American Medias is Stoopid
5 April 2008 by Bob
Just a follow-up to a previous post on the media…
The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell
In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to “domestic military operations” within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score.Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
“Yoo and torture” – 102
“Mukasey and 9/11″ — 73
“Yoo and Fourth Amendment” — 16
“Obama and bowling” — 1,043
“Obama and Wright” — More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
“Obama and patriotism” – 1,607
“Clinton and Lewinsky” — 1,079
And as Eric Boehlert documents, even Iraq — that little five-year U.S. occupation with no end in sight — has been virtually written out of the media narrative in favor of mindless, stupid, vapid chatter of the type referenced above. “The Clintons are Rich!!!!” will undoubtedly soon be at the top of this heap within a matter of a day or two.
God Bless America! Woo-Hoo!
5 April 2008, on 9:36 pm
…and now, even the “forth branch” of the United States government has utterly failed us.
Total and absolute dereliction of duty.
5 April 2008, on 10:21 pm
Youse coitenly gott dat rite, Bobb!
An use two, Frisky!
Dere all a flocking bunch of derrierelicks.
5 April 2008, on 10:55 pm
Wait.. Clinton and Lewinsky got it on?????? When did this happen?
Hey, can you blame the media for wanting to zero in on some hot lesbo action?
…. …..
….. oh… wait, they’re talking about Bill.
hmm.
Wait… Bill Clinton and Lewinsky got it on??? WHEN???
6 April 2008, on 7:15 am
This just in:
Charlton Heston is still dead, at 84.
I, have started a film retrospective (or will, as soon as I can get a teevee, dvd player and all of his movies–which is to say, never).
I put this up over at the General’s place, in reply to another commenter’s mention of Chuck’s demise.
“I googled a website that had this comment, about Chuck Heston, on it.
“God bless Charlton Heston and we pray for his quick recovery in jesus name.”
I think the commenter might have been confusing Mr. Heston’s screen characters with his real life.
The same website noted that he got the role of Moses in “The Ten Commandments” because Burt Lancaster (a professed atheist, according to the writer of the article) turned down the role because he felt the movie was “religious crap”. Now, Burt Lancaster, there was an actor.
democommie™™™™™©®ç åü | 04.06.08 – 7:14 am | # ”
News of the death of “Moses” may even eclipse the PBA Presidential Fitness Test which Obama failed so miserably.
6 April 2008, on 9:02 am
Demo, do you want to pry the gun from his fingers now, or do I have to do it?
Funny thing though, my family and I went out to eat last night and one of the people called was Moses party of 4. It made me laugh.
6 April 2008, on 10:55 am
Unhand my corpse, you damn filthy ape!
Ever since these major news divisions were absorbed by the entertainment divisions of the corporate empires to which they belong, what passes for the network news has been crap. Add to that, the 24 hours a day the cable newsies have to fill and the line between what is and what is not news lowers considerably. Then, you factor in the American hoi polloi’s fascination with missing blonde girls, Britney’s various shaven bits, and information as shouted invective and remember that these news organizations are, ultimately, whores to the ratings. We get more and more of whatever the greatest percentage of us are drawn to, which, in this day and age, is style over substance, form over function, and naughty, naughty monkeys.
I still find it funny- in a that’s so fucking sad, it’s funny kind of funny, that the same GOP mouthpieces who vilify Pres. Clinton for failing to act against terrorists are the same agents of Inquisition that kept him, and the rest of our government tied up for eighteen months while an investigation into financial improprieties turned up nothing more than an illicit blowjob. I wish I’d been Clinton’s adviser because I would have had him say, “None of your fucking business asswipe. You’ll have to find your new stroke material elsewhere.”
6 April 2008, on 1:02 pm
I hadn’t been watching the news lately. They’re really still rehashing the Clinton BJ? Is there nothing else going on? Oh, right, Bob showed us there is. Is lameduck news “no news”?
Maybe Obama should have tried a sport in which the ball bounces. Or maybe he wouldn’t be “black” enough for round ball. Apparently he isn’t “white” enough for bowling. Kidding, folks…KIDDING!!!!
As for Heston, it may take another Chuck to pry the gun from his cold dead hand-Norris. Hmmmm, the coincidences of American god figures being named Chuck ties in handily with the fun of the Name Game song: “Chuck, Chuck bo buck, banana fanna fo fuck!” Eh, I’m thinking Charleton will get buried with his gun.
Now, what to do about Yoo and the Shrub?
6 April 2008, on 1:36 pm
For a really good book on this subject, which I fully intend to finally finish one day, check our Robert McChesneys’ “The Problem of the Media.”–one of the major problems being that media is corporate, making it’s duty to the citizenry of the U.S. come a far third to its obligation to its commercial sponsors and stockholders.
As for Heston, I overheard rumors that he was donating his body, for purposes of research, to the Soylent corporation. Can anyone here corroborate this rumor?
6 April 2008, on 1:42 pm
Karen, in Norris’ case, we would have to pry his gun from his cold, dead acting skills and facial expression. One would think, in a quarter century before the camera, one would gain at least a little skill but, no, “Walker: Texas Ranger” was every bit as bad as “Good Guys Wear Black”. Ah, well, at least in the latter, he kicked the shit out of a dude by first jumping feet first through a windshield…
It’s interesting that the stars that come out on the right side of the political aisle seem to be a whole lot less talented than the ones on the left(see Bruce Willis, Schwarzenegger, Gary Sinise, Kelsey Grammer, and porn star, Mary Carey vs. Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, etc.) And, no, Bruce Willis isn’t actually an exception to the rule. He’s a star but not much of an actor- or a musician for that matter.
6 April 2008, on 9:18 pm
Raindogzilla:
I agree with you, but there’s this one thing. Robert de Niro seems, on the surface, to always play the same character. But, unlike Willis, you believe that he’s doing it on purpose–sorta like Brando.
Charlton Heston actually said that his bit as Moses parting the Red Sea, “acted itself”, what with the cast of thousands, etc. I believe him; unfortunately a lot of his roles were like that whether by accident or divine design.
Mary Carey is an anomaly in reptilican circles. Not that lots of republicans don’t like to put men’s little soldiers in their mouths, but she’s a female who likes to.
7 April 2008, on 1:28 pm
If the press can’t keep us occupied with the usual diet of gossip and trivia, they can always play the Damsel in Distress card.
No matter what else is happening in the world -wars, famine, or ecological collapse, we have to put all that aside whenever an attractive young white woman is the victim of a murder or kidnapping (a la Natalie Holloway, etc. etc. etc..).
8 April 2008, on 8:40 am
AUM said:
“do you want to pry the gun from his fingers now, or do I have to do it?”
Shortpacked ran that joke:
http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080406.html