit global warming.

But who cares about that? Or that even Greenpeace says this bill is worthless? Nancy says it’s so, therefore it is so. Right?

The bill would raise energy costs for consumers a postage-stamp’s worth a day, according to Democrats relying on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, or by $1,500 a year according to opponents who contend the costs are woefully underestimated.

Let’s see… a first class postage stamp currently costs forty-four cents. That would be $160.60 a year. By the way, the CBO’s estimate is a vile lie. The bill’s cost shoots up horrifically over time.

For all the politics at play on both sides, the debate was often emotional, pitting Democrats who believe they are opening a new, clean-energy frontier for economic growth against Republicans who pleaded with waverers to “save our country” from economic ruin.

The nerve of those people, trying to keep the economy from collapsing!

“Dozens of burgeoning companies at the cutting edge of green technologies are poised for an explosion in innovation,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto.

They have been working at this for thirty plus years and have yet to make a dent in this country’s energy needs. You expect this to change overnight?

Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno, in a reference to oil-rich Venezuela’s president, retorted: “If you like getting your oil from Hugo Chávez, you’ll love getting your breakfast, lunch and dinner from him too.”

Well, Obama might, seeing as how they’re such buds.

Democrats, some of them from the industrial Midwest,

From the land of the UAW. Now there’s some economic genius.

said jobs have already gone to China under GOP energy policies and reminded Republicans that former President George W. Bush bemoaned the U.S. “addiction to oil” in the same chamber.

He didn’t recommend destroying the economy to “rectify” this, now did he. He did recommend measures, including investing in alternate energy research, to alleviate this. The Democrats laughed.

The legislation split coastal Democrats from their newer colleagues in the more conservative interior from labor union and farm-heavy states such as Michigan and Missouri.

Um… let me check a map here… yes, Michigan and Missouri are in the interior of the country. Guess Ms. Lochhead wasn’t a geography major.

Working with Los Angeles Democrat Henry Waxman, the bill’s chief author, Pelosi was forced to accept key compromises with farm-state Democrats led by Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the Agriculture Committee chairman Pelosi bowed to last year to enact a costly and anachronistic farm bill.

But wait… I thought dear Nancy bowed to no one. And could someone kindly explain to Ms. Lochhead the difference between reporting and editorializing? You label a bill “costly” and “anachronistic” – as an aside, do you even know what that means? – without producing evidence of same. Pathetic.

Farm groups fear that higher energy prices could feed into their fuel and fertilizer costs.

Go figure.

Peterson won major concessions that could open a lucrative new agricultural market for carbon offsets gained through no-till farming and reforestation, as well as protection for corn-based ethanol.

You’d think the eco wackos would love that sort of thing.

In April, when Pelosi began cobbling together the fragile Democratic coalition behind carbon dioxide limits, she showed reporters a black desk statue of a coal miner, carved out of anthracite. She said it was a gift to her father, the late Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., D-Md., from a colleague in the coal-producing part of the state. Pelosi’s father passed it on to her when she was elected to Congress in 1987.

Oh, good. Human interest schlock.

She also displayed the statue to members from coal states, she said, to show them that their interests would not be ignored.

No word on how many hurt themselves laughing.

In fact, Pelosi gave what many Democrats felt were overly generous emissions allowances to coal-fired electricity plants.

She’s such a gal.

“We’re all going down that path together, or else we can’t go down that path,” she said. “And we must go down that path.”

So destroying your country’s economy is the path we must walk? Whatever, dear Nancy. Whatever.

Look, Ward Bushee, editor of the Chronicle. We know times are tough and your paper is teetering on the brink of going out of business. You probably can’t afford a lot of qualified writers. But if a collection of fangirl gushing is your definition of sufficient quality to be a lead story – or run period – you deserve to go out of business.

Quickly.

Perfect Situation… For Some, Anyway

Jerry Wilson — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:53:36 +0000

It is lamentable that George Santayana’s statement “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is forever associated with the madman Jim Jones, who had it posted above his throne at Jonestown. There is much truth in those words. As a bunch of people are about to discover.

Again.

Yesterday’s New York Times included an article about a new Internet start-up named Journalism Online LLC. Its goal is to provide a single portal through which multiple media entities can offer their wares for a fee. There would be some free content, but to go further the visitor would pay a fee. The amount of free versus paid content and price for the latter would be determined by the provider. The founders are talking big about this being the perfect situation; a one-stop shop where depending on the number and nature of content providers the visitor will have a multitude of high flying sites all conveniently located in one place. Pony up and you get all the goodies. Brilliant, right?

Oh, so wrong, so wrong.

I mentioned yesterday the rapidly diminishing amount of advertising dollars being spent on blogs. It’s even worse for online media outlets, particularly those who depend exclusively or overwhelmingly on ad revenue for their existence as the latest round of layoffs at Yahoo attest.

More traditional media outlets, particularly those who have been less than stellar in grasping how things are done online with its demand for fluid content, have tried several times to carry over at least part of the old school philosophy. Okay, the corporate thinking goes, time to examine this business model. People subscribe and/or buy individual copies of newspapers and magazines. You don’t expect to get them for free. So why should we give away our content on the Internet? We’ll charge a subscriber fee. No problem.

Uh, problem.

When consumers have a choice between paying for Product A and getting Product B for free, Product A had better have something worthwhile to offer Product B can’t touch. There are very few exclusive entities on the Internet. Don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for that industry newsletter? Look around. Chances are good to excellent the same information is available elsewhere for nothing more than a mouse click. News, sports, opinion? Sure, you might like a particular writer whose work is on a paid site. So wait a few minutes. Invariably someone will either reprint their latest work wholesale or casually drop a note on how to read it for free. The Associated Press and others can bellow and bluster all they wish about intellectual property and copyrights, but the facts are the moment you put it online someone is going to grab it with or without permission. You may be able to put the clamps on the most egregious offenders. But you’ll never stop it from happening. Ever. (As an aside, this is why my book isn’t available in digital form. I can’t afford to give it away.) It’s not right to steal the work of others. However, it happens. The mindset of how everything on the Internet should be equally available to all at no charge isn’t going anywhere.

All right then, the thinking may go. We’ll load it with ads so we can make at least something off of all this. Nice idea, but blissfully ignorant of the facts. A whole lot of us use Firefox as our browser. What’s the first add-on we install? Adblock Plus. How come? We hate online ads interfering with our looking at different sites. Use Internet Explorer or Safari or something else? Every browser has some form of add-on available for blocking ads. And you expect people to buy ads why? So they can be the first one on the blocked? The only method of online advertising that is in any fashion effective is when a static page is presented, and this is a method most prefer to avoid because it takes longer for the user to load.

Basically, no matter who or what you are if you put it on the Internet in any form you’re: 1) giving it away; 2) far more likely than not to not realize any revenue from it; and 3) better accept these as part of the deal because they are not going to change regardless of your preferences in the matter. Traditional media is not only locking the barn door after the horse has escaped — again — they’re trying to decide what color it should be painted. The barn, not the horse. It prefers to run natural.

As the blogging evangel says, blog from and for the heart. Not the bank account. Which is well nigh impossible anyway. The Internet is a perfect situation for those whose interest is in caring and sharing. Everyone else? Not so much.

P.S. Speaking of perfect situation…

[video http://www.diecast-dude.com/gac/weezer_perfect_situation.flv nolink]