8 posts tagged “news”

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on Monday, Independent Party presidential hopeful (it is hard to type that without believing it should be followed by a punchline), Ralph Nader, made some very interesting statements. 

When asked what is different about Senator Obama relative to other democrats he has run against, he stated that the only difference was that Senator Obama is “half African-American.”  Oh yes he did.  He went there.

He also said that Senator Obama is trying to (are you sure you are ready for this, hold on to your chair) “talk white.”

Did a person running for president actually accuse another candidate of talking white?  Seroiusly? 

It is interesting that the other candidates have mostly relied on their supporters and spouses to say incredibly stupid things, but not Mr. Nader.  He doesn’t need others to do his “stupid” work, he is perfectly capable of doing that himself. 

This crazy candidate (I will avoid the other descriptive terms that come to mind) even took a shot at Jessie Jackson while trying to explain why Senator Obama is talking white.  He stated that one of the reasons he is talking white is (hold on, I have to compose myself) he doesn’t want to “appear like Jessie Jackson.”

Holy smokes!

Is this guy for real?  I seriously think he has come to believe that he can gain more support than he has gotten in past elections by getting the racist vote.

Remember all of the talk about voter who said race mattered in the elections mostly voting for Senator Clinton.  It seems he heard that and decided that being a racist was his best bet in trying to get support.

I have looked at comments on several blogs and some chats on the subject and this foolishness seems to have some support. 

As for me, a person who does not belong to political party, I have to say I hate to have to refer to myself as an independent voter for fear that I will be associated to such an person (I’m being politically correct and nice instead of using many of the other descriptive terms that come to mind for this person). 

Just to leave us with a thought, what exactly are the implications of saying that a person of color or of mixed origin can attempt to “talk white?” 

Is he referring to that fact he does not use slang or “Ebonics” or sound like any of the rap stars on the television.  That would mean that he is saying that those who are white and “talk white” are okay in sounding educated, but any person of color or mixed origin who “talks white” is faking it to distance themselves from someone (as Mr. Nader implies) as stupid as Jessie Jackson or other persons of color.

Is he saying that “talking white” speaks of people who have money and that he is avoiding talking about those in the inner cities and poor neighborhoods of our country.  As if there are no people of color in these better neighborhoods and only people of color live in poor areas and inner cities. 

Need I go on?  How dare anyone who is not a publicly proclaimed racist support this man.  This is an assault on our sensibilities and the Independent party has a responsibility to all of us who call ourselves Americans to pull the plug on this racist madman.

This morning as I went through my morning ritual of watching the news from several different sources and then getting into my car to listen to the local public broadcasting station in the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Silicon Valley area, I noticed an interesting phenomenon:  the news was dominated by one story.  The story was gay marriage.  

I was okay with this at first because no matter which side of the argument for or against gay marriage one is on, it is a newsworthy topic of relevance.  The problem I had was that our local public broadcasting station took it over the top.  I will explain.

I eagerly went to my tiny but efficient commuter car to spend my twelve dollars in gas to get to work and listen to a mostly impartial view of the news as I usually get on my local public broadcasting station in my travels.  I felt largely ill informed this morning getting into my car because most of the stories I was really interested in were not touched in any detail because the big story in my area was the marriages that took place yesterday.

I turned on the radio only to get approximately forty-five minutes of human interest stories relating to gay marriage with occasional news squeezed in. 

I suppose for some this is a monumental moment and for some this is a terrible moment, but for me I simply wanted to hear the news.  The urgent, pressing, and life changing news.

What is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan?  What is going on with this increase in oil production promised by Saudi Arabia, will it actually help us or not?  What is going on in the elections?  What is going on Capitol Hill?  What is going on with the economy?  What is going on with the value of the dollar?  Is the government going to do anything to keep us all from loosing our homes?  What is going on in al of the states that were flooding yesterday?  What parts of our state are burning to the ground today?  Am I headed into a huge traffic jam?  What is our governor and our state government going to do about the sinking ship that is our state budget?  And on and on and on…

Is this marriage story really that big of a story that it completely eliminates the need for other news?  Maybe I am the only person today who was interested in all of these other things, with all of the supporters of this doing a victory lap and all of those in opposition circling the wagons to fight against it.  I guess with that kind of emotion flying around it is hard to see anything else, but in my mind, people are dying, starving, loosing their jobs, loosing their homes, going broke paying for gas, and two are running for president.

I also suppose that there may be need for a diversion from the stress of focusing on all of the stress that is normally related to our news lately, but I am interested in these other things.  I would venture to say that in my mind these other stories are at the least as relevant and in my mind a bit more relevant and should get equal time at the least. 

I also have to wonder what motivation the radio station that I usually listen to for impartial views has for letting human interest stories related to gay marriage dominate large blocks of the airtime.  I can only conclude that it has sunk to pandering to one side of the argument to get more listeners or it already has taken a side and is trying to campaign for that cause. 

These are things I expected from the mainstream media that is funded by commercials, but this usually is the one place I have been able to count on for somewhat impartial vies on things.  I like to hear both sides of the arguments and have my preexisting beliefs challenged.  I like facts and opposing facts.  I have been a listener to this station to receive balanced news not propaganda.

I am not sure what I am going to listen too on my ride to work anymore, I suppose I will have to find something more impartial on the internet in the form of a Podcast to download each morning or something of that nature and play through my car stereo.

I am not saying that the gay marriage story is not a good news story, I am saying don't get stuck on one subjsct when there is so much of deep relevence going on.

As I have listened to and read reports of what has been going in the trial for five of the men suspected of being responsible for the Sept 11 attacks held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.  I cannot help but think the media coverage is an accidental act of terrorism or at least a tool of the terrorists. 

I am more and more convinced that the thirst of our public for every detail of everything that happens in our world is creating an environment where our media empowers and even facilitates evil.

All of the reports centered around two things:

1. The peer pressure to conform to what the others are doing (particularly the perceived ringleader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the pressure of the group on Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi)
2. The vocalized desire of the defendants to die as martyrs at the hands of the American courts

For us this leads us to gasp at how crazy these people must be as we think:  “There it is, case closed.”  But, the other side of that same coin is that in the world of radical fundamentalist Islam, these same statements make these people the heroes they aspire to be.  Their public statements are like the speech of a great politician.  Strong, full of hope, and empowering.  This is what terrorists and radicals all over the world were hearing as told by the free press of the world.

Everyone who reads this blog knows that I of all people believe in the free press.  I am not sure however how I feel about empowering terrorists and extremists with what I am writing. 

At the least, when our politicians attempt to manipulate the media or to put a “spin” on something, there are media sources that attempt to call them on it at some point.  An example is the several analysts on this news show or that news show that believe differently who discuss and debate if this person is just manipulating the media etc. 

Maybe a discussion of the mindsets of someone detained this long with this much time before the trial to think.  Or a discussion of how this person knows that he is going to get the death penalty anyway and is just making a last attempt at being spiteful.  How about a discussion about the pressures from the group and the radical terrorist world to say such things or be considered a sellout. 

These kind of ongoing discussions come quickly and turn up everywhere when Americans particularly politicians are involved.  Why not with nonsense like this. 

If we tear apart every word our own politicians (and their pastor friends) say under a high powered microscope, we should do the same for those who are possibly evil and enemies of our country. 

For the record I think this was a carefully planned act of terrorism and old fashioned spite.  This Khalid Sheikh Mohammed knew exactly what he was doing and how many millions of people would end up hearing about it.  It is as if Al-Jazeera had done the reporting. 

The shock and awe that this person’s shocking statements instead of a defense caused in the news (which could also be called a small amount of terror) is an act of terrorism. 

I think it is okay to report these sorts of things, but only if they undergo the same rigorous examination, commentary, and debate that so many other stories are forced to undergo. 

How dare our media spend so much time tearing apart American politicians and public figures yet protect such people as terrorists by being the vehicle that the message of evil is carried on.

It is a fine line between reporting on someone and broadcasting the message of someone.

Senator Obama’s Medical records were released today saying he is in excellent health.  I suppose that that is in response to Senator McCain’s twelve hundred page medical report that concluded he was in good health also.

I have been wondering how you can have a twelve hundred page medical record that only represents a few years and have it say that you are in excellent health.  I personally believe that Senator McCain seems fit as can be, but I didn’t have a question about his health until I heard the size of his medical records and some of the ailments that had come out in the brief review of them that had been done.

I now have questions about any of these medical records and the public stamp of approval where some doctor or group of doctors say the person is in excellent health.  What is there about Senator Obama’s records that the “spin” doctors are not telling us?  Are there cancerous growth that were removed?  Were there major surgeries and reoccurring conditions?  What does this public declaration of perfect health really mean?

I suppose that the question is not if a doctor who happens to be a supporter thinks you are healthy enough to be president.  As a voter, I suppose the real question is; are there things in your medical records that I would not think leaves you healthy enough to be president.

This whole medical records thing, from both camps is simply showmanship as the whole thing is misleading and subjective.  The facts are not really being presented in the few hour the media had to look at John McCain’s medical records.  I also think that comparing the medical records of two people with such a gap in age is a little unfair and possibly unethical.  It is at the least a little rude.  I sure wish the election could stick to at least a majority of actual issues and useful facts instead of this nonsense. 

The big problem with the current state of news reporting has reared its ugly head again. Ask yourself this question:  “Where are all of the reports on the status of the war in Iraq.”  I just found out that troop deaths are down 82% from this time last year and things are looking up again.  It seems that when things are going bad every commercial break and headline describes how horrible things are going while when things look up we divert to human interest stories like those wounded in Iraq and how terrible war is on the family.

This is all well and good unless you are a person who is serving in Iraq. has served in Iraq, or has friends or comrades serving in Iraq.  If we look past the politics and entertainment of it all, it is a horrible feeling to see your friends dying, have your emotional state damaged, and your life changed forever to achieve something that whenever it looks like you are getting close everyone ignores.

The hope for those in the service and those related to them in some way comes from the reports of progress.  It doesn’t matter if your political stance is one of withdrawing troops tomorrow, staying until the war is won, or staying one-hundred years, all of those who feel the effects of the war would take hope from reporting of positive progress in the war.

To go a step further, where are the updates on what is going on in Afghanistan?   Are we not still at war there too?  I guess there is not enough negative publicity to publish there so we will stay focused on Iraq.

The truth is that it is not a liberal, a left wing, or a right wing press that is to blame.  It is a public that is in love with drama and a media that is addicted to ratings and money that is too blame.

If the president has a high approval rating, the stories about the man or woman will be favorable and someone else will be the boogieman.  If the president has a low approval rating, the media will bash that person twenty-four hours a day.

If a story has lying, cheating, and a person who’s name can be dragged through the mud; that is definitely news.  If a high profile person that has been the subject of a stream of bad press begins to turn their life around, that person is no longer news worthy (with the exception of a few tabloid covers in the line at your local grocery store next to the paper with the aliens who told Nostradamus a woman would be running for president in 2008).

We as a public are partially to blame, we want to see Flava Flav’s strange dating antics as he searches for a wife on the television.  We want to see contestants crumble as “Simon” rips them apart for all of our viewing pleasure.  We like to see people embarrassed for being stupid on one court television show or another by a Judge Joe, Judge Judy, etc.  Few things more entertaining than watching someone who seems to be crazy in a way that is similar to someone we know (maybe a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) get taken down a few notches by Dr. Phil.  How about a child molester or another type of person that we all do not like being booed and then verbally pummeled on a daytime talk-show or our favorite hardcore reporting show.  And of course everyone’s favorite, watching the child molesters get caught in sting operations where they think they are going to meet a thirteen year old and end up in a room with a reporter and the police.

Did you ever wonder how many hours of recorded sermons the reporters and investigators must have sat through from Mr. Wright and Pastor Hagee to find excerpts of controversial statements to put on the news for our reality television fix of the week.

We like that sort of reality in place of news.  That is a form of news, but much of the news is not that extreme or exciting.  If all we seek is the extreme, how much will we miss?

The media can only take so much of the blame in this, I mean, they have to stay alive.  There are more places to get news from today then there ever has been in history.  The days when everyone read the paper with their coffee and watched the evening news on their local television station (which was picked up through the rabbit-ears on the top of it) have been replaced by national news, RSS feeds, and blogs (those darn bloggers).  The money to support news is getting thin.  If people are not watching it or reading it, whatever “it” is will be gone soon.

The problem is when people are getting hurt, such as those involved in some way with the war who only hear the bad news.  If the media were to live up to what has been considered its moral obligation it would report both sides of every story evenly.  The problem is that we won’t live up to our moral obligation and give as much time to both sides of every argument so we won’t support this sort of reporting and sponsors will not advertise in what we will not pay attention to (it sort of defeats the purpose of advertising).

This weekend the frenzy of debate between the Democratic presidential hopefuls ratcheted up again.  The rhetoric is back up to speed as Senator Obama switched to the attack and Senator Clinton was on the defensive.

Senator Barack Obama was on the attack in the press this weekend most notably stating that Senator Hillary Clinton’s Iraq policies are “too much like” President Bush’s Iraq policies. 

Sen. Obama has been skillfully dancing through questions about his friend Mr. Wright in an impressive manner.  The truth is that the damage has been done and even if it is going to be turned around, it will take a few weeks.  Of course there is the possibility that a certain Mr. Wright might resurface and again lose his mind publicly.

Senator Clinton now has been tied to a gimmick in the form of this gas tax holiday.  Sen. Clinton has done fairly well in the polls and in the public recently.  She has seemed to realize that whenever she goes on the attack against Sen. Obama her popularity drops fast, so she has taken a kinder more generic tone in her debate about who is a better candidate and why.

It is going to be interesting over the next couple of days as we head into two more big primaries (haven’t they all been).  For the past few weeks Sen. Obama has been dropping in the polls and Sen. Clinton has been gaining ground.  The tone is about to change for the next couple of days, but I suspect that any major switch in the direction each candidate has been going the past few weeks, will be slow and will not be seen clearly for two to three weeks.

Then there is the groundhog candidacy of Senator John McCain.  Just like a groundhog or a gopher he pops up here and there and then disappears underground.  I am not sure this is the best way to campaign against a pair of media-hogs such as the Democratic senators.  If all that the people have been hearing about is the Democrats much of what the Republicans could say negative about the candidates has been beaten to death, the only interesting news left is going to be the negative news about the player; Senator McCain and his new vice president candidate.

There is an old saying amongst the acting community that can be translated two ways.

No Publicity is Bad Publicity!

The Reverend (I use the term against my better judgment) Jeremiah Right cannot really expect anyone of any sense to take him seriously after this week. I have been pondering the events of the past week and cannot imagine this man to believe that he is somehow a representative of God any more than people who crash airplanes into buildings.

As this weekends events progressed, the media blitz undertaken by Mr. Jeremiah Right (I will not be using the titles Reverend or Pastor from this point on) were clearly a sign of self-serving as opposed to service to the God represented in the Bible.

His message (other than to express the fact he is bitter with Senator Barack Obama, the Caucasian race, and America as a whole) is on that only represents a certain culture. By culture, I am not speaking of African Americans, I am speaking of a subculture of this people group or a particular segment of that group. Although he may find himself surrounded by this subculture where he resides and may be able to find pockets of these individuals littered here and there throughout the country, this is definitely not a representation of the views of African Americans throughout the nation or the “African American Church”; whatever that is.

I find it quite presumptuous to assume that because you are around several churches like this and have been to some in other places that all or most of predominantly African American churches hold these beliefs or conform to his stereotypes of how a church would act.

It is coming clear over the past couple of days that there are people who have had contact with this man recently who feel that his motive for all of this was revenge on Senator Barack Obama.

I applaud Sen. Obama’s loyalty but also have to question his judgment in knowing when a person is not the type of person you need feeding into your life. I do believe that he probably did not hear the particular sermons that were repeated over and over on the television as the church is in one state and the senator works in another. That being the case, he probably was not the most regular of attendees at church on Sundays. The problem is that this person can flip out like this and in almost twenty years in a close relationship you do not notice.

Mr. Wright has publicly embarrassed a person who stood by him despite the fact that it could ruin his career, much (if not most) of the African American race and those of mixed racial makeup, and many believers in the Christ who now have to spend time again trying to explain that Christians are not all crazy simply because one who is crazy has gotten a lot of air time.

Mr. Wright had the nerve to disguise his evil intention of attacking the man that he previously felt God had called him to mentor as a call for unity and a message of God. This is one of the most egregious acts ever performed.

I am still undecided about any of the three candidates I feel we are stuck with, but I think the nation as a whole has an obligation to take action against this man. People should not give airtime to this man. He is getting a lot of press and getting ready to release a book soon which means a lot of people want to read it simply to see what this crazy man has to say. Resist the urge and don’t buy a copy! Wait until you can find it in a thrift store. Do not support this man and his message of spite by giving him your money. If a station or group gives him airtime, send a letter or email expressing your disgust.

I have personally decided to stop using the title “reverend” for this man as I consider that to be a show of respect for a person and I do not find him worthy of that sort of respect.

Finally, if you are a believer, who believes in what he has done this week, look at James 4:6 which states in part that “…God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” This weekend’s events were clearly about hurt pride and a selfish attempt to hurt an individual that God put under his mentoring wing. African American, Caucasian, Chinese, or otherwise, this is not acceptable to the God of the Bible. If the underlying motivation of a message is evil, the entire message is usually tainted with evil and cannot be trusted.

Mr. Wright may hit on a truth here and there, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.